Veronica is off on maternity leave but Brea Grant from the Reading Glasses podcast is here. yay! Brea gets to know pigeons, our legion of Richards and kicks off her pick for December, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. We also need your help uncovering the mystery of Boxing Day.

It's Veronica's last episode before her maternity leave! OH MY. And we have some fun, including wrapping up our thoughts on Howl's Moving Castle.

Tom and Veronica draw the lines on whether they favor Alix E. Harrow or Tamsyn Muir (because they are both awesome). Tom has some new new writing coming out, and we have our first impressions of Howl's Moving Castle and why we missed out on it in our own childhoods.

How to make The Watch series not feel so bad maybe? Also, some great lists of top fantasy and sci-fi and a few more award winners. Plus, we kick off the November pick and wrap up Finder By Suzanne Palmer.

Sandman and Lord of the Rings go back intro production, why publishers shouldn't fear library eBooks, and a call for Sword and Laser book remembering help!

A couple of great series becoming books and video games. A couple of great folks sadly passed away. And our final thoughts on Ten Thousand Doors of January, and our FIRST thoughts on the October Pick, Finder.

Dune! Dune looks so good! Yay Dune! Save us! Help us escape! Actually, we’re pretty good on that front as Ten Thousand Doors of January is helping us all escape. And we’re also pretty bulllish on the team putting together a TV adaptation of Three-Body problem for Netflix. EVERYTHING IS GREAT!

We try to explain Audible's new plans, decide if Pinocchio is fantasy (especially if Mussolini is involved), and wrap-up our thoughts on Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett.

The Hugos are here! And we’ve read a bunch of them. Also, some thoughts on what should or should not be in the genre canon. Should there even be a canon? Or should we shoot it out of a cannon? Also our early, non-spoilery thoughts on Elysium.

We chat with Dennis E. Taylor about the Bobiverse, and what we can expect when we return to it in the new book Heaven's River.

In this episode, it's tricky to put the World in WorldCon, alternate history first contact, and Tom is really excited about next month's pick. Plus, we wrap up our ultimately satisfying read of Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

We talk with Sam Maggs about her new novel Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope, and about writing different stories in different platforms, from video games to comics to novels.

The first rule of Short Story Club, SFF with a smile, and how to get the most out of Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

We talk with L. E. Modesitt Jr, the bestselling author of two science fiction series and four fantasy series, who has published more than seventy novels. His latest book, Quantum Shadows is described as blending science fiction, myth, and legend in an adventure that pits old gods and new against one another in a far-future world.

We address the harassment accusations against authors, discover that the July pick could be classified as horror (to Veronica's horror), and have a whole lot of good TV coming based on a whole lot of good books.

Tom starts throwing money at Becky Chambers and Veronica defends her rose quartz. Plus, new Star Wars short stories coming and lots of great tie-in novels up for Scribe awards! Also our first impressions of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

Congrats to the Locus Nominees and Nebula winners! We’ve read a bunch of those but there are some great new picks to be discovered too. Everybody wins! Plus long-time Sword and Laser listener TerpKristin joins us to wrap up Magician: Apprentice.

We're beefing up our reading lists with Japanese and British award lists. Also it's fun to see what critically-acclaimed movies are hated by the authors whose books they are based on. Plus, we preview our June pick and have a few thoughts on the May pick!

We're going to get some good Discworld TV! We talk about why sometimes you don't want to read old stuff, and whether you're someone who likes depressing consequences or happily ever after stories. All that and our first non-spoiler impressions of Magician: Apprentice.

We invited Andrew Heaton, Host of Alienating the Audience, to join us! Oh Dune… is there any wrong way to enjoy you? Possibly yes. We also wrap up How to Lose the Time War.

Veronica Roth is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series, the Carve the Mark duology, The End and Other Beginnings collection of short fiction, and most recently her newest novel, Chosen Ones. We talk to her about the new novel, and what it’s like doing a virtual book tour!

The Hugo Nominees are in! And we've read some fo them! Also the Nebula Nominees are in and we've read some of them too! And we have thoughts on the beauty of this month's pick, This is How You Lose the Time War.

Worldcon goes virtual and we totally get it, Tom has a new book out, ways to support your independent bookstore, we kick off our April pick, and FINALLY give our last thoughts on The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley.

We’ve got our first impressions of the new Star Wars: High Republic books, some great new award-winning picks, and our first impressions of The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley.

We unveil the 16 books we'll be pitting against each other in our quite Mad March tournament of polls. We also chat about the Nebula nominees, introduce our March pick, and give our final thoughts on Gideon the Ninth.

We need your book nominations for our totally “mad” March tournament. Of books! Also we’re psyched Locke and Key is on Netflix, the new Naomi Novik series, and our first non-spoilery thoughts on Gideon the Ninth.

We’ve got picks from librarians and the public domain! Plus we’re excited for Gideon the Ninth and we have our final thoughts on the January pick, In the Company of Others.

We’ve got Hugo nominations open! And a new Heinlein novel. I mean “new” to everybody but him, we guess. Plus, we kick off In the Company fo Others by Julie E. Czerneda.

Veronica explains the awesome piece in the New York Times about Ken Liu, we're excited for The Witcher, we announce the January book will be In the Company of Others by Julie Czerneda, and we wrap up The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. Plus, we put the “fun” in Science Fungus.

Got reader’s block? We've got some tips to get you out of it. Is there too much SFF out there now? And why Death is Veronica's favorite character. We kick off Hogfather and give our final thoughts on Snow Queen!

How we’re feeling about the Snow Queen, and where it’s world-building might have drawn from. Plus two alternative pronunciation guides for the character names. Plus, a treasure trove of awesome articles about SciFi-type things!

So many awards! You have no excuse for not finding something awesome and new to read right now. Not that you ever do with us on the job, we hope. Also, our first impressions on reading The Snow Queen.

We explain why the Tiptree Award is now the Otherwise award, welcome the casting of Apple's Foundation TV show, and Sam Sykes has a message for Stephen King (and Myke Cole).

Should you feel guilty for re-reading? The answer is no. But you shouldn't feel guilty for not re-reading too. Plus our fantasy casting of A Darker Shade of Magic is pretty much all Keanu.

Targaryen TV show possible? Check. Clifford Simak movie on Netflix? Check. Far Side back? Check. Showtime turns down The Kingkiller Chronicle TV show? WHAT?! BUT LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!

Fran Wilde's op-ed from the future sounds hilarious. N. K. Jemisin's new novel sounds awesome. And Andy Weir's short story has been adapted into a cool short film. So much good reading out there! Plus our thoughts on why Trail of Lightning has us thinking that sometimes you just have to kick your problems in the face.

The Hugos have come and gone, and they were awesome. Audible's in trouble for speech-to-text. But they're right, it's an accessibility issue. Also, the publishers are right, it's a copyright issue! Tell it to the judge, both of you! Plus, we kick off our September pick, Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse.

We had SO much fun at WorldCon in Dublin. We were blown away with how many people came out to see us!! We were literally prepared with plans for if the room was empty, but no, Ireland filled our room and our hearts. We got some great conversations and book recommendations from folks in the crowd too! Go raibh maith agaibh! The craic was grand!

Are we excited for The Witcher? Probably? Are we excited for the Hitchhiker's Guide Hulu TV series? Maybe? Are we excited for Vessel? In some ways? Is Tom excited for The Poppy War? YES!

Veronica is definitely not meeting direwolves in Ireland and stealing them and smuggling them back into the United States. Definitely not. Plus, our thoughts so far on Vessel by Lisa Nichols.

We’re so excited about our guest pick! It’s the kickoff for our July book, and the first ever-not-in-any-way chosen by Tom or Veronica. Also we love XKCD and we love Station 11. Also Dara and Terpkristin. So much love!

Tom talks with Greg van Eekhout, author of Voyage of the Dogs and California Bones about dogs, writing from local influences, and what the Nebulas mean to him. Also Tom embarrasses himself at least twice!

We're excited for a trip to the Hunger Games' past and to hear Tatiana Maslany show us her Orphan Black chops again. Plus, Veronica takes on a Jim Butcher challenge and our final thoughts on The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

We’re cautiously pessimistic about Winds of Winter, but hey wouldn’t that be cool? Also we discover what famous authors we live in (yes, you read that right, live in) and our initial thoughts on The Last Unicorn. PLUS an astonishing announcement about next month’s pick!

Tom catches up with Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Trail of Lightning, to talk about writing native cultures in genre fiction and what she gets out of the Nebula conference.

Tom had fun at the Nebulas, and we’re excited about the winners. We also kick off a new book, wrap up the last one and give our thoughts about the Game of Thrones finale.

Locus Award finalists! Great supplementary material for the Martian Chronicles! Why we need utopias! AI Whisky! ALL THAT AND MORE! Sorry. We're really excited about this episode. We hope you will be too.

To Gene Wolfe! Thank you for Shadow and Claw and Pringles. Plus, William Gibson’s Alien 3, what you need to know before reading The Martian Chronicles, and our final thoughts on the vast conspiracies that make up Theft of Swords.