Introduction and welcome thread! Showing 2,001-2,050 of 4,412

[Stompro]

Hello, I'm Josh and just started listening to the podcasts a week or two ago, after hearing about the show for the Nth time on Tech News today and other TWIT network shows. I was a big fan of Buzz out loud, and enjoy hearing more from Tom and Veronica.

I just got Leviathan Wakes, I'll try and catch up.

I work for a Public Library system, and deal quite a bit with Overdrive ebook and audiobook lending issues.

I'm wondering why Sword and Laser doesn't focus more on the Shadowrun books, they would seem to cover both bases :)

Josh

[Matt]

Hi everyone, I'm Matt. I just stumbled onto Sword and Laser a couple weeks ago, and decided to join this group as I just picked up "Leviathan Wakes" from the library. I'm looking forward to reading more good books!

[Locke]

Hello folks!

My name is John; I stumbled across Sword and Laser with the Geek & Sundry launch. I'm always on the lookout for -dare I type it- good reads and good discussion in sci-fi and fantasy, and so far S&L hasn't disappointed. I've been following along since Hyperion, 'Lemmed' Tigana, and am currently loving Leviathan Wakes.

Also love Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
~Locke

[Charlie]

been listening to the podcasts for a long time but decided to join with Leviathan Wakes.

[Timothy]

Hello, my name is Tim. I just read Blood Song. Why no publisher picked this book up is beyond me.

[Jinn]

Heya, I'm Jinn.
I joined this group a while ago, and haven't done anything here due to stuff. You know how it is. I'm getting the podcasts on my phone now, which is pretty exciting.

I write books and I read them. I'm almost done re-reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

[Stefanie]

Hi, I'm Stefanie! I've been listening to the podcast for quite a while and finally joined the forums. I'm a grad student studying speech-language pathology and am equally fond of both swords and lasers.

[Alex]

Hello Everyone,
my name is Alex Bobl, I'm a science fiction writer.

I've just joined, great to meet you all!

Live in Moscow with wife and two boys and is currently working on my new PA novel, The Continent Anomalous.
I like read Strugackie and Abercrombie, and many others SF & Fantasy writers. Like fishing, skate and ski, meet and talk with interesting people.

[Doc]

Hello! I'm Doc.
I'm a long-time Sci-Fi and Fantasy aficionado. More recently I've become a Tech reviewer, a podcaster, and a writer. I'm currently editing my first novel and hope to have it traditionally published someday.

I've been on Goodreads for a while, but I ended up coming over to this group after I started listening to the Sword and Lazer podcast.

Doc

[Mike]

Hey! I'm Mike

I discovered Sword and Laser through the Geek & Sundry channel. I've always been an avid reader, especially scifi and fantasy. I'm always looking for a good read, and my last few books have left me wanting.

Amazon has been highly recommending Leviathan Wakes to me the past few months, and when S&L had it as their July pick, I decided to buy it. Of course, it's a great book. I decided to come and check out the discussion (and maybe see what the next book is)

[Gaines]

Hi everybody! Nice to meet you. I'm Gaines, and I live in New South Wales, Australia. I am married, have kids and a cat, and when funds permit (usually once every year or two) I am able to make it back to Tennessee in the U.S. to visit my aging parents.

I am a translator by trade (Chinese to English), and my latest translation project is to translate a suspense novel -- I'm very excited about that, because finally my "day job" is allowing me to do something that is more in line with what I hope to make a career out of: writing fiction.

I predominantly write science fiction and fantasy; I have written one sci-fi novel, which will come out soon if all goes well, and am hard at work on the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels. I also write short stories and "flash fiction," the latter of which I post for free on my website ( www.gainespost.com ) on a weekly basis. I welcome you to come take a gander :-) And feel free to let me know what you think, or to spread the word if you like the site!

It's nice to meet you all. I'm a newbie to Goodreads (thank you very much for the suggestion, GP and MS!), and I look forward to talking about good books with folks.

Cheers :-)

[Pat]

Hello, I'm Pat.
New to goodreads and this group. I found it through Geek and Sundry. I am an avid reader and don't really have any specific genre that I stick to. My absolute favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut.

[Arielle]

Hi everyone! I'm Arielle. I love reading, anything and everything really, and The Sword and Laser is my new favorite love on Geek and Sundry so I'm super excited that they have a Goodreads group. I just finished reading Leviathan Wakes and I'm looking forward to so many more good books!

[Matth1982]

Hi,

I'm Matt from the UK (near Stoke-on-Trent), /i've been reading book for years but really got into it about 4/5 years ago. I read all sorts of books and do like a good fantasy and some Sci-fi I tend to watch or play more Sci-fi than I do reading it. Found the site through listening to the podcasts which I found on the Frogpants site.

Keep up the good work, really enjoy the show bit bummed that you only do the podcasts every 2 weeks now I have to wait for ages to listen while I'm at work. Also I need to get watching the new web show.

[Derek]

Hello I'm Derek, I read slowly but deeply. Been reading Scifi/Fantasy for most my life. Fell in from the gook and sundry show.

[JohnDoe23]

Hi. My nick is JohnDoe23 and i like to read. My favorite author is HP Lovecraft.

[Todd]

Hi everyone,
I'm Todd, and I have actually been here since the beginning(on ning), but have never managed to read a book at the same time as the rest of the club until now. Because of that, I decided to remain a lurker until I managed to do so. I'd classify myself as primarily a laser, as I seem almost completely unable to finish a fantasy book, despite really enjoying the genre.

[Josephmeaduk]

Hello, nice to meet you all.
My name's Joseph Mead and I'm looking to talk with some people who like fantasy and sci-fi. I'm kind of a wannabe writer and myself, and a fan of various sword-and-laser-type stuff including George RR Martin, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, you get the idea.
So, yeah. Hi, basically. *Scuttles off to fiddle with profile page*

[Zachary]

Hey all, I'm Zach.

So, I love Scifi and that means that if a movie has space, aliens or lasers I will watch it. Recently, I have discovered the joy of reading Scifi and a few fantasy books. As I am sure many can attest, not all my friends like or acknowledge Scifi existence. So, I am excited to be able to interact with people who like/love Scifi and fantasy. I do want to thank Leo and The TWIT gang for getting me hooked on audible. You have created a monster. =)

Books that I love... I have found that just like movies, I will read anything that has space, aliens or lasers in it and love it. Ender's Game was the first Scifi book I ever read; my new love is the Commonwealth series by Peter F. Hamilton. My new favorite funny Scifi is Androids Dream.

[Jecy]

Hi all,
I'm Jecy (Jessie). I hope to find some good reads out there. I enjoy both Sci-fi and fantasy. But I have a major peeve. I do most of my reading by Ipad and all the book sellers combine fantasy and Sci-fi in one category and they throw in YA stuff. I don't have a problem with any of those as individual categories but I do when they are combined. When I want Sci-fi I want a category with only Sci-fi not vampires, werewolves and such. I think the combination of this and the YA stuff thrown in has hindered the legitimacy of SCI-fi. Issac Asmiov and George R. R. Martin are two totally different authors. I was wondering if anyone else felt this way?

[Ezra]

Hi Im Ezra
I like Orson Scott card Terry Pratchet (particularly the empire series) and many others (who i oddly can not think of at the moment). I read primarily sci-fi but some fantasy as well.

[dane]

So I'm Alice; I'm new. I avoid the stress of reality and my job as a social worker with pure escapism into one or many of the second-hand books I am continually buying.
I'll blame my mother for starting me on books young, my friends for gifting me with books I have no intention of reading and myself for some of the absolute trash I read.
I'm currently re-reading A Song of Ice and Fire series, Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell (to get a good friend off my back about reading it) and I'm kinda thinking I haven't read Hitchhiker's in a while...
I'm always looking for new authors and new worlds.

[Michael]

Hi, im Mike and have been listening to the podcast for a wile now. I thought I would give goodreads a try as I need to find some more good books to read.

[Joseph]

Greetings and salutations all,

I've actually been listening to the audio podcast for many months now. I joined the goodreads forums some time ago as well however I have yet taken the time to say hello. The primary reason for this is that I haven't quite had the time to fully jump in and immerse myself. I used to enjoy reading a lot as a kid but just grew out of it when life got busy. However hearing about this podcast and the recent explosion of Song of ice and Fire and Game of Thrones finally got me interested again. I got myself a Kindle and the first four books in SoIaF series and started to read. Yes I quickly got hooked and again found myself with not enough time in the day to read. That is probably the main reason for not jumping in to the forums is that while I see a lot of great books discussed I don't have enough time to jump in before I get caught up with the current books I'm reading.

However I decided to change that when I had the pleasure of meeting Tom and Veronica at Comic Con and participating in the meetup/discussion on Thursday. That great feeling of being part of a group discussion just hit a fun spot in me that convinced me to jump in again. I can't guarantee to be heavily active but I think I'll at least start sticking my head in a bit more.

As for personal preferences I can honestly say I favor both sword and laser. I grew up with more laser based stories but I've always had an imagination for a sword world.

Anyway just wanted to say hi and that while I may not say much now once I get the next few books out of the way I'm going to be jumping in a lot more in the future. At the very least my to-read bookshelf is starting to fill up.

Thanks for getting me interested in reading again and for being a great source of new books to immerse myself in.

[C.C.]

Hi, I'm C.C. I'm a big nerd from Tennessee. My favorite authors include C.S. Lewis, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Moore, and Joe Hill. I'm fairly new to Goodreads, but it seems like this group reads a lot of the stuff I've been reading lately, so I thought it would be fun to talk to people about it.

[Chris]

Hi my name is Chris and I'm from Harrogate, England. I'm currently 1/3 of the way through Leviathan Wakes. I download and listen to the podcast on my walk into work.

[Dorothy]

Hi, I'm Dorothy. I'm joining The Sword and Laser as an extension of the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. I have been reading fantasy since I picked up the Belgariad series as a kid. My favorite authors right now are Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop, and George R. R. Martin. I just started my first Robin Hobb book, which is next month's read, so I figured it was fate (loving it so far!).

[Matt]

Hi, Matt here. Looking forward to finding new and exciting books via Sword and Laser. Later. :-)

[Alex]

Hi I'm Alex.
Just started watching The Sword and Laser today and totally hooked already and it's making me want to read again!
I've stuck to very safe authors in my life: JK Rowling, Lemony Snicket, Terry Pratchett, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien.

So coming here I feel, The Sword and Laser will not only get me back into reading books but will make me and help me discover some amazing books and some amazing authors too! =]

[Rob]

Hi everyone, Rob here. Reading is my life, I read sci-fi and fantasy as my main focus, Was a huge RPGer growing up all the way back to "Basic D&D (The red Box)" and owned a games store for a few years back in the 90s. Not so much anymore as most modern RPG video games I find pretty but boring and I don't know many local PnPers.

[Mariam]

Hey! I'm a member of Veronica's "other" book club. But I came across Sword and Laser when they did their interview with GRR Martin and when I saw that they had already covered World War Z, I knew you all must be really fun people. When not reading books, I work in a biology lab. Hello!

[Arne]

Hello, I am Arne, I am from Belgium.
I read fantasy mostly,
I love book that are actually intended for kids (cf. Harry Potter, ...) but I also enjoy more grown-up stuff like Song of Ice and Fire.

Recently I have started reading graphic novels, so I'm losing a lot of money on that now, but books still remain my number 1.

[Darren]

Hi all my name is Darren (feel free to friend me)

Had to take early retirement in 1995 for health reasons.

Attended Moray Collage & University of Aberdeen.

Now a Self-directed Lifelong Learner in the context of autodidacticism. Taking advantage of the wealth of online resources and tools.

Of interest: Cyberculture; Learning Methods; Mind Mapping; Study Skills; Thinking; Visual Mapping & Visual Thinking.

Fields of Study: Humanities: Cyberculture; Film Studies; History; Literature & Philosophy. Life Sciences: Anatomy; Biology & Zoology. Social Sciences: Geography; Political science; Psychology & Sociology.

Other topics of interest: Computers & Computing; Natural History & Social Networking.

[Walter]

Good day, all. My name is Walter Spence, and I am a writer.

(Insert obligatory twelve-step reference here.)

I just joined Goodreads, so I do not yet have an author profile. Not only that, my novel (House of Shadows) is not yet accessible via the Goodreads database. Guess the (also obligatory) link spamming will have to wait a while.

I've been a member of SFWA (Science fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) since October of 1993, qualifying for such august status through a collaboration with fantasy author Holly Lisle titled The Devil & Dan Cooley.

My primary hobby (if you can call it that) is investing. Warren Buffett is my hero, despite the fact that we have completely differing investment philosophies. Oh well, you know what they say about how opposites attract...

Like a number of other folks here, I discovered Sword and Laser through Geek and Sundry. I look forward to participating in as many of the various discussions here as time and opportunity will allow.

[E]

Hi, I'm E. I am new to Goodreads and looking forward to participating in this book club.

[Tim]

Hey, I'm Tim.

I usually read biographies and occasionally a science fiction or fantasy novel here or there. I found out about this from the Up at Noon with Greg Miller episode on the YouTube channel--Start. I'am currently reading the hardcover of the Steve Jobs biography.

I know I'm kind of late to the podcast's, book club, YouTube series, etc. but I'd like to catch up. I don't really know where to start or anything so some help would be very nice. I also don't have an e-reader or tablet to read on so I still lug around a hardback or paper back when I want to read somewhere.

Suggestions on e-readers/tablets and services for books (Kindle, Nook, and iBooks?) are much appreciated.

[Mario]

Hello my name is Mario, big time Sci-Fi and Fantasy reader. Unfortunately these books don't get printed too much or imported were I live in Argentina. Since I got my kindle a have been catching up. I joined the group to get help on the "must" read titles. Thanks!!

[Tim]

Mario wrote: "Hello my name is Mario, big time Sci-Fi and Fantasy reader. Unfortunately these books don't get printed too much or imported were I live in Argentina. Since I got my kindle a have been catching up...."

Cool, it's awesome that it's a worldly book club. :)

[Robin]

Hey everyone, I'm Robin. I've been watching Sword & Laser via YouTube and truly enjoy it. Obviously, I also love to read and write.

I just finished my first novel (see self-promotion thread elsewhere on this discussion board) and am always looking for new books to read. Even if I have more books than I'll ever read in my entire lifetime in my Kindle library.

[Nils]

Hello everybody, I'm Nils and I'm new to goodreads as well as Swords&Laser.

I actually found S&L via Tabletop, Will Wheatons webshop on gaming, which I found via nodwick, which is basically my main newsfeed on all things geek.

Imagine my surpise when S&L also popped up here on goodreads. As an avid Sword fan, I know how to read omens and signs an knew I had to join.

Looking forward to discuss some books instead of just reading them.

See you all in the forums.

[Lauren]

Hi, I'm Lauren.

I found this group through Geek and Sundry. This site is what I have needed my whole life. I have spent my life eagerly reading primarily sci-fi/fantasy, but a good book is a good book. But after a while I would run out of recommendations (friends/family/librarians/random people I see reading in public) and end up rereading favorites until something new (or old but not found) came along.

I love Robert Heinlein, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Anne Bishop, Anne McCaffery, Jim Butcher, Orson Scott Card...The list could continue.

My most recent addition to my favorites list is Hugh Howey. I just finished rereading the Wool series.

One last thing, just in case you live in Ohio and don't already know this. Your local library can request books from any library in the state!

[Jeffw77]

Heya, I'm Jeff.
I was sent this way because of the S&L Podcast. Loving all discussions and looking forward to contributing to this amazing community.

[Alfred]

Hi, I'm Beau.

I am a bit more of a Sword than Laser but I like them both quite a lot. I found the show and the group through Geek & Sundry and quickly became a fan.

Hope to read, talk about, and hear about some awesome books!

[Nick]

Hi, I'm Nick and I also discovered S&L via Geek & Sundry. I read a lot more sword than laser. I've been hooked on fantasy since my mom introduced me to Tolkien years ago. The last year and a half I've been reading stuff almost exclusively recommended by Patrick Rothfuss on his blog or books of those who have contributed items for Worldbuilders...Jim Butcher, Brent Weeks, Peter V. Brett, David Anthony Durham, etc. I also recently discovered Steven Erikson and am working my way through the Malazan books which have just sucked me in. On the laser side it's been quite awhile since I read any. The last was The Forever War about a year ago. Hyperion is on its way from the library though. Looking forward to being part of the S&L community.

[D. H.]

Hello everyone. I'm Jeff.

I too was sent here by the Sword & Laser show on Geek & Sundry. I'm in Japan, so I couldn't read the book last month because it's not available on the Kindle here. For some reason. To do with rights. And stuff. I have this month's book, and I'm looking forward to reading and discussing.

[[deleted user]]

Hi everybody! I am Evgeny.

I found this group though friends. I am slightly more into sword than laser, but lately I was reading classic SciFi stories on Project Gutenberg.

[Rune]

Hello,

My name is rune, and I live in southampton, england. I'm a full time mom and have been reading for as long as I can remember. I like fantasty and sc-fi. I have recently found steampunk :D

My favorite writters are Mercedes Lackey, Laurel K Hamilton and sooo many others its hard to keep them all straight.

[Andrew]

Hey there, I'm Andrew and I'm a bookaholic. Definitely more of a sword than a laser although I look forward to being educated. My favourite authors include Terry Pratchett, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss, Harlen Coben and Karin Slaughter.

[Alexpope]

Hey there, I'm Alex.

I was a much more avid reader than I am currently. I simply had more time to make for reading. Now I have two young children and a job that I take home a lot, so I'm thin on reading time.

That said, when I like to read, give me: Vance, Zelazny, PK Dick, Silverberg, JL Chalker, Niven, OS Card, Gaiman, Pratchett, Anthony, Asprin, Jordan, Eddings, Hobb, Williams, Bova or William Gibson, and I'll be a happy reader.

Were I a faster reader, I'd be even happier, both at work and at home. But that's how it goes. I'm just happy there is so much good fiction out there that I'm never going to be at a loss for something great to read.

It's good to be here.

Cheers,

AP

[James]

Hello! I'm James!

I started reading with Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books I received as a Holiday Gift and have been hooked on reading from then on. I have carried a book with me everywhere since the 7th grade. I used to read before class in school, walking, waiting or when I should have been doing homework.

I found Sword and Laser from the Geeks and Sundry site on YouTube.

Mostly I'm a Laser, but I do read "other" books too.

Thanks!