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Book Review: A DARKLING SEA by James Cambias

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Two species of aliens, a frozen world, and a no-contact policy that is more than badly bent are the ingredients of A Darkling Sea, a first novel by short story writer and roleplaying game supplement writer James Cambias. I’ve been familiar with Cambias’ roleplaying work for a long time, most notably the GURPS: Mars and GURPS: Space supplements. The rigor and careful research in those supplements translates here to a novel quite well. Ilmatar is an Europa-like body, a gas giant moon with an ocean covering the surface, a layer of frozen water kilometers thick insulating the liquid interior ocean and letting the hydrothermic vents warm the ocean underneath to

Giveaways

Giveaway: James Dashner’s The Kill Order AND The Eye of Minds + Dashnerian Swag!

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That’s right.  We’ve got two books to give away this week as part of James Dashner’s blog tour for the paperback edition of The Kill Order.  Entry is going to be super simple.  All you need to do is answer this question in the comments OR via Twitter (@skiffyandfanty — use the hashtag #dashnerarmy) OR via email (skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com — use the subject line Dashner Giveaway): What is your favorite young adult fantasy or science fiction novel? So get your entries in right away.  The giveaway will close on January 24th, 2014 (Friday).  Winners will be announced on the following Monday. On top of that, Dashner’s Army is going to give away some swag (t-shirts, etc.) if they reach 1,000 members.  Joining is pretty darn easy.  You just need to go here and sign up!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

187. Lavie Tidhar (a.k.a. NYC P.I.) — The Violent Century (2013) (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode187InterviewWLavieTidhar/SandF%20–%20Episode%20187%20–%20Interview%20w%20Lavie%20Tidhar.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSThe World SF Tour continues…with an interview with Lavie Tidhar, author of The Violent Century.  We discuss the novel’s path to publication, its themes of heroism, superheroes and the pulps, 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 187 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Lavie’s Website Lavie’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

My Superpower: J. M. McDermott

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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 J. M. McDermott to talk about how his power of Ha Do Ken relates to Maze. —————————————————— I am old enough, or young enough, to have played Street Fighter II in arcades without an inkling of expectation that it might enter the home console market at some point. I remember this well because the only place I ever had a chance to play it was at a local movie theater. If you were any good at it, you’d miss your movie. My friend, Ben Drake, was very good at it. I was not. I looked over his shoulder while he took on kid after kid, pounding them into virtual submission, while one of our mothers nagged us about how we were going to miss the movie we went there to see. My preferred character were generally Dhalsim or Ryu. Ben preferred Guile or Chun Li. I liked the cheap slow fireball and the medium kick trick that wailed inexperienced players, but it was not a serious affinity, just a desire for easy victories where I could find them. Ryu really was the one I felt

Blog Posts

My Superpower and Mini-Interview: James Dashner

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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 James Dashner to talk about how his power of movie watching relates to The Kill Order. ————————————————- Like any person (at least any nerdy person, which are the only ones I care about), I love superheroes. I love Superman. I love Spiderman. I love the X-Men. I even love Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. I love the dude who invented Mountain Dew and Abraham Lincoln. All superheroes. And yes, I am one myself. I know this may shock you, but it’s true. I, James Dashner, am a superhero. And now I will tell you what my secret power is. Are you ready? I’m really, especially, fantastically good at watching movies. That’s right. Make fun all you want, but I’m much better at it than you are. In fact, no one on the planet of Earth (I can’t vouch for those other planets we keep discovering) is as brilliantly brilliant at watching movies as I am. I can enjoy any movie on any level at any time. My biggest pet peeve in the world is this new thing where all the “smart” people on the Internet rip every single movie

Blog Posts

Recommended Reads: 2013 Post-Holiday Reading List

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Recommended Reads is a monthly feature in which the Skiffy and Fanty crew tell you about one thing they recently read that they think you might like too.  This month, we’re sharing our favorite reads for the year in order to convince you to buy a million books during the winter holidays. Here are their picks:

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