345. Looking Back, Moving Forward: The 2018 Edition
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode345LookingBackMovingForward2018/Sandf–Episode345–LookingBackMovingForward2018.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWow. It’s finally here! Our first episode on our new website, using our new feed! Hopefully everything works out and it ends up in your ears, because it’s time for the team to talk about what they loved in 2017 and what they’re looking forward to in 2018! We had reason to be a bit down about 2017. Last year was tough for many of us, but it still brought with it some amazing speculative fiction and some amazing growth on the Skiffy and Fanty Show. Our Patreon supporters allowed us to start 2018 fresh and shiny and new, and that brought with it a renewed sense of hope! For the last couple of weeks, many of our previous guests have been sharing what brings them joy. Hopefully, their joy has inspired some of your own. But sometimes it’s a struggle to find joy, to embrace joy. Our theme this year is “hope,” but hope often starts from a dark place, a place of struggle, fear, and pain. That’s where we leave 2017 and how we’re going to tackle 2018.
Month of Joy: Agents, Adepts, & Apprentices by Kathryn Sullivan
I am excited that Zumaya Thresholds released my short story collection, Agents, Adepts, & Apprentices. This is an expanded version of the collection previously published by Amber Quill Press, with a few more stories about my interplanetary agents, as well as additional fantasy and science fiction stories. Some stories appeared in anthologies by other publishers, and I’m really excited to have those – as well as four new stories – gathered together in one place. I am especially pleased with the new cover by the wonderful April Martinez. She really captured my wizard Salanoa.
Retro Childhood Review: The Dark is Rising
There was an endless variety of faces — gay, sombre, old, young, paper-white, jet-black, and every shade and gradation of pink and brown between — vaguely recognizable, or totally strange… [Will] thought: these are my people. This is my family, in the same way as my real family. The Old Ones. Every one is linked, for the greatest purpose in the world. I was going to start my review of Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence with the first in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, because it holds a certain place of nostalgia based on its similarity to other much loved childhood fiction like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, both being about a group of absurdly normal siblings doing something important. But as I considered what I wanted to read to finish out 2017, a year full of darkness for so many people, the only book that seemed appropriate was The Dark is Rising. Because what’s more relevant than a book about how one person can fight back the darkness by finding strength in the love and support of family, friends, and a world that is fighting with him? Especially when it’s full of winter holiday cheer.
Signal Boost #30: Michelle Kan (No More Heroes) and Rachel Cordasco (SFinTranslation.com)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost30MichelleKanRachelCordasco/Sandf–SignalBoost30–MichelleKanRachelCordasco.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode of Signal Boost, Becca talks to Michelle Kan about her book, No More Heroes. They discuss what it meant for Michelle to write an #OwnVoices gender-fluid aro-ace character that included her ethnic heritage, issues with anxiety, and parkour! They also talk about how Michelle wrote No More Heroes during NaNoWriMo and how her film-making education helps her write. Then Rachel Cordasco, founder of SFinTranslation.com, joins Jen to talk about what she does at SF in Translation, what inspired her to create the site. They also discuss how much speculative fiction there really is in translation, what makes a good translation, and some of Rachel’s favorite translated works of 2017. 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):
Book Review: Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
Benjanun Sriduangkaew creates a fascinating and very loose retelling of The Snow Queen folktale with Winterglass, a high fantasy novella that infuses steampunk technology and an interesting form of magic. With gorgeous prose and a refreshing perspective on fantasy in general, Sriduangkaew’s unique take on a classic tale creates a captivating narrative with twists, turns, and deadly secrets. Sriduangkaew’s own-voices retelling features an entirely POC cast and lots of queer rep, set in Southeast Asia. It’s a relatively quick read, and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon in the world of ice and intrigue. We follow the narrative through two points of view, giving us a deeper look at the complicated and twisted workings of an intriguing world. Sriduangkaew balances the narrative across the different sides, leaving readers an interesting perspective on a world wrapped in ice. The narrative itself relies on a concept of a world in the process of being conquered by a deadly force, a queen who desires to be whole.
343. Jeannette Ng (a.k.a. Lady of the Moths) — Under the Pendulum Sun (An Interview)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode343InterviewWithJeannetteNg/Sandf–Episode343–InterviewWithJeannetteNg.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSShelley, trifles, and rap, oh my! Shaun and Jen have a talk with Jeannette Ng about her debut novel, Under the Pendulum Sun! Jeannette shares what inspired her to write a Gothic romance fantasy novel about Missionaries — specifically one that tackles such heavy theological subjects such as the soul and sin — why she constructed Arcadia as a purposeful, artificial thing, and how the narrative structure hints at the biblical story it contains. 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):
