S&L Podcast - #494 - Wheel of Thyme
/This is not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles podcast but it sure does end like one. But before it comes to that we boggle at all the awesome award winners, and talk about our good first impressions of The Spear That Cuts Through Water. Oh, and we have an idea for a cafe filled with Brandon Sanderson puns. Oh the puns!
WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: 19 Crimes Cabernet
Veronica: Ardbeg
QUICK BURNS
Jan: The winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in the UK has been named! It's In Ascension by Martin MacInnes. Read more here.
Jan: Winners for the 2024 Imadjinn Awards have been announced.
Best Science Fiction Novel: Prince Liberator by Fred Hughes
Best Fantasy Novel: Heart Master by Nikolas Everhart. Read more here.
TRP: As mentioned here back in January, The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville has been published.
It is based on Reeves' BRZRKR, Volume 1 comic books that feature an 80,000-year-old god who walks on Earth.
So, autobiography then.
Seth: It's official, Fourth Wing is the international TikTok book of the year. Read more here.
Ruth: Reactor Magazine is releasing preview chapters of Wind and Truth, the fifth book in the Stormlight Archives series, starting on Monday, 29th July (today as I’m writing this). The book will be published in December, but if you need your Brando Sando fix sooner, check out the preview here.
Oaken: The Booker longlist is out. View the list here.
The Booker is one of the more prestigious awards in literary fiction. It’s interesting how some of these novels dance with SF but never really commit to more than a two-step:
Orbital by Samantha Harvey takes place on the ISS. “Six astronauts observe Earth’s splendour while navigating bereavement, loneliness, and mission fatigue.” Ok, there are no lasers or FTL travel.
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry, a story of love and astronomy.
Playground by Richard Powers covers “… humanity’s next great adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out into the open sea.”
Paul: Bad news for Maas fans in Utah (and for access to literature in general) as 13 books have been banned from all public schools and public libraries in the state, including six of Sarah J. Maas' books:
From the article: "Twelve of the 13 titles were written by women. Six books by Maas, a fantasy author, appear on the list, along with Oryx and Crake by [Margaret] Atwood, milk and honey by Kaur, and Forever… by [Judy] Blume. Two books by Ellen Hopkins appear, as well as Elana K. Arnold’s What Girls Are Made Of and Craig Thompson’s Blankets." Read more here.
BARE YOUR SWORD
Add timestamp! Feedback from the audience
Stephen: I kind of had higher expectations for Cursed Bunny when I read that Bora Chung translates Russian classics into Korean. Some of the most famous short stories are from Russian authors. For example, The Nose by Nikolai Gogol is a short story about a bureaucrat's nose who leaves his face to have a better career in the new Russian bureaucracy. Sounds familiar?
Trike: I had high expectations because I previously read Chung’s other collection, Your Utopia, and liked it quite a lot. Those stories are all science fiction, whereas these are mostly fantasy. The ick factor was too high for my enjoyment, though.
Calvey: I thought it was interesting that niche bookstores are opening. In this day and age, for any physical bookstore to open surprises me. As I am not far from Steamy Lit in Deerfield Beach, I’m going to check it out. I will be curious if Romantasy makes the cut!
Props to a physical bookstore being opened. I’d like a Sci-Fi niche bookstore, please! Read more here.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
CHECK IN
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Buy on Bookshop.org
Buy on Amazon
Bill:
What an interesting structure of a play within a dream. The chorus commenting throughout really sells that presentation.
Excited to tackle the next chapter.
Iain Bertram:
Yes, hearing from the witnesses and the victims adds to the depth of the world-building and the storytelling.
ADDENDUMS
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