Book Review: Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott
Second in the Court of Fives series, following Court of Fives, Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott continues the epic YA fantasy story of Jessamy, as she struggles to preserve herself and her family. Her expertise and skill at the Fives has put her into the intrigue and machinations of Garon Palace, as factions within the court struggle to influence, if not outright control, the throne. But what can the daughter of a General, struggling to keep herself and her family above water, do against that? She has a game to master, and in the mastery of that game, and protecting her family, young Jessamy is going to be catapulted out of the capital, and into the countryside. There, away from all she has known, treachery, betrayal, loyalty and the struggle for the future of her country irrevocably change her own quest.
Mining the Genre Asteroid: Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin
A century and a half after Earth has been wrecked, humanity exists in two spheres. There are the hardscrabble colonies, where survival is the watchword, as man tries to live on alien, often unfriendly environments. The people are often poor, desperate and technologically backward. And then there are the Ships that travel the spaceways. Technologically advanced and relatively rich, the Ships have a strict regime for keeping themselves from being overpopulated. Every person who reaches their fourteenth birthday must train for an ordeal called the Trial.
Book Review: Enchanted and Hero by Alethea Kontis
Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living, But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day Is bonny and blithe and good and gay. This rhyme opens Enchanted, the first in a series of the tales of the Woodcutter sisters. When we first meet them, Sunday, the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, is out in the Wood, writing stories in a journal. She meets an enchanted frog named Grumble, and the rest, as they say, is history. Alethea Kontis hooked me in quickly with the easy conversational tone of Sunday’s encounter with Grumble. The Princess and the Frog is a fine story,
Giveaway: James Dashner’s The Kill Order AND The Eye of Minds + Dashnerian Swag!
That’s right. We’ve got two books to give away this week as part of James Dashner’s blog tour for the paperback edition of The Kill Order. Entry is going to be super simple. All you need to do is answer this question in the comments OR via Twitter (@skiffyandfanty — use the hashtag #dashnerarmy) OR via email (skiffyandfanty[at]gmail[dot]com — use the subject line Dashner Giveaway): What is your favorite young adult fantasy or science fiction novel? So get your entries in right away. The giveaway will close on January 24th, 2014 (Friday). Winners will be announced on the following Monday. On top of that, Dashner’s Army is going to give away some swag (t-shirts, etc.) if they reach 1,000 members. Joining is pretty darn easy. You just need to go here and sign up!
186. Israeli Publishing and Translation w/ Didi Chanoch & Rani Graff (World SF Tour)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode186IsraeliPublishingAndTranslation/SandF%20–%20Episode%20186%20–%20Israeli%20Publishing%20and%20Translation.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSThe World SF Tour begins…now! For our first episode, Julia and Shaun talked with Didi Chanoch and Rani Graff about translation, the publishing world in Israel, Israeli SF/F, 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 186 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Graff Publishing Graff Publishing on Facebook YA Graff Books Didi’s About Page Didi’s Twitter Didi’s Blog Rani’s Facebook Rani’s Twitter 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.
My Superpower and Mini-Interview: James Dashner
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome James Dashner to talk about how his power of movie watching relates to The Kill Order. ————————————————- Like any person (at least any nerdy person, which are the only ones I care about), I love superheroes. I love Superman. I love Spiderman. I love the X-Men. I even love Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. I love the dude who invented Mountain Dew and Abraham Lincoln. All superheroes. And yes, I am one myself. I know this may shock you, but it’s true. I, James Dashner, am a superhero. And now I will tell you what my secret power is. Are you ready? I’m really, especially, fantastically good at watching movies. That’s right. Make fun all you want, but I’m much better at it than you are. In fact, no one on the planet of Earth (I can’t vouch for those other planets we keep discovering) is as brilliantly brilliant at watching movies as I am. I can enjoy any movie on any level at any time. My biggest pet peeve in the world is this new thing where all the “smart” people on the Internet rip every single movie
