My Superpower: Justin Robinson (Get Blank)
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 Justin Robinson to talk about how the power of art relates to Get Blank. —————————————— If I’m ever interrogated by a foreign power — something I was convinced would happen from the moment I saw my first James Bond film until lunchtime last Tuesday — there’s one thing that can never possibly break me. Bad movies.
Mining the Genre Asteroid: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Snuff is a loyal and faithful watchdog* — preternaturally intelligent. He helps Saucy Jack, a good and kind master. In Victorian London in October 1887, there will be a full moon on Halloween. A full moon on Halloween is a special event (which occurs about every 15-20 years on average), for then the Door can be opened and the Elder Gods let back into the world. Jack is a group of one of the individuals, Openers and Closers, striving during this October to gather the tools to decide whether the Door will finally be opened this time and change the world for all. The Great Game is afoot! Snuff’s master, though, is not any friendly guy named Jack, but rather he is a certain famous Jack best known to history for killing prostitutes in Whitechapel. And he is a Closer.
Book Review: Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith
Xhea has no magic. Born without the power that everyone else takes for granted, Xhea is an outcast—no way to earn a living, buy food, or change the life that fate has dealt her. Yet she has a unique talent: the ability to see ghosts and the tethers that bind them to the living world, which she uses to scratch out a bare existence in the ruins beneath the City’s floating Towers. When a rich City man comes to her with a young woman’s ghost tethered to his chest, Xhea has no idea that this ghost will change everything. The ghost, Shai, is a Radiant, a rare person who generates so much power that the Towers use it to fuel their magic, heedless of the pain such use causes. Shai’s home Tower is desperate to get the ghost back and force her into a body—any body—so that it can regain its position, while the Tower’s rivals seek the ghost to use her magic for their own ends. Caught between a multitude of enemies and desperate to save Shai, Xhea thinks herself powerless—until a strange magic wakes within her. Magic dark and slow, like rising smoke, like seeping oil. A magic whose very touch brings death. With two extremely strong female protagonists, Radiant is a story of fighting for what you believe in and finding strength that you never thought you had. Karina Sumner-Smith’s debut novel, “Radiant,” is fresh, enjoyable and interesting. The worldbuilding, characterization, plot, and language all work together in an involving and satisfying way. The pacing is pleasing, starting with small-scale negotiations and individual-scale risks; discoveries and choices bring greater danger, bigger decisions and sacrifices, and finally building to a City-changing conclusion. In fact, I read the last half of the book in one gulp.
230. Celine Kiernan (a.k.a. the Ghost of Nimh) — Into the Grey (An Interview)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode230AnInterviewWCelineKiernan/SandF%20–%20Episode%20230%20–%20An%20Interview%20w%20Celine%20Kiernan.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSGhost children, night terrors, and mislabeled books, oh my! It’s been far too long since Celine Kiernan was last on our show. And that’s why we asked her back to discuss her novel, Into the Grey, which recently released in the United States. We discuss her influences, writing stories in a recent Irish past, and much more. 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 230 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Celine’s Website Celine’s Twitter Celine’s Books Into the Grey Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). Additional music from “Black Vortex” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
My Superpower: Anne E. Johnson (Green Light Delivery)
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 Anne E. Johnson to talk about how the power of writing around chaos relates to Green Light Delivery. —————————————— I can write while surrounded by chaos. When I was an undergrad at a large university famous for its party life, I would often go to the Student Union on Saturday night. Hundreds of students and faculty would be there, hoisting beers (the legal drinking age was 18 back then) and carrying on. I’ve never been a drinker or a partier, but man, I loved the Student Union on Saturday night. Just me with a cup of coffee, doing my Ancient Greek or Latin Comp homework amid a crowd of half-soused revelers. They ignored me, and I them.
My Superpower: Che Gilson
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 Che Gilson to talk about how the power of art relates to Carmine Rojas: Dog Fight. —————————————— I like to think of art as my super power. It’s not something that tons of authors can claim as their own (though there are plenty). But I was able to turn my super power into a book cover for my novella Carmine Rojas: Dog Fight.
