Blog Posts

Welcome to Planet Freyja

Soooo…. I’m moving all my film and television posts to this site. Because… well… this column has long needed a theme and has suffered for it. I have a difficult enough time thinking of random interesting things to say about stuff for my own blog. I do best when I’ve a central theme to work with. So… Feminism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Media it is. I don’t feel comfortable discussing fiction because I’m an author, and that brings up conflict of interest issues at once. Films and television? I can talk about those and feel relatively comfortable. So, that’s what I’ll do. I want to go all the way back to some classic films that maybe y’all haven’t seen or thought about in a while. I also want to talk about recent films as well. Hopefully, it’ll be interesting. The ‘title’ is a riff off of a Bloom County cartoon. I like that Freyja is a goddess of love and war which warps the original sexist concept into a nice knot. That said, here goes… ———————————— First, I’ve a post about Starz’s Outlander series here. Starz has made the first episode available for free for a short time. So far, they’ve done a great job of adapting the novel. I recommend seeing it. One thing I will say about it that I did not on my blog (at least not on that post) is that I very much like that Claire is of the 1940s. She’s not a woman of the 2000s stuffed in a 1940s world. I also very much like that Jamie isn’t a man of the 2000s stuffed in the 1700s. Gabaldon did her research from what I can tell, and she doesn’t pull punches in Outlander. I hate it when authors decide to rewrite history in order to make it more palatable. At the same exact time I hate it when history is used to say that previous to 1960, all men were sexist barbarian assholes (thank you HBO’s A Game of Thrones). Although some would argue the point with me, I always felt like Diana Gabaldon did a good job of walking that line. I give the first episode five out of five stars.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

215. Kim Stanley Robinson (a.k.a. The Ethnographer) — Shaman (An Interview)

http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode215AnInterviewWKimStanleyRobinson/SandF%20–%20Episode%20215%20–%20An%20Interview%20w%20Kim%20Stanley%20Robinson.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPrehistoric man, Shamans, and anthropological wonders, oh my!  Paul has his dreams fulfilled in this special interview with the legendary Kim Stanley Robinson.  We discuss his book, Shaman (now out in paperback), his Three Californias trilogy, the changing political landscape, the expository nature of genre, 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 215 — Download (MP3)   Show Notes: Stan’s Website Stan’s 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.

Blog Posts

Geekomancer Under Glass – Knights of Sidonia Season One

When I saw the announcement that Netflix was going to be the US distributor of the anime for Knights of Sidonia, I was intrigued. I’ve been trying to keep on top of the content wars vis a vis Netflix vs.  Hulu vs. Amazon Prime, etc. Adapted from a manga series by Tsutomu Nihei, Knights of Sidonia is a space opera that follows a seed ship of human survivors who have left the Earth after its descrution. Reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica, Macross/Robotech, and other stories, it also includes some elements of hard SF that enrich the fairly standard plot. And this, for me, is the nature of the whole series — very interesting conceptual work and worldbuilding wrapped around a fairly standard, if grim, space opera plot with mecha pilots and giant monster invaders.

Blog Posts

Hard and Soft Alternate Histories: The Time Roads by Beth Bernobich, The Shadow Master by Craig Cormick and Rod Duncan’s The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter

 “There are no correct alternate histories, there are only plausible alternate histories.” – Will Shetterly Will Shetterly’s statement above hinges on the word plausible. Shetterly’s statement is facile, but it hinges on the unspoken assumption that everyone can agree on what a ‘plausible’ alternate history is and is not. For example, to a first approximation and for a lot of casual readers, George Washington taking the monarchial crown that was offered to him might seem like a rich and interesting alternate history. King George of America! Those more versed in the biography of Washington, however, would reject such an alternate history as being flatly impossible, given his attitudes and basic nature. The reverse is true for small, seemingly innocuous changes that casual readers might consider not large enough of a hook to change the world, but experts in the subfield might consider crucial to the flow of history.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

214. Dutch SF Roundtable w/ Tiemen Zwaan, Marieke Nijkamp, Martijn Lindeboom, and Thomas Olde Heuvelt

http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode214DutchSFRoundtable/SandF%20–%20Episode%20214%20–%20Dutch%20SF%20Roundtable.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSLiterary festivities, multicultural wonders, and invading Dutch peeps, oh my!  We’ve got a special World SF-themed episode for you all.  Tiemen Zwaan, Marieke Nijkamp, Martijn Lindeboom, and Thomas Olde Heuvelt (a Hugo Nominee!) join us to talk about Dutch SF.  We tackle the publishing world, literary conventions and festivals, fandom, the pressures of the market, and the Dutch “character” in SF — and 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 214 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: The Scripturist by Paul Evan Bound in Darkness Kim ten Tusscher http://kimtentusscher.com/duisteren.html Zero Kelvin Johann Marieke: http://www.mariekenijkamp.com/musings/ Diversify YA:  http://www.diversifya.com/ Tiemen: http://www.abc.nl/ Tweet with picture of Dutch castle where the convention is: https://twitter.com/TiemenZwaan/status/495923145682190337 Castlefest: http://www.castlefest.com/ Martijn: http://www.qu-mar.nl/english/ (about my battlemaster Qu’Mar, the rest of the site is in Dutch I’m afraid) Hebban http://www.hebban.nl/fantasy 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.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

213. Corinne Duyvis (a.k.a. Mindsweeper) — Otherbound (An Interview)

http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode213InterviewWCorinneDuyvis/SandF%20–%20Episode%20213%20–%20Interview%20w%20Corinne%20Duyvis.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPortal minds, splinters, and mirror worlds, oh my!  Author Corinne Duyvis joins us from the far off land of the Netherlands to talk about her new book, Otherbound.  We tackle the dualities in her novel, the importance of diversity in YA fiction, the YA market, 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 213 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Corinne’s Website Corinne’s Twitter Corinne’s Books Disability in Kidlit 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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