Introduction and welcome thread! Showing 3,801-3,850 of 4,412

[Zack]

Hi I'm Zack, I like reading fantasy mostly and mystery crime thrillers especially traditional ones but now and then I like some sci-fi too. Lots of great books out there to read, I look forward to reading more. Good to meet you, thank you for having me.

[Mary]

Hi! I'm Mary. Alabama girl living in The Hague, Netherlands. I started following S&L after DragonCon '15. I read a wide variety, but some all time faves are Jacqueline Carey, Sara Douglass, & Death Gate Cycle. The original Dragonlance trilogy was my first adult fantasy and I was very much an LJ Smith and Christopher Pike fangirl as a teen.

So, I'm listening to old podcasts and hoping to make some connections. If anyone out there is in The Hague, I'd love to get to know you.

Cheers!

[Get X Serious]

Hi, I'm Colton. I hike for 6 months out of the year, so I don't actually have a legitimate home, but the trade off is that I have an incredible amount of time to listen to audiobooks (and podcasts) when hiking 10 hours a day.

I joined this group because a) I like the podcast and b) I have a fierce need to talk to people about books (and writing), and I'm just not getting that wish fulfilled in the real world.

I can get down on any subgenre in the SF&F world, but I think my true love is epic fantasy. I'm also a big fan of graphic novels and nonfiction in a wide variety, mostly social justice and ecology themed work. My favorite contemporary writer is a toss up between Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson, and N.K. Jemisin.

Can't wait to see more discussion about The Fifth Season!

[Troy]

Hello all. I'm a long time fan of Tom and Veronica so I thought I'd give the group a try. I have listened to The Sword and Laser occasionally in the past but have hit every episode for a while now so here I am. I've never been involved in a book group of any sort before so it's interesting to read the comments. My first group book is A Darker Shade of Magic and I listened to the audiobook. Most of my book consumption is through Audible with some reading on a Nexus 7 tablet and the rare foray into dead tree editions.

[J. Patrick]

Greetings, all! Call me Patrick. I'm new both to Goodreads and the magnificent S&L, and looking forward to some lively discussion. Just finished The Fifth Season and found it quite excellent--can't wait to hear what other readers have to say!

[Zack]

Colton wrote: "Hi, I'm Colton. I hike for 6 months out of the year, so I don't actually have a legitimate home, but the trade off is that I have an incredible amount of time to listen to audiobooks (and podcasts)..."

I haven't read a good fantasy in a while, I'd like to get back into that

[Shaunesay]

Hello! I've been lurking for awhile and interested but not had a lot of time to be involved yet. This looks like a great group and I look forward to exploring it more! I'm a fan of both swords and lasers, I would say primarily fantasy, but have tried to branch out more into Sci-Fi as I am finding that I do also enjoy space settings/adventures, and my husband is a classic Sci-Fi fan as well. Thanks for having me!

[Gaines]

Hey there Shaunesay :-) nice to meet you.

[Andy]

Hello, all! I'm Andy and I read a lot of SF/F and history. Some of my favorite authors include Glen Cook, GRRM, Tim Powers, William Gibson, Robert Heinlein, John Scalzi, and Patrick Rothfuss. I'm bouncing between a bunch of books now, but currently into Brian Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, & Thorn trilogy. I recently finished Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl (it was cool!).

I usually make a big list of things to read and get to it when I get to it, but I really like the idea of joining a book club where we all enjoy the same book and talk about it. I've been listening to S&L podcast for almost a year now, and I look forward to sharing with you and learning about new great things to read or watch!

[Gaines]

Hi Andy :-)

[Matt]

Hi, just joined, long time listener of the Sword and Laser. More of a Laser fan but open to Sword.

[James]

Hi, thought I should say hello having lurked for several years and finally written a post.

I'm a great reader of Fantasy and Sci-Fi reading 4-5 books a month and am very grateful for S&L introducing me to authors I would otherwise not have found.

My favorites include Terry Pratchett, Gail Carriger, Ian M Banks and James S. A. Corey.

[Albert]

Hello, I'm Albert from Stockholm, Sweden.

I've been reading Sci-Fi for a long time, mostly the classics but the last few years I've been exploring new authors. I found the Sword & Laser when looking for new influences and I look forward to the monthly picks and the discussions afterwards.

[Ted]

Hello, all-

I'm Ted. I've been reading fantasy and science fiction since Pluto was a planet. My current favorite SF authors include Vernor Vinge and Larry Niven; favorite fantasists include Roger Zelazny and Tim Powers. Of course, I also love Pratchett, Tolkien, Brunner, Haldeman, Bester, Blish, Cordwainer Smith, Asimov...

[Tom]

Hello everyone at S&L, I'm Tom. I love reading fantasy and sci-fi and am a huge fan of all things geeky! My favourite authors are: Terry Pratchett, P.G Wodehouse, Douglas Adams, Ernest Cline, Frank Herbert and Tolkien, just to name a few.

[izu-iki]

Kind of late to the party but decided to join the fun anyways. Been a fan of The Sword and Laser since I found a couple of videos on youtube, and now I'm here!

[[deleted user]]

Thomas wrote: "Hello everyone at S&L, I'm Tom. I love reading fantasy and sci-fi and am a huge fan of all things geeky! My favourite authors are: Terry Pratchett, P.G Wodehouse ..."

Yes, Wodehouse is delightful. I've recently been reading the Agatha Christie Tommy and Tuppence stories and find the same kind of wit and delightful dialog. You might give them a try.

[Ogrish]

I've been a spectator of many a video, but never joined. Lurking is more me.

but I needed to drum up pre-orders for my novel so I had to stop lurking. Now that I'm talking though I might start posting too much just to make up for lost time.

[Melanie]

Hey there, I'm Melanie, and...I have a reading problem. It's been 30 minutes since I've last read, and I can't seem to fight the call of my latest book...The problem isn't so much that I can't stop reading. It's that I don't WANT to.

Seriously, though, I can't believe I haven't joined this group until now--I've lurked forever. I love science fiction and fantasy all all sorts. Looking forward to being more active here!

[Henry]

Hi to all my fellow bibliophiles. I am Henry Arthur and have read and loved Heinlein, Asimov, Niven, Pournelle, Pohl, Wells and have finally written what (I think) is a fair epic sci-fi adventure fantasy. It is now at Smashwords.com . Here is code for free copy coupon,good till June 20 - LL86L to anyone who wants to review it. It is, I hope, going to be available at Kindle soon too. Novel Title Return of Greek Gods:Wealth Disparity solution. Archeologists, Greek Gods, Genesis per Apollo, Trojan war etc all in it. I hope I am not adding too much to introduction link, if so...Help. looking forward to interacting with a group that likes sci-fi as much as I do.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Henry wrote: "and have finally written what (I think) is a fair epic sci-fi adventure fantasy."

Hi Henry.
We have a section for plugging members books. Nothing wrong with plugging it in your introduction, but more people might notice it there. Plus you can add all the links to help people find it.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

[Henry]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Henry wrote: "and have finally written what (I think) is a fair epic sci-fi adventure fantasy."

Hi Henry.
We have a section for plugging members books. Nothing wrong with plugging it in your intr..."

thanksTassie Dave: I am completely lost so far. Maybe if I go to community or browse header above I can find topics or group...will I look for new author or? Any suggestion or other help is welcome

[Rebecca]

Hi, I'm Becky! I've been listening to the podcast and reading a few of the picks for a while now. I'm currently making my way through The Expanse series (love it!) as it was recommended in a thread about books for people who love Firefly. I used to be all about the sword portion of SFF, but lately I'm leaning a little more towards laser. That said, I love both genres! Also, I have a book buying problem. So much faster/easier to just click buy on the kindle page. Especially if it is on sale or only $1.99 or so. The new Goodreads sale feature is totally targeting me. I love/hate it! I have so many books and not enough time to read them all. So, that said, hi to everyone! :)

[Josh]

Hello I'm Josh. I like read Sci-fi, Fantasy, Mysteries, and Horror. My favorite authors are Clive Barker, George RR Martin, Brandon Sanderson and William Gibson.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Hi I'm Randy from southern California. I have been reading sci-fi and fantasy for more than 25 years when I read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in elementary school, followed by A Wrinkle in Time.

Right now I'm reading George R R Martin's A Storm of Swords and Philip K Dick's Ubik. I recently finished Ready Player One which I enjoyed quite a bit.

[Gembee]

Hi all

I'm Gem and read lots of different fiction. currently on the second to last game of thrones book which has taken over the last 6 months of my life but well worth it. I do a bit of creative writing and looking forward to reading this blog and learning more about the genre!

[Jeffrey]

Greetings, fellow adventurers! This is epic (high) fantasy author Jeffrey L. Kohanek, sharing a bit of background about me and my first book.

From a young age, I’ve felt driven by an internal desire to create. With an early love for heroes with super powers, I found my childhood-self creating my own comic books. In 4th grade, I stepped through the wardrobe and never looked back, eschewing comics for journeys to wondrous lands such as Narnia and Middle Earth. In my teens, my love for epic fantasy grew to a crescendo with the Belgariad and Riftwar series both capturing my imagination, leaving me enthralled with the idea of discovering magical abilities and learning to harness them. When I finally decided to write my own epic fantasy series, it was with the desire to instill that same sense of wonder in my readers.

The Buried Symbol is the first book in The Runes of Issalia trilogy. It is a zero-to-hero story wrapped within a world where runes have inherent meaning. Citizens are marked at birth, assigning them their vocation and caste status for life. The main character is among the 1% who receive no rune, leaving him without a place in society. When he illegally obtains a fake rune, he journeys to a school for the elite, entering under a false identity. There, he begins to uncover secrets long-hidden, including a lost magic that he learns to harness. With the reader sharing in the discovery process, the magic system is well defined and logic-based. Being a trilogy, there are underlying plot lines and conspiracies throughout, with only the tip of the proverbial iceberg becoming exposed in book one.

Regards,

Jeffrey L. Kohanek

[Rob, Roberator]

Please keep self promotion to the designated section.

[Nathan]

Hi S&L

I'm an avid Sci-Fi fan and author. Apart from looking for some exposure for my book Tusk, which of course I highly recommend and would love for you to showcase, I'd also love to see more on Peter F. Hamilton, Chris Wooding, William Gibson and John Scalzi who are among my favourites.

Great to meet you all!

[Lars]

Howdy all-
I'm Lars Teeney, and I am a self-published author, book blogger and scifi/fantasy fan. I like dystopian and post-apocalyptic, fantasy and space opera among other genres.

[Jessica]

Hi! My name is Jess. I was invited to join this group by two friends with whom I regularly exchange books; I'm really looking forward to participating!

Some of my favorite authors are Jim Butcher, Anne Bishop, Patricia Briggs, Guy Gabriel Kay, and Elizabeth Moon.

[Hayley]

Hi everyone! My name is Hayley Wilds and I'm a therapist, writer, aspiring author and huge SFF fan! I'm an assistant director at a non profit where I supervise family therapists and in my spare time, I read, write, and binge watch TV. I'm currently working on my first novel.

I love to read fantasy of all kinds and lots of science fiction too! I also love historical romance. Some of my fav authors are Jane Austen, George RR Martin, CS Lewis and Tolkien.

Looking forward to more suggestions for my TBR pile!!

[Corey (grimdark_dad)]

Hey everyone! I've been lurking on the forum a bit, and thought I should at least say hi. I've only recently discovered The Sword and Laser, but I'm a BIG FAN! I've been going through as many of the old episodes as I can, but I have to bail on lots of them (spoilery about books I haven't read yet!)

I was listening to an episode today, and they were chatting about books with great/humorous dialogue, and Joe Abercrombie was cited as an author who wrote great dialogue. I'm a new fan of his as well, and I'm about 80 pages into "Half a War". I was just reading a bit and ran into this passage, which made me chuckle and think of the podcast:

A voice came muffled from beyond the door. "I was putting on my armor. It has fiddly buckles"

[Stephanie]

Hello all! I'm Stephanie, a librarian in California. Just joining the group this month and reading the June pick. Excited to discover new Sci-Fi and fantasy reads through this group! My reading interests are pretty diverse, but my favorites are usually any fantasy in a historical setting (medieval, turn of the century), especially with female protagonists. I'm open to trying new books that I can hopefully share with my library patrons.

[Warren]

I tried to get into the International Fleet's Battle School, but they took some guy named Wiggin instead.

I was accepted at Hogwarts, but I couldn't find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

I applied to Unseen University of Ankh-Morpork, but all they would offer me was a degree in optometry.

I wasn't able to force my way into the Jedi Academy.

So I stayed at home and started writing books.

[Edwin]

Hi. I devour a whole gambit of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I also write Science Fiction Adventure.

My favourite science fiction TV series of all time remains Babylon 5.

My favourite science fiction movie is Independence Day.

The science fiction book I consider as having impacted the direction of my writing the most is Rendevous With Rama with an emphasis on that moment when the lights first came on.

[Jim]

I'm Jim. An SF reader since the fifties, a listener to the Sword and Laser podcast for many years. I also read fantasy, mysteries, history and biographies. I watch a lot of SF movies and TV and have enjoyed the scify tv shows from recent books this past year. I like many different authors and styles but am tired of the heavy dystopian books.
I'm a retired mental health counselor, diagnostician and administrator but keep my hand in as a community college adjunct instructor in psychology.

[Justin]

Hi everyone, just introducing myself. My main hobby is reading. I tend to read science fiction and fantasy genres but also love true crime and mystery novels. Horror is another genre that is near and dear to me. My favorite author is Stephen King. I'm currently reading the Magicians by Lev Grossman !

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Alex wrote: "...Feel free to massage me..."

O.o

[Chell]

Hello, my name is Chell.

I have always enjoyed reading which I think I owe mostly to my parents who forbade me from watching TV when I was a kid. So books became my entertainment and I always had a special place for Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

My favorite authors are always changing but right now I love: S.J Maas, Jacqueline Carey, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Stephen King, and Anne Rice.

I'm always looking for people to talk to about books because I unfortunately don't know many other readers. So that's why I came here.

[[deleted user]]

Just thought I'd say hello. While I don't think of myself as a sci-fi fantasy person, I do love books that play with your mind, that are placed just one degree off the known universe (Chronic City comes to mind). I have read some on your bookshelf, Canticle for Leibowitz, Dune, Station Eleven, and of course, all the Heinlein and Azimov, Dick, and some other great books that I think of as other-worldly (Dhalgren, the Prelandra trilogy, gosh, probably lots). It reminds me of books from 50 years ago that aren't even on my book list. There's such wonderful stuff out there!

I came in because of your gender-swapping discussion, which is wonderful, and stopped here before I commented on the thread just to say hello!

[Alex]

Brand new to Sword and Laser,
I stumbled across the podcast by accident and it was exactly what I've been looking for forever - a community that can make solid recommendations in the genre of science -fiction. I can't get enough of the material in both book and film. Currently I'm working through the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey - just finished Leviathan Wakes and cracked open the second one. I love the classic authors: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, etc. My current guilty pleasure are the Sci-Fi comics coming out from Image Comics: Injection, Lazarus, Descender, Symmetry, Invisible Republic, Saga, etc...a plethora of quality writers.
Fantasy has never been my favorite, pretty much have only read Lord of the Rings and the first three Game of Throne novels but I'm excited to dig in to the reading list and explore the genre further. Looking forward to finding some great reads.

[Eli]

Greetings! My first name is Eli but I go by my abbreviated middle name, Max.

I reads and listens to the books and escape to virtual worlds in my idle time. I dwell, earn, and play in and around the Seattle area. I excel at learning about people, places, and things.

[Michael]

Hey, my name is Michael, and I'm trying to get back into reading. I recently found Goodreads as well as Sword and Laser, and I liked the backlog for the group so much that I figured I'd give it a go. I've already started reading July's book, and I look forward to some awesome discussion!

[Dean]

Hello everyone. I am Dean Snow from Berlin.... Wisconsin, that is. I have listened to the podcast for a while. just became a patron supporter and love the books read every month.

[Thomas]

My first question upon acquiring the book, Leviathan Wakes, was about the title's meaning. I've seen quite a few takes and thought I would add my own: Leviathan is the essential title to Thomas Hobbes book on government and human nature. It was the word he chose to describe the lumbering vastness in the nature of governance. When I considered that possibility, I also considered that 'wakes' refers to the turbulence left behind as large objects travel on water, land or air. Those meanings seem to me to be most appropriate for the title of James S. A. Corey's opening salvo in the Expanse series. Leviathan Wakes: the chaos (or trouble) always left behind in the movement and actions of vast governments/ bureaucracies. This seems particularly appropriate given the existence (in the story) and actions of the UN, Martian, and the nascent OPA. Thoughts?

[Alex]

Thomas, I agree

[Alex]

I like the juxtaposition of the vast expanse that Corey is illustrating with the small tight story of the two characters. Really a great study of how our current political climate would exist in the future. The title stumped me too. I thought on a simpler scale that the Leviathan was the ship being built for the Mormon colonists as there was a passing paragraph where it was referred to as such. I haven't cracked open the second book yet but perhaps the title is forshadowing the role this ship will play in humanities future as we try to reach beyond the solar system.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*]

Hello! I'm MrsJoseph. I'm a long time fantasy - not much Sci-fi - and Romance junkie.

Some of my favorite authors include: Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings & Ilona Andrews. I prefer "hopeful" fantasy instead of the current GrimDark trend (no GRRM/Joe Abercrombie/etc for me!).

[Gordon]

Hello!

I'm Gordon, from Scotland, and I'm just stepping out of my comfy lurking corner for a moment to join up and say 'hi'.

This is my first book club experience, online or otherwise (actually, this is also my first forum post anywhere, ever). I've always tended to read in sporadic bouts, but I'm trying to make the time to read more regularly at the moment, as part of a general effort to wake my brain up a bit. I've never really focused on any particular genre, though Sci-fi and Fantasy have featured in some of the books - mainly Iain M Banks -and comics - e.g. Sandman, Fables - I've enjoyed most in recent years, and I have (slightly fainter) memories of some Asimov, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Piers Anthony and Fighting Fantasy books from my childhood and teens. I think these genres connect with the escapist aspect I often look for in books and in other media (games, films, TV) - I particularly like the business of zooming between small, world-establishing details and huge, head-spinning ideas - and I'm keen to explore beyond the little I've read so far.

I've been enjoying the Sword and Laser podcast and am hoping that joining the group will help me discover a wider range of authors, motivate me to keep up the reading, and provide a chance to enjoy seeing some enthusiastic discussion - hopefully I'll even brave a second post at some point to join in.