The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

260. Silvia Moreno-Garcia (a.k.a. The Music Wizard) — Signal to Noise (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode260SilviaMorenoGarcia/SandF%20–%20Episode%20260%20–%20Silvia%20Moreno-Garcia.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSMusic magic, sinking cities, and covens, oh my!  Silvia Moreno-Garcia joins Shaun and Julia to talk about her latest novel, Signal to Noise.  We discuss the novel’s obsession with music, Mexico City’s sinking problem, the “magical realism” label, and much more! 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): Episode 260 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Website Silvia’s Twitter Signal to Noise (Solaris) The Signal to Noise Playlist Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Blog Posts

Review: Blended (2014; dir. Frank Coraci)

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Blended (2014; dir. Frank Coraci) can be summed up in a single sentence:   an exhausting two hours of jokes about androgynous daughters, lesbians, and Africa.  There are few films I can legitimately say should be consigned to the fires where “art” goes to be mercifully removed from human consciousness.  Blended, unfortunately, is one of those films.  Contrived and painfully anathema to comedy, Blended may be one of the worst films of 2014; it may even be the worst Adam Sandler film to be presented to the public. Starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, Blended follows two single parents, Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Barrymore), who meet on a blind date and realize they pretty much hate one another.  But as fate would have it, they can’t seem to avoid meeting, especially when both Jim and Lauren decide to take their kids on an African safari, not realizing that they’re each going on the same trip.  As a result, they become engrossed in one another’s lives, sparking, as to be expected, a romance and giving meaning to the title.

Blog Posts

Book Review: The Land Across by Gene Wolfe

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Those even slightly familiar with Gene Wolfe’s prolific work may recognize its persistence in theme and style. Critics, colleagues, and readers in general praise his unique voice, which is often challenging to penetrate with its unconventionality, but usually end up making his stories hugely rewarding experiences. Despite the now conventional expectation of idiosyncrasy in Wolfe’s prose and plots, he somehow manages to keep stories inventively unpredictable and engrossing. Recently released in trade paperback format by Tor Books, Wolfe’s 2013 novel, The Land Across, is typical Wolfe: a young, possibly unreliable narrator, evocative descriptions, shifting plots that play with expectations, sophisticated incorporation of the political and religious, and beneath it all a perpetual sense of foreboding.

Blog Posts

The Muse of Research: An Interview with Lev Mirov

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The Muse of Research is a monthly column in which E. P. Beaumont interviews poets, medievalists, and speculative writers about their research.  This week, E.P. Beaumont talks to Lev Mirov. E. P. Beaumont: Talk about your nonfictional obsessions! (could be academic training, stuff you like to read about, topics that pique your curiosity) Lev Mirov: I’ve studied medieval Europe widely, and I have put a lot of time and energy into the history of western magic, folk Christianity, 12th century England, ritual studies, and the relationship between western religion and esotericism and indigenous cultures. In 2011, I wrote an undergraduate thesis on gender and military leadership in 12th c. England and France, and, in 2014, a master’s thesis about magical rituals as expressions of religious life in later medieval England.

Blog Posts

Review: Nightcrawler; or, The Chill of Capital (2014; dir. Dan Gilroy)

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To say that reviewing Nightcrawler (2014; dir. Dan Gilroy) is a difficult task would be an understatement.  Nightcrawler haunts the viewer like something out of Poltergeist (1982; dir. Tobe Hooper).  It’s the kind of experience that I find impossible to forget, not simply because of its focus on Los Angeles’ late-night chaos but also because its examination of that life is in so many ways uncompromising and disturbingly logical.  Talking about such a film without blathering on endlessly becomes a difficult task indeed, which may explain why this review is so focused on a single element:  Bloom. Nightcrawler follows Louis Bloom, an eccentric small-time thief who literally steals his way into the “nightcrawler” business in Los Angeles after witnessing a “nightcrawler” taping a car accident (Bill Paxton).  Determined to “make it,” he begins selling to a low-rated local news station and sets out to dominate the market at any cost.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

259. Elizabeth Bear (a.k.a. The Sky Marshall) — Karen Memory (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode259ElizabethBear/SandF%20–%20Episode%20259%20–%20Elizabeth%20Bear.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSewing mecha, evil gloves, and the Old West, oh my!  Multi-award winning Elizabeth Bear joins us to talk about her latest novel, Karen Memory.  We discuss worldbuilding, writing about the characters history forgot, steampunk weirdness, and much more! 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): Episode 259 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Elizabeth Bear’s Website Elizabeth’s Twitter Karen Memory (Tor Books) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

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