S&L Podcast - #479 - Where Have All The Beef Suits Gone?

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Are there too many Nat 20s in Kings of the Wyld, our stance on Skarsgard as Murderbot, and we introduce the January pick (which has a lot of triggers).

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?

Tom: Peppermint bark, peppermint almonds, peppermint popcorn, gingerbread people

Veronica: bublé water

QUICK BURNS

Ruth and Tom: Murderbot is coming to Apple TV:

Mark noted that Martha Wells interviews Murderbot in the newest F(r)icton magazine! Reading requires purchase of a subscription or the individual issue."

Seth: Tor has released their best of the year list.

Seth: David Drake died this week.

Seth: The folks behind The Witcher and Wheel of Time adaptations have picked the Otherland series by author Tad Williams for the miniseries treatment"

Roberator: The Good Omens series was renewed for a third and final season:

BARE YOUR SWORD

Oaken: Regarding the Ray Bradbury/Kurt Vonnegut discussion

Ruth: Thanks for the shoutout to my article about Shadow and Bone!

You prompted me to have a couple of mini mince pies with my morning cup of tea. Mince pies are a seasonal staple over here, you can hardly avoid them from mid-November on. For extra indulgence, try one with a dollop of cream.

I should mention that, while mince pies don’t contain meat, they’re not always vegetarian- the filling sometimes contains beef suet.

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

January Book Pick

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

- Amazon link

WRAP UP

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

- Amazon Link

Book briefing

Spotify playlist

Perezge73

As a D&D player I loved Moog’s obsession with the Owlbear. I’ve never got to include one of those in any of my adventures. Even while watching the D&D movie, I thought about Moog when the Owlbear came out and I said to myself “That one’s for you buddy,”"

Aaron Bell

There was a mention on GR of 2 other books about ragtag bands of misfits with very similar cover designs to KotW, which sent me looking for fan art of the characters."

Here is a moody one of Larkspur that feels like it could be just out of frame on the cover.

And these are kind of fun. Personally I think Moog is the best here.

Apparently, I should have started here, seems like this is the master collection

Decado

Everything in this book seems so random. The author has a lot of cool ideas that he's throwing at the wall but it doesn't ever really form into a cohesive thing. This goes for the plot too, it's just random thing followed by random thing.

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 - #478 - Without A Lick of Condensation

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All the end of year book picks are out with lots of great titles to add to your own list! Did Vonnegut think he was a genre writer? And our non-spoilery thoughts about Kings of the Wyld.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?

Tom: Chicken Tacos
Veronica: Mince Pies

QUICK BURNS

Mark: Darcie Little Badger has written a prequel to Elatsoe, Sheine Lende, coming April 2024

Chris K: AudioFile Magazine has posted their best of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror audiobooks of 2023

Tamahome: Yes, the Finder scifi series was dramatized by Graphicaudio. You may find it at your library. We read the first book

Oaken: It is that time of year! Time has published their list of must-read books from 2023.

Jan: The Guardian has also picked their "Five of the best science fiction and fantasy books of 2023"

Decado and Jan: The Winners of the goodreads choice awards have been announced

Mark: Here's a year-end list for the eyes from LitHub: The 138 Best Book Covers of 2023

Tamahome: Another list to talk about: Lauren Beukes & Daniel Suarez have new ones. (Did I dream we read Beukes?)

CountZeroOr: More speculative fiction Light Novels getting audiobooks - this time a series of alternative universe sequels to Neon Genesis Evangelion, read by the (original) English dub voice for the character of Asuka

BARE YOUR SWORD

Iain:

Regarding gender presentation I was deeply disturbed by the male narrator of the Murderbot books when I listened to the audio books.

In text our favourite SecUnit presents as feminine to me. The narrator still sounds wrong.

John (Nevets)

I also read through book 4 (or maybe 5) before listening to 6, and I always had seen SecUnit as male from the beginning. But in thinking back, I don't know I had any reason to assume that. And I do think Murderbot does express some very protective maternal instincts, while still caring and doing it's job."

Ruth: I’m disappointed but not surprised that Shadow and Bone is getting cancelled. I actually wrote an article about the series and its approach to adaptation for Interstellar Flight Press:

John (Taloni) Ah, Vonnegut. If you ask me he is, in fact, a highfalutin' snooty guy. His books make fun of many situations, but I always got the impression he was laughing at SF fans and not with us.

Meanwhile Bradbury brings in literature, history, philosophy, you name it, and does so with ornate, flowery language - and does so without a lick of condescension. He is One Of Us.

Iain: Nah. Vonnegut feels misanthropic to me. It feels more like a laugh or scream situation. She is making fun of the idea of destiny. Not surprising after living through the Dresden fire bombing and other events he live through

Oaken: I don't think he was critical of science fiction, quite the opposite. At the end of his life he was bitter and angry that the ""literary fiction"" types didn't take him seriously precisely because he wrote science fiction.

He [biographer Charles Shields] describes Vonnegut asking him to look up his name in a dictionary (it was not there) and then look up Jack Kerouac (it was there). ""How about that?"" Vonnegut then states with a frown.

It is back to the literary fiction/genre discussion though. Clearly he thought of himself as a writer of literary fiction, and thought nothing wrong with writing literary SF. I don't know his thoughts on non-literary/plot-driven writing in general though"

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.

- Amazon Link

Book briefing

Spotify playlist

Who is your favourite Ragtag Band of Misfits from Fantasy books?

What are you nomming with your ears?

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