S&L Podcast - #287 - You Do Like Your Alternate Londons

A SciFi book is mysteriously returned after 35 years,  at the same time a billionaire suddenly invests in brain implants and a skull begins to talk. Are these events connected somehow? Yes. They're all discussed in this episode along with Gateway by Frederick Pohl.

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Orange Juice    
Veronica: Ipswitch Ale    
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Sean: ‘The Expanse’ Renewed for Season 3 at Syfy
    
AndrewP: Some guy made a talking skull using Amazon Alexa. Should be something for all Dresden fans who want their very own Bob!
    
Joseph "Cover reveal & synopsis for Ann Leckie's new book, due out in October."    
    
TRP: I think Elon Musk has been reading his Iain M. Banks Culture novels.  The book Surface Detail has quite a bit on neural laces
    
Nokomis.FL: Case of the purloined library book solved 35 years later, restored with $200 tucked inside. “It’s one of the, if not the greatest sci-fi/romance stories ever written; it’s absolutely fascinating” and the swiped edition is now a highly sought-after collectible."
    
Darren: Bernie Wrightson passed away this week. A huge loss. It's hard to pick a work he's most famous for, but his illustrations for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein are never to be equalled, in my opinion.
AndrewP adds "My personal anecdote. I met Bernie several times at Con's and one time my wife asked him how she could inspire me to do more artwork. He replied with a grin "Spend all his money." :)     
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Hey,

I haven't heard you mention this book/series yet and i wanted to throw the name your way, just on the off chance it can be added to the (very) long list.
The Screaming Staircase : Lockwood and Co
I have listened to the audio book and the entire series to date and I have to say it's one of the more interesting new series.

It's a fabulous fantasy horror / young fiction series and i strongly suggest the audio book, the narrator really makes it. Plus it's relatively short especially compared to certain other authors #sanderson# *cough* , i love the value of 60 hour audio books but sometimes 10-15 hours is cool too. 😉

Anyways thanks for the epic podcast.

Mat
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
The Invisible Library Book Briefing
    
Wrap Up     
Gateway by Frederick Pohl
    
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
Welcome to Gillaume Rossolini, Skeeter Murphy and Jessica! 
    
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 - #285 - Why You Should Like Bad Characters

Sometimes a character does stuff you hate. And that’s OK! We explain why. Plus: great space opera, women writer picks, and some guy named Tom wrote a book too. 

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Orange Juice    
Veronica: Pain Killers (and not the tiki drink!)    
    
QUICK BURNS

Rob "Ars Technica has an article up about Fireside Fiction, calling it "Science Fiction's Best Kept Secret" As a SW Engineer/Git user I find the details about their use of GitHub to automate the process pretty interesting.
    
Lauren "Nice set of very short sci-fi and fantasy stories for International Women's Day inspired by the phrase "Nevertheless, she persisted." Lots of big names here, Seanan McGuire, Catherynne Valente, Jo Walton, etc. "  
    
Liz "Just in case anyone missed the emails, Tor sent out its March free eBook download. This month is Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe."    
    
David "Anna-Marie McLemore wins the 2016 Tiptree Award for When the Moon Was Ours"
    
David: "Some guy named Tom is on the Functional Nerds podcast talking about his new book, but more importantly his work as a DJ playing the Beastie Boys. " 
    
Nokomis.FL "Nielsen survey finds UK ebook sales declined by 4% in 2016, the second consecutive year digital has shrunk as younger generations drive appetite for print "
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
International Women's Day 2017
    
Space Opera Book Recommendations
    
Thoughts on differences between The Magicians book and TV show

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Check in on March Madness
    
Check in on March Pick: Gateway by Frederick Pohl
  
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 - #283 - The Madness Begins

The Nebula Award Nominees are out, the Gateway is in and we’re glad we traveled The Salt Roads. But most of all we’re geared up for the March Madness tournament of fantasy. Get your voting fingers clicking folks!    

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Water    
Veronica: Arcadia Ales IPA    
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Sandra: The 2016 Nebula Award Nominees have been announced    
    
Dara: Neil Gaiman's next novel will be a sequel to Neverwhere titled The Seven Sisters.
    
Nokomis.FL: Neil Gaiman's 'American Gods' gets poster, premiere date"    
    
Sandra: Gerard Butler, yes that Gerard Butler and Neal Moritz will produce an adaptation of V. E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic for the big screen.
    
Michele: Bill Paxton has died. RIP Hudson - Game over :(
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Books that make you cry
    
March Madness 2017: Round 1 (Voting Ends March 8th)
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
March Pick: Gateway by Frederick Pohl
        
Wrap-up    
February Pick: The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson
    
TSR:I have no real idea what I think of this book
    
TSR: Saint Mary the Dusky
    
ADDENDUMS    
    
You can order Pilot X!
    
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