S&L Podcast - #229 - Taylor Swift is a Fremen

We wrap up A Canticle for Leibowitz and explore all its science and religion feels. Also we welcome a new Expanse series cover, a new Gaiman baby and we discover why Taylor Swift IS the Kwisatz Haderach. 

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Water    
Veronica: Vitamin B12    
    
QUICK BURNS

Shelfie Is Shazam For Your Bookshelf
    
SporadicReviews.com Next Expanse novel "Babylon's Ashes" cover-reveal! June 2016 is too far away!
    
Rob Secundus: Maybe not worthy of a segment, but alt-country/rock singer Ryan Adams just released a cover album of noted pop star and possible escapee from the realm of the fey Taylor Swift's 1989. Why does Adams think the T-Swiz is so succesful? Well, she's just like the Kwisatz Haderach!

Ryan Adams said, “There’s that special, very interesting ingredient where you hear a skeleton of the song, just the bones, and her voice, and you go, 'Well, of course, this person plays to 60,000 people.’ It’s like at the end of Dune, with Paul Atreides riding the Sandworm, and his eyes are all blue from the spice mélange. That’s totally how I see Taylor.”
    
Andy: Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer welcomed their child Anthony Gaiman on September 16th! 
    
terpkristin: So long, Oyster! The "Netflix of ebooks" is shutting down, and most of the team is apparently going to join Google. The co-founders were definitely hired by Google, but it seems that a bunch of the staff may have been, too. Will be interesting to see what Google does with this...if anything.    
    
terpkristin: Storybundle.com is doing a bundle of 11 books that were finalists or winners of the Philip K. Dick Award (honoring distinguished science fiction). It will be going on for the next 22 days, or until about mid-October. 
    
Warren: Scientists have for the first time confirmed liquid water flowing on the surface of present-day Mars.
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Hello!

I do my own podcast about games, gaming etc, recently there's been a metallic twang to the far end when recording our sessions via skype.

The sound in your podcasts is always superior. If its not terribly intrusive could you tell me what software you use to teleconference and record.

Thanks in advance.

Brian

---

Ok, I'm sorry for this kinda silly question. My wife and I have noticed that a few recent SF/Fantasy novels have been using the word "sussurrus" and its other forms quite a lot. Rothfuss, Tregillis, Scalzi, and Graedon for example. We always tell each other when we encounter the word in a book or story and say "Gotcha, page XX!"

Is there some kind of inside joke being shared among the author community, or a ritual use of the word, maybe an homage to someone?

I hope bringing this up doesn't squelch or make anyone self censor, not our intention. Just chasing a silly phantom.

Thanks for your great site and podcasts!
Mike
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Next month: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson    
Quiz to tell you who you are in Baru's world    
How Evil SFF Empires Create Ideal Citizens    

Wrap-up

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. 
    
Rachel [Spoilers]
    
ACFL: What to make of the crazy ending?

ADDENDUMS    
    
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser 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.
    
 

S&L Podcast - #228 - Is Present Tense for Baby Brains?

This week, things really go nuts when Veronica realizes that she likes Tom's book pick more than Tom does, which causes Tom to question everything he has ever known. Meanwhile, over on Goodreads, Thane questions whether present tense is the bane of genre fiction! Hmmm...

Download direct here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Yorkshire Gold Tea
Veronica: Candy Peaches (eating)

QUICK BURNS

Thane: Looks like BBC is doing The City and the City. A 4 part adaptation. The City & the City

Tamahome: I didn't know Octavia Butler's Dawn would be adapted to tv either.

Trike: Amazon is saying the first season of The Man in the High Castle will be available November 20, 2015. If you haven't seen the pilot, I highly recommend it. And I'm known as The Guy Who Hates Everything. (Which isn't true. I only hate MOST things. But this I love.)

Jason is referring to Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti, when he says:  I just found this tidbit on tor.com. This sounds exciting, the novella is read by Robin Miles and she worked closely with the author to get the right sounds and inflection to world build. Here's the synopis: "Binti is a brilliant young woman who is the first of the Himba community to be offered a place at the galaxy’s finest institution of higher learning." There is also a spooky race of bad guys.  Has there ever been a collaboration with an author to make a book sound right? "    ---(Tamahome found the Tor link)  

Stephen: Mark Lawrence has started a new story on Wattpad. It is a free western fantasy told in 19 parts.

Elizabeth: Turns out Uprooted may contain True Facts: io9. Medieval Skeleton Found Dangling From the Roots of a Fallen Tree.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Present Tense - Can you dig it? 

Epic Fantasy with Romance?

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Dear Tom and Veronica,

I recently stumbled across a super-rad book from the University of Pennsylvania Press, ER Truitt's Medieval Robots, and I thought, what could be more Sword and Laser than that? I mean, ok, Space Dragons, maybe, and also actual laser swords. But still, Medieval Robots are probably the third most sword-and-lasery thing in existence. The title sounds like that of a really generically titled pulp, but it's actually a survey of automata in the Western Medieval world-- the fictional robots that feature in Medieval Romance and legend, the pseudo-fictional robots that feature in travelogues (turns out, the Middle East? Filled with robots!), and real, historical robots that were installed as curiosities in courts. Anyway, it's so rare that nonfiction stuff is relevant to the show that I thought I should share.
Rob S. 

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I recently started listening to NPR's Ask Me Another, where Jonathan Coulton is the house musician, and heard one of their older episodes. On their July 31, 2014 show, Saladin Ahmed was a guest. This reminded me of your Bonus Interview with Saladin in 2012. I have not seen a video of Ask Me Another, so we cannot be sure whether Saladin/Jonathan are one person, but we do know that there is proof that they have been in the same place at the same time.

In case you have the time, I have included a link to that episode. The clip in question is "Can't Place the Place Name."

Enjoy.

-John

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

ACFL: Walter Miller Jr.

A Science-Fiction Classic Still Smolders

ADDENDUMS    
    
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser 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.