The Sword and Laser discussion
Introduction and welcome thread!

Thank you R. K.


The Sword and Laser podcast brought me here. My name is Zoltán and I am from Hungary. I am a father and husband, a sci-fi/fantasy geek, and an electrical engineer. I read “sword-and-laser type” books since the age of 8.
Just finished Ship of Destiny; currently half-way through The Wise Man’s Fear and getting a dip into Downbelow Station.


I am Robin. I've been following Sword & Laser for a while now along with VFH and felt it was high time I started to participate. I'm an avid reader with delusions of how many books I can read in a month. I've joined three book clubs and I also have a personal challenge to read all the books in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
I like both the sword and the laser so I can't pick between the two. Lately I have been stuck in murder and mysteries. If I'm not watching it, I'm reading it. My current list includes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Under the Dome - of course after doing the search for the TV promo I found that I am under the dome but it’s not really a good thing and now I need to know why?; Pleasure Unbound- it’s a VFH alt pick and pretty interesting so far. I have one more to pick for another book club and I also have V is for Vengeanceon standby along with about 13 other books. Enough typing already, I gotta read.

I hate doing introductions so I have been a lurker for quite some time and finally decided that I should introduce myself.
The type of books I am mainly interested in are Thrillers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. I also like to read Manga and Comics. I don't think any of those will show up in this book club though. ^_^
From watching Tekzilla I learned of Sword and Laser and from there of Good Reads. I thought it would be good to learn about books that I should have read before and newer books that I should be reading now. I just finished reading The Magicans' Guild by Trudi Canavan and loved it now I am reading the book of the month Downbelow Station and hope to finish it in time.


In my spare..spare time, I am also an author. I released my first book, The Epherium Chronicles: Embrace in Oct and the second one in series, Crucible, is coming out in April, 2013


Very enjoyable podcasts and conversations.

I'm Alan. I've been reading SF&F for as long as I can remember (I have a vivid memory of hiding a Heinlein book in my school desk in first grade) but am new to Goodreads. I found out about Sword & Laser a month ago and started lurking on the Boards as a way of working up to joining the conversation on Downbelow Station.

I'm more of a fantasy guy than sci-fi myself; my road into that was Tolkien (naturally), then the Dragonlance novels in my teenage years, and then onto A Song of Ice and Fire.
I'm reading Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself at the moment, and I look forward to discovering some great new books here!

I'm Scott, and I'm new to the group and a recent listener to the audio podcast (although I've followed Tom and Veronica's shows since the CNET days). I'm returning to sci-fi/fantasy after drifting into non-fiction (and heavy work reading, since I'm a lawyer). Revisiting sci-fi/fantasy is a happy result of having young children who devour books way above their age range (especially my daughter).
For my own reading, I am looking forward to more sci-fi noir (after reading Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan) and enjoyed Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton. I really liked Among Others by Jo Walton, which I think Veronica Belmont suggested in a podcast or an interview.
My favorite sci-fi/fantasy authors are: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Neil Gaiman. I'm also a great fan of Stephen King's The Gunslinger series. I'm extremely interested in sci-fi/fantasy with appropriate content for a 9 year-old girl (my daughter) reading at the high school level (bonus points for female authors and protagonists), so I welcome your suggestions. I am also looking to expand upon the classics I grew up with, and would like suggestions for fun and/or thought-provoking titles, including (but not exclusively) sci-fi noir. If anyone has any recommendations for sci-fi/fantasy taking place in Florida, that would be great too.
I'm reading Colson Whitehead's Zone One, and just finished Watchmen.




I discovered Geek and Sundry and Sword and Laser through Patrick Rothfuss and through Sword and Laser I discovered Goodreads.
I love Fantasy, my favourite books are The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and also the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (although I'm only at the second book yet) I also love The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers and Krabat by Otfried Preußler, they were the books of my childhood. I also like to read a manga now and then and my other hobbies are watching films and tv-series, listening to music and playing video games.


Glad to join the group.

my name is Maxi and I am of German citizenship. I follow Sword and Laser for a while now, and decided very recently to join the Goodreads community.
I read books anywhere from society (analysing) novels, such as Jane Austen's works, to Fantasy, Tolkien, and Lovecraft, and SciFi, such as K. Dick and Lem. In between there would be a bunch of other authors, more or less known.
In the past few years, I have been reading a lot, although mostly not for pleasure but for university (which does mix more often than not).
Other than that I read comics (in all its forms, and I do count manga and graphic novels in to the category :3 ).
Nice to meet you all.

Looking forward to the discussions!

I'm Billy.
I'm more of a sword than a laser, but hokey religions and ancient weapons don't always get the job done, so I think I'll fit right in.
My favorite book is Jurassic Park and my favorite author is Stephen King.



I'm Gary. I've been lurking around the fringes of this place for a few months now, so I figured its time to chime in. There are a lot of great comments, and participation in this community. I'm happy to contribute.

But, after seeing Tom and Veronica on G&S, I was hooked on the show, and actually went back and listened to all the back episodes of the podcast (a great way to make the 8-5 go alot faster lol). And, they have definitely grown my already 40+ "to-read" list, so I figured it was time to stop lurking and actually join.
I also like to write and am working on my Anthology submission.


I am a computer engineer.
I am a huge fan of sword and sorcery books, post apocalyptic books and horror books mostly but I have been known to slide into most genre if the mood takes me.
I am also a larper when I get the time.
I am currently reading the Enchantress (book 1 in the Evermen saga) by James Maxwell.

I'm kind of new to the whole Sci-Fi Genre and I'd like to thank the Sword and Laser videos for introducing me to this wonderful world.
I was an avid reader when I was younger, reading Hardy Boys and Nancy Drews but I somehow lost interest after finishing school and starting work.
I used to play games as a way to relieve stress but lately, I don't enjoy it as much.
While browsing through the geekandsundry channel, I watched a few episodes of SnL and I decided to start reading my first book in years, Cloud Atlas (since it was at that time being produced as a movie so I was curious). I felt a sense of fulfillment after finishing the book and I had to get some more!
Fast forward to today, I'm currently waiting for The Winds of Winter by George RR Martin, and Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Just finished The Magicians Series by Lev Grossman as well.
Oh and still waiting for the 5 more books that I've ordered.
Thanks again for re-introducing me to the wonderful and colorful world of reading!



I've always been a big fan of reading ever since my mom randomly gave me Goosebumps: How I got my Shrunken Head. It made me obsessed with the rest of Goosebumps and I ended up devouring a whole slew of books just on my free time.
I can't say I have a specifically favorite author that I follow, but I have enjoyed R.A Salvatore, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Chuck Palahniuk. I'm a pretty big enough nerd, loving sci-fi, fantasy, anime, manga, graphic novels and video games. I just love it all.
Right now I'm working my way through Rule 34 by Charles Stross. After that I'm going to hit up Wyrd Sisters by Pratchett and maybe reread Howl's Moving Castle.

I'm Lucy, from Wales and I just love reading, anything and everything! I was introduced to S&L by my beautiful friend and am so grateful as this is a brilliant group. I have recently been on a bit of a Sci-fi binge and just finished this month's book, Downbelow Station, and LOVED it! I am really looking forward to the next book in James S A Corey's 'Expanse' series and trying to get through A Dance With Dragons before the Games of Thrones TV series catches up :P
Please add me as a friend, thanks!

Some of my favourite authors, books and Manga include Terry Pratchett Lovecraft, Howard Phillips (I'm also playing a pen & paper RPG set in his universe) Jasper Fforde Snow Crash The Quantum Thief Kaori Yuki Vassalord, Volume 1 PLUTO: Naoki Urasawa x Ozamu Tezuka, Band 001
Currently I'm reading Day Watch and loving the series.
I'm definitely more of a Science Fiction than a Fantasy fan but have to admit that I haven't read many of the classics in that genre, so my goal for this year is to do just that. I've just finished A Clockwork Orange and Fahrenheit 451 is next on the list

I'm Alex. Learned to read on the advanced dungeons and dragons player's handbook, because my father is awesome (also in my photo).
I am a lapsed reader, only recently getting back into it (working full time and going to law school takes up a lot of time) through audiobooks.
After the PHB, I started reading novels with Michael Stackpole X-wing Rogue squadron when i was 12 and The Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore soon after that.
Even at that age, I was alternating between laser and sword.

*backs up*
Hi, I'm Daniel, from Brisbane, Australia (yes, we ride kangaroos on the roof of the Sydney Opera House). I've recently finished my writing degree, not that publishers really require you to have one. Children of Fire is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Brisbane with mages, mutants and monsters. Which coincidentally abbreviates to MMM, the only station that has the music I like - rock and roll. It should be noted that I prefer pubs over clubs. Cause I'm Aussie As, mate.
I've written the sequel, but I'm editing it at the moment, and that's taking up the most of my free time - that which isn't spent on RPGs, anyway. The game form, not the rocket-propelled grenade. I should mention I'm only writing novellas at the moment, as I struggle with subtext and subplots and complexity. And other things. Things that make a novel a novel and not a shorter thing.
A publisher says they're interested in publishing the first book, but so far it's taken almost 2 years, which is 4 times how long an ebook should take, with nothing back yet, so I'm not holding much faith in that happening soon. No contract yet, and only promises that they still plan to. Maybe this place is a better fit, as Children of Fire has a very tech + magic (magitech?) vibe to it. And pulp. I never intended it to be that, nor funny, but people respond well to both of those aspects, so I may as well go with it. It provides a quirky, crazy kind of setting and tone and style, which is definitely Me, so yeah.
I'm hoping my book will bring me lots of money, fame, women and alcohol. You know, pure artistic stuff.

Favorites scifi author: Robert A Heinlein. Fantasy Author: I don't have a fav fantasy author for some reason. I can say that I live reading the "Fire & Ice" series by George RR Martin but I don't know if I would say he's may fav fantasy author.


My favorite sci fi writers include Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Charles Wilson, Orson Scott Card (more his earlier stuff though), Robert A. Heinlein, C.J. Cherryh, David Drake, etc. As for fantasy, I'm a HUGE fan of David Gemmell--one of my greatest ambitions in life is to obtain a signed first-edition hardback copy of his first novel Legend. I'm also a fan of Brandon Sanderson, and took a writing class from him at BYU back in 2009. Dan Wells is also really cool--I think he named a character in Partials after me (still on my to-read list though). But my favorite book of all time is The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
I'm also something of a writer myself. You can find my books on my author page, or check out my blog.
Anyhow, that's pretty much it. I've been following a lot of the discussions in this community via the podcast--looking forward to participating as well!

One of my favorite moments was backpacking up near Borjomi, looking back, and realizing "holy crap, those aren't clouds--those are mountains!" You could see the whole Caucasus range from Elrus and Ushba in the west to Kazbegi in the east. The view of the stars was amazing, and we even caught an ISS flyby.
The people out there are amazingly hospitable. Sometimes, backpackers or hitchhikers will come through and stay as guests with a local family for a few months. If you can arrange something like that, it's a great experience. Living on the farm was a lot of fun, and I helped out a lot with the chores: chopping wood, putting the chickens to roost, picking grapes and making wine and vodka. So yeah, definitely a lot of interesting experiences.
If you want to get a feel for the region, a great book to check out is Ali and Nino by Kurban Said. It's like Romeo and Juliet of the Caucasus: Ali is an Muslim Azeri boy who is in love with Nino, an Orthodox Georgian girl, right as World War I is breaking out and the hopes and dreams of their people start to clash. AMAZING book, probably my favorite read from all of 2012. They actually made a statue in Batumi based off of the characters, where a figure of a man and a woman come close to embracing but pass right through each other instead. You can find a video of it here.
Man, I miss Georgia. There's a lot of other places I want to see, but I would love to go back for a while.

I know what you're talking about when it comes to the wanderer and host relationship. I studied Arabic in college and spent a few months in the Middle East, where the people are downright fierce about their hospitality. It would be amazing to spend some time out in the desert living with the Bedouin, down in Wadi Rum or out near Mafraq. I really hope to visit Damascus someday, though with the current political situation it sadly looks like that country's going to be a mess for the next two or three decades.
I didn't see any golden fleeces, but I did make it up to some of the mountain streams where they used to come from. When the Soviets took over, they killed everyone who knew the best places to collect the gold, since that was illegal under communism. But yeah, I did a blog post on that excursion, so if you want you can read about it here.


Looking forward to discussing scifi and fantasy with folks.

I'm a long time sic-fi/fantasy reader with far too many favourites to list here.
I'm currently in the middle of three books, with priority going to this months book club book C. J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station.

I'm Sachairi (Sa-kai-ree) and I've been reading fantasy/ sci-fi for... well, since for ever. Most of these books are more fantasy- centric and I'm interested in getting deeper into more sci-fi. I'm writing/ have been working on a sci-fi/ fantasy series and thought that this would be a great place to see exactly what sci-fi is about, only more in depth.
What else... I'm from Canada, am married, enjoy reading and writing, and am expecting the birth of my first child in roughly two weeks. I think that about covers it :D

I'm a long time fantasy/science fiction reader but new to goodreads and i just discovered the sword and laser show. Some authors that i enjoy David Weber, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, John Ringo, Glen Cook, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon.

As of this posting, I have only contributed one other post which was a link to an e-book version of Downbelow Station here

I recently started reading seriously again. 20 years ago I would have told you my favorite authors were Piers Anthony and Tom Clancy. Now...well Butcher, Scalzi, Hamilton, ...
I have developed a pattern of reading, a sword book, a laser book, right now an urban fantasy book, and then something else. Wash rince and repeat.
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...
Thank you Rob, for the suggestion... I will definitely try posting a new thread...