S&L Podcast - #431 - A Peach Blossom of a Novella
/A mad, mad March has arrived! Every year in March we run a tournament to determine the April book pick. And like some actual sporting tournaments, we often have to begin that March tournament in February. So it's underway! If you're unfamiliar, it works like this: There are 16 books, divided into a Sword group and Laser group. Though, each group has one "Wild Card" book that's kind of a cross-genre selection. There are now 8 polls up pitting two books against each other. After the week is over, we will take the winner of each poll and match it up against the winner of another poll. So next week we would have 4 polls. And the week after that two polls. And in the final week the last two remaining books go head-to-head in a poll to become the April book pick.
It's all for fun and often we use the tourney entrants to give us ideas for future picks as well. If nothing else, the 16 books competing are great potential adds to your TBR list!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: St. Francis 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon
Veronica: GunBun 2021 Sauvignon Blanc
QUICK BURNS
"HOW I BUILT THIS WITH GUY RAZ Goodreads: Otis and Elizabeth Chandler"
Mark: LA Times Book Prize finalists announced today.
Trike: Vanity Fair has the first look at Amazon’s Lord of the Rings.
Mark: Shooting for HBO MAX series House of the Dragon has wrapped.
Kristy H: This will be awesome if it eventuates: A Riftwar Cycle Series Is Once Again in Development.
BARE YOUR SWORD
Hi there, Love love love your show for years :) Met million years ago. Anyhoo.. I have been working at Logi and Blue for quite a few years and wanted to drop some quick tips, New blue microphone is side address , not top address so if you speak into front vs top it will sound way better. It is a confusing shape and everyone does it. Also.. if you download the GHUB software..I know it can be a tiny pain to download and install extra software but you can use all kinds of great live filters with it .. like a gate / EQ / compressor etc.. also if you have a Nvidia video card it will give even more features for you like room echo noise or ai noise suppression. Thank you for all the great videos and book recommendations .. you keep me reading and audio booking !!! -- Doug
Jerry Perez over on Twitter points us to a TikTok video made by author Samantha Shannon, who wrote The Priory of the Orange Tree (which Veronica loved), where she says that she's just finished her next novel, set in the same world, and it's even LONGER! https://twitter.com/raging3vil/status/1494656238352805888
This isn't really a Bare Your Sword, but I want Tom to explain why he's famous on K-Pop Twitter.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
KICK OFF
Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton https://bookshop.org/a/56085/9780345479211
WRAP UP
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
A double-header from Eric, who really loved the book:
Awesome Pick! (full spoilers within!)
Other SFF Stories with Similar jobs (some spoilers inevitable)
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
