The Sword and Laser

Tom reports from the Matt Dinniman book event in LA, we kick off our Interview with the Vampire read, and share our last spoilery thoughts on The Hexologists and why we think the writing doorway is the strongest one for this book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#519 - No Stomach for Old Salad by Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#518 - Hugo Bump Yourself by Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We get a history listen and revisit accents. And the clean blade battle is confirmed for WorldCon 2029. Plus our non-spoilery first impressions of She Who Became the Sun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why taste in books is like taste in food. Plus, our final thoughts on Joe Abercrombie's The Devils. And the Ruth-Veronica feud heats up. Also, Tom likes fish sticks. Literally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We cast The Devils, try to apologize to Ruth, and recall other food-related romantasy. Plus, Veronica has a shameful tequila revelation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wesley Chu joins us to talk about The Lives of Tao and Jan is back, so we have loads of news including Locus Award Winners and the British Fantasy Society shortlist. Plus Tom sings. We're all sorry about that. Also, we almost named this episode The Lives of Wesley Chu until we realized we had already done that in 2014. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Everything is out of context. But we do have interesting thoughts about The Lives of Tao and lots of congrats for the winners and nominees of the Nebulas and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We speculate on how James Cameron will make The Devils and whether Frankenstein will be too scary for Veronica. And we further kick off The Lives of Tao. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the return of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Frank Herbert’s posthumous SFWA Infinity Award, Audible’s AI narration plans and Amazon’s cancellation of The Wheel of Time—while nominating hamburg steak and vegan enchiladas and sharing listener stories from Matt Dinniman’s event. We round out the show with in-depth discussions of The Lives of Tao and Mickey 7. Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

From Hugo admins resigning over AI panel vetting to the latest award winners and a fresh Murderbot clip—to set the stage for our book club pick. Then we dig into Mickey 7’s Ship of Theseus dilemma, sharing listener takes (yes, even foot‑fetishting AIs) and the questions that keep us up at night. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wrap up Dungeon Crawler Carl, including our horrible imitations of Jeff Hays. Plus, we announce the next pick for May and ponder data-driven determinations of the best SFF books of Tom’s life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have Murderbot trailer! And we like it! Plus, the Hugo nominees are out and we wrap up our thoughts on The City and the City and begin our April dungeon crawl. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom forgot to write the intro to the show this week, so you’re stuck with the Veronica Edition. March is still full of madness, which makes sense because it’s a full moon eclipse coming up and Venus is in retrograde. Or something! We check in on The City and The City by China Miéville, and we see and unsee your perspectives on the book thus far. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

March Madness has begun, so get your votes in now. Plus do we like Alexander Skarsgard as Murderbot? And our final thoughts on Will of the Many and non-spoiler intro to The City and the City. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The nominations have begun for our March Tournament! Why do we care if eBooks and print books are the same? And our first thoughts on The Will of the Many. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have the best 25 books coming out in the next six months and the best 25 books of the last 25 years. Goodbye to the Science Fiction Book Club, our final thoughts on The Ministry of Time, and we kick off our read of The Will of the Many. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom is safe. Stephen has had three New Years, and we all love Graham Gore. But the best part of the show is Veronica's parade of diseases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We kick off our January read, wrap up Akata Witch, and welcome in new public domain characters. There's a new Lord of the Rings movie this year. Yay! Plus, Veronica had a rhubarb cider, and Joe Abercrombie looks great for 50! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's end-of-year book list time! And we have a list of our favorite end-of-year lists. Plus, our initial thoughts on Akata Witch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We celebrate our 500th episode in the best way we know how—by asking ChatGPT to get our stats wrong. PLUS, announcing the book pick for December and sharing our final thoughts on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We decided to take a break from the usual format and recommend some BIPOC and LGBTQIA authors. Plus, we kick off The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in case you need some comic relief. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wrap up our thoughts on A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. Tom lays down some very obscure hints about the next pick. And why we’re glad Andy Weir got fired. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We learn a lot about nunchucks and old best SciFi lists, but we spend the majority of our time mulling over Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. We also kick off a cozy October horrorish read. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sad news followed by recommendations from Parade Magazine! And The Booker Short List. Plus, do you hate it when a series isn't continuing the story directly? And we check in on our September read of Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.