Matthew Isaac Sobin tells how his desire to write a beautiful story about the solar system, and the aggressive encouragement of a friend led to the story of Jonathan, the Last Machine in the Solar System.
We congratulate the winners of our Inkshares contest and name the book that will be joining our Sword and Laser collection. Plus, why you shouldn’t be angry at George R. R. Martin and how Catherynne M. Valente’s Radiance is like a Tone Poem.
WINNERS!
Congrats to our Sword and Laser Collection addition!
The Animal in Man by Joseph Asphahani!
An artifact of immense power puts Maxan in the middle of a secret war between mighty guilds. To overcome the resourceful and sinister masters who would use him, use everyone, as puppets, he must decide which nature defines him. Animal, or man?
And big congrats to the other Inkshares contest winners who will be published by Inkshares!
The Last Machine in the Solar System by Matt Sobin
The Bones of the Past by Craig Munro
QUICK BURNS
Sky: George RR Martin finally admitted what everyone knew - that The Winds of Winter won't be out before the premiere of season six of Game of Thrones on HBO
Tamahome: Graph of GRRM's publishing intervals show he's writing as fast as JK Rowling did and faster than Tolkien or CS Lewis.
Trike: Harlan Ellison. Released. A. New. Book. Came out December 31st from Subterranean Press. It's called Can & Can'tankerous. Which is awesome.
Nokomis.FL: Friend of show, N.K. Jemisin Launches SFF Column at The New York Times Book Review.
Kate: TechCrunch reports that Pottermore has abandoned exclusivity for the Harry Potter series. You can now purchase the ebooks directly through Amazon and B&N.
Sandra :Phillip K. Dick Award Nominees
Stephen: A new Joe Abercrombie short story edited by the new guy at Tor.com.
Nokomis.FL: Amazon Echo can now read your Kindle books aloud on request.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Josh: You guys may have dug this up already, but this short story is what Valente expanded/altered to create Radiance. It's free on Clarkesworld, and even has audio of her reading it!
On one hand I really want to read it, on the other it might be spoilery, so I'll probably save it til I've finished the book.
Is this a good book or is it merely an impressive example of the writer's art?
It seems like the basic argument of a lot of the book is that there's no such thing as nonfiction? ...But then I wonder if there's a second, subtler argument going on, that not only is nonfiction a lie, but fiction is the only way to truth.
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.
We talk to three of the leaders in the Inkshares Sword and Laser collection contest. From animal people to lonely AI to epic flesh carvers have they got some stories for you!
Joseph Asphahani, The Animal in Man
An artifact of immense power puts Maxan in the middle of a secret war between mighty guilds. To overcome the resourceful and sinister masters who would use him, use everyone, as puppets, he must decide which nature defines him. Animal, or man?
Matt Sobin, The Last Machine in the Solar System
The story of The Last Machine in the Solar System is about a robotic artificial intelligence that has outlived human civilization by multiple billions of years. The machine has had an incomprehensible length of time to consider the demise of man and his own existence.
Craig Munro, The Bones of the Past
Life twisting magic, demonic possession and immortals who have outlived many of the gods themselves come together in this epic fantasy inspired by the likes of Glen Cook and Steven Erikson.
Go order a book at the Inksahres contest!
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.
The rumors are true! (Were there rumors? There may have been rumors). Along with Inkshares, we're running another Collection Contest to find the next great science fiction and fantasy novels. We are so thrilled with our current (in-production) collection, and we can't wait to see what else is out there!
Head over to Inkshares to get the whole scoop, and to learn how you can submit your idea!
As you may have heard on the podcast, we launched a contest on Inkshares last month to find the debut novel for the Sword & Laser Collection. This novel would be published by Inkshares with the S&L imprint, the author would get an interview on the show, as well as writing advice from Gary Whitta!
Well, the time has come, and the news is out!
Congrats to both of our winners, JF Dubeau and G. Derek Adams! You can pre-order and follow their books, and stay tuned for their interviews on the show!
Of course, a huge congrats to ALL of the top six finalists, who will also have their books published.
Good news, everyone! You know we love Inkshares, and now we've partnered with them to kick off their Collections. What does this mean?
To debut the Sword & Laser Collection on Inkshares, we will publish the five science fiction and fantasy projects with the most pre-orders by May 31st, 2015. Sword & Laser will choose their personal favorite from the top five and make it the debut book in their Collection.
The debut Sword & Laser Collection author will receive an interview on the Sword & Laser podcast. All five winners will receive a coaching session from Gary Whitta, Star Wars: Rogue One co-writer and author of Abomination, in addition to having their book published and distributed into independent bookstores, Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble.
You can read all about the content over on Inkshares. Can't wait to see what you guys are working on!
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