Rob’s
Comments
(group member since Jul 06, 2012)
Rob’s
comments
from the The Sword and Laser group.
Showing 381-400 of 7,205
Round 1 is in the books! You can check out the results hereBracket: https://challonge.com/swordandlaser2022
Round 2 will be March 2nd - March 8th 11:59PM EST
Sword Bracket
---------------------------------
Match 1:
(1) Rivers of London / Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
vs.
(9) The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Vote Here
Match 2:
(13) The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
vs.
(5) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Vote Here
---------------------------------
Laser Bracket
---------------------------------
Match 1:
(2) A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
vs.
(10) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Vote Here
Match 2:
(3) Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
vs.
(6) Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Vote Here
Silvana wrote: "Good to know it's good, I plan to start that one this weekend"I'm enjoying the book so far, and the narration is fine (though not spectacular), I just wish they had done something with the breaks, numbered them or something with "chapter" breaks either for each section or at least every few sections.
For my own personal challenges, I'm finished with:Personal: 3/25 (12% complete)
Sword: 2/5 (40% complete)
Laser: 1/5 (20% complete)
Reading continues to be slow and I picked a massive set of books to do in audio, so I only got 1 done in February. I expect I'll maybe get in at least 2 books for March, but probably will remain slow.
February Results:Sword Challenge
Total Participants: 153 (+18)
Total Read: 512 (+301)
Average Books Read: 3 (+1)
Total Committed: 2,854 (+286)
Average Books pledged: 19 (0)
Laser Challenge
Total Participants: 151 (+19)
Total Read: 339 (+198)
Average Books Read: 2 (+1)
Total Committed: 2,349 (+280)
Average Books pledged: 16 (0)
These days I have been almost exclusively audio and I will say the new Daniel Abraham book: Age of Ash, is a bit of a pain in audio.There are no chapters, just very long parts. There are obvious section breaks in each part, but those aren't marked out in the book so there is no way to know how long is left until you reach a decent stopping point.
Otherwise the book has been pretty good so far, and I'm happy to have him return to fantasy (although it's been pretty light on the fantastical so far).
March is here. What books are you enjoying this month?
Reminder that today is the last day to vote for round 1. Presumably it is the last day to make a prediction bracket too.
Yeah, I was going based on what he told me "before the tournament starts". So hopefully can leave it open until just before round 1 ends. I think the prediction brackets are a cool addition this year.
Stephen wrote: "Small bone to pick, but The Girl with All the Gifts is Laser and Shades of Grey is Sword more or less"Per Tom:
"The "WC" seed is a wild card. We had a few nominations that were cross-genre, neither sword nor laser. So we each picked one of these for the bottom side, aka the "Wild Card" slot."
I guess I could label them in my post as Wild Cards, but I chose to keep the numbers that match the bracket instead.
Bracket is live: https://challonge.com/swordandlaser2022(If you hurry you can make a prediction bracket before the tournament starts in about 2 hours).
Here is the breakdown of round 1 with links to all the polls: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The Bracket is set!https://challonge.com/swordandlaser2022
Round 1 will be February 23rd - March 1st 11:59PM EST
Sword Bracket
---------------------------------
Match 1:
(1) Rivers of London / Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
vs.
(16) The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (Wild Card)
Vote Here
Match 2:
(8) Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson
vs.
(9) The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Vote Here
Match 3:
(4) Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
vs.
(13) The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Vote Here
Match 4:
(5) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
vs.
(12) A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Vote Here
---------------------------------
Laser Bracket
---------------------------------
Match 1:
(2) A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
vs.
(15) Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Wild Card)
Vote Here
Match 2:
(7) The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach
vs.
(10) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Vote Here
Match 3:
(3) Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
vs.
(14) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Vote Here
Match 4:
(6) Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
vs.
(11) Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis
Vote Here
Per Tom:
"We had a few nominations that were cross-genre, neither sword nor laser. So we each picked one of these for the bottom side, aka the "Wild Card" slot."
Nominations are closed.Here is the final list:
-----------Nominations----------------
Rivers of London / Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch - 4 (Iain, Steve, Jen, Tassie Dave)
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor - 3 (Trike, Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth, Janet)
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde - 3 (Colin, Misti, Mimi)
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao - 3 (Nettie, Sean, Meghan)
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - 3 (Ricardo, Lesley, Peter)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - 3 (Caroline, Calvey, Minsta)
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - 2 (Ruth, Viola)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - 2 (Daniel, Rick)
Noir by Christopher Moore - 2 (I, Phil)
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - 2 (Jen, elizabeth • paper ghosts)
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak - 2 (Kris, Cody)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 2 (Mike, Elizabeth)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - 2 (Kristy, Frank)
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - 2 (Silvana, Noe)
The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach - 2 (Nicolas, Julia)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - 2 (Joe, Peter)
Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis - 2 (Cory, Sarah)
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers - 2 (Jan, Daniel)
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - 2 (Stephen, Corli)
The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker - 2 (Todd, Fredrik)
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes - 2 (Mark, Phil On The Hill)
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells - 2 (Christos, Chrysoula)
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson - 2 (Mike, Richard)
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu - 1 (Roberator)
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - 1 (Laura)
Cry Pilot by Joel Dane - 1 (Qukatheg)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - 1 (William)
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi - 1 (Alexander)
The Paths Between Worlds by Paul Antony Jones - 1 (Ian (RebelGeek))
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - 1 (Malcolm)
The Wizard's Butler by Nathan Lowell - 1 (Melanie)
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne - 1 (Jenny (Reading Envy))
Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore - 1 (Jason)
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec - 1 (Tina)
Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin - 1 (Prosseca)
The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier -1 (Krissy)
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville - 1 (Rhys)
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 1 (Debra)
The Folding Knife by The Folding Knife - 1 (Joseph)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - 1 (Greg)
Extasia by Claire Legrand - 1 (Valerie)
The Gas by Charles Platt - 1 (Randolph)
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas - 1 (TRP)
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko - 1 (Joanna)
Warship by Joshua Dalzelle - 1 (Mark)
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock -1 (John (john))
Jhereg by Steven Brust - 1 (Stephen)
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson - 1 (Valerie)
The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce - 1 (Thomas)
Voyage of the Fox Rider by Dennis L. McKiernan - 1 (David)
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez - 1 (Katie)
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - 1 (Porf)
A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett - 1 (Francis x)
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor - 1 (John (Taloni))
Dauntless by Jack Campbell - 1 (John)
Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann - 1 (Tamahome)
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny - 1 (Clyde)
Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon - 1 (Marc-ids)
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty - 1 (Joyce)
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark - 1 (Genesse)
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - 1 (Ziggy)
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang - 1 (Richard)
Crossover by Joel Shepherd - 1 (Foster)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - 1 (Dazerla)
We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker - 1 (Paul)
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio - 1 (Cole)
The Hood by Lavie Tidhar - 1 (Alex)
The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston - 1 (Interstella5555)
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera - 1 (Steven)
Sword and Planet by Christopher Ruocchio - 1 (Temple Graeae)
The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck - 1 (Harry)
The (sort of) Dark Mage by Nelson Chereta - 1 (Jonas)
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North - Allan
Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson - 1 (Pumpkinstew)
Alien: Echo by Mira Grant - 1 (T.T.)
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker - 1 (John (Nevets))
The Last Ring-Bearer by Kirill Yeskov - 1 (Aaron)
Akarnae by Lynette Noni - 1 (HobbitFromPA)
Wildcatter by Dave Duncan - 1 (Matthew)
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini - 1 (Jane)
Rosewater by Tade Thompson - 1 (Lauren)
Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet by Douglas Adams - 1 (Adam)
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - 1 (terpkristin)
There is just under 14 hours left to get in your nominations
This thread is a place to share (and discuss) news (or news adjacent) stuff that doesn't rate consideration for the podcast Quick Burns and/or their own thread here in the news section.Unlike the Quick Burns thread, people can go ahead and just reply at will about whatever.
@MarkIt's not a bad idea. Like if people want to share stuff that may be interesting to the forums/but not necessarily for consideration on the podcast.
We could call them SlowBurns? I don't know.
Clyde wrote: "Umm... Can't find my nomination in the round-up.(Lord of Light -- Actually I reckon ..."
Oops. Sorry about that! Fixed. Thanks for catching it
alright the page 2 round-up is complete. Please double check your nominations, etc.
Current Nominations
Just like previous years I'll be periodically rolling up the nominations as we go.
FAQ:
How Many books can I nominate? One. You cannot nominate one book and second another. You cannot nominate both a Fantasy book and a Sci-Fi book. Just ONE book total. If you mention more than one, I'm going to pick one. Likely the first one you mention. Please be CLEAR about your nomination.
Can we nominate any book we want? The only criteria is that it's a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book we haven't read. That said, it's preferable that you also nominate a book by an author we haven't read as well. Those nominations will likely have a better chance of making the final bracket. There is also a rule to forbid author's from nominating their own books. In addition we'd like to prevent people from nominating their friend's book etc. If I see you doing this, I will first warn you to pick another book, and later simply ignore your nomination all together.
You can see the full list of past books here: https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...
Can I change My Nomination? Yes, but if you do so, please specify which book you are changing it from, as I'm doing this by hand.
How many books will be selected? 16 (8 Fantasy, 8 Sci-Fi)
When do nominations close? Monday, February 21st 8:00 PM ET. This will give Tom & Veronica some time to make the final bracket.
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Which books will be selected? Whichever books Tom & Veronica want. They will simply use the nominations in this thread for suggestions.
How will the books be seeded? This is entirely up to Tom & Veronica. They may take into account how many people have nominated a book, but there is no guarantee.
The book I want was already nominated. You can second a nomination made by someone else, and I'll count how many people have nominated that book and sort accordingly.
No one else is nominating my book, should I change my vote to something more popular?In my opinion, you're better off just nominating a book you're interested in us reading than hoping to game the nomination system by changing your vote. Most years some of the books in the final bracket had only a single nomination, while several books with multiple nominations didn't make it. Multiple nominations may help it get noticed or in the seeding, but really all of that is up to Tom & Veronica.
How are the Nominations Sorted? The numbering is based on number of nominations, followed by when they moved up the list (i.e. based on post order). This number will likely not reflect the actual seeding as that will be entirely up to Tom & Veronica.
My nomination is missing/wrong! Sorry about that. I'm doing this by hand. Please post again and yell at me for missing, or not grouping it with another nomination for the same book, or marking you down for the wrong book, etc. If you're not clear about your nomination (or you nominate 2) I may add the "wrong" book. Please be sure you're clear, and I can fix it.
-----------Nominations----------------
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor - 3 (Trike, Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth, Janet)
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde - 3 (Colin, Misti, Mimi)
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - 2 (Ruth, Viola)
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - 2 (Daniel, Rick)
Rivers of London / Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch - 2 (Iain, Steve)
Noir by Christopher Moore - 2 (I, Phil)
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - 2 (Ricardo, Lesley)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - 2 (Caroline, Calvey)
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - 2 (Jen, elizabeth • paper ghosts)
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak - 2 (Kris, Cody)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 2 (Mike, Elizabeth)
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman - 2 (Kristy, Frank)
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik - 2 (Silvana, Noe)
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu - 1 (Roberator)
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes - 1 (Mark)
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - 1 (Laura)
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers - 1 (Jan)
Cry Pilot by Joel Dane - 1 (Qukatheg)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire - 1 (William)
The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach - 1 (Nicolas)
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi - 1 (Alexander)
The Paths Between Worlds by Paul Antony Jones - 1 (Ian (RebelGeek))
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - 1 (Malcolm)
The Wizard's Butler by Nathan Lowell - 1 (Melanie)
The Actual Star by Monica Byrne - 1 (Jenny (Reading Envy))
Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore - 1 (Jason)
The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec - 1 (Tina)
Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin - 1 (Prosseca)
The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier -1 (Krissy)
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville - 1 (Rhys)
Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis - 1 (Cory)
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 1 (Debra)
The Folding Knife by The Folding Knife - 1 (Joseph)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - 1 (Greg)
Extasia by Claire Legrand - 1 (Valerie)
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells - 1 (Christos)
The Gas by Charles Platt - 1 (Randolph)
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas - 1 (TRP)
The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey - 1 (Stephen)
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson - 1 (Mike)
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko - 1 (Joanna)
Warship by Joshua Dalzelle - 1 (Mark)
The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker -1 (Todd)
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock -1 (John (john))
Jhereg by Steven Brust - 1 (Stephen)
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson - 1 (Valerie)
The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce - 1 (Thomas)
Voyage of the Fox Rider by Dennis L. McKiernan - 1 (David)
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez - 1 (Katie)
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley - 1 (Adam)
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - 1 (Porf)
A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett - 1 (Francis x)
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor - 1 (John (Taloni))
Dauntless by Jack Campbell - 1 (John)
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao - 1 (Nettie)
Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann - 1 (Tamahome)
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny - 1 (Clyde)
Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon - 1 (Marc-ids)
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty - 1 (Joyce)
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark - 1 (Genesse)
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden - 1 (Ziggy)
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang - 1 (Richard)
Crossover by Joel Shepherd - 1 (Foster)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse - 1 (Dazerla)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - 1 (Joe)
We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker - 1 (Paul)
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio - 1 (Cole)
The Hood by Lavie Tidhar - 1 (Alex)
The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston - 1 (Interstella5555)
