Good news, everyone!
Kristian Nairn, who plays Hodor on the HBO series Game of Thrones, will be joining us on the podcast next week! If you have any questions for him, please let us know over on the Goodreads thread!
In the meantime, make sure to follow him on Twitter!
Yes this week we wrap-up our thoughts on "A Dance with Dragons" and there is quite a bit to talk about. Meantimes there's other stuff in the worlds of Swords and Lasers, including a couple top 100 book lists to debate. And debate them we do!
QUICK BURNS
NPR: Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books
S&L Top-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Titles
Write an adventure novel in three days, the Michael Moorcock way
CALENDAR
8/16/2011 The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind
8/16/2011 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
8/17/2011 The Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley
8/18/2011 By Light Alone - by Adam Roberts
8/23/2011 The Measure of the Magic: Legends of Shannara By Terry Brooks
8/23/2011 The Power of Six (I Am Number Four) By Pittacus Lore
BARE YOUR SWORD
TV and Movies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Spoilers Imminent)
EMAILS
Veronica,
I would like to urge you to listen to Little Fuzzy with an open mind. The story is neither misogynistic, nor racist and I think that you may just find it delightful. Piper's work, like that of Asimov and Heinlein, is a product of the 60's. The characters smoke and drink martinis. True, there aren't many female leading characters. The lead female character is named Ruth and she is no secretary. She is a powerful lawyer and central to the plot. For the early 1960s I'd say this was fairly progressive.
The cast of human characters is also fairly diverse racially and culturally. Piper envisioned a universe that was not America-centric and numerous characters have Muslim or Hindi names or were the products of interracial marriage. By the standards of the day, this would be considered very progressive.
What might throw you is the fact that the story is indeed dated. The good guys and bad guys are pretty well defined and protagonist Jack Halloway is not flawed in the way that people expect a good character to be. He's something like an old cowboy, I suppose. Some of the technology is humorously dated -- he has to run his movie film through a portable processing lab, for example.
The story addresses some very deep social issues, mainly what constitutes humanity. How do we decide when to confer human rights to non-humans?
This book was the first sci-fi novel I read as a kid. The gateway drug, one could say. I've been hooked ever since.
Side note: You'll remember that during the live interview with David Gerrold at DragonCon last year, he mentioned that he had originally called his creatures Fuzzies but had to change the name to Tribbles because of the H.Beam Piper novel. Also, much of Piper's work is available for free as it has slipped into the public domain.
Anyway, I had to speak up for one of my very favorite authors. Thanks for your awesome podcast. I hope to see you guys again at DragonCon this year.
-Rick Parker
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Colleen, Josh, Nathanael, Dave, AJ, Steve, Mark, Rasputin, Ryan, Keith, Emma, Doug, Otto, Lou, T.K. Kenyon, Sam, Jonathan, Su-min, Hector, Laurie, Kevin, Robert and Elinor.
BOOK CHECK-IN
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
We're not done with the old George R.R. Martin book just yet, but we actually got a chance to see the guy in person, and met some of you folks too! And ate Mexican Food! We have no complaints about life now. Except for the series Alphas.
QUICK BURNS
Stannis and Melisandre cast for GAME OF THRONES
Tad Williams talks to George R.R. Martin
Pottermore launches competition to select beta users
Alastair Reynolds to pen DOCTOR WHO novel
Attack the Block makes fighting aliens cool again
World Science Fiction Travel Fund
CALENDAR
8/2/2011 The Diviner by Melanie Rawn
8/2/2011 Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
8/9/2011 The Magician King: A Novel by Lev Grossman
BARE YOUR SWORD
A Dance with Dragons > Loss of Focus (I just don't care anymore)
Finished Series (read last two or three posts
TV and Movies
Falling Skies is on (Spielberg produced)
Harry Potter 7 Part 2 (spoilers?)
BOOK CHECK-IN
A Dance with 50%-70% of the Dragons
EMAILS
I don't know if you talked about this before, but it always irks me that you're using percentages when talking about how far along you are in an ebook. Perhaps you should solicit suggestions for a word that defines an ebook page in your forum. Here's my suggestion:
Fage |fāj|
noun
a page in an ebook reader or ebook application of arbitrary size. I'm currently on fage 364 of 1,663 in The Wise Man's Fear iBook. ORIGIN early 21st century: from English fake page.
Cheers,
uv.
---------------
Hi Tom and Veronica!
I was wondering if you were planning to have another Sword and Laser meet up in Atlanta during DragonCon?
From Jenny C.
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Gary, Andy, Fattius, Clifford, Jay, Michelle, Gabriel, Mike, Tom, Chaines72, Jeremy, Dustin, Austin, Roger, Karen, William, Skip, Chris, Paul, Nathaniel, Andrew, Max, Antti, Ewan, Michael, Alyssa, Trike!
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
S&L Podcast - #70 - A Dance with 50-70 Percent of the Dragons
We're stoked about more than just A Dance with Dragons this week. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction is going online for free next year! Comic-Con is coming, which means awesome YouTube videos! And we sing a welcome to the newbies in our GoodReads forum. But you should listen anyway.
QUICK BURNS
George R.R. Martin confirms 'Dunk and Egg Vol I'
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction online and free
All the Coolest Events You Can’t Miss at Comic-Con 2011
CALENDAR
7/19/2011 - Star Wars: Choices of One By Timothy Zahn
7/26/2011 Ghost Story (Dresden Files, No. 13) by Jim Butcher
7/31/2011 Troika by Alistair Reynolds
8/2/2011 The Diviner by Melanie Rawn
8/2/2011 Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
BARE YOUR SWORD
From Singularity into La-La Land?
BOOK CHECK-IN
Veronica is at 36%. Tom is significantly behind her.
EMAILS
Starting at about 11:00 in the S&L podcast number 68, Tom said something like, "Those are three book trilogies, there's lots of examples of those. Addams is at least a five book trilogy." All with a straight face. Have fun, Rob
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Don, Don, James, Sarah, Melissa, Jenny, LordofSquirrels, Maranas, Tom, Ricardo, Mike, Dave, Grant, Scott, Nix, Costa, Mario, Peter, Gheric, Robert, Mojo, Ian, Jim, Slowfox, Zach.
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
We start dancing about dragons, face an uprising from the listeners, and talk with David Peterson. As the creator of the Dothraki language, he advises us to tell the audience "Anha ochomok yeraan kijinosi."
BARE YOUR SWORD
The thread from episode 67, AKA "Let's blame Tom"
INTERVIEW - Starts at 22:01
David Peterson - LCS President (Language Creation Society), creator of the Dothraki language.
David was nice enough to translate the passage on the show and pointed us to this link for an example of some diagramming of Dothraki:
"I will not have your body burned. I will not give you that honor. The beetles will feed on your eyes. The worms will crawl through your lungs. The rain will fall on your rotting skin... until nothing is left of you but bones."
Ánha vazhók khadoés yeroón virsalát. Ánha ochomók yeraán kíjinosi. Ínte vádakhie tíhoa ma khéwo áfilki vi gadimaán. Eyél várthasoe she ilekaán ríkhoya arrekaán vékha vósi yeroón vósma tolórro.
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
We kick off A Dance with Dragons a week early with a quick summary of the important stuff that happened in the last book, A Feast for Crows. Don't worry if you don't want to be spoiled, we save it all to the very end and give lots of warnings. But you have to tune in for some great Goodreads discussions, quick news, and of course the Calendar.
QUICK BURNS
Steven "Jumper" Gould's new novel 7TH SIGMA: genre-busting science fiction/western kicks ass
Neil Gaiman Reveals the Future of American Gods
Machine of Death deadline approaches
CALENDAR
7/12/2011 A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
7/19/2011 Star Wars: Choices of One By Timothy Zahn
7/26/2011 Ghost Story (Dresden Files, No. 13) by Jim Butcher
7/31/2011 Troika by Alistair Reynolds
BARE YOUR SWORD
Dance with Dragons accidentally ships early
Gateway Books for Future Scifi/Fantasy Lovers
BOOK PREVIEW
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Speculative World Map for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
The Song of Ice and Fire So Far: Part 1 - Ancient History
The Song of Ice and Fire So Far: Part 2 - The Dragon Kings
A Song of Ice and Fire So Far Part 3: Thrones and Kings
A Song of Ice and Fire So Far Part 4: Swords and Crows
EMAILS
I have to say that I'm very curious about the sound effects others are offering for the calendar & book check-in. I'm not very creative & don't expect to win. However I did come across some effects that I'd like to share from www.audiomicro.com. For the calendar the only thing I can think of is 'page flip by Soundjay'. For the new member 'reaction cheer by Blastwavefx'. For the book check-in 'foley book grab by Blastwavefx'. All of these are wav format & very brief. Because it's someone else's work, I don't know the legal issues for me to grab their work & send it to you for possible use. What got me curious the most is the sound effects people are choosing for calendar & book check-in. That curiosity is what lead me to see what sound effects are out there.
Robert M.
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Austin, Brian, David, PanamaJack, ViolinKnitter, Johanna, BravePixels, Frank, Leavey, Lynn, Dinre, Lorenzo, Ian, Ashley, Tero, Alex, Raul, Edvardas, Colin, Gumberkules, John, new Michaels 1, 2, and 3, aaaaand Jason.
John -- Long time listener, first time caller. First let me say I love the 'cast. I especially love the pace and format Veronica and Tom have adopted. (Note: As I listen, I like to picture them as the VeroniTom, a two-headed book-hoarding winged creature. Try it yourself, it gives the podcast that added extra flair.)
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
S&L Podcast - #67 - Previously, on A Song of Ice and Fire...
Well we've seen ol' Katniss, Peeta and Gale through to the end, and we wrap up all three books in The Hunger Games series. We also have some good book picks to get you through until July 12 when we start our next book, and book-bingers of the world unite!
QUICK BURNS
Jeff VanderMeer's public fiction project: The Journals of Doctor Mormeck
Who should be cast as the leads in the American Gods miniseries?
The Song of Ice and Fire So Far: Part 1 - Ancient History
CALENDAR
6/28/2011 Dragon’s Time: Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
6/29/2011 Naamah's Blessing, Jacqueline Carey (Tor)
7/5/2011 Heaven's Shadow by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt
7/5/2011 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection
7/12/2011 A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Audiobook pic Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
BARE YOUR SWORD
The Hunger Games > WAIT A MINUTE
books I dislike" by good authors.
BOOK CHECK-IN
Hunger Games series
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Hello to Blindman (came to us from Major Nelsons podcast), Dani, Robert (what is this, the cast of Game of Thrones?), Jason and Vladimir!
ADDENDUMS
Help us with sound effects! T-shirt contest! Send your .wav files of VERY SHORT segment sound effects to theswordandlaser@gmail.com by July 12 to win a Sword and Laser t-shirt!
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
This week we bring you the first two-word review of Geoirge R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons, some excellent hard scifi for you scientist types, and a philosophical discussion of dark YA books.
QUICK BURNS
Submit to Machine of Death VOLUME 2!
First review of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
The Best Hard Science Fiction Books of all Time
Interview with Dan "Robopocalypse" Wilson
Brandon Sanderson's "A Memory of Light" may not be published until later in 2012
CALENDAR
6/15/2011 The Uncertain Places, Lisa Goldstein (Tachyon Publications)
6/15/2011 Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (Orbit)
6/28/2011 Dragon’s Time: Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
6/29/2011 "Naamah's Blessing, Jacqueline Carey (Tor)
AUDIBLE PICK
Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
Narrated by Mike Chamberlain
BARE YOUR SWORD
The Hunger Games > Hunger Games vs. Battle Royale - Josh
The Hunger Games > Film Adaptation - Ken
The Hunger Games > The deaths of children - Veronica
BOOK CHECK-IN
Veronica: On book 3, loving it so far!
Tom: On book 2, loved book 1, book 2 still good -Finished Best Served Cold and Wolves of the Calla, on to Song of Susannah and Last Argument of Kings
EMAILS
Hello Veronica and Tom, Horkken here from Paris, France.
I know you talked about it on a previous episode but now that the HBO series is coming to France (this week (yes it's fast)) I wondered what is the best option.
Reading the book first and then watch the show or watch the show and then read the book ? I know it must be a common question but I usually have a rule, always read the book before watching an adaptation on screen but I really don't know with Game of Thrones.
So I would like your opinion on that. Thank you !
PS: In the original version you have 4 books so far, the french translation is in 12 books. The publishers are real butchers here. (It's even worse with Robin Hobb).
Thank you.
Horkken
NEW MEMBERS HELLOS
ADDENDUMS
George R.R. Martin signing and S&L meetup!
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
S&L listener Anne did an awesome cover of our theme music (originally composed by our pal Josh Lawrence) on her ukelele! How awesome is that? And she's only been playing the ukelele for three weeks!
Thanks Anne!!
This episode we get the distinct pleasure of chatting with N. K. Jemisin, author of our last book pick, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. We'll discuss a little about her writing process, how she invented the world her characters inhabit, and even get a bit political. Or at least social judicial.
We also go over the books that are coming soon in the science fiction and fantasy world, and annouce the winner of the recent poll on Goodreads for our next book, which was up against some pretty tough competition in the "science fiction written by a female author" category. No recap on Game of Thrones this week, but it'll be back next time! And we'll have plenty to talk about, trust us.
CALENDAR
6/3/2011 The Book of Transformations by Mark Charan Newton Tor
6/7/2011 Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
6/7/2011 Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk by Jean Rabe
6/7/2011 Jim and the Flims, Rudy Rucker (Nightshade Books)
6/15/2011 The Uncertain Places, Lisa Goldstein (Tachyon Publications)
6/15/2011 Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (Orbit)
INTERVIEW
BOOK KICK-OFF NEXT WEEK!
Book will be--- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
Today we check in on Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Little Fuzzy power ballad, and get Tom to hold off on his Game of Thrones TV talk until the bitter end.
63 S&L Podcast - #63 - Save it for the end by swordandlaser 63 S&L Podcast - #63 - Save it for the end by swordandlaser
QUICK BURNS
Power-ballad for John Scalzi's new Little Fuzzy novel
Use of Weapons declared best sci-fi film never made
GRRM gives a final status report on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
CALENDAR
5/24/2011 The Falling Machine, Andrew Mayer
5/25/2011 Chasing the Moon, Lee Martinez (Orbit)
6/3/2011 The Book of Transformations by Mark Charan Newton Tor
6/7/2011 Robopocalypse: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson
6/7/2011 Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk by Jean Rabe
6/7/2011 Jim and the Flims, Rudy Rucker (Nightshade Books)
BARE YOUR SWORD
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms > On spellings and pronunciations
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
We'll be interviewing NK Kemison on next week's episode, post your questions for her on our Goodreads forum.
EMAILS
Hi!
I just wanted to say that I love the Game of Thrones discussions on your Sword and Laser podcast! I really like to hear a discussion of the show, and I think you guys do a good job of reviewing the episode, while still being mindful of those who haven't read the book (like me!). I don't really have people to discuss this with around me, and I don't have time to hunt down some discussion group on the internet, so your discussions are perfect for me.
Also, I agree with Veronica. I felt a lot of the past few book picks haven't been ""engrossing."" Sometimes, I just want to read a book that you can't put down, and that draws you in. (That would NOT be Blindsight.) I'm fine if it's not considered ""high brow"" science fiction.
Thanks for putting on the podcast!!
Paul
***
Tom and Veronica,
Had an idea for how you could cover some of the big releases coming up without having to read them as the official book. I listen to a video game podcast (Gamespot presents the Hotspot if you want to plug) that is a weekly show about the news and latest releases. In their main show they cover very generally the new releases but when there is a big release, most recently Portal 2, they put out an entirely separate episode they call a spoilercast. This way the listeners have a choice to listen or not listen and avoids the whole pesky fast forwarding through spoilers or even having to warn about spoilers at all because its the purpose of the show. Doing this allows those reading the book along with you to listen should they want or if any pick up the book later to go back to the episodes and listen along. I know Tom and Veronica, you guys are often taxed for recording time but I don't think that this ""spoilercast"" would have to be anymore than 10-15 minutes a week, or maybe just a one off 30 minute episode to recap the book when you've both finished. Let me know what you think.
Follow both of you religiously and love all your shows, Sword and Laser especially.
Alex
This week we discuss how the Game of Thrones series is shaping up, how we make mental pictures of characters when we read, and the meaning of Hodor.
QUICK BURNS
Book Publishers, AOL To Launch New Book Recommendation Site
CALENDAR
5/10/2011 Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
5/10/2011 The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor)
5/17/2011 Embassytown by China Mieville
5/19/2011 The Order of the Scales by Stephen Deas
5/24/2011 The Falling Machine, Andrew Mayer (Pyr)
5/25/2011 Chasing the Moon, Lee Martinez (Orbit)
BARE YOUR SWORD
How do you imagine characters when you read a novel?
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
N. K. Jemisin is an African-American female writer of speculative fiction. Her 2010 debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award and the 2011 Hugo Award, and was ranked #5 on Amazon's "editors' pick" list of the year's best ten works of science fiction and fantasy.
The Inheritance Trilogy
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
The Kingdom of Gods (forthcoming in 2011)
We get excited about the reality of George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons and the scariness of a movie based on Ender's Game. We discuss how much vampires distracted from the concepts of Blindsight. And Veronica expresses her frustration at books without clear, satisfying endings.
QUICK BURNS
ENDER’S GAME WILL BECOME A LIVE-ACTION FILM
George R. R. Martin has delivered A Dance with Dragons to the publisher
...and another less vague post
Pre-order A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Bantam confirms that ADWD will NOT be split
How to remember and discover Joanna Russ
CALENDAR
5/3/2011 The Inheritance by Robin Hobb
5/5/2011 The Deserter by Peadar Ó Guilín
5/10/2011 Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
5/10/2011 The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor)
5/17/2011 Embassytown by China Mieville
5/19/2011 The Order of the Scales by Stephen Deas
BARE YOUR SWORD
BOOK WRAP-UP
Two Word Reviews of Blindsight
NEW BOOK PICK!
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
Discussion of the new book on GoodReads.
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
We discover a whole new world of books to add to our reading lists thanks to the Hugo award nominations, and we dive into further discussion about what makes for hard scifi. The answer is, well, difficult.
QUICK BURNS
THE HUGO AWARD NOMINEES YOU CAN READ RIGHT NOW — FOR FREE
The GAME OF THRONES title sequence
10 of the most badass dragons ever
CALENDAR
4/26/2011 Will Super Villains Be On the Final? Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
4/28/2011 Titus Awakes by Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore
5/3/2011 The Inheritance by Robin Hobb
5/3/2011 Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris - A Sookie Stackhouse Novel
5/10/2011 Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
5/10/2011 The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor)
5/17/2011 Embassytown by China Mieville
BARE YOUR SWORD
How did you like the new Doctor Who show?
BOOK CHECK-IN
EMAILS
I'm glad that I listened to your podcast. I also expected more out of the 1st episode, but welcomed the confusion/unanswered questions. I look forward & hope future episodes will fill in those blanks to keep me interested with new confusion/unanswered questions. I also agree about the 15 minutes before the premiere, what was that supposed to be anyway? LOL
I was about to get the books or ebooks to read, seriously thinking about it anyway. After listening to your podcast & hearing about the differences, I think that would add unwanted confusion. I'm not a S&L frequent listener or fantasy book reader, I wanted to hear about Game of Thrones. I may decide to hold off on the show & decide to read the book anyway. Then watch the series. Not sure yet. Probably normal having differences between the book & series, but it's new to me. At least I know not to read while watching.
Thanks for the education.
Robert
***
Hey, V&T...
Hate to sound like a PR flack (I'm not...just a reader) but I stumbled upon a real gem of a story at the Kindle store called ""Out Of The Dark"" by first-time author Lee Doty, and was impressed enough to write to you guys about it.
I took away hints of Neil Gaiman and Neal Stephenson, a big helping of Jim Butcher, a pinch of Tim Powers, and some essence of Elmore Leonard (all favorite authors), but this rookie manages to retain his own strong voice...and with humor no less!
Mr. Doty displays the writing chops of a veteran...pacing, character development, dialogue...all first class. No lasers, but swords, martial arts, and unconventional firearms are all employed to great effect without overwhelming the storyline.
According to his Kindle page he's a certified geek (programmer) who wrote this novel during the daily train commute to and from his day job, and he's self-published on the Kindle (good angles for an interview?)
Judging by the Kindle discussion board he's still enthusiastic enough to answer all his readers' emails personally.
Read the book for sure, but think about getting him on the podcast as well.
Cheers. Jon
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
We're still agog over the premiere of HBO's "A Game of Thrones" television adaptation, but we also both got suckered into being spoiled and we're intrigued by the sexual landscape of "Blindsight'.
QUICK BURNS
Game of Thrones recap
HBO option Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS
Win a speaking role in the American Gods audiobook
CALENDAR
4/19/2011 "The River of Shadows by Robert V.S. Redick
4/21/2011 "The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham
4/26/2011 "Will Super Villains Be On the Final? Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
4/28/2011 "Titus Awakes by Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore
5/3/2011 "The Inheritance by Robin Hobb
BARE YOUR SWORD
Did you ever read a book that you really hated?
BOOK CHECK-IN
Our iTunes app is live! Thanks to Nicole Spagnuolo!!
We're kicking off our brand new book selection, Blindsight, by Peter Watts! We don't have too many Quick Burns today... mostly just GoT news. Would you expect anything less?
QUICK BURNS
OMG GAME OF THRONES STARTS APRIL 17
Map of the free cities.
CALENDAR
4/12/2011 After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughan
4/12/2011 "All the Lives He Led, Frederik Pohl (Tor)
4/19/2011 "The River of Shadows by Robert V.S. Redick
4/21/2011 "The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham
4/26/2011 "Will Super Villains Be On the Final? Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
4/28/2011 "Titus Awakes by Mervyn Peake and Maeve Gilmore
5/3/2011 "The Inheritance by Robin Hobb
BARE YOUR SWORD
The Kingkiller Chronicles > Penny Arcade Comic
Novels About People Playing Videogames
Geek Smackdown: George R.R. Martin disses on Lost
sword and laser question ( sales credit)
BOOK KICK-OFF
Blindsight by Peter Watts
From Wikipedia: Blindsight is a hard science fiction novel by Peter Watts, published by Tor Books in 2006. On 29 March 2007, it was nominated for the Hugo Award in the Best Novel category.[1] Watts has also released the novel online under the by-nc-sa Creative Commons license.[2] The novel deals with a crew of astronauts investigating an extraterrestrial entity and explores the nature of identity and consciousness. The title refers to blindsight, a neurological condition with implications for philosophy of mind.
The Chinese Room scenario features prominently in the book.
EMAILS
Thanks to Harold for making us an Infostripe!
We wrap up the Shadow of the Torturer with special guest Josh Lawrence. And there's a lot to chew on! Where did Dorcas come from? Is the botanic gardens a time travel device? Like a Tardis? And what's with Severian's Mommy issues.
QUICK BURNS
Publication delays for the next Ian Tregellis novel
More DANCE WITH DRAGONS and GAME OF THRONES news
Stephen King has a new "Dark Tower" book coming in 2012
Richard Morgan finishes the Cold Commands
Neal Stephenson's gold farming thriller, REAMD
New Shel Silverstein book scheduled for September
CALENDAR
3/29/2011 "Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente Tor
3/29/2011 "Soft Apocalypse, Will McIntosh (Nightshade)
3/31/2009 "A Kingdom Besieged by Raymond E. Feist
4/1/2011 "Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell
4/12/2011 "After the Golden Age, Carrie Vaughn (Tor)
4/12/2011 "All the Lives He Led, Frederik Pohl (Tor)
BARE YOUR SWORD
Odd coincidences btw your SF/F reading and the real world
List of 12 recommended dystopian novels on HuffPost
What do you think the Claw is?
BOOK WRAP-UP
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' (Book of the Long Sun)
A comic book adaptation of Shadow
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.
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Photo by Lou AbercrombieWe have the pleasure of talking with Joe Abercrombie, author of The First Law trilogy and his most recent book, set in the same world, The Heroes. We also delve into the darker nature of fantasy these days, how that thieving leech Tolkien stole all of Joe's ideas and then time traveled backwards to make them look like his own, and we take some questions from Twitter.
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Best Sellers. For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook, to give you a chance to try out their service. For a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/sword. On Audible now: The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie.
Partner Sticker Fu. Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers at stickerfu.com.
As you all know, HBO is doing a huge push for The Game of Thrones miniseries (YAAAAY!!) on The Maester's Path, an interactive website where you can solve puzzles to obtain exclusive early looks and info about the show.
The third puzzles came out this week, and it deals with a very important task: defending the Wall.
Join me here, and discuss the puzzles on our GoodReads page.
Yes my friends, we heard A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin got a release date of July 12! So we get very excited about that as well as sharing a little insight into the scents of Westeros and the Dothraki Highlands. Plus a report from the Patrick Rothfuss signing!
QUICK BURNS
A Dance with Dragons will be released July 12!!!
More GAME OF THRONES TV goodness
The Game of Thrones scent pack
Rothfuss pledges to buy Firefly from Fox and give it away
Report from the SF in SF event with Patrick Rothfuss and Gail Carriger
LotR Rewritten From a Mordor Perspective
CALENDAR
3/15/2011
The Gravity Pilot by M. M. Buckner
3/22/2011
Black Halo by Sam Sykes
Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon
3/29/2011
Embedded by Dan Abnett
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
Tiassa by Steven Brust
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience
Jim Butcher posted sample chaper from Ghost
Father Inire's Fish (reference spoiler, Shadow, ch 20)
BOOK Check-in The Shadow of the Torturer Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' (Book of the Long Sun)
Just listened to your podcast # 53 Shadow and Claw.
There was some discussion about whether middle earth was our world previously. And Veronica was fairly adamant about it not being our world.
A few things I have always heard. First off in The Hobbit in the very beginning Tolkien pretty much said that Hobbits were still around and that they used their ""Magic"" to escape being seen by us ""dumb clumsy humans"
Also I had always heard that Tolkien was upset about England not having it's own mythology and that is why he wrote the Silmarillion.
Just some thoughts I had about that. Wondered what you guys thought.
Thanks,
David Mitchell
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Hi.
I'm a first time listener from Korea and really enjoyed the last two episodes. I always wanted to find a podcast that contains the information about SFF books. Most of the SF podcasts deal with mostly flims or games. It's really good to have a show like sword and laser=)
Since I'm from Korea, the numbers of SFF authors I know are very limited. But I got to know some authors thanks to your show.
It's quite hard for me to get copies of books cuz most of the books haven't even been translated into Korean(except for the universially famous books like Harry Poter or Lord of the Ring series). So the only chance I've got is to get the e-book copy from the internet. The reason I brought up this matter is that it might be good to have an episode about classic SFF books you can get free on the internet(Project Gutenberg and stuff). You put some of your favourite classic novels in the episode. It would be great!=)
Anyway I really like listening to your show and keep up the good work!
Much Love, Bini
ADDENDUMS
This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Best Sellers. For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook, to give you a chance to try out their service. For a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/sword. On Audible now: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Partner Sticker Fu. Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers at stickerfu.com.
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