S&L Podcast - #311 - Science Fiction Triggers Clickbait Headline

This week we have a lot to say about wine, some to say about Amazon's Lord of the Rings series and loads to say as we wrap up Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. Plus we kind of sort of kick off December's Book, California Bones.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: I Massi 2009 Chianti

Veronica: SomeWine Red Wine

QUICK BURNS

Via Silvana and Louie: Amazon announced it has acquired the global TV rights to Lord of the Rings and intends to produce a multiseason TV series in cooperation with New Line Cinema, The Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins. The series will explore storylines preceding the Fellowship of the Ring, and included a possible spinoff series. 93-year-old Christopher Tolkien officially retired from Tolkien Estate on August 31. He was very much opposed to licensing the rights.

Nokomis.FL: Trailer for Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s book A Wrinkle in Time

Alex: Good news for Brandon Sanderson and fan of The Stormlight Archive:
John (Taloni)
Cool! I went over to see how it was doing on the USA Today list and it is a very respectable #3. Then I noticed that installment 12 of Diary of a Wimpy kid was #4 and had hit #1. Twelve! It's like Jeff Kinney has a license to print money. Andy Weir's Artemis also charting at #8.

Travis: Science Fiction Triggers Poorer Reading, Study Finds

That's what the headline reads, but then when you read the article, it turns out that lots of people are biased against sci-fi, and those people don't read it as carefully as they do realism. Which, like, duh! "identifying a text as science fiction makes readers automatically assume it is less worthwhile, in a literary sense, and thus devote less effort to reading it. "

BARE YOUR SWORD

Books with main characters collaborating with dark side of fantasy universe?

@swordandlaser listening to the smooth roberator episode where someone was asking for western fantasy and I wanted to mention the Wax and Wayne books by Brandon Sanderson. They are definitely worth reading. @Shaunyuken

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Announce California Bones by Greg van Eekhout

California Bones Book Briefing

Last Thoughts on Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Damn You Connie Willis!

On Time Travel and Paradoxes

PhysicsMinute on Time Travel

Final thought

ADDENDUMS

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons. Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way 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/picks

Review us on iTunes!

S&L Podcast - #310 - Apocalypse 1870

OMG. Patrick Rothfuss is best buds with Lin-Manuel Miranda and they're doing a TV prequel to Kingkiller Chronicles, while Felicia Day plays Poppy the Dragonologist AND Amazon wants to do a Tolkien series. And that doesn't even begin to shed light on how good our book pick Doomsday Book is. But the piece de resistance of the show is one man's story of losing power and trying to read.

Direct download link!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: 2015 Chateau de Camarsac - Bordeaux and Plugging his new book Pavaria.

Veronica: Hirsch Reserve Straight Bourbon Whiskey

QUICK BURNS

David: The 2017 World Fantasy Awards winners were announced today at the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio, TX:
Winners include The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North for Best Novel, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson for Long Fiction, and "Das Steingeschöpf" by G.V. Anderson for Short Fiction, among others. Terry Brooks and Marina Warner were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

TRP: Neil Gaiman just announced that Josie Lawrence will play Agnes Nutter in the TV adaptation of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
She played the same role in the BBC radio adaptation of the book a few years back Good Omens: The BBC Radio 4 dramatization Josie Lawrence is an excellent comic actress and a skillful improviser (especially songs) who people may know from her appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway. Also I'm seeing her in the play that Neil Gaiman mentions in a couple of weeks.

Terpkristin: Tor.com says that the TV adaptation of Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle will be "The Kingkiller Chronicle" and will be on Showtime and has a showrunner. John Rogers is the showrunner (The Librarians, Leverage, Transformers, per Tor.com). Apparently the announcement also included something for fans to chew on. Per Tor (emphasis mine):
"Set in the world of the wildly popular fantasy series by Rothfuss, The Kingkiller Chronicle will follow a pair of wandering performers on their adventures through the unique and startling world of Temerant, immersing audiences in a universe of unexpected heroes, mystical places, and terrifying dark forces. […] The television adaption is a subversive origin story of legendary proportions set a generation before the events of the trilogy’s first novel, The Name of the Wind." Rogers tweeted "A generation is a very, very *specific* amount of time. It'll make sense later." I guess I may have to get Showtime...

Dara: Lin-Manuel Miranda on Adapting The Kingkiller Chronicles, How It Inspired Moana, and the Lady Lackless Song He Wrote

Silvana: Amazon in talks about adapting Lord of the Rings into TV series Hmm. Why not The Hobbit? While the LOTR movies are not perfect, there are also still other stories in Middle-earth worth exploring. The Silmarillion for instance. Feanor, Turin, Luthien, there are so many stories there. Anyway, if they stick with LOTR I hope there will be Glorfindel and Scouring of the Shire. And maybe Tom Bombadil.

Felicia Day to join cast of The Magicians, as dragonologist Poppy!

Louie: I feel like this is relevant news to this group, whether you are in SF or not.

Borderlands Books Buys Permanent Home Thanks to Patrons’ Sponsorship

Nokomis.FL: OMNI Magazine Is Back

It's NaNoWriMo Time!

BARE YOUR SWORD

Hi guys,

To Say Nothing Of The Dog" is Connie Willis' friendly nod to Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men In A Boat (To Say Nothing Of The Dog)", a humorous book from the late 19th century, originally planned as a serious travel guide, and then gone haywire.

Best,
Marc Fabian Erdl

---

Hello good folks of S&L!

I have a reading challenge dilemma, as not in the title, that I wanted some advice on. Hope you can help.

I have a goal of 24 books to read in 2017. I'm at 18. Only 6 more to go. I fell behind a little during the summer but have been working hard to catch up. This 18 is already a huge accomplishment for me as I haven't really read anything since I was in middle school.

Here's the dilemma. I'm a slow reader, and I really, really, really want to read The Way of Kings by Branden Sanderson. Hope that's spelled right. As most you may know the book is 1,000 bajillion pages long, and I might as well throw out my goal for this year. So, should I read The Way of Kings? Or focus on shorter books to knock out my goal before reading it?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Out.

George

---

Apocalypse Diary, Day 3 - without electricity, I have been plunged back to the '70s... the 1870s. Read a book about a similar apocalypse (The Fifth Season) by firelight and candlelight. Plugged phone into car and drove around to recharge it. Okay, it's a weirdly advanced 1870s. Alt universe, clearly.

The plague has struck down my nearest neighbors, who live on the hill across the woods. The lone survivor trekked over to offer a cup of jolt, which I have gladly accepted. Our suffering bonds us.

The heavens are troubled no more, the sunlight shining brightly down through ice-blue skies and skitters across the fallen frosted leaves. It is almost enough to make one forget the devastation wrought by the storm which hath brought us so low.

I feel an especial kinship to my compatriots to the south who suffered a similar fate not long ago, although I daresay they are not also dealing with freezing temperatures. But this is not a competition, nor what we elders termed a "pity party" in those long-ago '70s. I keenly feel empathy in our shared plight.

The animals and I have retreated to our demense's great room, huddled by the fire. I envy them their obliviousness to our suddenly shifted lot, and wonder which will eat me first. My money's on the Chihuahua.

Diminutive demons and pint-size princesses will cavort and gambol this eve, begging for treats I do not have. Their tricks may push our fragile existence beyond the brink. Perhaps they will accept spoilt cheese as a bribe to stay their hands?

Will soldier on and report later.

Trike

---

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Book Briefinghttps://www.patreon.com/posts/15026582

ADDENDUMS

Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons. Thank you to all the folks who back our show and if you would like to support the show that way 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/picks