Entries by Veronica (188)
S&L Podcast - #93 - Interview with Andrew Mayne
Monday, March 5, 2012 at 11:39PM We chat with author and magician Andrew Mayne. And we mean he's actually amagician, not just magical with stories, although also that. Plus we talk about the best ways to sign Kindle books.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2008 Red Diamond Winery Shiraz
Veronica: 2012 Agua
QUICK BURNS
New Terry Pratchett novel given a title
Brandon Sanderson plans 36-volume fantasy series
Michael Whelan to paint the final WHEEL OF TIME cover
Rudy Rucker's new imprint launches with his complete short stories
2 Science Publishers Delve Into Science Fiction
Science fiction writers irked with Amazon.com, redirect links to other booksellers
INTERVIEW
BARE YOUR SWORD
How do I get my kindle signed?
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Latest GAME OF THRONES S2 trailer
GAME OF THRONES S2 trailer: Seven Devils
New BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot completed
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)by Scott Lynch
Purchase The Lies of Locke Lamora
Hi, this is Chris from Poland again from the ""No, I fixed it!"" debacle :-P. I'm now all caught up with the podcast. I just graduated from English Studies at the University of Warsaw. I thought I'd send you guys my MA Theis, as it deals with the cyberpunk fiction of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson (the novels "Neuromancer", "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age").
The Thesis explores the themes of innocence and individualism in American fiction and cyberpunk in particular. Check it out if you're ever bored enough to start reading an academic paper ;-).
Cheers, Chris.
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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.
We need help!!!
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 10:32PM Hey folks!
So Tom and I are looking for someone in the community to lend a helping hand around the farm. We'd like to hire (YES, HIRE) a production assistant to help us with guest booking, asset gathering, event coordination, and other tasks.
We need someone who is extremely detail oriented, available around eight hours a week, and obviously has a love of science fiction and fantasy!
You don't need to be local to SF, though it would be easier if you were in a timezone that lent itself well to collaboration.
Please email us at feedback@swordandlaser.com with the subject line "Production assistant." This will be a paying gig, though we cannot shower you in gold (sorry).
Serious inquiries only, and don't fret if we don't get back to you immediately!
THANKS!!!
S&L Podcast - #92 - The Lies of Locke Lamora Kick-off
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:30PM 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
BARE YOUR SWORD
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS going scifi
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
Purchase The Lies of Locke Lamora
Tom finished MORAV by Fon Davis
Updates on Blue Remembered Earth and The Coldest War.
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
lies of locke lamora 