Recommended Reads is a monthly feature in which the Skiffy and Fanty crew tell you about one thing they recently read that they think you might like too. This month, we’re sharing our favorite reads for the year in order to convince you to buy a million books during the winter holidays. Here are their picks:
2013 has been an interesting year for us. We went to Worldcon, we added new people to the show and the blog, and we commandeered a rocket from Space X, stole Patrick Hester’s Hugo Award, and send it to the sun. Basically, it was an awesome year. Here’s what you all loved about us in December and throughout 2013! Top 10 Episodes for December: 181. SF/F and Music w/ Peter Orullian and John Anealio Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man 183. Douglas Lain (a.k.a. Le Révolutionnaire) — Billy Moon (An Interview) 182. Wesley Chu (a.k.a. Spymaster 1000) — The Lives of Tao (An Interview) 179. Ann Leckie (a.k.a. Singularitrix) — Ancillary Justice (An Interview + Giveaway) 180. Reign of Fire (2002) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” #11 — Catching Fire (2013) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion 185. J.R. Vogt at Worldcon (an Interview of Sorts) 116. Season of the Witch — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” 178. Emma Newman (a.k.a. Tea & Cake) — The Split Worlds Trilogy Top 10 Posts for December: Mining the Genre Asteroid: The World of Tiers series by Philip José Farmer by Paul Weimer Mining the Genre Asteroid: Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp by Paul Weimer My Superpower: Daniel Ionson Guest Post: “Tackling Other Cultures in Fiction” by Stina Leicht Book Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan by Paul Weimer Business Time: Handselling Part One – The Chain of Selling by Mike Underwood Confessions of a Comics Junkie: Identity, Obsessions, and Everything by Shaun Duke Mining the Genre Asteroid: Ringworld by Paul Weimer The Disquieting Guest — Hannibal, Horror and Television by David Annandale Update: Blog and Podcast Feed Changes! Top 10 Episodes for the Year: 141. Final Hugo Thoughts + the Hugh Howey Fiasco w/ Justin Landon and Jonathan McCalmont 139. Hugo/Clarke Award Roundtable w/ Stina Leicht and Liz Bourke 170. Nick Mamatas at Worldcon — A Discussion of Sorts #05 — Pacific Rim (2013) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion w/ Michael R. Underwood #03 — Man of Steel — A Shoot the WISB Discussion w/ David Annandale and Michael R. Underwood Episode 4.2 — Torture Cinema Meets The Wicker Man Episode 84 — Women in Military SF (or The Kratman Rule is B.S.) 142. Brian McClellan (a.k.a. Das Schwarzpulver) — Promise of Blood (An Interview) 116. Season of the Witch — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” 146. Artificial Intelligence and You w/ Mary Robinette Kowal (A Discussion) Top 10 Posts for the Year: Announcement: The World SF Tour Begins in 2014 (Here We Come!) Out-Brutalling the Last Guy: “Grim and gritty, yes … but make sure it’s doing some honest work” by K.V. Johansen The Sound of Thunder (On Young Adult SF/F) by Stina Leicht Worldbuilding: Why It Ain’t So Easy by Stina Leicht Mining the Genre Asteroid: Ringworld by Paul Weimer Interview with Zachary Jernigan (conducted by Paul Weimer) SFFTV: Falling Skies — Another Monumental Disappointment by Shaun Duke Worldcon Announcement #1 Announcement: Skiffy and Fanty 3.0 Begins Now! Book Review: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie by Paul Weimer
A mysterious source of energy from another universe and the emergence of particles that should not exist according to principles of modern physics and chemistry. And thus, when they decay, they release free, clean energy. Who cares about the motives of the para-men in the parallel universe who are sending the atoms of impossible Plutonium 186 to us in exchange for atoms of Tungsten 186 (equally unstable in their world), right? The Electron Pump is a benefit to both sides, right? Or is it? Is the Electron Pump really that benign, or is it a devilish energy trap designed to foster dependency on it, or worse, be actively harmful to both humans and aliens alike? Once the Pump is in operation, can a source of limitless free energy that threatens the survival of two civilizations even
I’m dreadfully late to this party, but over the course of the last few weeks, I finally had the chance to catch up on the first season of Hannibal. By and large, I enjoyed it very much, especially Mads Mikkelsen’s incarnation of the title character. I was very struck, too, both by how stylized the series is and how committed it is to bringing full-on horror to the small screen. In this respect, it is a pretty rare animal.* In his chapter about horror on television in Danse Macabre, Stephen King writes that horror has not been well-served by the medium. One of the big problems is that “television has really asked the impossible of its handful of horror programs — to terrify without really terrifying, to horrify without really horrifying, to sell audiences a lot of sizzle and no steak.” This is back in 1981, and the television landscape has, of course, changed radically since then. There were exceptions to this rule that King could point to then, and there have been even more since, but I think there is still a fair bit of
I’m a bad person. I said I’d tell everyone about this on Monday. It’s now Friday. So be it. So without further delay, here’s the winner of a copy of Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: Joseph Benincase His favorite science fiction novel was The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester! So, congrats!
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 Daniel Ionson to talk about how his power of making nothing happen relates to After Life. In the game of Paper-Rock-Scissors, my superpower trumps all of the Supermen, X-Men, Whatever-Men, every time… in the most boring way possible. It’s the “Non-Event Sphere.” Wherever I go, there, nothing happens. How did I get such a plain cheese-sandwich superpower? Because the Universe and I made a pact: I decided that I was willing to forgo anything like an “adventurous life” so long as I can have an entire expanding series of multiverses in my head.
