Category Archives: Sword and Laser

S&L Anthology Cover Revealed!

S&L ANTHOLOGY coverart (1).jpg

We are very excited to show you the cover art for the Sword & Laser Anthology! Created by artist Cliff Nielsen, each globe within this crazy storage center is a self-contained world. This is how we think of the Anthology itself: twenty worlds that you can easily lose yourself within. 

So yes, this means we are almost ready to send the Anthology out into the world! Just wrapping up a few tiny edits, waiting on some blurbs, and then it will be out into the universe! We hope you love it as much as we loved putting it together.

S&L Anthology Cover Revealed!

S&L ANTHOLOGY coverart (1).jpg

We are very excited to show you the cover art for the Sword & Laser Anthology! Created by artist Cliff Nielsen, each globe within this crazy storage center is a self-contained world. This is how we think of the Anthology itself: twenty worlds that you can easily lose yourself within. 

So yes, this means we are almost ready to send the Anthology out into the world! Just wrapping up a few tiny edits, waiting on some blurbs, and then it will be out into the universe! We hope you love it as much as we loved putting it together.

S&L Podcast – #164 – Bill Gourgey’s POST-Post-Apocalyptic World

We chat with Bill Gourgey, who’s Glide Trilogy does not settle for a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic world. What happens AFTER the post-apocalyptic dust settles!? We also find out how a tech analyst ends up writing genre novels and poetry. You won’t believe his answer! Or maybe you will. You probably will. But you won’t know what it is, unless you watch/listen to the show!

Download link here!

Get video versions here. 

S&L Video: Author Spotlight – Hugh Howey

We’re back!!! Welcome back to the space castle, everybody! HUGE thanks to our Kickstarter supporters for making this possible. In our first episode of Season 2, we talk to Wool Omnibus author Hugh Howey.  Find out how not to get shoved outside, how George R. R. Martin motivated Hugh’s career, and his number one editing tip.

Direct MP3 download here.
Subscribe to the YouTube page here!
Or via iTunes!
Other file formats here!

S&L Podcast – #163 – Hugh Howey Hullabaloo

Hugh Howey caused quite a stir with his findings about independent authors, but what does it mean for us readers? We also talk about the Wizard of Earthsea feminism implications and have an exciting election for the March book pick! There is a gavel involved.

Direct download here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale

Veronica: Vina Robles Red Blend

MOTH AND SPARK GIVEAWAY

VIDEO SHOW COMING THURSDAY OMG!!!!!

QUICK BURNS

Hugh Howey’s Report

Self-published ebooks: the surprising data from Amazon

Most Amazon bestselling authors aren’t making minimum wage

WH Auden told JRR Tolkien to cut the love story from Lord of the Rings

Daemon And Influx Author Daniel Suarez On Why Innovation Has Stalled

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Read Them Now, Watch Them Later: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Adaptation Watch

More on the Redshirts TV Series

What was cut to make the “unfilmable” book Winter’s Tale into a movie

BOOK CHECK-IN

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin

Earthsea and Harry Potter

Women in Earthsea

Among Others and Earthsea

March Pick

BARE YOUR SWORD

A forgotten classic?

Looking for more firearms in “High” Fantasy

EMAIL

Hi Tom & Veronica,

Listening to Gregory A Wilson talk about his daughter’s name made me think of my own family. I was named after Jessica Atreides (Dune), putting me in the odd position of being named for a sci-fi character AND having one of the most common girls names of my generation.

I passed the nerd legacy onto my own children as well – my son’s middle name is Zaphod (as in Beeblebrox) and my daughter is named Aeryn (after Aeryn Sun from Farscape). Hopefully she won’t resent me for it the millionth time she has to spell it out loud for someone.

Love the show,

Jessica

S&L Podcast – #162 – Gregory A. Wilson’s Graphic Fallen Angels

We chat with Gregory A. Wilson, author of The Third Sign, about his newest novel Icarus and the graphic novel based on it that he and artist Matt Slay are working on. It’s about a being who falls from the sky to save a world from tyranny. We also find out if he named his daughter after one of his own fictional characters.

Direct download here!

Multiple video versions (ogg, MPEG, etc.) from Archive.org.

Giveaway: Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard



Moth and Spark: A Novel

By Anne Leonard

Hey all, Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard is coming out Feb. 20 so Viking press gave us 5 copies to giveaway! The book comes out Feb. 20, so we’ll pick that day to announce a winner drawn at random from respondents to this thread.

To enter, head over to our Goodreads thread entitled “If you were a recently freed dragon, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Listen to the show or check back in the thread on the 20th to find out who wins!

S&L Podcast – #161 – What Harry Potter Stole from Earthsea

This time around we’re kicking off our February book pick, A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin. If you’re looking for the first tale a of a boy who attends a school of wizardry, we’ve got the goods, as well as what Ms. Le Guin, who wrote her book in 1968, thinks of Ms. Rowling. Plus The Clarion Workshop deadline is looming and USC and Intel make one author’s world come alive.

Direct download link here!

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?    
Tom: Bikini Blonde Lager   
Veronica: 2011 Plantagenet Shiraz Omrah

    
QUICK BURNS    
    
Announcing the instructors for the 2014 Clarion Writers’ Workshop    
SF writing competition: a world without the Normal Curve!    
British science fiction book awards lurch towards gender parity    
Intel Leviathan Project    
This interactive chart maps out all the storylines in The Hobbit    
    
 CALENDAR    
    
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES    
    
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods gets a brand new TV deal    

BOOK KICK-OFF    
    
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin    
Wikipedia entry for ‘A Wizard of Earthsea’    
Ursula K. Le Guin’s website    

    
March Poll launched
, vote on what our book should be!

April will be a book picked by our Kickstarter backer Bryan Benson!    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD    
    
What fictional items would you decorate a room with?    
    
Adding “lem” to the dictionary    
    
EMAIL    

Hi Guys,
I listened to TNT for a long time and really enjoyed Tom’s narrative about tech and the tech industry. I just returned to TNT from a short hiatus to discover that Tom is no longer there. It’s only been a couple of episodes but it doesn’t feel the same. I don’t think TNT will be the same without Tom.
Anyway…. I remembered Tom use to mention S&L from time to time on TNT and figured I’d give it a try. I downloaded and listened to my first S&L episode (#160) today and liked what I heard.
I use to submit articles in the TNT’s sub reddit from time to time. Not sure what the official way is to submit for this show but I just read a book I thought was very relevant to discuss you guys had about how Fantasy and Scifi are so tied together and how (as Tom mentioned) it even mixes into Horror sometimes.
I thought this book was really cool for just that reason. It’s got pirates it’s got sudo time travel it’s got monsters. Take a look!

Mike E.

Kevin Singer – The Last Conquistador
    

 

Thanks for coming to Borderlands!

My dog didn't RSVP...

My dog didn’t RSVP…

We had a fantastic time at the meet-up at Borderlands Books in San Francisco! Luke Pebler read his Anthology story, The Same International Orange, in front of the live audience, and we had a fantastic live song from Sky Corbelli! You can listen to it below. It’s about the Dresden Files! 

We all had a blast, and we hope to do more meet-ups in the future (and not just in San Francisco). Thanks again for coming!