My Superpower: E.C. Ambrose (Elisha Rex)
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome E.C. Ambrose to talk about how the power of hiking in the rain relates to Elisha Rex. In addition to being a novelist, I am also an adventure guide, and it was this second career which led me to a surprising super-power, one which, as a child, I would never have dreamed of possessing: hiking in the rain. One of the great joys of being a grown-up, and a self-employed one at that, is, in most cases, I can do whatever I want — or choose not to do it, and most of the time, it works out just fine. As a child, I had a great aversion to rain: I would hide in the toybox to avoid having to go out in the rain. But as an adventure guide, hiding in the toybox, no matter how appealing it sounds, is simply no longer an option. Adventure Camp doesn’t stay inside when it rains.
Next Month’s Film: An Update and Change!
As you may recall, we announced that our next film would be Last Night (1998) in our episode on Jurassic Park (1993) and Jurassic World (2015). Unfortunately, due to some scheduling issues, David is unable to record in the next two weeks for that episode. Since Last Night is his film selection, we’re going to move it over one month. The good news is this: we’ll still have an episode. My good friend, Jen Zink, has agreed to join me for a discussion about The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)! Here’s how you can watch that film: Netflix (STREAMING! WOOT!) YouTube ($9.99 in SD) Amazon ($9.99 in SD) VUDU ($9.99 in SD) Google Play ($9.99 in SD) So now you have no excuse not to see it! If you have any comments or questions you want us to talk about on the episode, send an email to totallypretentious[at]gmail[dot]com or use our handy contact page!
277. So You Want to Start a Podcast (Live at CONvergence w/ Clayton Faits, Jeff Adams, Jeffrey Gardner, and Michael Damian Thomas)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode277SoYouWantToStartAPodcastAtCONvergence/SandF%20–%20Episode%20277%20–%20So%20You%20Want%20to%20Start%20a%20Podcast%20at%20CONvergence.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSMics, audio flukes, and giggly hosts, oh my! Are you interested in starting a podcast? Well, a few weeks ago, we recorded a panel on podcasting at CONvergence with a whole bunch of awesome podcasting people! We didn’t cover everything we could, so feel free to send an email if you have any questions. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 277 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:
Book Review – Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Imagine if the Royal Library of Alexandria had not been destroyed in flames. In Ink and Bone, Rachel Caine uses this alternate history speculation to craft a universe where the “Great Library” has survived and flourished through the centuries, expanded with satellite institutions around the world. The cultural influence and political power of the Library is significant, holding absolute control over written knowledge. Ownership of printed books is illegal, but Library-approved materials are ‘mirrored’ from the original texts through alchemy by Obscurists to personal blank ‘book’ instruments of Library design called Codexes.
Book Review: Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells
Alchemy-based magic gives a relatively mild supernatural flavor to what is otherwise a novel focused strongly on police procedural lines in Dirty Magic, a novel by Jaye Wells. Dirty Magic, the first in the “Prospero War” series, follows the story of Kate Prospero, police officer. The novel brings us to her story just as the scourge of dirty magic in her rust belt hometown takes a dangerous, and even deadly, turn. Genre mashups, or crossovers, are always a matter of balancing acts. Unless an author is truly ambitious, there usually is a dominant genre, and a secondary genre. Often for fantasy and science fiction readers, SFF is the dominant genre, with mystery, romance, or thriller elements as the secondary genre that is layered in. A relatively popular secondary genre as of late for layering into fantasy, especially urban fantasy, has the bones of the procedural. There are a lot of advantages for a writer to use elements of the procedural, especially in terms of structure and story beats, It provides authors a narrative framework to decorate with the genre elements, and everything else in the novel as well. Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells, then, runs with that last, as the secondary genre to her urban fantasy structure is most definitely police procedural.
Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Morgaine cycle of novels by C.J. Cherryh
Imagine a universe where a set of Stargates connect distant worlds. Many of these worlds have a low level of technology, and often fear and distrust those who come through the Stargates. The secret of making the Stargates, and who and why they made them, is only distantly known. Now imagine an expedition of individuals going through the various Stargates, seeing the various worlds that they connect. Meeting the human and not quite so human races to be found on these worlds. So far, you should be thinking of Stargate, the movie and its sequel series Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe. Now imagine that it was determined that the Gates had destroyed a galactic civilization, and could still change and wipe out worlds and polities with a careless bit of travel. And so this expedition’s mission isn’t just to explore the Stargate network — but to destroy it, one gate at a time. The science fantasy Morgaine novels, by C.J. Cherryh, explore the quest of the last member of an expedition to do just that.
