Blog Posts

Book Review: Avengers of the Moon by Allen Steele

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It takes a lot of moxie to decide you’re the one to take a character beloved from pulp magazines and anime and update it for a 21st century novel. Allen Steele has already proven that he has that moxie, having given us a novella on “The Death of Captain Future”, but that story wasn’t about Captain Future so much as about a fan of the pulps in which that hero first came to life. Twenty-odd years later, he’s at it again, but this time he’s gone all out to make Captain Future a hero for our times. Did he succeed? If by “succeed” one means creates a perfect pastiche of the hokey and wholesome tales of yore while subtly correcting for modern advances in scientific knowledge and attitudes about the Other, then he more than succeeds. Avengers of the Moon has all the feel of an early 20th century planetary romance, without any of the “mistakes” that let us smile behind our hands when reading the originals he draws on. It’s not set in the “distant future” year of 2015. There are no aliens living in caves on the moon or on the other planets in our solar system.* Weapons and gadgets and space travel are more plausible for modern readers (and cool as heck!). The nom-de-guerre of Captain Future remains but is treated as a childish embarrassment that others gently rib Curt Newton for adopting. Etc.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#57. Get Out (2017) w/ Faridah Gbadamosi and Andrew Hackley — A Shoot the WISB Subcast

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB57GetOut/ShootTheWisb57–GetOut.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSWhite liberals, hypnotism, and.. Actually, that’s a huge spoiler so we probably shouldn’t say anything… Oh my! David, Trish, and Mike discuss Jordan Peele’s groundbreaking horror film, Get Out, with guests Faridah Gbadamosi and Andrew Hackley.  The team tackles everything from the horror influences on Get Out to how the movie masterfully tackles racial anxiety. 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):

Shaun's Rambles

Shaun’s Rambles 015: Spoilers vs. Content Warnings

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https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShaunsRamblesEpisode015SpoilersVsContentWarnings/ShaunsRamblesEpisode015–SpoilersVsContentWarnings.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDon’t spoil me with your content warnings, they say! In this episode, I take a crack at the confusion between content warnings and spoilers. What is the difference? Why are content warnings important? What value do content warnings provide? Take a listen to hear my take! Let me know what you think about content warnings and spoilers in the comments below!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#56. Babylon 5 (Season 2; Episodes 19-22) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB56Babylon5S2Episodes1922/ShootTheWisb56–Babylon5S2Episodes19-22.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPsychic superspies, war mongering, and shadows, oh my! We finish the second season of Babylon 5 with a bang, tackling the excitement of episodes 19 through 22! From actors leaving the show to the terrible consequences of the Narn / Centauri war to new revelations about the Shadows, this final episode is packed with interesting topics. 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

Guest Post by Aliette de Bodard: Beyond the Cliché Shelf: Making Characters Vibrant and Unexpected

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Today instead of a review from me, we have a guest post by Aliette de Bodard. Her second Dominion of the Fallen novel, The House of Binding Thorns, is now out, and you will see a review of it from me here soon. In the meantime, Aliette has some words to say about Characters: I used to struggle a lot with characters. My natural strength is worldbuilding: I can quite happily spend weeks and months reading non-fiction books on anything from the history of food in Vietnam to the role of servants in 19th-Century Paris, and slowly and painstakingly creating a universe from these inspirations. With characters… my earliest ones were correctly created as part of the setting, but I struggled with giving them individuality and personality beyond that. When I created memorable characters they almost always were by accident rather than by design — while the discovery process was wonderful, it was rather annoying to not be able to repeat that when I needed this!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Signal Boost #1: George Sandison (2084) and Alexandra Pierce (Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SkiffyAndFantySignalBoost1GeorgeSandisonAndAlexandraPierce/SkiffyAndFanty–SignalBoost1–GeorgeSandisonAndAlexandraPierce.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSWelcome to the first edition of Signal Boost, a twice a month edition of the Skiffy and Fanty Show where we use our platform to promote books, anthologies, comic books, short films, zines, blogs, podcasts, artists, and whatever other cool stuff we think you should hear about. In our first edition George Sandison, managing editor of Unsung Stories, joins Jen to tell us about 2084, an upcoming Orwellian inspired anthology that is currently in its Kickstarter phase, and Alexandra Pierce, of Galactic Suburbia, joins Paul to tell us about Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, an upcoming collection of letters and essays from Twelfth Planet Press, about the influence that Octavia Butler has had on the science fiction community, personally, professionally, and politically. 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):

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