S&L Podcast - #354 - More Than a Bookstore to Me

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Tom had fun at the Nebulas, and we’re excited about the winners. We also kick off a new book, wrap up the last one and give our thoughts about the Game of Thrones finale.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Les Portes de Bordeaux 2017

Veronica: Nothing, still hungover from last weekend

QUICK BURNS

Nebula Winners

Novel: The Calculating Stars

Novella: The Tea Master and the Detective

Novelette: The Only Harmless Great Thing

Dramatic: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Dara: The Folio Society is releasing a beautiful edition of A Game of Thrones in July. The book will come with original artwork by artist Jonathan Burton and an introduction by Joe Abercrombie. It will be in two volumes and it won't be cheap - $195 for the set. You can read more at The Verge.

Tamahome: Incomparable podcast read all the nebula nominees and have an episode about them. They'll do the Hugo noms too.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Buzz says: Great time at the Los Angeles Sword and Laser (@swordandlaser) meetup in North Hollywood with Kelly, Lisa and Ali. Next one on Jun 15 or Jun 29. We put the LA in Sword and Laser! See you soon! #swordandlaser #SandLLA

Benedict says I haven't read many sci-fi books BUT I am thoroughly enjoying 'the long way to a small angry planet' by Becky Chambers. I believe it was mentioned on @swordandlaser not that long ago, possibly a monthly read? Anyway, sorry you two, I've only just got round to it.

Nancy says: Today I switched things up on my blog by posting about my favorite podcasts. Includes @BlastBurnRadio @thecreativepenn @deletethispod @swordandlaser @todayexplained and @writingexcuses (among others!)

Sword and Laser is the podcast that I’ve been listening to the longest. Honest by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt, The Sword and Laser is a fantastic resource for news related to science fiction and fantasy books and authors. They also run a monthly book club with some wonderful choices. If it hadn’t been for The Sword and Laser, I surely would have missed out on some fantastic books."

♫ More than a bookstore! ♪♪ More than a bookstore to meeeee....

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Book Briefing

WRAP UP

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Book Briefing May 2019 - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

How we felt about Game of Thrones TV show

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

S&L Podcast - #353 - Whiskey by Bob

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Locus Award finalists! Great supplementary material for the Martian Chronicles! Why we need utopias! AI Whisky! ALL THAT AND MORE! Sorry. We're really excited about this episode. We hope you will be too.

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Water

Veronica: Golden State Cider

QUICK BURNS

Nokomis.Fl Dennis E Taylor's rewrite of Outland coming to Audible on May 16th.

Dara 2019 Locus Awards finalists announced

CY: My wife and I went to see "Exploring Mars," by National Geographic, the day before I began Martian Chronicles. If it's going to be in city close to you, it's worth the ticket price.

Mark: Dedication of Ray Bradbury statue planned for August 2019 in his hometown, Waukegan, Illinois.

William: On Thursday the 16th of May the BBC podcast/radio show In Our Time will be about Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.

They have discussions on 853 other topics to download including the famous “Year Without Summer” that sparked the writing of Frankenstein.

The format of the show is that several leading experts are invited to discuss the topic in a sort-of narrative style. You feel as if you are listening to a story even though you’re really listening to top experts having a discussion. The host, Melvyn Bragg, deserves a lot of credit for keeping things flowing and understandable.

Trike: NASA has officially named the 2024 moon landing after Artemis, the sister of Apollo. It will include the first woman to walk on the moon. I think the entire crew should be women astronauts.

William: The Guardian has published an article advocating for the writing of more positive Science Fiction.

It briefly looks through the history of both dystopian and utopian fiction and considers why we are so suspicious of utopias.

It argues that while the world is far from ideal, many of us are in what others would call a utopia to the extent that rather than most people dying before adulthood we even ""have time to be outraged that chickens are ill-treated"". Positive visions of the future can allow us to build a better world.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Mel says: Joining in with @swordandlaser as they’re finally reading The Martian Chronicles. I’ve been voting for it for years and had this copy waiting the whole time!

Scott says: Hey folks - saw this and instantly thought of the distillery business in the Bobiverse!

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David says: Catching up on sword and laser podcast, saw that Veronica is looking for comic book recommendations.

Echo by Terry Moore or Rachel Rising by Terry Moore.

Scooby-doo Team up is a great book, I like it because it's one book = one adventure

Batman: Long Halloween

RASL by Jeff Smith

Sam and Fuzzy by Sam Logan (www.samandfuzzy.com) a fun web comic

Best,

David

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"Jenny says: Hi Tom and Veronica,

It's your loyal librarian, bringing you the OED entry on ""scrumpy.""

I also wanted to say that I know I read Rivers of London because of others in Sword and Laser and was surprised to realize it was never an official pick! That series is amazing in audio.

Thanks,

Jenny"

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Book Briefing May 2019 - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

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

S&L Podcast - #352 - The Sword Conspiracy

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To Gene Wolfe! Thank you for Shadow and Claw and Pringles. Plus, William Gibson’s Alien 3, what you need to know before reading The Martian Chronicles, and our final thoughts on the vast conspiracies that make up Theft of Swords….and OUR SHOW?!!! DUH DUH DUH!

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Strongbow

Veronica: Stoked Cider in "Scrumpy"

QUICK BURNS

Dara and AndrewP: Author and SFWA Grand Master Gene Wolfe passed away on April 14th at age 87.

Robert: Coincidentally, shortly after hearing the news, I was snaking on some Pringles chips and looked them up on Wikipedia to see how they were made. And according to Wikipedia:
Gene Wolfe, a mechanical engineer-author known for science fiction and fantasy novels, developed the machine that cooks them.

Our interview with Gene Wolfe

Dara: Tor announced the British Science Fiction Association winners on their website.

Dara: Titan Books is publishing The Art and Making of The Expanse in October.

Nokomis.FL - William Gibson’s Unproduced ‘Alien 3’ Script Getting an Audio Drama Featuring Michael Biehn as Hicks! Offered on Audible!

TRP: As previously mentioned as a possibility round here
Aaronovitch Ben has just tweeted that the TV series adapted from his Rivers of London books are to be made by Simon Pegg & Nick Frost’s Stolen Picture production company

TRP: Circe by Madeline Miller has been shortlisted for the 2019 (UK) Women's Prize for Fiction

TRP: Tom Merritt (yes, that one) said on Cordkillers (a podcast apparently) that Laura Donnelly has been cast in Joss Whedon's The Nevers
According to IMDB The Nevers is "An epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world."
Sounds a bit like The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss which is also in development

Nokomis.FL - A manuscript in author Anthony Burgess's archives appears to be a follow-up to the book A Clockwork Orange. The 200-page work is titled The Clockwork Condition and contains thoughts on the human condition and moral panic in reaction to the release of the film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.

BARE YOUR SWORD

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Thea says: Hi, I recently discovered your podcast and am working through the archive. Back in 2009, Tom mentioned he was reading Evelyn Waugh's The Sword of Honour Trilogy. Currently a bit disappointed with the SF and fantasy books I've been reading, I decided it was time to switch genres. I'm enjoying it immensely, so thanks.

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New Twitter Review from Beth Mitcham! She says "HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, J. K. Rowling. Had fun rereading this #book with @swordandlaser. Great kids eye view of the world and clearly made for reading aloud. I had more sympathy for Malfoy this time round; he’s a good Harry foil."

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@sblackmoore (a.k.a author Steven Blackmore) says: "I would like to publicly say, and this might be the only time I say it or he'll get a swelled head, but @BrianTMcClellan is awesome.

So awesome that he gave me a shout out on @swordandlaser for the Eric Carter books.

Thank you. Your check is in the mail"

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@El_Commutador says: "@swordandlaser I like the sense of humor in this one! :wink:

I'm listening to "Theft of Swords: Riyria Revelations, Volume One" on @Scribd!

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Book Briefing May 2019 - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Wrap Up

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

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