The Sword and Laser discussion

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.

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Regarding the Ray Bradbury/Kurt Vonnegut discussion, I found an article on Tor.com on Bradbury's point of view. As Tom said, he did not want his writing to be considered Science Fiction. What I think is fascinating is the difference between him and Vonnegut.

From the article, "Bradbury had no real aspirations to be well respected or well thought of in literary circles, and constantly made a point to talk about how writing simply made him happy."

So Bradbury did not want to be a Sci Fi writer and also didn't care about the literary community. Vonnegut was fine with being a Sci Fi writer but desperately wanted respect from the literary community. Hunh.

Personally, I think the literary/non-literary categories are really orthogonal to the genre categories. It makes little sense when people try to link them.

https://www.tor.com/2011/11/30/genre-...

Thanks for the shoutout to my article about Shadow and Bone!
You prompted me to have a couple of mini mince pies with my morning cup of tea. Mince pies are a seasonal staple over here, you can hardly avoid them from mid-November on. For extra indulgence, try one with a dollop of cream.
I should mention that, while mince pies don’t contain meat, they’re not always vegetarian- the filling sometimes contains beef suet.

Listening to the podcast, perhaps I should have...condensed...my argument. *ducks, runs for cover*

I am also thinking perhaps author Beukes (Who, the author wants us to know, rhymes with Mucus) may take after Ian Fleming.

That show had a few good licks, as they would say in the book of the month.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Listening to the podcast, perhaps I should have...condensed...my argument. *ducks, runs for cover*

I am also thinking perhaps author Beukes (Who, the author wants us to know, rhymes with Mucus) ma..."

I spent too long trying to figure out the thematic link between James Bond and The Shining Girls before I realised it was just a stupid pun on Phlegm-ing.
Thanks.