Mark’s Comments (group member since Apr 13, 2012)

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

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch is very entertaining and the audio versions narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith are outstanding. First book in the series is Midnight Riot. I went a few pages deep into your list and didn't see it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Ok, the Supreme Sword danced with a bot (a Laser character), so the Supreme Laser should dance with a Sword character. An orc? A troll? An evil wizard?

Melanie wrote: "I think we've digressed into Calvin Ball. But who is "Calvin": Dara or Trike?"

Maybe they are interchangeable...

The Hugo for Best Fancast was first handed out in 2012. Looking at the numbers:

Sword & Laser Hugo nominations (X votes of Y ballots cast)

2012 -
2013 13 of 346
2014 29 of 396
2015 45 of 668
2016 75 of 1267
2017 48 of 690
2018 44 of 497 (Qualified as a finalist)

Sword & Laser Hugo votes (X first round votes of Y ballots cast)

2018 149 of 909

A pretty good showing for the newbie nominees!

At the 2018 WorldCon business meetings, a vote will be taken to change Best Fancast to Best Podcast and acknowledge that many podcasters earn income from their efforts.

On to 2019 Hugo for Best Podcast...

Rob wrote: "Veronica wrote: ""

Haha. Nice! You're making my monthly updates look bad though. Now people will expect graphics!"

Rob, you'll have to go above and beyond, like maybe some animation.

I'm currently at 21 of 24 Sword and 21 of 24 Laser.

The numbers seem to show that some Lasers are Slackers. What's up with that?

Trike wrote: "Colin wrote: "Within a day of each other, I finished Jade City and The Masked City completing my 'Sword' reading challenge for the year...."

City tour!"

Ok, just finished City of Miracles, a terrific finale to the The Divine Cities trilogy. The omnibus edition is still on sale at Amazon.

NPR's Summer 2018 reader poll for the 100 best horror novels.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779...

Among the titles are S+L picks Frankenstein and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War plus several S+L authors.

The publisher of Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction announced a deal to reprint selected titles featured in this entertaining history of paperback horror. Some of it is SF&F so keep an eye out.

https://twitter.com/Valancourt_B/stat...

Stephen wrote: "No. Ahsoka ends at the start of her role in Rebels and hints at Ashoka's role in the new Clone Wars."

thanks

Rob wrote: "Yes. I want an Ashoka movie. And a show. I want it all!"

I'm only just now catching up with Clone Wars. I haven't watched Rebels yet. I have a copy of the book, Ahsoka.

Question: Where does the book fit in her story? Should I watch Rebels before I read the book?

Dara wrote: "Finished my re-read of Jade City and now I'm reading Red Sister by Mark Lawrence. This is my first Lawrence and I expected grimdark and bleak but holy damn this is dark and brutal. Is there any compassion in this world? Any kind characters?!"

I just finished Red Sister and yes, (view spoiler)[dark and brutal, but Nona has a code of sorts, for people she considers friends, and she holds them close, in the only way she can. Not exactly kindness, but she cares about them. She also comes to understand more about herself, her mother, and her village, by the end. (hide spoiler)]

I plan to keep reading the series.

John (Taloni) wrote: "But, will S&L be doing panels? Haven't seen any yet. Would be nice to go and support the team"

Yes, Tom is on a podcasting-for-noobs panel and Veronica is on several panels related to gaming, tech and fandom.

You can go to the program guide web page and search by their names to find the panels.

https://www.worldcon76.org/program/pr...

Edit: I don't see anything for Sword & Laser as a panel, if that's what you were asking

For those of us not attending Worldcon76, 2018 Hugo Award ceremony live coverage plans at

http://www.thehugoawards.org/2018/08/...

Text-based live coverage of the 2018 Hugo Awards Sunday Aug 19 8:00 PM PDT (UTC-7) will be available at

http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-his...

If you have good bandwidth, details about live-streaming coverage will be available at the Worldcon76 website

http://www.thehugoawards.org/2018/08/...

If Twice Lucky isn't open...

http://www.mamasguiderecipes.com/2017...

From the January 17 1864 issue of the New York Times

Cider vs. Wine.

https://www.nytimes.com/1864/01/17/ar...

We must leave off narcotics, and let cider and wine take their places.

Coming September 29, a live Google Hangout with Fonda Lee

Read For Pixels 2018 (Fall Edition): Fonda Lee Reading+Q&A Session

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygZad...

I feel guilty for perturbing Rob's numbers in July. I completed my Laser challenge, but when I went to increase the number of Laser books (thanks to others on this thread for pointing me in the right direction), I reread the challenge RULES! Nothing shorter than novellas allowed. I'd been reading the Hugo novelette nominees and that's how I maxed out my Laser challenge. So I removed them and I'm back under and didn't really finish a challenge but got counted? I don't know. I'm just going to go back to reading. Have a nice day.

John (Nevets) wrote: "I saw the reminder in the news section, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to note it here as well. If you are a Hugo supporting member or above today is the last day to vote. Including the category of..."

Yes, it belongs here too...