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.
Download direct here!
S&L Podcast – #179 – Flintpunk and Geekomancy
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.
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
S&L Podcast – #178 – David Weber Talks Honor at BayCon 2014
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.
S&L Podcast – #177 – A Chat with Grand Master Delany
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.
S&L Podcast – #176 – Martians and Panda Pants
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.
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?
S&L Podcast – #175 Ann Leckie Wins it All
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.
Ancillary Sword arrives October 7.
S&L Podcast – #175 – Ann Leckie Wins it All
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.
Ancillary Sword arrives October 7.
Tom at BayCon May 23-26
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
S&L Podcast – #174 – A Wrap-up of Earthsea
Veronica is traveling in China, so we pre-recorded this episode and took the opportunity to properly wrap-up A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin. We also kick off the rest of The Martian and promise to be better about these sorts of things once Veronica is back. Still, on the bright side, we are putting in practice a ton of great suggestions from the audience. Yay audience!
WRAP-UP WIZARD OF EARTHSEA
Finished it, loved it, more Earthsea please!
ADDENDUMS
The Sword and Laser Antholgy: You. Can. Buy it NOW!
S&L Video: Author Spotlight -N. K. Jemisin
N. K. Jemisin writes fiction that reads like history in the best way. But could it also be romance? We ask N. K. Jemisin that and how she’s able to keep a day job and still write amazing fiction. We also find out what trope she’d like to give a rest. It’s our season finale and we couldn’t think of a better person to help us wrap things up in style!