The Sword and Laser

This week we check in on the beginning of the Wheel of Time series. Veronica's ahead of me and says the thing really picks up right after the point I stopped. Which makes me think she's just trying to get me to start reading again. Which is fine. One of the problems is I'm reading Watchmen at the same time in advance of the movie. I'll share a few impressions about that with you as well. We also discuss the book Daemon as reviewed on Slashdot. Should it be our next book choice?

Finally we take some reader comments, including a Wheel of Time Drinking Game and someone calling the last book "pants." We're pretty sure that means he didn't like it. Welcome to the wonderful world of monthly Sword and Laser! Woo-hoo! Pant



Special thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song, Mr. Fancy Pants! Go buy it here!

#016 - The S&L Podcast: Pants!

Turns out that just because Tom likes a book, doesn't mean Veronica will (she kinda hated it).  But we learned a lot about paranoia, and Polish communism. So it's not a total loss. Meanwhile we have determined that the podcast should be a once a month affair.  So get ready for regularity!  We'll be like the monthly bran in your reading  diet. And we hope to have interviews.  With real people. And some robots.



What we're reading
Tom is busy reading some not sci fi book by Evelyn Waugh (Officers and Gentlemen) and still making his way through Droidmakers.

Veronica is busy with David Eddings "Belgarath the Sorcerer" which is a continuation of the Belgariad and Malloreon.

News
Battlestar Galactica coming back tomorrow night!

Wheel of Time video game appears to be rolling onto the scene.

Our book pick

In honor of the WoT video game, we'll read the first in that series.
Eye of the World

#015 - The S&L Podcast: We disagree!!

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!