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Book Review: City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty is as elusive and complicated as its main character, Nahiri. When we meet Nahiri, it is 18th century Cairo under tenuous French control. She lives in a poor section of the city, not far from the Necropolis. She’s a healer, a con artist, and a thief who is willing to rob places while the owners are away. And yet she has power and ability she herself does not quite understand, a nature that is fragile as is her position. This sets up the novel starting off, anyway, as a historical fantasy, a historical urban fantasy at that. The novel switches gears, however, when Nahiri accidentally summons a djinn. Soon on the run, Nahiri and the djinn, Dara, are traveling across the Middle East to a hidden city of the djinn, Daevabad. There, they encounter Prince Ali, already chafing under the reign of his father and the future reign of his brother, and a city on the edge of change, or destruction. We get intrigue, political agitation, ancient secrets and much more within the bounds of the city.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Signal Boost #27: K. Arsenault Rivera (The Tiger's Daughter) and Stacey Berg (Echo Hunter 367 Duology)

http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost27K.ArsenaultRiveraStaceyBerg/Sandf–SignalBoost27–K.ArsenaultRiveraStaceyBerg.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 K. Arsenault Rivera about her debut novel, The Tiger’s Daughter. K talks about the narrative structure of the novel, the importance of queer representation, how her Kung Fu film obsession helped her write the action sequences, and gives us a great break down of the important characters. Then Stacey Berg, author of Dissension and Regeneration, joins Paul to tell us about her character driven, post-apocalyptic Echo Hunter 367 Duology, how they were shaped by a very specific scene and what inspired the post-apocalyptic secular society she created. 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):

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

341. NaNoWriMo — A Discussion w/ Cat Rambo, Nicky Drayden, and C.B. Lee

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode341NaNoWriMo/Sandf–Episode341–Nanowrimo.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSChaos, crap, and community, oh my! Paul is joined by Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the newest member of the Skiffy and Fanty Team, to talk to the wonderful Cat Rambo, Nicky Drayden, and C.B. Lee about National Novel Writing Month! The group discuss their experiences with NaNoWriMo, including how they first got involved, what processes they use to stay focused on the goal, and how accessible NaNoWriMo is for diverse communities. Make sure you stay to the end for their pep talks! You can do this! 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):

Blog Posts

Book Review: New Reality by Jessica Payseur

New Reality by Jessica Payseur is a sweet and sensual gay romance that warms the heart.  It’s a relatively fast read at just under 50 pages, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I’d classify this novella as more of a romance that is sci-fi adjacent, but I enjoyed reading it for the characters and their love story.  With well-timed tension and a slight danger factor (this is mostly in space, after all), Payseur sets the stakes in her universe and follows through with them.  Her character-driven love story with a squee-worthy ending is worth a read.  It is NSFW at times, so you may want to be wary of anyone reading over your shoulder. This is the story of Connell, a tired courier of slightly less-than-legal goods, drifting across the stars alone after the sudden death of his former partner in smuggling and in bed, left bereft and abandoned in the middle of a world he’s not sure he wants to fit into anymore.  On his journey across the stars, picking up the odd job and the odd man, he somehow connects with a mysterious man through their seemingly shared dreams.  Wystan Kreeger has been stranded on a distant planet for seventeen years, trapped with no possibility of escape.  Their shared dreams send Connell on the haul of a lifetime: a lover, a planet, and a happiness that neither man could have ever predicted.

Blog Posts

The Intersection: Ghosts in the Genre Machine

The other day I heard a rumor about DC’s future plans for Wonder Woman that really pissed me off: the writers are considering ‘shipping Wonder Woman with Bruce Wayne. On the surface, that sounds harmless enough—that is, until you consider this thing called “context.” With that in mind, I’m going to make an unambiguous statement. Repeatedly demonstrating via story (in media and literature) that women are not complete beings without being in a relationship with a man is damaging. It props up patriarchal narratives on the non-value of women. It reduces them to one fate: being the property of a man. “OMG! How can you say that, Stina? Aren’t you married?” Why, yes, I am. I’m all for relationships in general. They make humans more empathetic. We don’t live in a world filled with an overabundance of love and empathy. Let’s have more, please! Confused? Let’s go back to that ‘context’ word. You see, there’s a reason that two of the most powerful fictional women on television when I was a child (Samantha from Bewitched and Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie) had their powers taken from them and/or were severely restricted when they married.

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