The Sword and Laser

It's our 50th episode!  We celebrate with a high-energy episode, looking at all the best books of the past decade and kicking off our new pick for January.

QUICK BURNS   
   
January 15 - Modern Times 2.0 by Michael Moorcock comes out   
January 18 - Home Fires by Gene Wolfe,    
A few cons coming up Mid-January   
   
BARE YOUR SWORD - feedback from the audience   
   
Tor's poll - best sff books of the decade   
   
Reading Goals for 2011   
   
BOOK KICK-OFF / WRAP-UP

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett   

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett   from Audible

It won the poll!

You see, there was a bit of a mixup when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them. The minor characters along the way (Famine makes an appearance as diet crazes, no-calorie food and anorexia epidemics) are as much fun as the story as a whole, which adds up to one of those rare books which is enormous fun to read the first time, and the second time, and the third time...    
More on Wikipedia   

What else we're reading   

Veronica - Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson from the Baroque Cycle   
Tom - Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three  by Stephen King
   
Emails:   

On your latest podcast Veronica mentioned that she enjoyed the Millennium series a lot.

Today the New Yorker had a nice article on the appeal of the series:

Also the website from the publisher for the series in well designed and quite informative (currently >45 mil. sold). It contains pictures of all the locations used in the books.

Great podcast !

Best,
Paul

***

This was definitely a good podcast-- even with the sound issues (It happens to the best of us.).

Tom Merritt made a number of good points about the trappings of copyright law. However, I think that it is important to note that even famous authors found it hard to make a living because so many people were ""stealing"" his work. This is why he made so many personal appearances, which may have acerbated his untimely death.

Derivative works can be fine, but as a writer I would like to have control of what people do to my works and characters.

Thanks again for a well done episode.

JB

***

  
ADDENDUMS   

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 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.
   
Partner Sticker Fu.  Use the code Sword1 and get 10% off the stickers at stickerfu.com.   
 

Good Omens for 2011 - The S&L Podcast #50

As a wrap-up of "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" we finally snag an interview with the author of the Sword and Laser book club selection.  Cory Doctorow is always a fun person to chat with, and this episode is no exception.  We do query him on some of the thoughts behind Down and Out, but also about writing and the publishing industry in general. We also let him pick our next book!

Quick Burns

Ursula Le Guin's Petition Against Google Books

8 Comic Book Relationships To Make You Feel Good

Book Pick

Our next book is The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Interview with Cory Doctorow - The S&L Podcast #028

While we're kicking off reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, we're also proud to announce we're going to Dragon*Con in Atlanta to do a live episode of Sword and Laser! We're very excited about that, especially because Veronica has been reading a book about dragons and is hoping to meet one.



WHY WE PICKED A GAME OF THRONES

Rick on May 22, 2009 at 9:22pm
I third "Game of Thrones". It is sitting on my shelf waiting for me to finish the China Mieville book I'm in the middle of. Also, for those upset with Mr. Martin's lack of new bookage, you should go read the comments by Niel Gaiman on his blog concerning exactly what George R. R. Martin is and is not to his readers.


C on May 23, 2009 at 9:39pm
Game of Thrones is fantastic, the only problem I can see with it is that anyone who reads it will be completely hooked for the rest of the series. As long as people don't mind that then it's great. I would also be interested in reading something else (as in something outside Song of Ice and Fire) by him though. Armageddon Rag is supposed to be really interesting and Fevre Dream is about vampires which is always fun. Both of those are standalone books (I think) so they might be better than starting a series?

terpkristin on May 26, 2009 at 4:10am
The reader for books 1-3 (Roy Dotrice) is great. I purchased the 4th book but haven't listened to it yet (read that one in hardcover on an import version), though John Lee is the narrarator, and some have said that they don't like him as much as they like Dotrice.

ABOUT A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones is the first of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, an epic fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on 6 August 1996. The novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award, and won the 1997 Locus Award. The novella Blood of the Dragon, comprising the Daenerys Targaryen chapters from the novel, won the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

The novel lends its name to several spin-off items based on the novels, including a trading card game, board game and roleplaying game, and HBO has authorized the filming of a pilot episode based on the novels.[1]

WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING

Tom - Heretics of Dune

Veronica - Black Powder War, Book 3 in the Temeraire series (Book 1 is here)

ESSENTIAL NERD VIEWING

John Hodgman administers a nerd test to President Obama. Do you know the answers?




MOVIES

Moon - A Film By Duncan Jones; Starring Sam Rockwell.

#020 - The S&L Podcast: Here There Be Dragons