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

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

S&L Podcast - #450 - Where the Wild Nerds Are

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We wrap up our thoughts on Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty and Tom tries out his 4-part way of evaluating books to explain why people enjoyed it differently. Plus we kick off our December pick, Elric of Melniboné, encourage you to save Locus Magazine and Veronica is IMPRESSIVE at reading author names now.

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QUICK BURNS

Paul: This Washington Post list is by Charlie Jane Anders, so you know it's worth perusing.

jkb added in BookRiot's 42 OF THE BEST FANTASY NOVELS FROM THE LAST 10 YEARS

Louise: Locus magazine is running an Indiegogo-campaign for funding. Twenty days left.

Mark: Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game was released this week by Chaosium.

"Some familiar NPC portraits!"

Cham1nade: Robin McKinley has just been announced as 39th SFWA Grand Master:

terpkristin: I don’t remember if I posted this before. BBC is doing a radio play/podcast of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. It will start on 20 December and run for 12 days

CountZeroOr: In translated Japanese Fantasy novels get audiobooks news, the first novel in the "Slayers" series, currently being distributed by J-Novel Club, has received an audiobook release through the usual places (Audible, Kobo, etc.)

Trike: On October 31st, a federal judge ruled against the merging of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, saying that it would “substantially lessen competition” in publishing.

Jan: Amazon has released their list of Best Books of 2022, the 20 best books in the Science Fiction & Fantasy category

BARE YOUR SWORD

Joseph: As far as a source for forthcoming books, may I suggest locusmag.com/forthcomingbooks/

Joanna: This year Locus started doing weekly roundups of new sf/f/h books on Youtube

Also Tor.com does monthly compilations of upcoming books

For long term planning I use www.goodreads.com/new_releases - it gives you a list of books of authors you have on your shelves, so no new discoveries from there, but it definitely helps me to keep up with series. Minor inconvenience is that if you read one book from prolific author he will haunt your list forever, even if you did not like the book very much.

To not get lost with all of this I created an exclusive shelf on Goodreads for all the upcoming books, and when sorted by publication date it gives me a clear view of what to look for in bookstores/libraries/etc. "

My wife Amy Fredericks is the true S&L fan, but I’ve enjoyed listening when she’s behind the wheel, taking us places.

I’ve always had fun coming up with names for things and making logos when I’ve done design. So I wracked my brain thinking of anything that relates to both types of weaponry.

I might think of something better in time, but at the moment I think I have something that at least makes sense.

WIELDERS

Both swords and laser pistols can be wielded, and it’s a concise word. It’s not the sexiest or punchiest sounding word, but maybe it’ll inspire further thought to carry it over the finish line.

And, of course, if you like it, how it stands, I won’t complain!

Thanks guys!

Rob

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

KICK OFF

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

Amazon link

Book briefing

Last Thoughts

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Amazon link

Think I kinda hate the opener

Maria and responsibility

Antagonist's motivation *SPOILERS*

ADDENDUMS

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