The Sword and Laser discussion

After 4 years I have finally finished the Great American Read and am finishing the backlog of Sword and Laser picks (including alts as listed by the wiki). Add a dash of March Madness book voting and the various discussions about books (See March Madness and Hamilton and Banks) and what to vote against and this triggered a thought as I seek my next set of "Must Reads".

Which authors (Alt picks don't count) that Sword and Laser has not yet read are we most excited to have a shot at reading in the future?

Post Script: If there is a specific classic that should be read attached to that author include it.

Now as my contribution has said, "That is my debating point, and you are now free to start hurling the chairs around!"

1. Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2021 was the 42nd anniversary)

From the Wiki (I assumed none of these were official Alt Picks: If they were I'll edit them out)
1. Jane Yolen: Dragon's Blood
2. Gail Carriger
3. N.K Jemisin
4. Adam Christopher
5. Haruki Murakami
6. Joe Abercrombie

I think 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami was an alt pick.

Jemisin was both a main pick and an alt pick and Murakami, Abercrombie, Yolen and Christopher were all alt picks.
I'm not 100% sure what you're asking but if it's just a list of classic authors that the group hasn't read yet and I think we should then I could give you a couple dozen names. It would mostly be straight, white, males and that would piss some people off but that's who I know.

Adam wrote: "From the Wiki (I assumed none of these were official Alt Picks: If they were I'll edit them out)"

As the person who made the Book list on the Wiki and edits it each time a new book is picked, every Alt pick on that list was made an Alt pick by Veronica and/or Tom. So they are all "Official" Alt picks.

The list does not include Rogue reads or non-host sanctioned Alt reads.

There is no reason we can't read another book by those authors, we have read multiple authors more than once.

We really haven't read any Gail Carriger as a group? Well...let's. I could do with a reread of Soulless.

John (Taloni) wrote: "We really haven't read any Gail Carriger as a group? Well...let's. I could do with a reread of Soulless."

Gail Carriger is my go-to comfort read. I totally agree.

Phil wrote: "Jemisin was both a main pick and an alt pick and Murakami, Abercrombie, Yolen and Christopher were all alt picks.
I'm not 100% sure what you're asking but if it's just a list of classic authors tha..."

Tell us!

All right, I will!
This is just off the top of my head and I'm at work so there will be lots of omissions and spelling errors. I'll also try to list somewhat from oldest to more current.
H. G. Wells
Jules Verne
Robert E. Howard
E. E. Doc Smith
C. S. Lewis
Fritz Leiber
Jack Vance
Hal Clement
Poul Anderson
John Wyndham
Robert Silverberg (both as author and editor)
Clifford Simak
James Tiptree Jr.
Robert Sheckley
Philip Jose Farmer
Roger Zelazny
Theodore Sturgeon
Harlan Ellison (both as author and editor)
Spider (and Jeanne) Robinson
John Varley
Vonda McIntyre
David Brin
Douglas Adams
Bruce Sterling
Jerry Pournelle (with or without Larry Niven and others)
Ben Bova
David and Leigh Eddings
Greg Bear
Stephen Donaldson
R. A. Salvatore
Nancy Kress
Christopher Moore
Jasper Fforde

Nice list! *squints* Okay, if I'm going to pick one author out that I think would be good to read, I'll go with Hal Clement and his "Mission of Gravity."

And...if I don't stick with just one I'll be off on, well, more tangents than you can imagine.

Phil wrote: "All right, I will!"

That is an excellent list, you clearly have impressive taste! I'd unfortunately hesitate with Eddings due to certain revelations about their lives. This upsets me as I'm such a major fan of the stories I literally can reproduce their maps, in detail, from memory.

---

My addition would be Janet Edwards who is absolutely the best and most overlooked SF writer of today in my humble opinion. Very positive writing, complex settings with good characters and excellent detective mysteries, especially in her Telepath series.

"Phil wrote: All right, I will!"

You nailed it on the head, despite my ramblings in the first post. This is why I need to wait to post until my excitement for an idea dies down...

I look forward to checking out the names on that list I have not yet read!

" Tassie Dave wrote: So they are all "Official" Alt picks."

Sweet! I have really enjoyed reading along with S&L for the last couple years.....does math....almost decade (started in '15) and I am always coming back here for recommendations of authors I have not yet encountered.

I will add Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword is a childhood favorite.

Thanks everyone

I'll add the big German language authors who have been translated into English
Frank Schaetzing (The Swarm)
Andreas Eschbach (The Carpet Makers)
Walter Moers (The City of Dreaming Books)
Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)

Oh and Cornelia Funke (Inkheart)

Does Kafka count?

Lots of good names on Phil’s list.

John Varley is about as good a writer as you’ll find on the planet.

Bruce Sterling’s Heavy Weather, which came out 30 years ago, is terrifyingly prescient.

Christopher Moore is always wry and often laugh-out-loud funny.

Vonda McIntyre’s Dreamsnake deserves all the praise heaped on it, and she’s written some of the best Star Trek novels/novelizations.

Seanan McGuire is also missing I think. Lots of Huga Awards for her novellas. And Middlegame was nominated as a novel.

We could pick from the list of SFWA Grand Masters we haven't read. Phil's list contains seven we haven't read

Clifford Simak
Fritz Leiber
Poul Anderson
Hal Clement
Philip Jose Farmer
Robert Silverberg (both as author and editor)
Harlan Ellison (both as author and editor)

The remaining eight are

Jack Williamson
L. Sprague de Camp
Lester Del Rey
Damon Knight
Jack Vance
James Gunn
Michael Moorcock
Harry Harrison

Full list here

https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...

I still think we should read Galactic Patrol...

Iain wrote: "I still think we should read Galactic Patrol..."

Can one read that without having read the previous installments? I’ve only read Triplanetary so far.

Trike wrote: "Iain wrote: "I still think we should read Galactic Patrol..."

Can one read that without having read the previous installments? I’ve only read Triplanetary so far."

Tiriplanetary kind of sucks. The original series started with Galactic Patrol - It starts out fast and doesn't let up. You don't really need to know who and what Lensmen are or who they are fighting, just dive in and hold on. It strips away all the extraneous detail you don't need and goes at breakneck pace for 270 pages.

Tiriplanetary and First lensmen where bolted on after (Lucas style).

From a review::

...we plunge headfirst into the heartwood and arterial surge of the vast edifice of the Lensman sequence as E. E. Smith first conceived it, in the 1920s, long before he began parcelling his tale out in serial form over a 12-year period (1937 - 1949)

Jan wrote: "Seanan McGuire is also missing I think. Lots of Huga Awards for her novellas. And Middlegame was nominated as a novel."

I've nominated Every Heart a Doorway more than once for March Madness, but no luck. That series is just beautiful.

^Yeah, I find it hauntingly evocative. Got the latest one queued up to read soon.

Mark, those are all some of the "omissions" I mentioned. If I had taken more time for reflection they all would have made it on there. My particular favorites from those are Vance, Moorcock and Harrison.

Iain wrote: "Tiriplanetary kind of sucks. The original series started with Galactic Patrol - It starts out fast and doesn't let up."

I thought that Triplanetary had a breakneck pace, too.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Trike wrote: "Iain wrote: "Tiriplanetary kind of sucks. The original series started with Galactic Patrol - It starts out fast and doesn't let up."

I thought that Triplanetary had a breakneck pace, too.

My revi..."

Snort. That part of the current book is fun. Note part. The long Earth history you have to go through which spoils the reveals in the core Lensmen books not so much.

You have read Triplanetary as intended. I.e not part of the lensmen story. It was retrofitted so Smith could sell more books.

If you liked Costigan your gonna love Kinninson. Smith doesn’t do subtle.

John (Taloni) wrote: "^Yeah, I find it hauntingly evocative. Got the latest one queued up to read soon."

That's the one that finally converted me. I was a solid 3-star skeptic up until then. (I think I wanted the books to do something the author wasn't planning on and it took me a while to catch up.)

Some of these authors we haven't read would have to be acknowledged as what the Book Riot folks call "Problematic Faves." Even James Tiptree Jr. who arguably wrote THE best science fiction short stories, killed her husband and herself. I did an episode of my own podcast that went into each story of Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - I've read it 2-3 times and could read it again, honestly.

Others we could read:

Nathan Ballingrud (dark fantasy to horror, earlier stuff is more arguably both, newer stuff is much more solidly horror)
Monica Byrne
Karen Lord
Justin Cronin
Yevgeny Zamyatin
[I would have said Sergei Lukyadenko but he said terrible things about people dying in Ukraine so he's dead to me now]
Ian McDonald
Patricia McKillip
Kelly Link
China Mieville (can that be right? not on the list on the wiki)
Nnedi Okorafor
John Brunner
Lauren Beukes
Ramez Naam or Hannu Rajaniemi (similar book types)

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "China Mieville (can that be right? not on the list on the wiki)"

He's a name that has come up often in polls and discussions for potential reads, but never gets picked.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Hm, I vote we give Jenny "guest pick" one month.

I get the difficulty with Tiptree but my god, her stories. The Man Who Walked Home just by itself...

John (Taloni) wrote: "Hm, I vote we give Jenny "guest pick" one month.

I get the difficulty with Tiptree but my god, her stories. The Man Who Walked Home just by itself..."

For me it's The Girl who was Plugged In. And all of them.