Geekomancer Under Glass — Spring 2014 Pilots
We’re solidly into the Spring 2014 TV season now in the US, so I’ve watched a few pilots, SF/F and other, to share my thoughts with you all, the Skiffy and Fanty readership. I’ve avoided all but the most basic spoilers, since all three of these shows employ the Fifth Act Twist. The 100 The 100, adapted from the novel of the same name by author Kass Morgan, is another entry in the CW’s effort to become the new Sci-Fi channel. Just as there was a rush of YA SF/F literature, it only makes sense that there would be a corresponding wave of YA SF/F television, and here we are. 97 years after a devastating nuclear war, life support is running out on the Ark, a hodgepodge mega-space-station cobbled together when the surface world got all toasty. In an effort to buy more time for the grown-ups, and to see if the surface is habitable, 100 juvenile inmates are dropped back to the surface, despite the fact that as far as the people on the station know, the surface is supposed to still be lethally radioactive.
New to The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast? Hello!
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.
We’re Nominated for a Hugo Award!
Did you hear the exciting news? DID YOU? We’re officially on the final ballot for the 2014 Hugo Awards! How cool is that? So a few quick things to say: We’re on the Hugo Award ballot! OMG! A whole bunch of you nominated us! Thank you ever so much. We love you. We really do. You are all so super awesome. Also: thank you so much for listening to our show! We’ll give you free cookies one day. Promise. We’re on the Hugo Award ballot! OMG! Wait…I already said that. Oh well. So what does this mean? Simple: We’re on the ballot, which means all of you who have attending or supporting memberships will be able to vote for us or one of the other lovely podcasts that made it to the final list (also: all the books, short stories, movies, and what not that got nominated). It’s up to you! If you haven’t purchased a supporting membership, you should probably do so right now so you can vote! And not just for us, because that would be silly and self-serving. No. You should get a supporting membership because a) all the cool kids are doing it; b) you’ll get a huge packet of free reads (not guaranteed, but it always happens these days); c) to support the Hugo Awards by making it bigger and better than ever before; and d) to have a say in what gets an award! It also means we could really use your support to bring The Skiffy and Fanty Show to Worldcon this year. We need to at least raise the funds for the plane ticket by the end of this month, so if you can spare $10, please do so! Julia and Shaun would love to attend the convention and sit among the nominees at the Hugo Awards (and Jen is planning to make this happen now, too, which is awesome). And that’s it! Thanks so much for nominating us. Thanks to the Hugo committee folks for sending us the amazing news. Thanks to everyone who has supported us in any way: listeners, readers, hosts, friends, writers and sf/f fans…thank you all. Squeeeee! —————————————————————- P.S.: Don’t forget that we’re hosting our 200th episode live on Monday! Details here.
My Superpower: Michael R. Underwood
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 our own Michael R. Underwood (aka Mike) to talk about how the power of growing up in a game store applies to Attack the Geek. ————————————- When I was about 12, my family packed up and moved from New Jersey to Indiana. My little sister was less than a year old, and the two of us sat in the back seat as my family drove us the 750-ish miles. This meant that I did a lot of the minor childcare during the drive, and that when we arrived in Bloomington, we stopped in the city square to get lunch, but first, they gave me a few dollars as a reward for my good work and let me loose on the game store.
Coming Soon: Episode 200…LIVE!
That’s right. To celebrate our 200th episode, we’re going to record it LIVE on Google+/YouTube. That means you’ll get to listen to and/or watch us act like crazy people for several hours, which we all know will be a lot of fun, right? When and where? Monday, April 21st at 6:30-8:30 PM EST (we will post here and Tweet a link to the YouTube stream as soon as it goes live; the time is arbitrary and may be slightly short or slightly longer depending on need) What should you expect? Celebrating 200 episodes, a world sf discussion, and a trivia game! What can you do? You can watch the live episode, for one. And you can share the news! You can also submit trivia questions via this form (please read it before submitting) Put it on your calendar!
Mining the Genre Asteroid: THE DRAGON WAITING by John M. Ford
It’s the 15th century, but not the 15th century we know. Julian the Apostate was no apostate in this world, and Europe, from Wales to Byzantium, is pagan. The aforementioned Byzantines are strong and vibrant, with much of Italy and France under their boot, as well as the Balkans and Middle East, and now looking greedily at the British Isles. The British Isles are wracked by a civil war between two noble houses, and, thus, are ripe for the taking; if the right outsider might be groomed for the role and given backing. Henry Tydder, bearing the symbol of a red dragon, seems like a perfect candidate for Byzantium’s plans.
