The Sword and Laser discussion

We talk about our thoughts on the Hugo Award winners and the Dragon Award winner and devise a fiendish plan to win a Hugo. Also, Tom buys a ticket to see Matt Dinniman while doing the show.

https://www.swordandlaser.com/home/20...

I have a suggestion for a potential October pick: Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio. It’s a spooky (and seasonal, it’s explicitly set in October) novella about a group of misfits who encounter a mysterious freshly dug grave in an old churchyard and unravel the mystery over the course of a single night. Without giving anything away, there is some science-y stuff going on, so it’s a bit science fiction as well as suitably spooky.

Everybody bump themselves. 👊 That could be a song (She Bop?).

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem is considered spooky.

The current pick is mebbe a month early as it's spooky enough with the visits to the afterlife and graveyards to qualify.

I have mad love for Chuck Tingle's "Bury Your Gays" which absolutely deserves all the awards it's getting. That is plenty spooky, but might be a better pick for Pride month. And I know Our Hosts like to mull over picks so next June would provide time to think it over. For October I'll be rerereading A Night in the Lonesome October and probably whatever T & V pick.

As we haven't done any ChatGPT stuff lately, here's what it gave me when I asked for an ultra violent cozy fantasy scene:

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Mist still clung to the cobbled lane when the bandit stepped from the shadows, dagger glinting. He opened his mouth — but before the words came, the little grandmother with the wicker basket of herbs whipped her knitting needle straight into his eye.

It was quick, efficient. A crunch, a startled scream, then a gurgle as he collapsed like a sack of flour. She tsked, pulling the needle free and wiping it neatly on her apron.

“Terribly sorry, young man,” she murmured, as though the twitching corpse could still hear. “But I’ve no patience for ruffians before breakfast.”

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I don't know, but that's probably more a cheap Pratchett knock off I feel ...

Jan wrote: "As we haven't done any ChatGPT stuff lately, here's what it gave me when I asked for an ultra violent cozy fantasy scene:

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Mist still clung to the cobbled lane when the bandit stepped fro..."

Or a scene from The Thursday Murder Club.

As far as suggestions for an October pick that is not too scary but still hits a spooky vibe, I do have a few:

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

In the same sort of nostalgic small town feel, there's also Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

Another Robert McCammon book with a very interesting take on the werewolf legend has said werewolf as a secret British agent fighting Nazis in The Wolf's Hour

For some great vampire fiction we have Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin and Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite, Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler, and of course Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire

On lighter notes, Grady Hendrix has several horror-comedy novels.

For October, we could scratch the spoopy itch and the Mieville effect in one swell foop with Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire).

It has cuddly mermaids.

Mark wrote: "For October, we could scratch the spoopy itch and the Mieville effect in one swell foop with Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire)."

🏃 noooooooo

Robert wrote: "Another Robert McCammon book with a very interesting take on the werewolf legend has said werewolf as a secret British agent fighting Nazis in The Wolf's Hour"

This sounds interesting.

How about The One and Future Witches, I am told it has cozy horror vibes...

The *once* and future witches

Willow has a new story about a spooky bear. Maybe this can be a contender?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN3UDm...