The Sword and Laser

By Tom Merritt and Veronica BelmontArts Books

The Sword and Laser episodes

May 22 #534 - No Noox, Just Boox
Jan has taken over the show and is exhibiting the personality of the AI from Dungeon Crawler Carl. Veronica hates awards. Tom puts the butt before the horse in deference to Veronica's theory of good things happening. And we don't wrap up Slow Gods, but we still have non-spoilery thoughts.
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43 min
May 08 #533 – Octavia Butler's Ghost
The Hugo voting is open! The Guild is coming back! Is "best and most popular" actually fair? Is it right to defy a dead author's wishes? Tom risks Octavia Butler's ghost to explain. Plus, we share our opening thoughts on Slow Gods by Claire North.
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44 min
April 23 #532 - Chekhov's Dead Body
Eat zucchini! And Bleu cheese. Also, we didn’t get nominated for a Hugo, but loads of our favorite authors did. We kick off our May read (a little early) and wrap up our spoiler thoughts on The Raven Scholar.
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45 min
April 09 #531 - Interesting Nacho
We have a hurt Veronica, Cadbury eggs, Nebula Award winners, and Tom Bombadil-lo! Plus, we kick off The Raven Scholar and wrap up Automatic Noodle. Which, of course, leads to Veronica's new business plan for a nacho bar.

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54 min
March 12 #530 – You’re Pulling My Noodle
Veronica's sick but she soldiers on and we review the final four of the March tournament. Plus our non-spoiler check in on Automatic Noodle. Also, we talk about our favorite noodles.
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40 min
February 27 #529 - Fuzzy Edges
A voter's guide to our March Madness tournament. How to define genres. Your favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy quotes. And we wrap up our thoughts on Someplace to Be Flying by Charles de Lint.

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59 min
February 12 #528 - Dazed and Crowfused
It's time for our March book tournament! Nominations are open. Also, Veronica and Tom have shocking revelations about books they have NOT read. Also, why is Tom having a hard time with this month's pick?
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41 min
January 29 #527 - I'm Starting to Worry This Book Isn't Sci-Fi
Andrew Heaton from the Political Orphanage stops by to talk about "I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom" by Jason Pargin. Also, Veronica drinks in reverse. You'll understand if you listen.
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56 min
January 15 #526 - Halfway Happy
LACon V(eronica) registration is open, the Philip K. Dick Award nominees are out, and we discuss why we're "halfway happy." Plus, we kick off I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom and wrap up The Book That Wouldn't Burn.
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53 min
December 19, 2025 S&L Podcast - #525 - The Beans That Wouldn't Burn
It’s all about the beans on this Sword and Laser. Chili, chowder, and more. We also find time to talk about books, specifically Mark Lawrence’s book that wouldn’t burn. But we don’t want to burn the beans either.
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48 min

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