Mark’s
Comments
(group member since Apr 13, 2012)
Mark’s
comments
from the The Sword and Laser group.
Showing 1,041-1,060 of 2,822
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Congratulations! Here is a list of names with sword in their meaning. Maybe the baby can be a little Hilde or Rem."The Adventures of Egbert the Easter Egg
Sci-Fi Baby Names: 500 Out-of-This-World Baby Names from Anakin to Zardoz by Robert SchnakenbergSci-Fi Fantasy Baby Names for the Twenty-First Century by Valerie Estelle Frankel
During the virtual Hugo presentation, GRRM was faulted for mispronouncing the name of R.F. Kuang, 2020 winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. I've been mispronouncing it all along too.From R.F. Kuang's website, her last name rhymes with “song”, not “bang”. There's an audio link on her FAQ https://rfkuang.com/faq/
'Jade City' TV Series Based On Books In Works At Peacock From Dave Kalstein, Breck Eisner & Dean Georgarishttps://deadline.com/2020/08/jade-cit...
Count me in!
The 2020 Dragon Award ballot has been announcedhttps://www.dragoncon.org/awards/2020...
Many familiar books on the ballot.
You can register to vote at
https://application.dragoncon.net/dc_...
Veronica wrote: "Haha, I feel like I REMEMBER that from that book!"or maybe from Old Man's War
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
or Fuzzy Nation
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
a common theme for Scalzi's earlier books when narrated aloud
The Guardian has posted the long list (211 books) for the 2020 Not the Booker prize. They would like your nominations for books that belong on the short list.https://www.theguardian.com/books/boo...
Some of the SF&F on the long list are
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Agency by William Gibson
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
but there are many other books of interest too.
Be sure and read the rules. You must nominate two books, each from a different publisher, and include a short review of at least one of your nominated books. They are hoping for reviews with a minimum of 100 words.
Nominating deadline is 23.59 BST on Sunday 16 August. I think this is 7:59 PM ET in the US.
We ain't got no canon. We don't need no canon! I don't have to show you any stinkin' canon! Ok, here's a cannon.
The truth is I thought that Asimov, Heinlein et al were the pinnacle of science fiction, but I've learned otherwise. Sword and Laser is partly responsible for the change, introducing me to many new and fascinating writers. There have been difficult reads among a few of those new writers, but looking back at some of the books I read as a kid has proven just as difficult. That was surprising to me. That isn't bad news, just time marching on. I know I can count on S+L to find me good stuff to read.
We are all Bob!
AndrewP wrote: "I hope there is going to be an audio book version. "From the author's newsletter:
Audio is scheduled for the 27th August – which is as soon as we can safely get the readers, Kobna of course for the Peter Grant stories, others TBA, in and out of a studio in a responsibly social distant way. I hope you guys enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.
I’ve signed a deal with Subterranean Press for them to produce a limited collector’s edition of Takes From The Folly – this will probably be available in 2021 and we’ll let you know when it is.
John (Taloni) wrote: "I've read this author (Fredric Brown) before with Martians, Go Home decades ago but don't recall reading any others. "Brown also wrote some entertaining mysteries. My favorite is The Far Cry
Earlier this year I was getting double read dates too. I had to delete half a dozen. I don't know what caused them.
Caught up with some Laser reads by re-reading Murderbot titles. Is that cheating?Sword: 36/24
Laser: 19/24
Comics: 18/24
Shorts: 11/24
The Sword & Laser numbersSword & Laser didn't make the 2020 cut which was 40 nominations, and more people are nominating fancasts than fanzines.
Sword & Laser Hugo nominations (X votes of Y ballots cast)
2020 29 of 394
2019 41 of 464
2018 44 of 497 (Qualified as a finalist)
2017 48 of 690
2016 75 of 1267
2015 45 of 668
2014 29 of 396
2013 13 of 346
2012 -
Sword & Laser Hugo votes (X first round votes of Y ballots cast)
2018 149 of 909
Total nominations Best Fanzine vs Best Fancast
2020 233 394
2019 297 464
2018 393 497
2017 610 690
2016 1455 1267
2015 576 668
2014 478 396
2013 370 346
2012 329 328
2020 voting stats at
https://conzealand.nz/wp-content/uplo...
Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch which dropped on my Kindle yesterday. Fun stuff as always. Most of the stories were extras in the UK editions sold at Waterstones. One of the stories takes place in a Waterstones. I gather that Waterstones is a big chain like Barnes & Noble, except Ben Aaronovitch doesn't write short stories for Barnes & Noble editions of his books.
The 2020 Hugo Award winners announced, many familiar to S+L. Here are a few of the winners...Best Novel
A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
Best Novella
This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (Saga Press; Jo Fletcher Books)
Best Series
The Expanse, by James S. A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman, directed by Douglas Mackinnon (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios/Narrativia/The Blank Corporation)
Astounding Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)
R.F. Kuang (2nd year of eligibility)
Full voting stats here
https://conzealand.nz/wp-content/uplo...
For anyone with the Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen)...
Whelan's cover art on a book always got my attention.
