The Sword and Laser

Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont

4.8 (413)
BOOKS
UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it. Subscribe for book discussions, author interviews, hot releases, and news from the genre fiction world!

JUN 5

#512 - Deep Dish is SciPie

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.

32 min
MAY 28

#511 - Throw Me in the Corpse Hole

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.

47 min
MAY 10

#510 - A New Theseus

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.

36 min
APR 25

#509 - New Achievement!

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.

52 min
APR 10

#508 - Sexy, Sexy, Mind Palace

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.

54 min
MAR 13

#507 - Book Goblin

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.

41 min
FEB 26

#506 - SECs Unit

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.

59 min
FEB 13

#505 - The Roman Empire is My Roman Empire

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.

51 min

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4.8

out of 5

413 Ratings

Happy Monday’s

May 12

cragslayer

Do you want to have a happy drive to work on a Monday? Listen to this show! Veronica and Tom are my people. Great book picks to fill your TBR list.
What all book clubs aspire to be

12/28/2024

El Digit

Just love this show with Tom and Veronica! However it is sort of a good news-bad news deal. The bad news is your other book club is not nearly as cool and S
Great show!

06/10/2021

malfoxley

Veronica and Tom, hosts of the Sword and Laser podcast, highlight great books through discussion and more in this can’t miss podcast! The hosts and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!
8 year Break!

11/28/2020

dajaaj

So I haven’t listened to an episode in like 8 years...since before they had the intro music and sound effects. Love this show and feels just like catching up with an old friend. Like a fine wine just better with age!!

Read along with the Sword and Laser book club! From classic science fiction to the latest gritty fantasy, we cover it. Subscribe for book discussions, author interviews, hot releases, and news from the genre fiction world!