Fast, friendly talk for SFF readers.
The Sword and Laser mixes science fiction and fantasy book discussion with genre news, fan comments, and quick detours into everyday life. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt keep the pace loose and conversational, moving from Goodreads reactions to book picks, genre arguments, and the occasional food update.
PRESS PLAY
The Sword and Laser is a science fiction and fantasy book club with the feel of a conversation that has been going for years. It is fast, familiar, and happily digressive. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt bring news from the genre world, react to fan comments, talk through current and classic reads, and keep the whole thing moving with easy back-and-forth. The show often begins somewhere ordinary. Tea, curry, mushroom gnocchi, rhubarb cider, recording backups, holiday sickness, and podcast routine all become part of the texture before the books take over. Then the discussion can snap into a run of five-star reads, new releases, author news, or arguments about what counts as science fiction and fantasy. The show is especially good at treating genre boundaries as useful but imperfect. A thread about definitions becomes a larger point about bookstores, reader expectations, and the “fuzzy edges” around labels. That looseness is a strength. The hosts can talk seriously about Dan Simmons, Hyperion, criticism, and literary legacy without turning stiff or grand. They can also spend time on Kindle AI, intellectual property, homework worries, and on-device models without making the episode feel like a tech briefing. Reader culture is the throughline. Goodreads posts, Discord discussion, fan corrections, and book club chatter are not side material; they shape what the show notices. The recent episodes also show an eye for odd intersections, including NBA promotions tied to Fourth Wing and authors responding to book club scam spam. Recommendations arrive through actual reader energy rather than polished sales copy. The pace can be messy in a human way. That means false starts, self-corrections, running jokes, and associative turns. It also means the show feels less like a lecture than a table full of genre readers comparing notes. Andrew Heaton’s appearance around a Jason Pargin discussion fits that model: a guest slides into the ongoing conversation rather than taking it over. The Sword and Laser works best for listeners who want SFF talk that is informed, social, funny, and a little untidy. It respects the books, but it also respects the pleasure of talking around them.
Made for: Best for science fiction and fantasy readers who enjoy book club discussion, genre news, reader comments, and relaxed host banter. It especially suits people who like recommendations with context rather than formal criticism.
What sets it apart: The show’s edge is its long-running community feel: Goodreads, Discord, fan notes, host jokes, and book-world news all feed the same conversation. It feels like genre readers comparing notes in real time, not a scripted review desk.
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! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt connect book-club debate, genre news, and listener responses with candid judgment and an easy comic rhythm.
The Sword and Laser turns science fiction and fantasy book talk into a lively exchange between Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt, mixing book-club discussion with publishing news and listener responses.
Genre borders get fuzzy once Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt join your next reading-list debate.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A cozy check-in that turns five-star lists into personality.
Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont keep things relaxed and lived-in, starting with backup-recording nerves, old CNET mishaps, and the kind of technical superstition that only long-running podcasters seem to collect.
A brisk book-club episode where Hyperion's Shrike, author controversy, tentacular Ohio, and sick-day recording energy all share the table.
The Sword and Laser moves like a book-club room that has left the microphones on for the human stuff: a scratchy throat, tea, a burp, and the possibility of illness all share space with a more serious argument about science fiction's public battles.
A loose, bookish conversation about genre, taste, and why clean borders never last.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt settle into a familiar Sword and Laser rhythm, balancing easy show banter with a discussion of science fiction and fantasy, the usefulness of genre labels, and the way those labels stay helpful even when their edges are blurry.
Curry excuses, listener mail, and a Mark Lawrence wrap-up keep the banter moving.
The Sword and Laser keeps this outing moving from holiday excuses to listener mail and back to Mark Lawrence's The Book That Wouldn't Burn, with Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt holding the tone loose and alert.
Recording checks, on-device AI chatter, a Nuggets Fourth Wing night, and a bean-filled finish.
The episode opens with recording checks and a Trader Joe's mushroom chicken tangent, then settles into a long stretch of tech talk before Ziggy's note about the Denver Nuggets' Fourth Wing night and the show's bean-heavy close.
A crow detour leads into hometown rumors that make speculative stories feel local.
This episode finds its shape by letting a book-club conversation drift until the side paths begin to reveal the subject. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt start with San Pellegrino, a Fernie Brewing Hazy Pale Ale Headwall, and a little liquor-store talk, then let a crow story…
A lively copyright chat that follows Mickey Mouse through public domain and trademark questions.
The episode moves quickly through the public-domain overlap between Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie, and trademark, and it does so with enough clarity to keep each turn feeling useful.
Serialized pulp radio drama: Red Panda battles android-army supervillain Captain Clockwork in 1930s Toronto.
Deborah Treisman and a guest writer read and dissect one archival short story monthly.
Mike Muncer and a different guest dissect two horror films per episode, by subgenre.
Joe Lipsett and Trace Thurman find queer subtext in everything from Anaconda to The Mummy.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sword and Laser book club, started in 2007.
Veronica and Tom discuss their New Year's celebrations and a rhubarb cider, introducing the Sword and Laser podcast.
The hosts celebrate the 500th episode of their science fiction and fantasy book club podcast with wine and banter.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt discuss Amazon's new book-tracking feature 'Your Books' and its potential impact on Goodreads.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt open Sword and Laser with cassette nostalgia, Threads-as-smoking jokes, Trader Joe's chicken chow mein, Cadbury mini eggs, and a sprained foot.
Sword and Laser #530, `You're Pulling My Noodle`, opens with Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt talking through Veronica's sore throat and a Patreon switch to monthly billing the week of March 23.
In Sword and Laser #529, Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt open with Olympics talk, a Squamish athlete named Kazzy Sharp, and Tom's son Julian calling bobsled "four boy bobsled." Veronica says she finished 13 hot chocolates during the hot chocolate festival, while the Patreon update explains the switch from per-episode billing to monthly billing on the week of March 23 because of Apple's policies.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt introduce the Sword and Laser podcast, discuss Andrew Heaton's radio voice, and promote his book club appearance.
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt introduce the Sword and Laser podcast, discuss their upcoming book 'I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom' by Jason Pargin, and preview a guest appearance by Andrew Heaton.
Sword and Laser hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt open episode 526 with Veronica's announcement that she is being inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame, with Tom having pre-recorded her introduction.
Sword and Laser episode 525, 'The Beans That Wouldn't Burn,' features hosts Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt discussing sci-fi news, listener feedback about beans in chili, and a non-spoilery wrap-up of Mark Lawrence's 'The Book That Wouldn't Burn.' Veronica reveals she has already finished both book one and book two of the Library Trilogy and dropped her Romantasy book club's current pick to keep reading.
Veronica and Tom discuss their New Year's celebrations and a rhubarb cider, introducing the Sword and Laser podcast.
The hosts celebrate the 500th episode of their science fiction and fantasy book club podcast with wine and banter.
The hosts of Sword and Laser discuss upcoming travel plans and hint at the next book club pick.