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The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

208. Usman Malik (a.k.a. Mr. Marvel) — An Interview at ICFA

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode208AnInterviewWUsmanMalikAtICFA/SandF%20–%20Episode%20208%20–%20An%20Interview%20w%20Usman%20Malik%20at%20ICFA.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSUrdu literature, the wild world of translation, and Pakistani speculative fiction, oh my!  Author Usman Malik joins us at ICFA to talk about his literary influences, Urdu literature, spirituality and religion, and a whole lot of other amazing stuff. 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 208 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Usman’s Twitter Usman’s Posts on Desi Writer’s Lounge “Pinned and Wriggling on the Wall” by Usman Malik (Daily Science Fiction) Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī The Adventures of Amir Hamza by Ghalib Lakhnavi (translated by Musharraf Ali Farooqi) Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s website Farooqi’s columns on Dawn.com Mazhar Kaleem The Imran Series Ibn-e-Safi 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.

Blog Posts

Book Review: Reach for Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan

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Jonathan Strahan’s third “Infinities” anthology, Reach for Infinity, changes focus yet again for the series. While Engineering Infinity and Edge of Infinity explored solid Solar System-set science fiction, Reach for Infinity’s stories and mission concern the attempts of man to get into the solar system, pulling back even further from the more grandiose hard science fiction in the first Infinities volume, Engineering Infinity. However, even given the more narrowed and tight focus, the stories are no less full of wonder, characters, science and excellent writing. The previous volume, Edge of Infinity, felt in some ways like a manifesto from the editor, as if it had been curated and created to advance an argument. Reach for Infinity eschews that sort of editorial point of view and instead presents a set of excellent stories.

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The World SF Blog — One Year Later

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By the time this post goes up — at least in my part of the world — it will exactly be a year since the World SF Blog was retired. Its success, in my opinion, lies in the hands of the editor-in-chief of the site, Lavie Tidhar, and the efforts of the various contributors (the list would be too long…) from around the world. The Apex Book of World SF 3 has also been announced, so June is a special month for me (and because I had nothing to do with the anthology, I can read it with surprise and delight). Before I digress, I want to point out that the more I pondered the issue of World SF, the more I discovered how the term was problematic (which Is discussed in my essay “World SF: Our Possible Future”). Here’s the thing:  no one owns or speaks for World SF. It’s too broad, too all encompassing, and it’s often defined by what it isn’t. It’s a reaction to the current status quo, of major publishers publishing books by US and UK authors, and those books becoming the canon in various parts of the world. It’s to rebel against cultural appropriation, to combat cultural stereotypes, and most of all, to not do a disservice to readers of various races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

Blog Posts

Mining the Genre Asteroid: Telzey Amberdon and the Federation of the Hub by James Schmitz

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Fifteen year old Telzey Amberdon of the planet Orado is the daughter of a relatively rich and well connected family. A law student on the fast track to follow in her parents footsteps and active in her world’s politics, she is also certifiable genius. Smart enough to be a serious contender in planetwide chess tournaments, in fact. When she and her family are on vacation on the planet Jontarou, however, she inadvertently unlocks dormant psionic powers (and xenopsionic at that) that she has had since birth. The nature of her psionic powers is rather unusual — xenotelepathy, the ability to communicate with sentient aliens of all kinds. Take, for example, her 200 pound crest cat pet Tick-Tock, whom she did not even know or expect was as intelligent as any human being. And addition to the rarity of her powers, Telzey is now probably one of the strong psychics in all of human space. Powerful enough to be able to rewrite aspects of someone’s personality, even. A fifteen year old xenopsionic, especially a genius powerful one, is in much demand in the Psychology Service of the Federation, and while Telzey has the same problems, hopes and dreams of a fifteen year old girl, she quickly gets wrapped up in much bigger matters as she takes her place in this “new” world and grows into her abilities and her role. On her own terms, of course. The Federation, however, is never going to be the same when it gets to meet Telzey.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

207. David Edison (a.k.a. Kahlua Engine) — The Waking Engine (An Interview at ICFA)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode207InterviewWDavidEdisonAtICFA/SandF%20–%20Episode%20207%20–%20Interview%20w%20David%20Edison%20at%20ICFA.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSCities of the dead, sass, and New Yorkers, oh my!  Shaun and Julia have a little fun with David Edison in a hotel room.  We talk about words, David’s new book, The Waking Engine, the after life, urban fantasy, his publishing journey, Torchwood, and a whole lot of random, silly stuff, and sass. 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 207 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: David’s Website David’s Book David’s Twitter 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.

Blog Posts

Book Review: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

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Jeff Vandermeer has always been a frustrating author to me. He is an incredible anthologist and an adroit genre critic. I want to love his books. I should love his books. The New Weird movement got me into writing in the first place. But, for some reason, I’ve had a hard time getting into them. Not so with Annihilation, and that’s a relief. Annihilation is the story of “Area X,” an irrational, transitional landscape in the south. With shifting, horrible borders that must be passed through under hypnosis, it’s at once part of and separated from the mundane world. Inside Area X, monsters come in familiar forms, and nothing is what it seems. Expeditions have been going into Area X for a long time, with few survivors. The mysterious organization dubbed the “Southern Reach” controls Area X. They also condition and “prepare” each expedition, but there is so much unknown about Area X.

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