276. Live at CONvergence! Space and Its Discontents (On Contact and Gravity)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode276ContactAndGravitySpaceAndItsDiscontentsLiveAtCONvergence/Sandf–Episode276–ContactAndGravitySpaceAndItsDiscontentsLiveAtConvergence.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAlien messages, space debris, and space women, oh my! The Robogoblins descend upon CONvergence to discuss Gravity and Contact. We tackle how each film addresses religion, science, trauma, and female characters, and we explore the optimism of Contact versus the pessimism of Gravity. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 276 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:
2014 Hugo Award Episode Pack: Download away!
If you’re a Hugo Voter, you’ll have seen the little document in the Fancast category from us which includes recommended episodes from 2013 — one from each of our episode types. To make it a little easier for folks to download these episodes, we’ve put up a .zip file containing all four mp3 files, which should be easy enough to load up into your player of choice. The file can be downloaded here. If there are issues, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or contact us at skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com! Enjoy!
Thoughts on the Hugo Nominated Short Stories by Adam Callaway
(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:
A Note on Hugo Awards and The Stars Change by Mary Anne Mohanraj
Today is the deadline for Hugo Award nominations. If you haven’t voted yet, get your ballot filled out right now! We are, of course, eligible in the Best Fancast and Best Fanzine categories, along with a lot of other wonderful folks. So…vote! In the interest of ballot-related things, I’d like to draw your attention to Mary Anne Mohanraj’s The Stars Change, which we talked about briefly in an upcoming episode recorded at ICFA this year (along w/ Cecilia Tan). I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the episode up in time for folks to listen to it pre-ballot-deadline, so I promised to write a little post about the book. In short, it’s an intriguing work, and our discussion covered such interesting topics as sexuality, Sri Lankan politics, and more. If anything, this post should serve as a reminder that it is, in fact, eligible this year. Here are some details about the book, which is published by Circlet Press:
For Your Hugo Award Consideration: A Very Big, Non-Endorsement List of Things to Love
We’re not going to release a Skiffy and Fanty endorsed set of Hugo Award nomination lists this year (though I might do so on my personal blog in the next month). Yes, we’re eligible for Best Fancast (and technically you can nominate our Sharknado episode for Best Related Work OR “The Great Lake Conspiracy (A Mustache and the Mutt Mystery)” for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) if you want to be cute). We do appreciate every vote we’ve received so far. But this post isn’t about us. It’s about all the books, writers, critics, movies, and so on that have been a part of the show throughout 2013. So what follows is a giant list of possibilities. At the very least, it’ll give you something new to check out. Here goes (only eligible works will be listed; Torture Cinema films have been left off, because you shouldn’t vote for them anyway):
189. Our Favorite Things from 2013 (A Roundtable Discussion)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode189OurFavoriteThingsFrom2013/SandF%20–%20Episode%20189%20–%20Our%20Favorite%20Things%20from%202013.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSBooks, movies, TV, and more, oh my! In a fit of profound genius, most of the crew got together to discuss all the lovely stuff they read, viewed, and experienced in 2013. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 189 — Download (MP3) Show Notes (all the things we mentioned):
