We break down our June book pick, Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, and find out why its actually four or five books and its gods are not what they seem. Also we set up our July pick from Octavia Butler and decide whether warp speed is actually coming or not.  

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WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Boddington’s Pub Ale    
Veronica: Earl Grey Tea    
    
QUICK BURNS  

3 more Expanse novels announced – Ben    
IXS Enterprise (IXS-110) – Bookshelf
Every Game Of Thrones Scene Broken Down By Book, Chapter And Episode  
WINNERS: 2014 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards
 

PICKS    

Tom: Cibola Burn by James S A Corey, Traveling in Space by Steven Paul Leiva     
Veronica: Shattered by Kevin Hearne, though I’m still a book behind!   
  
Sandi – I finished listening Hollow World this morning. I really liked it. Kind of a modern H.G. Wells/Jonathan Swift vibe. I’m now starting On the Steel Breeze. I love the narrator, Adjoa Andoh. She played Martha’s mother on Doctor Who and was one of the narrators of Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.     
    
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    

BARE YOUR SWORD    

Monthly meetups!    
Uncharted-esk Books by Josh    
How do you find new books to read? by Alexander   
Should We Read Comics/Graphic Novels As Group Reads by Killian    

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    

July Book is Dawn by Octavia Butler       
Wrap up Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan    
“The revolution will not be…?” by Sean    
Let’s talk about the ending by Joanna    
    
ADDENDUMS

Looking for something ELSE to read? Wish you could read 20 books in the space you usually read one? Can’t decide between scifi and fantasy? WE HAVE SOLVED ALL YOUR PROBLEMS. The Sword and Laser Anthology combines 10 great scifi and 10 great fantasy stories from new authors found RIGHT HERE in our audience. And the stories are fantastic. Even Patrick Rothfuss thinks so. Head on down to your favorite online bookseller and search Sword and Laser Anthology or point your favorite Web browser to swordandlaser.com/store.   

Listeners who complete the survey will be entered in an ongoing 
monthly raffle to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card. 
 

Survey!
Take the listeners survey at podsurvey.com/laser. 

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 Derek Brown

It turns out that you can go home again. Or at least you can if you’re Stephen King.

I just finished this, King’s sequel to a much earlier work. The Shining is the story of a small child, trapped in a world so much more dangerous than the one other kids inhabit, because he has a special talent. A power that supernatural forces want to consume. In Doctor Sleep, we get to see that small child, now grown, haunted by the same affliction that nearly drove his own father to murder his wife and son. Not his power, but the drinking problem he now has, the only thing he has yet found to suppress his terrible, awesome power, and keep the ghosts of his childhood quiet. 

To me, this story is largely about demons. Recognizing the worst of them for what they are, and realising that you are never alone with them.

Its also a story about another small child, afflicted (or gifted) with her own set of abilities, and because ka is a wheel, and it always turns, this little girl is also chased by supernatural forces eager to consume her. 

I can’t overstate how much I enjoyed this book. I first read The Shining over 20 years ago, and its one that’s always really resonated with me. Getting to revisit the landscape of that work with King, seeing what happened to Danny Torrance after the events at the Overlook Hotel, and finding out how his life turned out because of it was a lot of fun. 

Fans of King’s other novels will find a healthy helping of the usual Easter eggs here as well. If you’ve read any of his other books, you’ll enjoy the many references to King’s integrated universe. 

The only item to note (and it’s not a negative, but it is a warning), would be that I consider either reading The Shining or seeing the original Kubrick movie a definite prerequisite to reading this book. Preferably both, so you’ll know the correct version of the story that King uses to jump from, but also so that you’ll have the awesome imagery from the movie to help light the way. 

We talk to Emily Jiang at the Nebula Awards about her book Summoning the Phoenix, her foray into children’s books and what she has planned for a full novel. Hint, it involves magic and spies.
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Would you like to be in a George R. R. Martin Book? Got $20K? Don’t mind being killed? Good. You can help wolves. Also we give our first impressions of Brian McClellan’s The Promise of Blood and talk Geekomancy with Michael Underwood. 

Direct download!

QUICK BURNS   
    
Maddadam TV Series – Chris    
    
2014 Audie Winners (Audible) – Daniel
    
WINNERS: 2014 Ditmar Awards
    
Author Jay Lake has passed away – Joe Informatico
    
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN WILL KILL YOU GAME OF THRONES-STYLE FOR $20,000

PICKS    
    
Tom’s Reading On The Steel Breeze by Alistair Reynolds    
    
Veronica is reading Marie Brennan’s The Tropic of Serpents (a Memoir by Lady Trent) and just finished Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig, and Lions of Al-Rassan by GGK.    
    
What Else Are you Reading June    

Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Anyone else find reading about sex (in fiction) and/or reading profanity to be awkward? – Eric
    
Summer climate fiction – “cli fi” for short – genre reading list – Nokomis.FL
 
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    

July book pick is up for a vote. We’re reading Octavia E. Butler. Voting ends June 22. 
    
The Promise of Blood

WARNING: Hachette and Amazon are having a fight which may affect shipping times for print copies. Might want to buy print copies elsewhere for the time being.    
    
Everyone’s favorite hobby: casting – John    
    
People and Places for $200, Alex – Daniel (rhymes with Taniel) 
    
First Impressions – Rabindranauth    
    
ADDENDUMS

Buy the Sword and Laser Anthology!    
    
Cross-promo Boing Boing podcast    

David Weber joins Tom Merritt at BayCon to talk about the origins of his writing, the journey of Honor Harrington and how he relies on his fans.

Download episode direct!

We intersect with Mr. Samuel R. Delany at the Nebula Awards to talk about his writings, old and new, and the role of science fiction, plus more stimulating conversation.

Download the podcast here!
Samuel R. Delany’s Facebook page.

 

Veronica is back from China to regale us tales of motorboating pandas, but first we announce our June book pick and wrap-up The Martian by Andy Weir. Is it as scientifically accurate as so many say? We get an aerospace engineer’s perspective. 

Direct download here!

Watch the hangout here on YouTube.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    

Tom: Smithwick’s     
Veronica: Anchor California Lager    

QUICK BURNS  

So what do you think of this year’s winners?
Nebula Winners    
Former PC Gamer editor Gary Whitta is writing a Star Wars film    
LOCKE LAMORA TV series in the works: update    
FINALISTS: 2014 John W. Campbell Memorial Award    
H.R. Giger passes away    

PICKS    

Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi    
Dreams of Gods & Monsters    

Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    

BARE YOUR SWORD   

Godzilla (2014)    
Fan-Made Trailer For Jim Butcher’s Next Dresden Files Book    

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    

June book: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
WARNING: Hachette and Amazon are having a fight which may affect shipping times for print copies. Might want to buy print copies elsewhere for the time being.    

Order Promise of Blood from Powell’s
Order Promise of Blood from Amazon

Brian McClellan interview on Sword and Laser   

Wrap-up the Martian    

Peril overload.    
think a movie adaption is possible?    
— Ridley Scott in talks to direct Matt Damon in The Martian    
What does NASA think about The Martian?    

We chat with Ann Leckie mere hours before she wins a Nebula award, about what it’s like to get so many awards, and what’s coming next for fans of her award-winning novel, Ancillary Justice.

Download show here!

 

Ancillary Sword arrives October 7.

We chat with Ann Leckie mere hours before she wins a Nebula award, about what it’s like to get so many awards, and what’s coming next for fans of her award-winning novel, Ancillary Justice.

Download show here!

 

Ancillary Sword arrives October 7.

Memorial Day weekend I’ll be in San Jose for BayCon 2014! The theme this year is Honor, which is in no small part because the writer guest of honor is creator of Honor Harrington himself, David Weber. There’s lots more honor to go around as well with Artist Guest of Honor is Ursula Vernon, and Fan Guest of Honor Sally Woerhle. 

I’ll be succeeding Veronica Belmont as toastmaster. That’s some big toast to fill. Her’s where I’ll be popping up throughout the weekend. 

Friday May 23

1:30 PM Opening Ceremonies, Ballroom A

5:00 PM Doctor Who: Why it is still going strong 50 years later? Camino Real

8:00 PM Meet the Guests,  Ballroom E-F

Saturday May 24

11:30 AM Interview with Writer Guest of Honor David Weber, Ballroom E-F

3:30 PM Internet of Things on Saturday Camino Real

5:00 PM KickStarter and How to use it successfully, Camino Real

Sunday May 25

10:00 AM Interview with Toastmaster Tom Merritt, Ballroom E-F

11:30 AM Battling Creationism and Pseudoscience, Stevens Creek

5:00 PM  BoF: Podcasting BayCon 2015, Lafayette