Torture Cinema #81: Frogs (1972)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFTortureCinema81Frogs/Sandf-TortureCinema81-Frogs.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS Toads, Sam Elliot’s missing mustache, and weaponized Spanish moss, oh my! In today’s hoptastic episode, Alex, Paul, David, and special guest Michael J. Martinez try to drain the swamp of the southern patriarchy as they discuss the 1972 “killer” amphibian classic, Frogs. From leapless pacing, stagnant antagonists, and horribbitless story (all the terror of fluffy bunnies… less, really, at least fluffy bunnies have teeth), this is one worth throwing back to the lilypads. Come for the man pelts, stay for the fantastic lesson on early killer wildlife horror films (David has a ton of suggestions for further/better viewing)! We hope you enjoy the episode!
Short Fiction Review: June 2018
My favorite story last month was “In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same” by A.C. Wise, which appears in The Dark Issue 37. It’s a smart, dark take on the Scooby Doo formula that pauses and asks, “Aren’t they too young for this?” Like poetry and space opera? Go read “I Sing Against the Silent Sun” by A. Merc Rustad and Ada Hoffmann, which appears in Lightspeed Magazine Issue 97. In this harrowing yet hopeful story, a poet-revolutionary is hunted by a god of silence. (Also, this story makes me happy because of its genderfluid and nonbinary representation.) I also enjoyed “The Sweetness of Honey and Rot” by A. Merc Rustad, which appears in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 254 (21 June 2018). It’s a story about the costs of resistance, and it features original, inventive worldbuilding and gorgeous, detailed prose.
At the Movies #69 — A Quiet Place w/ Zin E. Rocklyn
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFAtTheMovies69AQuietPlace/Sandf-AtTheMovies69-AQuietPlace.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSign language, killer aliens, and polar bears, oh my! In today’s episode of At the Movies, Shaun, Alex, David, and the lovely Teri (a.k.a. Zin E. Rocklyn) discuss the science fictional horror film, A Quiet Place, which is probably the only film produced by Michael Bay that doesn’t have anything blow-up… except the fireworks. Damn you, Michael Bay! Together, our intrepid crew explores the film’s treatment of disability, the underlying themes of family and terror, the Nail of Evil, the direction, and so much more. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Torture Cinema #79: Event Horizon (1997)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFTortureCinema79EventHorizon/Sandf–TortureCinema79–EventHorizon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSingularities, Cenobites, and Gothic cathedrals, oh my! Jen, Paul, David, and Rachel get together to review the film that refused to stay buried in a Transylvanian Salt Mine. They discuss (or rather, David schools everyone) how Event Horizon is a stealth Warhammer 40k fanfic film, the brilliance of a supernatural horror in space, the failed potential of a pretty cool speculative concept, how the film portrays surprisingly good representation given when it was made, but how, sadly, it has some of the most inconsistent science ever seen in a science fiction film (and our last film was Lawnmower Man, for goodness sake). All this and more await you in the Overlook hotel IN SPACE!!! We hope you enjoy the episode!
Comics Review – A Weird Beat in the Motor City: ABBOTT #1 and 2
Welcome to the latest installment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m shining a spotlight on a new series that debuted in January, 2018, and that, as I predicted in the Skiffy & Fanty Looking Back, Moving Forward: The 2018 Edition podcast, checks absolutely all my boxes: Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivelä’s Abbott. (This review contains spoilers!)
Horror Review: Penny Reeve on Victor LaValle’s The Changeling
“When you believe in things you don’t understand you suffer” Stevie Wonder’s words serve as the epitaph to Victor LaValle’s The Changeling; accurately summing up the ensuing 431 pages wherein we’re introduced to a genre-defying novel that mixes horror with the fantastic and monsters both real and imagined come a-knocking.
