The Sword and Laser Podcast

Latest Articles in this Channel:

10/10/11--19:51: S&L Podcast - #78 - I fixed it! (chan 1242792)

It's time for SciFi writers to get up and help science, according to Neal Stephenson. We also seem to have had the idea of starting a wiki for Ready Player One.  Now if we only had the energy to do it.  And one broken link gets two podcast hosts into an epic battle of fixing.

QUICK BURNS

Science fiction writers have a job, and it’s time to do it, says Neal Stephenson

TV and Movies

Ready Player One to become a movie?

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones casting: Ygrette

CALENDAR

Oct. 18 2011

Aloha from Hell, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager)

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Oct. 20 2011

The Iron Jackal by Chris Wooding

Oct. 25 2011

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 

The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

BARE YOUR SWORD

Steve Jobs/James Halliday

Virtual Online Schools .. Why not?

Play Ready Player One online (quest spoilers)

BOOK CHECK-IN

Looks like we'll wrap up Ready, Player ONe either next week or the week after. Which would you rather?

And Tom gives a quick review of The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

EMAILS

Hi, I just discovered your podcast and I'm listening from the first episode. It's full of geeky goodness and I've enjoyed every episode so far. However, I discovered that the MP3 for podcast 25 is unavailable. Would you be able to check the link in your spare time or perhaps send the MP3 via email?

Thanks,

Chris

____________

Macrologia: @Veronica I think that, whenever on @swordandlaser, you should be referred to as Deathstalker Commander by @acedtect.

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Jim, Franck, Wes, Corey, Garrett, Gordon, Ramon, Anthony!

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.




10/17/11--19:58: S&L Podcast - #79 - Sell me this Doctor (chan 1242792)

Wherein Tom decides to spend $1,000 on an Alastair Reynolds book, Veronica decides to become an author, and we remember "that comedian". It's a chatty episode, a little longer than some have been, but we hope you find it chock full of goodness.

QUICK BURNS

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (3rd Edition) goes live

Agatha H and the Airship City: Girl Genius book is a cross between a comic and a prose novel

Cover art for BLUE REMEMBERED EARTH by Alastair Reynolds --- Tom's excited about this series

SF Authors Predict Computing's Future

CALENDAR

Oct. 18 2011
Aloha from Hell, Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager)
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Oct. 20 2011
The Iron Jackal by Chris Wooding
Oct. 25 2011
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami 
Oct. 27 2011
The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Initiate’s Trial by Janny Wurts
Nov. 8 2011
The Alloy of Law: A Mistborn Novel by Brandon Sanderson
Stands a Shadow by Col Buchanan
Endurance, Jay Lake (Tor)

Get the full calendar

BARE YOUR SWORD

Neal Stephenson - Feminist?

Siri brings nerd humor to iPhone

NaNoWriMo 2011

TV and Movies

Sell me on Dr. Who

Who watched The Walking Dead?

Giveaway Announcement

Write a pitch for a NaNoRiMo story, we'll pick a winner randomly from this thread. You have until October 31st to post, and you could win a Kindle!

EMAIL

Tom and Veronica,

Every once in a while Tom mentions that he's always looking for books. I've also come to the conclusion from a few subtle hints that have been dropped here and there that he's a baseball fan. So I'd like to add the following to Tom's reading/listening queue (as the Audible version of this is a fine performance: Summerland by Michael Chabon, winner of both a Hugo and a Pulitzer (not too shabby and a thoroughly uncommon combination). YA fantasy (though as a middle-aged geek, I enjoyed the heck out of it as well) about trans-dimensional travel, elves, dwarves, magic, good, evil, and baseball. Not just baseball, but baseball as a metaphor for life.

Who knows, it might even be an excellent selection for S&L.

Love the podcast, even though I can't always keep up on the reading.

Yours in geekdom,

George Van Wagner, occasionally known as GVDub in various places on teh intarwebs.

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Dave, David, Louise, Mike, Amir, Jason, Ben, Cappy, Rebecca, Gregory

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.




11/01/11--00:01: S&L Podcast - #80 - All Hallow's Read (chan 1242792)

We wrap up Ready Player One, give away a Kindle, get psyched up for NaNoWriMo, and discuss whether virtual worlds will lead to the decline of cvilization. Ready Player One spoiler's ahead!

QUICK BURNS

These Are the Greatest Geek Books of All Time, Readers Say

WINNERS: 2011 World Fantasy Awards and Lifetime Achievement Winners

CALENDAR

See what's coming up.

Sean sent in an email and an MP3 with some books to add to the calendar.

Hey T&V,

Here are a few upcoming books that would make interesting additions to the calendar:

15 November - Ten Billion Days and a Hundred Billion Nights by Ryu Mitsuse

13 December - Spice and Wolf Novel 5 by Isuna Hasekura

24 January - Book Girl and the Corrupted Angel by Mizuki Nomura

BARE YOUR SWORD

Virtual Reality and the end of Civilization

Was I-rok underused, or overused?

All Hallow's Read

TV, Movies and video games

James Cameron's Fantastic Voyage is a doomed 'love story'

WILD CARDS optioned for a movie

BOOK Wrap-up

Ready Player One

Giveaway Announcement? Winner! Icelord!

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Casey, Amanda, Michael, Ian, Erik, Scotty, MonkeyButler, Michael, Michael, Alan, Rich, Ben, Noel, Jay, NCGrimbo, Robert, Micah, Philip, Vaugh, Andy, Zach, Stephen, Nathaniel, Domenico, Ken, Joshua, Sean, Matthew, Bill, Kyle (aka Khet), Nick, Eric, Erica, Ed, Quasar, Richard, Jon and Maxwell!

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.




11/07/11--19:53: S&L Podcast - #81 - Elephant paper (chan 1242792)

Is Neal Stephenson fantasizing revenge?  How does Patrick Norton read so preternaturally fast? Can you really make paper out of elephant dung?  All these questions and more exlpored on this episode of Sword and Laser.

QUICK BURNS

Art of the Hobbit: Never-Before-Seen Drawings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Terry Pratchett on Snuff

Mark Charan Newton's THE REEF released as an ebook

10 Debut Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels That Took the World by Storm

The Victorian Hugos: 1885
The Victorian Hugos: 1886

CALENDAR 

BARE YOUR SWORD

1Q84 paper texture

Reamde : Why terrorists?

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Grimm - the other fairy tale show

The 1986 infomercial for the Neuromancer movie that never was

BOOK PICK

Vote for the next book!

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Sam, Sheala, Jared, Michael, Bree, Kristin, Kodai, Tracy, Reuben, Christina, Mark, Joshua, Chip, Everitt, Emma (aka Liliy), Jonathan

 




11/17/11--17:30: S&L Podcast - #82 - On Fire (chan 1242792)

This week we talk about the newest eReader from Amazon, as well as why we hold on to those old paper books, and we wrap-up Reamde (spoiler alert!) and kick off a new book!

QUICK BURNS

Kindle Fire is out! - our thoughts on e-readers

Keeping Physical Books in a Digital Age

Fiction can possibly alter personality

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Did you list past reads when you joined Goodreads?

Biting off more then you can read

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Everything You Missed in the Hunger Games Trailer: 40 Awesome Images!

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Tentative Finish Date: January 2

BOOK WRAP-UP (Kind of)

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

EMAIL

Hi Tom & Veronica,

A few weeks ago, Ian Tregillis wrote an interesting blogpost about the upcoming publication of his second book "The Coldest War". Here's the link to his blog for the full story.

To sum it all up, he announced that the audiobook would be released on December 20, 2011 on audible.com. So I thought we could add it the calendar. For the ebook and ""dead-tree"" editions however, we will have to wait until June or July 2012. - Nicolas

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Nadine, Duncan, John, Kendrick, Jason, Al, Isaiah, Roman, Robert, Sarah, Mary, Ed, Michel, John-Paul, Justyna, Chip, Davis, Austin, Mitch, Beelissa, Brian, Eric A., Ryan, Lexy, Martin, Joey, Fiona, LS, Nicholas, Suhail, Joe, Chris, David, Phil

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, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audible.com/NGP




11/28/11--20:31: S&L Podcast - #83 - Lady Lair (chan 1242792)

We bid adieu to one of the great fantasy writers of all time, bit off more than we can read, and learn how to pronounce Elantris properly.  Sort of. Also we rename Veronica's Lady Cave. 

QUICK BURNS

Anne McCaffrey, 1926-2011
Science fiction author Anne McCaffrey dies at 85
First woman to win a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award, as well as a Grand Master of science fiction.

Tailchaser’s Song Animated Feature

Norwegian bookseller begins selling e-books on memory cards, for some reason

Martin Fan Letter in Fantastic Four Comic

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Why do people write fantasy?

Biting off more then you can read

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Skyrim, the black hole of time

Neil Gaiman On The Simpsons

GAME OF THRONES Season 2 behind-the-scenes vid
A first look at GAME OF THRONES Season 2

BOOK CHECK-IN

The Elantris Portal on Brandon Sanderson's website

Sanderson's Female Protagonists

Early thoughts on 1Q84

EMAIL

Hello! My name is Sean Hollenhors and I work at a bookstore in Salem, OR (The Book Bin). I'm a regular Sword & Laser listener and heard you mention collecting first edition hardcovers. We recently revamped our rare book room and put out a plethora of new signed, first edition and rare hard covers. I'm attaching some photos to show off the space as well as some of the titles we have. Give me holler if there are titles you're having trouble finding...we might be able to help! We have an ever expanding selection of Sci-Fi and Fantasy books.

Cheers!
--Sean
The Book Bin




---

Hey fellas, love the show, I adore you guys.

So I totally missed the release of Christopher Paulini’s final book of the Inheritance series 10 days ago. It was totally off my radar. I couldn’t believe you guys hadn’t mentioned it because it’s, like, the 2nd biggest fantasy release this year (by biggest, I mean commercial sales). So I went back and listened to the last 3 podcasts and realized it was never mentioned in any of the upcoming release calendar announcements. Apparently it was off your radar too.

Now, I’m pretty certain you guys aren’t some kind of fantasy snob elitist hipsters that dismissively blow off commercial juggernauts for more underground indie stuff. Perhaps you just didn't care much for the other books in the series. To me they’re a bit meh, but still quite enjoyable. Maybe the Eragon movie abomination left you emotionally so scarred that discussion of the upcoming book in the series would dredge up too many horrible memories. Whatever the case, I would’ve thought that you’d at least mention the thing. After all, talking about fantasy books is like, your job ;o) ß this is a very tongue in cheek winky smiley, FYI.

david C

Voicemail from Jenny! She tells us about a cool podcast hosted by Brandon Sanderson at Writing Excuses.

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Nadine, Duncan, John, Kendrick, Jason, Al, Isaiah, Roman, Robert, Sarah, Mary, Ed, Michel, John Paul, Justyna, Chip, Davis, Austin, Mitch, Beelissa, Brian, Eric A., Ryan, Lexy, Martin, Joey, Fiona, L.S., Nicholas, Suhail, Joe, Chris, David, Phil, Brandon, Michal, Kim, Tora, Ryan, Gresst, Claudio, Scott, Kendra, Lloyd, Mike, Kurt, Stephen, Michael, Matthew, Andres, Chris, Matt, Luke, Scott, Graham, Paul, Morgan, Chris, Brett, David, Colin, Shawn, Lore, Terry, Nick, David, Malachi, Azizul, Zaid, Graham!




12/12/11--19:30: S&L Podcast - #84 - Metric is for SciFi, Imperial is for Fantasy (chan 1242792)

We discuss the meaning of religion in Elantris, whether 1Q84 is boring or not, and why Ray Bradbury is so darn crotchety.

QUICK BURNS

Roy Dotrice records new edition of FEAST FOR CROWS audiobook

Rudy Rucker's autobiography: Nested Scrolls

Fahrenheit 451 becomes e-book despite author's feelings

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Elantris - Anyone else feel guilty?

Elantris - Favorite POV

Units of Measure in Fantasy

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Westeros: Total War needs some help

GAME OF THRONES Season 2 trailer

Lost Doctor Who Episodes Surface With Chumblies, Fish People

BOOK CHECK-IN

Elantris

1Q84

EMAIL

Hello Veronica and Tom,

I have been a long time listener to FrameRate on the TwiT network and have only recently been listening to The Sword and Laser, episode number 82 to be precise. Both this and the later episode have been enjoyable to listen to whilst on long plane journeys and idle time whilst building booths and trade shows. I must admit I finished the Elantris book in a few days and agree with Veronica when she stated this has a first book feel to it. Towards the end I found Sarene to be slightly grating and almost put the book down, but I am glad I pushed through the last twenty or so pages.

I was wondering if you had a few seconds to answer a question so I may learn from people possessing greater knowledge than I? I find myself with a two week break over Christmas and I was wondering if you could suggest any major series I could start getting into? (I have never read the Mistborn, the Way of Kings or Games of Thrones series, but really enjoyed the Dark Tower books.)

I hope you manage to find sometime during your busy schedules to answer my question and I look forward to the next episode.

Kind Regards,

Wilton

---

Did you guys see this? A grad student of mine sent me the links and I though Tom in particular might enjoy it:

Part 1

Part 2

-- Dr. Timothy R

---

Veronica and Tom, I wanted to reach out to you guys and let you know about our e-zine Flagship. Every other month (soon to be every month) for the last fifteen months we've put out an anthology of positive science fiction and fantasy short stories in both electronic text and audio formats. We were recently featured in Wired magazine's Geekdad blog and are looking for more places to get the word out about what we're doing.

-- Scott Roche

CALLS

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Chris (Cogitator X), Harm, Kieran, Tim, Urg, Dave, Emma, Brandon, Armando, Kristin, William, Darren, Michael, Marissa, Joe, Jon, Quinn, Chris, Dana, Stephen, Diego, Brandon, Jonathan, Chrys, Alex, Ruth, Shaun, Rob, Melissa, Patrik, Dirk, Link, Leslie, Tom, Peter, Amanda, Mel, Trey, Harry, Bob, Mecque (muh-kay), Kelly, Jack, Charles, Gary, Glenn, Codered, Bryan, Jonathan.

ADDENDUMS

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.




12/19/11--20:25: S&L Podcast - #85 - Bookmark this (chan 1242792)

We find out Lev Grossman's picks for the best SFF of the year, as well as welcome a new speculative fiction mag to the scene and review good things to use as a bookmark.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Veronica: 2008 Legón Ribera del Duero Roble
Tom: 2009 Les Portes de Bordeaux

QUICK BURNS

Fired Up: The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fantasy

SFSite reports The Center for the Study of Science Fiction (CSSF), in association with the University of Kansas, will launch James Gunn’s Ad Astra, an online resource for authors, scholars and all those who are interested in speculative fiction in the summer of 2012.

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

What Else Are You Reading - December 2011 Edition

What do You Use as a Bookmark?

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Worst movies you've paid to watch on the bigscreen

BOOK CHECK-IN

Elantris

1Q84

EMAIL

Hi Tom and Veronica,

On the last S&L I listened to you were talking about Roy Dotrice recording A Feast for Crows to complete his narration of the Song of Ice and Fire series. Veronica mentioned that she had been lucky enough to have the same narrator in all of the multi-book series she has read via Audible. That is great as I can attest from much experience to how disconcerting that can be. I am legally blind, and as such can download digital or borrow cassette audio books from the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. (http://www.loc.gov/nls/) This is an awesome service that I have been using for over 30 years. Yes I used to borrow records. While they also try and use the same narrators within series, the problem is I am not a patient man. Since they do their own recordings new titles often take a good while to show up on the service. When you guys recommend a series that has been around for a while I will often start reading if via the NLS, but then I just can't wait when the newest edition comes out. Then I find myself turning to Audible for my fix. This happened recently with A Dance with Dragons, and I am now looking at my credits trying to decide if I should get the latest in the Kingkiller Chronicles series. The problem is it takes me probably 25 of the book to get over the difference in narrator's interpretation of the characters.

Sorry this is longer than I had anticipated, but I just wanted to weigh in on the issue and let you know about the NLS in case you weren't already aware of it and have other handicapped listeners who might be able to take advantage of it.

-Steve

----

After listening to the two of you on some of your more recent podcasts and discovering that you also like games, I thought you might be interested in a five minute documentary that my daughter did as a grade 12 media project. It's based on the community of gamers at my store ""The Sentry Box"". We have about 7000 SF&F titles as well as the games which is why I thought of you. Since you are in the warm south, I figured you might be interested in what we do in the cold Canadian north in Calgary for fun.

I actually had nothing to do with anything in the video which is probably why it turned out so well. She just posted it and has had 500 views in four days so I'm pretty impressed and in awe of her skills.

Keep up the great work.

Gordon Johansen

-------

Hey Tom and Veronica,

I know you were both on the mailing lists for the GoT press kits when the series debuted, but I haven't heard you mention anything about the DVDs. My husband is a film & TV critic and he brought home a big box o' swag today, so with his permission, I thought I'd share some unboxing pics.

Here's a link to the whole set on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alterjess/sets/72157628490860895/

In the box:

House Baratheon seal & sealing wax
DRAGON EGG
House Baratheon notecards
press photos
DVD of first ep

I don't know if everyone got House Baratheon, or if HBO made up kits for other houses as well - I have to admit, I was a little disappointed to see a stag instead of a direwolf or dragon on the outside of that box.

(DVDs are on sale March 6, by the way, though it doesn't say so anywhere in the press materials!)

Love the show (awww, now I feel like I'm emailing you back at BOL),

Jessica of House HOLY CRAP I HAVE A DRAGON EGG ON MY DESK

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Martin, Alan, Paul, Seth, John, Vyktor, Amy, Therazor, Thomas, Andrew, Eric, Pete, Joseph, Imogen, Jacqueline, Natalie, Gary, Keith, January!

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, including fiction, non-fiction and periodicals. For a free audiobook of your choice, go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.




01/02/12--19:58: S&L Podcast - #86 - Elantris Wrap-up (chan 1242792)

Veronica is on a "cleanse".  I think she may have suffered from the sheod and just doesn't want to admit it. But we review some of the best books of 2011, look at some hot new ones coming out soon, and wrap-up our final thoughts on Elantris.

QUICK BURNS

George R. R. Martin posts excerpt from Winds of Winter

The Wertzone Awards 2011

The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Comics Of 2011

THE WHEEL OF TIME is completed

Empire State: a phildickian noir detective/superhero/pocket universe novel

CALENDAR

The Ultimate Guide to January’s Science Fiction and Fantasy!

BARE YOUR SWORD

Hobbit eggs

What Else Are You Reading - January 2012

Sword & Laser Anthology

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

The Making of “The Hobbit” — Part Five

BOOK WRAP-UP

Elantris

Check in on 1Q84

EMAIL

Hey,

Can't sleep so listening to S&L and you guys are talking about the interminable 1Q84 and I just had to ask if you're listening at 1X or 2X? I've got a post coming up about how 2x saved my sanity and makes me impatient with normal speaking humans so would love to hear how you listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

Have a Merry!

Jason D.

---

Hello Tom and Veronica.
I wanted to let you guys know that the whole series of the chronicles of narnia is available for free in audio for at this link.

The best thing is that it has the authorization from CS Lewis State, so download for the win!

Love the podcast. Keep up the good work.

Yannis from Chicago

---

Veronica and Tom,

I read an interesting post:

Lovecraft’s racism & The World Fantasy Award statuette, with comments from China Miéville

It's an interesting account of accepting an award when the name on the award is that of a blatant racist.,p> What are your thoughts on this? How could anyone take any pride in accepting an award with Lovecraft's (or, for that matter, Hitler's or Stalin's) name on it. I know that I'd find it hard to have my name associated with anything ""Lovecraft"".

Excellent shows. I'm definitely a "laser" guy and I eagerly await each laser-centric read.

Mike from Fremont

NEW MEMBER HELLOS
Chad, Meripen, Richard, Charlie, Blaine, Chad, Russell, Casey, Drew, Chris, Aloha, Lorie, Jason, Jim, Nels, Kerry, Kdiggity, Raymond, Brad, Daniel, Alex, Brianna, Danny, Lee, Ray, Norman, Nathan, Dave, Ryan, Jolea, John, Cap'n Jack, Ryan, Chris, Brian, Rachel, Chuck, eHawk, Marcus, Shannon (Morse! Snubsie!!), Vid, Matthew, Mike aka mezmo, Khalil




01/06/12--20:57: S&L Podcast - #87 - Kick-off Rule 34 by Charles Stross (chan 1242792)

It's a quick episode to kick off our new book selection, Rule 34 by Charlie Stross.  We find we have a lot in common with Mr. Stross. And yes Rule 34 is the meme you're thinking it might be.

 

QUICK BURNS

2012 Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Award Nominating Ballot

CALENDAR

BOOK KICK-OFF

Rule 34 by Charles Stross

Charles Stross

We'll wrap it up on Feb. 13th.

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Ian, Robert, Eric, Liam, Walker, Michelle, Tanvir, Brad, Javier, Martin, Michael, David, Adrienne, Noomniman, Joe

New email address! feedback@swordandlaser.com

 




01/16/12--19:56: S&L Podcast - #88 - Titillate the Audience (chan 1242792)

The wine sort of gets to Veronica and she says some outrageous things, but not nearly as outrageous as what's going on in Rule 34.  What up with that? Ah well. If it's not Scottish it's crap.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

V: 2005 Toasted Head Cabernet Sauvignon 

T: 2009 Les Portes de Bordeaux

QUICK BURNS

Distrust That Particular Flavor: William Gibson's long-overdue essay collection

Photos from the first science fiction convention, 1937 

Science Fiction’s predictions for the year 2012 

Beyond the Wall exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire

CALENDAR 

BARE YOUR SWORD

Sexist Fantasy Book Covers 

Who would you pick to make first contact? 

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

WB Sets Up ‘Ready Player One’ Rewrite From Eric Eason - Thanks Kev!

Masterpiece Mystery! - new Sherlock Holmes 

BOOK CHECK-IN

First Impressions of Rule 34

Scottish accent 

EMAIL

I may be old fashioned, but I have a pretty hard distinction between reading and listening.  I have listened to quite a few books but I always stumble over saying that I ""read"" the book.  I always say I ""listened to"".  
Yet, when I listen to S&L, it seems like you interchange these terms.  Tom has mentioned that he is ""x"" hours in to a book, does that mean that he is not reading it but listening to it?  Is there / should there be a distinction between these two mediums?  If I listen to a podcast, can I say I read it?  What if it had a transcript but I listened to the podcast?  Would it count then?

I recently finished reading The Hunger Games, which I did on the Kindle Fire.  I don't have an issue with digital books; actually I found out that I prefer it.  I recently heard 2 Jim Butcher books, which I also enjoyed.  However I would not say that I read the Butcher books or state that I listened to The Hunger Games.  
Am I goofy on this or do others have the same reaction?

Thank you,
Steven K

---

Hey guys, 
Just started listening to you guys recently and I like what I hear. I am impressed by how many books you guys can read so quickly. 

I do have a question for you. Most of my ""reading"" is done through audible.com and just made a startling discovery!!! My audible library is made up of ALL male authors. Each one is great and I am not lacking in Genre diversity, only in gender diversity. Being Female myself, it would be nice if my library would reflect that. So, with the exception of Anne McCaffrey ( i have plenty of her paperbacks), what female authors would you recommend? Spy thrillers is my favorite genre, but, I will take anything in the science fiction or fantasy novels. Classics are welcome too!! Please help before someone accuses me of being a sexist!! 

MR

Veronica's Answer: Laurie R. King, Gail Carriger, Robin Hobb, Jacqueline Carey, Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin

Tom Adds: Andre Norton, Ursula K. LeGuin

---

Hey Tomronica and Veronitom! Just thought I'd ramble at you for a bit. Where to start? I've been listening to your podcast for a couple of weeks now and I love it! I remember someone making the comment about the magic systems of Brandon Sanderson being similar in his books. There's a good reason for it. All his books are in the same universe and each is a ""shard"" as he puts it.

I have a couple of book suggestions. On Basilisk Station by David Weber. It's the first book in the Honor Harrington series. Also Live Free or Die by John Ringo. It's the first book in the Troy Rising trilogy and they are all hilarious! You can get this book and all the others from the publisher Baen for free. I have no idea how that is pronounced.

I have a leftover gift membership to Audible and I have no one to give it to. I thought you guys could use it for a contest. The offer expires February 28th. All I need is the email address of the winner. Have doing everything you are doing!

Michael

 

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Joseph, Andy, Bob, Shaline, Adam, Casey, Bear, Chris, Allen, Mark, Craig, Gregory, Shylina, Michael, Marshall, Bjorn, Jordan, Adam, Kevin, Soren, John, Brad, laura, Mike, Chris, Jessica, Napo, Keith Mike, James, Elianara, Orvelin, Mark, Marc, Mark, Joey, Darren, David, Teody, Allston, Brainfromorous, Lawrence, Chris, Greg, Phil, Angus

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.  

 




01/23/12--19:37: S&L Podcast - #89 - What Kind of Fantasy Again? (chan 1242792)

We do it all in this episode, from congratulating grand masters, to debating the powers of the mind, to talking about sexy fantasy.  Hopefully that last is not too shocking.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Veronica: 2007 Banrock Station Shiraz

Tom: 2009 Bitch Aragon Grenache




QUICK BURNS

Charles Stross’ latest novel is coming true over on The Pirate Bay

SFFWRTCHT: An Interview With Joe Haldeman

Connie Willis is the 2011 Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master

Get writing advice from Lev Grossman in your inbox

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Reading versus Listening

Veronica's Straw Poll

What is the coolest library you've ever read in?

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Warner Brothers developing OTHERLAND movie

Game of Thrones will return for its second season in the USA on 1 April 2012. This has now been backed up by Sky Atlantic saying the season will start airing in the UK on Monday, 2 April 2012, less than 24 hours after US transmission. "Blackwater" episode May 27th, written by GRRM

BOOK CHECK-IN

Rule 34

EMAIL

Hi Tom & Veronica,

I've enjoyed listening since I picked up on it last fall. Keep up the good work.

On your last podcast, an email mentioned On Basilisk Station, the first book of the Honor Harrington series. You may be interested that infomyth.com has the first ten books of the Honor Harrington series in ebook form available for free download. They are presented in only lit and rtf formats, but since there is no DRM, I converted them to epub using calibre.

Naoki

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Not really feedback, but I love both authors and found the interview really interesting.

George R. R. Martin Interviews Bernard Cornwell

Linda

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ADDENDUMS

Join Veronica for some vaginal fantasy!




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. 

 




02/06/12--20:23: S&L Podcast - #90 - Fake Being an Expert (chan 1242792)

Do you want to know how to fake being an expert on something geeky? We examine some tips from io9 on folling the geeks, plus Tom explains how he's legally reading a book that won't be sold in the US until the summer. And Veronica has some kind words for John Scalzi.  One of those words is boobies.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?




Veronica: 2007 Alois Lageder Pinot Noir Alto Adige

Tom: Courvoisier VSOP Cognac

QUICK BURNS

Another Chain Says It Won’t Carry Amazon Books, But Does It Matter? 

“Provacative” Publisher Creates Book That Lets You Talk Back To The Characters

How to Fake Being An Expert in Any Major Media Character, In 7 Easy Steps  

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Buy some John Scalzi books, support breast cancer screenings!

The strangest thing found left in a book? 

Eastercon 2012  

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

New GAME OF THRONES trailer 

Hunger Games Trailer 2 is out - Super Bowl Trailer 

Sugar Inc. Launches DistrictSugar, their portal for all things Hunger Games

BOOK CHECK-IN

Tom finished Rule 34 - liked it much better the last 2/3 Veronica is about 65% of the way through, is enjoying it much more now as well. Officially wrap-up coming next week.

Tom obtained UK version of Blue Remembered Earth by Alistair Reynolds through Amazon.

Veronica is also reading Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn, for Vaginal Fantasy

EMAIL

I have always loved to read, but ten years ago I lost my sight andhave since become a voracious audiobook listener. I use the term“read” when discussing books all the time which has on occasion causedsome to try to correct me by telling me that I did not read the book Ilistened to it. For which I always reply… The eyes are a medium inwhich the brain reads they’re merely a way to input externalinformation not the body part that reads it and yes I understand thatdifferent parts of the brain are used to identify such externalinformation, but in the end it is the brain that reads no matter theway in which one obtains the information. So when a blind person oraudiobook listener says that they’ve read a book it doesn’t matterwhether they used their eyes, ears or fingers because no matter theway they did it it is still their brain that read it.

Love the podcast and keep up the good work!

-Aaron

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Dear Veronica and Tom,

I was catching up on my Sword and Laser listening last night and two of the conversations in the last podcast inspired me to write in with a book suggestion. Another Email mentioned On Basilisk Station, first book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. We're big Weber fans in my household, and most recently my husband and I have been working through Weber's Safehold Series, which begins with Off Armageddon Reef. In this series Weber has combined his typical Military Sci-fi setting with a Historical setting. There are swords, and yes, there are lasers, though there is no magic (but there are dragons, kinda) so your mileage may vary.

Unfortunately Off Armageddon Reef is not available as part of the Baen Free Library, but it is available on Audible. I've read it and listened to it, and enjoyed it greatly both ways. I know it's not the only book out there to tackle a fantasy styled setting from a sci-fi point of view, but I think it'd be a great way to introduce some David Weber to Sword and Laser.

Thanks as always for the great podcast, I'm excited to see what book you all pick next!

Cheers, Jenn

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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. 

 




02/13/12--20:53: S&L Podcast - #91 - Rule 34 Wrap-up (chan 1242792)

We talk about the importance of scientists and writers partnering up as well as debate the distinction between science fiction and science fantasy.  And we wrap up Rule 34 by Charles Stross.  Did our opinons turn?  Listen and find out.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Veronica: 2007 d'Arenberg d'Arrys Original Shiraz Grenache 

Tom: 2005 Cosentino Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 

QUICK BURNS

The science fiction effect 

SF flash fiction from Gaiman, Moorcock, Westerfeld, Ann Vandermeer, Gene Wolfe and others

WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE news plus some new GoT pics 

What Frank Herbert’s Dune Can Teach Us About the Power of Positive Thinking 

CALENDAR 

BARE YOUR SWORD

Your One and Only

Science Fantasy vs Science Fiction 

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

It’s Honest Abe versus bloodsuckers in the first Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer

HBO on the Battle of the Blackwater (and Dunk 'n' Egg) 

George R.R. Martin reads nursery rhymes. 

BOOK WRAP-UP

Rule 34 by Charles Stross

Charles Stross' about page -- Thanks to Nick on Goodreads for pointing it out

EMAIL

"Love the podcasts,

So the idea started with one of the guys calling the other ""girly-man"". So to keep a fight from starting I gave a quick class on how all males are 50% female do to the X chromosome. I have seen shows where a person goes through hormone replacement therapy as part of their gender change and are shocked by the changes in their personalty. Has there ever been a book where someone ""grew"" a man with two ""Y"" chromosomes? A ""fe"" free male so to say. If not, I am sure it would be a great idea for some book. Part of it sounds like something China or North Korea would to make a super soldier.  

If nothing else maybe they could just be put in charge of the House of Representative. (inside joke for Tom and another show)


Signing off from Afgahnistan,
SSG Michael Mugler"

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"Hi Tom & Veronica,     I heard you talking about the Baen free library on the last episode and wanted to mention that for years Baen included CD's with some of their hardback books that included ebooks versions not only of that book but other Baen books.

I always thought it was a great way to encourage fans to try other authors as well as additional books in the series and Baen encouraged people to share the CD's with friends.
A fan has put together an archive of all the CD's online at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for those of us who own the Baen hardbacks its an easy way to get all of the CD's content in one place. Since the CD's were distributed freely it appears to be a completely legal way to get a number of free books from Bean that are not available for free in their store. 


Not sure if this is show worthy material since I have not heard if Baen has commented on the website either way though it has been mentioned on Penny-Arcade before.  Regardless I highly recommend Baen as they are a company who seems to understand the benefits of digital distribution and go treat their customers much better than most publishers with reasonably priced ebooks combo packs and free books.
Brandon


P.S. Keep up the great work on the show!!" NEW MEMBER HELLOS Scott, Manuel, Brad, Aubrey, Erik, Jeane (pronounced Genie), Ryan, Chris, Bob, Shane, Nick, Stan, Susan, Barry, Jess, Paul, Thomas, Ted, Robbin, Terje (pronounced TARE-yuh), Mira, Mason, Stuart 

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.




02/20/12--20:30: S&L Podcast - #92 - The Lies of Locke Lamora Kick-off (chan 1242792)

Well it's an amazing kick-off to a great fantasy novel, but Tom can't stop himself from embarassing admissions, and Veronica is shocked into speechlessness. So it's that kind of episode.

 

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Veronica: 2010 Hogue Cellars Pinot Grigio 

Tom: 2009 Les Portes de Bordeaux 

QUICK BURNS

Aspiring sf writers: Clarion workshop closes to applications in two weeks

2011 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced Thanks David!

Developing World: Beyond the Frontiers of Science Fiction 

CALENDAR

BARE YOUR SWORD

Alternate Pick? 

Books You Have Lemmed 

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS going scifi

Classic S&L Video Games 

TRAILER: ‘Doomsday Book’ – SciFi Anthology Film with Sentient Robots, Meteor Collision and Zombies

BOOK KICK-OFF

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)by Scott Lynch

Wikipedia Entry 

Purchase The Lies of Locke Lamora  

Tom finished MORAV by Fon Davis

Updates on Blue Remembered Earth and The Coldest War.

EMAIL

Dear V & T,

I've been catching up on a few weeks of podcasts, so feel free to ignore this if you've moved on from the ""is listening to an audiobook really reading?"" issue.  
My relevant background is that I am a cognitive neuroscientist and an avid audiobook listener (I joined audible.com in 2001...)

Anyway, from a scientific perspective, all the claims that brain handles audio differenetly from the written word are true but entirely meaningless to this debate.
The problem is that unless you have some well-formed argument about what a difference in neural patterns signfiies, its meaningless to base any claim by stating simply that the ""brain handles x differnetly from y"".   The reason for this is that, at some level,  the brain handles nearly everything differently from everything else.

For example, reading aloud and reading silently activate the brain in different ways.  As does reading reading in your native tounge vs. a newly learned langauge.  Same with braille vs printed words.  Or with reading off paper vs. off a computer monitor (neural activity can actually get entrained to the refresh rate).  Brain activity in ""fast readers"" can differ from that of ""slow readers.""  Kids' brains handle reading differently from adult brains.  Brain activity during reading can change following a stroke... And so on.   If there is one ""right"" kind of brain activity for reading, there is probably only one person who has ever really read (my money is with Jonathan Franzen….)
Point being:  saying that brain activity is different when listening vs. ""reading"" tells us nothing particularly useful.

On the other hand, much more meaningful questions could be asked, like:
Do people remember the text better when it is read to them vs. when they read it themselves?Are details remembered better?Does the author intent come through better in one medium vs. another?  Are people more likely to ""skim"" in one medium vs. another?After some time do people forget how they ""read"" the book?  (that is, years afterwards, is the content stored seperately from the delivery method).

These are actually answerable questions and it would be interesting if someone did this research.  But I can say from my own experience that there are times when audio is clearly the ""better"" method.   One obvious example, is that I know how to pronounce character names and places.  
Anyway, love the show,

Jordy

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Hi Tom and Veronica,

Love the S&L podcast, keep up to good work.Brandon Sanderson posted a blog entry about the release date of A MEMORY OF LIGHT 

As a Wheel of Time fan, I can't wait, hope it doesn't get delayed but i respect the need to finish this off right.

BTW: are my recommendations for an S&L book pick

Sword: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

Laser The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

Veronica, thanks for introducing me the Alex Craft series in your new book club, looking forward for more good stuff.

Lastly here is book rec I think you will both enjoy immensely but probably doesn't fit the book club profile, it takes place in a post Zombie outbreak world in which civilization didn't collapse largely thanks to bloggers and the lessons learned from George Romero! the book is called Feed by Mira Grant (Newsflesh Trilogy #1) it's a clever, intelligent book, just look at the cover.

Arroyo Kay

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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.