Introduction and welcome thread! Showing 3,301-3,350 of 4,412

[[deleted user]]

Alice wrote: "Hello everyone!

I'm Alice, My favourite authors... Well actually, outside of Brandon Sanderson and James Clemens, they are french/belgian authors (French is my mothertongue, btw I apologize in advance for any and all English mistakes): Emile Ajar, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and Alexandre Dumas..."

Welcome Alice. I have a question for you. Dumas is also one of my favorite authors (in translation). Recently I tried to read his Robin Hood and found it dreadful. Did I just have a poor translation and I should try a different edition? Or is it just one of his lesser works? Thanks.

[Rebekah]

Hey folks!

I'm Ro, long time fantasy geek and of late sci fi enthusiast. I was actually linked here from the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club. I look forward to some great sword and laser books!

[Cory]

Hey friends, if you have some Free Time, you should take a quick look at this newly published essay:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IN6P3CS

[Alice]

David: you caught me there, I have not read his Robin Hood yet so I cannot judge. Both are possible, although I have a tendency to strongly distrust translators from personal experience...

[John (Taloni)]

Hello! Thought I'd follow the suggestion and introduce myself. I saw the group in a Pern thread and joined for that, but I see there's a lot more going on. Anyhoo, I read my first SF book at the age of eight, Panshin's "Rite of Passage" for the record. I've read...well, a whole lot of SF/F over the years. I'm big on the history of SF and have been known to grumble about how much of Star Wars was stolen from Asimov.

[Clare]

Hi ,

I'm Clare. I read everything, but fantasy and sometimes Sci Fi have long been favorites. I think I read the Earth Sea books when I was about 12, and they made a huge impression on me. Other books I read as a child, all JRR Tolkien, Narnia, Wrinkle in Time.

Of late, I've developed a fondness for steampunk type stuff, and apocalyptic scenarios, but one of my favorite things about Sci Fi in particular is the technology, so sometimes I read straight up Sci Fi or Cyber Punk.

[Nicholas]

How's it goin guys? I'm Nicholas. Big fan of science fiction, but also fantasy, dystopia and Greek myth. Herbert and Tolkien are some of my favorites to name a few.
My first exposure to sci-fi and all related to it was Star Wars. When I saw that, I was hooked. I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

[Jeremy]

Hello, I'm Jeremy. I like sci-fi and fantasy, particularly stuff with a military theme. Ive been reading it for about 25 years. I have been loving the harder edge of modern writing such as Abercrombie, Richard K Morgan, and Erikson. My favorite author of all time is probably CJ Cherryh. I do go on tangents and read regular fiction like James Lee Burke, Lee Child, or Barry Eisler, but I always come back to my true loves of sci-fi and fantasy.

[Michael]

Hi, I'm Michael.

I stumbled across The Sword And Laser some months ago on the Geek & Sundry channel and have now watched all the Video shows and heard all the Audio podcasts.

I love reading books and have done so from an early age. Some of my favorite authors are:

Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan, David Eddings, George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien in Fantasy.

Arthur C. Clarke, Julian May, Ben Bova and Isaac Asimov in Science Fiction.

Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Alistair MacLean, Katherine Reichs and Jean M. Auel in other genres.

I am looking forward to listen to more great book discussions on the show and in the forums. I have already found some new authors to follow like John Scalzi, Patrick Rothfuss and Neil Gaiman (I knew of Neil Gaiman as a screen writer but not as a book author).

[Symian]

Hi I'm Ian (sometimes go by Symian). I'm fairly new to the The Sword& Laser world. Came by way of Frogpants, which I've listened to for years. Started there by listening to Tom and Scott on the original Current Geek and it spread from there.

I love genre fiction in general, but particularly SF. And noir. And fantasy. And, oh never mind.

In junior high school I read Zelazny's Lord of Light, then Creatures of Light and Darkness. These books fundamentally changed the way I look at literature and language. It also got me into writing a bit more seriously. I still write a bit and read when I can, though now I have two kids and a job that requires a lot of business reading. Sometimes i mentally dramatise the business books and case studies in my head as if they were genre fiction and that gets me through. So far I haven't blurted out anything too ridiculous in meetings...

Oh yeah, and I live in Japan. Land of tradition and future-tech beautifully juxtaposed. Osaka at night feels much like Ridley Scott's take on the atmosphere of Blade Runner.

I've been enjoying catching up on old episodes of S&L.
I look forward to joining the discussions here when I can.

Cheers!

-Ian.

[Joe]

Hello everyone, I'm Joe

I have actually been following Sword & Laser since the video show started on geek and sundry and have been reading along since ringworld in July.

I was always looking for a way to find better sci-fi and fantasy. I never liked the suggestions sites like amazon came up with, but I did like the book club suggestions better, so I finally decided to join the group on good reads.

I probably won't be posting in the discussions to much though I do like to read them, not much of a "talker" anyways glad to be part of the group.

[Kristian]

Hello. My name is Kristian and I'm a big epic fantasy fan. My favourite Authors are:

1.Brandon Sanderson
2. J.R.R.Tolkien
3. George R.R. Martin
4.Robert Jordan
Currently Reading "Storm of Swords" by Martin, and "The Great Hunt" by Jordan.

Hoping to get to meet New People.

[Eric]

Howdy!

Long time Sci Fi fan. Occasional fantasy fan.

Current favorites include Terry Pratchett and Neal Stephenson

[Michael]

Hi, I'm Mike. I'm looking for some chat about sci-fi fantasy without being accosted by authors trying to sell me their books. I like William Gibson, Harry Harrison, Douglas Adams, Cory Doctorow, Ursula LeGuin, Herbert, David Foster Wallace, Clarke, that sort of stuff.

Mike

[Beau]

Hi everyone. If you are familiar with the Necromunda series of books from Games Workshop, that is the sort of Sci-Fi I enjoy (Status: Deadzone is a great collection of short stories). But I'm always looking for something new to capture my imagination.

It's nice to be here, and I hope to get to know a few of you.

[Christopher]

Hello all!
I've been listening to S&L for about two months now. Discovered it through the Frogpants network. These are my favorite genres of books. Lately I've been doing the audiobooks for the most part. The authors I've been listening to recently are: Ed Greenwood (Elminster series), Jim Butcher (Dresden Files), Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid Chronicles), and Peter Clines (EX-Heroes series).

[Emily]

Hiya!

My name is Emily, I'm a graduating college student and I am really excited to talk with people about fantasy and sci-fi (but mostly fantasy).

Personal favorites include: The Farseer Trilogy, The Gentlemen Bastards Series, The Dagger and the Coin, and anything Neil Gaiman.

On my "to read" list: The Thousand Names, The Black Prism, The Way of Shadows, A Promise of Blood

[Scott]

Welcome Emily

I loved Farseer Trilogy as well and anything by Neil Gaiman is a given, even better if you can get the audio book when he narrates.

[rick.]

Hey everyone, I am rick.
My favorite authors are Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Jim Butcher, and Brian K. Vaughan but I also read a lot of hard science fiction, non-fiction science and sci-fi/fantasy.

Like many folks I found my way from TechTV > G4 > Revision3 > Geek & Sundry. I actually found out about The Name of the Wind on The Totally Rad Show which re-kindled (minor pun intended) my love of reading. I am mostly here to find my next series, and the next series after that, but hope to contribute from time to time.

[Francis]

Hi I am Frank.

I have been listening to the podcasts for a long time, but never had a tablet so I never got into the goodreads website. I just wanted to relay a story to you. I downloaded Quizup an app that is a trivia type game (well done by the way). They had a sci-fi fantasy topic. I have been reading these books for 50 years. A lot of them. I played the trivia game and discovered that I don't know much about these books. I have since discovered that to read each of the 1.3 million sci-fi books I would have had to read 72 books a day for those 50 years.

[Serdar]

Hi, folks - just joined after much lurking by reading posts by fellows in my friends list.

SF&F authors I like:
- Philip K. Dick
- Stanisław Lem (yes, I *liked* "Memoirs Found in a Bathtub", I even finished it :D)
- The Brothers Strugatsky
- Clifford Simak
- Robert Sheckley
- Robert Silverberg
- Alfred Bester
- The "ABCs" (Asimov/Bradbury/Clarke)
- Harlan Ellison
- James Tiptree, Jr.
- Samuel R. Delaney
- Harry Harrison

Non-SF -- which I read a great deal of as well:
- Hubert Selby, Jr.
- Osamu Dazai
- Yasushi Inoue
- Dostoevsky
- Virginia Woolf
- Machado de Assis
- Boris Vian

I'm a Goodreads author, and currently working on my fifth (seventh depending on what metric you use) release. My most recent book -- a big honkin' space opera -- was "Flight of the Vajra" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...), and the next one, "Welcome to the Fold" http://www.genjipress.com/writing/wel...), should be out by sometime around the end of the year.

I also do a regular column on my site called "Science Fiction Repair Shop" (http://www.genjipress.com/repairshop/) where I talk about how SF and "literary" fiction have a lot to teach each other, but not in the ways we often think.

[Tom]

Hi everyone,

My name is Tom and I'm a SF&F writer. I've been promoting a Kickstarter project for an MMORPG novel series, and one of the blog writers recommended that I check out this group. Actually been a Goodreads member for years but just never found the time to check it out so I guess I'm really more of a newbie.

Favorite authors include Heinlein of course, but a couple others are M.A. Foster and Robert Silverberg.

One of my favorite reads recently was "The Wreck Of The River Of Stars" so you know I like my SF hard.

TomW

[Beau]

Hi TomW.

[Nav]

Hi, I'm Nav. I have been a lover of Fantasy and Sci-Fi since I was at school, and that's a long time ago. I am also a writer of Epic fantasy. I've been a member of GR for some time, but hey, it's a big place and there isn't any maps anywhere with "You are here..." on them, so I only just found this group, thanks to a friend on KUF. I was told this was "the place to go" on GR, so I'm glad to be here

[J.J.]

Hi, I'm Jen. Just like Nav, I've been on GR for a while and finally found this group after seeing the hangout with Wesley Chu. (I loved The Lives of Tao.)

I'm in a weird struggle lately between trying to read more broadly in spec and still find books I love. After looking over a number of threads here, I think this group might be a good match for me (and hopefully me for the group, too).

[Ian]

Is it possible to do these things without feeling like being at the front of a twelve step group?

Hi, I'm Ian and I'm a genre book addict. I try to read a bit of everything, but my favorites today seem to be the modern Lovecraft influenced writers: Caitlin Kiernan, Cody Goodfellow, Thomas Ligotti, Laird Barron, etc. In fantasy of course I've read the Song of Ice and Fire, but I'm also jonesing for the next book from Joe Abercrombie. I'm also a huge Tim Powers fan.

[J.J.]

Ian wrote: "Is it possible to do these things without feeling like being at the front of a twelve step group?"

Lol, I felt that, too.

[Ty]

Welcome Nav, Jen and Ian. The coffee is on the left, help yourself. A little later we'll be passing around the hat for donations.

[Tom]

Ian wrote: "Is it possible to do these things without feeling like being at the front of a twelve step group?

Hi, I'm Ian and I'm a genre book addict. I try to read a bit of everything, but my favorites today..."

Hey, this is one 12-step group I make no apology for being part of! ;-)

[Lawrence]

Greetings exalted ones!
I'm Lawrence, and I've always been into science fiction - really got into Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain when I was 12. After that came Heinlein, Asimov, Niven, and most recently John Scalzi, starting with his Old Man's War series.
Although I read LOTR over 20 years ago, I wasn't much of a fantasy person until Game of Thrones came about.
I think I'm going to have fun here.

[Mobin]

Hi I am Mobin and I am currently in graduate school for engineering. I enjoy both sword and laser books. My favorite authors are Harry Turtledove, David weber Ben Bova Bob Salvatore and Tim Zahn. I also enjoy space opera as well

[Stephina]

Hi, I'm Stephina. I'm not big on intros because I mostly just lurk. I'm just weird that way. ;-) I love reading and love to read others opinions.

My favorite author right now is Neal Asher. I've read everything he's written including his short stories. His Polity universe is the only SF reality that I have ever wanted to live in.

[Andrew]

Hi I'm Andrew, an attorney in Portland, Oregon. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Italo Calvino, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Joseph Conrad.

[Sara]

Hi.

I'm Marc. Long time listener to the podcast but new to GoodReads.

I mostly read sci-fi lately but have a huge collection of fantasy as well.

My favourites include LOTR and the Hobbit, Fafhrd, and mostly prefer original fantasy... Not derived from Camelot and or LOTR.

sci-fi? William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling of late plus Robert Sawyer. Read many of the classics...

[Scott]

Hello everybody. I'm Scott. I've been a long time listener to the show, but never felt a particular desire to participate until recently. I've been in kind of a rut with my reading lately, and I'm hoping keeping up with the book picks will help me diversify some.

My favorite authors include Robert Heinlein, John Scalzi, and Anne McCaffery for scifi, and Raymond Feist, R.A. Salvatore, and Tamora Pierce (don't judge me) on the fantasy side, but that's hardly an exhaustive list. Of course, I enjoy the classics like Tolkien, Asimov, etc.

[Peter]

Hi. I am Peter, very new to GoodReads and relatively new to the podcast.

As a writer, I really enjoy listening to the author interviews both for insight on craft and to expand my range of reading.

[Bonnie]

Greetings. Bonnie here. I am currently between formal employment. I am, however, a freelance writer and my husband & I own an e-commerce hobby shop and model accessory manufacturing business.

I have been a bibliophile for pretty much my entire life. I am one of those people that has to read every word on every bottle of shampoo or all the rules for returning an item on the back of every receipt. I know...a bit over the top, but...ehh.

I am also a cat lover, having many furbabies of the feline persuasion.

My absolute favorite author is Jim Butcher. Dresden Files specifically. Followed by John Saul. I lean mostly towards fantasy & paranormal, but I dabble in thrillers, true crime, historical fiction, and every once in a while, the romantic bug nibbles on my neck.

I found your group while digging around on a Dresden Files feed. Hoping desperately to go see him in Illinois in June (after missing him last time he was supposed to come there due to a cancellation because of food poisoning).

Goodreads in my second internet home since I discovered it a couple of months ago. I look forward to engaging in some group activities...okay, that didn't sound right. Oh, hell, I'm just gonna leave it.

[Wes]

Hi, I'm Wes.
I've only been reading sff for about five years. Also, I've started down the path becoming a writer. We'll see how that goes. I tend to enjoy more sword than laser, but every great story deserve a telling. I enjoy the podcast on soundcloud.

[Richard]

Hi,
My name is Richard and I'm a long term listener of the podcast. I've been into science fiction and fantasy for a quarter of a century and although I don't get to read as much as I'd like I still enjoy it when I can.
Cheers
Richard

[Luke]

Hello, Luke here.

I've got quite the mountainous to-read list already, but as I can never coordinate book-club style reads with my friends I would like to start reading a few books a year with you all.

I was dragged into fantasy in the mid 90's via fairly pulpy Forgotten Realms books, specifically R.A. Salvatore and his main cast of characters. After tearing through the Dark Elf trilogy, it was all over for me and I was doomed to be a fantasy junkie. Science Fiction followed close behind, but I'll always be a little more into swords than lasers.

It's a pleasure to be here and I look forward to discussing some books with you all!

[Rob]

Hello, my name is Rob. Been reading SF&F since 1967. Started with Heinlein, Bradbury, and Asimov. Favorite authors today are Rothfuss, Sanderson, Martin, Erickson, and Weber.

My interests are fantasy baseball and football, golf (40 rounds a year), poker (20 tournaments a year), and my biggest vice smoking cigars while drinking bourbon. That is also my reading time.

[Nick]

Hello. Just started listening to the show a few weeks ago. I am a newer reader to fantasy and sci fi. My main interests lie in horror. The podcast is excellent and am happy to have found a place for tons of recommendations for a genre I am new too.

[Constance]

Hi all,

I'm Constance and I'm pretty new to Goodreads. I've loved fantasy since I was a child and discovered Narnia and Middle Earth, and enjoy occasional sci-fi too. My favourites are Pratchett and Gaiman, but I read pretty much anything from classics to modern YA. Looking forward to reading opinions and hoping to find some new books, but I'm a bit shy to engage so might end up more of a lurker...

[[deleted user]]

G'day All,

I'm Glenn from Alice Springs, NT, Australia. Been in IT for way too long, and am the proverbial geek. Comics, Fantasy/SciFi, tech toys, etc.

Been watching S&L for a while, and yes you will find my name on the Kickstarter backers page. :) But new to Goodreads.

Favorite Authors, oh darn there is a character limit, okay I'll restrict it. Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Colin Taber, D.M. Cornish, Kylie Chan, Tad Williams, Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss, etc.

Nice to meet you all, lets read some books. :)

Cheers,
Glenn

[Richard]

Hi! I'm Richard - I've been listening to the podcast forever but only now decided to join the group, because i'm shy like that!

As for favourite authors - Jack Vance, Bruce Sterling, Ursula Le Guin, Ken Macleod, a hundred others!

[Les]

Hi everyone, my name is Les. I'm not so new, but wanted to introduce myself.

I like both sci-fi and fantasy books. Tolkein was my gateway drug back in junior high. I've not been much of a reader the past few years but I'm working to change that. I was turned in to Terry Pratchett and am enjoying the Discworld books immensely.

Anyhow, hello to all and big thanks to Tom and Veronica for this awesome place to discuss books we love and for the podcasts. See you guys again at Nerdtacular and Dragon*Con!

[Eboni]

Hi! I'm Eboni. I'm more of a Sword girl with some laser film and television tendencies. I'm also a former anime junkie (in recovery) and yaoi manga lover. I've always been a sucker for a fantasy book with a strong female protagonist, which means I generally get steered towards YA. Joined because I'm a Frogpants listener and I'm looking to improve my repertoire.

[Dylan]

Hey. My name's Dylan. I've been a listener of the podcast for the past few months, and a viewer of the video show since it's early days at Geek & Sundry.

I definitely lean more toward the Sword than the Laser, though I try to read across multiple genres. I've hesitated to join the book club in the past, due to shyness and my ever-growing TBR pile. Adding another book (or two) a month kept me away. Until I saw this month's pick was The Martian, which I've been planning to read it since I got it as a gift. So, I'm biting the bullet and joining. I can't wait to meet some sci-fi and fantasy book fans (something lacking from my life lately). The community here seems pretty great.

Some of my favorite authors are Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Joe Hill, John Green, Kevin Smith, Brian K. Vaughan, and Brandon Sanderson


And these are my Favorite Books, for anyone interested.

[Alejandro]

Hello everyone, I'm Alejandro.
I started reading for leisure in junior high school, and my first non-mandated school was The Lord of the Rings. Needless to say, I fell in love with fantasy and science fiction.
I love videogames as well, currently playing on pc, and reading some novelizations and books related to videogames. Anybody read Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley?
This group is just what I was looking for in goodreads, I hope to catch up and read great books I'll discover here!

[Carolina]

Welcome to all the new members :)