Torture Cinema Poll for July 2014: You Decide!
I’m late in dropping the Torture Cinema episode from June, but that doesn’t mean you all can’t vote for our end-of-the-month torturefest! You know the drill. Voting will end on Monday.
Our CONvergence Schedules: Where We’ll Be and How You Can Join Us!
The entire male crew will be at CONvergence this 4th of July weekend. Why the guys? We drew straws. Or it was entirely random. Whichever sounds more interesting. In any case, I’ve taken the liberty to compile a day-by-day schedule of all of our activities, whether as a group OR as individuals. Some things may be added to this in the near future (walk-by sessions, etc.). See the official CONvergence schedule for details about these panels (and others). Here goes: Thursday 12:30 PM — Mainstreaming of Geekdom (Mike Underwood) 12:30 PM — Godzilla vs. Kaiju (David Annandale and Shaun Duke) 2:00 PM — The Skiffy and Fanty Show (LIVE at CONvergence)(everybody w/ guests Martha Wells and Carie Patel) 5:00 PM — Many Faces of Dracula (David Annandale) 5:00 PM — Shakespeare and Fantasy (Paul Weimer) 8:30 PM — Green is Not Diversity (Shaun Duke) 10:00 PM — Are Zombies Dead (Yet)? (David Annandale) 10:00 PM — Saberhagen’s Dracula (Paul Weimer) Friday 9:30 AM — Where’s the Creature from the Black Lagoon? (David Annandale) 12:30 PM — Author Reading (David Annandale) 12:30 PM — Marvel Film Roundup (Shaun Duke) 5:00 PM — Gaming When You Have a Life (Paul Weimer) 8:30 PM — Signing (David Annandale w/ Martha Wells) Saturday 12:30 PM — City Building (Shaun Duke) 2:00 PM — Gender in Urban Fantasy (Mike Underwood) 3:30 PM — Mythology in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy (Paul Weimer) 5:00 PM — Is There Life After ‘Dark and Gritty’? (Mike Underwood) 5:00 PM — How to Structure a Novel (David Annandale) Sunday 12:30 PM — Writing Sequels: Deja vu or Level 2? (David Annandale) 2:00 PM — From Gaming to Writing (Mike Underwood) 2:00 PM — From Gaming to Writing (David Annandale) Note: we do plan to have Walk-By sessions this year, but we haven’t put them in the schedule yet. It’s likely they’ll be semi-random due to our bizarre schedules and the various interviews we’ll be conducting. The best way to get involved in a Walk-By session is to pay attention to our Twitter feed, which is where we’ll announce full details (location, etc.).
Torture Cinema Poll for June 2014: You Decide
You know the drill. Pick the one you want us to watch this month! Voting closes on Monday. Note: I’ve been randomizing the massive list so we can keep the polls fresh. From now on, I’m also going to randomize the lists by decade so each poll item is from a different decade.
Top 10 Episodes and Blog Posts for May 2014
May was a busy month. Here’s what you were all enjoying! Top 10 Episodes: #20. Captain America: the Winter Soldier (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast 204. Caribbean SF w/ Karen Lord, Tobias Buckell, and Stephanie Saulter — #WorldSFTour Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 205. Mary Anne Mohanraj & Cecilia Tan at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour 203. Stephanie Saulter (a.k.a. The Jeweler) — Gemsigns (An Interview) #worldsftour 201. The Hugo Awards (A Discussion w/ Justin Landon and Natalie Luhrs) #19. Babylon 5 (S1D5&6: Eps 17-22) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast #22. Godzilla (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast w/ Rachael Acks 199. Sofia Samatar (a.k.a. Malkia wa Ndoto) at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour 141. Final Hugo Thoughts + the Hugh Howey Fiasco w/ Justin Landon and Jonathan McCalmont Top 10 Blog Posts: Book Review: Veil of the Deserters by Jeff Salyards (by Paul Weimer) Language in the Written Word by Charles Tan Thoughts on the Hugo Nominated Short Stories by Adam Callaway Book Review: The Best Fantasy and Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 8 (by Paul Weimer) 2014 Hugo Award Episode Pack: Download away! On Recent South(east) Asian SF/F by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Guest Post) My Superpower: James L. Sutter My Superpower: Cassandra Rose Clarke Business Time – Many Paths up the Mountain by Mike Underwood Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic (by Paul Weimer) Enjoy!
2014 Hugo Award Episode Pack: Download away!
If you’re a Hugo Voter, you’ll have seen the little document in the Fancast category from us which includes recommended episodes from 2013 — one from each of our episode types. To make it a little easier for folks to download these episodes, we’ve put up a .zip file containing all four mp3 files, which should be easy enough to load up into your player of choice. The file can be downloaded here. If there are issues, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or contact us at skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com! Enjoy!
Thoughts on the Hugo Nominated Short Stories by Adam Callaway
(Edit: this post was actually written by Adam Callaway. I forgot that WordPress would use my ID to indicate the author if I was the one who created it. Sorry for any confusion.) I am both pleasantly surprised and just a little disappointed with this year’s batch of nominees. There were no short stories I found to be of poor quality. In my opinion, there was one mediocre story, two good ones, and one very good one. I wish there had been a full ballot of short stories to read through. I also wish there had been more diversity in terms of theme and content. In the end, I feel like these are incredibly mature stories that show the changing face of speculative literature in the 21st century. In many ways, they share more in common with fiction published in the New Yorker than Amazing Stories. Instead of ray guns and magic swords, you have metafiction and magical realism. Regardless of the quality of these stories, this is a Good Thing for the future of the genre. But are these really the best stories genre produced last year? Hmm… Here are my brief thoughts on each of the nominees:
