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Mining the Genre Asteroid: PAVANE by Keith Roberts

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In 1588, Queen Elizabeth, the Faerie Queen, was assassinated. Without her leadership, and with the rise of English Catholics in response, Spain found it easy to occupy England and bring her back to Mother Church. And with England so tamed, the throne of St. Peter took back the entirety of Europe from Protestantism, and then the world. James Cook had the flag of the Pope, not of England, when he landed in Australia. Spain controls the entirety of the New World. The Church keeps a tight control over technology and culture, as well, shutting down obvious lines of development. Semaphone wires, coal fired trains, and a residual feudal culture dominate England and the world. Black powder guns are still state-of-the-art weapons. Such tight control has its costs, and its victims. Now, though, almost four centuries after Elizabeth’s death, in a small region of England, the dominance of the Church in matters temporal and spiritual — in England and the world — may finally begin to loosen. All of this can be found in Keith Roberts’ alternate history classic, Pavane.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

209. South African SF Roundtable w/ Alex Latimer, Lauren Beukes, and Sarah Lotz

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode209SouthAfricanSF/SandF%20–%20Episode%20209%20–%20South%20African%20SF.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSTerrifying malls, time traveling serial killers, and renegade spaceships, oh my!  Authors Alex Latimer, Lauren Beukes, and Sarah Lotz join Julia and Shaun for an in-depth discussion about South African SF, from the influences of Apartheid on contemporary SA literature to the film industry to fandom and publishing.  You won’t want to miss this one! 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 209 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Our Guests Alex Latimer (Author of numerous picture books and The Space Race, which involves apartheid, nuclear weapons, and a race to the moon) Sarah Lotz (Author of The Three, which is about plane crashes and creepy kids. Also writes under other names) Lauren Beukes (Author of several books including The Shining Girls, which is about time traveling serial killers, and the forthcoming Broken Monsters) Additional Notes: Nick Wood has written a lot about South African SF http://nickwood.frogwrite.co.nz/?page_id=530 J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa http://nickwood.frogwrite.co.nz/?page_id=530 (Lauren has judged the short story contest) rAge gaming convention (where Lauren went dressed as Cheetara from Thundercats): http://www.rageexpo.co.za/ Another South African Gaming Site: http://www.rpg.co.za/ http://www.roomtoread.org/page.aspx?pid=320 claims that 80% of schools lacked Libraries in 2012. Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human (zombie apocalypse entertaining novel, but also political) The Mall by S.L. Grey (one of Sarah’s pen names) and Louis Greenberg dealing with consumerism and the divide between rich and poor. World Reader gives free tablets to people to encourage reading (not SA based, but a very cool idea!) Night Drive is a South African horror movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1610394/ (This is really gross and culturally insensitive, so approach with caution) short film based on Charlie Human’s short story… No More Heroes (not sure where to find this) South African nuclear weapons information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction South African Space Program http://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/155 South African Rocketry: http://www.sarocketry.co.za/index.html Lauren’s fact checking Twitter bananza (literacy rates, etc.)(check this out if you want accurate stats for some of the things we discuss in the episode) Where to buy SA books: booklounge.co.za — you can order South African books from here. Author recommendations: Diane Awerbuck — Home Remedies (recommended by Alex) Louis Greenberg — Dark Windows set in future South Africa Something Wicked magazine Bloody Parchment anthology and Bloody Harvest anthology Jungle Gym magazine Andrew Solomon — Tokolosh Song Edyth Bulbring Henrietta Rose-Innes Alex Smith SA Partridge Nerine Dorman Liam Kruger Miranda Sherry Black Dog Summer (like The Lovely Bones, but set in South Africa) Sam Wilson 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.

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

Film Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010) — A (World) SFF Film Odyssey

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Readers may be familiar with director Luc Besson’s previous work, which includes the excellent films like The Fifth Element (1997), Leon the Professional (1994; featuring a quite young Natalie Portman), or the lesser-known, but personal favorite, Unleashed (2005; featuring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, and the late Bob Hoskins).  These are wildly different films, but they are a testament to Besson’s versatility as a writer and director.  The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec; 2010), seems, then, to be a departure from what has come before, in no small part because this is a film which is coded for a younger audience by its humor and delivery.  In that respect, it is a fun, if not somewhat uneven adventure comedy.

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Book Review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

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Doloriel, a.k.a. Bobby Dollar, has a tough job for an angel. He’s an advocate, which means when someone dies, he gets the call to argue that the soul should go to Heaven. Or, at worst, Purgatory. Every death has an on-the-spot trial, with a representative from Heaven and Hell arguing for the soul before an impartial judge. It gets even tougher when the impossible happens — a soul disappears from the body of a recently deceased before that judgement can take place. Hell blames Heaven. Heaven thinks it’s Hell doing a false flag operation.The rules are going out the window, and Bobby is in the middle. Add in the fact that more souls are disappearing, everyone thinks Bobby has something unique, special and oh-so-coveted, and Bobby is in a run and gun for stakes that are getting larger moment by moment… As I said, Bobby Dollar has a tough job, but he’s also not an ordinary angel by any means…

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.

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