I was pleased to sink my teeth into Immortal Pleasures by V. Castro, about an ancient Nahua (from what’s now Mexico) vampire roaming the modern world. Some elements of the book weren’t to my taste, but it was fairly interesting and entertaining.
Moreno does a great job with the execution of this concept, with the slow build, the worldbuilding and atmosphere, the revelations, and most of all for me, the imperfect yet compelling characters. I loved it!
I adored C.L. Polk’s Even Though I Knew the End, a sapphic noir novella set in an urban fantasy version of 1941 Chicago. It opens strongly, unwraps the mystery as a relationship drama unfolds, and includes some breathtaking prose along the way.
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-396-pdjeli-clark/SandF_396_PDjeliClark.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSPossessed swords, demonic klans, and mouths all the way down, oh my! Shaun Duke and Jen Zink jump through time to talk with P. Djèlí Clark about his latest novella, Ring Shout. Together, they dive into the novel’s treatment of the early 1900s, the meaning of ring shouts, black history, the brilliant characters of Ring Shout, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!
The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People is an urban fantasy that deceptively starts off as a lighthearted take on a relationship with a supernatural being and eventually turns into a meditation on deeper explorations of a character’s pain, personality, choices, and mistakes. It tempts the reader with the fun and goofiness of its initial premise and gradually sucks the reader into a study of the main character and their history in a deep and sometimes painful dive. This latest book by Robin Bennis leverages and leavens Bennis’ droll sense of humor seen in the Signal Airship series and turns it onto a fantastic urban fantasy story.
Welcome to the latest instalment of my comics review column here at Skiffy & Fanty! Every month, I use this space to shine a spotlight on SF&F comics (print comics, graphic novels, and webcomics) that I believe deserve more attention from SF&F readers. This month, I’m revisiting a limited series that debuted earlier this year, and is now available as a collected volume, and a promising new limited series that’s just getting underway — Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivelä’s ABBOTT, and Tee Franklin and Alitha E. Martinez’s JOOK JOINT #1 and 2 (This review contains spoilers!)
