The Sword and Laser discussion
Introduction and welcome thread!
Hey, my name is Luke and I'm a fiction addict. I love stories: reading them, writing them, watching them, hearing them, reviewing them, discussing them and critiquing them. Though the reading section has been severely lacking over the past few years (Uni texts and Graphic Novels aside)and so I am hoping that a book club such as this will be the inspiration that I need to increase my novel per month ratio. Looking forward to Elantris.
Hello, I am Scott (aka CmentMixer).I have been reading Sci-Fi since 7th grade. I think my first book may have been The Missing Persons League by Frank Bonham, though it may have been a gift of the Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks from my godfather.
Thanks to Tom & Veronica for this group and a great podcast.
Hi there, I'm Graham and I currently reside in Edmonton, Alberta. Been an avid reader for years, tend to gravitate towards Sci-Fi/Horror. Favorite authors are; King, Tolkien,Barker,and Vonnegut. Heard Tom mention Sword & Laser on Current Geek (Love all things Frogpants). Currently Reading Ready Player One, and will be starting Elantris on audiobook to keep up with the Book Club!
Hello. I am a huge fan of Terry Brooks, Jim Butcher, John Grisham, and have been reading Scifi/Fantasy since High School back a billion years ago... There are too many books that I want to read, and I know I will never get to all of them!
Hi, I'm Morgan, and I've been reading sci-fi and fantasy for as long as I can remember. I've been listening to the podcast for awhile now, and decided it was time to get involved on the forums here.My favorite authors include Jim Butcher, George R.R. Martin, and Tad Williams.
Hi everybody! My name is Chris. I have been a life long SciFi/fantasy reading. I have been a long time Ton and Veronica fan and thought I would try Sword and Laser podcast and the GoodReads forums.Right now I am reading Clash of the Kings and going in the middle of the Ender series. Ready to read The Wise Man's Fear, Day 2.
Hi I am Brett and I am a nerd because I read books. I am currently reading The White Rose by Glenn Cook which is part of his excellent Black Company series.
Hello everyone. My name is David an I am an avid gamer and love to read. I am a history and drivers ed teacher in Washington state.
For a second there David I thought you were saying that you taught the history of drivers ed, which would be one of the stranger occupations I've ever heard of.Welcome though, irregardless of not being quite that interesting.
Hello. My name is Colin. I have been a sci-fi/fantasy fan since before I could read on my own, when my father read the old Space Cadet books to me as bedtime stories. My favorite authors are Timothy Zahn, Jim Butcher, Robert Jordon, and many others. I just recently disocvered the Sword and Laser podcast thanks to Veronica's interview with The Nerdist and have been loving it.
My name is Shawn. I've been a sf/f fan for as long as I can remember. I'm very interested in this group/podcast because, in most media, all the attention goes to comic book and movie sf, which is really not the same thing at all as print. I'd like to see where the discussion goes with some authors I really like.My favorites include Orson Scott Card, Neal Stephenson, Brandon Sanderson, and Terry Pratchett.
Right now, I'm reading a collection of short stories titled "Shadows Over Baker Street." Blurb length description: Sherlock Holmes Vs. Cthulhu.
Hi folks, Terry here... I got seriously addicted to science fiction when I was about five after reading Heinlein's STAR BEAST - yes, I was reading that early. The obvious crowd got me further snared from that point, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Tolkien, Clark... and any others you can think of.I've been listening to Veronica and Tom for several months now after trying to find a decent scifi/fantasy podcast for quite some time.
Thanks for the forum, folks - it's truly a pleasure.
Hello, I'm NIck.I've been using sites like this for years to get an OCD fix of organizing my reading habits. I'm excited about this group and using the social aspect of the site.
I didn't read SciFi/Fantasy until a couple of years ago when a friend was trying to get me to read the genre(s) and I refused. He new I loved Hitchhiker's Guide and he introduced me to Pratchett and Aspirin, sneakily using humor as a back door. Now I read mostly in this genre(s) catching up with a lot of the classics.
I'm open to friend requests, my wife is the only one who updates from my current friends list.
Hello. I am a reader and writer of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, and I often mix up the two (often along with some Romance -it's just the way I am). Favourite authors are probably Issac Asimov, Larry Niven, Elizabeth Moon, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Robert A. Heinlein and many others.
Hi All,My name is Malachi. I love to read just about every genre and try to read several at a time,but I've been catching up on my SF & Fantasy for the past couple years. Definitely more Laser than Sword, but I'm about half way through Dresden Files series and plan on starting the Game of Thrones next. I'm hoping to catch up to the group reading by the end of the year and I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions in the future.
Hello. My name is Azizul Rahman from Malaysia.I'm a fan of everything Terry Pratchett. I have only begun to read other authors like Dan Abnett, R.A. Salvatore, and William King, to name a few. Too few.
I started to listen to The Sword and Laser and joined this group to remedy that.
Hello,My name is Zaid mamser, i found out about the podcast on twit and am interested to see how it goes.
Hi, I'm Graham. I'm from Melbourne Australia and have just finished a professional writing course. So sad that I only started catching up on S&L now, because I missed out on Nanowrimo. I love to read Tolkien, Iain M. Banks, Gaiman, Pratchett and Stephen King.
Hello from Down Under.
Hi all,my name is Harm Otten and I am a German Revision3 fan in Copenhagen. I do like Science fiction more than fantasy and do read Danish and German besides the English main theme here. Please welcome me and I will be a productive and helpful commenter! Btw, you can't mess up the first name: get out of harm's way...
Hi All,My names Kieran, I'm from the UK and live in Lancashire (near Manchester for any none UK residents). I've been reading fantasy for a while, and have dabbled in SF, but if it’s good I’ll read anything.
I stumble across sword and laser on iTunes the other week and here I am.
Currently I’m high on Brandon Sanderson, but I'll be starting George RR Martin once I’ve finished Alloy so times are good.
I'm looking forward to being introduced to some new books/authors and getting into some good discussions.
Cya around
Hi all, my name is Tim and I am a blind fan of all scifi and fantasy. I used to read several novels at the same time when I could still see. Now, with my LOC talking book reader and my iphone I am listenin to about 8 books. I love serial novels like A Song of Ice and Fire, WOT, Sword of Truth and the Shannara series. I Discovered S&L by listening to TWIT, you guys actually turned me onto the Nerdist.
Looking forward to some lively discussion here.
Hi! I'm Urg. I'm a geek who loves to read. What else is there to say?
Hello,I'm Dave and I am new to Goodreads. I listened to the S&L podcast for the first time last week and loved it. I am an avid reader and love SciFi, fantasy, historical fiction, history, nonficiton, and biography. I am always looking for new books and authors, so I hope to get that from this group as we share common interests. My favorite authors are Tolkein, Stephenson, George Martin, Sharon Penman, and Stephen Gould. I am currently reading The Lost City of Z and listening to (on my commute) The Power and the Glory (Graham Greene). Next on my list is Embassytown. I look forward to a great time.
Hello, I'm Emma. I've been an avid reader since I was 3. I've always loved SF and Fantasy. I started on people like Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury. These days I read Pratchett, John Crowley, Neal Stephenson and China Mieville. I also read classics (ploughed my way through Proust a few years back), and non-fiction on many topics.
Hi! I'm BrandonI've always been and sci-fi/fantasy fan and found S&L through TWIT. I love finding new books and this is the first time trying an online community for it, looks pretty cool!
Looking forward to some great times!
As I collect more(e)books that ive been wanting to read Im discovering that a great deal of them are of the SciFi and Fantasy genre. Always the serious reader, I never thought I'd be so blind to scifi and fantasy's commanding influence of said serious works. Glad I found this community. "Excelsior!" =)
Hello! I'm Kristin. I'm looking forward to reading and discussing some exciting sci-fi/fantasy books!
Hi, I am William, in college, and love Sc-fi and Fantasy. My favorite authors include Robin Hobb, Mercedes Lackey, Brandon Sanderson, Piers Anthony, Robert jordan, and many others. I am a prolific reader, devouring a book a day if I can't tear myself away. This doesn't do great things for my grades.I have been watching Tom Merrit on Twit for the last year or so, and recently watched Veronica on her new Game On beta, where they referenced once more S&L. So I am late to the party, but hope to have a great time anyway.
Hi, I'm Darren, enjoy listening to the podcast, I'm a long time Sci-Fi/fantasy fan although I've fallen bit behind recently. Currently have two books lined up a biography of Charles Dickens and one on David Bowie, the last Sci-Fi/fantasy book I read was the last G R R Martin book I await impatiently for the next one.
Hello, I'm Michael and I'm an engineer.My favorite authors are Neil Gaiman, George RR Martin, Robert Heinlein, and Warren Ellis (does that count?)
Though I'm willing to read just about anything of quality. I've recently caught up on the entire Game of Thrones series in a two month marathon and have "rediscovered" reading you could say. Plus I love me some good podcasting.
Hi Fellow Sword and Laserers :)My name is Marisa. I love books. As long as it's well written I will read it, which makes my "To Read" list quite long.
It also allows me to only read quality books. If I'm not into it in 75 pages -- on to the next book!
I prefer to think if having too many books to read as a plus (because then I only read books that tickle my fancy) instead of focusing on how much I'm missing.
Love this podcast -- keep up the fantastico work Tom and Veronica.
Hello everyone,I'm Joe, and I've been into fantasy/scifi forever! I've been listening to the podcast for a bit and decided to finally say hi and introduce myself.
I currently have a good selection of sci-fi/fantasy in my to-read list (I lean more toward Tolkien, Martin, and Jordan, type epic fantasy), but I also have a lot of "classics" on the list because I never got around to reading them in school or for fun, and they were free downloads to my Kindle. Needless to say, I'm way backlogged! Hopefully I can get to all of them, as well as participate in some of the discussion of the club reads as well.
I've also been a fan of Tom and Veronica from their various other tech shows, and am glad they do such a great job with this podcast. Thanks!
Hi! My name is Jon and I'm a code monkey for a mid-sized media company.I've been listening to Sword & Laser for a few years now and I've decided to join the fray.... perhaps even reading the books as they are read on the podcast. However, since I'm always a few weeks behind, I expect to be lagging.
Right now I'm finishing "Fallen Dragon" and hope to sync up with the podcast with my next read.
Hello, I'm Quinn, I like Fantasy, Sci-fi and all of the sub-genres contained within.This is my first post, even though I've been in the group for nearly two weeks. I realized that if I put it off, it would get weird. I've been listening to the podcast since Veronica was on the Nerdist. I cannot believe that Podcast isn't a word. (I'm a big fan of podcasts)
I'm only sixteen but I've been reading Sci-fi fantasy since I was eight. My first sci-fi was Hitch-hikers guide which I understood maybe... ten percent of, and my first truly Fantasy book was Harry Potter. But, that is why I have so many children's books on my shelves. However, I do still like light books best, being caught up in school and the internet- (internet is supposed to be spelt: INTERNET(fyi)) - even though I'm home-schooled. I am currently reading: The Lost Conspiracy, by Frances Hardinge, but I'm only on page three as I write this.
Hi!
Hi, My name is Chris. I just discovered the podcast and the bookclub thanks to Veronica's appearance on The Nerdist. I have been looking for a good podcast about SCi-Fi and fantasy reading for awhile now and was starting to think I'd have to start my own, really happy to find this one and save myself the effort.
I've listened to about 5 episodes so far and am having a blast getting caught up on the archive. I expect I'll be mostly lurking here on the boards, but I'm glad to be along for the ride.
Hello - My name is Dana. Thanks to Chris Hardwick at the Nerdist for introducing me to Sword and Laser and Veronica - after listening to the S&L podcast decided this might be just the place for me. I fell in love with Tolkien and Heinlein in high school.
Recently finished REAMDE, "Ready Player One", "The Magicians" and "The Magician King", and rereading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in the past month or so.
I look forward to participating.
Hi,Love the Podcast. Just started reading David Windgrove's Chung Kuo. Surprised about just how accurate the book is regarding Chinese domination of the world.
Hello,My name is Diego.I'm also a clinger from the nerdist, but have enjoyed your podcast so much. I look forward to branching out of the G.R.M. world with other authors. It's good to meet more people of same makeup and I am psyched for whats to come to make my commute bearable.
Hello, I'm Brandon. Some months ago I, after quite a hiatus, finally picked up a book and got back into reading and subsequently began listening to the podcast. When it turned out one of the new books happened to already be sitting unread on my bookshelf I thought I'd give the community a shot and see how I liked it.I look forward to discovering many new books with the group.
Hello, I'm Chrys. I'm a lifelong sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I've read more fantasy than sci-fi. I've followed Tom&Veronica here from TWIT, Buzz Out Loud, etc.Some favorite authors include: Guy Gavriel Kay, J.R.R. Tolkein, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Frank Herbert, James Alan Gardner, Terry Brooks, C.J. Cherryh, Jack McDevitt, etc.
Hi, I'm Jonathan, a teen from Quebec city in Canada.I always loved reading, and I am actually pretty versatile. My favorite series is *by far* A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. I also love Robin Hobb, Tolkien, Stephen King and even Tom Clancy.
I'd say I prefer fantasy overall and the genre I like the least would probably be any romantic books. I like action, physical of psychological.
I hope I'll discover more great books (which I would probably read in french because it takes me less time) and get to discuss with a nice and intelligent community !
Hi! I'm Alex, heard about this from the nerdist and I think this goodreads site is pretty neat. Looking to expand my horizons so that I have some good ideas for new books to read.
Hi, I'm Ruth and I am a prolific reader but my favorite genre is fantasy/sci fi. I'm more sword than laser but it all depends on the story. My favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Kim Stanley Robinson, Isaac Asimov, Steven Erikson, George R.R. Martin, J.K Rowling, Robert Jordan, Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Ursula Le Guin, Elizabeth Moon and many others to a lesser degree. Glad to find this discussion.
Hello, names Shaun and I actually joined a couple weeks ago after hearing Veronica on an old episode of techstuff. I primarily read SciFi and Fantasy with an occasional non-fiction book. I just finished Elantris and am now reading 1q84. I've also been reading the Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene.
Hi-o, the names Rob Futrell (few 'trel) and I enjoy many of your netcasts and am trying to work on reading more courtesy of audible. I am currently "reading" A Game Of Thrones and plan to watch the first season once done. I also plan to read Reamde And Ready Player One as well as the current pick of 1Q84 next. I do have a bad feeling that SWTOR will cut into alot of my reading time but can hopeful create a nice balance shortly therefter... BTW listening to you talking about the kind of books which interest me is what is encouraging me more to read more. Thank you Tom & Veronica for all you do and keep up the great work.
Hey Everyone!I'm Melissa, and I'm exciting about joining! I'm a big Fantasy fan, and I'm looking forward to getting great recommendations and joining in some discussions. I may not post too much, but I'll lurk quite a bit!
Hi I am Patrik from Europe:-) I am a bookworm and like to read Fantasy, Horror, Medieval and Science Fiction.Therefore I think this group is made for me.
Patrik wrote: "Hi I am Patrik from Europe:-) I am a bookworm and like to read Fantasy, Horror, Medieval and Science Fiction.Therefore I think this group is made for me."
Welcome Patrick!
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Ghosts of the Scattered Kingdoms (other topics)The Sword of Shannara (other topics)
Shadow & Claw (other topics)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (other topics)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Wade Garret (other topics)Gene Wolfe (other topics)
John Scalzi (other topics)
Richelle Mead (other topics)
Brandon Sanderson (other topics)
More...
I am currently listening to a "laser" Audible book right now, 'Ready Player One'. Being from Columbus, I am thoroughly enjoying the local references in the book. I can almost imagine the IOI building dotting our cityscape and travelling down High Street to the Oasis cafe near the OSU campus. I look forward to being a part of the Sword and Laser Community.