S&L Podcast - #481 - Big Trouble in Little Worldcon
/Surprise, there's a problem with hosting the Hugos in China. Plus: Keanu Reeves is co-writing with China Mieville, we kick off our February read, The Shadow of the Gods. And our spoilery thoughts on The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.
WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: Pork chop, beans and rice
Veronica: Protein shakes
QUICK BURNS
Seth: Full trailer for 3 Body Problem captures epic scope of Liu Cixin’s novel
Mark: 2024 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced
Seth: Next move for Keanu Reeves? Writing a sci-fi novel with China Mieville apparently
Jan: Author Rie Kudan has won Japan's Akutagawa Prize with a Science Fiction Novel that was partly generated by AI. She explained that she estimates about 5 percent of the book quotes sentences generated by ChatGPT.
Mark: 2023 Hugo Award nominating and final ballot stats published.
Sword & Laser is on the list of fancast nominees (see page 34) but didn't get enough nominations to crack the top six.
Jan added "Interestingly, Babel by RF Kuang was ruled ineligible and that seems very strange considering how praised that book has been."
And Joanna noted There is a slightly enlightening discussion at File770
And Paul added "Not only was Babel excluded from eligibility from the Hugos, but so was Xiran Jay Zhao, author of the Iron Widow, fan writer Paul Weimer, and episodes of The Sandman TV series according to:
Xiran's twitter feed also shares some of the discourse concerned members of the SFF community have shared with Dave McCarty, the administrator for the last Hugo's":
There's also discussion of this in the Discord as well"
BARE YOUR SWORD
"Hi Tom and Veronica!
I recently listened to episode #480 after noticing a bunch of people clicking over to Hardcover in our analytics. I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for the mention and for trying out Hardcover!
We're still a relatively small book tracking site, having just launched in October 2023 after 2 years building and iterating. We just recently hit 5,000 members and feel like we're just getting started. We're an open book on our numbers and stats, so if you have any questions about anything, let me know.
If you have any feedback on Hardcover or wishlist items for a book website in general, I'd love to hear your thoughts or jump on a chat.
This is Hardcover's first mention on a podcast, and for that I'm super grateful and excited. 🙌
Thanks again,
Adam"
Stephen: "I really really really wanted Murderbot to employ the animation that is used in some of Netflix's Love Death and Robots episodes. Watch S3 " In Vaulted Halls Entombed " and imagine Murderbot being presented in that way. Also since Muderbot keep the faceplate down around humans, is this not going to be like Mandalorian situation."
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
KICK OFF
Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
WRAP UP (SPOILERS)
January Book Pick
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
What was the Shining mechanic?
It could be, it might be, it is! A home run! Holy Cow Lauren Beukes!!
"Tassie Dave
After finishing the book last night, I decided to try the AppleTV adaptation.
To say it is based on the book is an understatement. I only watched the first episode, but it is a very loose adaptation, so far.
Great cast, but very different from what I pictured from the book.
Elisabeth Moss is about 15 years older than the Kirby in the book.
Dan is only slightly older than Kirby. It won't be creepy when he falls for her. 😉
There seems to be weird reality shifts occurring in Kirby's life (Not in the book)
Kirby Mazrachi is not her real name in the show, it is a chosen name. She already works for the newspaper. Dan's not a sports reporter.
I'm not sure I will continue, but it is a lot different."
ADDENDUMS
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