The Skiffy and Fanty Show

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen Zink interviews Tracy Barnett, podcaster, writer, and TTRPG designer, about their work as a TTRPG designer, from their first game, School Daze , to their most recent (as of the recording of the podcast, which we must apologize for posting 2 months later than expected) big project, Iron Edda ! Jen finds out all sorts of interesting things about TTRPGs, from h...

Nuclear families (hyuck, hyuck), boat-cars, and Transformers, oh my! In today’s episode, Shaun Duke , Paul Weimer , Alex Acks , and Jen Zink tackle the giant roaring beast(s) that is Godzilla: King of the Monsters ! There are definitely opinions in this episode, y’all. LOTS OF OPINIONS! We basically took the Kaiju plot of King of the Monsters and turned it into a podcast. In today&#821...

Dystopian shenanigans, busted councils, and Centauri rivalries, oh my! The Babylon 5  re-watch of Season 3 continues! Shaun , Mike , and Paul tackle episodes 9 through 12. This podcast is packed with big reveals, terrifying prospects, and disturbing ideas. We tackle the collapse of Earth Federation, the echos of the Nightwatch, the development of our favorite characters, and the show’s appro...

Survival, corporations, and stolen tech, oh my! In today’s episode, Paul Weimer and Daniel Haeusser interview Megan O’Keefe about her new Space Opera novel, Velocity Weapon! But is it a Space Opera? Or is it a heist novel? Perhaps a thriller? No, wait! It’s a time-travel story about the unbreakable bond between siblings! Find out what compelled Megan to tackle Space Opera, how th...

Crazy paint, unicorns, and post-graduation life, oh my! Alex, Stina, and Trang join forces to take a look at Brie Larson’s feature length directorial debut, Unicorn Store (2017)! Together, they discuss the deep metaphors of the film’s central concept, the way it elicits strong personal reactions that make us think about our own lives, the performances, and so much more. We hope you enj...

Jack up your hyperspace engines and get your Sith bath salts ready! Shaun, Alex, and Kate bounce back in time to the OLD Canon (Legends) for an in-depth discussion of Paul S. Kemp’s  Crosscurrent . And “time” really is the word of the day. The crew of this absurdly comical starfreighter take a look at how Kemp’s novel deals with Force users in two drastically different time...

Ape men, nicked bits, and shirtless Sorbo, oh my! Shaun, Stephen, and Daniel join forces to fulfill their dudetastic Torture Cinema destiny by discussing 1997’s Kull the Conqueror  (starring Hercules). They discuss the history behind the film, why it fails miserably at just about everything (action, romance, adventure, carefully crafted plots), and what it’s like to contemplate Kevin S...

In today’s episode, David and Shaun once more talk about the films they’re currently enjoying, from big blockbusters to television epics and more. Then they turn their critical brains to the film of the day:  Fritz Lang’s  M  (1931). They cover some of the history behind the film — including 1930s Germany and the background of the Lang and the cast — how the film expl...

Shakespeare, geology, and sacrifices, oh my! In today’s interview, Jen and Paul are joined by Ann Leckie, award winning author of the Ancillary Series, to talk about her debut fantasy novel, The Raven Tower . They start with what books inspired the plot and unique characters of the novel, move into the narrative techniques Ann used and how those allowed her to… perhaps withhold some in...

Canadian Geese, foot fetishes, and vest clones, oh my! Shaun, Jen, David, and Trang, in her first ever Skiffy and Fanty Podcast appearance, discuss the 1973 Hammer Film Productions classic(?), The Satanic Rites of Dracula ! The last time that Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee would reprise their roles as Van Helsing and Dracula together. Thankfully, David is here to do some legitimate film critici...

Welcome to  Righteous Kicks — the podcast where two science fiction writers geek out about men in spandex bodysuits who kick evildoers to death in abandoned quarries until they explode! This month, Iori and Brandon discuss the latest developments of the middle batch of Kamen Rider Drive . Heroes and villains change allegiances, Shinnosuke learns something curious about his cop father, corruption s...

Hello, Rangers! We’re back with everyone’s favorite Space Nancy Drew in Komarr ! This time Stina, Paul, and Trish sit around the campfire to talk about women’s agency, budding relationships, whether or not Miles is “dad” material, how good intentions can go horribly, horribly wrong, the politics of isolationism, and more! Stina gets personal and, as is common when discussing Bujo...

March brings us Indonesian sci-fi about intergalactic love, Portuguese fantasy about a family’s terrible secrets, Italian sci-fi about what it means to be human, a story from the “Lost Files” of Sherlock Holmes, and much more. We also discuss the books we’re looking forward to later in 2019 and what we’d like to see in English in the future. Remember: with new stories...

Goose, goose, and GOOSE, oh my! Look, I’m not going to lie and tell you this is an entire podcast dedicated to the glory that is Goose, but… we really like Goose, OK?! Jen, Daniel, Alex, and Paul sit down for a rousing good chat about how much fun Captain Marvel is, but, more specifically how it’s a brilliantly feminist film, the fact that it packs in more layers than any of us w...

The First Ones, dusty telepaths, and G’Quan’s glory, oh my! The Babylon 5  re-watch of Season 3 continues! Shaun, Mike, and Paul tackle episodes 5 through 8. They talk about the introduction of the First Ones, the development of G’Kar and the emotional resonances of the show’s complex colonial morality, the depth of the Shadows’ plot, and so much more! So climb on boa...

In this episode of Into the Wardrobe, Shaun and Jen talk about the utterly delightful, but definitely problematic, 1971 Disney production, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, directed by Robert Stevenson and featuring a heavy production overlap with Mary Poppins . The duo discuss everything from why they loved this film, the amount of nuance that they didn’t pick up on as children, the heavy influence...

Cool suits, touch telepathy, and tidally locked planets, oh my! We didn’t know it at the time of our interview, but Paul and Elizabeth sit down with one of our official Hugo Fancast nemeses, Charlie Jane Anders, to talk about her new book, The City in the Middle of the Night ! Listen to why Charlie Jane picked her setting and what that meant for the story, how generation ships might actually...

Welcome to Righteous Kicks — the podcast where two science fiction writers geek out about men in spandex bodysuits who kick evildoers to death in abandoned quarries until they explode! This month, Iori and Brandon talk about the first sixteen episodes of Kamen Rider Drive , the only hero in the franchise with the word ‘Rider’ in its name who never rides a bike once. We snicker about to...

Rangers Trish, Brandon, and Daniel are back after their long break to tackle an anthology that is near and dear to our hearts. To be fair, our very own Julia Rios is part of it. Plus, we’re big fans of John Picacio and his MexicanX Initiative , and some of the initiative’s participants contributed stories to said anthology. That’s right! We’re talking about A Larger Reality...

Superman 4, motorcycle gangs, and *eye twitch* tentacle monsters, oh my! This episode exists thanks to the hardwork and determination of our lovely patron, Joseph. Thank you, Joseph, for repeatedly insisting that we watch the 1975 film, Super Inframan !! This Shaw Brothers Studio Production sought to capitalize on the tokusatsu craze in Japan, borrowing tropes, music, and more from tokusatsu serie...

February offered us more short fiction than anything else, though we did get the absolutely wonderful anthology of Chinese SFT edited and translated by Ken Liu: Broken Stars . In terms of the short fiction, fantasy dominated, with stories from the Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean. Rachel and Daniel also talk about the fiction they’re looking forward to in the upcoming month...

It’s the triumphant return of  Totally Pretentious , David and Shaun’s silly-with-a-side-of-pretentiousness movie review project that disappeared for a brief moment in time. But now they’re back with an episode they recorded a long time ago and forgot to release! In today’s super late episode, David and Shaun talk about some of the films they saw (back in 2016), especially ...

In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen interviews L. D. Lewis, short story writer, author of A Ruin of Shadows, and Art Director of FIYAH Literary Magazine for Black Speculative Fiction ! L. explains why the theme of changing allegiances after discovering the truth is something she likes to explore, how science fantasy helps her ground her world-building, her upcoming essay in Take the Mic: Ficti...

Origami, abused toys, and kissing daddy, oh my! Since it’s finally 2019, the year that Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner takes place, it was time for us to finally discuss one of the most influential science fiction films of all time. As such, Shaun, Jen, and Paul, sit down to have a chat about the biggest problems in the film (including the treatment of Rachel, the Orientalism, what it mean...

Chill your coaxium and holster your blasters, the team is BACK!! That’s right, Shaun, Alex, and Kate have returned after a too long absence to tackle their first book in the NEW Canon, Bloodline by Claudia Gray. If you haven’t read the book yet, no worries, because the team will give you a giant spoiler wall just in case you think a book that whatever happens before Force Awakens and a...