S&L Podcast - #416 - Does The Droid Die Dot Com

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Poet Andrew Heaton joins us to wrap up our thoughts on Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. Plus, the greatest zombie film in the world and totally metal T-shirts to show your support of Octavia Butler and other awesome authors.

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Water (or is it?)

Veronica: Booch Craft hard Kombucha

Heaton: Arizona Sweet Tea (or is it?)

QUICK BURNS

Neil Gaiman’s ‘Anansi Boys’ Ordered to Series at Amazon.

Jan: The 2021 World Fantasy Award Finalists have been announced!

Jan: "Piranesi" has won the Red Tentacle for best Novel in this year's Kitschie Awards

Jan: New Dune Trailer

Joanna: The European Science Fiction Society Awards had been announced.

Mark: For those of you who don't have enough t-shirts, author T's branded like metal band T's.

Jan: In addition to the Amazon Prime Video series, there is also a Wheel of Time film trilogy announced.

Joanna: A24 had acquired right to the adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.

BARE YOUR SWORD

"Tom has Liam Neeson handsomeness." - Tamahome

Tassie Dave: It was cool to see you idiots on video. 😉 Hopefully I can watch IRL next time and comment.
I'm pretty sure laminating stamps will preserve the stamps, but destroy any future value (you idiots 😉 )

Jenny "Tom's pop screen appears to float in space. "Tamahome @tamahome02000

.@swordandlaser Phlebas: I liked the shiny sf Culture stuff more than the gruesome stuff (cough Eaters). The damage chapter was fun. In the end it's pretty dark, but after I got over the hump, one of the last chapters was very dramatic. I even enjoyed the fake appendices.

Dune Pod @dunepod
NEW POD! It’s our 50TH episode and we are delighted to be rejoined by @swordandlaser’s @Veronica to discuss TIME BANDITS (1981). Sean Connery, the evils of modern kitchen appliances, and Veronica sings! It’s a great way to celebrate our big 5-0. https://t.co/DTXt0bg6Sb

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Next month: The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner.

Patron book briefing

Wrap Up

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

CP: Futility of War

CP: Chapter 6 (possible spoilers)

CP: Final Verdict

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 - #415 - DisCon is not for Disco

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DisCon is not for Disco but it could be? Why Veronica and Tom aren't idiots. All the summer reading list fodder your list can take. Who was your first binge? And is hard Sci-Fi cold by nature?

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What Are We Drinking?

Tom: St. Francis Cabernet Sauvignon

Veronica: Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand

QUICK BURNS

Silvana: Clarkeaward shortlist has been announced

Mary Robinette Kowal to Chair DisCon III

Mark: New commemorative stamp goes on sale 7/27/2021

Mark: The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announced the 2021 Scribe Award winners which are mostly Science Fiction titles this year.

Jan: It's summer, and Vulture has released their list of Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels of 2021 (so far)!

Trike: 5 New And Upcoming Sci-FiThrillers You Won’t Want To Put Down

Jan: Goodread has started its Sci-Fi & Fantasy Week July 12

Jan: The Almighty Tor.com has announced the LeVar Burton Reads"" Writing Contest .


BARE YOUR SWORD

Harold Combs @DevHarryC Really like how salty @Veronica is being in @swordandlaser this week.

Author Binges: Authors you have read the most of at once

What's Your S&L Origin Story?

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"Hi Team

I’m pleased you’re reading Banks. For me, there is an interesting point about Banks that works well with the later part of the most recent episode about the nature of diversity and inclusion.

Banks work is very diverse with gender, sexuality and race. A lot of the books talk about gender and sexuality a lot, but not in a preachy way. It is taken for granted that a warrior or spy may be male or female, and sometimes both, and they might be attracted to anyone (or everyone). We see a nice representation of strong and weak characters across all genders.

In The Culture people are free to change gender at will (it takes a few days, you can do it by thinking about it), so being attracted to only one sex doesn’t make any sense in that world.

I’m really impressed at the level of diversity and inclusion in The Culture series considering that the first book is from the 80’s. They still feel very modern, especially as the “science” elements are mostly still quite far out.

The one criticism is that Banks seems to be a bit of a sadist - there’s always a graphic torture scene.

As a straight white male there may be issues that I’m unaware of, but I think he does ok considering that very little of this was on the agenda back in 1987.

It’s hard to identify “the best” Culture book because they are all quite different, but my two favourites are The Player of Games and Excession.

Kind Regards

Will"

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BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

CP: first impressions

CP: Is classic hard science fiction "cold"?


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 - #414 - The Age of Aquarium Shoes

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Should Tom enter a book contest? Good Omens season 2 is a good idea. And our final thoughts on Piranesi, problematic and otherwise.

Download directly!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Milkis

Veronica: Bink Syrah

QUICK BURNS

Mark: 2021 Locus Awards Winners announced

Trike: NPR’S Science Friday has a list of new Science Fiction books to read.

Christos: Netflix released another Witcher Season 2 trailer. I am really excited about this, I really liked s1

Jan: Actor/Singer/Songwriter/Multitalent Janelle Monáe has sold the science fiction short fiction collection

Stephen: S&L BOM author Hugh Howey (Wool) is doing it for Science Fiction, SPSFC ( Self Published Science Fiction Contest) is now a thing .

Jan: The winners if the 2021 Kurd Lasswitz Prize for the best German science fiction works and translations have been announced.

Louie: Something Big Is Coming… Revealing John Scalzi’s The Kaiju Preservation Society

Tamahome: The new trailer for Foundation for Apple is out, and they've announced it's coming out September 24th

Mark: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch Season 2 ordered by Amazon

Mark: When you view the back of the Jade Legacy advance reader copy by Fonda Lee, with the Google Lens app on your phone, a video pops up.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Mark: The Sword & Laser wiki has a new page that could use some eyeballs.

Drake Tungsten @turtleismytotem. First two minutes of Episode 308 - @acedtect: ""Someone did bring their infant to the wedding I was at.""; @Veronica: ""Don't infants just scream incessantly and poop?"

Tamahome @tamahome02000 .@swordandlaser Good luck pronouncing ""Consider Phlebas"", Veronica"

Mark: In Lupin the name of the English Detective varies by publisher and edition. He is known as Herlock Sholmès in US translations, and Holmlock Shears in UK translations. However, there are a few editions of the book where he is known by his true name.

Tamahome: Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke) actually directed an animated Lupin movie years ago, The Castle of Cagliostro. I believe it's on HBO Max.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Next book!

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

WRAP UP

Piranesi by Susannah Clarke

Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Imaginary Prisons

The Prophet ruined the book for me

Point of View

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