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Guest Post: That Thing You Love Doesn’t Always Love You Back by Spencer Ellsworth

‘Til All Are One, Buy All Our Playsets & Toys! I’m just old enough to have been raised on VHS tapes. Every weekend in the 80s, my sisters and I would go to the little video store in our tiny California town, right next to the feed store, to pick something out of the 1$ rental shelf for the weekend. I always picked Transformers: The Animated Movie. This piece of ’80s insanity is a hyper-violent, bonkers-weird, hour-and-a-half toy commercial. Hasbro wanted to clear the 1984-1985 model toys, especially those that weren’t selling well, from toy store shelves and introduce new characters. So the first half-hour of the movie, ahem, transforms the franchise. Unlike the syndicated cartoon, a consequence-free zone of stun guns, the animated movie follows Megatron as he mows down Autobots with gruesome detail, climaxing in the brutal death of Optimus Prime from a gaping stomach wound. Oh sure, these are robots with scratched chassis and cut fuel lines, but they fall and scream and mutilate like the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.

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Retro Childhood Review: Justice and Her Brothers

Justice flicked her eyes this way and that. All else around the parlor appeared ordinary. The light of sun set the room aglow in corners and on walls. It was an eerie effect, but not something she hadn’t seen before. The house was stifling, as it had been for weeks. But there was nothing odd about sunlight, about heat, at this early hour. Yet, since the summer started, she’d got the notion at times that something deadly strange was going on. When I was considering what book to read for Black History Month, I was once again struck with how inadequate my small library of childhood favorites is in representing any perspective that is not white. Thank goodness for Google. I’m upset with the system that existed in my small, very white town. A system that seems to have excluded voices of color and, indeed, made attempts on numerous occasions to explicitly do so. All of this means that I was never introduced to the exceedingly talented Newbery Medalist author, Virginia Hamilton. I suspect this is not JUST because she is a black woman, but because, at least when it comes to Justice and Her Brothers, one could easily mistake her work for “Not Sci-fi.” This is a mistake that needs immediate rectification because nothing could be further from the truth.

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Book Review: The Binti Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti is a prodigy among her people, the Himba, in a mid-future world constructed by author Nnedi Okorafor.  Binti’s desire to go  the finest University in the galaxy breaks all sorts of norms. Binti’s like that, though, breaking norms and boundaries as she finds her way to the University, back home, and what happens thereafter. Binti’s story  is told in Okorafor’s Binti, Binti: Home and the finale of the trilogy, Binti: Masquerade.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Signal Boost #34 — Rati Mehrotra (Markswoman) and Marlee Jane Ward (Orphancorp Series)

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost34MehrotraWard/Sandf–SignalBoost34–MehrotraWard.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to Rati Mehrotra about her debut novel, Markswoman. They explore how Mehrotra’s own background inspired the world, why she decided to write it as a post-apocalyptic novel, what inspires her writing, and a few hints about what is coming next in the Asiana duology. Then Elizabeth is joined by Marlee Jane Ward, award winning author of Welcome to Orphancore and its sequel, Psynode, and current candidate of the Down Under Fan Fund! They discuss Marlee Jane’s breakout hit, Welcome to Orphancore, what she’s working on now, her experience attending Kij Johnson’s writing workshop, and why she’s excited to be the DUFF candidate. We hope you enjoy the episode!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Torture Cinema #78 — Lawnmower Man: The Director’s Cut (1992)

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/TortureCinema78LawnmowerMan/TortureCinema78–LawnmowerMan.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSKiller lawnmowers, crucifixions, and cybersex, oh my! This is our very first Torture Cinema of the year, and so OF COURSE our Patrons had to pick something that was TRULY terrible! In this episode, Julia, Paul, Alex, and Daniel dig deep into the movie that is so awful and so unlike the short story it was based on that Stephen King successfully sued the production company! Keep in mind that Stephen King is directly responsible for Maximum Overdrive, and he STILL thought this movie was awful! But even worse, the team had to watch the Director’s Cut! Which we’re pretty sure just added an additional twenty minutes of Jeff Fahey having cybersex, but still… You guys get more sadistic every month. Keep up the good work! We hope you enjoy the episode!

Blog Posts

A Book by its Cover – Chuck Wendig #5: The Raptor and the Wren by Miriam Black

After a few entries, popular series can become quite problematic. The author can stick to what works and hit all the same notes that brought success and breed comfortable familiarity. Scores of fans will eat it up, but it risks the series turning formulaic and dull. The author can try to switch things up, reinvent a groundbreaking core, or diverge the story into new characters and territory. But change too much of what the fans hold dear without winning some new hearts, and it could all come crashing down.

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