Blog Posts

My Superpower: Tansy Rayner Roberts

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Tansy Rayner Roberts to talk about how the power of Feminist Snark relates to Kaleidoscope. ————————————– My name is Tansy Rayner Roberts, and my superpower is Feminist Snark. Being a feminist with everyday access to the internet and a deep interest in superhero comics is pretty hard work at times. If it wasn’t for snark, I’d have set fire to my web browser long ago. But a sense of humour, sarcasm and an ability to communicate righteous fury through blogging can save the day. Luckily, I’m not the only one who harnesses my feminist snark for good rather than evil. When Starfire was turned into a personality-free sexbot in the New 52, David Willis of Shortpacked was there to make a point with a well-timed comic strip. When the idea of a female Thor rocketed through fandom (causing misogynist waves of disapproval in amongst the ‘hell yeahs’) Joss Whedon used the snarky hammer of sarcasm to cut through the nonsense. Gail Simone’s tweet stream, DC Women Kicking Ass on Tumblr, and the Mary Sue are all part of my support network. They are, in the words of Gail Simone, my She-vengers. The thing they all have in common? Feminist Snark as a superpower.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

212. Lynne and Michael Damian Thomas (a.k.a. Ood-les of Fun) at CONvergence

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode212LynneAndMichaelThomas/SandF%20–%20Episode%20212%20–%20Lynne%20and%20Michael%20Thomas.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSmooching time travelers, editorial ninjas, and the feels, oh my!  Lynne Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas join Paul and Shaun at CONvergence to talk about Hugo nominations, Queers Dig Time Lords, Apex Magazine, editing, and their super special new project, Uncanny Magazine.  There’s so much to love here! 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 212 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Michael’s Website Michael’s Twitter Michael’s Work Lynne’s Website Lynne’s Twitter Lynne’s Work Uncanny Magazine (Kickstarter) DONATE (only $7K to go as of 8/5/2014) Uncanny Magazine (official webpage) Apex Magazine Also:  please consider supporting the Aicardi Syndrome Foundation to help spread awareness. 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

211. Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure”

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode211TortureCinemaMeetsYor/SandF%20–%20Episode%20211%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20Yor.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDinosaur wrestling, wife-swapping, and lasers, oh my!  Through an extraordinary feat of bribery, Shaun, Julia, Paul, and David tackle the 1983 Academy Award-snubbed classic, Yor, the Hunter from the Future.  This one is for John Stevens, who has nothing better to do than to make us watch ridiculous movies released the same year Shaun was born. 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 211 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983)(IMDB) You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible.  Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).  Additional music Kevin MacLeod’s (incompetech.com) “The Builder” licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 and from “Yor’s World” by Guido and Maurizio De Angeles under fair use rules. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx-F6VnLezM] That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Fundraiser Madness: Kermit and Yoda at the S&F Actor’s Studio (Plus Thank Yous)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/KermitAndYodaAtTheSFActorsStudioAndFundraiserThankYous/Kermit%20and%20Yoda%20at%20the%20S%26F%20Actor%27s%20Studio%20and%20Fundraiser%20Thank%20Yous.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAs many of you know, I managed to raise enough funds to attend Worldcon in London.  Part of that effort involved some perks, some of which are yet to be fulfilled.  This post includes two of those perks:  me and Mike Underwood doing impressions while reading works of classic literature or philosophy. There are two versions:  the video file and the mp3.  The mp3 contains an extended thank you to all the folks who donated to my fundraiser.  Again, THANK YOU.  I’ll say more thank yous later, but I wanted to make sure it got said before Worldcon. On that note, here are the goodies! MP3 File [audio http://archive.org/download/KermitAndYodaAtTheSFActorsStudioAndFundraiserThankYous/Kermit%20and%20Yoda%20at%20the%20S%26F%20Actor%27s%20Studio%20and%20Fundraiser%20Thank%20Yous.mp3]

Blog Posts

Book Review: Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

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Julius Heartstriker has a problem. Several, actually. He’s a dragon from a powerful and fecund dragon clan on a near-future Earth where the Magic Has Returned. Dragons are not trusted at all and are often actively hunted — for good reason — by anyone and anything else.  But it gets worse. Julius is not the heartless and ambitiously machiavellian dragon his brothers and sisters are, much to the disappointment of Mother. He’d rather play World of Warcraft. So when Julius gets booted from the dragon’s lair to the center of magical activity on Earth — the ruins of Detroit — and trapped into his human form with a one month time limit to prove himself, Julius is under the gun to adapt or die. But a mage on the run from Las Vegas with secrets of her own might be as much the answer to his problems as he is to hers. Especially given given the rogue spirits, other dragons and the rest of the magical nastiness the former Motor City can throw at them. Oh, and some high powered mobsters following Marci from Sin City… Do Nice Dragons Finish Last? If Julius is not careful, he’ll just be finished.

Blog Posts

Book Review: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

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The back cover of Through the Woods claims that it contains five mysterious, spine-tingling stories. Sure, I thought, but really it’s not going to be that scary, right? I expected to feel the small frisson that comes with reading ghost stories and the visual delight of  paging through some cool looking art. Pleasant, simple, fun. A nice summer read. So I put it in my bag and took it to Vermont. Vermont, in case you were wondering, is full of woods. Let me properly set the scene here:  we’d gone for a weekend to get away from all the hustle and bustle of work and city life. We had not packed our laptops, we did not bring our phone chargers, and each of us brought exactly one book to read (Moss’ was the excellent Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, which I had already read). During the day, we stopped to meet friends for lunch in New Hampshire, and then hiked for four and a half hours in the green mountains, getting back to our car right as the sun was beginning to set. We checked into our hotel, The Vermont Inn, which was lovely and remote, and the sort of independent old inn that has lots of creaky charm in the stairs and floorboards. We ate a lovely dinner in the inn’s restaurant, followed by a delicious dessert cocktail — which tasted like a maple milkshake — in the inn’s bar. We soaked in the inn’s hot tub under the stars. And then we went upstairs, and read our books. Before bed.

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