Blog Posts

Book Review: The Disasters by M. K. England

/

The Disasters is an enthusiastic exploration of teenage underdogs trying to find their place in a universe that is intent on discarding the rejects. Add a diverse cast of characters, tense action scenes, high stakes, and the complicated mess of emotions that are teenage hormones, and you’ve got a perfect young adult sci-fi adventure. M. K. England sets up a unique and brilliant world of Earth and space in the year 2194. Space travel is a constant, there are hundreds of fully-functioning colonies, and Earth has a strict no-return policy. Hotshot Earth boy, Nax Hall, has a history of poor life choices and a shoddy criminal record, but he’s ready to rule the school—until he’s rejected from the Academy in less than 24 hours. But when his one-way trip back to Earth is cut short by a surprise terrorist attack on the Academy, Nax must get the word out about the biggest crime in the universe—alongside three other washouts. This ramshackle team are the only witnesses to wholesale slaughter—and the perfect troublemakers to pin the whole thing on. On the run from the government, Nax and the rest of his unfortunate crew must stay alive long enough to get the word out to the rest of the universe, and it’ll take the biggest heist any of them have ever pulled to get through it.

Blog Posts

Best of 2018 and Award Eligibility Post – Paul Weimer

/

2018: Yeah, well THAT was a year. I am eligible for BEST FAN WRITER, for my work at BN Sci Fi, Tor.com, Skiffy and Fanty and Nerds of a Feather. I write and publish in a number of places, I do wonder sometimes that no one realizes my prolific output because it is all over the place. And of course, quantity does NOT have a quality all of its own. And there are people who do more, and are more. Me, I just plod along here. Anyway, besides blog posts, reviews and the like, I also do podcast like things. I am of course a central member of the Skiffy and Fanty Show, a central member of SFF Audio and also participate in Juliette Wade’s Dive Into Worldbuilding. All three of those are eligible in the BEST FANCAST category. I would be grateful if you chose to nominate me in either the Best Fancast or Best Fan Writer categories. So now that I’ve discussed my 2018 and my award eligibility, let’s talk about books. I read some this year, not quite as many as last year, sadly, but that’s how things go.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Signal Boost #49 – Steph Matuku (Flight of the Fantail) and Bethany C. Morrow (MEM)

/

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost49MatukuMorrow/Sandf–SignalBoost49–MatukuMorrow.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Elizabeth talks to Steph Matuku, author of the debut novel, Flight of the Fantail, and the children’s book, Whetū Toa and the Magician. Both are out from HUIA Publishers in New Zealand. The two talk about how Steph treated the environment as a character, the influence her Maori culture has on her books, how she was sponsored (and published!) through the Te Papa Tupu writing program, the tough reality of writing, and more! Then Jen reminisces about UCSC (GO SLUGS!) with author Bethany C. Morrow for hours and hours. Kidding! The two explore Bethany’s historical fantasy science fiction novel, MEM, her YA debut novel, A Song Below Water, and her upcoming YA anthology, Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance. They discuss the effect that omitting whiteness has upon a story, the importance of resistance to her writing, the sinister reality of west coast liberal racism, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Reading Rangers: Shorts #3 – Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World

/

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ReadingRangersShorts3SolarpunkAnthology/ReadingRangersShorts3–SolarpunkAnthology.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSRangers Trish, Brandon, and Daniel are back this month to discuss the English translation of the Brazilian Anthology, Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World edited by Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro and translated by Fábio Fernandes. The anthology includes Brazilian and Portuguese stories by Carlos Orsi, Telmo Marçal, Romeu Martins, Antonio Luiz M. Costa, Gabriel Cantareira, Daniel I. Dutra, André S. Silva, Roberta Spindler, and Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro. The team discusses the anthology’s exploration of the political nuances of sustainable futures, the inevitability of political corruption, and the relationship between power and energy. The episode includes both a broad overview and specifics about each of the stories in the Anthology, so tune in and learn more about Brazilian concepts of a sustainable world! We hope you enjoy the episode!

Blog Posts

Beautiful Dystopias: ‘The Belles’ and ‘Uglies’

/

Since the launch of The Belles earlier this year, Dhonielle Clayton has been very open about taking inspiration from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. The two books form an interesting dialogue, with The Belles building on the foundation formed by Uglies while bringing a somewhat more nuanced and feminine perspective. The two books share a focus on beauty, with each building a different culture around it. The Belles takes a fantasy angle: the people of Orleans are cursed by the gods to look ugly—with grey skin, red eyes and hair like rotten straw. They rely on the Belles to magically change their appearance into something beautiful. Exactly what that looks like changes from season to season, and these treatments eventually wear off, needing to be renewed. Camellia Beauregard hopes to be chosen as the Favourite of the Queen of Orleans and serve as the foremost Belle in the kingdom. However, she soon finds the reality of the dream is not quite what she expected.

Blog Posts

Book Review: The Alehouse at the End of the World, by Stevan Allred

/

I’ll admit it, what initially drew me to this almost uncategorizably cool novel was this cover, evoking as it does a Renaissance playbill in Technicolor. It didn’t actually show me much of what the story was about, but it sure made me want to know. Plus, anything at the end of the world is probably pretty interesting. And what’s up with that bird?

Scroll to Top