S&L Podcast - #538 - It's The Words, Tom!

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What's the best SciFi/Fantasy book title. Are there too many Bobs? What about Murderbots?

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What Are We Nomming?

  • Tom: Pot stickers and Singapore-style noodles

  • Veronica: Orange Creamsicle "I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today" Fruited Sour

Quick Burns

  • RumTum: "IGN can exclusively reveal that Bobiverse Book 6, The Infinite Extent, arrives on Audible this September, bringing back narrator Ray Porter to tackle the franchise's biggest intergalactic threats yet." (Read more on IGN)

  • CountZeroOr: Renegade Studios (who are the current publisher of the new edition of Vampire the Masquerade) has announced that they have partnered with AMC for a line of tabletop RPGs based on Anne Rice's novels (or at least the ones that AMC have adapted to the screen). (Read more on EN World)

  • trpw: The Guild Reunion movie (a project to mark the 20th anniversary of The Guild webseries) met its Kickstarter funding target inside a few hours of launch. (View the Kickstarter)

  • Scott: Vonda N. McIntyre's final novel, The Curve of the World, has been posthumously published. While the publication date appears to have been May 1, I discovered that fact through the Big Idea post on Scalzi's blog written by her editor for the book (and notable author in her own right), Nisi Shawl. It seemed worth noting to me. I still remember today how much of an impact Dreamsnake had on young teen me when I read it in the late 1970s. I looked up its Wikipedia page and see it won the Hugo, Locus, and Nebula best novel awards. I'm not surprised. (Read the post on Whatever)

  • Jan: There is a new Collection over at Humble Bundle for Tanith Lee, whom Sword and Laser listeners may know from our 2018 pick Night's Master! You can get bundles from 3 to 26 books, but the three-book bundle is only the first entries in three different series (including Night's Master)... (View the Humble Bundle)

Bare Your Sword

What do you think is the best SF/F book title? (Join the Discord discussion)

Paul:

Quick note on the conversation about Neal Stephenson's new book, a sequel to his last book Polostan, which Shane described as LOOOONNG, and which Tom said wasn't surprising for Stephenson.

I think Shane was being a bit flippant with that remark, because it's actually only 303 pages, making it easily his shortest novel to my knowledge. Perhaps Shane just didn't like it, which made it feel long? Tom also noted that he was surprised he hadn't heard of the book, and that's probably because it's historical fiction and in no way whatsoever considered genre. In fact, I struggled to find it in the bookstore when it came out because it was placed with the Mystery/Thrillers.

For what it's worth, I still liked it. It had his trademark super-detailed explanations of engineering (but for weird things seen in the Chicago World's Fair and Soviet smelters), as well as his humor and over-the-top drama. For reasons I can't fully articulate, I'm just addicted to the way he writes, but I can totally understand why people more into his SF works would bounce off of this book/series.

Stephen:

BookTok loves the Red Rising series. They will look me right in the eye (from my phone) and tell me it is the greatest series they have ever read. Guessing by their age I am figuring they grew up on Rick Riordan's books and Red Rising hit that itch.

Book of the Month Discussion

Kick Off

Wrap Up

hapahappiness:

Not sure if I'm just soft now or what, but this one had me shedding tears. Really loved being wrecked in delicate ways. I would give anything to have a conversation with my Dad like Yeon-hwa did with granny, so not only am I moved but also pretty jealous. Maybe I'll bake a brownie and drown it in ice cream or something. (Discord Link)

Gristle McNerd:

Yeah, unfortunately it didn't quite work for me. I think part of it was the translation, a lot of the prose felt kind of stiff and awkward. I mean, yes, the stories all (somewhat predictably) ended in tragedy, but I just kept hearing that "dumb ways to die" song in my head throughout because I could never quite achieve immersion. (Discord Link)

ScottM:

I loved each story and the characters developed in it as well as the threads connecting them. While I'm sure I missed some of the cultural nuance, the translator did a wonderful job preserving both the depth of the writing as well as conveying the underlying sense and feel of the novel. I found it a very quick read and didn't want to put it down. The way the spirits reacted and received comfort as they prepared for what came next gave it a cozy feel despite the nature of their stories. Told differently, essentially the same content could have easily been used to construct a horror novel instead. (Discord Link)

Spriggana:

This would be my third book from this particular subgenre, the previous two being Before the Coffee Gets Cold and We'll Prescribe You a Cat. And they mostly make me go "meh", like I know the book will try to be deep, and moving, and about people getting closure [1]. And I mostly do not care. Looks like I’m too jaded, or blasé, or cynical, or something.

Looking for a name for those books I have found a review blog that calls them "Healing Fiction". And the name, when I remove the "asian" part makes me think of books like The Shack or Eat, Pray, Love. And for me the western ones are different in form, but alike in intention, if it makes sense. And I do not care for them either. So it looks like it is me, not the books.

[1] The cat one had been a bit different, but had its own share of problems. (Discord Link)

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