The Sword and Laser

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.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

We had a lovely time chatting with author Delilah 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.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

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.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

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

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

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.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

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.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

We dig into the first four stories from Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life and Others, and boy do we learn a lot about ourselves and others. Plus you'll want to take your vitamins since Margaret Atwood's latest novel won't be available to read for 100 years and we explore the idea of regaining your literary virginity.

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it.

We talk with Naomi Novik, fanfic writer, Ruby on Rails coder and author of the Temeraire series, from DragonCon 2014 in Atlanta! Then, we wrap up Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.