Blog Posts

Blog Posts

Book Review: The Masked City, By Genevieve Cogman

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Universe-traversing Librarian Irene Adler and her assistant the dragon prince  Kai return in The Masked City, second in The Invisible Library series following the titular volume in the series. After settling themselves in the Quasi Victorian world of airships, Fey nobles and derring-do, Irene’s life is, if not precisely stable and uneventful, at least predictable. Find rare books for the library in this alternate London, dodge machinations of local villains, spar with her bête noire, and get into adventure after adventure. Routine, right? Second novels, especially following on high-concept hot ideas like the interdimensional traveling library and librarians of Cogman’s series, are tricky. How do you keep the material fresh? How do you avoid the temptation to “do bigger, and more” as a easier substitution for the harder tricks of building on worldbuilding without making it unstable or unpalatable, and developing characters and their arcs in interesting and meaningful ways? The second novel in such writing is harder than the first, and for me as a reader, with the baseline established, I am looking for that growth and development, and read for it.

Torture Cinema Polls

Torture Cinema Poll: March Madness!

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We truly do HATE to disappoint you, but this has literally nothing to do with college basketball. We just felt like torturing you. HOW DO YOU LIKE US NOW?! Just kidding. Sort of. Really, it’s just time to pick our next Torture Cinema of 2017! We have a wide variety of total crap for you to choose from. So choose wisely!!

Blog Posts

Podcast and Blog Stats for 2016: Most Popular, Most Downloaded, and Other Oddities

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I haven’t done one of these posts in a while, but after randomly looking at our download figures, I got the bug to share what has been popular on this podcast and on the blog. So, with that in mind, the following are a few “top 10” lists of the most popular posts and episodes of 2016 and all time according to our WordPress statistics. I’ve also included a list of our most downloaded episodes of all time using data from our file host, which makes for some curious comparisons. Enjoy!

Blog Posts

Book Review: The Medusa Chronicles by Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter

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Howard Falcon is one of the most interesting characters in the oeuvre of Arthur C. Clarke. The late 21st century test pilot’s crash of an experimental helium-filled airship turns into an opportunity, as his cyborg-like existence mandated in the recovery from the accident makes him the perfect person to do the impossible: make a dive into the upper layers of Jupiter. The story of Falcon’s dive into Jupiter is in the Nebula award-winning novella “A Meeting with Medusa.”  It is a story frequently anthologized, for good reason. Sense of wonder, pathos and inventive worldbuilding make it a classic. Now, with the approval of the Clarke estate, Hard SF authors Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds have teamed up to tell the continued adventures and history of Howard Falcon, and his world, in The Medusa Chronicles.

Blog Posts

Retro Childhood Review: The Last Unicorn

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“I was born mortal, and I have been immortal for a long, foolish time, and one day I will be mortal again; so I know something that a unicorn cannot know. Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?” “No,” she said. The magician smiled wearily. “You will. You’re in the story with the rest of us now, and you must go with it, whether you will or no.” — The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle I couldn’t have been more than 5 years old when The Last Unicorn came out on VHS and I watched it so often that my video store had to replace it within a year. My sister and I were absolutely enthralled by the delicate artistry of the unicorn, terrified of the Red Bull, and befuddled by some of the trippier moments (boob tree, anyone?). I always imagined the film to be more born of the imaginations of the production and animation studios, than of Peter S. Beagle’s writing. That is where I was woefully incorrect. This is the first time that I have ever read The Last Unicorn and, though the movie will always be my go-to, I am well and truly in love with this heartbreaking fairy tale.

Blog Posts

Guest Post by Shanna Germain: The Importance of Grief in the Stories we Tell

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Today on Skiffy and Fanty, we have a guest post from Shanna Germain. Shanna is the author of myriad stories, books, and games, as well as the co-owner of Monte Cook Games. Her most recent works include Numenera: The Poison Eater, No Thank You, Evil!, and Torment: Tides of Numenera—an Explorer’s Guide. The Importance of Grief in the Stories we Tell Our movies, shows, and books often tell us a particular story about grief. It goes like this: two people are grieving about the same thing — the loss of a child, let’s say — and they grieve differently—one wants to talk about it and one doesn’t, let’s say. And this fundamental difference in how they grieve tore them apart. And eventually they excised that grief thorn and were able to move on. Maybe together, maybe apart.

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