The March Madness semifinals are here! And the race is TIGHT. Our first (non-spoiler) thoughts about Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings. Nomination lists are out for Nebulas and Bradbury's, and nomming has begun for the Hugos (hint hint). Plus why everybody ate lasagna after our last episode!
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WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: BBQ Bacon and Cheese chicken sandwich
Veronica: Black bean tofu and brassicas
QUICK BURNS
The March tournament has reached the semifinals! In the Sword finale, The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty is facing off against Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. And the Laser final is Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky against The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. The winners of each of these votes will face off in the finale to become the April book pick.
Seth and Kenley: The shortlists for the LA Times book prizes are announced here
In the next few years you may be watching new Lord of the Rings movies from New Line Cinema.
John (Taloni) A newly rediscovered trove of Terry Pratchett stories is on its way to publication. News comes courtesy of Gail Carriger's twitter feed.
Mark: Orbit Books announces more Fonda Lee! Orbit will publish a new science fiction duology from the World Fantasy Award-winning author of Jade City!
Ruth: Season 2 of Shadow and Bone, based on the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo, will drop on Netflix on March 16th. You can watch the trailer on YouTube
Trike: Gene Wolfe... has two collections coming out this year.
The Wolfe at the Door - Tor
The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories - Subterranean Press
Mark and Trike - from Travis Baldree-- US Book Cover Reveal!
Trike and Scott - Book Invasion: A poster and trailer came out for Silo, based on the Hugh Howey novel: Wool Omnibus. Apple TV, May 5th.
Jan: The shortlist for the 2022 British Science Fiction Association Awards has been announced.
Jan: The 2022 Nebula Awards nominees have been announced!
RobertS: 2023 Hugo Awards nominations are open through April 30. Eligible members of the 2022 (Chicago) and 2023 (Chengdu) Worldcons can make nominations. I added this illustrious podcast to the Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom
BARE YOUR SWORD
Ruth said ""I’m a slush reader for the (BFS-award-winning) Apex Magazine and we have had a lot of conversation in our discord about how to handle AI submissions....A potential flood of submissions would definitely be an issue for us just in terms of dealing with the sheer volume, even if each individual story was obviously bad it takes time to open the file, take a look, and hit the “reject” button. So if that happens we might need to resort to closing for submissions as Clarkesworld has done, and then opening again for more restricted periods rather than staying open nearly all year as we currently do. .... You don’t write short fiction for the money, you write it because you have something important to say and the skill to say it in a way that is beautiful, compelling and memorable to read. These AI programs have nothing to say and no skill to say it, they can only regurgitate words from other sources. Even if they improve to the point of making a passable imitation of a skilled human writer, they’re never going to come up with anything truly original, surprising and unique - which is, after all, the point of science fiction. Yes, the robot genre is also, ultimately, the human genre.
Calvey: I couldn't join you guys on Discord, this week and I listened last night.
I'm making lasagna for dinner today...THANK YOU, because 'what's for dinner' is the hardest thing ever. Yes I have even asked ChatGPT who I call Hux.
AND from TT - I forgot that you both said you were eating lasagna but my subconscious must have been listening because night before last I had the urge to make homemade lasagna and it was vry vry good!!"
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings
Amazon Link
UFS: What are we nomming?
ADDENDUMS
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