Science Fiction

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The Disquieting Guest — Horror in/and Fantasy

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A few weeks back, Shaun quipped to me that horror is “fantasy with scary bits.” Even further back, a discussion went around on Twitter as to whether horror and epic or high fantasy could coexist. A few remarks this week (which I will get to in due course) had me thinking about this issue again. As I’ve argued previously, horror is too polymorphous to be considered a genre — any attempt to define it as such winds up with exclusions and inclusions so remarkable as to invalidate the definition. For example:  an insistence that there must be an element of the supernatural excludes the likes of Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and so on. On the other hand, horror’s symbiotic/parasitic nature allows it

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MINING THE GENRE ASTEROID: Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm

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“What is right for the community is right even unto death for the individual. There is no individual, there is only the community.” In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, in isolated Appalachia, a powerful extended family is determined to survive. Crop failure. Climate change. Ecological and environmental collapse. Pandemic, social upheaval and worse. All of this threatens the end of humanity, and indeed of most animal species in the bargain.This community builds itself a safehold to survive the turbulence and save a remnant of humanity in the bargain. When it turns out the pandemics have left everyone in the extended family infertile, the only solution that presents itself to save humanity is to clone the members of the extended family (and their local livestock as well). The clones can carry humanity ahead a generation or three, and then the ordinary course of marriage and mating can resume the community’s usual social structures.  However, once born, the clones have their own

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Geekomancer Under Glass: Beyond the Capes (Part Two)

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Hello! This is S&F’s own Geekomancer, Mike Underwood, back again to talk about more comics outside the supers genre. Today, I’m going to talk about one classic and a couple of more recent up-and-coming comics. Hinterkind One of the new offerings from Vertigo following the departure of long-time executive editor Karen Berger, Hinterkind (Writer: Ian Edginton, Artist: Franceso Trifogli) is pitched as The Inverse Fables.  In this world, Faerie creatures have returned and overthrown humanity, who now live in small enclaves hidden away, like Angus and Prosper’s group, which has ironically holed up in Central Park. When their closest human neighbors in Albany

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#10 — Babylon 5 Re-Watch (S1D1: Eps. 1-4) — A Shoot the WISB Discussion

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB10Babylon5ReWatchep14/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2310%20–%20Babylon%205%20re-watch%20%28ep%201-4%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIntergalactic politics, soul stealers, and cyborg infections, oh my! Mike, Paul, and Shaun offer their thoughts on the the first four episodes of Babylon 5 in our first ever re-watch session. We also really want to hear what you think!  So feel free to watch along with us!  Next up, the second disc of the Season One box set! 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 (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Babylon 5 (IMDB) Note:  We’re shifting over the Shoot the WISB segments from my personal blog to The Skiffy and Fanty Show.  Why?  It just makes more sense, I suppose.  If you’ve never listened to the Shoot the WISB casts, you’ll likely see them pop up in your iTunes or RSS feeds over the next few weeks.

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This Katamari Feels Scientifashionable!

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(That’s probably because you’ve rolled up some weird outfits!) It seems Fashion is on the old SFnal brain lately, and I enjoy a good sartorial debate as much as … well, as much as the average person, at least. Which is to say, not enough to follow Project Runway, but enough to relish a well-rounded and amusing critique of pageantry at least. And what can be more fun than the meeting of SF and couture? Angry Trousers: So, Tansy Rayner Roberts won best fan writer at the Hugo Awards this year, and it’s pretty much because she’s awesome. I love her blog because she’s intelligent and passionate about genre, and she posts things like this list of 25 awesome urban fantasies, AKA The Angry Trousers Treatise. I love the idea of women in angry trousers as a catch all term for a certain subset of urban fantasy. Even before I read the treatise, I

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

175. Religion and Genre Fiction w/ Max Gladstone & David Levine (A Discussion)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode175ReligionAndGenreFictionWMaxGladstoneAndDavidLevine/SandF%20–%20Episode%20175%20–%20Religion%20and%20Genre%20Fiction%20w%20Max%20Gladstone%20and%20David%20Levine.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSGods, moral dilemmas, and deus ex machine, oh my!  Authors Max Gladstone and David Levine join David (Dave) and Shaun to talk about religion in genre fiction, how they all have used religion in their work, religious conflicts in fiction, and much more! 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 175 — Download (MP3) Show Notes Max’s Website David’s Website Max’s Books (Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise — buy them!) Old Mars edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (David’s story is in this!  Get it!) 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.

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