Book Review: LOST FILMS, Edited by Max Booth III & Lori Michelle
Along with stories by Stephen King, cinematic horror is largely responsible for introducing the weird and terrifying to me and a generation or two of teens. For years my friends and I sought horror films both good and bad, and we heard that particular macabre whisper calling us to the most unhinged and obscure among them. The memorable ones have been those whose reputations have created anticipatory trepidation equal to the thrills of watching the movie itself. The cursed production history. The banned content of unfathomable realism. The haunted film. Horror built around such themes of its visual representation proves popular, from Apollinaire’s “A Good Film” to Suzuki’s Ringu or American Horror Story: Roanoke. Ironically, written explorations of horror in visual media have a stronger impact on me than the those relayed through a screen medium. An excellent recent example would be Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. The announcement of the Lost Films anthology from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing therefore really excited me. Comprised of nineteen stories with an introduction by Max Booth III (co-editor with Lori Michelle), it is one of the strongest collections I’ve read, with several potential standout favorites for readers from both established and new authors.
Short Fiction Review: February 2019
February saw the release of A People’s Future of the United States, an anthology of resistance and hope that’s edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams and features big names such as Charlie Jane Anders, Hugh Howey, N. K. Jemisin, Sam J. Miller, and Catherynne M. Valente. The anthology is filled with great work, and in particular I want to spotlight “Riverbed” by Omar El Akkad and “Harmony” by Seanan McGuire. I could easily rave about A People’s Future of the United States for the rest of this review, but I also want to spotlight some other great new stories by less well-known authors. In February, Nightmare Magazine published “58 Rules to Ensure Your Husband Loves You Forever” by Rafeeat Aliyu, a creative and disturbing take on zombies that powerfully comments on toxic social norms around marriage. This piece is dark and disturbing, so it won’t be for everyone, but if you like horror, I highly recommend it. I also enjoyed “This Wine-Dark Feeling That Isn’t The Blues” by José Pablo Iriarte, which appears in Escape Pod. It’s a short and surprising story about love, grief, and simulated realities. Lastly, I loved “Ti-Jean’s Last Adventure, as Told to Raccoon” by KT Bryski, which appears in Lightspeed Magazine. It’s a very Canadian story that’s equal parts fun folklore and serious cultural critique.
Book Review: 2018 NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE, Edited by Jane Yolen
As usual, I’m behind and am just now getting to write up these thoughts on the 2018 Nebula Awards Showcase, edited by Jane Yolen for Pyr. Until April when the 2019 showcase comes out, it is the latest of annual volumes published since 1966 to reprint the nominated and winning stories for the previous year. Though this past year’s winners might be more in the forefront of your mind, revisiting – or discovering – the stories in the 2018 showcase (published 2016 and 2017) could be even more rewarding. I had read many of the stories at their original appearance, and going back to these again for a second or third time felt in some cases like meeting old friends, and in a few cases felt like appreciating something wondrous that I had somehow missed on that read a couple years back.
Book Review: New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color ed. by Nisi Shawl
Anthologies are my favorite way of discovering new writers, and they’re my favorite kind of books to review for Skiffy and Fanty, but some are harder to review than others. I’m a white woman living in a red state in Trump’s America, so my opinion on these works is probably the last anybody would want, but at least I’m in a position to beat the drums and pass the good stuff on to you readers, and I’ll tell you what: there’s good stuff aplenty in these pages.
Interview: Catherine Lundoff on the Scourge of the Seas anthology
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, an interview with SCOURGE OF THE SEAS editor Catherine Lundoff.
Guest Post: Welcome to my Worlds: Cover Reveal and Q&A: Tales from Plexis Edited by Julie E. Czerneda
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, we have a guest post from Julie Czerneda about the forthcoming Tales From Plexis, an anthology set in her Clan Chronicles ’verse, including a cover reveal, art and photography done by her husband, Roger Czerneda. Welcome to my Worlds. And to the cover reveal for a special project, years in the making. The Clan Chronicles: Tales from Plexis. Yes, it’s my newest anthology, but this one? This one is yours too.
