Explore every episode of the podcast The Sword and Laser

Why taste in books is like taste in food. Plus, our final thoughts on Joe Abercrombie's The Devils. And the Ruth-Veronica feud heats up. Also, Tom likes fish sticks. Literally.

We cast The Devils, try to apologize to Ruth, and recall other food-related romantasy. Plus, Veronica has a shameful tequila revelation.

Wesley Chu joins us to talk about The Lives of Tao and Jan is back, so we have loads of news including Locus Award Winners and the British Fantasy Society shortlist. Plus Tom sings. We're all sorry about that. Also, we almost named this episode The Lives of Wesley Chu until we realized we had already done that in 2014.

Everything is out of context. But we do have interesting thoughts about The Lives of Tao and lots of congrats for the winners and nominees of the Nebulas and more.

We speculate on how James Cameron will make The Devils and whether Frankenstein will be too scary for Veronica. And we further kick off The Lives of Tao.

We discuss the return of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Frank Herbert’s posthumous SFWA Infinity Award, Audible’s AI narration plans and Amazon’s cancellation of The Wheel of Time—while nominating hamburg steak and vegan enchiladas and sharing listener stories from Matt Dinniman’s event. We round out the show with in-depth discussions of The Lives of Tao and Mickey 7.

From Hugo admins resigning over AI panel vetting to the latest award winners and a fresh Murderbot clip—to set the stage for our book club pick. Then we dig into Mickey 7’s Ship of Theseus dilemma, sharing listener takes (yes, even foot‑fetishting AIs) and the questions that keep us up at night.

We wrap up Dungeon Crawler Carl, including our horrible imitations of Jeff Hays. Plus, we announce the next pick for May and ponder data-driven determinations of the best SFF books of Tom’s life.

We have Murderbot trailer! And we like it! Plus, the Hugo nominees are out and we wrap up our thoughts on The City and the City and begin our April dungeon crawl.

Tom forgot to write the intro to the show this week, so you’re stuck with the Veronica Edition. March is still full of madness, which makes sense because it’s a full moon eclipse coming up and Venus is in retrograde. Or something! We check in on The City and The City by China Miéville, and we see and unsee your perspectives on the book thus far.

March Madness has begun, so get your votes in now. Plus do we like Alexander Skarsgard as Murderbot? And our final thoughts on Will of the Many and non-spoiler intro to The City and the City.

The nominations have begun for our March Tournament! Why do we care if eBooks and print books are the same? And our first thoughts on The Will of the Many.

We have the best 25 books coming out in the next six months and the best 25 books of the last 25 years. Goodbye to the Science Fiction Book Club, our final thoughts on The Ministry of Time, and we kick off our read of The Will of the Many.

Tom is safe. Stephen has had three New Years, and we all love Graham Gore. But the best part of the show is Veronica's parade of diseases.

We kick off our January read, wrap up Akata Witch, and welcome in new public domain characters. There's a new Lord of the Rings movie this year. Yay! Plus, Veronica had a rhubarb cider, and Joe Abercrombie looks great for 50!

It's end-of-year book list time! And we have a list of our favorite end-of-year lists. Plus, our initial thoughts on Akata Witch!

We celebrate our 500th episode in the best way we know how—by asking ChatGPT to get our stats wrong. PLUS, announcing the book pick for December and sharing our final thoughts on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

We decided to take a break from the usual format and recommend some BIPOC and LGBTQIA authors. Plus, we kick off The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in case you need some comic relief.

We wrap up our thoughts on A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. Tom lays down some very obscure hints about the next pick. And why we’re glad Andy Weir got fired.

We learn a lot about nunchucks and old best SciFi lists, but we spend the majority of our time mulling over Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. We also kick off a cozy October horrorish read.

Sad news followed by recommendations from Parade Magazine! And The Booker Short List. Plus, do you hate it when a series isn't continuing the story directly? And we check in on our September read of Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh.

We have Dragon Awards and Hugo Awards, we kick off Some Desperate Glory, and wrap up our final thoughts on The Spear That Cuts Through Water. Also, we determine we might need to squee more.

This is not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles podcast but it sure does end like one. But before it comes to that we boggle at all the awesome award winners, and talk about our good first impressions of The Spear That Cuts Through Water. Oh, and we have an idea for a cafe filled with Brandon Sanderson puns. Oh the puns!

Oh, Hugos. Also, the best Sci-Fi books of all time, and will AI kill the planet? We kick off our August book The Spear that Cuts Through Water, and wrap up our last thoughts on Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung.

We debate whether we want dead celebrities to read our audiobooks. How long is too long for a series? And our non-spoilery takes on Cursed Bunny.

It's awards season and we cover them all, including a Martha Wells sweep! We wrap up our thoughts on Sword of Kaigen and get excited (read: trigger warnings) for Cursed Bunny, our July pick.

Are we living in a Maas society? Veronica has recommendations in joining on the Sarah J. Maas train. Independent bookstores are on the rise. We kick off The Sword of Kaigen and give our spoilery thoughts on Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

We have Locus Award and Arthur C. Clarke award nominees. We share our non-spoilery thoughts on Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. And Tom discovers Birria Ramen!

Some great books in the Seiun Awards in Japan, why Sword and Laser is good for your heart, we kick off the May pick, and finally wrap up our thoughts on the surprising complexity and depth of the awesome Cordelia's Honor.

OMG all of the top bestsellers are romantasy! What order should you read series in? Does it matter? Also why is Veronica telling Tom to suck it? Or did we misunderstand. Tune in and find out!

Will Veronica and Tom make it to Glasgow? Not after that embarrassing German pronunciation. And after talking some baseball, they dig into non-spoilery discussion of Cordelia's Honor.

The Nebula Award nominees are out! Should we re-read Neuromancer? Veronica explains Type I, II, and III fun. The truth behind Cordelia's Honor. And our final thoughts on Iron Widow.

We check in on who's winning the tournament. A vikings kids book! Where it's stabbing time! We talk a little bit about Iron Widow, and wrap up Shadow of the Gods.

A few more thoughts on the Hugos, who would win in a fight between Maas and Yarros, and we preview our March Madness brackets!

We've opened nominations for Mad Marchness!, our March tournament of book picks. Plus, the failure of the Hugos and the rise of Romantasy. And we begin our first impressions of Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne.

Surprise, there's a problem with hosting the Hugos in China. Plus: Keanu Reeves is co-writing with China Mieville, we kick off our February read, The Shadow of the Gods. And our spoilery thoughts on The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.

Alternatives to Goodreads, and one of them is Amazon. Which owns Goodreads. What you can and can't do with Mickey Mouse. The "Who should play Murderbot" discussion continues. Typical human and augmented human stuff! Plus why Veronica should read this month's book pick.

Are there too many Nat 20s in Kings of the Wyld, our stance on Skarsgard as Murderbot, and we introduce the January pick (which has a lot of triggers).

All the end of year book picks are out with lots of great titles to add to your own list! Did Vonnegut think he was a genre writer? And our non-spoilery thoughts about Kings of the Wyld.

Veronica now knows how to catch up on Old Man's War. Should good books not be SciFi? Is "they said" saying too much? He “sucked his teeth” is not enough! We kick off Kings of the Wyld and wrap up Mimicking of Known Successes.

We're huge fans of mushrooms! Fourth Wing is EVERYWHERE. And remember, the very aspects of a novel you might not fancy could be the same ones that captivate someone else.

Awards season is here! We're celebrating deserving winners and discussing potential TV and movie adaptations of our favorite books. This November, we're diving into a novel about trains on Jupiter and concluding our October discussion on Father’s “5D chess.”

Best books of the year? Already? How Veronica got her k-wires out. And our non-spoilery thoughts on Library at Mount Char.

Veronica's state of K-wires, the most highly-rated books in the world, we kick off our read of The Library of Mount Char, and wrap up China Mountain Zhang.

We talk to Felicia Day about her new Audible Original Third Eye, and how her own struggles led to her story about a chosen one who fails. Plus, we talk about the importance of doing what you love and learning to leave your past behind (and why she's eating ground turkey a lot).

Guess what? The new Bobiverse is coming, and we would love to have your emails! Plus, we've got some super cool thoughts (no spoilers, promise) on China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh. But you don't have to take my blurb for it!

The last new Terry Pratchett stories, the rise of nonsense literature, a brief intro to our September pick China Mountain Zhang, and final thoughts on Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.

Veronica has been in Canada for a year, and the best book in Canada is about Marie Antoinette. Tom ate some breaded hairtail and is excited about Gail Carriger's K-pop post. Plus, we announce the September book and give a few non-spoilery thoughts about Ninth House.

Veronica curses the Lions and eats SO many blackberries. Also, our non-spoilery thoughts on Ninth House and Ivy League schools.

We get to the bottom of why it's called Fahrenheit 4-5-1 and which songs get stuck in our heads when we hear “Aes Sedai.” We finish up our thoughts on Planetfall by Emma Newman and kick off Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.