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

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

Ok, how about a classic: The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

Tassie Dave wrote: "You do need to factor in that Trike and I are the cynical, grumpy old men of this forum ;-)"

The Statler & Waldorf of Sword & Laser?

From Locus, the announcement for the Crawford Award

2019 winner is The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

http://locusmag.com/2019/02/kuang-win...

The Crawford Award is given to a fantasy author whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding 18 months. It's one of several awards presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, and is presented at the conference each March in Ft. Lauderdale.

https://www.fantastic-arts.org/awards...

http://www.sfadb.com/William_L_Crawfo...

You're welcome. Now everyone can pump up those short story challenge numbers.

And about that impact, lots of people thinking about it...

https://youtu.be/ZHZjb8ht5pY

David wrote: "There's also a brand-new Lady Astronaut story that came out in that Tor.com short fiction newsletter, too (over in Quick Burns) called "Articulated Restraint" I think."

Yes, forgot to add it. Thanks for the reminder. The OP has been updated.

From the author's website

About the Lady Astronaut novels
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/faqs/la...

links to the short stories in the Lady Astronaut verse in chronological order

We Interrupt This Broadcast
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...
https://www.amazon.com/Mad-Scientists... (purchase and download)

The Calculating Stars

Articulated Restraint
https://www.tor.com/2019/02/06/articu...
https://www.tor.com/2019/01/30/downlo... (download)

The Fated Sky

The Phobos Experience
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...
https://www.amazon.com/Magazine-Fanta... (purchase and download)

Amara's Giraffe
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...

Rocket's Red
http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CGULBDG/ (purchase and download)

The Lady Astronaut of Mars
https://www.tor.com/2013/09/11/the-la...
https://www.audible.com/pd/Rip-Off-Au... (audio purchase and download)

and let's not overlook the impact calc

Flash version
https://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/

Text version
https://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEar...

Anne wrote: "Tor is now offering a newsletter with short fiction on a bimonthly basis which seems like a nice way to get SFF stories delivered straight to your inbox. More information is here: https://www.tor.c..."

The first Tor.com short story newsletter is out. The story bundle can be downloaded in EPUB/MOBI/PDF formats at

https://www.tor.com/2019/01/30/downlo...

This month's newsletter contains a story in the Lady Astronaut universe by Mary Robinette Kowal plus stories by Elizabeth Bear, John Chu, Mimi Mondal, Annalee Newitz, and JY Yang.

Tina wrote: "Allison wrote: "
...Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience was brilliant and riled up my blood...."

LeVar Burton read this on his podcast and it was amazing:
http://www.levarburtonpodcast.com/"

Does Mr. Burton read the complete short story for his podcast? The list of titles and authors is intriguing. I picked up Rebecca Roanhorse's first novel Trail of Lightning after reading Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience and enjoyed it.

One more comment on the ALA awards list. All but one of the fantasy titles on the short list has had some discussion on S+L forums, but the science fiction short list was unfamiliar to me:

ALA Science Fiction Short List
Noumenon Infinity by Marina J. Lostetter. Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
An Ocean of Minutes: A Novel by Thea Lim. Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Stars Uncharted by S.K. Dunstall. Ace, published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt. Angry Robot, an imprint of Watkins Media Ltd.

Anyone familiar with these titles? If so, don't discuss here or the Roberator will bring out his hammer.

Seth wrote: "This year's American Library Association mid-winter conference just wrapped up, and in addition to their more famous awards for youth titles (like the Newbery and Caldecott), they also make adult p..."

I'd never looked at the ALA awards list before. I like that they include Readalike titles for comparison. We should have librarians in charge of all book awards!

Silvana wrote: "So glad we have a short story challenge :D"

I tend to read short fiction that ties into longer reads. The Lady Astronaut of Mars is a good example, so I agree, the short story challenge is a welcome addition.

No, I don't see any new group messages.

Dara wrote: "The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is $2.99 today. Buy this book! It’s excellent! https://www.amazon.com/Calculating-St..."

Thanks for the heads up Dara.

+1 for Dara because there is a comic book character with the same name.

Rick wrote: "IS that book any good? :)"

I don't think you want to start a Jade War with Dara!

The Tor.com eBook Club Selection for January 2019 is The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

https://ebookclub.tor.com/

This novelette was a finalist for the Nebula, the Hugo, the Locus, and the Theodore Sturgeon awards.

Trike wrote: "The Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons have rigid internal rules, too, but those aren’t SF despite Wile E.’s use of technology."

An article discussing Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner in the context of physics and science fiction.

The Gravity of Cartoon Physics; or, Schrödinger’s Coyote

Abstract for the article
https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope/art...

PDF for the article
https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/elope/art...

We need more lists like this. Granted, it's a short list, but two of the five books are S+L picks, and there's beer!

Speculative Fiction on Tap: Winter Books, Winter Beer
https://bookriot.com/2019/01/08/specu...