Cover of Angel Maker, by Elizabeth Bear, featuring a woman riding a dun horse while holding a rifle, wearing a high-necked dress with puffed long sleeves; dominating the background behind her is a reel of film. It looks like she has a halo.
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Book Review: Angel Maker, by Elizabeth Bear

I greatly enjoyed Elizabeth Bear’s first Karen Memery novel, Karen Memory, when it was published in 2014, so when I saw that a new book, Angel Maker, had just been published, I played hooky from my “assigned” Skiffy and Fanty reading/reviewing list and checked it out from the Hoopla library app. Then I realized that this was actually #3, and checked out the intervening short novel Stone Mad from 2018, too. This turned out to be a very entertaining way to spend a couple of low-energy days while sick.

Cover of Hole in the Sky, by Daniel H. Wilson, featuring a dark hole in a light blue sky, with a glowing ball in the center, with clouds streaming in from the edges, floating about green hills.
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Book Review: Hole in the Sky, by Daniel H. Wilson

Hole in the Sky, by Daniel H. Wilson, is an entertaining, pleasantly eerie, and occasionally scary adventure novel told from four perspectives about what is initially treated as first contact science fiction but is also connected with cosmic horror, and reawakening mythology. It may encourage readers to think a little more about different perspectives, and connecting with others, and even the nature of reality, but mostly it’s a fun page-turner (288 pages, slated for release Oct. 7).

Cover of Hornytown Chutzpah by Andrew Hiller, featuring an impressionistic person wearing a fedora and trenchcoat, firing off multicolored water balloons, one with googly eyes.
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Book Review: HORNYTOWN CHUTZPAH by Andrew Hiller

No, the title probably doesn’t refer to what you think it does. Andrew Hiller’s Hornytown Chutzpah is an urban fantasy noir with a Yiddish twist, and the title refers to a demon-populated neighborhood that suddenly popped up beside Washington D.C., years prior, as sort of a colony of Hell. Think Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but with horned-demons of Hornytown rather than the famous animated characters populating Toontown. That Zemeckis film, or Gary K. Wolf’s Who Censored Roger Rabbit? that inspired it, serves as a good reference for the tone of Hornytown Chutzpah: plenty of noir that leans into the tropes of the genre with humor. Urban fantasy noir and comedy are elements often mashed up as a subgenre, but two things make Hornytown Chutzpah stand out. First is the aforementioned Yiddish twist. Before the story begins, Hiller gives readers “The Ten Commandments according to Sol the Wise Guy” that already got me chuckling. And after the story’s end is a glossary of (some) Yiddish and Jewish terms that one finds in the book, with cleverly and humorously crafted definitions in Sol’s voice.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

837. Jason Sanford (a.k.a. Biographer of Vengeance) — We Who Hunt Alexanders

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-837-jason-sanford/SandF_837_JasonSanford.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSBlood maws, neurodivergence, and the monstrous, oh my! Shaun Duke and Paul Weimer are joined by the wonderfully weird Jason Sanford for an interview about his new novella, We Who Hunt Alexanders! Together, they discuss Sanford’s approach to monstrosity, neurodiverse protagonists, writing style and influences, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!

Cover of Night & Day (or Day & Night), a horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow. The Night cover is blue-toned and features some sort of ghoul-like monster; the Day cover is red-and-orange with a gray-skinned woman with a huge cowlick (?) and what looks like a root coming out of her mouth.
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Book Review: Night & Day, edited by Ellen Datlow

As usual, readers who broadly enjoy the genre and styles of stories/authors will have a higher chance of loving the collection overall. But the book would also serve as a great entry point for people wanting to try out more from the genre, particularly with the cohesive strength and interesting dichotomy that this anthology holds.

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