Torture Cinema #96: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sandftorturecinema96transylvania65000/SandF–Torture_Cinema_96–Transylvania_6-5000.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSQuestionable journalists, questionable comedy, and questionable geography, oh my! Shaun Duke, Alex Acks, Jen Zink, and Trish Matson wander into an unsuspecting Eastern European town to discuss the 1985 “comedy,” Transylvania 6-5000. With their magic judge hats on, the crew tackles the film’s approach to comedy, the absurdity of its monster-centric premise, twist endings, hairy dudes, and what it’s like to have Patreon supporters who pick movies like this for us to watch (thanks…)! We hope you enjoy the episode!
Torture Cinema #94: Stan Helsing (2009)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sandftorturecinema94stanhelsing/SandF–Torture_Cinema_94–Stan_Helsing.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDirty mice, invisible plots, and Leslie Nielsen, oh my! Shaun Duke, Alex Acks, and Paul Weimer throw themselves on Freddy’s clawed hand to discuss Stan Helsing, a movie made by drunk people to torture the dead. Together, they discuss the film’s approach to humor, its nonsensical plot, why Leslie Nielsen is in this movie, and all the ways that this film is both offensive and hopelessly lazy. You picked it, so we watched it. Thanks a lot, y’all. We hope you enjoy the episode!
A Book By Its Cover: Head On by John Scalzi
In this light and charming novel, we see a side of author John Scalzi that will surprise his readers — a sense of humor. The writer best known for works like the tragic, grimdark space opera, Old Man O’ War, about an artificially intelligent military starship confronting its own obsolescence, or the biochemistry-driven hard SF thriller Reagent to the Stars, which famously inspired Peter Watts to comment, “I couldn’t finish it. Too intense. And would it kill Scalzi to crack a joke once in a while?” isn’t a name that we usually associate with comedy. But I’m here to tell you, Scalzi can be funny. Who knew?
A Book by its Cover – Chuck Wendig #5: The Raptor and the Wren by Miriam Black
After a few entries, popular series can become quite problematic. The author can stick to what works and hit all the same notes that brought success and breed comfortable familiarity. Scores of fans will eat it up, but it risks the series turning formulaic and dull. The author can try to switch things up, reinvent a groundbreaking core, or diverge the story into new characters and territory. But change too much of what the fans hold dear without winning some new hearts, and it could all come crashing down.
Every wild idea, and dinosaurs too: Rob Walton's Ragmop
Welcome to the latest installment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m going to draw your attention to a webcomics series, new in 2017, that tells a complete story that you can read for free online – that also marked the surprising and welcome return of some old friends: Rob Walton’s Ragmop. (This review contains spoilers!)
A Book By Its Cover: Steel Blood by J.L. Gribble
A worthy successor to Steel Victory and Steel Magic, this third volume in Gribble’s Steel Empires series continues the ambitious genre mash-up that has delighted fans of all ages forty-four through sixty-two. The official sequel to the play/film Steel Magnolias from the late ’80s, and a Sega Genesis console game from the early ’90s, the Steel Empires series began by successfully merging a story about a close-knit group of women in a small-town southern community with the plot of a side-scrolling, shoot-’em-up Steampunk videogame. In a story that is ThunderCats meets a Chemistry Textbook meets Lord of the Rings meets your Aunt’s blog, Steel Blood expands and fortifies Gribble’s mash-up creation even more, keeping it shiny fresh, though not completely stainless.
