Terpkristin and Josh discuss Sword & Laser on the Readingenvy podcast

[Tamahome]

I wonder what the central secret force is??

http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2014/...

[terpkristin]

It was a great discussion, if I may be so non-humble. ;)

But it was a little weird talking about the group. Good, but weird. :)

[Rob, Roberator]

I have it queued up.

[Phil]

It was a fun podcast to listen to. It's interesting hearing the voices of some people whose posts I've been reading for a couple years and hearing the meta-discussion about the group.

[John (Nevets)]

That was real fun. Great hearing all 3 (another Trike conspiracy ;-)) of you. I stopped what I was watching on TV, and just listened to it on the web.

Coincidentally Blindsight was the first book I read with the club even though I had been part of the group for a while before that. I made it through, but it was not one I particularly enjoyed. Made me realize that I didn't need to read everything the group did, and still be part of it.

[Nick]

Blindsight had some really interesting ideas. I never understood why people got so put out by the vampires in space deal.

[Sean]

Tamahome wrote: "I wonder what the central secret force is??"

Leptons.

[John (Nevets)]

Not to sidetrack to much, but it wasn't just the Vampires thing, but that was part of it. I just don't generally like psyco thrillers and horror stories, so Blindsight was going to be a tough sell no matter what. It's the same reason I learned early on that as famous a writer as Stephen King is, I can't read much of his work. But I found Different Seasons featuring The Shawshank Redemption to be very good.

[Nick]

Blindsight wasn't necessarily a horror story but a interesting discussion about if intelligence is an exception and not a rule for life in the universe.

[Lindsay]

Surely the conclusions that the reader is meant to draw are psychologically horrifying?

(view spoiler)[That consciousness is actually a detriment to long term evolutionary survival and that humans are already at the Sapience Limit (a term he coins in the next book) where we are more efficient already when consciousness is bypassed. (hide spoiler)]

[Sean]

But other authors have explored similar concepts of consciousness without the need to rip off Alien or shoehorn vampires into a science fiction novel -- see Harmony by Project Itoh and Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri for two books that did it far better than Watts.

[Nick]

@Lindsay - you were right. It was consciousness. I was half asleep when I wrote that post and had not gone back to refresh my memory by reading the synopsis. The big thing I remember from that book was the Chinese room experiment.

[Phil]

terpkristin wrote: "It was a great discussion, if I may be so non-humble. ;)

But it was a little weird talking about the group. Good, but weird. :)"

I wish T & V would do this once in a while; interview a couple club members, ask them why they joined, what their favourite books have been, that sort of thing. It makes for good human interest.

Terpkristin, you said you mainly like fantasy. Is that because bad science in SF annoys you? I remember you were fairly critical of The Martian.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Thanks Tamahome. We could have had you on too, but you had been on our 5th episode. I felt lucky at the end because I knew jlawrence and terpkristin had been around a long time, but I didn't fully appreciate what that would mean!

We'll have a few more book club discussions in 2014, one about a virtual world book club and another erotica-turned-bible book club. There are some interesting communities out there but S&L has to be the most popular on the Internet! The discussion made me feel I'd really missed out on some of the books I'd skipped.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Ah, doing this podcast was a really fun trip down memory lane. Thanks again, Jenny, for having us!

For anyone who hadn't seen that collaborative Sword & Laser-inspired song/video I mention and is curious, here 'tis.

[Rob, Roberator]

I find this a bit misleading:

second most popular book group on Goodreads - the Sword and Laser Book Club, with over 20,000 members.

While true, the Librarian group isn't a book club, is it? I thought it was just a place to talk about goodreads/book management on the site. But maybe I'm wrong?

Seems to me like S&L is really the #1 book club on the site, despite being the #2 "group"

[Tamahome]

I too want to hear that first try at the Sword and Laser theme song, Josh.

EDIT: Oh, you did link it.
EDIT: Oh, that's something else.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Hmm Rob I agree! But I think we said group, and not all groups are clubs. Semantics. That makes more sense now because I couldn't imagine a more popular group than ours!

And Josh, sorry we deleted the links... they somehow broke the feed. I had them in there! Perhaps if other multimedia will break the feed I should be creating a separate companion post or something. Still not sure why it happened.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Jenny, no worries! I remember that can cause problems from when I was posting podcasts a while back (I think using feedburner + squarespace resolved it for me?).

Tamahome, I think it's lost to the double-death of a website & hard drive, which is probably for the best, but I'll look.

Here's also a link to the theme song & its future variation (you can download 'em for free by entering 0.00 as the price...)

[Kelli]

Just finished listening to the podcast...loved it! I've been with the group for almost 2 years and, although I don't participate in the discussions as much as I should, I really enjoy the sense of community in this group. Thanks, Jenny, Josh, and Terpkristin, for an entertaining discussion!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Jlawrence wrote: "Jenny, no worries! I remember that can cause problems from when I was posting podcasts a while back (I think using feedburner + squarespace resolved it for me?)."

Yeah we do use the one but not the other so that helps!

[terpkristin]

Phil wrote: "Terpkristin, you said you mainly like fantasy. Is that because bad science in SF annoys you? I remember you were fairly critical of The Martian."

I think it's multi-faceted.

Generally, I read for entertainment and some element of escapism. I don't "need" all my characters to be "well developed" or certain criteria to be met. I get the impression from participating in discussions on Goodreads in general that not everybody reads for that reason. People seem to be upset when a book lacks strong females, for example...while I certainly don't want every book to be the same and have the same cast of characters, I really don't feel like every book needs to have "everything" perfect. I don't get too wrapped up in the gender of the author (for better or worse).

My job is in a "tech" field. Many science fiction books also use "tech." So it can be harder to "escape" my reality if I come home and read a book (theoretically for pleasure) that reminds me too much of work. So that's part of it.

Another aspect is that a lot of science fiction is depressing. Again, if I want to be entertained and escape, I don't want to think of a bleak future. So if the book is mostly capitalizing on that setting (as many SF books do), it's equally hard for me to get in.

And some SF, more than fantasy, seems to be...experimental (like How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe). Those books can be "tougher" to read, which don't lend themselves to escaping (and sometimes, not thinking).

The funny thing with The Martian in particular is that I really wanted to like it more. But I think I've discovered that the "stranded adventurer" genre really isn't for me. Oddly, one of my favorite books we've read, Dawn, is SF.

So, I think I tend towards fantasy for a variety of reasons, but I do enjoy some SF and enjoy the exposure to a wide variety of both genres. Plus, let's be real, dragons are f'n awesome. :D

[Rob, Roberator]

I've always regretted not finding the club earlier. It's really interesting to hear about the start of the club. I've only just started to listen to it, but I'm looking forward to listening to more.

[AndrewP]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "We'll have a few more book club discussions in 2014, one about a virtual world book club and another erotica-turned-bible book club...."

'Virtual world book club'? Do you mean a book club about virtual worlds, or a book club that takes place in a virtual world?

Great podcast you guys, nice to hear a a broad discussion of S&L rather than focusing on any specific book.

[Tamahome]

I think the virtual book club takes place in Second Life.

[Joanna Chaplin]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "...erotica-turned-bible book club."

...what? How...why...? What constitutes a "Bible book" in this context?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Joanna wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "...erotica-turned-bible book club."

...what? How...why...? What constitutes a "Bible book" in this context?"

The actual BIble. I can't wait to record that one!

AndrewP wrote: "'Virtual world book club'? Do you mean a book club about virtual worlds, or a book club that takes place in a virtual world? ..."
I was trying to be mysterious but Tamahome gave it away. ;)

[Tamahome]

Doh!

[AndrewP]

That's what I thought but was just wondering. Iv'e Actually been to an author reading in SL so I'm ahead of the game here :)

[Rob, Roberator]

I'm slowly making my way through the podcast. Like Kristin I have issues fitting in podcasts between all my audiobooks.

Instead of doing podcasts all in one shot, I tend to do them in small pieces.

Since my OCD compels me to pause my books for the day on chapter breaks, what I tend to do is when I hit a chapter break near the end of my audiobook time I'll stop and switch to the podcast if there is one available or music otherwise.

I only tend to get in 5-10 minutes/day but I usually manage to get through them during the week before the next one came out.

And I'm so thankful for the video show. I think I prefer the podcasts, but if not for the video show I'd never have found the group.

[Tamahome]

I have an at least 30 minute commute, so I get plenty of podcasts done.

[Rob, Roberator]

Tamahome wrote: "I have an at least 30 minute commute, so I get plenty of podcasts done."

Yeah but I do 2-3 hours of audiobook a day. When I first joined the group I only did audiobooks on long drives and had plenty of time for the podcasts.

But now every spare second tends to go towards books. That's also largely due to the club and connecting with Jenny and SFFAudio, but mainly because I have just too many books I want to do, and not nearly enough time to read them.

These days I tend to listen to like 1.5 books in audio for every one I actually read.

[Rob, Roberator]

Oh and I have a very small group that I tend to spend more time in these days, but I think that despite the very large size of S&L, the group isnt too crazy.

There still seems to be a small subset of members that are always active, a few of whom seem to have been here since the beginning.

Then there are a small number of transient people who comment heavily for a short period of time and seem to disappear.

Most of the rest seem to lurk.

But there are definitely a group of people i recognize and seem to talk to regularly.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I have the same problem Rob- limited listening time and far too much to listen to.

[Rob, Roberator]

Oh i got mentioned! I think the reason the DC/MD meetup hasn't occurred is mostly due to the lack of someone to organize.

Personally I always have to organize things among my friends and am not really inclined to take on another thing. Not to mention it's intimidating. Like Kristin said, we're not Tom or Veronica, just some random person. How do you go and find/setup a meeting with a bookstore?

My sister lives in SF though, so assuming those keep happening I hope to come for one the next time I visit. Sounds like I should at least visit Borserlands anyways.

[Casey]

Great episode!