S&L Podcast - #232 - Is This Book a Traitor To Its Genre?

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We wrap up our October book pick, The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Some people find the hero less than heroic. Some people find the genre less than fantasy. So why did Tom like it so much? Is HE a traitor? Also a short story vending machine and why we're so jealous of Ann Leckie's good taste.

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Templeton Rye    
Veronica: Rincon Del Tajo    
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Winners British Fantasy Awards
    
This vending machine prints short stories to read instead of looking at your phone
    
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter play 'Cursed Child' is an official sequel
    
Mark: Ann Leckie posts her "10 Best Science Fiction Books" list at Publishers Weekly
    
Joanna: An "eARC" of Lois McMaster Bujold's latest Vorkosigan book, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen is available on the Baen website. 
    
Trike: Apparently someone found a map of Middle Earth annotated by Tolkien himself, in an old book belonging to the original map illustrator of both LotR and Narnia. Turns out Hobbiton and Oxford are on the same latitude."    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
"Why Andy Weir needs to update his website," or "What short stories are you reading/have you read"    
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Next month: Time and Again by Jack Finney    
    
WRAP UP    
    
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson    
    
Is this book fantasy?  Veronica asks, you answered
    
What's the message? (full spoilers)
    
ADDENDUMS    
    
Our show is currently entirely funded by our patrons at patreon.com/swordandlaser 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 - #231 - Can an Author Spoil Herself?

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We have a delightful conversation with Catherynne M. Valente about decopunk, book awards, and why she fears spoiling herself about her own stories while she’s writing them.

Her decopunk book Radiance is out now!

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/. Download this episode directly here!

S&L Podcast - #230 - Reading Makes You a Better Person, Says Science

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We cheer for Patrick Rothfuss winning the Hollywood game, jeer a little at Spielberg refusing to put a Delorean in the Ready Player One movie and peruse with careful academic curiosity a study showing the increase in empathy caused by reading.

Direct download here!
    
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Bulleit
Veronica: Hendricks Gin and Tonic
    
QUICK BURNS

Rob: Patrick Rothfuss signed some kind of multi-media (Movie, TV And Video game?) deal with Lionsgate.

Louie: No Spielberg references in the Ready Player One film adaptation.

John: Science Shows Something Surprising About People Who Still Read Fiction. They tend to be more empathetic towards others.

Robert: Helene Wecker posted on her Facebook page that there will be a sequel to The Golem and the Jinni to be titled The Iron Season. It's a ways off but I think the wait will be worth it.

Stephen: One of the authors I suggested for future interviews was Jen Williams. Well, her books are now going to be available in the USA, via Angry Robot books. The announcement was made this week on Barnes and Noble's website.

BARE YOUR SWORD

Baby Brains, defined

On Spoilers & The Spoiler Tag

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson    
    
Is this the modern fantasy 1984?

Race, Culture, and Empire

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 Rewind: 'The Martian Influx' Redux

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With the huge success of the film adaptation this month, we thought it would be fun to travel back in time to our interview with The Martian author Andy Weir and Influx author Daniel Suarez. 

If you're interested in picking up where that episode left off, you can follow this link to the Soundcloud page (audio should start at the 45:05 mark).

As noted, Patrons will receive this episode at no charge. Enjoy!

Download episode directly here.

FEATURED REVIEW: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

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Welcome to our Featured Reviews! In this series, we'll be highlighting book reviews by the S&L audience. If you want to submit a review, please check out the guidelines here! -Veronica

Review by Bryan S. Glosemeyer, original on Goodreads here.

"The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason."

The opening line of Neal Stephenson's new 'hard SF' thriller, Seveneves, is bound to go down as one of the great opening lines in science fiction. I'm sure it will soon be mentioned in the same breath as William Gibson's opening line to Neuromancer. "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

So as you can see, the very first sentence packs quite a punch and the punches keep on coming. The clock is ticking till the sky itself burns for five thousand years. Will science and reason save humanity in the harshness of space? Or will politics and greed be our final undoing? Well, I won't spoil it for you, but if you are familiar at all with Stephenson's books, you'll expect very smart and very brave people try to save the world with their smarts and bravery.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The premise is exciting and fun and the tension keeps ratcheting up and up. While this is most definitely 'speculative' fiction, he keeps the science grounded, yet fascinating. No artificial gravity, no warp drives, no energy shields. As usual, Stephenson does a great job of helping to make sense of the science for the average reader. But to do so means he does a lot of 'infodumps.' His books have always been high on the infodump quotient, Seveneves is even more so.

The book is divided into three parts, and I have to say I found the second act the most compelling, fast paced, edge of your seat reading. While there are smart people being heroic throughout the book, this is by far the most adventurous and heroic section.

I do have a few criticisms, and most of that has to do with character. Stephenson has never been one to dive too deep into his characters's inner worlds, but even so he could craft fleshed out, compelling and fun characters like Raz, Hiro, Jack Shaftoe. To be honest, I have to say that most of the characters fell pretty flat for me in Seveneves. I understand that the majority of them are scientists and engineers and they're not going to be the type to fall apart int an emotional mess when the shit hits the fan. But this is some pretty goddamn apocalyptic shit hitting the fan and I would expect even the coolest, logical engineer to have their emotions get hotter and go deeper than what we get here.

One character standout, though still lacking in the emotional depth I just mentioned, is the African American scientist/celebrity Doc Dubois. Any fan of Neil Degrasse Tyson won't be able to help but picture Dubois as Tyson. Even the speech cadences are there.

Again, without going into spoiler territory, the third act of this book was very reminiscent of Raz's quest in Anathem.

All criticisms taken into account, this is still a damn fun and exciting read. Fans of hard sci fi and doomsday thrillers are going to dig this a lot, I think.

Also, when I was reading it, I kept envisioning it not as a movie, but as a miniseries. With the right budget and enough hours to tell the story (5-6 hours I'd say) this would be awesome to see come to life on the screen.

BTW, I also made an online mixtape inspired by the book, especially parts one and two. You can check it out here!