The Sword and Laser discussion
March Madness 2025 - Information Thread
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The sixteen fantasy and science fiction novels selected for the 10th Sword and Laser March Madness tournament.https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...
Out of 16 books, I have 7 on my TBR including Dungeon Crawler Carl, Kill the Farm Boy, She Who Became the Sun, Middlegame, The Art of Prophecy, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, and Parable of the Talents. I've never had so many in hand for the March Madness tournament. I've read one book on the list (Embers of War) and have one more tagged as "Want to Read" (Mickey 7).
Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton has been adapted as a movie titled "Mickey 17" starring Robert Pattinson and directed by Bong Joon Ho, written by Bong Joon Ho and Edward Ashton. The movie is scheduled for release in theaters 7 March 2025.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12299608/
Mark wrote: "The sixteen fantasy and science fiction novels selected for the 10th Sword and Laser March Madness tournament.https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2..."
I’ve read 6 and have 4 on my TBR. Womb City is already on library hold.
The sixteen fantasy and science fiction novels selected for the 10th Sword and Laser March Madness tournament.BOOOOHHHH!
Aaand now that Dungeon Crawler Carl is among the nominees...Give us the cat! Give us the cat! Give us the cat! Goooo Donut!
The book also has some dude name Carl in it.
Dammit Donut! I'm surprised the David Weber isn't the first Honor Harrington instead of the first Fury Born (expanded from Path of the Fury).
Tamahome wrote: "Dammit Donut! I'm surprised the David Weber isn't the first Honor Harrington instead of the first Fury Born (expanded from Path of the Fury)."
IIRC, none of the Honor Harrington books were nominated. So, Honor never had a chance, no?
Mod
Don't forget you can create a prediction bracket (https://challonge.com/swordandlaser20...) before the round ends, and if you make an account (not needed to make a prediction) you can more easily track your bracket as the tournament goes on. I will be providing updates on the top brackets after each round!
Head over to the Round 1 thread to get the matchups and links to all the polls where you can vote for your favorites. You have until March 1st 11:59 PM ET to vote in round 1.
Mod
Fun Facts
🔹 There have been 550 unique books nominated over 10 years!
🔹 The Top nominated book has made the finals 3 times (2016, 2019, 2023)
🔹 The Top nominated book has lost in the first round 3 times (2017, 2021, 2024)
🔹 Theft of Swords was the top nominated book 3 times (2016, 2018, 2019), finally winning it all in 2019
🔹 Theft of Swords has had the most nominations: 24 over 4 years
🔹 Legends & Lattes is the only other top nominated book to win the tournament (2023)
🔹 2018 was our most popular year. 187 people nominated 111 books
🔹 2018 was also the first year we did both Sword & Laser brackets
🔹 2018 was the only year we allowed Authors to nominate their own books. We had 5.
🔹 6 books have been Nominated for 5 years or More
🔹 Lord of Light has been nominated in 8 of the 10 years of the tournament (2018-2025)
🔹 2025 marks the first time Lord of Light has been selected to the tournament
🔹 The Blue Sword has been nominated 6/10 years. It has been selected for the tournament 3 times (2017, 2021, 2024). It lost in the first round all 3 times.
🔹 Only 1 book nominated for at least 5 years: Rivers of London have been selected by Tom & Veronica as a pick (August 2022)
🔹 Tassie Dave has nominated the top book for the last 4 years straight. (2022-25)
🔹 Tassie Dave has nominated the winning book twice. He is the only member to do so. (2017, 2023)
NOTES
🔹 Technically Fifth Season was one of 4 books with 4 nominations in 2016
🔹 Technically Theft of Swords was one of 4 books with 4 nominations in 2016
🔹 Technically Fifth Season didn't lose in 2016, it was a tie and Tom & Veronica declared it the alt pick
Here are the full stats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
My money is on Crawler Carl then, since Tassie nominated it.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a Laser. Us Swords got robbed of one title!
Rob wrote: "🔹 Tassie Dave has nominated the top book for the last 4 years straight. (2022-25)🔹 Tassie Dave has nominated the winning book twice. He is the only member to do so. (2017, 2023)."
Conspiracy theory… begin.
Mod
Conspiracy Busted. I may have been first to nominate 2 winning books, but my record outside those 2 years is fairly ordinary.
5 of the 9 Books I nominated (or seconded) didn't make it into the brackets or past Round 1.
2016: Round 1 Loss
2017: Winner
2018: Didn’t make the cut
2019: Round 1 Loss
2020: Didn’t make the cut
2021: Semi-Finalist
2022: Semi-Finalist
2023: Winner
2024: Round 1 Loss
I'm not sure about "ordinary" though. Given the sheer number of books nominated most years as opposed to the 16 chosen, it seems like "ordinary" would be not to make the cut more often... ;-)
Tassie Dave wrote: "Conspiracy Busted. I may have been first to nominate 2 winning books, but my record outside those 2 years is fairly ordinary.5 of the 9 Books I nominated (or seconded) didn't make it into the brackets or past Round 1."
Yeah, as someone who has never had a nomination get selected, it seems pretty extraordinary that you've only had 2 of 9 nominations not make the cut. I don't think it's a conspiracy. You just seem to back books that other people also want to promote.
Maybe next year, I'll just second or third a pick I like... We'll see.
I have a question that maybe off topic. I am looking for a book that I read thirty years ago and do not remember the title. The book is Science Fiction. It is about a young man who joins the military. He is physically augmented with a laser built into the pinky finger of his hand and a larger laser or rocket built into his leg and fire out his heel. Does anyone remember this book or know the name? Looking for help.
Mod
Sounds like The Cobra series by Timothy Zahn
Joel wrote: "He is physically augmented with a laser built into the pinky finger of his hand and a larger laser or rocket built into his leg and fire out his heel."From a stability point of view, I can imagine better places to place the rocket.
Astro Boy, engage butt cannon!
Mod
The matchups and links to vote are here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Voting ends March 8th 11:59 PM ET, so get your votes in!
Round 1 results: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
This year we had 47 bracket predictions (https://challonge.com/swordandlaser20...)
Currently we have 1 perfect bracket after round 1:
DCC FTW by oclipa
As indicated by their bracket title, they are predicting Dungeon Crawler Carl to win it all.
There are 9 brackets that went 7/8 in round one and are tied for 2nd.
It's still anyone's game as the value of correct predictions increase with each round!
Mod
The matchups and links to vote are here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Voting ends March 15th 11:59 PM ET, so get your votes in!
Round 2 results: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
This year we had 47 bracket predictions (https://challonge.com/swordandlaser20...)
Currently we have 0 perfect bracket after round 2. However we still have a single bracket in first place.
DCC FTW by oclipa
Remains on top with 14 (out of 16) points, predicting Dungeon Crawler Carl to win it all. They have a maximum score of 30.
There are 5 brackets tied for 2nd with 13 points. 3 of those can max out at 29 points. Only 1 of those has picked something other than DCC to win (they chose Mickey 7 which dominated its match in round 2)
Can Oclipa continue to hold their lead after round 3? Or will one of the others pass them?
Mod
Vote here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...
Finals thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Voting ends March 22nd 11:59PM ET, so get your votes in!
Round 3 results: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
This year we had 47 bracket predictions (https://challonge.com/swordandlaser20...)
After 3 rounds we have pretty much no changes to the leaderboard
DCC FTW by oclipa
Remains on top with 22 (out of 24) points, predicting Dungeon Crawler Carl to win it all. They still have a maximum score of 30.
There are 3 brackets tied for 2nd with 21 points each. They can max out at 29 points.
Robert Pattinson is prettier than Carl by anonymous
Read the book before we see the movie. by CableMonkey
Oh no, Ronbo! by OhNoRonbo
If Carl wins it all, so does Oclipa who has led all tournament. If Mickey wins, Cablemonkey and the anonymous user who predicted Mickey will take it.
Mod
Here is a breakdown of this year's tournament.
Thanks to everyone who participated!
This year we had 47 bracket predictions (https://challonge.com/swordandlaser20...)
Final prediction bracket results:
1) DCC FTW by oclipa - 30 points (14/15 picks correct)
2) Oh no, Ronbo! by OhNoRonbo - 29 points (13/15 picks correct)
3) 3 way tie between Dammit Roberator! by thranduel, Bracket Crawler Carl by anonymous, Professor Oz’s patent cures by IainBertram - 28 Points (12/15 picks correct)
Oclipa got a near perfect bracket and led every round of the tournament. Congratulations to them!
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Dungeon Crawler Carl (other topics)Path of the Fury (other topics)
In Fury Born (1) (other topics)
On Basilisk Station (other topics)
On Basilisk Station (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Matt Dinniman (other topics)Timothy Zahn (other topics)
Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Edward Ashton (other topics)
What is the Sword & Laser March Madness tournament you ask?
Each year we take nominations from our members for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy books they think the group should read and narrow it down to 16. We create two brackets, one for each genre. That means there are 8 Sword picks, and 8 Laser picks.
The 16 books are selected by our benevolent leaders based on your suggestions in the nomination thread and a super secret criteria of their own making for seeding etc.
Once the brackets are set we have 4 rounds of voting. Rounds 1-3 will take us from 8 Sword books and 8 Laser books down to 1 of each that will go head to head for our to be our pick for April.
This single elimination style tournament is inspired by some sporting event that takes place every year during the month of March. Does your nomination have what it takes to win 4 straight head-to-head matchups and become our April book pick? Let the madness begin!
This thread will serve as the main information center for the tournament and I'll be creating separate threads for each round.
Nominations thread
Bracket: https://challonge.com/swordandlaser2025/
Round 1 thread
Round 2 thread
Round 3 thread
Finals thread
Schedule & Details
Here is the schedule for this year's tournament:
Nominations: February 6th - February 20th 7pm ET
Round of 16: February 23rd - March 1st 11:59 PM ET
Round of 8: March 2nd - 8th 11:59 PM ET
Round of 4: March 9th - 15th 11:59 PM ET
Final Round: March 16th - 22nd 11:59PM ET
(view spoiler)[
Nomination FAQ
How Many books can I nominate? One. No seriously ONE BOOK.
If you're not clear I'm either going to pick the first book you mention or simply ignore your nomination all together.
Can I second someone else's nomination?. Sure but that's also YOUR nomination. See Question 1 about how many books you can nominate. Still just One.
What if I want to nominate a Sword Book And a Laser Book? Did you read question 1? You can only nominate ONE book.
Can we nominate any book we want? The only criteria is that it's a Fantasy or Sci-Fi book we haven't read. That said, it's preferable that you also nominate a book by an author we haven't read as well. Those nominations will likely have a better chance of making the final bracket.
We also have a rule to prevent authors from nominating their own books. In addition we'd like to prevent people from nominating their friend's book etc. If I see you doing this, I will first warn you to pick another book, and later simply ignore your nomination all together.
Can I change My Nomination? Yes, but if you do so, please specify which book you are changing it from, as I'm doing this by hand.
What if I make a mistake in my nomination? No problem. Just please make another post correcting your mistake. Please Do Not Delete or edit your original post as I may miss the change. Thanks.
How many books will be selected? 16 (8 Fantasy, 8 Sci-Fi)
When do nominations close? Thursday, February 20th 7:00 PM EST. This will give me some time to do the final roll-up of the nominations and Tom & Veronica some time to make the final bracket.
Which books will be selected? Whichever books Tom & Veronica want. They will simply use the nominations in this thread for suggestions.
How will the books be seeded? This is entirely up to Tom & Veronica. They may take into account how many people have nominated a book, but there is no guarantee.
The book I want was already nominated. You can second a nomination made by someone else, and I'll count how many people have nominated that book and sort accordingly.
No one else is nominating my book, should I change my vote to something more popular? In my opinion, you're better off just nominating a book you're interested in us reading than hoping to game the nomination system by changing your vote. Most years some of the books in the final bracket had only a single nomination, while several books with multiple nominations didn't make it. Multiple nominations may help it get noticed or in the seeding, but really all of that is up to Tom & Veronica.
How are the Nominations Sorted? The numbering is based on number of nominations, followed by when they moved up the list (i.e. based on post order). This number will likely not reflect the actual seeding as that will be entirely up to Tom & Veronica.
My nomination is missing/wrong! Sorry about that. I'm doing this by hand. Please post again and yell at me for missing, or not grouping it with another nomination for the same book, or marking you down for the wrong book, etc. If you're not clear about your nomination (or you nominate 2) I may add the "wrong" book. Please be sure you're clear, and I can fix it.
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