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

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

And for Tom...

Here's one for Veronica, who continues to be haunted by



A Lem card hasn't been printed.

Ok, who knew this was a thing and didn't say anything?

The Walter Day Collection of Science Fiction Historical Trading Cards

https://thewalterdaycollection.com/co...

This pick revealed that many of us really like food! But are you ready for total world hot sauce supremacy?

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/20...

The author of the article, Austin Carr, needs to write a SF or F novel about Big Hot Sauce versus Big Ketchup.

Karen wrote: "Thanks!
Is General just the 'Home Page' for this group?
(I really only want answers from seasoned SF fans).
Not that good with navigating these sites so any help is appreciated."

The Discussions area is broken up into categories.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/list_...

General is sort of the default category and a good place to start.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Trike wrote: "I saw that Mando was in ep 5 so I decided to check it out. It’s all Mando."

Except for the part that's a straight rip of Niven. Which I enjoyed seeing, but wow. Not even a by-your-le..."

Is it a bad thing to show a ringworld? It's a 50-year old concept now and familiar to a couple of generations.

https://www.polygon.com/22903093/book...

Ruth wrote: "That was a quick read - I’ve finished already! Loved it."

Same here. A very elegant story.

The Mandalorian Returns!

https://youtu.be/hAg97g55cK8

CHEESE!

An assessment of The Expanse from one of the Space the Nation hosts

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outloo...

More Hugo nom thoughts

Best Novel
Jade Legacy
King Bullet
Leviathan Falls

Best Series
The Green Bone Saga https://www.goodreads.com/series/2162...
Sandman Slim https://www.goodreads.com/series/4642...
Alex Verus https://www.goodreads.com/series/7119...

Best Novella
Elder Race
Fugitive Telemetry

Was that you tapping on the window last night?

I'm still thinking about the 2021 novels and novellas I read.

How about everyone else?

For Best Related Work or maybe Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form I'm thinking Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner

For Best Series, I'm thinking the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee

https://twitter.com/FondaJLee/status/...

As a group, the 2021-published books we've read (so far) are:

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
Light from Uncommon Stars

Pro and fan writers are posting eligible work on their websites and social media. One category that I don't often consider is Best Fan Writer. Alex Brown, one of the guest hosts who helped out while Veronica was on maternity leave, is a fan writer. They chose Elatsoe for us to read. Links to their work at Tor.com and Locus Online are in this tweet.

https://twitter.com/QueenOfRats/statu...

Sword & Laser is eligible for Best Fancast

http://swordandlaser.com/

Last year S&L missed the cut by a mere 4 nominations.

Terpkristin posted the link for information about 2022 Hugo nominations over in Quick Burns. Here it is again:

https://chicon.org/home/whats-happeni...

Eligible members of Chicon 8 (the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention) and DisCon III (the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention) will receive/will have received an e-mail to your registered e-mail address with your customized login link. Click on the link and you will be able to begin your nominations ballot. You can also vote by mail.

Trike wrote: "Admittedly I was watching very late last night, but did I drift off and miss what the deal was with the kids and alien snakehead dogs on the planet? What was the point of that side story?"

They are characters from Strange Dogs who appear in later Expanse novels. If we get more Expanse on tv or film someday, they will be part of the connective tissue.