753. The Da Vinci Code (2006) — Torture Cinema #135

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-753-da-vinci-code/SandF_753_DaVinciCode.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSCults, pontificating academics, and not eidetic memory, oh my! Shaun Duke, Daniel Haeusser, and Julia Rios join forces to take down The Da Vinci Code (2006). Together, they untangle the film’s nonsensical plot, […]

752. S&F Clacks #5: Short Fiction, Private Equity, and Enshittification!

https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-752-clacks-5/SandF_752_Clacks5.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSInternet shenanigans, bad companies, and library problems, oh my! Shaun Duke and Trish Matson join forces to discuss the encroaching influence of private equity on publishing and books, the future of libraries and […]

Book Review: A Death at the Dionysus Club, by Amy Griswold and Melissa Scott

Cover of A Death at the Dionysus Club, by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold. Shows two men, one blond and one dark-haired, both looking serious, in Edwardian-era-style clothes.

I really enjoy how A Death at the Dionysus Club builds out from Death by Silver, expanding the lives of the protagonists and connected characters as well as the worldbuilding. … the puzzles are intriguing, the perils are exciting, and it’s great how the lovers end up standing for and standing by each other.

Review: New Edge Sword & Sorcery, Nos. 0-2

Cover of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, Winter 2023 (Vol. 1, No. 2)

There’s a huge variety of entertaining and illuminative content in New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine. Anyone who’s interested in the subject would be well advised to check the magazine out.

Book Review: Son of the Storm/Warrior of the Wind, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Cover of Warrior of the Wind, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

The two books really feel like to me a study and critique of decaying imperial power, and what happens when that eroding power slips to the point where the imperium is visibly decaying, and starts to overcorrect and do truly shortsighted and ill-advised things in the quest to not only maintain the decaying status quo, but to reach back to a mythical golden era before that never really existed in the first place.

Short Fiction Review: October 2023

Combined image of Uncanny Issue 54, Beneath Ceaseless Skies October 2023, and Nightmare Issue 133.

Often, there ends up being a common thread connecting my favorite stories for a given month. This month, however, the differences between my favorite stories seem more notable, particularly when it comes to structure.