The Skiffy and Fanty Show

Weird Kermit, questionable friends, and terrifying dogs, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser join forces to discuss Through the Night Like a Snake , a new collection of Latin American horror stories (in translation) from Two Lines Press. Together, they explore the collection’s themes, the ways the authors explore the concept of horror, serial killers and terrifying toys, and so much more....

Bad hair days, broken systems, and anti-imperial struggle, oh my! Shaun Duke , Trish Matson, and Paul Weimer join forces to discuss science fiction empires! Together, they tease out some of the threads of this massive topic, exploring why empires are so common, what makes them collapse, and more. There may be more to this topic for another day, so let us know what you think! Thanks for listening....

Alien secretions, bad poetry, and Jimmy Smits, oh my! Shaun Duke , Jen Zink , and Daniel Haeusser join forces to discuss the 1993 miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers ! Together, they tell some potentially inappropriate jokes (for work), tackle the film’s role as an adaptation, share their love of (or confusion about) Jimmy Smits, and have a grand old time! Thanks...

Uplifted otters, competent women, and overconfident aliens, oh my! Shaun Duke , Trish Matson, and Paul Weimer join forces for our first ever Mining the Genre Asteroid subcast. In this special show, we’ll go back in time to lesser known or unfairly forgotten science fiction, fantasy, and horror from before 1980 to explore what wonders are buried in the annuls in time. In this episode, we look...

The past, the future, and geek plans, oh my! Shaun Duke , Daniel Haeusser , Trish Matson , Paul Weimer , and Brandon O’Brien begin the new 2024 season with some announcements, some jokes, and a whole lotta of their favorite things from 2023 and the thing they’re looking forward to in 2024! The announcements are big ones, too! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show No...

Doggy criminals, bad adaptations, and questionable loads, oh my! Shaun Duke , Alex Acks , and Becca Evans join forces to tackle the VHS release you probably didn’t know you needed of An All Dogs Christmas Carol (1998)! Through a long string of hilarious tangents, they tackle the film’s approach to the classic Dickens story, rage about bad dog owners, tell some stories about the compose...

Bumbles, snowmen, and Santa’s food problem, oh my! Shaun Duke , Paul Weimer , and Trish Matson join forces to talk about the holiday classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ! Together, they discuss the film’s themes of otherness, unpack the film’s interpretation of reindeer and elves, crack a few jokes, and even get into the broadcast history of the film! Thanks for listening. We...

Monkey bots, revolutionary polities, and robot gladiators, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser are joined by the phenomenal Samit Basu for a discussion of his latest novel, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport ! Together, they discuss Basu’s approach to worldbuilding and storytelling, the difficulties of writing about revolutionary change, the novel’s unique POV, and so much more! Thanks for l...

Writing seminars, strange tangents, and NanoNonsense, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser join forces to discuss online writing seminars, Orbit’s NaNo events, NanoWriMo’s history, and live audience questions! We promise that we stayed on target the entire time *wink*! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show Notes: Send us your comments, questions, and suggestions !...

Lost family, fabulous worldbuilding, and salamanders, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser are joined by the wondrous P. Djèlí Clark for a fabulous interview about Abeni’s Song ! Together, they discuss Clark’s turn to middle grade fantasy, his approach to worldbuilding, the complexities in using historical analogs, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!...

Cults, pontificating academics, and not eidetic memory, oh my! Shaun Duke , Daniel Haeusser , and Julia Rios join forces to take down The Da Vinci Code (2006). Together, they untangle the film’s nonsensical plot, question whether Langdon knows what words mean, get deep into religious folklore, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show Notes: Send us your com...

Internet shenanigans, bad companies, and library problems, oh my! Shaun Duke and Trish Matson join forces to discuss the encroaching influence of private equity on publishing and books, the future of libraries and problems that face them, the state of short fiction in SFF, and more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show Notes: Send us your comments, questions, and suggestions !...

Pop stars, embargoes, and first contact, oh my! Shaun Duke and Brandon O’Brien are joined by the wonderful Karen Lord to discuss her latest novel, The Blue, Beautiful World . Together, they explore the novel’s treatment of violence and culture, alien conspiracies and colonialism, Shakespeare and the art of writing, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!...

Screaming ants, screaming humans, and swamps, oh my! Shaun Duke , Becca Evans , and Daniel Haeusser join forces to take down Empire of the Ants (1977). Together, they ponder the logistics of managing a human ant colony, why ants scream like that, who deserves to die first, and the intricate world of alcoholic beverages, objectifying Gerard Butler, and more. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy...

Grief, alligators, and brooms, oh my! Shaun Duke and Jen Zink are joined again by the wonderful Eden Royce to discuss her latest novel, Conjure Island ! Together, they explore Eden’s approach to writing novels for kids, the task of developing magic and magic schools from a different cultural tradition, themes of grief and discovery, and so much more. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy t...

Award shenanigans, venture capitalists, and bad film execs, oh my! Shaun Duke , Paul Weimer , Daniel Haeusser , and Trish Matson join forces to discuss the Hugo Award nominees, some happenings in Hollywood that you already know about, and even some worrisome activity in the publishing landscape. Plus, we tell some jokes and have a few giggles. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! S...

Museums, heists, and nightmare gods, oh my! Shaun Duke and Trish Matson are joined by the brilliant Wole Talabi to discuss his novel, Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon ! Together, they discuss Wole’s approach to storytelling, just what a heist in a famous museum means, the task of writing gods with complex views of the world, influences, and so much more! Thanks for listening. We hope y...

Weird accents, human ranch dressing, and eyeballs, oh my! Shaun Duke , Alex Acks , and Becca Evans join forces to take down Gods of Egypt (2016). Together, they get thirsty over Gerard Butler, discuss Egyptian mythology and bodily fluids, and generally have a merry time trying to make sense of this ridiculous movie. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode! Show Notes: Send us your comm...

Conventions, conventions, conventions, oh my! Shaun Duke and Trish Matson join forces to discuss a listener question about the future of conventions. Together, they explore how conventions have changed, how conventions might survive in the future, what troubles conventions now face, and more! Plus, there’s a little bit of love for libraries, books, and more books! Thanks for listening. We ho...

Toadalingus, torture devices, and jerk brothers, oh my! Shaun Duke , Alex Acks , and Daniel Haeusser join forces to take down The Brothers Grimm (2005). Together, they try to figure out why there’s so much bestiality in this darn film, how the film’s plot works, what Matt Damon was doing, the film’s Italian stereotypes and torture devices, and so much more! Lots of laughs were ha...

Movie scores, weird doctors, and Douen, oh my! Shaun Duke is joined the profoundly wonderful Shakirah Bourne to talk about her new middle grade novel, Nightmare Island ! Together, they discuss Shakirah’s approach to writing scary stories, incorporating history and folklore in Nightmare Island , and exploring the role of music and sound in our understanding of what makes people, well, people....

Ventilated dates, juiced-up gaming, and Keith David, oh my! Shaun Duke and Brandon O’Brien join forces again w/ special guest and Michi Trota for a discussion of the second season of Leverage: Redemption . Together, they tackle the show’s approach to continuing its story, how it imagines problem solving in a complicated world, why Keith David is perfection, and the complex and nuanced...

Crispy heroes, violators, and nipple chains, oh my! Shaun Duke , Alex Acks , and Becca Evans join forces to take down Spawn (1997), a film that could be charitably called “a movie capable of causing amnesia.” Together, two of them try to make sense of the film’s plot and casting choices, uncover the names of Violator’s brothers and sisters, and make fun of Becca for showing...

Bizarre aliens, complicated families, and AI therapy, oh my! Shaun Duke is joined by longtime collaborator and repeat interviewee, Stina Leicht. Why? Because Stina has a new book called Loki’s Ring from Saga Press featuring artificial general intelligences, weird alien stuff, delightful familial relationships, and spaceships! Together, Shaun and Stina discuss the book’s hopeful perspec...

Needles, choreographed dances, and superhero flies, oh my! Shaun Duke and David Annandale wander to yet another part of the world to talk about S.S. Rajamouli’s 2012 epic, Eega . Together, they examine the film’s premise, Rajamouli’s approach to special effects, what it means to make a superhero movie that defies expectation, and so much more. Thanks for listening. We hope you en...