Tom talks with Greg van Eekhout, author of Voyage of the Dogs and California Bones about dogs, writing from local influences, and what the Nebulas mean to him. Also Tom embarrasses himself at least twice!
Tom catches up with Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning to talk about writing native cultures in genre fiction and what she gets out of the Nebula conference.
Brian McClellan is the author of the Powder Mage Universe books as well as essays on the life and business of being a writer. He describes himself as living on the side of a mountain in Utah where he writes books and nurses a crippling video game addiction. His most recent book, Uncanny Collateral, is described (on Brian's Twitter) as "Harry Dresden meets Dog the Bounty Hunter in a fast-paced urban fantasy about a collection agent who works for the supernatural."
Author S.A. Chakraborty joins us on the show to talk about the inspiration for her two recent books: The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper.
We chat with Mary Robinette Kowal, the author of this month’s pick, The Calculating Stars. From acknowledging and learning from your biases, to de-stigmatizing mental illness, to using math as a magic system, we had a lovely time and don’t care WHAT people would think.
March Madness is upon us! Nominate books for the tournament next month in our Goodreads forum until 8 PM Eastern February 25.
Hugo-award winning author, Mary Robinette Kowal is a novelist and professional puppeteer.
We talk to author R. A. Salvatore about his new book Timeless, and also how he feels these days about Chewbacca, Dungeons and Dragons and more. Timeless is out September 4. Pick it up in the Salvastore!
We talk with author Daniel H. Wilson about his book, Clockwork Dynasty and why we might not need to fear the robots.
It's windy but in among the breeze, N.K. Jemisin shares wisdom about writing, characters and wrapping up the Broken Earth Trilogy. Plus she accidentally brings up FanFic and talks about why, even though it can be more than practice, it's really good for honing your writing.
We talk to Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, the authors that make up James S. A. Corey, about coffee, distilled and fermented beverages and, making The Expanse a TV show.
We chat with author Cory Doctorow about his new novel Walkaway, which is post-apocalyptic, but not dystopian. It's also DRM-free!
We talk with M. R. Carey about his new book The Boy on the Bridge and how The Girl with All the Gifts became a movie!
Matthew Isaac Sobin tells how his desire to write a beautiful story about the solar system, and the aggressive encouragement of a friend led to the story of Jonathan, the Last Machine in the Solar System.
Author Brian McClellan talks with us about his new entry point into the Powder Mage universe, Sins of Empire, why there's no wrong order to reading his books, and his attitude toward research.
Brittany Curran, who plays Fen on The Magicians, talks about how her childhood love of C.S. Lewis has turned into a modern-day trip to Fillory. Plus, the best way to enjoy Walt Whitman!
Bradley Beaulieu is on the show to talk about the second book in “The Song of the Shattered Sands” series called “With Blood Upon the Sand” coming February 7th. We also find out what a Pinterest board can do to build a better world!
We talk with Dave Barrett, author of Inkshares book It's All Fun and Games and Zac Linville author of Inkshares book Welcome to Deadland. One has zombie-like inhabitants based on theme park patrons and the other finds a LARP outing becoming all too real.
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons. Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.
You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com/picks.
Fran Wilde talks to us about Updraft, how she was inspired to create the bone city, and why she doesn't mind the young adult label but it doesn't always mean what people say it means.
We talk with Jason Greene and Alex Berg from Hardcore Game of Thrones, a show that tells the history of Westeros in the style of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.
Sword and Laser is entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser.
Magician and TV star Andrew Mayne has managed to become a successful published author. How? Not magic. Well some magic. But magic isn’t required. Plus Tom loves his latest novel Station Breaker.
Wordfire Press Humble Bundle to raise money for the SFF Writers emergency fund and Challenger Center for science education.
Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings tells us about the inspiration for his worlds, his domain name, how translation has helped him as a writer, and why silkpunk is a thing (but probably not the thing you’re thinking).
