This week we’re busy. We congratulate the winners of several year-end awards. We kick off our December book pick, The Night Circus, a beautiful novel by Erin Morgenstern. And we dive into some of the most wretched and hated terms and phrases in the professions of authorship. Mary Sue is under siege!

Download directly here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Red Trolley Ale
Veronica: Red Branch Hard Apple & Honey Cider
Casey: What are YOU drinking?

QUICK BURNS

Tamahome: The Goodreads choice awards are in
Sky: Audible’s best of 2014 released. Sanderson managed to win out over UF/Paranormal 🙂
Dara: SyFy has cast the leads for The Magicians series. Jason Ralph will play Quentin Coldwater and Sosie Bacon (daughter of Kevin Bacon) will play Alice.
Nick pointed out the successful test flight of the unmanned Orion space capsule. 
Nick: Christopher Nolan rumored to be offered Ready Player One to direct
Fiona: The BBC adapted Good Omens as a 6 part audioplay. First part will air on Radio 4 on Monday 22nd December. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman have cameo appearances!
Tamahome: What James Cameron says you’ll do when you see the Avatar sequels. NSFW.http://boingboing.net/2014/11/26/james-cameron-on-avatar-sequel.html

PICKS

Andrew picked: The City and the City by China Mieville

BARE YOUR SWORD

Louie: Terms authors are tired of hearing: “Infodump,” “Mary Sue,” “Hard SF,” “Dystopian.”
What are some terms that you are tired of hearing/reading?
Marion: What Is The Strangest or Most Unique SF/Fantasy Novel That You Have Ever Read?

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION

Kick off: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Erin Morgenstern on The Night Circus – YouTube

the night circus | erin morgenstern

Erin Morgenstern – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ADDENDUMS

Support our show on Patreon

You can also support the show by buying books through our links! Find upcoming and past new releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar

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We sing the praises of Ursula K. Leguin, marvel at the casting of HBO’s Westworld, announce our December book pick and wrap up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. Also, Veronica admits she would eat people. 

Ed. note: I would eat people -V

Download direct link!
 

    
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Milk (of human kindness)
Veronica: Tullamore Dew   
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Sandra: Philip K. Dick’s Short Story ‘The Crawlers’ Is Getting A Big Screen Adaptation     
    
David: Ursula K. Le Guin accepts the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 65th National Book Awards on November 19, 2014.    
    
terpkristin: The follow-up to Brandon Sanderson’s first “Legion” novella (novelette? short story? something?) came out 11/24! It will be free from Audible for the first month, based on his blog post.   
   
Kvon: Pat Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders is once again running an sff lottery and auction to benefit Heifer Intl. 
    
David: Wesley Chu re-signs with Angry Robot Books  
    
Michele and Rob: Amazon and Hachette have reached an agreement  
    
Bookshelf: Next year HBO will have a new series.West world- With Anthony Hopkins- an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 novel of the same name.   
    
PICKS    
    
The Secret Root by D.S. Cahr suggested by Ira.      
    
Next time we’ll discuss The City and the City by China Mieville suggested by Andrew.  Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!     
    
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Marion: What is the one book or series you would give away to someone who is reading SF/Fantasy for the first time?   
    
Rob Secundus: Monstrously Long Audiobook Recs    
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Next month’s pick: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern    
    
Wrap up:  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick    
    
Drew: The Toad
    
Jay: Is everyone a vegetarian or is meat only for the richest people?     
    
John: I find it interesting how Dick describes casual lack of empathy. 

ADDENDUMS    
    
Support our show on Patreon    

We have some awesome World Fantasy winners to talk about, some exciting casting news for The Magicians and The Expanse, but it really gets interesting when our “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” check-in turns into an ethics of meat-eating discussion. 

Download episode here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    

Tom: Talisker    
Veronica: Glenmorangie    
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Dara: Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar) will adapt Asimov’s Foundation trilogy for HBO.
    
Terpkristin: The 2014 World Fantasy Award winners were announced, you can read the list here. Best novel went to A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar. I think we should think about reading it sometime soon as a sword pick. 🙂 Saladin Ahmed agrees.

Sandra: Syfy’s adaptation of the ‘The Magicians’ series has cast Eliot, Penny and Julia’s roles      

Rob: Scribd is adding audio books to it’s monthly subscription service.   

Louie: Deadline reports more “”The Expanse”” casting

PICKS        

Book Discussion: The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Leguin suggested by Carrie Smith.    
    
Next time we’ll discuss The Secret Root by D.S. Cahr suggested by Ira.  Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!

Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
What hard science fiction do you like?    
    
Looking For Psychological Horror Recommendations    

LOCAL MEETUPS    
    
Terpkristin: MD/DC/NoVa: Looking for more members    

Stephen: Orange County: Nov. 24th 6:30 pm or so, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers    

Josh: The next San Francisco S&L meetup is Monday, Nov 24 from 6pm – 8pm at Borderlands Books!    

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION     

Check in on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep     

Bookshelf: The one thing missing in both the book and movie is the coffee.
They got the cigarettes but no coffee. (There should be at least one Night Hawks at the Diner kind of scene).

Jay: So… Why can’t empathy be programmed?     

ADDENDUMS     

Support our show at Patreon.com/swordandlaser    

It’s a jam-packed episode this week with great news for Ann Leckie and Andy Weir, our wrap-up of Alif the Unseen, kickoff of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the determination that it’s OK to hate the book I love.

Download episode here or in the embed below!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Coffee. We’re both drinking coffee because we did this show in the morning. 

QUICK BURNS

Sandra: Ann Leckie announced on her website that her novel Ancillary Justice has been optioned for television by Fox Television Studios     
    
Tamahome: G. Willow Wilson takes over (all female) X-men after her successful Ms. Marvel stint 
    
Joe Informatico: The already stellar cast of The Martian adaptation gains Chiwetel Ejiofor, officially making it the greatest film in the annals of celluloid.     
    
Nick: The Hemingwrite   

PICKS    

Book Discussion: The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May suggested by Ralff Windwalker    
    
Next time we’ll discuss The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Leguin suggested by Carrie Smith. Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!     
    
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
    
Will: Amazon wants your vote on which books to publish. Amazon introduces the Kindle Scout program    
    
Trike: Counting With Covers!    
    
Nick: I tell the previous story as a metaphor(is that the right word?) for the times when a book is really really loved and popular and you read it and don’t like it but feel something must be wrong with you because you don’t get it.   

Dara: I recently finished reading Nexus and Crux by Ramez Naam.    
    
David: eBook-only series    
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Kickoff: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick        

    
Wrapup: Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson    
  
ADDENDUMS    
    
Support our show on Patreon    

We had a lovely time chatting with author Delilah S. Dawson about her struggles with Ikea furniture, brilliance on Twitter and the coining of Whimsydark. There’s also a fair amount about blud and humans. 

Download direct link here!

Buy Wicked As They Come!

In Neil Gaiman’s new book, The Sleeper and the Spindle, Sleeping Beauty gets woken by a Queen’s kiss. And there’s pictures so it did happen. Fictionally speaking. We also discuss The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan, and find out people are pleasantly surprised by the techno-thrilling coming of age fantasy that is Alif the Unseen. 

Download podcast direct here!

QUICK BURNS  

Neil Gaiman’s upcoming children’s book, The Sleeper and the Spindle 
Winners of the 2014 Aurora Awards for best Canadian SciFi    
    
Mark wrote:  “In partnership with Ideate Media, IDW Publishing is proud to announce that Dirk Gently will be appearing in his first-ever comic-book series in 2015, helping to prove the interconnectedness of all things, the precept by which Dirk Gently, Douglas Adams’ beloved fictional “holistic detective” lives. Written by Chris Ryall with art by Tony Akins. A cover for issue #1 is by Chew co-creator Rob Guillory.”

PICKS   
Book Discussion: The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan suggested by Vaughn.     

Next time we’ll discuss The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May suggested by Ralff Windwalker. Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!   
  
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD
Best use of Time Travel in a novel?    
It’s the end of the world as we know it    
    
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson    
AtU: Religion in AtU – Net Positive or Negative by Hack    
AtU: The character of Vikram (spoilers) by Joanna    
AtU: Finished and Pleasantly Surprised? by Buzz    

ADDENDUMS    
Support our show on Patreon    

Robert Jackson Bennett joins us on the show this week to talk about his new book, City of Stairs!

Download link here, or watch the video!

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy.

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

We also take questions from you, the audience, and ask him what the heck was going on with the video below:

From excitement about a new book in the Old Man’s War series, to a rising demand for SciFi, things are looking up on the laser side. We also find out that Tom doesn’t use a Kindle and Veronica’s opinion on spiders.     

Download here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Yorkshire Gold Tea    
Veronica: Hendricks Gin and Tonic    
    
QUICK BURNS
    
Joanna: Next Old Man’s War book from John Scalzi announced. 
The End of All Things
    
SporadicReviews: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy optioned for TV!
    
Joe Informatico: FOX has committed to a put pilot* for a TV series based on the DC Comics (former Vertigo imprint) version of Lucifer, Lord of Hell. Lucifer first appeared in the Neil Gaiman-written Sandman comics before later featuring in his own Vertigo series. 

*I had to look this up. Apparently a “”put pilot”” means the network/channel agrees to air the pilot with substantial financial penalties to the development studio if they back out. This is generally a sure sign the network will pick up the pilot.   
    
SporadicReviews pointed out Pyr books in a blog post wrote: “We’ve recently heard from independent booksellers that their customers are hungry for science fiction again, despite the predominance of fantasy over these last several years. 
    
Paul: New Kindle Voyage looks cool.

PICKS
    
ShadowShow by Brad Strickland    

Book Discussion:     
Next time we’ll discuss The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan Post your thoughts to the thread and we’ll discuss more about them next time!    
    
Find more upcoming releases at swordandlaser.com/calendar    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD 
    
Good books that are driven distinctly by outstanding dialogue?    
What’s with the giant spiders?    
Peter V. Brett Calls Out DC Comics on Sexism    

BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION    
    
Kick Off Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
S&L Podcast – #112 – Interview with G. Willow Wilson! — Sword & Laser    

Wrap-Up    

Stories of Your Life and others by Ted Chiang    
SoYLaO: The Common Thread of the Stories (Mild Spoilers)  – Carolina 
    
ADDENDUMS    
    
Support our show on Patreon    

Sword & Laser and Open Road Media went to Loncon 3! Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont took your burning questions to six great authors. 
 

We chat with Timothy Zahn about his new book Soulminder. What happens when you can store a person’s life essence separate from their body? And yes, we get in a little talk about Star Wars and the prospects for Grand Admiral Thrawn and Jaina Solo too.

Download direct link!