The Sword and Laser discussion
Introduction and welcome thread!

I love both sword and laser, but tend to drift between one and the other. I started by reading Terry Pratchett and Lord of the Rings as a kid but now read everything from Neil Gaiman to Joe Abercrombie to Neal Stephenson, Hamilton, Heinlein, P.K. Dick... OK, I'll stop there, suffice to say I'll give anything S&L a try.
See you all in the forums!

I'm Brian McClellan, author of Promise of Blood out this April from Orbit Books. I spoke with a few people over the weekend at ConFusion who recommended Sword and Laser as a fantastic podcast. I started listening today and was not disappointed, so here I am!

I am called Fux (phonetic transcription of the german word Fuchs [Fox] which is my last name).
I started to hear of S&L once they started added their videos to geeks&sundry.
I got back into reading 2013 once I started reading japanese light novels (I have watch close to 9% of all anime and cant find new interesting ones anymore :()
Sooo since I am reading a lot anyway, I am also reading a lot of fantasy once again :D
Ill also try joining in reading this february.

My name is Lars Andrè. I´m from Norway. I got introduced to Sword and Laser via Geek and Sundry YouTybe-Channel.
I have always loved sci-fi. And it all started with J.R.R Tolkien - "The Hobbit" when I was about 13 years old.
I give anytihing S&F a try and I`m always looking for good books to read. I´m also a Audible member, so I`m listening to books as well.

Hey everyone! My name is Zachary and I live in Gainesville, Florida. I've been a fan of S&L for a while now but only just now found this GoodReads group!
As the usual story goes, I think I was around 9 or 10 when my dad handed me a copy of The Hobbit. I read it until it fell apart and the rest, as they say, is history. My favorite fantasy books are ones focused on character, like Robin Hobb's novels (The Fitz and Fool books have to be some of my favorite books of all time), and historically inspired novels like Guy Gavriel Kay's books.
Looking forward to chatting with you all!
As the usual story goes, I think I was around 9 or 10 when my dad handed me a copy of The Hobbit. I read it until it fell apart and the rest, as they say, is history. My favorite fantasy books are ones focused on character, like Robin Hobb's novels (The Fitz and Fool books have to be some of my favorite books of all time), and historically inspired novels like Guy Gavriel Kay's books.
Looking forward to chatting with you all!




My name's Daniel and I'm an avid fan of fantasy as well as a bit of scifi now and again. Having said that, I do love the collective talent of the authors that have contributed to the amazing Horus Heresy series!
I really enjoyed The Sword and Laser interview with George R R Martin, keep up the good work guys :-)

I'm Terry, and if it's fantasy or scifi it's my thing. I do tend to read more fantasy than I do scifi by a fair margin. I do love to watch more Scifi that I do fantasy, though. Why the difference? I haven't the foggiest. Other than that, I game, (had to give up my World of Warcraft addiction though.) and I'm an author three books.


Just found this group thanks to Geek & Sundry. Looking forward to discovering some great books and having epic discussions. I like anything that has a good story, from classics to sci-fi, and absolutely love the Wool series.

I'm Mike and I mostly read science fiction, although I also read quite a bit of non-fiction, or anything else that strikes my fancy at a given moment.

I read a wide variety if things, from History to Mystery and a lot of fantasy/ sci-fi stuff. I've read a lot of Heinlein, Lovecraft, Tolkein, and other big names in the genre.
I was in to RPGs from waaay back, which eventually led to reading much of the stuff set in the Forgotten Realms setting, with Ed Greenwood, R A Salvatore, and many others.
Other favorite writers include Spider Robinson, Piers Anthony, Roger Zelazny, Rothfuss, Doyle, and many more.
I don't know if I really have any one or two favorites, but I tend to have favorite settings and read all I can get of those. I've read Zelazny's Amber books several times each, so I'd have to rank that right up there.
That's enough rambling for now. ;)

I'm a sci fi and fantasy fan and aspiring writer. I like a lot of the classic authors and I'm also a huge fan of manga and anime, mostly because of the variety of characters and the humor. Also, the battles are pretty epic. I sometimes nerd out on video games, mostly sci fi or fantasy type stuff.
Also, I wrote a book but I'm still figuring out the forum rules on goodreads about where to talk about author stuff so I'll get back to you on that later.
Nice to meet everyone! :)

My favorite authors are: Terry Brooks, and J.K. Rowling.
I can say after viewing all the web broadcasts and some of the podcast by The Sword and Laser I have been able to create a massively large reading list that may take me a lifetime to read them all.



Most recently read Unwind by Neal Shusterman and a week later am still obsessed with and disturbed by the concept. Looking forward to the discussions here!

I'm Angela. I have always been a reader and, lately, I have a renewed interest in all things sci-fi - thanks to discovering Old Man's War by John Scalzi at my local library. Fantasy has always been of interest to me as well. Some of my favorite authors are Tad Williams, Melanie Rawn, and Connie Willis.
In the future, I hope to read more of the classic authors (Heinlein, etc.) and am looking forward to the next book club pick.





About my reading habits, I've been happily addicted for as long as I can remember with no plans to quit. I will read absolutely anything, a quote i first heard in The Stand describes me "equal opportunity reader". I will give anything a try, including the toothpaste box. Not suggesting I will like everything I read, but I am very honest with my thoughts and opinions of books.
I have a long list of books I want to read but I fear some day I'll run out so that list must keep growing. Hoping to find some suggestions through this group.
I have an ereader but I can't get used to it, probably because it was a cheap one. I prefer the feel, smell and weight of a good ole fashioned paper book. Sorry trees! :)

I'm a wanna-be novelist hoping to self-publish my first novel this year.
I'm more of a "sword" myself, but I've been trying to branch out and read more Sci-fi. I also love graphic novels of any kind, particularly manga.
My favorite book is Fahrenheit 451. Perhaps due to nostalgia, but I do reread it once a year.
Hi all, Cassie here!
Let's see, not really sure what to put here. There's some basic stuff about me I'm happy to share, like being a French teacher (I really like languages ^.^ ) as well as being absolutely proud of being a bit of a nerd. I feel like I have to say 'a bit' despite having read fantasy books (more of a Sword as far as my reading preference is concerned, heh) and having watched a good deal of Star Trek TNG because there seems to be plenty I haven't experienced yet, but I hope this book club will help in that regard!
My favorite authors... oh gosh. I adore Jim Butcher, but I also grew up loving Anne McAffery, Tokien, and Rowling. Orson Scott Card's writing also fascinates me, as does that of Dean Kuntz. That should give anyone a bit of an idea of what I enjoy reading! Hope to talk to many of you soon!
Let's see, not really sure what to put here. There's some basic stuff about me I'm happy to share, like being a French teacher (I really like languages ^.^ ) as well as being absolutely proud of being a bit of a nerd. I feel like I have to say 'a bit' despite having read fantasy books (more of a Sword as far as my reading preference is concerned, heh) and having watched a good deal of Star Trek TNG because there seems to be plenty I haven't experienced yet, but I hope this book club will help in that regard!
My favorite authors... oh gosh. I adore Jim Butcher, but I also grew up loving Anne McAffery, Tokien, and Rowling. Orson Scott Card's writing also fascinates me, as does that of Dean Kuntz. That should give anyone a bit of an idea of what I enjoy reading! Hope to talk to many of you soon!






I read as widely as I can, and favourite writers for the purposes of this forum include (in no particular order): Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, John Scalzi, Jasper Fforde, Neil Gaiman, Toby Frost, Paul Cornell, Paul Magrs, China Mieville, Alastair Reynolds, William Gibson, and Tolkien.
I'm also fluentish* in French, and love Bernard Werber's stuff. I'd be really interested to see how he comes over in translation at some point.
Looking for reading buddies and some new recommendations, and I'll also probably plug my inevitable self-published short story collection at some point in the appropriate subfolder. Sorry about that.
*ish in that I don't think I'm fluent at all, but I'm closer than quite a few other people I've seen make the claim.


I'm Josh, otherwise known on several sites as "J.R." Like many of you, I have a passion for writing as well as reading. A few of my favorite authors include: Jasper Fforde, Patrick Rothfuss, and Neil Gaiman.

Oh! Can't believe I forgot to mention a few of my favorite authors. DOH. George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card [Enderverse], Tamora Pierce, Maria v. Snyder, and Kim Harrison.



I am a fan of sci-fi, fantasy and non fiction. I have been a long time listener to S&L and I finally joined the forum so I could participate in some discussions. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone on here.

Shadows is cool. I should have done something like that as well, since there's no way to tell my own posts from every other Adam on Goodreads.


Gene here, I found this through watching geek and sundry due to my passion for games. I have been reading and collecting sci-fi and fantasy books for more nearly 60 years starting out with Tom Swift books in the mid 1950s. There are many outstanding books in both genre. What do you all think? Are our authors getting better? I find when I revisit old "favorites" I find them less polished. Or does familiarity indeed breed contempt (or at least boredom)?

Hello - I'm Audrey.
I've been writing since I was in grade school and, in retrospect, it makes sense that my first novel is an urban fantasy. My first ever short story was about waking up to discover that I'd magically outgrown my cat pajamas. My favorite author is Peter S. Beagle, followed closely by Ray Bradbury and Robin McKinley. The books I read at least once a year are all fantasies and fairy tales.
My blog is here: http://entropy.wordpress.com
and my book is here: http://www.amazon.com/Camellia-Resist...

Just wanted to present myself, I a sci-fi& Fantasy addict that loves a big tombe of a book. In later years I´ve been drifting more and more to Military Sci-Fi and Noir-Fantasy, the grittier the better.
Best regards
Br1cht

Long time reader of multiple genre styles. Been watching the youtube show for the past few months as well, love it.
Don't always finish books that often, comic books readily, and I pretty much hate eBooks. Just feels weird if it isn't in "dead tree" format.


Looking forward to participating here - sounds like a great community.
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)
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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)
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I've been a sci-fi/fantasy reader ever since my third-grade teacher introduced me to Lord of the Rings. When I'm not reading books I haven't read in a while or books for the club, ..."
I grew up in Bethel Park. You're right about the chicks.