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Book Review: The Medusa Chronicles by Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter

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Howard Falcon is one of the most interesting characters in the oeuvre of Arthur C. Clarke. The late 21st century test pilot’s crash of an experimental helium-filled airship turns into an opportunity, as his cyborg-like existence mandated in the recovery from the accident makes him the perfect person to do the impossible: make a dive into the upper layers of Jupiter. The story of Falcon’s dive into Jupiter is in the Nebula award-winning novella “A Meeting with Medusa.”  It is a story frequently anthologized, for good reason. Sense of wonder, pathos and inventive worldbuilding make it a classic. Now, with the approval of the Clarke estate, Hard SF authors Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds have teamed up to tell the continued adventures and history of Howard Falcon, and his world, in The Medusa Chronicles.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

315. Foz Meadows (a.k.a. The Portalist) — An Accident of Stars (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode315InterviewWFozMeadows/Sandf–Episode315–InterviewWFozMeadows.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPortal worlds, schoolyard bullies, and magic, oh my! In our second interview for the year, Shaun and Paul talk to Foz Meadows about their debut novel, An Accident of Stars. We explore the novel’s central premise, its feminist message, and so 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 315 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

314. Djibril al-Ayad (a.k.a. The Editor on Fire) — Problem Daughters (An Interview)

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode314DjibrilAlAyad/Sandf–Episode314–DjibrilAl-ayad.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIntersectional feminism, problem voices, and FIRE, oh my! In our first interview of they year, we talk to Djibril al-Ayad about the latest anthology from The Future Fire:  Problem Daughters (an anthology of science fiction & fantasy from the fringes of feminism). We discuss the making of the anthology, being an inclusive editor, the value of intersectionalism, the world today, 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 314 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:

Blog Posts

Book Review: Galactic Empires, edited by Neil Clarke

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In the 1970s Brian Aldiss published a seminal anthology of SF stories. Called Galactic Empires, it was a two-volume set of over two dozen stories set in such realms, with authors ranging from Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Poul Anderson to A.E. Van Vogt and Clifford Simak. The age of the stories spanned from the 1940s to the 1970s, not only showing a wide range of themes and ideas revolving around Galactic Empires, their rises, heights and falls, but also showing the breadth of style changes in the genre over that period. It was not only a snapshot of the subgenre, right at the time that Star Wars was dominating the cinema and changing SF forever, but a look backward to the roots of the subgenre as well. Now, in 2017, Neil Clarke has stepped into the very large shoes that Aldiss has left, and created his own anthology called Galactic Empires. Clarke’s collection of stories have the same remit as Aldiss’: To show the Galactic Empire, in all of its forms, and with a wide range of voices, styles and authors. Clarke’s choices all date from the 21st century. While this does mean that Clarke’s anthology misses the 1980s and ’90s, he does manage to capture more recent eras in glorious diversity. For all of how important the Aldiss anthology was and is, Aldiss’ general overlook of half of the SF field and having an entirely American/British viewpoint was a weakness in his anthology. Only one female author, Margaret St. Clair, was included in Aldiss’ two-volume collection. By comparison, out of the stories Clarke has gathered, nearly half are by women. Further, Clarke’s choices includes significant contributions from the likes of Yoon Ha Lee, Tobias Buckell, and Aliette de Bodard. 

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

313. Looking Back, Moving Forward: Anticipating 2017

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode313Anticipating2017/Sandf–Episode313–Anticipating2017.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDumpster fires, staying positive, and congratulations, oh my! Here at the Skiffy and Fanty Show, we know that 2016 was not the most joyous of years for our planet. But we also believe that from that fire, a phoenix can rise and see it as a call for even more action than we might have been engaged in before. The science fiction and fantasy community is hardly immune to divisive rhetoric, and we have long tried to make our podcast and blog a space where we can include the voices that are so very often targeted and excluded by damaging words, beliefs, and practices. But we can do more! We can all do more. Our theme for 2017 is “Inclusion” because we want to use our platform, however small, to boost the voices of the those who are still so often excluded. We recognize that we are privileged, and we would like to use that as a force for good. We invite you to send us your suggestions for how we can do this. Want to be on the podcast? Have a discussion topic that you think would be valuable to our community? Please let us know by emailing as at skiffyandfanty@gmail.com, sending us a note on Twitter, or on Facebook. We hope that you enjoy our first podcast of the year as we look back on some of our favorite things of 2016 and what we’re hopeful about in 2017. 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 313 — Download (MP3) Show Notes:

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

#53. Arrival (2016) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB53Arrival2016/ShootTheWisb53–Arrival2016.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSLinguistics, Heptapods, and time, oh my! In our final episode of 2016, the crew discusses the newest Denis Villeneuve film, Arrival. 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):

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