The Sword and Laser discussion

What is Sword and Laser?
The Sword and Laser is a science fiction and fantasy-themed book club and podcast, hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt.

What is the Mandela effect?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...

1) differences arising from movement between parallel realities (the multiverse)
2) memory errors from software glitches
3) changes in history caused by time travellers
4) distortions resulting from spiritual attacks linked to Satan, black magic or witchcraft
5) assorted sensible psychological theories that are nowhere near as much fun to consider as items 1-4

What is the Sword and Laser Mandela Effect?
Podcast, Goodreads, and Discord discussions frequently surface authors whose books MUST HAVE BEEN monthly picks, but never were.

What books has Sword and Laser actually read?
https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...

Who are the Sword and Laser Mandela authors (as of February 2025)?
Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant
China Miéville
Jim Butcher
?

I'm guilty of it too and I put the books into the Wiki. 😜

I thought we had read China Miéville, but i was thinking of Paolo Bacigalupi's "The WindUp Girl".

I often get Seanan McGuire and Mur Lafferty mixed up too.

I can blame old age for my faulty memory. 😕

I think it's just simply a symptom of reading and discussing so many books here, that we forget what we read for the book club and what we read on our own.

Over at the Discord, a couple of Mandela authors have been brought up:

Timothy Zahn
S.A. Chakraborty

Zahn wasn't on my list, but I had to look up Chakraborty to make sure. I think I bought her book, The City of Brass, because Veronica mentioned it, and thought it might become a pick.

Mark wrote: "
S.A. Chakraborty

I had to look up Chakraborty to make sure. I think I bought her book, The City of Brass"

Wow. I just tried to look this up again to tell you that you were wrong. I was so sure I read this because the group did.

I could have sworn we talked about this before.

I was convinced we’d read that novella by Seanan Maguire! But it was simply that several of us read it and there was some discussion/I read reviews by others.

I think Dracula was mentioned recently as another book that Veronica thought we’d read as a pick, but it was just that some of us did Dracula Daily and so there was some discussion about it.

Tamahome wrote: "I could have sworn we talked about this before."

😂