Announcements and Errata

Awards Season

Thoughts on the Hugo Nominated Short Stories by Adam Callaway

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(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:

Announcements and Errata

Writing Bits: Armadillocon Writer’s Workshop

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This week Shaun gave me permission to talk about the Armadillocon Writer’s Workshop, which is a little event that I run for my local convention. It’s close to my heart for multiple reasons — among them is the fact that it gave me a leg up as a new writer. I feel passionate enough about it that I’ve been running it for seven years. If you’re interested in becoming a professional Science Fiction and Fantasy writer, I think it’s one of the best, least inexpensive workshops designed for beginning and intermediate writers. This year, it will be held on Friday, July 25th, and the manuscript submission deadline is June 15th. Each student is required to submit a manuscript of no more than 5,000 words, which will then be critiqued at the workshop. Check in begins at 8:30am, and the workshop runs until the convention starts (usually, at 4:30pm). It’s a full day of lectures, writing exercises, and critiques. In the last part of the session, students are sorted into critique groups of no more than five. Each group is led by two publishing professionals. We use the Milford Method, and each student both gives and receives critiques. This year, we’re proud to have the following instructors: Ian McDonald, Ted Chiang, Jacob Weisman, Skyler White,  Mario Acevedo, Martha Wells, Kat Richardson, Stina Leicht, Alex C. Renwick, Claude Lalumière, Joe McKinney, Martin Wagner, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Mark Finn, Dr. Anne-Marie Thompson, Derek Johnson, Jayme Blaschke, and Nicky Drayden If you’re a new writer without publishing credits and you’re interested in professional publishing, this is the workshop for you. It’s a lot of fun. The fee is $70. For more detailed information see the Armadillocon website.

Announcements and Errata

Poll: Shaun should read this as…?

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If you’ve been paying attention, there’s this whole Worldcon Fundraiser thing going on for Shaun (i.e., me).  One of the Milestone Perks involves me reading a classic work of literature or philosophy as either Captain America (post-government cutbacks) or Yoda (the green ninja).  I’ve let one of the donors pick the work, but the general public (i.e., you) gets to pick the character I will play! Fabio Fernandes wants me to read from Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Nietzsche.  Now it’s up to all of you to decide the character!

Announcements and Errata

Top 10 Episodes and Blog Posts for April 2014

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Here they are! Episodes: 201. The Hugo Awards (A Discussion w/ Justin Landon and Natalie Luhrs) 198. Brazilian SF w/ Fabio Fernandes, Cesar Alcázar, Libby Ginway, and Jacques Barcia #WorldSFTour 199. Sofia Samatar (a.k.a. Malkia wa Ndoto) at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 200. We’re 200! (Hugos, World SF, and Trivia w/ the ENTIRE Crew) 197. Mannequin (1987): A Torture Cinema “Adventure” 116. Season of the Witch — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” 141. Final Hugo Thoughts + the Hugh Howey Fiasco w/ Justin Landon and Jonathan McCalmont #18. Summer Wars (2009) w/ Daniel Huddleston — #WorldSFTour 196. Fran Wilde (a.k.a. Chadwick’s Prodigy) — An Interview at ICFA Blog Posts: We’re Nominated for a Hugo Award! On Recent South(east) Asian SF/F by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Guest Post) New to The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast? Hello! Cultural Tourists (Part 2): Publishing and Representation by Charles Tan This Katamari Feels Cleaningsish — Magical Cleaning Methods! by Julia Rios Book Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (by Paul Weimer) Mining the Genre Asteroid: THE DRAGON WAITING by John M. Ford (by Paul Weimer) A (World) SFF Film Odyssey: Mutant Girls Squad (2010) and Anime’s Excesses by Shaun Duke IDIC and the problem with gatekeepers by Joyce Chng Book Review: Heirs of Grace by Tim Pratt (by Paul Weimer) Enjoy!

Announcements and Errata

Announcement: Live Recording of Episode #202 (Torture Cinema Meets Highlander II: the Quickening)

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Swords, first time flyers, and overacting, oh my!  In our 2nd ever live-recording, the crew (Jen and Julia) are joined by Michael J. Martinez to tear apart Highlander II: the Quickening (1991).  This month’s movie was selected by Mike as part of Shaun’s Worldcon fundraiser (the 5th Milestone Perk). All Torture Cinema episodes come with a skit.  Since we’re recording live, the skit will be a teaser for the mp3 version.  If you want to hear us do impressions of Sean Connery or what have you, you’ll be able to DL the mp3 from the main feed on this blog when it is released on April 30th. 2014. Feel free to join us at 10 PM EST on April 25th, 2014 (Friday).  The Q&A function will be turned on; your comments and questions are more than welcome!

Announcements and Errata

New to The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast? Hello!

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Hi there! You may have come here because we were nominated for a 2014 Hugo Award for best Fancast. In which case, welcome! Skiffy and Fanty is a blog, and most pertinently, a weekly fan podcast created by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink, Me, I’m Paul Weimer. You probably know me as @princejvstin on Twitter. If you run an F/SF blog, its likely I’ve commented on it. I joined Skiffy and Fanty in 2012.  In 2013, the Skiffy and Fanty show added a whole bunch of new people in our efforts to bring genre goodness to you on the blog and on the podcast: Mike R Underwood: Author, and works at Angry Robot Books Julia Rios: Fiction Editor and Podcaster in her own right. (The Outer Alliance) Stina Leicht: Fantasy Author ( Of Blood and Honey  and And Blue Skies from Pain) David Annandale: Fantasy Author of Warhammery goodness, Kaiju Master, and Teacher. Skiffy and Fanty as a podcast has a couple of different varieties of episodes. We’ve been accused of having an identity crisis (hello, Jonathan McCalmont!)  but we do all sorts of stuff on the podcast you might like to listen to: We interview authors like Adam Christopher. We have discussion episodes like, say, SF and Music with John Anealio and Peter Orullian This year we are doing our World SF Tour, with roundtables of genre people to connect with fiction from around the world. Like our recent Brazilian SF episode We sometimes watch something topical or not so topical and then discuss it. Like our opinions on the 1954 Godzilla. And, perhaps most infamously, sometimes we get together, get inebriated and discuss horrible, bad SF movies. Like, yes, Sharknado! We’re the Skiffy and Fanty podcast and we’re delighted for you to listen and tell us what you think.        

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