Introduction and welcome thread! Showing 751-800 of 4,412

[Dirk]

Hi, I'm Dirk.

I've been a fan of the podcast for awhile and finally decided to join the discussion. I'm a pretty indiscriminate and voracious reader but definitely love the laser above the sword. Until I listened to Veronica and Tom's urging to read Martin, Abercrombie and Rothfuss I'd given up on fantasy. Now I'm a fan all over again. I'm looking forward to future recommendations and taking part in the group.

[Link]

'Lo All, I'm Link. I'm playing catch-up with newer Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and waiting and hoping for some of my older favorites (Roger Zelazny, Joe Haldeman, and Orson Scott Card) to make it to the big screen

[[deleted user]]

Hello, I am Leslie K Ernest. I found the podcast recently and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Some of my favorite authors are

Steven Brust Neil Gaimanand John Barnes.

[Tom]

Hello! My name is Tom.

I was not much of a book reader but with my new job I can listen to music on my mp3 player. Listening to my playlist 40 hours a week can get annoying so I started listening to audiobooks. I am open to all genres until I find what I really like.

Nice to meet you all!

[Peter]

Hi! My name is Peter. I'm 28 and I have been listening to the sword and laser podcast for about a year now, and finally gotten around to joining goodreads! I'm excited about finding new interesting books to read and hearing what Tom and Veronica have to say about them.

Some of my recent favorites are:
I, Robot
Snow Crash
The Sparrow
Game of Thrones
Anathem
The Discworld Series
Lord of the Rings

Excited to meet you all :D

[Amanda]

Hello Everyone! My name is Amanda. Thanks to my mom, who is a huge sci-fi/fantasy nerd, I've been reading since I was very young. I just started listening to the podcast and I am looking forward to all the awesome books I'm going to discover!!

Paper>digital :)

[Mel]

I might as well introduce myself here. I've been listening for a while and just recently started posting here.

I am pretty new to sci-fi and fantasy genres, and am having a wonderful time with them.

[Trey]

Hello all, I'm Trey.

From the moment I watched my first Star Trek episode-a rerun of "The Enemy Within"-I was hooked on science fiction. Soon after discovering Dungeons & Dragons in the 80s, I folded in a love for fantasy and my adolescent imagination was off and running.

Since then I've stoked my passion for speculative fiction with the greats: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (of course), Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, Frank Herbert, Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, L. Ron Hubbard, Piers Anthony, Terry Goodkind and many more. The works I admire most entertain while sharing a vision.

I live in Central Virginia with my loving, supportive and patient wife, where we both do our best to prioritize raising our three boys. When not writing, I operate a marketing business focused on creating and selling Internet advertising opportunities for multiple college sports websites.

I am excited to join the group and look forward to being an active participant for years to come.

[Harry]

I've been a fan of Tom and Veronica for several years (and various podcasts). I've listened to the S&L podcast a few times in the past, but never got around to joining Goodreads, so it just didn't grab me. Now that I've joined Goodreads, it all makes sense. Love this site and all of the interaction in this group. Having just finished Reamde and Ready Player One before joining, I grabbed 1Q84 and jumped in. I will try to read Elantris by New Year's as well.

[Bob]

Hello, I'm Bob. I have been a fan of SF/Fantasy for over 40 years but I read practically anything. I recently took a job in my company that has me commuting by bus nearly 4 hours daily, so I am looking forward to adding the S&L books to my lists. Favorites are Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Feintuch, Butcher, Stephenson, Feist, and others. I just discovered Rothfuss and anxiously await more.

[Mecque]

H! I'm Mecque (muh-kay), I've been listening to the Sword and Laser podcast since the Wheel of Time episodes and love this book club. Having picked up 1Q84 and Elantris today, I finally decided to post. I enjoy both fantasy and science fiction, as well as pretty much all other types of fiction. I'm definitely more a "sword" than a "laser", but thanks to the podcast I've read and loved several classic sci-fi works. My favorite fantasy authors include Patricia McKillip, Isobelle Carmody, Diana Wynne Jones, and Garth Nix. I'm excited to read and discuss these awesome books.

[Kelly]

Hi, I'm Kelly.
I enjoy reading most genres but am mostly drawn to sci-fi and fantasy. I find the actual writing and structure is more important than the content in a lot of cases.
Sometimes when in a bookstore or library I pick out books by their cover and/or title and then read a paragraph from the middle of the book and take it from there. I've found some I would never have heard of otherwise.
I recently discovered the podcast and look forward to reading some recommendations and possibly even recommending some books to others.

[Jackarandos]

Hey all I'm Jack. Been listening to the podcast for a while now and finally ben tempted to join the forums. Looking foward to some good discussion.

[Charles]

Hey, I'm Charles. I broke in my Kindle Touch with Elantris. I tend to be a buffet reader -- space opera, hard-boiled detective series, spy novels, thrillers, and lately epic fantasy. I like to try a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

[Gary]

Hi I'm Gary,

I've had a major addition to speculative fiction for nearly 40 years since reading stuff by Nicholas Fisk and Hugh Walters (all sadly out of print).

I own what is probably one of the only totally complete collections of English language Perry Rhodan books and magazines which took 25 years to assemble.

I'll pretty much read anything as long as it is F & SF ...

[Glenn]

hello love the podcast. Please do ship who sang next

[Codered]

Hi everyone, I'm Codered.

I got my real start in F&SF poring over Mark V. Zeising's catalogs back in college. He sold books he published himself (which were fantastic stories in beautiful packages) but he also sold an extremely wide variety of other books, and his catalog had these short little descriptions he'd add. An installment in a long-forgotten multi-book fantasy saga earned the unforgettable: "Dwarf books, get yer dwarf books here".

But Mark introduced me to a lot of then-unknown authors, most notably Iain Banks. Mark would answer his phone himself (this was in the days before the internet) and comment on your choices. When I ordered Espedair Street, the Iain Banks novel about being in a rock-and-roll band, Zeising warned me that it was a good read but that life in a band wasn't actually like that.

But The Wasp Factory and Consider Phlebas changed my life.

I'm hoping you've got some more life-changers hidden away for us to discover.

Espedair StreetThe Wasp FactoryConsider Phlebas

[Bryan]

Finally signed on despite already listening for months. Hi everyone!

[Jonathan]

Hi, I'm Jonathan

I discovered S&L a month or so ago from an interview with Belmont on Nerdist. I have loved fantasy novels since I was a kid my Mom read C.S. Lewis Narnia novels to me. I just finished Elantris and look forward to being introduced to new books by S&L.

[Lia]

Hi, im Lia from Brazil.

Listening to the show since the Pat Rothfuss interview. Loved the show intro song.

Like swords and sometimes laser.
Beijos.

[Martin]

Hi all. Another nerdist listener here on my android phone. Jim butcher, david brin, peter f. hamilton, iain m. banks, guy gavriel kay, katherine kerr all get my juices flowing. Don't play wow, I play eve online. Looking forward to some good reads!

[Alan]

Hi everyone!

I'm Alan and I found S+L from Veronica's interview on The Nerdist. Like Charles up there, I decided to take the plunge and pick up Elantris when I got a Kindle Touch and needed a new book to try it out on.

My interests tend to sprawl all over, but I'm a fan in particular of Stephen King, George RR Martin, Christopher Moore, and Bill Bryson. In my spare time, I also write for a cult film website, The Mutant Reviewers from Hell.

Um, I guess that's it. Looking forward to the discussion!

[Paul]

Hello, I'm Paul. Reading is my number one pastime. I have a preference for the science fiction and fantasy genres, but I occasionally venture out into other types as well.

This book club seems to be right in line with my preferences, and I look forward to discussing the books we read.

[Seth]

Hey! I'm Seth. Clicked here from the Anathem page. Been reading fantasy/SF since I was about 9 or 10 and picked up the hobbit (in retrospect, I realize that I probably got a lot more out of the subsequent re-readings later in my life than I did as a 4th grader).

Favorite authors: Neal Stephenson, Terry Pratchett, Patrick Rothfuss, Jim Butcher, Nick Harkaway (the Gone Away World is a masterpiece, if you haven't read it), Phillip Pullman, Lev Grossman, blah blah many more.

Recently joined Goodreads, so I'm still figuring everything out. Hope to get involved!

[Hannah Quinn]

Greetings. I'm John. I'm a musician and instructional technology supervisor. I'm a big fan of the Commonwealth Saga and Dune. I prefer audio books to music for long trips.

[Natalia's Daddy]

Hello,

My name is Vyktor. I love the podcast. It reminds me of when I was younger and bookclubs in school. I do however wish your podcast were longer in length. but I understand the busy schedules you two must carry. I hope this coming year to start reading the books the club is reading at the same time. I love your recommendations. It opens up my to read list even more. Thanks.

[Amy]

Hi! I'm Amy and I'm a historical costumer as well as sci-fi/fantasy geek and general layabout.

[Therazor]

Love the podcast and it led me here. Hello to all my fellow Science Fiction/Fantasy friends.-DavidG

[Jered]

Hi, My name is Jered, I'm a college student. I guess that I'm more of the Fantasy fan than scif. What started my love for reading was the Harry Potter series, when I was in fourth grade and later I went on to read Tolkien, Lewis, Stephen King, and many others. All of these have fueled to my appetite for this genre. But i'm really interested to start reading more Sci Fi, I'm currently reading Ender's Game and I'm really enjoying it.

[Thomas]

Hi my name is Thomas, I love the podcast it has helped me reconnect with my teenage lust for good sci-fi/fantasy.

[AndrewP]

Just realized that even though I have been hanging out here for a year, I never posted an introduction.

Well anyhow, my name is Andrew and I have been reading SF and Fantasy for 30+ years. Over that time I have read a lot of the classics so I am really happy that Goodreads/Sword and Laser has put me onto some great new authors I probably would not have found otherwise. Scalzi, Stephenson to name but two. I'm a real cheapskate when it comes to books so I don't always follow along with the club reads if they are new releases :)

Oh.. and I just changed my name in Goodreads to add my middle initial. I used to be just Andrew, but there are too many Andrews in the S/L forums. I was even confusing myself. So I am now AndrewP.

[Eric]

Hi, I'm Eric. I work for PCMag by day, and write fiction by night (most of the time). It also happens that my first novel, a sci/fi comedy called BETA TEST, is out this week, you can find it now on Amazon and BN.com! I can't believe I haven't heard of this podcast and club until now, so I'll make up for lost time.

[Pete]

I've been listening to S&L for about a month now and thought I'd go ahead and say "Hi!"

My name is Pete and I am looking forward to being a part of this community. I just got a Kindle Touch for an early Christmas present and am rather excited about being able to get into e-books finally. I've been a dead tree sci-fi/fantasy reader for over 20 years. Some of my favorite authors are Anne McCaffrey, Robin Hobb and Eric Flint.

[Joseph]

Hello, my name is Joseph. Been listening for a while. I also watch Tekzilla. One thing leads to another. I work in a public library and they give me a say of what to order, a little bit of everything but SF&F are tops on my lists.
Currently resisting Skyrim's call.

[Imogen]

Hi, I'm Imogen, and I want to be a book nerd.

Have been listening to (and loving) the podcast in a desperate attempt to reenter the book world. I have not been doing much reading, but plan to fix that.

I am currently reading the Song of Ice and Fire series and love scifi (especially light-hearted scifi like Jasper Fforde and Terry Pratchett) and novels about the dystopian future (1984, Wanting Seed, etc).

Am excited.

[Jacqueline]

Hello! Very excited to discover the group while listening to TWIT. I am a sci-fi/fantasy fan since childhood, but have few adult friends that share my passion. I've already read Elantris so I can jump right in.

[Natalie]

Hi, I'm Natalie. I discovered the Sword and Laser podcast via Veronica's interview on the Nerdist podcast.

Fantasy has always been my preferred reading genre for as long as I can remember, and I hope to delve into sci-fi a bit more by reading books recommended here.

Some of my favorite authors include George R R Martin, Robin Hobb, and Robert Jordan.

[Gary]

Hello, my name is Gary. The scifi books for some reason have been relegated to the garage but they are my first love in literature and I return to them often particularly when I have stopped reading and need a kick start. Other interest at moment are Australian novels which although not scifi often have a spooky fantasy quality about them e.g Peter Carey (Oscar and Lucinda, Illywhacker), Tim Winton (Cloudstreet and The Riders) and Christos Tsiolkas (Dead Europe)

[Keith]

Hello,
My name is Keith and love listening to the podcast as it gives me great recommendations to both sword and laser books (my two favorite categories).
Am currently working my way through the Rogue Angel series of books before heading into something meatier.

Love Stephen King and Terry Pratchett among many others and have my new Nook Color crammed with books to devour.

[January]

Hi, my name is January, and I've come to the podcast through TWIT. I love fantasy, but tend to shy away from Sci-fi. I probably just haven't found the right novels. Hopefully this podcast and group will give me lots of reading suggestions!

[Chad]

Hey,

Chad here. Found this group after hearing about it on TWiT. In the Seattle area Hard SF / Military SF mainly. Heinlein and Pournelle where my real introductions to Science Fiction. Big Neal Stephenson fan. Not much else to say I guess.

[Meripen]

Hello, I'm Meripen.
I've been a fantasy book/story/movie fan ever since I can remember. SciFi came later thanks to the original Star Wars which I watched at a Drive In that my parents took us to a lot when my brother and I were kids. It helped that it had lightsabers, which meant swordplay for the sword fan!
I'm currently in the beginning stages of writing a book, and I have a few books sitting in my Audible queue waiting to go when I have the time.

[Richard]

Hello,Richard here. I just started listening to the S&L podcast and found out about Goodreads. I used to read tons of books and have rediscovered novels thanks to audiobooks. I walk a lot both outside and on a treadmill so this gives me some entertainment while exercising.

No favorite genre or authors. Just pick what looks interesting.

[Blaine]

Hello! I'm Blaine.
I just finished assembling my reading den, complete with recliner, light and side table, so now I'm feeling equipped to take on a tall drink of sci-fi (with a fantasy chaser). The Sword and Laser podcast gets high marks from me because I can learn about new books while at work!

A fan of: William Gibson, Neil Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Charles Stross, George R.R. Martin, and looking for many, many others to follow.

[Chad]

Hello, all. I'm Chad. While I've always been a tech geek, I've only recently started reading (listening) to Sci-Fi and fantasy books. Prior to that, I really only read magazines (Economist, etc) and articles, etc -- not really books of any kind on a consistent basis. I love TV and Movies in the genre (Battlestar Gallactica and LOTR, etc) but never took the time to do any reading.

This changed back in June after listening to Tom and Brian Brushwood talk about HBO's Game of Thrones via TWiT's Frame Rate. (I also listen to many other TWiT shows.) At that point I also discovered Sword and Laser and started my SFF listening with the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series back to back via Audible and was hooked.

Thanks to Tom and Veronica for putting this group together. Looking forward to joining some of the discussions.

[Russell]

Hello all I'm Russell. I've loved sci/fi fantasy since high school.My favorite author is Steven Erikson.I also love Frank Herbert,Kylie Chan and Brent Weeks. I'm currently reading Prospero Burns.

[Scfaulkner]

Aloha all, my name is Casey (the C in SCFaulkner). I'm a dad and Tech Writer and have been reading SF and Fantasy since forever and ever. I started with epic fantasy, moved into the cyberpunk and currently am most fascinated with harder urban fantasy (Richard Kadrey, Steve Niles, Jim Butcher, etc.).
I'm also a huge fan of absurdist spec-lit (Robert Rankin, Christopher Moore, Tom Robbins), horror (King, Brian Keene, Skipp & Spector, Joe Hill, etc.) and the weird stuff (David Wong, Jeff Vandermeer, Stephen Graham Jones, William Burroughs, PK Dick, etc.).
My favorite novel of last few years is John Dies at the End by David Wong.

[Drew]

Hello all, my name is Drew. I'm a police officer by profession and a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy prose. I have also been an avid comic book reader for twenty-one years (whew).

Some of my favorite authors include: Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, William S. Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman.

[Christopher]

My name's Chris, exiled Bostonian living near Raleigh. I'm a writer, just getting up on the launchpad, with a short story anthology co-written with a friend due out via Kindle in a few weeks. Main interests include pulp adventure, Weird fiction, and horror.

[Aloha]

Hi, Kevin invited me to join this forum purely on the fact that you guys are reading 1Q84, which I absolutely love. I don't really know what this group is about, but I guess I should look through to find out. Hmmm. Sword and Laser. I love the Star Wars series. I used to own a Japanese sword collection. I used to play a mean game of t'ai-chi sword duel. I don't know if I can do it now. Kind of like hula hooping. You remembered being really good at it, but now the hoop just falls around your ankles.