SF SF SF Review: March/April
My favorite stories this month were either relationship dramas or haunted house stories, broadly construed. For a story about a trans witch falling in love, check out “Graveyard Girls on Paper Phoenix Wings” by Andrea Tang, which appears in Glittership Episode 51 (March 5, 2018). It’s a story with marvelous worldbuilding and really cute and likable characters. In “Assistance” by Kathryn DeFazio, which appears in Escape Pod Episode 621 (March 29, 2018), a nonbinary person with anxiety is emotionally supported by an assistive android. It’s a simple and mundane story that’s also incredibly gentle and moving. “All Profound and Logical Minds” by Bennett North, which appears in Escape Pod Episode 618 (March 8, 2018), is a relationship drama between two sisters that’s also a haunted space station adventure. It’s fun, gripping, and inventive. Finally, I was seriously spooked by “Red as Water, White as Ruin” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, which appears in Mythic Delirium 4.4 (April—June 2018). In this story, a shipful of exiles and outcasts investigate a planet that has suffered an inexplicable apocalypse.
Speculative Fiction in Translation #3: Ken Liu, Croatia, Catalonia
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SFiTEpisode3KenLiuCroatiaAndCatalonia/Sfit–Episode3–KenLiuCroatiaAndCatalonia.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSIn today’s episode, Rachel brings you some SFT updates from March AND an interview with the wonderful author/translator/editor Ken Liu! Rachel discusses all of the Catalan, Japanese, Polish, Chinese and Indonesian novels, short stories, and collections that dropped in March. Plus, she fills you in on some upcoming anthologies and some excellent essays about SFT around the web, what she has been reading lately, and what she should be translating despite life getting in the way. With new stories and books coming to our attention each week, make sure to check the SFT website for updates. Enjoy, and keep reading! A bientôt!
Reading Rangers: Shorts #1 – 2017 Nebula Finalist Short Stories
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ReadingRangersShorts12017NebulaFinalistShortStories/ReadingRangersShorts1–2017NebulaFinalistShortStories.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSHello again, Rangers! We’re so excited about this new subcast of Reading Rangers! One of our most requested subjects from our annual listener survey was discussions of short fiction, and so we’ve decided to deliver with Reading Rangers: Shorts! Woohoo! On a bi-monthly basis, a rotating cast of team members will sit down and discuss language, themes, structure, and more about whatever short stories they feel like talking about, including award finalists, anthologies, magazine issues, and classic works. In this first episode, Trish, Elizabeth, and Brandon dive right into the 2017 Nebula Finalists for Best Short Story! Stories of identity, marginalization, virtual reality, AI, robots, and wind-up dolls make up this year’s list of finalists, so strap on your hats, grab your binoculars, and lets range through some speculative fiction, shall we? We hope you enjoy the episode!
SF SF SF Review: Capricious Issue 9 – Gender Diverse Pronouns
Capricious Issue 9 may have flown under your radar, but it shouldn’t have. Capricious is a speculative fiction magazine based out of New Zealand and edited by A.C. Buchanan, and Issue 9 is a special issue devoted to gender diverse pronouns, including singular they, common neopronouns (such as e/eir/em), and new pronoun sets created by the authors. I like that Buchanan chose the term “gender diverse” rather than “gender neutral,” since some of the stories in this issue feature more than two genders (which is awesome). The issue features a diverse array of genre tropes, and it spotlights two things I desperately want to see more of in SFF: inclusion of nonbinary gender identities, and experimentation and play with pronouns and gender systems. Here are my favorite stories:
Skiffy & Fanty Speculative Fiction Short Fiction Review, or SF SF SF Review: January/February
Welcome to our newest review column! Skiffy & Fanty Speculative Fiction Short Fiction Review by our newest team member, Cameron Coulter! It makes me really happy to write this: my favorite recent short stories are all either written by nonbinary authors and/or featuring nonbinary characters. I’m someone who has never been comfortable with masculinity, and I often wish we were more creative with gender in SF/F than we are. SF/F is a genre in which we literally make up new worlds, so there is plenty of opportunity to imagine people with alternate and/or no genders. Sure, there’s a few SF/F novels that are well known for the way they experiment with gender and pronouns, but I want more. Fortunately, I find that short fiction is somewhat ahead of the curve when it comes to diversity and inclusion. By my count, in the last two months, there have been at least six original short stories published in professional genre magazines that are either written by trans or nonbinary authors and/or featuring trans or nonbinary characters. Now, let the nonbinary party commence!
Reviews: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley & Everything That’s Underneath by Kristi DeMeester
Many of the reviewers associated with the Skiffy and Fanty team have a contribution specialty. I’ve always avoided this because I don’t like the limitations; I read/review outside of these genres even. But if I were to have a niche, it would probably be short fiction. I adore the variety it affords and the low commitment to discover new authors. It’s easier to convince myself to step away from work for a moment to read a short story, compared to equal time reading a portion of longer works that may not have obvious stopping points. Most importantly, some of the most exciting writing I’ve seen comes from the short form.
