Tom Merritt's Blog, page 1280

Shadow and Claw – The S&L Podcast #53

All is good this episode as we wrap up Good Omens, kick off the Book fo the New Sun, and learn how to properly pronounce Neil Gaiman. Plus Josh Lawrence joins us to share his knowledge of Gene Wolfe.

QUICK BURNS

RIP Margaret John

Joe Abercrombie's new novel, The Heroes, has debuted at #3 on The Sunday Times bestseller list in the UK

SONG OF ICE AND FIRE comic on the way

io9 guide to February's scifi/fantasy

Boston Science Fiction Film Festival Feb. 11-21
2/7/2011 (US) The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
2/7/2011 Deep State by Walter Jon Williams
2/8/2011(2/17 on Kindle) The Bitter seed of Magic by Suzanne McLeod – unless Genny can find a way to break the fertility curse afflicting London's fae, she knows this is just the lull before the magical storm. Then a faeling – a teenage girl – is fished out of the River Thames, dead and bound with magic, and Genny is called into investigate. As she digs through the clues, her search takes a sinister and dangerous turn, exposing age-old secrets that might be better left buried.
2/8/2011 The Scar-Crow Men by M. Chadbourne The year is 1593. The London of Elizabeth I is in the terrible grip of the Black Death. As thousands die from the plague and the queen hides behind the walls of her palace, English spies are being murdered across the city. The killer's next target: Will Swyfte.5
2/21 UK (3/1 US) The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
Bantam Books (UK): 21 February
Tor US: 1 March
3/1/2011 The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Gollancz (UK): 1 March
DAW (USA): 1 March

Patrick Rothfuss ON TOUR!! "San Francisco March 3rd, SF in SF Reading Series

BARE YOUR SWORD – feedback from the audience

Ever read a book where you *hated* the hero/protagonist?

We Forgive You, Veronica…

BOOK WRAP-UP
Good Omens

So, that ending…

Subversion of religious idioms.

Light entertainment – the Aziraphale and Crowley show

Could have done without Newt and Anatahema. (V would spare Shadwell for the accent)

Didn't like Adam? Why? Was he supposed to be likable?

Would you reccomend it?

BOOK KICK-OFF

Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun'

The Shadow of the Torturer: The Book of the New Sun, Book (audiobook)

Other resources
Lexicon Urthus: A Dictionary for the Urth Cycle
invaluable, but somewhat spoilery

GURPS New Sun
roleplaying campaign sourcebook based on the books, for the GURPS RPG system
mega-spoilery

Big influence on New Sun:
Jack Vance's The Dying Earth

WolfeWiki

Where to find Josh Lawrence:
Bite Club podcast
Two Song Shot

EMAILS:

Hello Veronica and Tom,

This is totally unrelated to books but I was so excited when Veronica said she had been to a Get Up Kids show. I grew up in Kansas City and remember going to one of their first shows at a local all ages club in KC when I was in high school and their, at the time, last show at the Granada in Lawrence years later. They are still one of my favorite bands and listening to them always makes me homesick. Thanks for that extra moment of fun during the show, which was also great fun on the book-related information front.

I always enjoy the podcast, thanks for all the great work!

Cheers,
Beth

***

Hi Tom and Veronica

Longtime listener, avid forum poster… but you may have missed someone's comment about how to correctly pronounce Gaiman so I thought I'd send it again.

From his mouth directly!
http://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounc...

GAYman. GAYman. Not GUYman.

Hehe. I just thought we should do our living authors justice, particularly when you are growing in popularity. Who knows, maybe he would one day want to stop by for a quick interview. But only if you say his name properly!!

Cheers,
Jenny

***
Hey S&L,

I thought you might be interested to know that Terry Pratchett's next
novel, Snuff, has been given a date! The book is coming out on October
13, 2011 (http://themorporkian.com/news/snuff-g...)
and there is also what looks like a blurb for the book in the linked
piece.

Also, after hearing your discussion on whether Pratchett or Gaimen
came up with Pollution, the horseman of the apocalypse, I wondered if
you'd heard of Ronnie? Ronnie stars in The Thief of Time, and is ""The
Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, who retired before they became
famous.""

Love the show.

English John from England

ADDENDUMS

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