S&L Podcast - #139 - The Curse of Chalion Wrap-up

/

We are busy!  We're wrapping up our August book The Curse of Chalion.  We're kicking off our September book The Demolished Man (Kindle edition). We're setting up interview with Jim Butcher, R. A. Salvatore and Robyn Schneider and we're headed to DragonCon in Atlanta. All the things! Now! 

 WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Found Object Malbec 2011
Veronica: 2011 Tablelands Sauvignon Blanc Lagoon Hill

QUICK BURNS

Read the first chapter from Ramez Naam's new nanotech thriller, Crux
R. A. Salavtore's Demon Wars TTG Kickstarter
Anton Strout and Worldbuilders
One Science Fiction Author Who Does Everything You Want from the Genre
Rare Dune art from Omni reveals Frank Herbert's original vision
The World Fair of 2014 According To Asimov (From 1964)
LoneStarCon 3 to Feature Author Jay Lake with Film Premiere and Special Exhibit
This Fall's Must-Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Books

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Neil Gaiman provides update on AMERICAN GODS TV show
GAME OF THRONES poised to become HBO's biggest-ever show

BOOK CHECK-IN

Kick off Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Kick-off thread
Wikipedia article
Jo Walton on The Demolished Man

Wrap-up The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
What a Refreshing Read--SPOILERS
Standalone novel?
Casting Call

BARE YOUR SWORD
Book Soundtrack
Brandon Sanderson to Write 2nd Infinity Blade Novella

ADDENDUMS
A brief note about the Anthology

Come see us at Dragon*Con!

Saturday August 31

2:30 PM – Sword and Laser w/ guest Jim Butcher

Marriott – A601-A602

 

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 150,000 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.

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio.  For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code SWORD8.

Direct link to episode!

Come see us at DragonCon!

/

Hey all.  If you're going to be at DragonCon this weekend in Atlanta, come see the show live!

We'll be sitting down with author Jim Butcher for an hour of conversation and questions from the audience. (See the Author question section to submit a question for the show!)

The show is Saturday August 31 at 2:30 PM  IN the Marriott Room A601-A602

And the word is we will have t-shirts and bookmarks. Yay!

Hope to see you there!

 

S&L anthology acceptance emails have been sent!

/
o677q.jpg

Hello everyone! 

After many months of reading, arguing, fighting, blood oaths, sacrificing to the gods of literature, shoot-outs at dawn, etc... we have picked our twenty selections for the Official Sword & Laser Anthology!

If you have received an email from us, congrats! If you have not (by the time of this blog posting) then you didn't make this round. But let us just say that this task was nearly impossible, considering the amazing talent and writing skills that so many of you exhibited with your submissions. We are truly awed by all of you, thank you. 

Also thanks to our crew of intrepid submission readers, including Josh, CJ, Becca and Aaron. The final judgments came down from Tom and me, so please direct all of your hate mail to us specifically ;)

Again, I can't stress enough how difficult it has been to make these choices. We all became very protective over our favorites!

If you want to discuss more, please head over to Goodreads. Congrats again to our anthology contributors!

 

 

S&L Podcast - #138 - Why Scott Lynch and Neil Gaiman are awesome

/

 We give our final views on Ringworld, and Veronica reveals her secret love at the end of the show. Plus we kick off our August pick, the Curse of Chalion. Nothing very shocking there. BUT we DO deliver a Yet-sized serving of news about books becoming movies. Don't sasquatch our dreams. Bigfoot your way into the show now. 

*(editor's note: Tom is no longer allowed to write show descriptions after beer)

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Fuller's ESB

Veronica: 2011 Hangtime Cellars Pinot Noir California

QUICK BURNS

Sneak Peek: Cover art for Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

Scott Lynch auctioning REPUBLIC OF THIEVES for charity

Cover art for Brandon Sanderon's WORDS OF RADIANCE

One of the world's most popular SF novels finally coming in English

172 Reasons To Read Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in August 2013 (A GIANT Book Cover Gallery)

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Disney wants to turn Artemis Fowl into the new Harry Potter

GAME OF THRONES finds its Mace Tyrell (plus a general series update)

Bridge Of Birds Movie being made by Vispop

David Weber's 'Honorverse' books to be turned into movies

Sandman author Neil Gaiman ventures into gaming with Wayward Manor

BOOK KICK-OFF

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion Wikipedia article

Lois McMaster Bujold interview on  Sword and Laser

BOOK WRAP UP

Ringworld by Larry Niven

BARE YOUR SWORD

I have never finished the Dune series due to dislike.

What's so wrong about giving up on a book?

EMAIL

New comment from Francisco on S&L Podcast - #137 - A rasher of Abercrombie.

On race and genre novels:
I know that Pratchett has his characters (in the City Watch novels) reference the problems of policing in a muli-vital society.
Here's a question for you:
If you assume that race is not going to be an issue in the future do you mention it?

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 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.  

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio.  For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code SWORD8.

Direct download link!

Sneak Peek: Cover art for Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

/

We're big fans of Adam Christopher here at Sword and Laser and he's buttering us up some more (as if he needs to) by giving us a sneak peek at the cover for his next book, Hang Wire (Coming January 28th from Angry Robot Books).

HangWire-thumb.jpg

He mentioned the book took place in San Francisco the last time we talked. Here are some more details. Poor Ted Hall's Chinatown birthday dinner ends in an explosion. It gets worse. Ted finds fortune cookies from the exploded restaurant with personalized messages scattered around his apartment. There's also a Celtic circus, some immortals searching for an ancient power, and your basic primal evil lurking beneath the San Andreas fault which might destroy the world. Sounds like good fun.

Will Staehle (Empire State, Kavalier & Clay) did the cover and it's stellar. Christopher said Staehle surprised him with something "entirely unlike anything I had imagined, for any of my books."

For his part Staehle said the cover was "a tough one" with all the disparate elements in the book. He played with several styles including Chinese brush illustrations, victorian circus signage and ended up with, "a graphic circus ringleader puppet hung up by strings."

So take a look for yourself. You can see the different approaches in the gallery below. It starts with the main black book cover, then the limited edition in red and a few book posters showing the circus images and the Chinese brush strokes. 

 Just click the image to flip through the different examples.

 Enjoy!

 

S&L Podcast - #137 - A rasher of Abercrombie

/
The Iron Throne, by Marc Simonetti.

The Iron Throne, by Marc Simonetti.

It's a day filled with George Martin's real iron throne and Joe Abercrombie's new empires.  Plus Veronica reveals the August book pick!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Slurm

Veronica: Romulan Ale

QUICK BURNS

Amazon launches graphic novel imprint, with George R.R. Martin among first authors

George R.R. Martin: This is what the Iron Throne REALLY looks like

George R.R. Martin smashes up a guitar; Neil Gaiman approves

Trailer for debut novel TERRA features some famous faces

Book Trailer: MADDADDAM by Margaret Atwood

A glimpse of a FIRST LAW world map

Joe Abercrombie sells new fantasy series to HarperCollins Voyager

J.K. Rowling quietly published a crime novel—all the way back in April

Your Semi-Obligatory Reminder Regarding Hugo Voting

CALENDAR

Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles books are getting a TV show!

BOOK CHECK-IN

Ringworld by Larry Niven

This so much fun

"What the Tanj?!" 

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Redshirts and Among Others

Wrap up Ringworld and Redshirts August 6.

August book pick!

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

BARE YOUR SWORD

Great First Lines

How much should an author consider race?

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 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. 

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio.  For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code SWORD7.

Direct download link for this episode!

George R. R. Martin destroys Paul and Storm

/

If you haven't seen it yet, you must enjoy this video Veronica shot of George R. R. Martin interrupting Paul and Storm as they sing "Write Like the Wind." (If you don't know, the song lyrics start "George R. R. Martin please write and write faster, you're not going to get any younger you know--") Martin smashes Storm's guitar and then a surprise guest appears. 

S&L Podcast - #136 - Nerdtacular 2013!

/

We record an episode live in front of an audience of awesome folks from at Nerdtacular 2013.  Since we're still just getting into Ringworld, we save more substantive discussion of that for later this month and talk about what else we're reading.  get ready to enlarge your reading lists because we had some amazing suggestions from the audience! 

S&L Podcast - #135 - Wrap-up Among Others, Kick-off Ringworld

/

Tom blows Veronica's mind, she implies dirty things, I imply them back and we all look forward to Ringworld.  It's like going to camp.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Murphy's Irish Stout

Veronica: Hendry Ranch Pinot Gris

QUICK BURNS

Science Fiction and Fantasy Author Richard Matheson Dead At 87

2013 Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductees

WINNERS: 2013 Locus Awards

Your First Look at the Epic Fantasy Novel Everybody's Raving About

Neil Gaiman's 'Sandman' prequel launching October 30th, first image and plot details emerge

Online Voting is Open for The 2013 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award

Why Big Publishers Think Genre Fiction Like Sci-Fi Is the Future of E-Books

Pop Culture References You Probably Didn’t Know Were Created by Science Fiction Writers

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: exclusive excerpt

OUTLANDER TV series greenlit

BOOK KICK-OFF

Kick-off Ringworld by Larry Niven

Ringworld Wikipedia article

Larry Niven Wikipedia Article

Official Larry Niven site

The Guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld

Interactive guide to Ringworld (includes a kind of Google Maps for the Ring)

Don't forget : 'Ringworld' miniseries in the works at Syfy

Alternate Pick - Redshirts by John Scalzi

BOOK WRAP-UP

Wrap-up Among Others by Jo Walton

Anyone else get this through Interlibrary loan? - Erik

Who Died? - Paulo

Magic In the book - Nathan

The books! All those books! - Rob

Novels mentioned in Among Others

ADDENDUMS 

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 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.  

And by: Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create a professional  website, blog, portfolio, or online store.  For a free trial and 10% off your first purchase on new accounts, go to Squarespace.com, and use offer code SWORD7.

Direct download link for the show here!

July Book Pick: Because you are so awesome

/

Wow. That was a more exciting election since Iran's last week. We even got insinuations of voter fraud! We've made it!

So right down to the wire Larry Niven's Ringworld just barely edged out John Scalzi's Redshirts.

Neither is a perfect choice for everyone. We've done Mr. Scalzi's books as a main pick recently and as an alternate book previously so he's had lots of coverage. on the other hand there does not seem to be a legit ebook of Ringwolrd (there are print copies and audio copies) which is a deal killer for some.

So here's what the electoral commission has decided. Ringworld got the most votes. It's our pick for July. But for the first time since before we went to a strict monthly schedule, we will have an OFFICIAL alternate pick. The votes were just too damn close.

So get out there and read whichever one you like. I'll be diving into both and I know Veronica already has read Redshirts.

And remember no book pick is ever going to please everyone in this club. It's not meant to. It's meant to expose you to books you might not pick up otherwise. And if you're grumbling about not having an ebook, remember the people who often grumble that the book is not in the library and they don't have ereaders. We're all in this together.

Now go enjoy some reading!

*In absence of Veronica who is on vacation electroal commission consisted of Tom and his two dogs.