Book Review: Ninth Step Station
Ninth Step Station is an excellent collaborative effort which entertains and asks hard questions about crime, investigation, surveillance, and the future of technology in a well imagined near future setting. The locale is Tokyo in the 2030s. After an attack by China on Japan, much of Japan is under Chinese occupation, and half of Tokyo is held by them as well, with a border zone between occupied Japan and free Japan managed by ASEAN, led by the United States. Tensions are high in this divided Tokyo of the future. The peace seems fragile and ready to erupt at any moment, forces scheme to survive and thrive, and the day to day life of people on both sides of the divide is under constant stress.
Guest Post: Tremontaine: Ending the Story By Racheline Maltese
Tremontaine, a serial fiction project set in the world of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint, is coming to the end. Racheline Maltese of the Tremontaine Creative Team gives her thoughts and reflections. After four seasons, Tremontaine, a serial fiction project set in the world of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint, is coming to the end. As someone who has worked on it since the beginning, since before it was even definitely a real thing, this is filled with feelings both of sadness and success.
Guest Post: Finding the Dark by Rachel Caine
Today on Skiffy and Fanty, Rachel Caine, part of the Dead Air team, a podcast/serial story collaboration she is doing with Gwenda Bond and Carrie Ryan, tells us about finding the darknes in thrillers and what her new project has to offer. I started reading my dad’s books when I was, well, old enough to figure out where he kept them, which was way too young. Some of them were what would be euphemistically called “men’s adventure” today; James Bond-type books, only with more sex and violence. Some were horror. But I most remember the opening of one of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels … a book about a murderer backing a woman into a corner in her apartment, and relentlessly slashing back and forth at her like a sideways pendulum. It haunted me. I couldn’t get it out of my head, no matter how much fun space exploration science fiction I read, or high fantasy, or historical novels (all of which I loved).
Signal Boost #39 — Joseph Brassey (Dragon Road) and Michael R. Underwood (Born to the Blade)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost39BrasseyUnderwood/Sandf–SignalBoost39–BrasseyUnderwood.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode of Signal Boost, Paul talks to Joseph Brassey about the second book in his Drifting Lands series, Dragon Road. Careful, because there are spoilers for the first book in the series, Skyfarer, which you should definitely go read right away. When you’re ready, listen to Joseph discuss how he likes to explore what makes good characters good people, what type of redemption arc he has written, and a little bit about how comedy and his improv background inform his writing. Then Paul is joined by our very own Michael R. Underwood to talk about his brand new Serial Box Publishing project, Born to the Blade. They discuss the process that Mike went through to get Born to the Blade from a concept to a Serial Box project and what it’s like to work with 3 other authors (Marie Brennan, Cassandra Khaw, and Malka Older) in a collaborative story-telling process, including what changed from the original concept. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Book Review: Born to the Blade by Mike Underwood, Cassandra Khaw, Marie Brennan and Malka Older
Imagine a place where diverse and very different polities come to meet, to trade, to conduct diplomacy, to intrigue. Amidst large and scheming powers in a world on the edge of conflict and war, this is a shining beacon, all alone in the night. Imagine a group of ambassadors who come to meet at this place. They have agendas, factions, goals, hopes, fears that they bring with them from across known space. And what they do will not only change their lives, but the destinies of worlds far beyond theirs. No, this is not Babylon 5*. For this place is a trio of islands in the sky; the diplomats and ambassadors are skilled with swords and blade-based magic. Welcome to the world of Serial Box’s latest serial, Born to the Blade.
Book Review: Bookburners Season 3
With the publication of an omnibus edition, the Bookburners, one of the serial stories from Serial Box, comes to officially cap its third season and prepare the ground for the fourth. Bookburners is hardly the only serial from Serial Box, as the release of this third omnibus joyfully coincides with the release of omnibus editions of Tremontaine Season 3, and ReMade Season 2.
