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My Superpower: Zack Drisko

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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 Zack Drisko to talk about how Not Being Satisfied relates to Ava Snow Battles Death… My superpower is the ability to not be satisfied. If I do a good job at something, instead of being able to enjoy it, my superpower identifies every single flaw and says, “Try again, dick. Maybe you tricked other people into thinking that you have talent, but you didn’t fool me.” This power might seem uselessly damaging to my self-esteem, and it often makes me a pain in the ass to be around, but here’s the thing: it pushes me to be better.

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Confessions of a Comics Junkie: The Racial Politics of Mutations (or, Mutant Passing)

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One of the reasons I have always preferred Marvel over DC is the fact that it’s world, however absurd at times, at least tries to explore what might happen if a bunch of people with extraordinary powers popped up in our neighborhoods.  In short, humans have a tendency to freak out.  In a weird, unexpected way, the Marvel Universe (Earth 616, not the other versions, which I’m not currently following) is an exploration of evolutionary change, the likes of which we haven’t seen because the last major change in our species “group,” as far as we know, was before written records.  I’m talking about the Neanderthals.[1]  We’ll never know exactly how humans reacted to those funny-looking humanoids, though we’re pretty sure there was some violence, some sex, and probably some group hugging in certain parts of the world.  And in a similar way, we don’t know exactly how humans would react to the rise of mutants; instead, we

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Review: The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Clarke

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“Cat, this is Finn. He’s going to be your tutor.” He looks and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task now is to tutor Cat. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Finn is her guardian, her constant companion… and more. But when the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world. Following her acclaimed Young Adult debut for our sister imprint Strange Chemistry, The Assassin’s Curse, the very talented Cassandra Rose Clarke moves on to more adult themes, in a heartbreaking story of love, loss … and robots. It isn’t easy to define what makes us human.  I’m not convinced that anyone, from Aristotle to Descartes, ever achieved a reasonable answer, nor has modern

Snowy Owl
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This Katamari Feels Halloweenish

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(That’s probably because you rolled up nothing but costumes!) Greetings, fellow costume aficionados! October is here, and that means we have one more excuse to examine many many costumes! Other good excuses are Mardi Gras, DragonCon, Comic-Con, and pretty much any time we can convince large swathes of people to play dress-up. Because, really now, playing dress-up is fun! Halloween can yield awesomeness, but it is also amateur night for costume-wearers. So let’s start with the most depressing stuff and then move up to the most awesome. Yes? Yes!

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Mining the Genre Asteroid: Jirel of Joiry

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Mining the Genre Asteroid is Paul Weimer’s look at the history of the science fiction and fantasy field, bringing to light important, interesting and entertaining books from science fiction and fantasy’s past to you. France during the dark ages. The ruler of a feudal holding stands to protect the people and realm against usurpers and rivals, wizards and witches, dark crossovers from eldritch dimensions and haunted castles. Possessed of indomitable will, a strong emotional core that erupts in violent love and hatred, and not inconsiderable skill with sword and the leading of men into battle,  this feudal lord is the central character of six early sword and sorcery stories. Meet the lady Jirel of Joiry.

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