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

[Bruce]

Hello, I'm Bruce.
I've been listening to the podcast for some time and it has introduced me to many new authors that I would not have discovered otherwise.

If you are into Arthurian settings I have a friend that has a series of books that use the 5th Century Arthurian setting as the backdrop for a series of murder mysteries.
The author is Tony Hays. His third book of this series was just released this week. He is currently on a book tour and will be in the San Francisco area on June 25, 2011 at the M is for Mystery Bookstore, San Mateo, CA at 2pm. He has other stops before then that can be found at his website http://www.tonyhays.com .
I have enjoyed his books and looking forward to reading his new one "The Beloved Dead".

Sure I may be a little prejudiced since Tony and I were friends and fraternity brothers in college but I still think many of you will enjoy reading his books.

The Beloved Dead
The Divine Sacrifice
The Killing Way

[Kelly]

Hi, I'm Kelly.

I came across this group via twitter and plan to start listening to the podcasts. I just finished school so I'm finally free to catch up on a lot of the reading I've been putting off. I'm constantly looking for new authors/series to try, and it looks like there are a lot of folks here with great suggestions. :)
I'm partway through the Hunger Games (finally) and really love it. Also loved Dune, the one Dresden files book I've gotten to so far, and pretty much anything else in the Sword and Laser type genres.

Thanks for having this group. Between this and some other podcasts I've found, I finally feel less alone in my tastes than I ever have before! Thank you internets!!

[Brodie]

Hi, I'm Brodie. I've enjoyed listening to the podcast, even though I'm not reading the books right now.

[Roger]

Hi everyone!

Roger here.
I grew up with Sci Fi / Fantasy and had really not read anything in those genres for quite a long time. I picked up a copy of Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton because it sounded cool and am sooooooo hooked again. Just re-read the Song of Ice and Fire series (what there is of it) and am pretty excited about the next release. Oh, BTW, I am a TWiT fan so that's how I heard of SaL.

[Christopher]

Michael wrote: "Hello, I'm Michael. I don't get to actually read much anymore, but I have a wonderfully dull job in an empty office building at night and can listen to audio books to fill my time.

I started lis..."
Go with abercrombie he has a trilogy finished and a couple of stand a lone novels. Give GRR Martin some more time to work on finishing fire and ice. Both are great, and definitely not Tolkien for sure!! I have listened to the audio books for a couple of Fire and Ice might be nice to do them that way since you listen to a lot of audio books.

[Spencer]

Hi everyone from a long-time podcast listener. Love the show, love the idea of the show. My favorite sci-fi books in order are 1) Dune. 2) Ender's Game 3) The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Also love dystopian sci-fi. Am attempting to write one at present. Looking forward to getting some great book recommendations here.

[Matthew]

Howdy all, I am Matt. I have been into Scifi and Fantasy since I saw Star Wars about 25 years ago, and thanks to my parents, reading since the first day I can remember. I have been mostly reading more military fantasy recently. Thought that Glenn Cook was the best out there, till you suggested Joe Abercombie.

[Osvaldo]

No sure if I welcomed myself or not. Teacher, reader, one who writes (will only call myself a writer when I publish), live in Nawlins. Glad to be a part

[Dale]

Hi im Dale, stumbled across the podcast luckily, slowly getting all my books up online. Mostly an epic fantasy reader.

Thanks to the show discovered Joe Abercrombie.
I find it hard to read new authors, so as muh help as possible needed to discover new things.

One of my favorite and first ever epic fantasy writters is Michael Moorcoc mostly the Elric novels, started when i was about 9 im now 32 n read the series once a year lol in about 2 days and still love them.

Just finished the last argument of kings, looking forward to the Stephen Donaldson book to finish off the Thomas Covenant books.

[Tyler]

Hi, I'm Tyler!
I read Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and I have been listening to the Sword and Laser for quite a while now, and just kind of offhandedly lurking around these forums for about a year. Decided an intro was in order, alas, so I am Tyler, and I am ready to jump into conversation!

[Chet]

Hi, I am Chet from Va.
I am glad I found S&L because I need a reason to avoid doing my work and catch up on reading. I was an avid reader until recently due to work. But I know if I had a focus then I could work some more of it in. And being part of a virtual book club works because I spend %70 of my time flying around the country. My favorite writers currently are King, Gibson, Gaiman Brian Wood and Brian Michael Bendis.

[Joseph]

Hi, I'm Joe. I'm new to GoodReads, and was directed here by Sword & Laser. I've always been a science fiction fan, but never enjoyed fantasy until recently (I have never been able to get more than 100 pages into Lord of the Rings). My favorite authors change fairly often, but right now they'd probably be Peter F. Hamilton, Patrick Rothfuss, and Lois McMaster Bujold.

I'm a stay-at-home dad, aspiring writer, gamer of all sorts and former media relations professional.

[Lee]

Hi I'm Lee

Been a fantasy/sci fiction fan for as long as I can remember. Found Sword and Laser through Film Sack as I'm a huge film fan as well.

I'll read anything if it's good. Fav Sci-fi/fantasy authors though are Terry Pratchett, David Gemmell, James Barclay,Robin Hobb, Tad Williams, Neil Gaiman, Bob Shaw, Iain M. Banks.....think this list could go on for sometime :)

Anyway just finished A Game of Thrones, brilliant book, can't wait for the TV series.

[Pickle]

Hi

Im stuart and enjoy reading Sci-Fi, Fantasy and horror especially anything by Philip K Dick, China Mieville, James P. Blaylock, Arthur C. Clarke.

Currently read The Penultimate Truth by PKD.

[Mike]

Hello. I'm Mike. I've been a sifi/fantasy fan since the 60s. I guess that shows how old I am. :)
I've been so busy that I haven't read nearly as much as I would have liked, and have forgotten way too much. Most of my reading over the last several decades has been work-related. I'm trying to do more recreational reading these days. I have a lot of catching-up to do. In the past, my favorite authors were the clasics, like Asimov and Heinlein. Recently, I liked the Green Rider series by Kristen Britain, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the King Killer series by Rothfuss.

[Sarindre]

Hello all! My name is Trey. I love reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels. I just joined Goodreads today and I love it! This group seems perfect for me.

I live in the "boons" as we call it in Pa with the closest city being Pittsburgh and that is still very far away. So I can be found reading, gaming, and taking care of my daughter every day!

[Ken]

Greetings all. I'm Ken. I've been following S+L for a while now, but am just now getting myself on Goodreads. I love the works of Neil Stephenson, Peter F. Hamilton, and Harry Turtledove. I thought Good Omens was interesting, but not the belly-laugh that the cover comments made it out to be.

I live on the Colorado Front Range and have since I was 4.

[Andrew]

Hi, I'm Andrew. I'm currently reading The Dark Tower and looking forward to participating in the book club. Both my wife and I enjoy fantasy and sci-fi books.

I live in a suburb of Houston, TX.

[Mike]

Hey all, I'm (yet another) Mike. Been listening to S&L for a while now, but I'm only now getting around to participating here. Better late than never, huh?

I live in southern New Hampshire, where I've gone back to school to earn an Associate Degree in Website Development. I'm also working part-time making content updates on one company's website. Taking four classes and working 20-25 hours of week does a nice job of squashing what little social life I have.

I also have bad reading habits, tending to read less than regularly, take months to finish books, and stall on books long enough that I abandon them to start on something else. The ironic thing is that I absolutely love hanging out in bookstores and looking for books that I may want to try. Who knows? Perhaps hanging out here on the S&L forums will help me to break those bad habits.

All that said, I've been into science fiction and fantasy since I was a kid. My lifelong love of superhero comics has led to an interest in urban fantasy, but I also love science fiction. My favorite authors include Jim Butcher, Spider Robinson, and Neil Gaiman, though I've also enjoyed books by Simon R. Green, Larry Niven, Peter David, and John DeChancie. [I was a big fan of DeChancie's Castle Perilous series.]

[Joana]

Hi everyone, I'm Joana and I've been listening to the S&L podcast for a couple of months now. I've only caught up with the newer episodes a couple of weeks ago, so I'll be participating in the book reading for the first time!

I've been a fantasy fan since I was a teenager, and I've started getting into SciFi 4 or 5 years ago. I simply love distopic novels.

I'm originally from Portugal, but I've been living in Canada for a couple of years now. I've moved here to do my PhD in Biology.

[Eric]

Hi, I'm Eric. I've listened to S&L from the beginning but just started to read the books with the podcasts. (Otherwise deep in a book every time they started one.)

I currently prefer urban fantasy (Dresden), but have also found myself on a far future kick recently.

I live in Madison WI.

- E

[Eliaures]

Howdy, I'm Scott from SXSW home and music capitol Austin, Texas. I am not a secessionist like my crazy Governor and my local heroes were and are Molly Ivins, Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Jim Hightower and James K. Galbraith.

My favorite fantasy/sci-fi authors are Tolkien, Asimov, G.R.R. Martin, and Raymond E. Feist. I also love the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, Lone Wolf and Cub, and I belong to a Shakespeare reading group.

I've been listening to the Sword & Laser for a while and with the start of HBO's presentation of "A Game of Thrones", I felt like I wanted to join the discussion here.

[Barry]

Hello! I'm Barry,
I heard about this group while listening to a BOL podcast, so here I am. I just finished reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdom and some John Scalzi novels. I tend to gravitate towards Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I also like reading religious novels, Greek Mythology and Technology related books. Good Reading!

[Laurent]

Bonjour I'm Laurent, originally from France where I read sci-fi and fantasy in French. I moved to Oregon about 13 years ago for work.

I read mostly fantasy nowadays but I think I also read pretty much every book written by Stephen King.
I've been listening to the podcast for only a few weeks but I have been a listener of BOL, TNT and other Frogpants podcasts for a while.

[Shippaisha]

Hello everyone, I'm Steve from Perth, Australia.

I have been listening to the S&L podcast for a couple of months now and have decided to join the goodreads group. It has motivated me to get back into recreational reading after a break of over ten years (what, with university and everything taking up so much time).

I read mainly SF with a little bit of fantasy. I enjoy the usual classic SF authors, I won't list them since others already have and I would probably leave some out anyway.

I'll probably read along with the group books as long as they are available on Kindle, real books are much too expensive in Australia.

[S]

Hi everyone, I'm Stuart. Born in England and living in Bangkok (Windup Girl country). I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for as long as I have been able to read and played D&D and Traveller for a little less time. Laser favs include Demolished Man, Ender's Game, Blood Music, Canticle for Leibowitz and weirdly the Flinx series by Alan Dean Foster. Oh really the list is too long. Sword favs include Game of Thrones, Elric series and offshoots, wow I can't remember them. My memory is terrible.
I have listened to a few podcasts now coming from Leo Laporte and was it CNET podcasts a few years ago? Anyway great job and looking forward to participating.

[Leah]

Hi, there-- I'm Leah.

I am a lifelong F& SF reader. Some favorite authors: George RR Martin, Glen Cook, Terry Pratchett, David Weber, Orson Scott Card, Joanna Russ,Guy Gavriel Kay, Catherine Valente, and Elizabeth Moon. I also love good urban fantasy and the standouts for me are (of course) Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and I am in love with Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series.

I am expecting to get a Kindle in the mail tomorrow-- very excited about getting an e-reader!

I look forward to getting to know you all

[Brian]

Hello Everyone!

I am a writer joining groups to get to know readers!

Please come check out my book!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

[Brian]

Hello Everyone!

I am a writer joining groups to get to know readers!

Please come check out my book!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10...

[Cory Day]

Hey guys :) I'm Cory. I've been a voracious reader all my life, but I refused to have anything to do with SciFi or Fantasy until college, where I had to read Ender's Game for a class. After that, I totally opened up to the entire genre :) Lately I've been more on an Urban Fantasy kick, but I'll really read just about anything.

I'm an architect, and I spend a lot of my working hours listening to books, but I have to pick ones I've already read so it doesn't matter so much if I miss something :)

Anyway, nice to be here :)

[[deleted user]]

Hello - I'm Dex and I am an avid reader of fantasy, the occasional thriller, a few classics and poetry. My favourite books are No Time for Goodbye, King Lear, The Lord of the Rings and The Shadow of the Wind. I have just started A Game of Thrones having finished Jake West: The Keeper of the Stones which I enjoyed and have reviewed.
I am hoping for sound advice on what's good and not so good, and interesting debate.

[Stanton]

Hi i'm A.D. I like to read fantasy, scifi and history. My current favorite authors are George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Royhfuss and Peter Hamilton.

[Moses]

Hello! I'm a geophysicist and mathematician who loves to read science fiction whenever I have time...

[Aethelberga]

Hi all, I'm aethelberga
I read quite a bit, a book or two per week & mostly sci-fi & fantasy, though right at the moment I am reading a history of the popes before I start on the sequel to Moon over Soho.
My fave authors are Terry Pratchett, Robert Sawyer and Lois McMaster Bujold among many others.

[Kim]

Hi my name is Kim and I don't remember when I didn't like to read. I like sci-fi and fantasy, but also history and mysteries. Looking for some good discussions

[[deleted user]]

Hello everyone! I've only been listening to S&L since episode 54 or so, but you've already been a good influence - I picked up Game of Thrones since it sounded so interesting, and I'm enjoying it (as well as the TV series) a lot!

I have been a sci-fi and fantasy geek since wandering out of the children's section of the public library in second grade.

My sci-fi favorites are currently David Weber's Honor Harrington series, for fantasy I have been reading a lot or urban fantasy in the last couple years, but I've gotten a bit burned out on the soap-opera-y-ness of a lot of those series, so I am planning on going through Game of Thrones, then Name of the Wind, and re-reading The Hobbit in the near future.

I love Terry Pratchett, and have some catching up to do there, I haven't read as many of his Discworld books as I'd like.

Nice to meet everyone!

[Tim]

I don't believe I've done this yet. I am a bad, bad troll.

My name is Tim, I am a self-professed sci-fi and fantasy freak. I love the stuff, and it's pretty much the entirety of my reading.

As a resident nerd, geek, and dork in school I immersed myself in role-playing games, and I still play them today, twenty years out of those hallowed halls of learning and reason (ha!).

I also fancy myself a beginning author, though at this stage I mostly write fanfiction and can be found over on fanfiction.net, my username there ZeroGain.

I am @ZeroGain on Twitter, though if you follow me for some reason please mention that you're an S&L person if you want a follow-back.

I'm not very good at updating my GoodReads profile, but I do keep listening to S&L. Thanks for making the place Veronica & Tom, and thanks to Frogpants & Scott Johnson for giving you guys a place to broadcast from.

[David]

Hello,
My name is Dave or (as I am more known by on the web) Greywalker or Greywalker1969. I am 42 and have been reading one novel after another since I was 13. I started out with Tolkien's the Hobbit, then the Lord of the Rings, and went from there.

I have read the 4 key books for the Lord of the Rings probably a dozen times now. I have read many of the other related books including the Silmarillion, though that took me three attempts to finish. I have 4 children, from 2 marriages (all are mine), and one grandson.

[Ed]

Hi! My name is Ed. I loved, loved the podcasts!!! I'm reading a game of thrones for the first time. I can be found at @edspillane and http://Facebook.com/Ed.Spillane

[Stirling]

Hi, I'm Greg

I'm a lifelong fantasy and sci-fi fan. I just discovered the Sword and Laser and Goodreads. My favorite book is The Hobbit, and right now I'm reading Lord Foul's Bane.

[Clyde]

Hello All,

My name is Clyde and I just discovered Goodreads and Sword and laser. I liked the podcast - I've only listened to 1 so far but Sci-fi, fantasy and horror are my thing so I am looking forward to reading and talking (writing about) some books!

[Tad]

Hoping to get back into sci-fi again, after a long hiatus. Old Man's War didn't do it for me; Gibson's Pattern Recognition definitely did. I'm a night cops reporter who witnesses the aftermath of shootings and such, and I appreciate a good reality break now and then. Look forward to checking out some of your suggestions.

[Rave]

Hi. My name's Mikio. I am epic fantasy fan looking to inject a bit of laser in my life. I've been following the podcast for the past 3 months so figured I might like the forums.

Also I'm a kindle fiend and a faithful audible subscriber.

[Beth]

Hi, everyone! I'm Beth.

I wandered over here because of Veronica and decided to join the fun!

I love to read, but haven't had a lot of time. I'm trying to fix that by not playing games on FB anymore. I read mostly fantasy and historical fiction, although I branch out into general fiction and sci-fi every so often. My fave authors in the genre are Jacqueline Carey, Michelle Sagara, Anne McCaffrey, and Terry Brooks.

I've downloaded the May read, but I'm currently reading 4 other books with 2 other book club reads to get started on. I always over commit. LOL

[Bill]

Hi! I found you fine folks through the Frogpants network by way of The Instance.

I started reading Choose your own Adventure books in elementary school (thanks to whoever invented the Book Fair!). I graduated to Sci-Fi in Jr. High School via Alan Dean Foster's "Nor Crystal Tears", then entered into the realm of Fantasy via a dusty wardrobe. ;)

[Bob]

Hi I am Bob, new to the group but have been reading Science Fiction since the 70s. Cut my teeth on Foundation series. Currently Reading Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin.

Thanks for the pointers on the podcast!

[Random]

Hi, I'm Random, and I'm new to S&L and have rarely used Goodreads. However, when I heard about your discussions from the podcast, I figured I'd come over and check it out.

I've been reading fantasy and sci-fi since I was a kid. Lloyd Alexander was my first intro into fantasy and Jules Verne was probably my first intro into sci-fi. Some fo my favorite authors (off the top of my head) include Roger Zelazny, Charles de Lint, Connie Willis, Neil Gaiman, and Jim Butcher.

I'm currently reading Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks.

[Brian]

Hello! My name is Brian. I just discovered the sword and laser podcast today. Then it led me here. Loving the group.

[Nick]

Hi All! I'm Nick. Discovered this podcast about a week ago even though I've been listening to VnT on various podcast for years now.

Got a kindle about a year ago and I'm hoping S&L will help me get more use out of it. Loving goodreads so far too. Its helping me make a ever insurmountable list of books I'd like to read.

I just finished "Blindsight" and just started "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms". Can't wait to work my way through the Hugo nominees for this year.

[Volkai]

Heyas, Volkai here.

A longtime fan of both scifi and fantasy, my exposure to these genres (and longstanding love of both) was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques and the Star Trek Academy series, back in 1993 and grade school.

A few of the more popular authors I've become a fan of since: Robert Jordan, Anne McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, Mercedes Lackey, and Brandon Sanderson.

At the moment the two books I'm most looking forward to are Jordan/Sanderson's last Wheel of Time book, A Memory of Light, and Sanderson's second Stormlight Archive book.