The Sword and Laser

It's a catch-up episode with some cool news from the world of the past predicting the world of the future, as well as some data on why eBooks might take you longer to read.  And we kick off the new book club pick, The Moon is  Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein.

QUICK BURNS
   
Earliest utopian novel by an American woman: 300 Years Hence, 1836   
   
Reading E-Books Takes Longer Than Reading Paper Books   
   
Gateways: Tribute to Fred Pohl with stories by Bear, Benford, Brin, Bova, Gaiman, Harrison, Haldeman and me!   
   
RELEASE THE KRAKEN -- or some books
   
The Unit by Tery DeHart - July 14
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour - B.L. O'Malley July 20
Star Wars: The Old Republic Fatal Alliance - Sean Williams - July 20
The Reluctant Mage - Karen Miller - July 28
   
BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience   
   
SDCC -- Who's In?   
   
TMHM: Action! Adventure! Exciting Debate!   
   
Searching for Spy-fi  

Book Kickoff  

The Moon is  Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein  (wikipedia article) 
   
Notes on the upcoming monster-sized authorized Heinlein biography   
   
EMAILS
   
Hi Veronica and Tom!
 
I just wanted to add yet another to the growing group of people that Veronica has introduced to the Temeraire series.  I just finished the first one and absolutely loved it.  Can't wait to read the next one!  As a note of interest, I downloaded the Kindle app for my iPhone just so that I could download His Majesty's Dragon from the Kindle store.  I don't have an eReader (yet), and am not completely sold on the Kindle, but I really enjoyed reading this book on my phone.
 
Thanks so much for the great podcast!
 
Jennifer   
 
   
ADDENDUMS   

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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (kickoff) – The S&L Podcast #037

This week we round up a lot of news and discussions ranging from the release of the Kraken book, to what Jane Goodall reads at the beach. Plus we begin the quest to pick our next book.

QUICK BURNS

The Darkest Lie by Gena Showalter currently top-selling scifi/fantasy on Amazon     
    
Out this week: Kraken by China Mieville  
    
Scientists recommend their favorite beach reading   
    
Octavia Butler, Roger Zelazny, and Richard Matheson inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame   
    
Blacksad: hardboiled detective fiction about anthropomorphic animals (no, really)    l
    
BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience    
    
Spoilery: The Moralities and (Necessary?) Evils of the Redeker Plan   
    
Realpolitik and the Zombie Menace   
    
Modern profanity breaks fantasy immersion??   
    
Book Kickoff soon. Look for the poll on the website.    
We'll be making the poll soon, so give us your ideas before we make up our minds and get set in our ways!  Even if it's just an author or a type of novel.     
    
Emails:

Hey Veronica and Tom,

First, let me say I'm liking the greater frequency of S&L. Hope to see more.

Add me to the tally of people Veronica has introduced to Temeraire. I recently finished Victory of Eagles; it's an amazing series and I look forward to more.

Game of Thrones on HBO. Here's the thing about the Ice and Fire books. They are incredible books, however I had to stop reading after the 3rd one because it literally depressed me. If the HBO series is near as good, I doubt I'll be able to watch it, which is too bad.

Also, I vote for a video version of S&L on TWiT.tv

Anyway, cheers and thanks for the great book-lovers podcast.

Simon
    
    
    
ADDENDUMS    
    
Thanks to our partner Sticker Fu.  Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers!

Anthropomorphic cat detective! – The S&L Podcast #036

A brief episode this week just to gush about the new Game of Thrones trailer on HBO and get us all squared away on reading World War Z, plus a few alternates if you just don't think you like zombies.  But come on, all we are saying is give zombies a chance.

QUICK BURNS - unrelated news of the week
   
Haven  promo gives us a glimpse of new Stephen King on TV   
   
Interactive guide to Larry Niven's Ringworld is the next best thing to going there   
   
   
BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience   
   
Game of Thrones Teaser   
   
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss has a pub date!   
   
Zombies They Are a Changin'   
   
Book Kickoff   
   
World War Z by Max Brooks   
        
Emails:

I have just started listening to S&L (had to get a Tom fix after he left BOL). I am a bit late on this discussion but, on the topic of books where Earth is destroyed, in the Death Gate Cycle novels the Earth is ""sundered"" and used to make four new worlds (plus a small gateway world and a living prison world) each based on one of the four elements. That's about as destroyed as you can get.

I was also wondering whether either of you have read Neal Stephenson's first novel ""The Big U"" which has fantastical elements (although it would be more accurately described as satire than fantasy or scifi). This is actually my favorite of his novels because it does not take itself at all seriously.
I do love your show.

-Leif from Oakland

   
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Give zombies a chance – The S&L Podcast #035