The World SF Tour: Fantastic February Dates!
Here’s what’s on the tour docket for February: Holdovers from January (already dropped): Torture Cinema review of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and an interview w/ Myke Cole (published 2/1 and 2/2, respectively). 2/7 (already dropped): discussion w/ Tansy Rayner Roberts and Marienne de Pierres on Australian Speculative Fiction 2/11: discussion w/ Helen Lowe, Norman Cates, & Stephen Minchin on New Zealander Speculative Fiction 2/14: WISB discussion of Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson) 2/17: an interview w/ Adam Christopher about Hangwire, out from Angry Robot Books 2/21: WISB discussion of Babylon 5 (season one; disc three) 3/2 or 3/3 (technically not a Feb. date, though it’s supposed to be): Torture Cinema review of Sons of Steel So, there you go 🙂
Feminism in Science Fiction and Being a Feminist Ally
I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine the other day. She’s far more educated in Feminism than I — I never took a Women’s Studies course at the University, nor did I have many Feminist friends in college. (I was a geek.) Therefore, I read as much as I can on my own, talk with other Feminists, and form my own opinions. My friend stated that she firmly believes that men cannot be Feminists. They can only be Feminist Allies. She believes that men who claim the Feminist label are prone to use their male privilege to define Feminism, which is, in itself, a form of oppression. In short, when the oppressor defines for the oppressed what is oppressive there’s an instant conflict of interest. I’m conflicted about this, I have to admit. On one hand, she has a point. I think of this argument whenever white people declare whether or not something is ‘racist.’ It swiftly mutates into dictating to another person what their feelings are — dictating to them the words (and situations) by which they’re allowed to be insulted. So. Not. Cool. On the other hand, I believe Feminism must be inclusive in order to work, and telling men they can’t be Feminists is being exclusive.
Fundraiser: Bring The Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour to Worldcon in London!
Worldcon is coming! I want to bring The Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour there this August. And I need your help raising the funds to travel to London to make this happen! What is the World SF Tour? Throughout 2014, The Skiffy and Fanty Show will focus much of its attention on science fiction and fantasy works from places outside of the United States. This will consist of interviews, movie discussions, the occasional Torture Cinema special, and discussions of World SF w/ locals. It’s a fairly large project, but it’s one I think is worthwhile. Additional details about the project can be found here. What I’m Going to Do:
My Superpower: Gregory A. Wilson
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 Gregory A. Wilson to talk about his paternal hilarity. —————————————————— A quick perusal of previous My Superpower entries on Skiffy and Fanty reveals one essential truth: like rappers, for whom every other rapper is a sucker MC afraid to step to the mic and face the miraculous madness (I’m patenting that, by the way — it’s got just enough street cred to work), many contributors to this guest column are anxious to claim that their superpowers are more badass than everyone else’s — even when they involve creating apparently self-deprecating yet still awesome powers like (I quote) “a Non-Event Sphere” where nothing happens, or (again I quote) being “selectively stupid.” So I wish to go on the record and say, right at the outset, that my particular superpower is not likely to trump anyone else’s. You may well have this superpower yourself, and it may even be more powerful than mine. I may be the sucker MC (I’m certainly afraid of the miraculous madness). It’s not broadly applicable or particularly useful outside of one specific context. But within that context, my superpower is completely MC-style legit. I am funny as hell. To my six year old.
191. Myke Cole (a.k.a. Sergeant Tibbs): Breach Zone (2014)(An Interview)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode191AnInterviewWMykeCole/SandF%20–%20Episode%20191%20–%20An%20Interview%20w%20Myke%20Cole.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSMagic wars, goblins, and love, oh my! Myke Cole returns once more with another incredible work of fantasy fiction, Shadow Ops: Breach Zone. We dig into the complicated relationship between the military and the general public, the development of the novels in Shadow Ops series, and so much more. Spoiler warning: if you have not read the previous two books in the series, Control Point and Fortress Frontier, we recommend doing so before listening to this episode. While we don’t ruin those books, we obviously discuss some of the details in their connection to Breach Zone. 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 190 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Myke’s Website Myke’s Twitter Myke’s Books You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Geekomancer Under Glass — Video Games I Want To Play
Hello all! This is Mike, your resident Geekomancer. Thanks to my novel contracts, my free time to *be* a geek has been lessened. I’ve had to make some tough leisure time choices, and more often than not, video games lose out, since it’s easier for me to sit back and absorb some narrative via TV and film. My friend Gregory A. Wilson has figured out a great way to have his cake and eat it too. He broadcasts his video gaming on Twitch TV, a broadcasting system. Through his stream, I’ve discovered a number of great video games that I desperately want to play, but haven’t made time. And all of this in a Golden Age of independent video game design. Therefore, I’m going to sublimate some of my yearning into this blog, and do my best to add to Skiffy & Fanty readers’ T0-Be-Played pile:
