Blog Posts

Geekomancer Under Glass: Beyond the Capes (Part Two)

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Hello! This is S&F’s own Geekomancer, Mike Underwood, back again to talk about more comics outside the supers genre. Today, I’m going to talk about one classic and a couple of more recent up-and-coming comics. Hinterkind One of the new offerings from Vertigo following the departure of long-time executive editor Karen Berger, Hinterkind (Writer: Ian Edginton, Artist: Franceso Trifogli) is pitched as The Inverse Fables.  In this world, Faerie creatures have returned and overthrown humanity, who now live in small enclaves hidden away, like Angus and Prosper’s group, which has ironically holed up in Central Park. When their closest human neighbors in Albany

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

176. Sam Sykes at Worldcon (An Interview of Sorts)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode176SamSykesAtWorldcon/SandF%20–%20Episode%20176%20–%20Sam%20Sykes%20at%20Worldcon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSGrimmy darky, monstrous spiders, and sexy Chewbaccas, oh my!  Sam Sykes joins Shaun and Jen at Worldcon to talk about the rigidity of fantasy, grimdark, bucking trends, conventions, his work, 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 176 — Download (MP3) Show Notes Sam’s Website Sam’s Twitter 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). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#10 — Babylon 5 Re-Watch (S1D1: Eps. 1-4) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB10Babylon5ReWatchep14/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2310%20–%20Babylon%205%20re-watch%20%28ep%201-4%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIntergalactic politics, soul stealers, and cyborg infections, oh my! Mike, Paul, and Shaun offer their thoughts on the the first four episodes of Babylon 5 in our first ever re-watch session. We also really want to hear what you think!  So feel free to watch along with us!  Next up, the second disc of the Season One box set! Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the episode here. Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Babylon 5 (IMDB) Note:  We’re shifting over the Shoot the WISB segments from my personal blog to The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  Why?  It just makes more sense, I suppose.  If you’ve never listened to the Shoot the WISB casts, you’ll likely see them pop up in your iTunes or RSS feeds over the next few weeks.

Blog Posts

MINING THE GENRE ASTEROID: Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson

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Holger Carlsen is an Allied covert operative in the Low Countries, fighting the Nazis in World War II. After an accident, he finds himself in a fantasy version of Europe. The West is held by Humanity, the East is held by Faerie, and the two are locked in a cold war that is looking to run hot. Not his fight, though, right? Holger needs to get home and fight the Nazis.  But why did he wind up being transported to a spot where a horse suited for him, and battle armor customized to fit him just happened to be? Who is Holger Carlsen, really, and what is the meaning of his coat of arms? And can he survive in a world where a world war like the one he left may be in the wings, but with dragons and giants instead of bombers and tanks? Three Hearts and Three Lions is one of many of the classic novels of Poul Anderson. Lighter than some of his more Scandinavian fantasy (e.g. the excellent The Broken Sword), Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961) introduced a lot of ideas into fantasy and gave them form. The division of the fantasy world into Law and Chaos. Trolls and Giants, creatures not often seen in fantasy in this point,  take the stage. And Anderson’s trolls are far more indicative of what most people think of trolls than the Cockney rhyming trolls of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.  Oh and did I mention there is a shapeshifting druid (complete with animal companion), a magical sword of ancient power (Cortana!), and the fact that you probably could stat up Holger in this fantasy realm as a Paladin and be not far from the mark?

Blog Posts

The Disquieting Guest — A Belated Explanation

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It occurs to me, a few columns in, that I should perhaps say a couple of words about the title I have chosen for this series of barely coherent ramblings. While I did, certainly, want to suggest something ghostly, what I also had in mind was horror’s uncomfortable relationship with the rest of the field of speculative fiction.* Horror takes on many forms, but some of those share a clear family resemblance to SF and F. One obvious example is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Though often hailed as the first SF novel, it is also a crucial work in the horror canon (though it is not the first horror novel — that honor goes to Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto). As well, what with many writers crossing over from one genre to the other**, or fusing elements, the lines are very, very blurry.

Blog Posts

This Katamari Feels Scientifashionable!

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(That’s probably because you’ve rolled up some weird outfits!) It seems Fashion is on the old SFnal brain lately, and I enjoy a good sartorial debate as much as … well, as much as the average person, at least. Which is to say, not enough to follow Project Runway, but enough to relish a well-rounded and amusing critique of pageantry at least. And what can be more fun than the meeting of SF and couture? Angry Trousers: So, Tansy Rayner Roberts won best fan writer at the Hugo Awards this year, and it’s pretty much because she’s awesome. I love her blog because she’s intelligent and passionate about genre, and she posts things like this list of 25 awesome urban fantasies, AKA The Angry Trousers Treatise. I love the idea of women in angry trousers as a catch all term for a certain subset of urban fantasy. Even before I read the treatise, I

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