What would you like from the podcast in 2013?

[Rick]

Clyde wrote: "Tom wrote: "I mean for us as hosts to have to read both. If we're not going to read it then its renegade."

Gotcha!"

Well, Clyde, some crazy person is doing a Renegade read of Banks' Player of Games... http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

[Noah]

I notice that our Mods, Becca and Jlawrence don't seem to have input in the regular pick, so maybe they could go rogue and toss out their suggestions?

Or, P. Aaron has introduced new book ideas in the past with his videos, so if he is interested that could be cool.

Basically, I think having everyone toss out ideas is great, but a little more structure could be helpful to some.

p.s. I'm not trying to volunteer people for things they don't want to do. I'd offer more suggestions myself, but I post so many topics on the forum that I'm afraid of wearing out my welcome.

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

We change up how the pick is done each time. Sometimes it's a vote. Sometimes it's off the voted list. Sometimes it's based on suggestions in a thread. Sometimes it's just a pick from me or V.

This time it was me looking at the suggestions thread and the vote list and seeing Wool at the top of both.

So it is structured. Just structured a little different every time.

[Daran]

Darn, I was going to suggest Webber's On Basilisk Station for a renegade.

[Noah]

Tom, I meant a structured renegade read would be good. I know you guys have it figured out as far as the main picks go.

[Clyde]

Mr. Noah wrote: "Tom, I meant a structured renegade read would be good. I know you guys have it figured out as far as the main picks go."

What Mr. Noah said.

[Pie Pie]

I want it on youtube. I don't listen to podcasts, I only watch my subscribed channels. Make it happen! Even if it's homegrown in whatever studio you use for the audio, I'd watch the heck out of it. I watch Invisible Walls on gametrailers for video games every single week and would treat this the same way.

[Rick]

Clyde wrote: "Tom wrote: "The alternate picks were OK when we were only doing one book every couple months but when we went to one book every month it seemed excessive. "

Excessive? The way I see it, an alterna..."

I think Tom might mean excessive for them. They'd have to read and discuss both books if they were official. Renegade reads they CAN mention, but aren't obligated to read or talk about.

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Jason wrote: "I want it on youtube. I don't listen to podcasts, I only watch my subscribed channels. Make it happen! Even if it's homegrown in whatever studio you use for the audio, I'd watch the heck out of it...."

We record in our homes in SF and LA! We're not together when we record the audio show.

[David]

Here's the thing... Seeing people talk about stuff, for me at least, is much more enjoyable than just listening. If the S&L podcast was simply the audio portion of a Google Hangout (a la Vaginal Fantasy), I would love it! As a bonus, you could still do the author video chats as in the YouTube version since that would simply be another video chat member. White Board videos again? Why not? Personally, the less "production" you put into it, the more I'm going to enjoy it. A 60 minute hangout with the occasional extra video or author sit-in or cut to whatever you happen to be surfing up would be great.

[Jason]

I'm going to make a couple of suggestions which are probably terrible, but I'm going to make them anyway because I love the show and I'm a jerk like that.

Just a note: I tend to skip the book sections when it's not a book I've already read, or something I'm reading now (I'm very spoiler-sensitive). So I'd like to see more non-book discussion, not less. I imagine some people want the opposite.

Anyway, suggestions!

- More news! This one is hard, because I imagine you already are trolling for as much news as possible. But I really like the news segments and related discussion, and would like to see more. Maybe branch out a bit in what you consider news-worthy? (Games? Movies? Cartoons?)

- Guest hosts! Separate from interviews, what if you had interesting people like Analee Newitz from io9 or that dude from the Wertzone join you for an episode, just to make things interesting? Not that I don't love you both, but that would be cool, right? Right? Maybe not.

- Interviews! The interviews are cool. Don't stop with the interviews. Do more interviews. MOAR INTERVIEWS. But less structured. An interview is a conversation, not a barrage of submitted questions. A lot of the interviews on the YouTube show consisted of you guys reading questions off of iPads rather than having meaningful discussion with your guest, which was frustrating (particularly when it was with really, really interesting people). Talk to these people! I don't think any of the YouTube shows had an interview as good as the one you had with Todd McCaffrey. It was just so natural, and by extension interesting to listen to.

- A Google hangout would be cool. Probably chaotic, but cool nonetheless.

- Embrace the inherent nerdiness in what you're doing. Maybe add an author spotlight section where you talk about the life and career of a famous sci-fi author (Asimov, Heinlein, McCaffrey, etc) or discuss a sub-genre (dragons, cyberpunk, etc). io9 does articles like this, but it might be cool to see on your podcast.

That's all for now. Keep up the good work.

[Steve]

I agree a Google + hangout would be cool, with or without guest author. However for me, while I like occasionally checking out YouTube videos, the podcast will always be the staple, as I can listen to it while in the car, walking to work, out and about etc. You Tube has to be streamed, and that means basically when I'm at home (never usually get consistent enough phone data signal to watch a video without interruptions).

Also agree that doing a spotlight on a classic sci-fi/fantasy author or book series would be really good. Everywhere you look online, articles and websites tend to focus on the new stuff, for obvious reasons. There's so much great stuff out there though, and unless you've been regularly reading sf/fantasy for the last 50+ years, you've probably missed a lot of it. I always love coming across a new favourite author who has already written tonnes of great books.

[Phil On The Hill]

I have enjoyed both formats, but I prefer the audio. You both come across as more relaxed.

More book talk please. I think the Geek and Sundry show caused the discussion to be thinned out.

I would like Video for author interviews and audio for the rest.

Above all keep it up. Great show and it is widening my choice of authors and pulled me back to others.
Cheers,
Phil

[Tom]

I have to say I much prefer the audio (it doesn't require the same level of attention as a video), but I feel like I miss out all the great content on the Video show. Would it be a hassle to get the Podcast feed to broadcast both shows Audio ? I know I would end up listening to all the shows, and probably would re-watch segments that sound like they'd be really compelling to watch.

More variety in terms of literary form: so far S&L hasn't tackled any short stories, or novellas for that matter. I think it's the ideal way to introduce folks to an author, and it's easier to skip a single story rather than deciding to lem an entire book.

Finally, provide more of a structure for what sorts of books the club will tackle into the future, a kin to what you already do by alternating between laser & sword picks. I think this would be particularly helpful if you dictated to us a particular Author, but then allow the Mob to select which book / collection from said author we end up with.

Another idea would to assign a month as "Certifiable Classic Month", where nominees have to be a 20 year+ Hugo/Nebula winner, nothing too ham fisted of course, but something to allow for more consistent variety (Not too little, not too much space opera!) from season to season. We end up picking contemporary Hugo/Nebula nominees pretty regularly ...

Cheers,
PJ

[AndrewP]

I too prefer the audio format. As someone already pointed out, SOME of the video interviews really had no added value and were not even close to the quality of a couple of those in the audio podcast. I'm also in the "I can listen to podcasts anywhere" category. I have never missed a podcast, but skipped several of the YouTube episodes due to lack of time to watch them while they were relevant.

[Alan]

"Why aren't more of you downloading it?"
I listen to podcasts on my computer so I tend not to download anything. Is the delivery method important to you guys? If so, I can start downloading.

I prefer the think piece side of the Quick Burns over the newsy. For example, I really enjoyed listening to Tom's take on copyright law in one of the old podcasts.

I like the podcasts as they are so I've got no constructive requests/suggestions/comments. Instead, I'll throw this out there - for a podcast with a "what are we drinking" segment, neither of you ever seem to get loopy. Either drink more or have longer podcasts ;D

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

Alan wrote: ""Why aren't more of you downloading it?"
I listen to podcasts on my computer so I tend not to download anything. Is the delivery method important to you guys? If so, I can start downloading.

I pre..."

When you listen to podcasts on your computer you're technically downloading it, and that's all I meant.

[Rob, Roberator]

Tom wrote: "When you listen to podcasts on your computer you're technically downloading it, and that's all I meant."

Might be a good idea to edit that into your original post Tom, since it's been asked a few times.

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

Rob wrote: "Tom wrote: "When you listen to podcasts on your computer you're technically downloading it, and that's all I meant."

Might be a good idea to edit that into your original post Tom, since it's been ..."
Where's the fun in that?

[Noah]

Regarding renegade reads, how about picking a few interesting titles from the "What else are you reading" topics from each month and throwing them out as an fyi. Also, I would like to hear more about your takes on the topics here in goodreads. It almost seems like an afterthought lately.

[Sinkline]

how about a sword and laser vacation month? I always worry about Tom and Veronica getting burnt out trying to keep up with the assigned reading. We could give them a month off so they could read whatever they where into and then have podcasts for that month just covering what they are reading.

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

Sinkline wrote: "how about a sword and laser vacation month? I always worry about Tom and Veronica getting burnt out trying to keep up with the assigned reading. We could give them a month off so they could read wh..."

I definitely don't need a month off from reading but I do like the idea of doing an "open read" one month?

What do you think Khaleesi Veronica?

[Noah]

if you do, be prepared for the following from me. "Whur my sword at? whur my laser at? Whur my sword, whur my laser, whur my sword at?"

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Tom wrote: "Sinkline wrote: "how about a sword and laser vacation month? I always worry about Tom and Veronica getting burnt out trying to keep up with the assigned reading. We could give them a month off so t..."

Hmm... I fear lack of structure, and I'll probably just end up talking about my required reading for VagFan!

I'm not having a hard time usually keeping up. But maybe we could do an open reading month where we have some folks on a Google hangout to talk about what they're reading?

[LegalKimchi]

Just more of it. More often. Perhaps a secondary audio show, with other hosts if you guys are busy.
the hosts could be people from the forum... like.... some... people.... making... this.... comment.

[Erik]

On the topic of Alternate Picks, how about some graphic novels? There are a ton of great sci-fi/fantasy graphic novels that have come out in the last few years: Brian K. Vaughan's SAGA, pretty much anything by Jonathan Hickman (THE RED WING, MANHATTAN PROJECTS, PAX ROMANA) Mike Carey's THE UNWRITTEN, Jeff Lemire's SWEET TOOTH.

It wouldn't put a huge burden on you guys because graphic novels generally take all of an hour of two to read, but it still offers an alternate pick for those not feeling the main book for the month. You could even do a novel and a graphic novel from the same author one month (maybe Neil Gaiman or Paul Cornell). I'm not suggesting you do a graphic novel as an alternate pick every month, but it might be a fun change of pace here and there.