S&L Podcast - #484 - It's Giving "Mad"
/We check in on who's winning the tournament. A vikings kids book! Where it's stabbing time! We talk a little bit about Iron Widow, and wrap up Shadow of the Gods.
WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: Tortellini with Pork Ragu
Veronica: Doritos
QUICK BURNS
Tamahome: Neuromancer coming to Apple TV
Oaken: BSFA announces shortlist of nominees for their 2024 awards
Mark: Announcing the finalists for the first annual Libby Book Awards, aka The Libbys
Seth: Felicia Day wins! Third Eye is the best audio-drama of the year according to the Audie Awards. Obviously this is really a win for the hype from her Sword and Laser appearance.
Mark: David Dastmalchian Joins Alexander Skarsgård In Apple Sci-Fi Series ‘Murderbot’ Will play Gurathin
Mantissa: There is an interesting interview with Martha Wells at Locus Magazine.
Mark: R.F. Kuang’s Babel Optioned for On-Screen Adaptation
BARE YOUR SWORD
John (Taloni)
And if we're doing Alien kid's books, why not Viking animated cartoons? I'm thinking like Dora the Viking. But instead of calling out The Map, it's The Seax! (going with the secondary pronunciation ""sax"" instead of what we all thought the first time, say-ax or see-ax.)
When adventure's on the go,
And it's stabbing time you know,
What'll it be? The seax! Say it again. The seax!
When there's places you should be
And it's killing time, you'll see
What'll it be? The seax! Say it again. The seax!
I'm the seax, I'm the seax
(He's the seax, he's the seax)
I'm the SEAX!
terpkristin: This episode got me through most of my workout today. Thanks for that!! :) And then I wanted hot chocolate and Girl Scout cookies but instead I had Szechuan crispy beef.
On the Hugo stuff, I was one of the ones expecting controversy with it being in China, but what I found most egregious in the leaked emails was the Western committee members deciding that books should be withheld--without reading the book. For someone to say "this shouldn't be in" without reading a book is RIDICULOUS.
The February BOTM isn't working for me. I've put it on the backburner. I know that my usual doorways are plot and characters and I just don't even want to read it. Maybe one day I'll get back to it
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
MARCH PICK
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Amazon Link
Final Thoughts (Spoilery)
Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
Amazon Link
LaszloJamf: Thoughts uncaged
First the good:
The Norse setting was cool with lashings of authentic detail.
The fights were gripping and Orka was an outstanding seax wielder.
The vaesen were creepy and I’m glad they reappeared at the end.
The bad:
Multiple view points slow this book down. I felt the two war bands were really similar and the Elvars blood grim did not really add anything.
The descriptions got kind of samey and we often just had lists of what weapons people were carrying.
3/5 but I’m gonna read the next book as vaesen are supposed to have greater part"
Decado:
Regardless of my gripes, I still enjoyed the book overall. I didn't think it felt slow like a lot of people did. I think Varg's chapters were my favorite, followed by Elvar, though I'm very interested to see where Orka's story goes now. All in all I would give it a 4/5 and I will definitely be continuing the trilogy."
Gristle McNerd
Oh come on, ending on a cliffhanger? I just finished
I do want to know what happens, but I'm not sure I want it enough to expose myself to more awkward prose about viking stuff"
ADDENDUMS
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