S&L Podcast - #451 - When Your Anti-Hero Gets a Little Too Anti

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We properly credit the amazing Nancy Pearl and her four doorways into stories. And we want yours! Send them to feedback@swordandlaser.com. Plus our mid-read takes on Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné. Also, we break the news about Henry Cavill to Veronica live on the show.

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: St. Francis Port (2018)
Veronica: Ardbeg

QUICK BURNS

Jan: ChatGPT, please write a quick burns news post for the Sword & Laser podcast about ChatGPT

"Sword & Laser fans, get ready to chat with ChatGPT! This new AI tool allows users to have natural conversations with a virtual assistant. ChatGPT is trained on a massive amount of text data, making it capable of providing insightful and intelligent responses to a wide range of topics.

Whether you're looking for recommendations on books, TV shows, or just want to have a casual conversation, ChatGPT is the perfect companion for fans of the Sword & Laser podcast. Give it a try and see how it can enhance your discussions about science fiction and fantasy."

Mark: Coming in 2023: System Collapse by Martha Wells

Zomino: I read the first story, will need to dig into the rest: "Here are the first look images at #Wool starring #RebeccaFerguson. The dystopian drama series arrives 2023, on #AppleTV+"

Jan: The winners of the Goodreads Choice awards have been announced.

Tina: Hulu (FX) will stream “Kindred,” based on Octavia E. Butler’s

Book, starting Dec. 13

Tamahome: William Gibson's Neuromancer coming to Apple TV+

bamugo: Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2022

Paul: Book Marks has released its list of Best Reviewed SFFH of the year. Top of the list is Sea of Tranquility.

Tamahome: Rosamund Pike to Narrate 'The Wheel of Time' Audiobooks 'The Great Hunt' will arrive on August 2

Tamahome: An Elric graphic novel boxed set is coming out Dec 6th as well

BARE YOUR SWORD

Chris K - Tom's discussion of why he and Veronica had different reactions to Six Wakes reminded me of a Nancy Pearl lecture I attended years ago.

A quote from a Publishers Weekly article she wrote:

"It seems to me that all works of fiction and narrative nonfiction are broadly made up of four experiential elements: story, character, setting, and language. I call these “doorways,” because when we open a book, read the first few pages, and choose to go on, we enter the world of that book."

Seth: Nancy Pearl is the patron saint of reader's advisory - the practice of matching books and readers. Some of you might have public libraries with access to NoveList which is a really cool database of books cataloged by "appeal." For Six Wakes they list these:

Character: Authentic
Storyline: Nonlinear, World-building
Tone: Suspenseful
Writing Style: Compelling, Descriptive

Then they offer matches based on those criteria (or combinations you choose) - it's pretty neat.

When it comes to Nancy's doorways, I'm definitely a Setting reader - it's nice to have that sort of self-awareness when picking and rating books."

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

Amazon link

Book briefing

ADDENDUMS

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