S&L Podcast - #535 - Slow Wings

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Tom and Veronica remember when they read a book. It was called Slow Gods by Claire North. And they're definitely not just reading the latest Dungeon Crawler Carl book instead of that one or the next one, Red Rising.

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WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?

  • Tom: Homemade chicken wings and french fries

  • Veronica: Crabapple vodka spritzer

QUICK BURNS

Scott: Book Riot is getting the jump on other lists by publishing "The Best New Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2026."

I just finished Ada Hoffmann's Ignore All Previous Instructions and definitely agree with its inclusion on any "best" list. And like many, I'm also eagerly awaiting the new Becky Chambers novel in October. There are plenty of authors new to me on the list whose book descriptions pique my interest.

Jan: New month, new "100 greatest novels of all time" list. This time it's The Guardian.

If we are leaving out magical realism (literary fiction sure loves its ambiguous ghost stories and allegorical supernatural elements), the Fantasy and Science Fiction novels included are:

  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy

  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

  • Dracula

  • Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

  • The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

  • Frankenstein

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

So no Lord of the Rings, Brave New World, or Dungeon Crawler Carl...

Jan: Another Quick Burn about a Prize Winner in another language:

The winners of the 2026 Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, honoring the best SF/F work published in France in 2025, have been announced and the winner is Aatea by Anouck Faure.

The blurb of the novel sounds rather poetic:

"A navigator capable of steering his sailboat on the suspended oceans of the Cloud, Aatea is nonetheless an outcast in the eyes of his people: born at sea, he lacks the filament, the symbiotic organ that allows his people to coexist with gigantic living islands. The only way he can endure the servitude forced upon him by the caste system is through his maritime expeditions. However, after a pirate attack costs the lives of all his passengers, Aatea loses his right to sail.

Aatea then chooses the unthinkable: to flee the safety of the islands, abandoning everything and following in the path of his grandmother, an explorer whose tales had lulled his childhood."

Jan: The 2026 British Fantasy Awards Shortlists have been announced. Nominated for Best Fantasy Novel are:

  • A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde

  • The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell

  • Magic, Maps, and Mischief by David Green (self-published)

  • Daughters of Nicnevin by Shona Kinsella

  • Grave Empire by Richard Swan

  • Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

  • Locus Mag: 2026 British Fantasy Awards Shortlists

Chris K.: 2026 Locus Awards Winners

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

  • WINNER: Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)

Other Nominees:

  • The Folded Sky, Elizabeth Bear (Saga; Gollancz)

  • Picks & Shovels, Cory Doctorow (Ad Astra; Tor)

  • Notes from a Regicide, Isaac Fellman (Tor)

  • When We Were Real, Daryl Gregory (Saga)

  • All That We See or Seem, Ken Liu (Saga; Ad Astra)

  • Where the Axe Is Buried, Ray Nayler (MCD; Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

  • Slow Gods, Claire North (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

  • The Shattering Peace, John Scalzi (Tor; Tor UK)

  • Shroud, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)

FANTASY NOVEL

  • WINNER: The Everlasting, Alix E. Harrow (Tor; Tor UK)

Other Nominees:

  • The Devils, Joe Abercrombie (Tor; Gollancz)

  • The Tomb of Dragons, Katherine Addison (Tor; Solaris UK)

  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan UK)

  • A Drop of Corruption, Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape)

  • The Raven Scholar, Antonia Hodgson (Orbit US; Hodderscape)

  • Hemlock & Silver, T. Kingfisher (Tor; Tor UK)

  • Katabasis, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager; Harper Voyager UK)

  • The Incandescent, Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)

  • Queen Demon, Martha Wells (Tor)

  • Locus Mag: 2026 Locus Awards Winners

Jan: The Nuremberg bid is withdrawing from the race for the 2028 Worldcon.

As the Nuremberg 2028 page states:

"This decision comes from a mix of personal, organisational and timing reasons. Since our introduction at Smofcon in November, we have received wonderful support from volunteers, artists, experienced conrunners and communities across Central Europe. We are deeply grateful for that.

But as site selection begins, we have to be honest: we are not at the point where we would need to be in order to ask the community to vote for us and be ready to carry the responsibility of winning."

This leaves Brisbane the only remaining bid for WorldCon 2028.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Katie posted: Is there a shortage of translators from German to English?

I ask because I have a sort of dream to someday become a translator of SFF from German to English. The way some people dream that they might someday write a book. I dream that maybe someday I'll translate a book.

I don't know if this will ever happen. I have full-time work and not a ton of free time. I'm not even yet fluent in German. I just keep coming back to it, trying to learn, and especially to read in German. I don't even know if I'll actually be good at it yet.

And Jan posted a link to a page that "promotes German-language literature for translation into English in the UK, USA," and has resources for translators of all experience levels!

Jan also added: "I once translated the German 1980s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe audio play 'Anti-Eternia' into English for the English-speaking fan community, and that was way too much work already. And it doesn't exist anywhere online anymore...

Though that's one of my claims to 'fame' as I am responsible, through that fan translation, for Mattel now sometimes using the translation 'Castle Hellskull' on their toys (instead of the correct 'Castle Hell-Grayskull')—just because I thought back then that it sounded cooler and less clunky..."

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

June Pick Kickoff

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

FINAL THOUGHTS (Spoilery)

Slow Gods by Claire North

Jan: The month is almost over—so what have we been nomming this month while reading? Any foods or drinks in the book?

And I also want to give a (non-AI) cocktail recommendation, that's only based on the name of the novel:

A Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall

  • 1.5 oz Vodka

  • 0.5 oz Southern Comfort

  • 3 oz Orange Juice

  • 0.5 oz Sloe Gin

  • 0.5 oz Galliano

Directions: Stir Vodka, Southern Comfort, and Orange Juice with ice. Strain into an ice-filled glass. Drizzle in Sloe Gin to slowly blend, and then float Galliano on top (over the back of a spoon). Decorate with an orange wheel.

There is a whole family of cocktails, from the "Slow Screw" (Sloe Gin, Dry Gin, Orange Juice) to the "Slow Comfortable Screw Against a Cold Hard Wall With A Kiss" (Vodka, Sloe Gin, Southern Comfort, Orange Juice, Galliano, Overproof Rum, and Amaretto). I think that tells you a lot about parts of the cocktail world...

tilltab (Judge Ruth): I don’t know that this adds much to the book discussion, but feel inclined to post this anyway. I’ve struggled and felt lost for parts of this book, but I have, from the beginning, felt fond of Mawukana, and some of the language in this book is rather lovely. I was struck by this small paragraph and wanted to share:

“Of all the ships I’ve flown, I’ve always enjoyed being Emni most. We feel like sap and branch. We feel like leaves moving in the autumn wind. We feel like summer.”

Somehow, I feel that.

Jan: Regarding the snarky Slow Gods review snippet that was mentioned, here it is:

"The narrative structure is… peculiar. Let’s be generous and call it “experimental”. Less generously, it’s dry and oddly monotone. The story leans heavily on character-driven momentum, which would be fine if the central character had any interesting thoughts or qualities. Maw, bless him, has the personality of stale bread. Not freshly stale, either—the kind that’s been left out for days and could probably be used as a weapon. Not mouldy either—that would give it flavour—just dry."

So... maybe that explains it a bit better why I felt a little bad when hearing people were connecting with Maw so much...

That review excerpt is not from me but from this Goodreads review of Small Gods by "Denise":

Iain Bertram: For around the first half of this book, it did not give me any Space Opera vibes at all. Limited scope, one ship, an impending disaster with a creeping sense of dread. It didn't help that I was rereading Galactic Patrol at the same time, which is packed with plots (space battles by the second chapter and it does not slow down).

It took a while for me to realise the major difference between the two books is that Maw is neither a protagonist nor an antagonist. He is peripheral to a standard space opera story. In Galactic Patrol, Dune, and any number of other space operas (Iain M. Banks is the exception here), the main character is driving the plot or reacting to the antagonist. Most of the time Maw is confused and just trying to cope as events spiral out of control around him. While Maw has power, he does not have the knowledge or influence to affect events around him.

Then there is his nature. Maw seems to be a direct commentary on the nature of space opera heroes, and that is that they are monsters who are usually responsible for mass murder and the destruction of countless lives. Maw, on the other hand (and who has a name that signifies a vast, open space that seems to swallow up everything around it), does everything in his power to avoid taking lives. He is happiest running mercy missions with medical supplies and flying out refugees. It's an interesting comparison between those who start and fight wars and those who try and care for the people left in the wreckage.

terpkristin: For the record, I do not condone burning books. :D

That said, the house I'm currently living in has induction burners so I don't think I could burn the book if I tried. Not that I would try. My girl cat regularly turns on the stove as she walks across it. THAT is not ideal, hahaha.

tamahome: Ask her to make some eggs for you in the morning.

John Taloni: And what of Theodosius? After a lengthy search, Maw finds him at his island home. An island no longer dedicated to housing a dangerous quasi-prisoner, but one left to decay as Maw traveled the galaxy and took his part in freeing it.

Not just on the island, Maw finds Theodosius in his house. Not the glammed-up, charismatic figure that led the Shine, but a worn-down figure showing signs of age and decay. His various cosmetic surgeries wear poorly. Theodosius has taken over the house without anyone noticing or caring. He is no longer the epitome of desirable traits that the Shine had its leaders portray, to the point of having their own inflected pronoun. He's a shadow of what he was. Perhaps what he always was underneath the glamour.

Theodosius is still the over-assuming asshole. Speaks openly of how he contemplated how he could torture Maw for an extended period if he still had a team. But, oh no: Theodosius has found he wouldn't enjoy it as much. As ever, only his desires matter.

They talk of how Maw could kill him. And in the end, Maw can't even be bothered to do that. Maw goes to sleep in his bedroom.

We never find out what the final end is for Theodosius. He just doesn't matter.

"I HAVE, IN SHORT, STUDIED WHAT IT IS TO BE A GOD, AND THE CONCLUSION I CONSISTENTLY RETURN TO IS THIS: THAT IF ALL LIFE IS MEANINGLESS, ALL VALUES ARBITRARY AND ALL THINGS MUST END, THEN WHILE YOU LIVE, YOU SHOULD LIVE WITH LOVE."

ADDENDUMS

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