Rob’s Comments (group member since Jul 06, 2012)

Rob’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

World Con is going virtual: https://www.tor.com/2020/03/25/conzea...

You should do a virtual meetup. All the "cool" meetups are doing it!

:-D

We'll be trying to get together on Discord for voice chat this month instead.

Tenatively for Saturday March 28th. Time TBD. Maybe 12pm, but possibly another time since we won't be served food like normal.

I'll try to remember to update this, but worse case if you're intested ping me on Discord or goodreads.

And the winner is: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Breakdown of the finals: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

And the winner of the 2020 S&L March Madness tournament is: This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Click here for March Madness stats

After barely squeaking by in the 2nd Round, This Is How You Lose the Time War finished strong in rounds 3 and 4 to win the tournament.

Results from Finals:

View the full bracket here

Tournament Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 4,620
Average Votes Cast: 303
Book With Most Votes: The City of Brass (256 Votes) (Round 1)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Neverending Story vs. The Bear and the Nightingale (327 Votes) (Round 1)
Largest Win: The City of Brass (201 Votes) (Round 1)
Smallest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (3 Votes) (Round 2)
Average Win: 53 votes

Round 3 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 629
Average Votes Cast: 315
Book With Most Votes: This Is How You Lose the Time War (178 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: Rivers of London vs. The City of Brass (317 Votes)
Largest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (44 Votes)
Smallest Win: The City of Brass (31 Votes)
Average Win: 38

Round 2 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 1,168
Average Votes Cast: 292
Book With Most Votes: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (164 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: This Is How You Lose the Time War vs. All Systems Red (301 Votes)
Largest Win: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (36 Votes)
Smallest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (3 Votes)
Average Win: 24

Round 1 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 2,534
Average Votes Cast: 317
Book With Most Votes: The City of Brass (256 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Neverending Story vs. The Bear and the Nightingale (327 Votes)
Largest Win: The City of Brass (201 Votes)
Smallest Win: The Bear and the Nightingale (53 Votes)
Average Win: 117 votes

Finals
---------------------------------

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (128 Votes)

vs.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (161 Votes)

Winner: This Is How You Lose the Time War
Total Votes: 289
Margin of Victory: 33

---------------------------------

The trailer for Jim Butcher's 16th Dresden Files book: Peace Talks dropped today.

But in bigger news i09 has announced that not only is Peace Talks coming out this year, but the 17th book called Battle Ground will be coming out later this year on September 29th

i09 article: https://io9.gizmodo.com/check-out-our...

Yeah, voting ends in a little under 17 hours. Tom may be distracted by other things.

I may be too busy this week to do much beyond simple annoucements of the results. We'll see how the day goes tomorrow.

Welcome Goran

Right now there is only a single voice channel on discord, but we can easily make some more. Since Tom owns it he can do it, or I can. Just let me know.

I think so far only myself and Tammahome have used it, but I was proposing a Discord meetup for the DC/MD/NoVA group as well this month.

Misti wrote: "The audio version of The Martian is excellent."

The R.C. Bray version is. Sadly that's no longer available. I like Wil Wheaton as a narrator though, so it's probably fine too. However I hope I get grandfathered into my R.C. Bray version.

I'm excited for anything Ahsoka. I wonder if they even considered using Ashley Eckstein though. I do like Rosario Dawson.

I already forget where this show fits in the timeline though.

Welcome Donna

The finals have begun: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

and here is the breakdown of round 3: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Results from Round 3:

View the full bracket here

Tournament Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 4,331
Average Votes Cast: 308
Book With Most Votes: The City of Brass (256 Votes) (Round 1)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Neverending Story vs. The Bear and the Nightingale (327 Votes) (Round 1)
Largest Win: The City of Brass (201 Votes) (Round 1)
Smallest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (3 Votes) (Round 2)
Average Win: 59 votes

Round 3 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 629
Average Votes Cast: 315
Book With Most Votes: This Is How You Lose the Time War (178 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: Rivers of London vs. The City of Brass (317 Votes)
Largest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (44 Votes)
Smallest Win: The City of Brass (31 Votes)
Average Win: 38

Round 2 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 1,168
Average Votes Cast: 292
Book With Most Votes: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (164 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: This Is How You Lose the Time War vs. All Systems Red (301 Votes)
Largest Win: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (36 Votes)
Smallest Win: This Is How You Lose the Time War (3 Votes)
Average Win: 24

Round 1 Statistics
Total Votes Cast: 2,534
Average Votes Cast: 317
Book With Most Votes: The City of Brass (256 Votes)
Match-up With Most Votes: The Neverending Story vs. The Bear and the Nightingale (327 Votes)
Largest Win: The City of Brass (201 Votes)
Smallest Win: The Bear and the Nightingale (53 Votes)
Average Win: 117 votes

Sword Bracket
---------------------------------

Sword Semis:

Rivers of London / Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch (143 Votes)

vs.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (174 Votes)

Winner: The City of Brass
Total Votes: 317
Margin of Victory: 31

---------------------------------

Laser Semis:

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (134 Votes)

vs.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (178 Votes)

Winner: This Is How You Lose the Time War
Total Votes: 312
Margin of Victory: 44

---------------------------------

Checkout the full Bracket

The finals will be March 18-24th 11:59PM ET


Finals

Sword Semifinal:

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

vs.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Vote Here

The new trailer looks awesome: https://youtu.be/l77BI2VhmzA

Reminder that voting ends in about 18.5 hours

I lived this. It was crazy. It never got as bad on our server as it did on some, but there were a lot of dead people in Ironforge.

It is probably best to cancel our meetups for the time being. Hope to see everyone again soon.