Science Fiction

Blog Posts

Cultural Tourists (Part 1): Publishing and Representation

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One of my goals is to read as diverse literature as possible — at least those by authors outside of the US and the UK (since these two are the major players in the global publishing industry). The unfortunate reality is this:  I keep on failing. That’s not to say I don’t occasionally succeed; just the other day, I finished reading a local anthology — Maximum Volume: Best New Philippine Fiction 2014 (ed. Dean Francis Alfar & Angelo R. Lacuesta) — but that’s only because it’s a local publication and I’m friends with some of the contributors. The said anthology being a title published in the Philippines, it poses some challenges in terms of accessibility that authors/publishers from other countries might experience:

Blog Posts

Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May

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22nd Century Earth is a pretty nice place. Earth is becoming more and more integrated into the Galactic Milieu, with alien trade and technology rapidly fixing the problems of Earth and making life better for everyone. Mental powers, for so long disbelieved, distrusted and unreliable, have proven to be a Thing, and it is in fact Man’s discovery of these metapsychic powers that caused First Contact to happen in the first place back in 2013. Yet, even in a Earth heading toward utopia, there are going to be people who are dissatisfied. There are people not so happy with the idea of alien cultures influencing and affecting Earth. There are those who seek a “final frontier”, one even more exotic than colonizing nearby star systems. There are those who seek to disrupt this happy society.

Blog Posts

The Disquieting Guest — The Sublime Terror of Kaiju

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In 1985, I had the chance to see Godzilla on the big screen for the first time since that treasured day in the mid-70s, when my father took me to a matinee of Godzilla vs. the Thing (aka Mothra vs. Godzilla, 1964). On this occasion, the film was Godzilla 1985 (aka The Return of Godzilla, 1984). Like the 1954 original, it had been re-edited by its American distributor, with Raymond Burr shoehorned in. It was also dubbed. I didn’t care. It was Godzilla. When a couple of kids (about eight years old, I’m guessing) called out “Hi, Godzilla!” when he appeared, I barely restrained myself from doing the same. But there was another voice in that theatre. In the row ahead of me, a couple sat with their daughter. She was young enough (four? five?) that it’s possible this was her first movie. Twice during the film, I heard a small voice emerge from the seat in front of me with a quavering, “This scares me.” The first time was early in the film, when a corpse is found on a derelict ship. The second time was when Godzilla’s massive foot comes down on a fleeing crowd.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

195. Sons of Steel (1988): A Torture Cinema “Adventure” w/ Danny Oz

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode195TortureCinemaMeetsSonsOfSteel/SandF%20–%20Episode%20195%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20Sons%20of%20Steel.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS80s hair bands, nuclear submarines, and mutant grunts, oh my!  In celebration of Australian cinema, we’re joined by Danny Oz to discuss his favorite terrible movie ever, Sons of Steel.  Trust me, you won’t want to miss this episode… 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): Episode 195 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Sons of Steel (1988)(IMDB) Sons of Steel Website Danny’s Twitter Danny’s Website You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible.  Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. 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.

Awards Season

For Your Hugo Award Consideration: A Very Big, Non-Endorsement List of Things to Love

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We’re not going to release a Skiffy and Fanty endorsed set of Hugo Award nomination lists this year (though I might do so on my personal blog in the next month).  Yes, we’re eligible for Best Fancast (and technically you can nominate our Sharknado episode for Best Related Work OR “The Great Lake Conspiracy (A Mustache and the Mutt Mystery)” for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) if you want to be cute). We do appreciate every vote we’ve received so far. But this post isn’t about us.  It’s about all the books, writers, critics, movies, and so on that have been a part of the show throughout 2013.  So what follows is a giant list of possibilities.  At the very least, it’ll give you something new to check out. Here goes (only eligible works will be listed; Torture Cinema films have been left off, because you shouldn’t vote for them anyway):

Blog Posts

Mining the Genre Asteroid: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

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The early 19th century. A plot against King George. Egyptian gods, magicians, gypsies, and other mysterious characters on the streets of London in a struggle for control and dominance. Enter a 20th century professor, Brendan Doyle. By turns, he has not only wound up in the thick of events, he has become trapped in that time. Can Doyle foil the plots, survive in the dangerous 19th century world and underworld, and even prosper? And most of all, like Sam Beckett…can Doyle find the right Time Gate to send him back home?

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