S&L Podcast - #415 - DisCon is not for Disco
/DisCon is not for Disco but it could be? Why Veronica and Tom aren't idiots. All the summer reading list fodder your list can take. Who was your first binge? And is hard Sci-Fi cold by nature?
What Are We Drinking?
Tom: St. Francis Cabernet Sauvignon
Veronica: Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand
QUICK BURNS
Silvana: Clarkeaward shortlist has been announced
Mary Robinette Kowal to Chair DisCon III
Mark: New commemorative stamp goes on sale 7/27/2021
Trike: 5 New And Upcoming Sci-FiThrillers You Won’t Want To Put Down
Jan: Goodread has started its Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week July 12
Jan: The Almighty Tor.com has announced the LeVar Burton Reads"" Writing Contest .
BARE YOUR SWORD
Harold Combs @DevHarryC Really like how salty @Veronica is being in @swordandlaser this week.
Author Binges: Authors you have read the most of at once
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"Hi Team
I’m pleased you’re reading Banks. For me, there is an interesting point about Banks that works well with the later part of the most recent episode about the nature of diversity and inclusion.
Banks work is very diverse with gender, sexuality and race. A lot of the books talk about gender and sexuality a lot, but not in a preachy way. It is taken for granted that a warrior or spy may be male or female, and sometimes both, and they might be attracted to anyone (or everyone). We see a nice representation of strong and weak characters across all genders.
In The Culture people are free to change gender at will (it takes a few days, you can do it by thinking about it), so being attracted to only one sex doesn’t make any sense in that world.
I’m really impressed at the level of diversity and inclusion in The Culture series considering that the first book is from the 80’s. They still feel very modern, especially as the “science” elements are mostly still quite far out.
The one criticism is that Banks seems to be a bit of a sadist - there’s always a graphic torture scene.
As a straight white male there may be issues that I’m unaware of, but I think he does ok considering that very little of this was on the agenda back in 1987.
It’s hard to identify “the best” Culture book because they are all quite different, but my two favourites are The Player of Games and Excession.
Kind Regards
Will"
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BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
CP: Is classic hard science fiction "cold"?
ADDENDUMS
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