S&L Podcast - #320 - We are Sword (We are Laser)

The March tournament was so much fun, and in the end we'll read We Are Legion (We Are Bob) which is an appropriately fun book. We also talk about other podcasts that are cool to listen to (in ADDITION to this one, heh) plus our last thoughts on the beautiful complexity of An Unkindness of Ghosts.

Download directly here.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Antinori Pian Delle Vigne Brunello Di Montalcino 2010

Veronica: A to Z 2014 Pinot noir from Oregon

I was gonna save this for Bare Your Sword, but I think it's much more appropriate for What Are We Drinking. Over on Twitter, Alex posted:

 

QUICK BURNS

Handmaid's Tale returns April 25 - New trailer out

Trailers and airdate for the BBC's TV adaptation of China Mieville's THE CITY AND THE CITY - begins on Friday 6 April on BBC2 in the UK.

Mark: Nominees for the 2018 Audie Awards (for audio books published in 2017) are up and the list has many categories. There is one S+L pick and several authors of past picks.

Fantasy
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss
(Also Catherynne M. Valente is nominated for The Refrigerator Monologues)

SF
Provenance by Ann Leckie
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
and Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is also nominated in the Fantasy category, so why can't he get a break during S+L March Madness?

John (Nevets): I guess it is not a sure thing yet, but it looks like Amazon is trying to make The Three-Body Problem trilogy into a big budget TV series.

Could be interesting, but with the Chinese roots so ingrained in this franchise, I really hope they treat it right, instead of just making a cool movie off of a hot book. I guess I'm saying I hope it is more "Black Panther", or "House of the Flying Daggers" then "Ghost in the Shell."

Edit, sort of: I actually meant to put "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" instead of "House of the Flying Daggers", but on doing a quick refresher of the production on each, I sort of think I like the "House of the Flying Daggers" reference better, It was more fully Chinese produced, then CTHD

BARE YOUR SWORD

Lauren (Posted this in Quick Burns. It's not news so really doesn't belong there but it is interesting) Nisi Shawl wrote a "Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction"

It's from 2016, and I couldn't find it in past Quick Burns threads, but I just discovered it and thought it was a great resource for folks who are looking for inspiration for more diverse authors to read. There are plenty of books on here I've never heard of, and a whole bunch of these went immediately to my TBR list.

Changing tastes in author

Other book podcasts

Speaking of other podcasts, I wanted to take a moment to play a trailer for a podcast called Flash Forward. Check it out!

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor

Book Briefing

Wrap Up

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

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 - #319 - An Unkindness of Blurbs

More Pratchett TV coming, and more Rothfuss books?  Plus more deep discussion about an Unkindness of Ghosts, including why blurbs may lead you astray.        

Download directly here.
        
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?        
Tom: Water        
Veronica: Homemade Whiskey Blend        
        
QUICK BURNS
        
Michele: The BBC announced it's picked up a six-part Discworld series. Deadline says it goes under the working title The Watch. The production company founded by author Terry Pratchett, Narrativia is co-producing and Simon Allen (Das Boot, The Musketeers) may write. The Watch is supposedly a procedural crime series set in Discworld's main city of Ankh-Morpock.  
https://io9.gizmodo.com/terry-pratchetts-discworld-is-finally-being-turned-into-1823424350    
        
Shad: Tor.com has a story where Patrick Rothfuss said that the Kingkiller Chronicles are a prologue to another set of books. No word on a release date for the end of the prologue, aka Doors of Stone.    
https://www.tor.com/2018/03/07/patrick-rothfuss-kingkiller-chronicle-prologue-the-doors-of-stone-book-3/    
        
Mark: Mark  First teaser trailer for Christoper Robin, a live-action Pooh tale from Disney.
https://nerdist.com/christopher-robin-teaser-ewan-mcgregor-winnie-pooh/    
also: A noir tale of Pooh told in tweets by Lavie Tidhar  https://twitter.com/lavietidhar/status/971164407270125568    
        
Julie: A new (8-part) adaptation of ‘His Dark Materials’ is in the works, according to Deadline. To be directed by Tom Hooper and to star Dafne Keen (from ‘Logan’) as Lyra. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda has been cast as Lee Scoresby. 
http://deadline.com/2018/03/the-kings-speech-director-tom-hooper-logan-star-sign-up-for-his-dark-materials-adaptation-1202319285/    
        
Silvana: Cover reveal and excerpt from Robert Jackson Bennett's new fantasy series: 
I really love his Divine Cities trilogy and it seems that the new series will be set (again) in urban areas (yay) and now instead of gods, we'll have industrialized magic (kewl). Release
http://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/03/new-series-from-robert-jackson-bennett-cover-reveal-and-excerpt/?cdi=4810E6D0B64805A9E0534FD66B0AA956&ref=PRH2028E2388CC9    

Terpkristin: Tad Williams has setup a crowdfunding campaign to make merch related to his books/series. Perks include a new short story, pins, shirts...     
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tad-williams-is-making-merch-entertainment    
        
BARE YOUR SWORD
        
Any @vaginalfantasy or @swordandlaser fans planning on attending @Dublin2019? Hoping to host another Worldcon meetup!    @liz_loves_lit    
        
30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced Interesting list, and one is @swordandlaser book of the month.    Silvana @silvaubrey    
https://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/news/03/06/lambda-literary-award-finalists/        
        
Fascinating discussion from @katemosse on Frankenstein ; or, The Modern Prometheus and influence over 200 years. Good to continue after reading it with @swordandlaser in January. #DubaiLitFest #frankenstein200 https://twitter.com/cferstat/status/969511974022402053/photo/1    Cameron @cferstat    
        
Solarpunk    
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19194883-solarpunk    
        
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION        
        
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
https://www.amazon.com/Unkindness-Ghosts-Rivers-Solomon/dp/1617755885/?tag=theswoandlas-20    

Book Briefing
https://www.patreon.com/posts/17203664    
      
AUoG: How much does the Blurb matter?    
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19247415-auog-how-much-does-the-blurb-matter-no-spoilers-please    
        
AUoG: spoilers, triggers and other warnings    
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/19250076-auog-spoilers-triggers-and-other-warnings    

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    http://swordandlaser.com/picks/