We chat with Timothy Zahn about his new book Soulminder. What happens when you can store a person’s life essence separate from their body? And yes, we get in a little talk about Star Wars and the prospects for Grand Admiral Thrawn and Jaina Solo too.
S&L Podcast – #189 – Literary Virginity, Literally
We dig into the first four stories from Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others, and boy do we learn a lot about ourselves and others. Plus you’ll want to take your vitamins since Margaret Atwood’s latest novel won’t be available to read for 100 years and we explore the idea of regaining your literary virginity.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Lipton Diet Citrus Green Tea
Veronica: B12 in water
QUICK BURNS
From Sandra: Legendary TV has acquired the rights to John Scalzi’s novel “Lock In” to adapt into a pilot for a potential series.
Legendary TV Buys John Scalzi Novel ‘Lock In’
From Joe Informatico: The Man in the High Castle TV series has cast its lead actress. Alexa Davalos, of Angel and Chronicles of Riddick fame, will play Juliana.
Also from Sandra the newshound! – Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 novel Good Omens is to be adapted for Radio 4 by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy director Dirk Maggs.
Margaret Atwood is writing a new book, but you won’t be able to read it this century. She will be storing her next novel for 100 years in a library in Norway as part of a project organized by Scottish artist Katie Paterson.
PICKS
For the next six weeks we’ll be highlighting picks from supporters of our Kickstarter. Look for threads to be posted in the Goodreads Group once every two weeks. We’ll collect your thoughts and comments on the books then toss one around on each show until we’ve covered all six. These aren’t official book club picks, just a way to expose folks to a few more options for things to read. We’d especially love to hear from folks who’ve already read these!
Our first pick comes from Jonathan Strickland. Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time
Book Discussion: ShadowShow by Brad Strickland
BARE YOUR SWORD
What do you want to see in the store?! Also, we have a store!
Litterarius Virginitas – what?
For the love of Stanislaw Lem
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Hey guys! I’m a fan of your work and I recently subscribed to the podcast. I was wondering if you have already read “”The Commonwealth Saga”” by Peter F. Hamilton. I found it to be a great read (or listen, since I consumed it through Audible).
The whole universe it portrays is fascinating and I found myself devouring all 5 books as fast as I could. The last three books (“The Void Trilogy”) combine sci-fi and fantasy in a great way and I think you will enjoy it.
Thanks and keep up what you’re doing with S&L and your other projects because they are great.
Rodrigo
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I’m writing to plug an anthology that I helped put together along with the rest of my Clarion Workshop class (UCSD 2012). We released it yesterday, we worked hard on it, and we’re proud of it. It has 17 stories, one from nearly every person in my class, and they run the gamut from dark to light, satire to serious, sf to horror to fantasy. Several of the authors are award-winners, including Sam J. Miller, who won this year’s Shirley Jackson Award for his story “”57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides.”” Our Week 1 teacher Jeffrey Ford graciously provided the foreword.
It’s a diverse tome that was more than a little inspired by the success you guys had with the S&L Antho. We’re trying to do our own little Humble-Bundle-style, pay-as-you-can thing with this. 100% of the net proceeds are going to the Clarion Foundation to support future workshops. There’s more info at http://awkwardrobots.org.
Luke Pebler
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BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
For next month: Veronica started a thread to brainstorm
Stories of Your Life and others by Ted Chiang
A Steampunky Giveaway!
Want a signed copy of The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato? We’ve got three to give away! All you have to do is be a member of the Info Beam. Sign up below by Friday, Sept 12th to be entered to win!
The Clockwork Dagger is the story of a gifted young healer, Octavia Leander, who sets off on her first mission. Her goal is to get to a plague-ridden village and help the people there, but a series of strange occurrences—including murder—rock the airship she is traveling on. The dashingly attractive steward may be one of the infamous Clockwork Dagger assassins, her cabin-mate hides secrets (and an alarming penchant for writing pulp novels), and Octavia is beginning to discover that her magical gift for healing may be even more powerful than anyone thought. In short, this airship voyage is much more eventful than Octavia expected, and she’s stumbled into the midst of a conspiracy that may reach the crown itself.
The Info Beam
The S&L Newsletter
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S&L Podcast – #188 – It’s a Dragon Con Plex
We talk with Naomi Novik, fanfic writer, Ruby on Rails coder and author of the Temeraire series, from DragonCon 2014 in Atlanta! Then, we wrap up Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Dos Perros
Veronica: Blackstone Pumpkin Ale
Naomi: Hap and Harry’s Original Tennessee Ale
Thanks to Les for bringing us the beer!
Blood of Tyrants came out in mass market paperback July 29 and look for Uprooted coming June 30, 2015.
ADDENDUMS
We time travel and wrap up The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Next time we’ll kick off Stories of Your Life and others by Ted Chiang
And check out our new STORE!
We won a Parsec Award!
DragonCon was awesome as always, but Tom and I are thrilled that we won a Parsec Award for Sword & Laser! Specifically, the award for Best Speculative Fiction Fan or News Podcast (General).
Thank you to the Parsec Committee, all the voters, and of course our listeners! Here’s the list of all the finalists and winners for 2014.
See Sword and Laser Live This Saturday!!
If you’re in Atlanta this weekend and headed to DragonCon you MUST join us in the Crystal Ballroom of the Hilton at 2:00 PM (Eastern) on Saturday afternoon August 30th. Why?
BECAUSE we’re doing a live Sword and Laser episode and interviewing the incomparable Naomi Novik! You cannot miss it. So DON’T! See you there.
Time: Sat Aug. 30, 02:30 pm Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
S&L Podcast – #187 – How to Win a Hugo
We congratulate all the winners of the Hugos and chat with Aidan Moher about how he took home the best fanzine Hugo for A Dribble of Ink. Veronica milks him for info on how to win, and then we learn a way you can help more people become better writers and win more Hugos!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Third Shift Amber Lager
Veronica: Hell or High Watermelon
QUICK BURNS
Louie: Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice (Orbit) took the top prize of Best Novel. No surprise there. I believe Veronica called this result, months ago. What do you think about the other winners? How many of the nominees have you read?
Best Related Work: We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink) and Best Fanzine: A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher
Alain: The class of 2012 Clarion writers work shop is raising money for the non-profit Clarion Foundation. The Clarion workshop is a six week course/session where aspiring writers who want to write Science Fiction and Fantasy can hone and improve their craft. Many now famous writers in the field have attended here is a far from exhaustive list. Anyway the class of 2012 have put together an anthology to raise funds. It’s a name your price kinda of thing for .99 cents upwards. Luke R. Pebler who appears in the S&L anthology has a story in here as well as 16 other writers. A very cheap way to check out some up and coming writers.
Paul: July is biggest comic month in history making $53 million and the number one selling comic? Rocket Racoon #1. Rack up another one for the “Unknown Property” of Guardians of the Galaxy. P.S. Groot debuted in November 1960 in Tales to Astonish #13. Years Before Spider-Man, The X-Men or every one of the Avengers except for the original Captain America series (March 1941). Just For Posterity Ronan The Accuser (August 1967). The Original far future Guardians of the Galaxy which was a completely different team (January 1969). Adam Warlock (The already announced GotG 2? 🙂 (April 1972) Drax (1973) Gamora (1975) Star Lord and Rocket Racoon both (1976)
terpkristin: Jennifer Lee, who co-wrote Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, has been tapped to work on the screenplay for a live-action version of A Wrinkle in Time. I loved loved loved loved this book when I was a kid and am cautiously optimistic about this project…
George R.R. Martin Says Game of Thrones Readers Have Already Predicted the Series Ending
Syfy’s Childhood’s End Adaptation Gets Closer and Closer to Happening
PICKS
Lindsay writes: Prior to reading The Name of the Wind, I read: Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis: Picked it up after listening to an interview with the author on the Skiffy and Fanty show and it was excellent YA Fantasy. Every time the main character blinks his perspective switches to a girl in a secondary fantasy world.
August 26 – The Broken Eye (Lightbringer) by Brent Weeks and Echopraxia by Peter watts (continuing on from Blindsight) Lock in by John Scalzi
September 2 – Sleeping Late on Judgement Day (Bobby Dollar) by Tad Williams
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar
BARE YOUR SWORD
Sword and Laser do #LonCon3 ! @swordandlaser http://t.co/ahzB5y3SXf
@swordandlaser Just got this. Looks like a fantastic lineup. http://t.co/V2Bg71q3qJ
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
Next Month’s book pick! Stories of Your Life and others by Ted Chiang
This month’s Pick:
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The always important casting thread
Theories from: The Re-Readers’ Thread posted by Jack
ADDENDUMS
Sign up for the newsletter to enter to win a copy of Half a King by Joe Abercrombie! See form on the right-hand nav on the website here!
Have a Free Story from the Anthology
The Sword and Laser newsletter is our way of reaching out directly to you and letting you know when special things are coming up. As a way of saying thanks for signing up, we’re giving away stories.
“Once upon a time there was a frog stormtrooper–“
Sorry I’ve been informed by Veronica that we need to give away good stories if we really want to thank people for signing up for our newsletter.
Sign up for our newsletter and receive the story “A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes” by Aidan Moher, from the Sword and Laser Anthology!
Just head to http://offers.swordandlaser.com/
Have a free story from the Anthology!
The Sword and Laser newsletter is our way of reaching out directly to you and letting you know when special things are coming up. As a way of saying thanks for signing up, we’re giving away stories.
“Once upon a time there was a frog stormtrooper–“
Sorry I’ve been informed by Veronica that we need to give away good stories if we really want to thank people for signing up for our newsletter.
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subscribed:
1275
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Email Marketingby GetResponse
Sign up for our newsletter and receive the story “A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes” by Aidan Moher, from the Sword and Laser Anthology!
Update: Thanks to everyone who signed up!
We’ll be doing more giveaways on the newsletter soon. Sign up below and never miss out!
S&L Podcast – #186 – The Name of the Wind is Dave
Almost every book is becoming a TV show or movie. Also we tell you how to be a part of a living creation of Alice in Wonderland and we kick off Patrick Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Smithwick’s Irish Ale
Veronica: 21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon
QUICK BURNS
ALAIN writes: Ghost Brigades part of the John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War Series is going to air on SyFy. If they keep the tone of the novels it should be pretty cool. It’s nice to see the SyFy channel air more Science Fiction and Fantasy. The irony is it took other cable channels to show them that the genre is viable if done properly. Scalzi has a self-interview about the news.
Dara: A Dragonriders of Pern movie is totally happening. Probably. Maybe.
Michele: So this might make Tom happy, or not 😉 Amazon Studios picks up The Man in the High Castle.
Rob: Syfy will be adapting the magicians. That’s right, not HBO, not showtime, not AMC. Syfy. Hurray?
Nokomis.FL: Starz is previewing the first episode of Ron Moore’s depiction of Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ on their website. You don’t need to be a subscriber, but you do need to be in the US.
Ben: Jonathan Pryce and Alexander Siddig (among others) have been cast for Season 5 of Game of Thrones. No sign yet of Victarion Greyjoy and unfortunately it doesn’t look good for fans of Arianne Martell, so let’s all revisit her picture from the Fantasy Flight Games board game and pretend.
Aubrey: There’s a Kickstarter for temporary literary tattoos. “Litographs Tattoos: Wearable Tributes to Iconic Books” – I like the designs and they have a tattoo chain idea for the first 2500 pledgers to get a tattoo with a quote from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” so the whole book would be “”worn”” by all the backers. Pretty nifty idea, I think.
Sony stops selling ereaders
PICKS
Kaleb: Deadly Class by Rick Remender has to be the most dark and twisted comic I’ve ever read! Anyone who reads this comment, I highly recommend you read it.
Half A King by Joe Abercrombie just arrived at my library! I’m excited to read my first book by Abercrombie.
Out today August 5th! The Magician’s Land: A Novel by Lev Grossman, Severed Souls by Terry Goodkind, The Widow’s House (The Dagger and the Coin) by Daniel Abraham
NEXT Week: August 12: Fool’s Assassin (Realm of the Elderlings: Fitz and the Fool Trilogy) by Robin Hobb
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar
BARE YOUR SWORD
Thane: Author or Book-Related Dreams?
Dave: SDCC Epic Fantasy panel: Putting the Epic in Epic Fantasy
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss