S&L Podcast - #478 - Without A Lick of Condensation
/All the end of year book picks are out with lots of great titles to add to your own list! Did Vonnegut think he was a genre writer? And our non-spoilery thoughts about Kings of the Wyld.
WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: Chicken Tacos
Veronica: Mince Pies
QUICK BURNS
Mark: Darcie Little Badger has written a prequel to Elatsoe, Sheine Lende, coming April 2024
Chris K: AudioFile Magazine has posted their best of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror audiobooks of 2023
Oaken: It is that time of year! Time has published their list of must-read books from 2023.
Jan: The Guardian has also picked their "Five of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2023"
Decado and Jan: The Winners of the goodreads choice awards have been announced
Mark: Here's a year-end list for the eyes from LitHub: The 138 Best Book Covers of 2023
BARE YOUR SWORD
Iain:
Regarding gender presentation I was deeply disturbed by the male narrator of the Murderbot books when I listened to the audio books.
In text our favourite SecUnit presents as feminine to me. The narrator still sounds wrong.
John (Nevets)
I also read through book 4 (or maybe 5) before listening to 6, and I always had seen SecUnit as male from the beginning. But in thinking back, I don't know I had any reason to assume that. And I do think Murderbot does express some very protective maternal instincts, while still caring and doing it's job."
Ruth: I’m disappointed but not surprised that Shadow and Bone is getting cancelled. I actually wrote an article about the series and its approach to adaptation for Interstellar Flight Press:
John (Taloni) Ah, Vonnegut. If you ask me he is, in fact, a highfalutin' snooty guy. His books make fun of many situations, but I always got the impression he was laughing at SF fans and not with us.
Meanwhile Bradbury brings in literature, history, philosophy, you name it, and does so with ornate, flowery language - and does so without a lick of condescension. He is One Of Us.
Iain: Nah. Vonnegut feels misanthropic to me. It feels more like a laugh or scream situation. She is making fun of the idea of destiny. Not surprising after living through the Dresden fire bombing and other events he live through
Oaken: I don't think he was critical of science fiction, quite the opposite. At the end of his life he was bitter and angry that the ""literary fiction"" types didn't take him seriously precisely because he wrote science fiction.
He [biographer Charles Shields] describes Vonnegut asking him to look up his name in a dictionary (it was not there) and then look up Jack Kerouac (it was there). ""How about that?"" Vonnegut then states with a frown.
It is back to the literary fiction/genre discussion though. Clearly he thought of himself as a writer of literary fiction, and thought nothing wrong with writing literary SF. I don't know his thoughts on non-literary/plot-driven writing in general though"
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.
Who is your favourite Ragtag Band of Misfits from Fantasy books?
What are you nomming with your ears?
ADDENDUMS
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