Author: Daniel Haeusser

Daniel Haeusser (He/Him) is an Associate Professor of Biology who teaches microbiology and biochemistry. He researches bacterial cell shape & division, and phage (bacterial viruses) that alter either in their host during infection. His constant reading spans many genres, but SF, Fantasy, Horror, mystery, and world literature remain closest to his heart. His regular book reviews can be found at Reading 1000 Lives, and he also contributes reviews to Strange Horizons, Fantasy Book Critic, Speculative Fiction in Translation, and World Literature Today. You can connect with him on Goodreads or Bluesky.

Book Review: THREE EIGHT ONE by Aliya Whiteley

Cover of Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley. Tag: "You will know your place when you are done."

The plot and themes of Three One Eight connect with its unconventional elements of narrative and construction. These are wonderful discoveries for the reader to make without forewarning.

Book Review: 12 HOURS by L. Marie Wood

Cover, 12 Hours by L. Marie Wood. Illustration by Lynne Hansen features a cab parked in an alley, with some people approaching with lights.

The reader of L. Marie Wood’s short novella 12 Hours will realize what has happened to this cabbie long before he grasps the truth about himself. And that’s an integral part of the construction of the novella, of how Wood is directing the reader’s emotions and connection to her protagonist through his psychological horror.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our followers from the Skiffy & Fanty blog team! … Please let us know if there are things in 2024 that you are particularly looking forward to, or if there are any topics or features you’d like to see here on Skiffy & Fanty.

Book Review: CHRISTMAS AND OTHER HORRORS, Edited by Ellen Datlow

Cover of Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology

… [The] majority (even those that might be set around Christmas) are really about solstice, that moment when the sun stops on its journey across Earth’s skies to change course. As many traditions of modern Christmas celebration are really appropriation and secularization of more ancient pagan festivities, several stories could be seen from either or combined perspectives.

Movie Review: GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) Written and Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

Godzilla Minus One is exceptional, a movie worth seeing even if you haven’t seen Godzilla or aren’t a general fan of the countless sequels. Writer and director Takashi Yamazaki does the best job imaginable in balancing art and entertainment in his movie, infusing it with both thematic depth and relatable emotion.

Book Review: INVERSION by Aric McBay

Cover of Inversion, by Aric McBay, from the Black Dawn series from AK Press. Picture of a natural landscape, with a bird flying, encircled by technology and a hand reaching to grasp it.

Though relatively slim compared to most space operas at only 240 small-sized pages, Inversion packs a narrative punch along with rich world building and engaging thematic threads of ecology, collectivism, and resistant to militaristic colonization.