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Mining the Genre Asteroid: THE DRAGON WAITING by John M. Ford

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It’s the 15th century, but not the 15th century we know. Julian the Apostate was no apostate in this world, and Europe, from Wales to Byzantium, is pagan. The aforementioned Byzantines are strong and vibrant, with much of Italy and France under their boot, as well as the Balkans and Middle East, and now looking greedily at the British Isles. The British Isles are wracked by a civil war between two noble houses, and, thus, are ripe for the taking; if the right outsider might be groomed for the role and given backing. Henry Tydder, bearing the symbol of a red dragon, seems like a perfect candidate for Byzantium’s plans.

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197. Mannequin (1987): A Torture Cinema “Adventure”

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode197TortureCinemaMeetsMannequin/SandF%20–%20Episode%20197%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20Mannequin.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSArtistic tomfoolery, Mannequin breasts, and 80s glory, oh my!  Shaun, Julia, and Jen join forces to tackle a listener-selected movie from hell:  Mannequin.  You asked for it, and we delivered! We hope you enjoy the episode! (Please support our efforts to bring the Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour to Worldcon!  Every little bit helps.) 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 197 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Mannequin (IMDB) 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.

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On Recent South(east) Asian SF/F by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Guest Post)

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When I first started publishing in 2012, I felt I’d come into an already established community, one thriving with international writers. It’s an environment that I’ve always found welcoming, and doubly so once I started discovering and meeting (online) other writers from my region, wherever in the world they are based. So I’d like to give an overview of what I’ve been seeing in this regard — any excuse would do to talk about these wonderful writers! — and talk a little about my publishing experiences these last couple years, though only a little; it’s not too charming to harp on about myself! I’m covering Southeast Asian and South Asian writers, though (as everyone who follows the state of short genre fiction would be) I closely follow mainland Chinese ones as well, most of whom we’re now seeing in Lightspeed and Clarkesworld through the diligent translations by Ken Liu. Some of the most recent are the lyrical Invisible Planets by Hao Jingfang and the fairy tale-like Grave of the Fireflies by Cheng Jingbo.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

196. Fran Wilde (a.k.a. Chadwick’s Prodigy) — An Interview at ICFA

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode196InterviewWFranWildeAtICFA/SandF%20–%20Episode%20196%20–%20Interview%20w%20Fran%20Wilde%20at%20ICFA.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSTowering cities, the history of death, and waste, oh my!  Fran Wilde, author of the upcoming Bone Arrow from Tor (coming in 2015, which is far too long to wait), joins us to talk about such mundane things as waste management in cities built to the heavens, proper disposal of the dead, plagues, and writing words on websites.  Needless to say, we had a blast! 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 196 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Fran’s Website Fran’s Twitter Cooking the Books Fran also has a story in the April/May 2014 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction, which should still be available in print at your local newsstand or via various online retailers.  The story is entitled “Like a Wasp to the Tongue.”  Check it out! 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.

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My Superpower: Marianne de Pierres

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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 Marianne de Pierres to talk about how the power of resisting organization relates to Peacemaker. ——————————– So here’s the thing:  I have an uncanny and deep-seated ability to resist being organised. It’s quite the talent. I mean I’ve written nearly twenty novels, raised three sons and worked at various day jobs. It’s hard to know how it was at all possible really, because the moment someone says, “Oh, you can manage that, no problem, you just need to be well organised”, a veil descends across my mind and my limbs become heavy. I begin to daydream and can find endless distractions in odd and obscure time-gobbling pursuits; my junk drawer needs sorting, the car needs a vacuum, I simply must read this article about prescriptivism versus descriptivism in linguistics, all the twitter feeds of people I don’t know, and my favourite advertising-riddled celebrity gossip blogs.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#17 — Babylon 5 Re-Watch (S1D4: Eps. 13-16) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast w/ Jamie Wyman & Erika Ensign

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB17Babylon5ReWatchep1316/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2317%20–%20Babylon%205%20re-watch%20%28ep%2013-16%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSManiacal colonels, space boxing, and wandering archaeologists, oh my! Mike, Paul, Shaun, and special guests, Jamie Wyman and Erika Ensign, offer their thoughts on episodes 13-16 from Season One of Babylon 5 in our fourth ever re-watch session. We also really want to hear what you think!  So feel free to watch along with us!  Next month:  the fifth disc of the Season One box set! Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the episode here. [audio http://archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB17Babylon5ReWatchep1316/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2317%20–%20Babylon%205%20re-watch%20%28ep%2013-16%29.mp3] Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Babylon 5 (IMDB) Episode 13:  “Signs and Portents“ Episode 14:  “TKO“ Episode 15:  “Grail“ Episode 16:  “Eyes“ Jamie Wyman’s Stuff Jamie’s Twitter Jamie’s Website Jamie’s Book! Two Hundred and Twenty-One Baker Streets Erika Ensign’s Stuff Erika’s Twitter Erika’s Website Verity Podcast The Incomparable Podcast The Audio Guide to Babylon 5 Comment away!

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