The Sword and Laser discussion

March is just around the corner and with it comes our 3rd annual March Madness tournament.

I've gotten permission from our benevolent leaders to change things up a bit this year. Due to the timing of the tournament and the general tendency to alternate Sword and Laser picks our last two tournaments have been exclusively Sword picks. There have been people asking we do Laser picks instead.

This year however we'll be doing BOTH. There will be 8 Sword picks, and 8 Laser picks selected by our benevolent leaders based on suggestions in this thread and a super secret criteria of their own making for seeding etc.

We'll have 4 rounds of voting. Rounds 1-3 will take us from 8 Sword books and 8 Laser books down to 1 of each that will go head to head for our to be our pick for April.

Post your nomination below.

Nomination FAQ

How Many books can I nominate? One. You cannot nominate one book and second another. You cannot nominate both a Fantasy book and a Sci-Fi book. Just ONE book total. If you mention more than one, I'm going to pick one. Likely the first one you mention. Please be CLEAR about your nomination.

Can we nominate any book we want? The only criteria is that it's a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book we haven't read. That said, it's preferable that you also nominate a book by an author we haven't read as well. Those nominations will likely have a better chance of making the final bracket.

Also, Please see this Note from Tom

Can I change My Nomination? Yes, but if you do so, please specify which book you are changing it from, as I'm doing this by hand.

How many books will be selected? 16 (8 Fantasy, 8 Sci-Fi)

When do nominations close? Monday, February 26th 11:59 PM PST. This will give Tom & Veronica some time to make the final bracket.

Which books will be selected? Whichever books Tom & Veronica want. They will simply use the nominations in this thread for suggestions.

How will the books be seeded? This is entirely up to Tom & Veronica. They may take into account how many people have nominated a book, but there is no guarantee.

The book I want was already nominated. You can second a nomination made by someone else, and I'll count how many people have nominated that book and sort accordingly.

No one else is nominating my book, should I change my vote to something more popular? In my opinion, you're better off just nominating a book you're interested in us reading than hoping to game the nomination system by changing your vote. Last year some of the books in the final bracket had only a single nomination, while several books with multiple nominations didn't make it.

How are the Nominations Sorted? The numbering is based on number of nominations, followed by when they moved up the list (i.e. based on post order). This number will likely not reflect the actual seeding as that will be entirely up to Tom & Veronica.

My nomination is missing/wrong! Sorry about that. I'm doing this by hand. Please post again and yell at me for missing, or not grouping it with another nomination for the same book, or marking you down for the wrong book, etc. If you're not clear about your nomination (or you nominate 2) I may add the "wrong" book. Please be sure you're clear, and I can fix it.

I'm going to go ahead and make my nomination for Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

It's probably another futile attempt on my part to get us to read it, but here's to hoping!

Sweeeeet (Cartman voice).

Can we nominate in this thread? Because I'm itching to nominate a certain Bob...

John (Taloni) wrote: "Sweeeeet (Cartman voice).

Can we nominate in this thread? Because I'm itching to nominate a certain Bob..."

Yes. This is the nominations thread :)

Bob is Legion..

i would love to nominate Walking Shadow by Clifford Royal Johns
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)

fantastic book, mostly unknown, so even if it fails, maybe some of you will read it anyway :)

I nominate Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal.

I've already read it, but it introduced me to Mary, who has truly become one of my favorite authors

I nominate Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...)

I nominate Soulless by Gail Carriger

I nominate Red Rising by Pierce Brown, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Cool. I will nominate We Are Legion (We Are Bob) aka "Bobiverse" #1.

I'll nominate Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson in the SF category.

Phil wrote: "I'll nominate Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson in the SF category."

Gonna be a tough tournament! That's a great one. I like Soulless too, totally different feel.

Spider Robinson is supposed to come to Worldcon this year. I hope his health holds out. He was one of the reasons I went to Westercon in 2015, but regrettably he couldn't make it then.

I think we need Vonnegut on our shelves, so I'll nominate for scifi -

The Sirens of Titan - I think it's the most obviously "SF" of all his stuff and should foster much discussion.

I second Soulless by Gail Carriger. Her world building is great, and her characters are vivid and well rounded.

Six women have been named Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America:

Andre Norton (1984)
Ursula K. Le Guin (2003)
Anne McCaffrey (2005)
Connie Willis (2012)
C.J. Cherryh (2016)
Jane Yolen (2017)

S+L has read books by all except Jane Yolen. I've not read anything by Ms. Yolen, so I'll nominate one of her books published for adult readers.

Sister Light, Sister Dark, a Nebula nominee for Best Novel in 1989. It's the first of three books that are known as the Great Alta Saga.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Cool. I will nominate We Are Legion (We Are Bob) aka "Bobiverse" #1."

I'd like to second this nomination.

The Misenchanted Sword - the whole Ethshar series is good, light fantasy, with everyday heroes. But this is the one that started it.

The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

I will second second (third?) We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein. My favorite SF book of last year!

Jeff Wheeler has been on my to read list for a while. I nominate The Wretched of Muirwood.

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Rob wrote: "I'm going to go ahead and make my nomination for Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

It's probably another futile attempt on my part to get us to read it, but h..."

I will happily second this nomination!! I love this book/series!!!

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

A gaslamp fantasy set in Victorian London with a diverse set of main characters. What's not to love?

I nominate Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson.

I nominate Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

So many good choices already posted, but I really want to introduce people to one of my all time favourite books. Ancient Egypt and slave girl turn spy...

I'd like to nominate Jhereg by Steven Brust. A short read featuring a wisecracking assassin/mafia boss in a world where humans are in the minority. Also includes some of the tastiest-sounding fictional food.

I'll nominate "The Sculpted Ship" by K.M. O'Brien. A lighthearted laser pick about a young starship captain buying a (non-space worthy) ship of her dreams, and trying to earn enough doing planetary work to get the parts needed for interstellar flight.

I nominate Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis Chen. It's a super fun futuristic spy story.

I nominate The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Its a long book, though!!

I nominate ThornbearMichael G. Manning.

Absolutely enjoy the voice that Michael G. Manning puts in his books. He invests me in his characters and story. While mostly Sword there is some Laser hidden away.

Current Nominations

Just like last year I'll be periodically rolling up the nominations as we go.

FAQ:

How Many books can I nominate? One. You cannot nominate one book and second another. You cannot nominate both a Fantasy book and a Sci-Fi book. Just one book total.

Can we nominate any book we want? The only criteria is that it's a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book we haven't read. That said, it's preferable that you also nominate a book by an author we haven't read as well. Those nominations will likely have a better chance of making the final bracket.

Can I change My Nomination? Yes, but if you do so, please specify which book you are changing it from, as I'm doing this by hand.

How many books will be selected? 16 (8 Fantasy, 8 Sci-Fi)

When do nominations close? Monday, February 26th 11:59 PM PST. This will give Tom & Veronica some time to make the final bracket.

Which books will be selected? Whichever books Tom & Veronica want. They will simply use the nominations in this thread for suggestions.

How will the books be seeded? This is entirely up to Tom & Veronica. They may take into account how many people have nominated a book, but there is no guarantee.

The book I want was already nominated. You can second a nomination made by someone else, and I'll count how many people have nominated that book and sort accordingly.

No one else is nominating my book, should I change my vote to something more popular? In my opinion, you're better off just nominating a book you're interested in us reading than hoping to game the nomination system by changing your vote. Last year some of the books in the final bracket had only a single nomination, while several books with multiple nominations didn't make it.

How are the Nominations Sorted? The numbering is based on number of nominations, followed by when they moved up the list (i.e. based on post order). This number will likely not reflect the actual seeding as that will be entirely up to Tom & Veronica.

My nomination is missing/wrong! Sorry about that. I'm doing this by hand. Please post again and yell at me for missing, or not grouping it with another nomination for the same book, or marking you down for the wrong book, etc.

-----------Multiple Votes----------------
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor - 3 (John (Taloni), Jen, Dave)
Soulless by Gail Carriger - 2 (IWinkler, Melissa)
Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan - 2 (Roberator, Jann)

-----------Single Votes----------------
Walking Shadow by Clifford Royal Johns (Cory)
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (Scott)
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (Mike)
Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Wayne)
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson (Phil)
The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks (Dani)
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (Michele)
Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen (Mark)
The Misenchanted Sword by Lawrence Watt-Evans (Pete)
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (Sheila Jean)
The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein (Tom)
The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler (Todd)
Midnight Riot aka Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Eric)
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (Natalie)
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (Em)
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (James)
Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (Serena)
Jhereg by Steven Brust (Sweta)
The Sculpted Ship by K.M. O'Brien (Alex)
Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen (Danielle)
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Dan)
Thornbear by Michael G. Manning (Marcus)

I nominate When the English Fall.

The Amish take on the Apocalypse.

How about some short stories? I nominate "The woman who thought she was a planet" by Vandana Singh - she and her work need to be better known. I'm not sure whether you would classify it as sword or laser though, there are stories representative of both. Most of the stories take place in India, some are magical realism, some are set in the very near future and have firm grounding in reality, since the author is a physics professor. All have soul.

What I love about this collection is how the speculative premise is not the point in and of itself, but rather a way to look at the characters and their struggles. I doubt this book will be picked, but read it if you have a chance.

Wayne wrote: "I nominate Red Rising by Pierce Brown, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1..."

I'll second this one.

Dani wrote: "I'm keen to nominate The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks... anyone read it?

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Traveller (Fourth Realm, #1) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8..."

I read the first 2, it was trippy. Is the third book out?

Brian Staveley would be awesome. Since I only can nominate 1 book, I will stay away from the trilogy and pick the stand alone Skullsworn in the same world.

Just finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. It's a fun short read. I like how the author takes weaknesses and turns them into strengths.

Pete wrote: "The Misenchanted Sword - the whole Ethshar series is good, light fantasy, with everyday heroes. But this is the one that started it."

Second that. I also would love to re-read Jhereg, and a whole bunch of these other nominations sound great too.

I will second Every Heart is a Doorway.

I’m going to second City of Brass!

I wish to nominate “The Spaceship Next Door” by Gene Doucette .

I nominate The Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao.

The list is looking really strong this year. I see so many books that I’d love to read.

Sandman slim by Richard Kadrey great series dark urban Fantasy

I keep seeing rave reviews for Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, so I'd like to nominate that

I nominate Crystal Shard by R.A. Salvatore. This is its 30th anniversary this year.

We haven't read any Margaret Atwood yet!

I nominate Oryx and Crake.

I nominate Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

I wrote: "I nominate Soulless by Gail Carriger"

I would like to second this nomination as well.