dark fantasy – The Skiffy and Fanty Show

Cover of Angel Down, by Daniel Kraus, featuring clouds of smoke and red smears that could signify fire or blood.

Book Review: Angel Down, by Daniel Kraus

trishmatson / June 11, 2026

Daniel Kraus is a prominent SFFH writer whom I hadn’t heard about until I found out that Skiffy and Fanty’s Daniel Haeusser had scored an interview with him for the show, coming live on Friday, June 12, at 8 p.m. Eastern, at https://twitch.tv/alphabetstreams. Shaun Duke and I are talking with Kraus mostly about his upcoming science fiction novel, The Sixth Nik. However, at about the same time, I saw that his 2025 novel, Angel Down, had won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and that became available to me first, so here are my immediate thoughts on it.

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Review: Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang

Paul Weimer / May 7, 2026

There are some rather lovely ideas and bits here, especially in the extensive worldbuilding. The arguments over the geometry and topography of hell are fascinating. But the ultimate ending as well as what the novel builds up to feels underwhelming. It builds to a conclusion that really didn’t match up with what the novel seemed to be trying to do. I enjoyed parts of the journey far more than the destination itself.

Cover of The Shape of Monsters by CL Hellisen, featuring male and female silhouettes against swirly blue and red backgrounds, with a book in the lower foreground.

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Book Review: CL Hellisen’s The Shape of Monsters

Paul Weimer / November 25, 2025

Hellisen’s work is shot through with mordant, often wry humor, especially from Aleks. This does leaven and lighten the mood and tone at points and primes the reader for the next dark twist and turn.

Cover image of What Stalks the Deep, featuring a darkly-furred, partly skeletal predator with branches weaving/poking through it.

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Book Review: What Stalks the Deep, by T. Kingfisher

trishmatson / October 28, 2025

One of the things I really enjoyed about this novella is that, like What Moves the Dead, the investigation and subsequent reactions felt very much like an ensemble effort from the characters.

Cover of Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions, by John Langan, featuring a man's face that's half a naked skull, with lots of hands reaching out of the darkness, and what may be a woman facing forward but looking back over the shoulder at the half-skull face.

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Book Review: LOST IN THE DARK by John Langan

Daniel Haeusser / September 27, 2025

Ultimately I’m hard pressed to write about the individual stories of the collection because they are all so good, but often in very varied ways, and the best thing that I can say is to simply go and discover them all.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

838. Thomas Ha (a.k.a. The Ambiguitor) — Uncertain Sons & Other Stories

shaunduke / September 15, 2025

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-837-thomas-ha/SandF_837_ThomasHa.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSAmbiguous worlds, subdued worries, and a talking tiger, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser are joined by short fiction extraordinaire Thomas Ha for an interview about his new collection, Uncertain Sons and Other Stories! Together, they discuss Ha’s approach to short fiction and storytelling, some of the common themes in the collection, the process of assembling a collection, and much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!