Book Review: THE LAST ASTRONAUT by David Wellington
Some books grab me by title alone. As someone whose life has been spent very emotionally involved with the fortunes of the United States’ space program, I felt positively yanked by David Wellington’s The Last Astronaut. An actual last astronaut is something that I fervently hope never actually exists except in the extremely long-term “heat death of the universe” sense. The idea has haunted me since at least my teenage years when I grappled with Bruce Sterling and William Gibson’s melancholy short story, “Red Star, Winter Orbit.” In this story, there are still people going into space, but only for commercial gain; the tasks are finite, clearly defined, not even suggested if they don’t enhance shareholder value. Whatever the members of such crews are, they are not astronauts. They are not exploring the sea of stars. It’s a sad and all too plausible vision of the future of the space program. The Last Astronaut has its own unique take on the future of human space travel. Just look at the cover!
Torture Cinema #89: The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFTortureCinema89SatanicRitesOfDracula/SandF–Torture_Cinema_89–Satanic_Rites_of_Dracula.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSCanadian Geese, foot fetishes, and vest clones, oh my! Shaun, Jen, David, and Trang, in her first ever Skiffy and Fanty Podcast appearance, discuss the 1973 Hammer Film Productions classic(?), The Satanic Rites of Dracula! The last time that Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would reprise their roles as Van Helsing and Dracula together. Thankfully, David is here to do some legitimate film criticism and teach us all about the history of these characters, horror films of the 70s, and more, because otherwise this podcast would have degenerated into a series of very bad jokes. Also, Shaun gets depressed about Canadian politics, Trang is jealous of Peter Cushing’s cheeks, and Jen yells at Shaun a lot. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Book Review: LOST FILMS, Edited by Max Booth III & Lori Michelle
Along with stories by Stephen King, cinematic horror is largely responsible for introducing the weird and terrifying to me and a generation or two of teens. For years my friends and I sought horror films both good and bad, and we heard that particular macabre whisper calling us to the most unhinged and obscure among them. The memorable ones have been those whose reputations have created anticipatory trepidation equal to the thrills of watching the movie itself. The cursed production history. The banned content of unfathomable realism. The haunted film. Horror built around such themes of its visual representation proves popular, from Apollinaire’s “A Good Film” to Suzuki’s Ringu or American Horror Story: Roanoke. Ironically, written explorations of horror in visual media have a stronger impact on me than the those relayed through a screen medium. An excellent recent example would be Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. The announcement of the Lost Films anthology from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing therefore really excited me. Comprised of nineteen stories with an introduction by Max Booth III (co-editor with Lori Michelle), it is one of the strongest collections I’ve read, with several potential standout favorites for readers from both established and new authors.
Totally Pretentious #16. Succubus (1966): Avant Garde Femme Fatale, Jesús Franco’s Ouevre, and Late 2016s
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFTotallyPretentious16Succubus/SandF–Totally_Pretentious–16_Succubus.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIt’s the triumphant return of Totally Pretentious, David and Shaun’s silly-with-a-side-of-pretentiousness movie review project that disappeared for a brief moment in time. But now they’re back with an episode they recorded a long time ago and forgot to release! In today’s super late episode, David and Shaun talk about some of the films they saw (back in 2016), especially Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) and its relation to Roland Emmerich’s ouevre, the Conjuring and Saw films, and more. Then they dive deep into David’s pick for this episode, Jesús Franco’s 1966 horror film, Succubus. They discuss the film’s reception, its approach to horror elements and the femme fatale, the challenges it presents to the audience of 1966 and our perceptions of narrative, and more. Enjoy the episode, and prepare yourselves for their next foray into cinematic goodness!
Signal Boost #51 – Erin Roberts (Various) and Sarah Chorn (Seraphina’s Lament)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost51RobertsAndChorn/SandF–Signal_Boost_51–Roberts_and_Chorn.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to short story and interactive game designer, Erin Roberts, about her work. They talk about what Erin really enjoys exploring thematically, one of the key features that connects her story, Sour Milk Girls, with her game, Thanks for the Memories, the differences and connections between writing short stories and designing interactive games, and more! Then Paul interviews Sarah Chorn about her debut novel, Seraphina’s Lament. They discuss how she used a large cast to better tell the story, the historical events that inspired the novel and how she found that inspiration, where she plans to take the next book in her planned trilogy, and a few more things besides. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Book Review: The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky by John Hornor Jacobs
The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky is a dark and intently written horror novella that shows the breadth of the author’s skill. A fictional South American Country. Two expatriates, an old poet with a long history of tangling with the autocratic regime that runs his homeland, and his young protege, a young college professor who is drawn to him, and his connection to their homeland of Magera. An unlikely friendship, a manuscript telling awful secrets, and a compulsion to return to her homeland. These and much more are the elements of The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, a literary cosmic horror novella from John Hornor Jacobs.
