Fantasy

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#Booktube – July 2019 Recap

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Hello, Skiffy and Fanty fans! Somehow August happened while we weren’t looking, which means it’s time for you to catch up on our July #booktube episodes! First up, in our main episode we get a review of Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Calculating Stars and then Benjanun Sriduangkaew’s newest novella, And Shall Machines Surrender, then we dig into what we’re all reading and looking forward to, and finally, Shaun wraps up the month talking about the dreaded SUCK FAIRY!! Enjoy!

A picture of the cover of The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
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Book Review: The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos

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Rebecca Podos’s The Wise and the Wicked is a love letter to the struggles of a young girl as she tries to be herself in the middle of a dysfunctional family. Chock full of magic, sisterhood, and love, The Wise and the Wicked was a fast read that caught me from the very beginning. I found myself really feeling for the main character, Ruby, a 16-year-old who doesn’t expect much out of life. While I finished this book fairly quickly, it’s one that will stick with me because of its well-written, fascinating characters and its open and unpredictable ending. If you like books with strong female characters who take charge of their own destiny while also doing their best to be normal teenagers who fight and fall in love, this is definitely one for you.

SF in Translation, The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Speculative Fiction in Translation #15: An Interview with Julia Meitov Hersey

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https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sfitepisode15juliameitovhersey/SFiT–Episode_15–Julia_Meitov_Hersey.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSThis month, Rachel has a special guest on the podcast! Julia Meitov Hersey (@JuliaMeiHersey), who translated the psychological-fantasy-thriller Vita Nostra from the Russian, comes on to talk about how she first started translating the complex, lyrical work of Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (@DyachenkoW); what makes translating speculative fiction unique; and her own future projects. Insightful and entertaining, this interview will send you straight to your local independent bookstore to buy Vita Nostra. You’re welcome! Remember: with new stories and books coming to their attention each week, make sure to check the SFT website for updates. Enjoy, and keep reading! A bientôt!

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

Totally Pretentious #18. Cat People (1942) and The Seventh Victim (1943): The Terror of the Other and the Beast Within

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https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sandftotallypretentious18catpeopleandthe7thvictim/SandF–Totally_Pretentious–18_CatPeople_and_The7thVictim.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode, David and Shaun turn their attention to Cat People (1942) and its loose sequel, The Seventh Victim (1943). Together, they discuss the impact these films had on the development of the horror genre, the terror of the beast within, the treatment of cults and psychiatry in each film, and much more! Prepare yourselves for another foray into cinematic greatness. Enjoy the episode!

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Short Fiction Review: May 2019

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My favorite stories from May all happened to be about resistance. They all had good and satisfying endings, although none of them had a clean ending where everything was wrapped up neatly with a bow. Then again, I don’t think resistance often works that way. First, I loved “Everything is Closed Today” by Sarah Pinsker. It’s delightful tale about skater girls, activism, and building community, and it appears in Do Not Go Quietly: An Anthology of Victory in Defiance edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner. Next, I recommend Joe Ponce’s “Raices (Roots),” which appears in Issue 7 of Anathema: Spec from the Margins. It’s a powerful and important story about immigration, border justice, and political consciousness. Lastly, if you love academic scholarship and theory — or, for that matter, if you hate those things — you must check out “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen in Issue 80 of Nightmare Magazine. Now, on to the reviews!

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Book Review: The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People by Robyn Bennis

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The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People is an urban fantasy that deceptively starts off as a lighthearted take on a relationship with a supernatural being and eventually turns into a meditation on deeper explorations of a character’s pain, personality, choices, and mistakes. It tempts the reader with the fun and goofiness of its initial premise and gradually sucks the reader into a study of the main character and their history in a deep and sometimes painful dive. This latest book by Robin Bennis leverages and leavens Bennis’ droll sense of humor seen in the Signal Airship series and turns it onto a fantastic urban fantasy story.

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