S&L Podcast - #454 - Baltimore, City of Baltars

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We may be getting some Zelazny TV, Murderbot is coming back, some ideas of non-fiction book picks we could try, and we kick off our February book pick, Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher.

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WHAT ARE WE EATING?

Tom: Vegetable Tempura

Veronica: Veggie Burger

QUICK BURNS

Jan: The Philip K. Dick Award nominees have been announced: The winner will be announced April 7, 2023 at Norwescon 45

Debra: Daniel O’Malley has just published his third book in the Checquy series, titled “Blitz” (following The Rook and Stiletto).

Jan: Known genre fan Stephen Colbert is joining The Walking Dead author Robert Kirkman in producing an adaptation Of Roger Zelanzny’s ‘The Chronicles Of Amber’ series.

Jan: Bookriot has released their list of top 20 must read cozy fantasy novels

Silvana: Chengdu World Con announced new dates: 18-22 October 2023.

ChrisK: Otherwise winners announced

Mark: It turns out that the forthcoming Murderbot tale is a full-length novel (with cover reveal)!

System Collapse by Martha Wells is coming November 24, 2023 from Tordotcom Publishing

Mark: John Scalzi is the 2023 winner of the Robert A. Heinlein Award.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Jan: I think S&L is established enough to once a year or so go off the established format and do something aside from science fiction or fantasy novels, be it a biography or a movie or a novelization or whatever.

BTW: Does anyone here have any more suggestions for modern choose your adventure style stories. The last ones I read were the old Lone Wolf books!"

Ruth: A suggestion for a choose your own adventure story that’s a full-length grown-up novel: Life's Lottery by Kim Newman.

Paul:

I think a good option for departing from the standard format could be Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. It's a nonfiction book that doubles as a history of Science fiction, and mini-bios of its prominent characters.I heard an interview with the author from Our Opinions Are Correct, and it apparently does not hold back on critiquing and highlighting the problematic aspects of these men, so it could be a fun read. I know Tom was favouring the fiction ideas, but he also seems to like the history of the genre and its characters, so maybe this would be a good way to get to know the old authors without having to read old and potentially problematic books."

Tassie Dave: As for going off books for a Sword and Laser pick. We could do it as an ""extra credit"" suggestion on a semi-regular basis. Not an official pick, but more like the alternates as semi-official, but with it's own section on this forum to discuss.Maybe a movie, TV show pilot, Graphic Novel. Video game etc. Not everyone is going to join in, but it could make for fun discussions. "The Last of Us" TV show that started this week could be a worthy suggestion."

Seth: I was really turned off when I first heard of AI audiobook narrators, but this discussion got me thinking a bit more broadly - so thanks for that. Here in Iowa (and probably most states) there's a library for the blind that enlists volunteer readers to record things that would never otherwise be available in audio format - stuff like school texts or academic papers. An AI that could read that sort of thing could be an outstanding breakthrough for access to non-sighted folks.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Kick Off

Nettle & Bone T. Kingfisher

Amazon Link

WRAP UP

Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree Jr.

Amazon link

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 - #453 - And That's How the News Goes

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We check in on how everyone is feeling about Brightness Falls From the Air. We also feel mildly optimistic about Apple's digital narrators, and we discuss the best way to introduce someone to a series.

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WHAT ARE WE EATING?

Tom: Thai-inspired shrimp curry

Veronica: Broccoli Rigatoni

QUICK BURNS

John - Apple Books quietly launches AI-narrated audiobooks

Mark: Some guy named Tom is celebrating 10 years podcasting the Daily Tech News Show

BARE YOUR SWORD

Oaken: Tom mentioned that Moorcock may have taken a cue from Tolkien or CS Lewis. From what I've read of him in interviews, it would only be as an anti-cue. Moorcock felt that Tolkien was too influential and that too much of fantasy up until that point was Tolkien-derivative. Elric was a deliberate attempt to subvert the tropes that had, until then, dominated the genre. That included Tolkien as well as Conan, et al. (He was vocal about his feelings about SF&F having become stale to the point that the old-guard felt he was deliberately trying to sideline them and they weren't happy about it.)

Iain: For me the big problem with the book is that it isn’t about Elric. Since it’s an origin story, we are watching Elric turn into will grow into himself. This is the problem with origin stories. You are actually reading about the main character.The earlier short stories and probably the subsequent stories deal with every in his prime. I mean it isn’t an alright story, unless he accidentally kills a friend/lover with Stormbringer and absorbs their soul.

Jan: The talk about the Tiptree bio was so interesting, I would love to read sometimes a bio of an interesting author for Sword & Laser!!!

And I am wondering: What other more "unusual" stuff would you love to have as a monthly read on S&L sometime, fellow Shields (or whatever we have agreed on as a term for us)?

Some ideas I would find really interesting:

- A good tie-in novel to a game, a movie or TV (like Star Trek) - or even a novelization of a science fiction or fantasy movie (like Star Wars)

- a Choose Your Own Adventure Style Book

- The Ilias or something mythology-related or very old

Any ideas?"

Hello!

I was delighted and probably a bit too excited to find that you have had discussions about Novelist over the past couple of weeks! Like Katie (Katy?), I am a librarian and I also use NoveList all the time because it is such a solid way to suggest books without having to have read them. When I can, I turn the my searching into a mini instruction session so that the patron will get an idea of how to use the database on their own.

Which reminds me, yes! NoveList is a database! What makes it special is that it is curated by librarians who are experts in readers advisory and identifying appeal factors and other story elements of books, instead of an algorithm that isn’t able to reason about those more subjective elements. For instance: I mostly read SFF (shocker), but I have found and loved books outside of those genres by searching with appeal terms.

Also, if you want to do a deep dive into NoveList’s story elements, check out this publication

It was written as a tool for librarians, but I’m pretty sure that book nerds like S&L listeners will find it useful and interesting.

Thank you again for talking about an amazing tool that so many people don’t realize is already on their belt.

~Chaos Librarian"

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Check In

Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree Jr.

Amazon link

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 - #452 - Having Feelpinions

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A very tense episode as Veronica and Tom violently agree about Elric of Melniboné. Plus, the most anticipated books of 2023, and how to take advantage of Novelist at your local library.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: St. Francis Port (2019)Veronica: Fuggles: Javaverse Vanilla Cream Cold Brew Coffee Stout

QUICK BURNS - add time stamp!

Streamathon

Ruth: Henry Cavill is no longer Superman, but is developing a Warhammer 40k cinematic universe instead.

Jan: Goodreads has released the Goodreads readers' most anticipated books of 2023!

Mark: Michael Moorcock interview on Elric past and present

Pilchie: 2022 State of the Sanderson is out:https://www.brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-sanderson-2022/

BARE YOUR SWORD Katie: I'm a Librarian and I use Novelist to assist me in my job all the time.

AND: Seth - Here's Novelist's list of appeals that they use to categorize books.

AND: John (Nevets) They actually have a fair amount of documentation about what they are doing. Here is a good example, and the page seems to be completely public.

Kassan Warrad
@KassanWarrad
I just heard the sad news that @AmazonStudios is producing the #GodofWar TV series. I'm left with dread and genuine confusion. Why couldn't Sony just produce it themselves? They are a studio and have the writing team that wove the GoW epic story.

Kassan Warrad
@KassanWarrad
I'm heated about Henry Cavill. The guy is a genuine fan of the IP he involves himself in, yet these writers insist on excising the passion he brings to these IPs. The worst is the #Witcher debacle. The writers are reported to ridicule the source material

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Kick Off

Brightness Falls from the Air by James Tiptree Jr. Amazon link

Final Thoughts

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

Amazon link

Joseph: FWIW, one reason Elric might seem pulpy is because it's 50 years old [collapses into pile of dust], so closer in time to the pulp era than to today. And Moorcock spent pretty much all of the 1960s and into the 1970s writing lots of fiction at a very fast rate, which lends itself to that flavor.bleep at 34 min abouts

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/