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Book Review: THEORY OF BASTARDS by Audrey Schulman

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Scientist and MacArthur Award Fellow Francine (Frankie) arrives in the near future at a facility dedicated to the study and protection of the non-human Hominidae, the great apes. Wooed there by the Foundation that runs the facility, Frankie is eager to use its resources and her ‘Genius Grant’ to study a group of bonobos as a means of testing and extending her theories on reproduction, and their influence on the mechanisms of biological evolution. Frankie begins this new chapter in her life while facing familiar personal challenges and physical complications arising from life-long endometriosis. Her intense focus on her work and the benefits provided her through the latest technology of ‘bodyware’ augmentations help Frankie persist through any disability caused by her condition. Meanwhile, another researcher there named Stotts facilitates her education on, and introduction to, the bonobos. The gentle, reserved Stotts focuses his research on the development of tool use in primates, but he looks to the relatively simple tools of communication utilized by the bonobos with a romanticized envy when compared to human technology.

Smoke and Iron - Rachel Caine
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Guest Post: ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY OR SF? by Rachel Caine

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Today we have a Guest post from SMOKE AND IRON author Rachel Caine, who is here to discuss some of the ancient technology she researched in writing her Great Library series. One of the most fascinating things I uncovered in writing my young adult novels about the Great Library of Alexandria were the multiple references to technologies that qualify as astonishingly advanced … if not downright science fictional. I incorporated (and yes, enhanced, for fictional purposes) many of these things into the books, but I thought it’d be interesting to discuss a few of them in detail.

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Short Fiction Review: June 2018

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My favorite story last month was “In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same” by A.C. Wise, which appears in The Dark Issue 37. It’s a smart, dark take on the Scooby Doo formula that pauses and asks, “Aren’t they too young for this?” Like poetry and space opera? Go read “I Sing Against the Silent Sun” by A. Merc Rustad and Ada Hoffmann, which appears in Lightspeed Magazine Issue 97. In this harrowing yet hopeful story, a poet-revolutionary is hunted by a god of silence. (Also, this story makes me happy because of its genderfluid and nonbinary representation.) I also enjoyed “The Sweetness of Honey and Rot” by A. Merc Rustad, which appears in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 254 (21 June 2018). It’s a story about the costs of resistance, and it features original, inventive worldbuilding and gorgeous, detailed prose.

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Book Review: Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor

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Keen fans of the Hugo Awards will be aware that 2018 marks the inaugural presentation of the World Science Fiction Society Award for Best Young Adult Book. The shortlist for this Hugo-adjacent award (which will, barring shenanigans at the AGM, henceforth be known as the Lodestar Award) includes Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor. This is the second book in Okorafor’s series, Akata Witch. It tells the story of Sunny Nwazue, a teenage girl born in New York City whose Nigerian parents have brought her across the Atlantic to live in their hometown. Sunny is a Leopard Person, someone with an affinity for juju and thus able to work magic. In Akata Warrior, she develops these abilities under the strict guidance of her mentor Sugar Cream and the tried and true method of getting into mischief with her friends. However, it’s not all fun and games. Ekwensu, the masquerade responsible for murdering Sunny’s grandmother (and also the only other Leopard Person in Sunny’s family) is still on the loose. Sunny and her friends must track down the masquerade before Ekwensu brings about the apocalypse.

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Comics Review: OK, maybe the real giant monster is also the real giant monster – KAIJUMAX Season 3

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Welcome to the latest installment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m turning my – and hopefully your – gaze back to the latest collection of a series I reviewed last year, one of my favourite SFFnal comics currently in production, Zander Cannon’s epic giant monsters prison drama, Kaijumax. (This review contains spoilers!)

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