Blog Posts

The Disquieting Guest — Ib Melchior: Tivoli Nights and Rat-Bat-Spider-Crabs

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Ib Melchior passed away on March 13, at the age of 97. His death was rather overshadowed in genre circles by those of two far more famous figures in the field, so I’m going to take a few moments now to remember the contributions of the novelist, screenwriter and director. While his most notable contributions have been more SF than horror, there are enough horrific elements in his work that I think he has a place in this column. The most high-profile works associated with him are ones where his involvement was in one way or another indirect. He wrote the English-language script for Mario Bava’s SF/horror masterpiece Planet of the Vampires (1965). His concept Space Family Robinson (later a comic book) was, he claims, plagiarized by Irwin Allen as Lost in Space, and indeed, when the film version came along in 1998, Melchior was a paid consultant. And his short story “The Racer” was the basis for Paul Bartel’s brilliant (and ever-more-topical) satire Death Race 2000 (1975).*

Blog Posts

Geekomancer Under Glass: Recent Media – March 2015

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Hello, Skiffy and Fanty crew! It is I, your resident Geekomancer, back from my travels on the internet through memes and gifs and pilots and digital bundles. And this time, I’ve brought back word of recent goings-on in the geekiverse. A TV pilot for an award-nominated comic, a new story for a beloved geek icon, and the latest developments in a cable TV juggernaut. Enjoy!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

261. Carrie Patel (a.k.a. Mayor of Mole City) — The Buried Life (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode261CarriePatel/SandF%20–%20Episode%20261%20–%20Carrie%20Patel.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSUnderground cities, murder-y murders, and snarky detectives, oh my!  Carrie Patel joins us to discuss her new novel, The Buried Life.  We discuss worldbuilding, writing detectives, the nature of power and class, gaming, 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 261 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Carrie Patel’s Website Carrie’s Twitter The Buried Life (Angry Robot Books) Pillars of Earth (Obsidian Entertainment) 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

Socratic Dialogues and the Nature of Excellence: Jo Walton’s The Just City

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Plato’s Republic is a book that has been debated and studied since its composition nearly 2400 years ago. It delves into some of the deepest questions of society. How do we design a city, a world, a political entity to benefit the most people? How should people be ordered? What is Justice? What is the practical upshot of creating a society, a city, ordered on the lines of The Republic? And what happens when the Goddess Pallas Athena decides that the thing to do in order to respond to Plato is to create a city based on The Republic, and populate it with people drawn through time and space, and several thousand children to be raised in the ways of the Republic, to carry the experiment truly forward? To create an experiment in a time and place where it cannot affect history but the pursuit of its excellence can be sought free of entanglements?

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.

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