We set out to interview author Todd McCaffrey at BayCon 2012, but it ended up turning into a wonderful conversation about dragons, bacteria, space travel, and big ideas. Veronica also gets very flustered when asked to describe an "Anne McCaffrey dragon."
S&L Podcast - #101 - Interview with Todd McCaffrey at BayCon 2012
Author and screenwriter Ernest Cline joins us today to talk about Ready Player One, and we wrap up our May pick, Hyperion!
Learn more about our guest and book pick!
Ernest Cline: http://www.ernestcline.com/
Ernie on Twitter: twitter.com/erniecline
Ready Player One: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one
Hyperion: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77566.Hyperion
Show Notes:
SCOTT LYNCH - THE BASTARDS AND THE KNIVES TO BE PUBLISHED, SUMMARY AND COVER ART REVEALED
John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists
Video Review by Dr. P:
YouTube Direct Link: http://youtu.be/7FkioqeLtyg
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_pkRAEPGOs
It's our 100th episode and we're having a party. But some of you are not having a party with our book pick. Well, you can just Farcast out of here! Kidding! It's OK if you Lem it. Borges tells you why.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Maker's Mark
Veronica: Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet
100 Episodes! Here's what we used to sound like.
QUICK BURNS
Finally, Harry Potter Is Touching Down on Amazon’s Kindle
Brush up on your Game of Thrones history with these animated shorts
Fantasy Novels That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity
Jack Williamson on what the future meant in the era of scientifiction
A New Translation of The One Russian Science Fiction Novel You Absolutely Must Read
BARE YOUR SWORD
Penny Arcade on China Mieville
How do you take your audiobooks?
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Fox, Ridley Scott nab film rights to self-published sci-fi series
BOOK CHECK-IN
Where do we stand on the June book?
Hey Tom & Veronica!
I just found out about you guys, and Geek & Sundry, in general. I'm super stoked: to hear Gaimen and Dick being thrown out there brings warm fuzzies to my book-lovin' heart. I enjoy what (be it your personality and literary smarts) and who (the authors!) your bring to the table. Can't wait for the next installment.
As for a dragon name, how about "Gelf"?
A gelf can be a elven creature (sword); a genetically enhanced life form (laser); or can be anything you want it to be (in our line of business, imagination is everything). See Urban Dictionary for more details. A-a-a-nd, for bonus points, it was a Gelfling that merged the Skexis and urRu into one awesome whole- just like you guys have have brought the sword and laser communities together and the yet-to-be-named dragon seems to be half traditional dragon and half... MechaGodzilla. =)
Anyway, you rock.
Sincerely,
Aaron
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.
Learn more about our guest and book pick!
We ask author Saladin Ahmed more viewer questions. Plus he describes his new book and how he became a DM for Joe Abercrombie!
Good news, everyone! The Sword and Laser Wiki is live!
As with most wikis, this is open for anyone to edit, and a lot of work has already been done on the book list and glossary page, but chime in if there's anything else you'd like to add!
Also, did you see the amazing art Scott Johnson made for us for Nerdtacular '12? He's the best, as we'll be there recording a live audio show!
It's an epic struggle... With The Magicians finally given our last words, and Hyperion by Dan Simmons kicked off, attention turns to the June "sword" pick. But while Veronica struggles with her penchant for democracy and her desire for supreme power, she comes up against one sobering fact: In the game of sword picks, you win or you read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2009 Château Haut-Sorillon
Veronica: St. george Absinthe Verte
QUICK BURNS
Neal Stephenson on Science Fiction, Building Towers 20 Kilometers High ... and Insurance
Sci-fi author sues Ubisoft over Assassin's Creed copyright infringement
Macmillan’s Tor/Forge goes DRM-free
IO9 listing the top 100 albums sff fans should listen to
10 Untranslatable Words (And When You’ll Want to Use Them)
BARE YOUR SWORD
Author Promo (Share Your Stuff!) > Help, please, oh gods of science
What Else Are You Reading? > Any fans of tie-in fiction?
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Warner Bros. releases 'Casablanca,' 'Ben-Hur,' and other scripts as enhanced ebooks
BOOK WRAP-UP
Last thoughts! We will have Mr. Grossman on the next video episode of Sword and Laser so submit your questions on GoodReads.
Next book will be Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Won the Hugo in 1989 - First book of the Hyperion Cantos (which some people may get bugged by because it definitely leads into a series)
From Wikipedia:
It's what is called a Frame Story - A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc.) is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it. Mimics the canterbury Tales in many ways. Stories are told on a pilgrimage.
Hyperion is in development for a 2013 release (definitely subject to change since it hasn't started production yet). According to a 2008 io9 report the writer Trevor Sands will simplify Hyperion and mash it up with the sequel Fall of Hyperion http://io9.com/375998/dan-simmons-hyperion-books-will-be-smooshed-together-into-one-movie
And we're working on the June Pick.
EMAIL / VOICEMAILS
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First, I love the show. I'm a fellow podcaster over at Guys Can Read. We do book reviews and interviews with authors like R. A. Salvatore and Daniel H. Wilson.
Also, I thought your listeners would be interested in my book launch into space! Here is the video. If you need any other media information just let me know.
Hope you guys enjoy!
Kevin
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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.
Yesterday, io9 published an excerpt of Mira Grant's Blackout, the final book in her Newsflesh trilogy. Today, an intrepid Newsie hacked into the CDC computer system and liberated another file. For this one, though, you'll have to do a little digging...
Below is a puzzle whose answer reveals one of the five codes you'll need to access the second, top-secret document.
Rumor has it that you should be hanging around these other blogs to gather the other four:
Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls (The Journal of Seanan McGuire)
Once you've gathered all five codes, you can access the encrypted document at the Orbit Books site. WARNING: Massive spoilers for Feed and Deadline ahead!
Blackout will be available May 22nd.
Let us know where you would hole up during a zombie apocalypse in the comments below, and you will be entered to win the Newsflesh triology (Feed, Deadline, Blackout)! Open to participants in the US, Canada, and the UK. Winner will be randomly selected on May 2nd!
We ask author Scott Sigler more questions than could fit in the main episode. Plus he tries to guess the name of the dragon.
If you thought the audio podcast would get shorter because of our video show, you were not right. We have almost a full hour of discussion about why we like dark fantasy, what makes C.S. Lewis so cool, and the ups, downs, ins, and outs of Quentin Coldwater and The Magicians. Also Veronica keeps saying "lady cave" because she thinks it's funny. It's funny.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
What We're Drinking" segment needs an S&L name
Tom: Racer 5 IPA
Veronica: 2009 Mandolin Cabernet Sauvignon
QUICK BURNS
New cover art: Abercrombie, Sanderson, Banks, Sapkowski
Publisher hails CS Lewis 'space trilogy' e-book debut
Writing advice from C.S. Lewis was both adorable and concise
The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Libertarians
Over 2/3 of U.S. libraries offer e-books; 28% lend e-readers
Cover art and blurb for Peter F. Hamilton's GREAT NORTH ROAD
BARE YOUR SWORD
FAQ - A Sword and Laser Primer for New Members
Lev Grossman says what fantasy is about
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Full episode list for Season 2 of GAME OF THRONES
GAME OF THRONES renewed for a third season
BOOK CHECK-IN
Meta-mockery of the fantasy genre?
Courage of your convictions when referencing other books?
Hello Tom & Veronica,
i've just watched the first video version of Sword & Laser on Youtube, and i totally loved it!
I have a small question you guys can hopefully help me out with.
I've recently sold my tablet (the poor thing was collection dust on the shelf), but now i'm finding myself getting back into e-books.
I could read them on my smartphone, but the small screen makes me want to turn it off after a few minutes.
Reading them on the computer works sometimes, but my concentration levels aren't as high as i hoped, i usually find myself surfing the web withint 10-15 minutes.
Audiobooks may be a solution, and i am currently listening to one, narrated by your first guest Scott Sigler. However, i was hoping to somehow combine this with reading e-books.
Any tips on how to make it easier to read e)books for an hour at a time without reinvesting in a tablet or any other devices would be appreciated!
Love the show, your dragon definitely needs some patting :)
Sincerely,
JP
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.
It's here, it's really here! After months of hard work (and dealing with dragon negotiations) we've finally launched the video show! Check it out below:
Huge thanks to Scott Sigler for being on the first episode, and hopefully many of you have already started reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
We realise right off the top of the show that we need to start planning for our 100th episode. Soon! We also figure out why SciFi is sometimes better than reality and dish what we thought of The Hunger Games movie. Also: GAME OF THRONES!!!
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2011 Viñedos Errázuriz Ovalle Merlot/Malbec Panilonco Reserve Viñedos Marchigüe
Veronica: 2006 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco
QUICK BURNS
Expecto Patronum! Harry Potter is now an e-book
Could the Amazon Kindle Revitalize Science Fiction?
John Hodgman and Rob Reid talk Year Zero, Aliens, and the RIAA
BARE YOUR SWORD
What books would you recommend to someone scared of the Genre?
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
HBO releases extended GoT world map
Here there be White Walkers in stylized Game of Thrones maps
GAME OF THRONES companion book announced
BOOK CHECK-IN
There is a dragon. And a spaceship castle.
We're psyched to interview Scott Lynch, who, spoiler alert, is the Scott who gets welcomed in the new member hellos too! Plus we delve into the Ender's Game controversy and pick good audio books for road trips.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Water
Veronica: 2006 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco
QUICK BURNS
Teacher Suspended For Reading Ender's Game To Students
How does 1Q84 stack up to Haruki Murakami’s classic novels?
Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Series That Started Out as Trilogies
EXPANSE Book III given a title
BARE YOUR SWORD
The Lies of Locke Lamora > Boing Boing's List of Vagabonds
Time for a road trip! (No, we don't mean we're going on tour)
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Twilight slashfic takes Hollywood
INTERVIEW
Scott Lynch
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch
BOOK PICK
Help pick our May book (It's a laser)
EMAIL
Hey there! I am an assistant librarian at Parman Library here in San Antonio, TX. I was wondering, since you guys have quite the following, if you could have an option on your site or goodreads site where people can submit their book groups/social clubs for others to search for. For instance, I have a science fiction book group at our library called Escape the Earth! and if it were listed on your site, which gets a lot of traffic from SF fans, it would bring my community closer together in our nerdom. Just a thought… Been enjoying the podcast!
Tyler D. Lutz
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Hey Tom and Veronica.
Congrats on the video show, I'd actually always hoped we'd see a video show (though I always imagined it would have been a TWiT.TV show).
Anyway I have a couple of thoughts.
1. You mentioned the video show needing to be pretty strictly PG. Do you feel this is going to have a real impact on the book choices?
2. What's going to happen with Game of Thrones TV discussion? I'd really like you to think about doing a separate small 10-15 minute audioshow after each episode and drop them in the podcast feed.
Anyway really looking forward to the video show.
Jason (Australia).
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I know you cant talk about it on sword and laser because of your sponsor but I think people should know about
http://librivox.org/
It is a website that is trying to record all public domain books into audio books and then publish them on the web under creative commons. People can volunteer to read books or chapters and upload them back to the site. They are all surprising well done and although not on the same level as paid versions. They are very easy to listen to, unlike computer synthesized voices.
I first heard about from the roku channel on the nowhere man's privet channel page
http://thenowhereman.com/roku/
I would love to know what you think about it
Thanks
-Andrew
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Jonathan, Paul, Courtney, Mike, Josh, Scott, Micha, Tyler, Brooke, Yento, G Willow Wilson, Brandon, Carleen, Leslie, Amber, Travis, Kelly, Hagar, Vicki,Terry, Quinton, Dan, Josh, Gally, Mike, Rachel, Phil, Cameron, Ryan, Chase, JC, Frank, Mike, Louie, Cy, Nick, Jon, Trevor, Sean, Damian, Hunter, Gary, Sam, Jacob, Hai, Tony, Phillip, Eric, TK, Will, CF, Jason, ob1spyker, Semora (see-more-ah), Luis, Tracey, Mimsey, Sara, Paul, John
We're all giddy about our new video show at Geek and Sundry, but we promise there's more to the episode than just that. Though if you have questions about what the video show means, hopefully loads of them are answered right off the top of the show. We also dig into Lies of Locke Lamora (though we don't wrap it up quite yet) and help save SciFi. Literally.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2008 Ravenswood Cabernet Sauvignon Vintners Blend
Veronica: 2005 Phenom Merlot
QUICK BURNS
That online book club you like is adding a YouTube show to it's lineup
Sword & Laser coming to video!
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi has a free Kindle preview up
Have you seen this Direwolf? Arya Stark’s Lost Dog Poster
Singularity & Co. - Save the SciFI!
BARE YOUR SWORD
"The Magicians" discussion leader?
Yes we know what the next book will be - and yes we know it's not a laser, but the book after that will be and we need your help picking it!
If made into a movie, who would you cast?
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Finally a real Prometheus trailer and not just a teaser!
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1) by Scott Lynch
SF Signal is doing Lies of Locke Lamora too!
The Lies of Locke Lamora > A Protagonist in Need of a Want?
The Lies of Locke Lamora > Why isn't there a map?
I had the honor of getting to see Tom and Veronica at the WonderCon signing this Saturday. Tom gave me a shirt and I thought it was just an XL when he gave it to me, but was elated to see it was an XXXL when I checked it later. I'm so used to free giveaways being so small on me and most people overlook us big boys. I'm a big fan of all that you and I can't thank you enough.
Literally a Big Fan,
Mike P.
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Tom and Veronica,
I'm very excited about your video podcast, and all teh geek and sundry goodness coming. But I have one concern: Is there a 'what we're drinking' section? If there is no drinking to begin the show, it can't really be an S&L podcast, can it?
Keep up the good work.
JOE
NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Aroha, Dana, Mitchbert, Christopher, Aaron, Troadon, Louann, Megan, Count, Zach, Jason, Leesa, Ivy, Tyson, John, Brandi, Caroline, Steven, Lily, Adam, John, Craig, Chris, Jamie, Mae, Alan, Robby, Casey, Brendan
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.
Click Amazon ad above to shop using our referral!
