S&L Podcast - #542B - Luminous by Sylvia Park Wrap-Up

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BOOK OF THE MONTH WRAPUP (SPOILERS)

Welcome to the wrap-up of last month's book pick!

Luminous by Silvia Park | Bookshop Link

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ScottM:

"We were made to replace what you love."

The novel doesn't shy away from all the many and complex sorts of pain and loss and grief we experience. It's messy. It's often ugly. Yet glimmers of love and the sheer beauty of life and our humanity shines relentlessly through. At the core of the story Ruijie embodies that reality with every step she takes, every time she chooses love and the fierceness with which she holds every moment of her life. She knows she is on borrowed time but she lets nothing hold her back. She chooses to live and love. So fiercely.

Everyone is complicated and broken. And utterly beautiful. It's Ruijie, though, who leaves me crying. I understand the pain so many of the characters carry deeply. And they all reveal the underlying beauty of being human through their deep wounds and flaws. But Ruijie embodies our shared spirit at our best, despite all the reasons she has to abandon it and give up.

There's no neat conclusion. Problems are not resolved. Things may even be getting worse in some ways where the novel ends. That's certainly the call back to an earlier story in the closing line. No happy endings are promised.

But we love. And we live. And even when we die, we still live in those who loved us.

John Taloni:

Perhaps it's because I favor optimistic fiction, but I am finding this book gruesome and off-putting through the first 20%. The author is well oriented in SF; I see inspiration from Spielberg's "AI," Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Varley's "Millennium" and many others. Calling a movie "Dispossessed" was a nice touch.

It's just overall too gruesome and nihilistic. The casual swapping of organs for bionic parts. What seems to be the end-stage of the "global homogenization" concept. Current day concepts of robots used to help an aging population taken to extreme. It's a lot of interesting concepts, all mixed together in a stew of distasteful plot. I credit the effort, but am not finding the plot enjoyable.

As usual, open for discussion and disagreement.

ADDENDUMS

Thank you to all the folks who help to back our show! If you want to help support the show, head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com.

S&L Podcast - #541A - Bot Stuff

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We have a new format to tell you about, and we also kick off our September book pick, Luminous by Silvia Park. And a lot about bots and their stuff.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?

  • Tom: Pesto Hake fish with creamy mushroom mashed potatoes

  • Veronica: Still tomatoes. Forever. Tomatoes.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the WorldCon meetup in Anaheim!!

QUICK BURNS

  • Roberator: Starting to get more details about the upcoming DCC TV show. They announced the showrunner: "Arrival" writer and showrunner of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, Eric Heisserer joins Chris Yost in showrunning the upcoming literary adaptation. Read more on Gizmodo

  • ScottM: I'm fascinated by the different places Nnedi Okorafor's "Death of the Author" is showing up. The latest is the 2026 shortlist for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award. Read more on Goldsboro Books

  • Seth and Tamahome: Rebecca Yarros Announces New Fourth Wing Graphic Novel Series Coming This Spring. The first volume of the Fourth Wing graphic novel will cover chapters 1–22 and will be illustrated by Italian comic artist Anabel Rossi. Read more on People

  • Iain Bertram: Hugo winners announced! Many winners from authors read by Sword and Laser.

    • Best Novel WINNER: The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow

    • Novella WINNER: The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar

    • Best Novelette WINNER: "Never Eaten Vegetables", H.H. Pak

    • Best Short Story WINNER: "In My Country", Thomas Ha

    • Full list on Locus Mag

  • Jan: Via File770 — The 2026 Sidewise Awards have been announced and the Best Long Form Alternate History of the year is Ten Incarnations of Rebellion by Vaishnavi Patel, which according to Goodreads "imagines an alternate version of India that was never liberated from the British" and is "told as ten moments from [the protagonist]'s life that mirror the Dashavatara, the ten avatars of Vishnu." The Special Achievement Award went to Ronald D. Moore for bringing alternate history to television through the shows "For All Mankind" and "Star City". Read more on File770

  • Seth: Murderbot Season 2 has revealed two dozen new cast members including really notable actors: Steve Buscemi, Wanda Sykes, Patton Oswalt, Blair Underwood, and Brendan Hunt. Will they be the cast of World Hoppers or Sanctuary Moon? It just doesn't seem like there's room for all of them in the main storyline. Will the second season be the second novella, and who plays ART? There's some fun speculation to do. Read more on Deadline

BARE YOUR SWORD

Feedback from the audience

"Tom has made a few jokes or comments about everyone always disliking the book picks. I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I've been reading along with the podcast since Frankenstein (2018ish). In that time I've only had 2 or 3 books that were not for me. I wouldn't call them bad or even really say I disliked them; I just never got invested in them. There have been a ton of books that I thought I would hate, but ended up loving (Some Desperate Glory). Prior to S&L I had probably only ever read half a dozen books by choice. You've helped me discover that reading can be enjoyable and I'm very grateful for that gift. I guess that's all just a long way of saying, 'Hey, I like the book picks.'" — Andrew

From the Discord:

  • Jan: So Veronica sometimes lives in a deep dark hole and can't bring a light?!? Is she working with the undead? Doing an interview with a vampire? IS she a vampire?! Can anyone confirm Veronica sparkles?! So mysterious!

  • Mark: Maybe she works for the Canadian government now and they have her working in a missile silo, prepping for the day that Trump invades Canada.

  • Tassie Dave: Belmonts are vampire hunters/killers. You go where the enemy is. 😜 (See the Castlevania Wiki)

  • Jan: So Tom is some kind of Giles?!

  • jasonb [snek]: How many times have I heard Veronica introduce herself (hint 20 years) and it just now hits me she's a Vampire Hunter!!! There's vampires in Canada?!?

  • Aaron Bell: Once they showed up in London, it was only a matter of time before they were in the other Commonwealth nations.

BOOK OF THE MONTH KICKOFF

Luminous by Silvia Park

We have a new system starting this month! Patrons stick around for the book wrapup for last month's pick. If you're not a Patron, the Book wrapup will come as a separate episode next week.

ADDENDUMS

Thank you to all the folks who help to back our show! If you want to help support the show, head to patreon.com/swordandlaser.

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find links to the books we talk about and some of our favorites at swordandlaser.com.