The Sword and Laser

Foundation is coming back to Apple TV, why Silo is great, you should not eat a bear, and what makes a great alien. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Taika Waititi is adapting a fantasy novel and also looked quite fine at the Met. Plus, self-publishing award winners, Locus nominees, and we have a progressive story in the works! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wrap up Legends and Lattes and have a great idea for a sequel involving Thimble doing a cooking show. Plus, we're getting a Twilight TV series? We’ll make our best guesses about that too. Finally, Veronica's thoughts on spotted dick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We hear a better version of the Pokemon cookbook than the real one, Veronica gets the tipoff for hot sauce, and our first cozy feelings about Legends and Lattes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New books for spring, finalists for the Annual Lambda and Imadjinn Awards, and the Internet Archive's e-book lending lawsuit. Plus, we kick off the March Madness winner! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The March Madness semifinals are here! And the race is TIGHT. Our first (non-spoiler) thoughts about Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings. Nomination lists are out for Nebulas and Bradbury's, and nomming has begun for the Hugos (hint hint). Plus why everybody ate lasagna after our last episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our “March that is Mad” tournament is live! 15 books enter, one gets to be the April pick, and everyone wins! Plus, please stop flooding Clarkesworld with AI-written manuscripts. Use ChatGPT for good! Also, we kick off our March read and wrap up our thoughts on Nettle & Bone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three Body Problem is coming to two platforms, so many beginning-of-the-year reading lists, and why we all love Bonedog (even Tom). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We may be getting some Zelazny TV, Murderbot is coming back, some ideas of non-fiction book picks we could try, and we kick off our February book pick, Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We check in on how everyone is feeling about Brightness Falls From the Air. We also feel mildly optimistic about Apple's digital narrators, and we discuss the best way to introduce someone to a series. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A very tense episode as Veronica and Tom violently agree about Elric of Melniboné. Plus, the most anticipated books of 2023, and how to take advantage of Novelist at your local library. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We properly credit the amazing Nancy Pearl and her four doorways into stories. And we want yours! Send them to feedback@swordandlaser.com. Plus our mid-read takes on Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné. Also, we break the news about Henry Cavill to Veronica live on the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We wrap up our thoughts on Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty and Tom tries out his 4-part way of evaluating books to explain why people enjoyed it differently. Plus we kick off our December pick, Elric of Melniboné, encourage you to save Locus Magazine and Veronica is IMPRESSIVE at reading author names now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Veronica forgets what beer she had. Must be a good beer. It was a blonde in a tall can. A leggy blonde perhaps? Also, we have the World Fantasy Award winner AND the SPFBO finalists! Plus our non-spoilery first impressions of Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Veronica is very concerned about the Witcher news. Also on this episode: we have some prize winners to increase your to-read list. We pick a tentative fan name for y'all. We kick off our November read, Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty, AND our final thoughts on The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. Also, Veronica might have Crow-vid. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's our 15th anniversary! And we celebrated by making puns, discussing our favorite wearable fantasy and sci-fi weapons, and finding rumors about our hometowns. We also check in on our read of The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Ed. note: We tried to fix V’s audio, sorry for the weirdness!] Veronica may have overdone becoming a friend of crows. She has more than 100 of them in her driveway now. Plus, we kick off our non-spoilery thoughts on The Jasmine Throne. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We love the Wellsian Touch, be it murderbots or fantasy. Is there a Harry Potter of SciFi? And we wrap up How High we Go in the Dark… and suggest the S&L edit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Hugos are here and lots of very deserving winners. A roguish story bundle. Are TV shows worse than an ending? Our first thoughts on How High We Go in the Dark, and our last thoughts on Rivers of London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We get more Tor now and possibly more Lord of the Rings movies. Plus a nuanced discussion of representation in a book when the author is white. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Hunt the Stars a summer fling? We wrap up our thoughts on the SFR hit. Plus, the lowdown on the RandomPenguin antitrust lawsuit as they try to buy Simon and Schuster. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has a book ever changed your mind? Do authors write differently for audio? Pack that reading list with Clarke award nominees, it’s a new Sword and Laser! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have Locus winners and Veronica read so many of them! Plus, what makes some books seem like a retread while others more of a remix? And our first thoughts on Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So many awards! We learn about a novelization of an unpublished Alien 3 script by William Gibson. We take a brief trip back to episode 1. And we share the books we picked to read this month in honor of Jenny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's award season! We have Nebulas, we have Mythopoeics, we have Nommos. We also have some nice reviews of the show, and we wrap up our thoughts on Machinehood by S.B. Divya. It made us think! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.