S&L Podcast - #130 - So many servers

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Today we try to figure out what all those servers in Wool were doing and why Jo Walton is so awesome. Also how to pronounce numbers. It's all in there folks.  Enjoy.  

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Jumping Cow Amber Ale
Veronica: 2008 Malbec something or other.

QUICK BURNS

WINNERS: 2012 Nebula Awards (Plus: Ray Bradbury Award and Andre Norton Award)
WINNERS: 2012 Aurealis Awards
WINNERS: Analog’s AnLab Awards and Asimov’s Readers’ Awards
WINNERS: 2013 Spectrum Fantastic Art Award
2013 Hugo Voter Packet Now Available!
Penguin Bets Big That The 5th Wave Will Be the Next Hunger Games
Cover blurb for THE REPUBLIC OF THIEVES (possibly spoilery!)
Brandon Sanderson update on WORDS OF RADIANCE
Iain M. Banks explains he wasn't writing science fiction for the money
Book Trailer: “Love Minus Eighty” by Will McIntosh

CALENDAR

Read down to June 11

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Game of Thrones will end with season 7, according to producer

BOOK CHECK-IN

Wrap-Up of WOOL by Hugh Howey
What are the servers doing?
Slightly spoilery thoughts on gender in the book
Lukas (Full Spoilers)
Kick-Off Among Others by Jo Walton
Wiki Article on Among Others
Wiki article on Jo Walton

BARE YOUR SWORD

S&L Anthology Writers Community Blog

EMAIL

There is an article in the Charlotte paper today about Howey. It has some interesting info on self publishing authors... just thought I would share. 

Loved the book by the way... I just started on Shift. 

brad

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.

Direct podcast download link





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S&L Podcast - #129 - Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson

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​He's a nice guy, seriously. Photo by joelmeadows1

​He's a nice guy, seriously. Photo by joelmeadows1

Veronica and Goodreads moderator Josh Lawrence headed to the Nebula Awards to chat with some great authors. We'll be posting these interviews in our off weeks from the regular episodes. This week it's the legendary (and Nebula award-winning) Kim Stanley Robinson. His latest book 2312 won the Nebula award for Novel.  Enjoy!

Congrats to the Nebula Award winners!

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This past weekend, Josh Lawrence and I went down to San Jose for the Nebula Awards. While there, we interviewed several attendees, including Kim Stanley Robinson, Gene Wolfe, and Joe Haldeman. Those interviews will be coming up as podcasts soon, so stay tuned!​

​Best Novel winner Kim Stanley Robinson with Joe Haldeman.

​Best Novel winner Kim Stanley Robinson with Joe Haldeman.

In the meantime, let's congratulate the winners of the 2012 Nebula Awards!, as posted on Tor.com! Winners in bold.

Novel:

  • 2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
  • Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
  • The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
  • The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
  • Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

Novella:

  • After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
  • On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
  • “The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
  • “All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
  • “Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
  • “Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette:

  • “Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
  • “The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
  • “The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
  • “The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
  • “Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
  • “Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
  • “Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story:

  • “Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
  • “Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
  • “Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
  • “Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
  • “Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
  • “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/12)
  • “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
  • The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
  • The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
  • The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray (writers), (Lionsgate)
  • John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
  • Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

  • Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
  • Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
  • Black Heart, Holly Black (McElderry; Gollancz)
  • Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
  • The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
  • Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
  • Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
  • Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
  • Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf)
  • Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
  • Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
  • Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Solstice Awards were awarded to editor Ginjer Buchanan and astronomer and entertainer Carl Sagan, the latter of which was accepted by his son Nick Sagan.

The Kevin O'Donnell Jr. Service Award was awarded to Michael Payne.

The winners are announced at SFWA’s 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend, held Thursday through Sunday, May 16 to May 19, 2013 at the San Jose Hilton in San Jose, California. Borderland Books hosted the mass autograph session from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17th at the San Jose Hilton.

As announced earlier this year, Gene Wolfe was the recipient of the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions to, and achievements in, the field. Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.​

S&L Podcast - #128 - Awards season!

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​It's awards season!  We have nominees for the Campbell, Sturgeon, and Locus awards and Veronica's heading over to the Nebula Awards. Who is she wearing? Probably whoever got in her way.  She's a Demon Hunter, after all. 

BARE YOUR SWORD
May I Ask a Favor From Those Posting Book Links in Threads?
Renegade read section

ADDENDUMS

Veronica will be at the Nebula Awards this weekend with Josh to interview Kim Stanley Robinson, Gene Wolfe and Joe Haldeman.  Got questions?  Post them in the Goodreads forum!

Tomorrow ends submissions for the Anthology.  NO submissions received after midnight Pacific tomorrow will be considered. We need time to read through everything, so please be patient.  We expect to make our final selections by August 15, 2013. And HUGE thanks to everybody who submitted.

Congratulations to PanamaJack and Misti, winners of our Adam Christopher limited edition books!

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.

Download the MP3 of today's show here!​

S&L Video REWIND - Saladin Ahmed - Bonus interview

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We asked author Saladin Ahmed more viewer questions. Plus he described his new book and how he became a DM for Joe Abercrombie! There was some pretty bad audio interference on this one, so when you complain, know that we already know.

Download the episode here.

Subscribe to the video encores as a podcast, and in iTunes!

And of course, here'st the original post from last year.

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S&L Podcast - #127 - Hangout with Adam Christopher

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We hop on the old Google Hangout to chat with Adam Christopher about alternate universes, superheroes, and atomic robot armies. His new book The Age Atomic is out right now!  Listen to this then go read that!​

​You can also watch the hangout on video like you were right there with us!

Direct download link for today's podcast

S&L Video REWIND - #02 - The Magicians Wrap-Up and Interview with Saladin Ahmed!

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The video rewind continues! One year ago, we were wrapping up "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman and we also spoke with author Saladin Ahmed, finalist for the Nebula and Campbell awards and author of "Throne fo the Crescent Moon."

​Download the episode here.

Subscribe to the video encores as a podcast, and in iTunes!

And of course get all the show notes at the original post from last year.

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S&L Podcast - #126 - More like Dragon-FIGHT!

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Controversy swirls around the Sword and Laser book picks both old and new. It makes being George R. R. Martin look downright easy. And then he goes and buys a movie theater. For real. You must listen.

EMAIL​
If you remember the main trip to get back 400 years to bring the other weyr's forward, show used the tapestry from Ruatha Hold.

The dragons of Pern need an image in the riders mind to travel between to that place. They also use an image to travel between times.

This is why the riders don't go back in time to battle thread when necessary, they need that image to get there. It also drain's both dragon and rider.

I don't know how far you are into all the other books, but Lessa wasn't the first to time travel (chronologically speaking), In ""Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern"", Moreta did some if my memory serves me.

If you haven't read the series before, you must read Dragonsdawn! It's the ""laser"" Dragonriders book. Basically, the first book (chronologically) of the series. I really love that book. If I had to rank the books, I would go Harper Hall trilogy, Dragonsdawn, Dragonflight, Dragonquest then The White Dragon. The others are really good, but those 7 are my absolute favorite books.

Looking forward to Sword & Laser having video shows again (really missing them!),

Dave

BOOK KICK-OFF
Wool by Hugh Howey
Controversy around Howey statements
Wikipedia entry about Wool

ADDENDUMS

Giveaway!

Limited edition Empire State and Limited Edition Age Atomic Hardcover, signed, numbered only 100 copies each. Empire State has a variant cover. Enter at this Goodreads thread.

Writer's With Drinks

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

Direct link to podcast download!​

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Near-future divergence?

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Someone on Twitter recently asked me an interesting question:

After thinking it over, I decided that this was something we could explore a bit. The case that Joia is referencing deals with a story that takes place in the year 2058. Clearly, the technology in the tale should be far advanced beyond our own, current technologies. 

​And while that is true for the most part, there are some interesting differences: for one, most data is contained on a disc, like a DVD. It wasn't enough to take me out of the story, but funny enough that I remembered it long after reading. It's kind of like when you see a movie at the AMC IMAX, and they show you that intro sequence bragging about resolution equivalent to 15,000 CD-ROMS!!

The beginning show for any IMAX movie at the San Francisco AMC Loews Metreon IMAX theater.

It doesn't really matter that it's an amazing resolution; what matters to most viewers (enough to regularly elicit giggles from the audience) is that they use a CD-ROM for this analogy. ​

​I use the IMAX example because it has the problem of dating itself. Likewise, a near-future science fiction book has the problem of dating itself very badly by using existing technologies as an integral part of the story. In 1995, when Naked in Death was written, CD-ROMs were kind of a big deal. In that scenario, should an author like J.D. Robb have the foresight to try and protect their story against outdating? Is that even possible for a near-future or hard sci-fi tale?

​Back to the original question, what do we call the phenomena when "reality catches up to near-future fiction enough to see the two diverge?" Does it even need a name? I kind of like the idea of "near-future divergence," because that can cover a lot of things beyond just technology. What would you call it?

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S&L Video REWIND - #01 – We Kick-off The Magicians!

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It’s here, it’s really here! One year later, the DOWNLOADABLE version of Sword and Laser video . Huge thanks to Scott Sigler for being on that first episode. We also were reading The Magicians at this time last year.

Download the episode here.​

Subscribe to the video encores as a podcast, and in iTunes!

And of course watch the video at the original post from last year.​

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S&L Podcast - #125 - On the wagon

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It's a show chock full of awards and TV shows based on books. Plus we have great news for fans of Joe Abercrombie and John Scalzi, and Veronica recommends a sexy book! Find out what happens when neither one of us have a drink.

QUICK BURNS
Joe Abercrombie's The First Law (The Graphic Novel) - Interview
FINALISTS: 2013 Arthur C. Clarke Award
FINALISTS: 2013 Prometheus Award
The real (?) "One Ring" Of The Hobbit
The Human Division has been renewed for a second season.
Something Electronic This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury eBooks Announced!
Haruki Murakami fans queue overnight for latest novel
Iain Banks, has terminal cancer and likely has less than a year to live.

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Game of Thrones' sets record, gets fourth season
Syfy announces Childhood's End and Ringworld miniseries
BBC America To Co-produce Small Screen Adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL
C.J. Cherryh’s MORGAINE Books Optioned for Film

BOOK CHECK-IN
Dragonriders of Pern: (just Dragonflight if you don't have time for all three)
Next month: Wool by Hugh Howey
Veronica also recommends: Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher

BARE YOUR SWORD
Book Chain

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.  ​

Download episode here!​

Interview with R. A. Salvatore at Dragon*Con 2012

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So we miss Friday videos as much as you. Starting tomorrow, the one year exclusivity lifts on our first show.  But tomorrow isn't Friday now is it? So NEXT Friday we'll post our EP. 1 for Download.  But TODAY you get a never-before seen episode of Sword and Laser that is all yours.​

​The amazing Brit Weisman of Geek & Sundry shot the video for us last August and we never got a chance to use it.  This was especially sad because we transfered the video from Brit's camera to my laptop as we walked through the streets of Atlanta trying to get me to the Parsec Awards on time.

So this afternoon I whipped together the clips and we present them here to you. Hope you enjoy it!

Note: If you would like to download this episode, you can! Click over to the archive.org page to download.​

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Joe Abercrombie's The First Law (The Graphic Novel) - Interview

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As listeners of the podcast know, both Tom and I are big fans of Joe Abercrombie, and especially of The First Law trilogy. So when I found out that Joe was working on a new graphic novel based on Logen Ninefingers and his (mis)adventures (from the man himself, no less) I immediately wanted to learn more. ​

Joe was kind enough to answer a few questions about the series, which you can learn more about at First Law Comic.​

cover1.jpg

First off, congrats on the graphic novel! That's very exciting!

It's been a long time in the pipeline - maybe 18 months since the deal was first signed - so it's great to see it go out into the world.

Who first approached you to make The First Law into a graphic novel?

Rich Young from Blind Ferret, who also edited, put the artistic team together and brought in Chuck Dixon to adapt.  What interested me in particular about Rich's pitch, quite apart from his creative vision and his love for the books, was Blind Ferret's track record with webcomics and digital distribution.

Had anyone else come to you wanting to do that before, or was that something you had considered on your own?

I'd had a couple of much more traditional approaches, but the traditional comics market is pretty small and steadily dwindling, and obviously crowded with a lot of very powerful and long-established brands, I just didn't see a traditional approach getting enough momentum to make the work worthwhile.

Will this be a print edition, or digitally distributed? Both? And what will the release schedule be like?

It was the method of distribution that really sold this idea to me.  In essence there's a triple approach.  Firstly we're going to be serialising the adaptation, free to all comers, at www.firstlawcomic.com.  The first twelve pages have gone up already, and there'll be new pages posted every monday, wednesday and friday, hopefully for several years to come, given that this is a pretty detailed and comprehensive adaptation.  I just right away felt that, with free distribution, there was the potential to create a lot of goodwill and get a lot of people through the door and involved with it, and that it was potentially a good thing for the books as a whole.  

But for those who aren't satisfied with a page at a time and want to get a little ahead of the game, we're also going to be distributing whole issues, for between 99 cents and $2.99, via ComiXology, which will come with guided view and a package of inks, pencils and designs as a bonus with each issue. 

Finally, we'll be collecting every four issues into hard-copy collections, with further bonus material.  Exact details of those to be confirmed...

One of the great things about reading is the ability to visualize your favorite characters. How do you feel about nailing down the descriptions of the characters on the comic page? Have they ended up the way you pictured them in your head, and did you have input on that for the graphic novel?

Someone was foolish enough to offer me total editorial control, but I've tried to take a reassuringly firm yet lovingly gentle touch with it.  I think when you work with an artist you need to give them the freedom to draw it the way they see it, to let them interpret the work the way they want to.  And as a writer you don't always have entirely vivid pictures of every character and location.  So some designs were perfect right off.  Others were surprising, but fitted.  Others needed some tinkering with.  But generally, Andie Tong, the artist, has an amazing eye for costume and location design, and I've really been able to say yes, yes, yes to a lot of things and let him produce his vision of the books, given extra verve and variety by Pete Pantazis' colours.  So there'll certainly be some things that keen readers of the trilogy will see differently, but as a whole it's an adaptation that I'm very pleased with and hugely proud of.

Obviously the story needs to be trimmed down for this manner of storytelling. What was that process like? How do you pick what makes the cut?

Rich brought in Chuck Dixon, who's a hugely experienced comics writer, to do the adaptation.  He's obviously got a great sense for what to pick out from a scene, what to show and how, what angles to use to get the action across.  But obviously I know the books and the characters better than anyone, so I'd go over each script in some detail trying to keep as much sense of the books and the voices of the characters as possible, and maybe changing something here or there that would be important long term.  It's going to be a detailed adaptation, 16 issues for the Blade Itself alone, so it hasn't been necessary to really lose that much in terms of whole scenes.  it's amazing how much prose you can boil down into one carefully designed panel.  In general the whole process has been quite an education for me.  One that will continue for some time to come.

Do you have any plans to make any of your other books into comics?

At the current rate we probably won't be finished with The First Law for several years to come, so I'm keeping my energy for that, for the time being.  I've got a fair few irons in the fire with book projects as well, of course.  But I certainly wouldn't rule out adaptations of the other books.  We'll see how this one goes...

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S&L Podcast - #124 - Whur my dragons at?

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Tom's in a singing mood and Veronica's on the bandwagon and Tom has to pronounce all the German. We also kick off the April book pick, Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.​

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Bulleit Bourbon
Veronica: Water

QUICK BURNS
FINALISTS: 2013 Hugo Awards
Nominated for the Kurd Laßwitz Preis
RIP: James Herbert, OBE: 1943-2013
New George R.R. Martin website
You Got Grit in my Fantasy Story
Cover & Synopsis: “Self-Reference ENGINE” by Toh EnJoe - The description on this is hilarious.

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Doctor Who: Summer Falls – New Ebook With Link To “The Bells Of Saint John”
Harry Potter actor Richard Griffiths dies
How Fans Recreated Game of Thrones in a Minecraft Map the Size of LA
Game of Thrones T-shirt on Etsy from Listener Derek
GoT producers will not wait for GRRM to finish the books
GRRM on pitching new projects to HBO
Robert J. Sawyer to Adapt His Novel Triggers for the Big Screen

BOOK CHECK-IN
Dragonriders of Pern: (just Dragonflight if you don't have time for all three)
Wikipedia article

BARE YOUR SWORD
Books for people who miss Firefly

Chris wanted to give his book as a gift to the Sword and Laser audience so all day tomorrow, April 3, Death of Dreams will be free! Thanks Chris.

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 also check out http://www.audible.com/sweeps to enter the sweepstake! Quick to enter, simply put in your email address!

Direct link to download the show!


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Thanks For All The Fish! Downbelow Station Wrap-Up & Your Feedback

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We've reached the end of our run here on Geek & Sundry, but before we go, its time to wrap up our March pick, C.J.Cherryh's Downbelow Station, see what everyone is talking about over on GoodReads, and venture into Whiteboard Land one last time. 

So long and thanks for all the fish! 

More on this month's pick, Downbelow Station:
On Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57...
C.J. Cherryh's Webpage: http://www.cherryh.com/

Discussion Links: 
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

"So Much More to Say" by Aaron:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUUWE...

Anthology Submission Guidelines:http://swordandlaser.com/anthology/

Book Release Calendar: http://swordandlaser.com/calendar/

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