The Sword and Laser

While they aren't a sponsor, Audible.com has been kind enough to treat Sword and Laser fans to a free download of the first story from their new Metatropolis series. So we said, why not?! METAtropolis is an interesting project. It's an original audiobook, meaning there's no print version. The stories are published directly to audio. The first story is entitled “In the Forest of the Night” written by Jay Lake (author of “Mindspring“) and features the voice of Michael Hogan better known to many of you as Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galatica. The complete audio book, featuring five unabridged novellas will be released on Oct. 21, 2008.

Go here to download the first story of the audio book. No credit card required, though you will have to create an account. Hey they wanna get something out of you for free.

Don't feel like registering for an account? No problem. Audible's also throwing in a free sample of another story from METAtropolis called “To Hie From Far Cienia” by Karl Schroder (read by Stefan Rudnicki). This isn't the whole story, but there's nothing required except to click to download.

Download sample of "To Hie from far Ciena"

Let us know what you think of the series, and the idea of free stuff like this in the comments!

Welcome back everyone! So, I'm still trying to figure out why my audio sounds like crap, while Tom sounds great. It's especially grating since, you know, I'm supposed to be an audio producer and all. How embarrassing! We'll work it out soon, I promise. Anyhow, here's the show:



Book #8 is going to be Anathem, by Neal Stephenson. The two interesting things about this book are that a) it's super long and b) it's only available in hardcover and Kindle versions. We're also going to give everyone some more time than usual to get through this 900-someodd page book.

CONTEST

Here's the poll for the Best Closing Line Contest! Here are the choices:

1. Michael H. -- A smile crept into his eyes and with his walking stick in one hand, and the orb faintly glowing in the other, Gabriel set off across the street, scanning the horizon for traffic, and making a mental note to take better care next time he bought a tchochki from a Devonian Barkeep.

2. Michael M. -- With palpable relief Schuman slumped over the rail waiting for the pool of magma to close over the briefcase and reflected to himself that he still hadn't had a cup of coffee.

3. Shane G. -- And it came to pass in the last days of the lost colony that the swords were broken and the lasers died and the people cried out to the unhearing heavens from which they had come saying, "If any remain among the stars, for your lives, do not part the quantum jelly!"

4. Gregory F. -- After the dust had settled and the sound of battle waned, Sabrina and Julia found each other amongst the ruins.  The sisters then knew they had won, and once again evil would sleep.

[poll=8]

The winner gets a Logitech USB Headset!

FROM THE NING GROUP

Music while reading

Frogg
Lately, I have been doing a good chunk of my reading on the bus on my way to work. Whenever I leave the house, I always have my iPod on me, so I find myself listening to music while reading. Does anyone else do this, and if so, what do you listen to?

I usually shy away from anything with lyrics. It makes it hard to concentrate if I get caught up listening to the words, so most of my reading is done listening to post-rock stuff like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion, Esmerine, etc. Recently I have been on a William Gibson kick, and ambient electronic music such as Boards of Canada or Apparat go very well with it.


terpkristin
I can't listen to music while I read, even something without lyrics. If I try, I soon find myself humming along with what I'm listening to and not paying attention to what I'm reading.

I do write with music on, though, typically something electronic.

How Where Do You Like to Read


CHECK OUT AUDIBLE!

Journey to a world beyond words with Audible Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Check out Audible for exclusive access to your favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors and exclusive commentary.  In addition, the new imprint, Audible Frontiers features new and sometimes previously unavailable audio books made available for the first time in audio.  Click here for a free trial offer and get your first audio book free.

Stay tuned for more info on METAtropolis, from Audible!

Featuring:
Battlestar Galactica Cast Members:
Michael Hogan
Alessandro Juliani
Kandyse McClure

Legendary audiobook narrators:
Scott Brick (Frank Herbert’s Dune)
Stefan Rudnicki (Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game)

#012 - The S&L Podcast: Biggest book pick ever!

Hey everyone! We're back, and recording from the New Media Expo in Las Vegas (OK, we were there last week, it took me some time to get this posted...). We've just finished up Watership Down, and we hope you enjoyed it. Tom is going all dictator on us next time around, so he'll be posting his choice for the next book soon! Here are the show notes:

Bunnies as a community
The interactions are based on real rabbit behavior, but there is a lot of humanity in them to make us able to grasp their situations/feelings etc.
What do you think of the blend?

The stories of El-Haraihrah
Mike - I think my favorite segments of the book are the stories about El-Ahrairah. He is quick and clever, not above a prank or two and fiercely loyal to his people. In many ways his stories reminded me of Sūn Wùkōng (Monkey King) from Journey to the West (although to be fair El-Ahrairah is a little less irrepressable).

Why do you think Adams put these segments in? Do they just fill more pages? Does the addition of the mythology add depth and meaning to the rabbit society and characters? What do you think?

Sh1mm3r - I thought of the mythological trickster at first, but I think El-Ahrairah is unique in that he uses his trickster abilities to protect his "people." I like how the stories add a mythology to the rabbit culture, but also seem to encourage and inspire them to solve their own problems creatively.

Disappointed in Fiver
Sam! -  I feel like Adams made a promise to us as his audience. He's presented us with a warren of rabbits, living in what seem to be our world, doing all of the things that real rabbits do... except for Fiver. He's the one who starts us on our journey and ultimately moves us along throughout the entire novel. (sandelford, cowslip, the fox, hazel's shooting and rescue, even his blessing of the trip to efrafa). In each scenario, his predictions turn out to be spot on. Adams' promise was that this one outside force (fiver) was there for a reason that would be made clear before the story finished.

My question is simply.. Did he keep to his promise? Do we, as an audience, believe in fiver as a rabbit of the watership down warren... or do we view him as a storytelling mechanic used to take us from act to act? Why is it that Fiver alone (with the arguable exception of one of the efrafan does) has this magic ability? And, further, is the ability justified?

Nick W - I found fiver added a large amount of interest to the story due to how very dark his predictions were, the hill covered in blood, the ceiling held up with bones, but even though he added interest he did seem simply like a tool to guide the story along.

It seems like Adams tossed the other doe in efrafa in so as to say "See, he's not the only one that can do this". I would of believed his abilities more (and seen him less as a tool) if all of the rabbits had some psychic ability, Fiver's just being extra strong.

Perhaps Fiver discovered a worm that excreted a powerful spice.

Metaphors?
Adams has said he did not intend Watership Down as a metaphor.  But many paralels can be drawn?
Totalitarian/Militaristic Society
Rebellion

The Heroes Journey
Wikipedia entry draws parallels to hero journey stories like the Odyssey.

Tolkien scholar John Rateliff calls Adams's novel an Aeneid "what-if" book: what if the seer Cassandra (Fiver) had been believed and she and a company had fled Troy (Sandleford Warren) before its destruction? What if Hazel and his companions, like Aeneas, encounter a seductive home at Cowslip's Warren (Land of the Lotus Eaters)? Rateliff goes on to compare the rabbits' battle withWoundwort's Efrafans to Aeneas's fight with Turnus's Latins. "By basing his story on one of the most popular books of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Adams taps into a very old myth: the flight from disaster, the heroic refugee in search of a new home, a story that was already over a thousand years old when Vergil [sic] told it in 19 BC."[1]

Further Reading
Sequel - Tales from Watership Down
The Private Life of the Rabbit (1964), by British naturalist Ronald Lockley
Movie - Watership Down

Check out Audible!
Journey to a world beyond words with Audible Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Check out Audible for exclusive access to your favorite sci-fi and fantasy authors and exclusive commentary.  In addition, the new imprint, Audible Frontiers features new and sometimes previously unavailable audio books made available for the first time in audio.  Click here for a free trial offer and get your first audio book free.

#011 - The S&L Podcast: We're tharn over Watership Down