Science Fiction

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Book Review: Use As Directed Review edited by Simon Petrie and Edwina Harvey (Peggy Bright Books)

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Left over to review as part of last year’s World Tour of SFF, Use Only As Directed fits just as nicely into the Women and Non-Binary in SFF theme for Skiffy & Fanty this year. The latest anthology from Peggy Bright Books, edited by Simon Petrie and Edwina Harvey, Use Only As Directed features Australian and New Zealand authors – of whom over 50% are female – crafting short stories around the titular phrase that one commonly reads on instructions for everything from medicine to the latest gadget. The anthology’s predominant characteristic is its well-balanced diversity in authors and styles, with an array of female, male, and nonhuman characters and a range across genres from horror to fantasy to science fiction. Author nationality and the unifying theme bring the major constants — though given the Australian/New Zealand focus, racial diversity is not really present here.

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Around the Podosphere #7: Podcasts of Note for 3/2/2015

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What nifty things dropped into our laps last week?  This week’s edition of Around the Podosphere has the answer.  Here’s what we’ve been listening to! On Literature: The fine folks at The Coode Street Podcast welcome Liza Trombi from Locus to talk about upcoming books, including a few we probably should read soon.  In a prior episode, they brought on Alisa Krasnostein, Sean Wright, and Tehani Wessely to discuss the Aurealis Awards. Doing justice to everyone’s childhood, The Book was Better crew discuss the novelization of the classic 80s movie, The Goonies.  Excuse me while I put that movie in my DVD player… Rocket Talk welcomes James L. Sutter and Mordicai Knode to discuss Paizo Publishing’s new relationship with Tor Books (hooray for positive changes!).  More recently, Ferrett Steinmetz and Monica Byrne discussed the Clarion Writer’s Workshop and the problem with genre classifications for authors. On Movies: Compelled by ghosts, the folks at We Hate Movies discuss the horror dud, White Noise. On Leonard Nimoy: The Incomparable crew offer some very fine words about Nimoy, his career, his influence, and his legacy.  A great man who will be sorely missed.

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Short and Sublime: February 2015 Round-Up

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February’s shorts include emotionally resonant stories about family and friendship and trippy genre-benders. “The Language of Knives” by Haralambi Markov (Tor.com) is a secondary world fantasy in which the main character has given up the life of a warrior and chosen to prepare the dead; when he must perform this task for his husband, he mourns not only his lover but also substantially lesser status in the eyes of his daughter. Parents having favorites amongst their children is very much part of our cultural milieu, but not so frequently presented is the reverse, and this is a rendering of complex emotions that feels very true. Gwendolyn Clare’s “Indelible” (Clarkesworld #101) is another such resonant tale of grief, following the loss of one’s sister in a science fictional far future in which aliens are characterized by their physical malleability.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#30. Jupiter Ascending (2015) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode256JupiterAscendingShootTheWISB/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2330%20–%20Jupiter%20Ascending.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSpace princesses, dog boys, and capitalism, oh my!  The crew conspires together to discuss the latest Wachowski film, Jupiter Ascending.  We tackle the good and the bad and even have a little fun with impersonations. 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! Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Download the Episode here. Show Notes:. Jupiter Ascending (2015; dirs. the Wachowskis)(IMDB) Mike recommends the following videos on action, comedy, and the problem with action movies today: Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

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Geekomancer Under Glass – Awesome Women in Comics

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Skiffy and Fanty’s theme for 2015 fits in really well with the world of comics, which has been making conscious strides to feature more stories by women and about women, from the independent comics world (long the home of more diverse storytelling) to the Big Two, and across all ages and genres. So for this post, I’m going to share some quick recommendations for comics by and/or about women.

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