Skiffily

Reader of Science Fiction and lover of Science Fiction art. I have a new podcast called "AE Reads Skiffily" where I read SF, add sound effects, and solicit art. Check it out at aeusoes1.blogspot.com

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Episode 16 of AE Reads Skiffily features the longest story to date. Why, this might take two car trips to the store to listen to! This episode’s story is “The Children of Crèche” by #JamesAlanGardner, which won Grand Prize in the 1989 #WritersoftheFuture contest. In this story, an art critic comes to a startling realization when he goes to a planet of childless artists. As I’ve been doing this year, the promotional image for this episode riffs off of a popular movie or show that is somehow related to the story. I chose “Children of Men” since both the movie and this story show a future society without children. You can even swipe right to see the original poster art from the movie. That’s easier than expecting you to Google the poster art of a movie from 12 years ago. AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring #sciencefiction and #soundeffects. Subscribe to the podcast at @PodoMaticApp or on #iTunes, #GooglePlay, @stitcherradio, or where ever you like to get your podcasts. The link is in my bio. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #scifi. (at Phoenix, Arizona)

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There's no better way to usher in the new year than with episode 13 of AE Reads Skiffily. This #sciencefictionpodcast episode features "The Road Not Taken" by Harry Turtledove. First published in 1985, this classic tale is about an alien invasion force equipped with muskets. If you've seen posters for @arrivalmovie, this image might look familiar. That's intentional. One character in this story is a xenolinguist. The background image is from a hike I did last year. AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring #sciencefiction and #soundeffects. Subscribe to the podcast at @PodoMaticApp, on #iTunes, #GooglePlay, @stitcherradio, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Link is in my bio. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #scifi. Comment below with your opinion on the story and suggestions for future episodes. Download the episode here or click the link in my bio: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2018-01-01T15_17_17-08_00 (at Phoenix, Arizona)

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If you are into #StrangerThings, then you must be excited about the release of #strangerthingseasontwo tomorrow! Some people say that Stranger Things is popular merely because it shoves in as much #80snostalgia as possible. But that can’t be why this show is so popular. Compelling characters, fine acting, and strong writing are vital components to its success. Perhaps nostalgia simply adds to an already great show. One can already appreciate the scene when #eleven flips a van with her #telekinesis, even without having watched #ET; connecting the movie and the show, though, creates a richer experience. #justmytwocents Share your opinion of season 2 and your favorite #strangerthingsquotes

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Episode 11 of AE Reads Skiffily is here. Like, right now!  This is the second of our two-month long Halloween series. This episode features “Utopia, Lol” by Jamie Wahls, a story about a cryogenically frozen man waking up to a digital utopian future. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #sciencefiction. Comment below with suggestions as to what stories you think I should read next. Download the episode here: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2017-10-20T09_00_00-07_00 AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring #scifi and #soundeffects. Subscribe to the podcast at @PodoMaticApp or on #iTunes, #GooglePlay, @stitcherradio, or wherever you like to get your podcasts. Link is in my bio. (at Tempe, Arizona)

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Episode 11 of AE Reads Skiffily is dropping soon. Here’s a little teaser for you, with footage from my visit to #ostrichfestival2017. While you wait, you can enjoy this little preview and also enjoy shots of goofy ostriches.   Music: http://www.purple-planet.com AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring #sciencefiction and #soundeffects. Subscribe to the podcast at @PodoMaticApp or on #iTunes, #GooglePlay, @stitcherradio, or wherever you like to get your podcasts. Link is in my bio. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #sciencefiction. Comment below with guesses as to which story I'm reading (at Chandler, Arizona)

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Episode 10 of AE Reads Skiffily is the first of our two-month long Halloween series. This episode features “A Greater Power” (2008) by Benjamin Crowell, a story about a guy in the 1980s addicted to a #tentaclemonster. Download the episode here: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2017-09-12T12_00_00-07_00 AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring #sciencefiction and #soundeffects. Subscribe to the podcast at @PodoMaticApp or on #iTunes, #GooglePlay, @stitcherradio, or wherever you like to get your podcasts. Link is in my bio. (at Tempe, Arizona)

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Tonight I've been putting on the finishing touches for Episode 9 of AE Reads Skiffily. In anticipation of the reveal (tomorrow?), here is a shot of how I look when recording. Sometimes I can really get into the characters I portray, even if they're in the background. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, #sciencefiction, and #soundeffects. Comment below with story suggestions. (at Chandler, Arizona)

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Yes! Episode 8 of AE Reads Skiffily is hot off the presses, ready for your phone, computer, or similar electronic device. In this episode, Mona (@sewingagainstthegrain) and I read "Tk'tk'tk" by David D. Levine, about a human salesman on an alien world. Download or listen to the episode here: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2017-07-12T21_05_27-07_00 AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring readings of #sciencefictionstories with immersive #soundeffects Subscribe to this podcast at @PodoMaticapp or on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ae-reads-skiffily/id1225685225 Like, subscribe, and #share for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. If you are inspired by this podcast to make #scifiart, be sure to tag me and/or use hashtag #skiffily. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #speculativefiction (at Chandler, Arizona)

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Episode 8 of AE Reads Skiffily is almost ready. While you wait, you can enjoy a little preview and see how I record my episodes. The story I'm reading from this episode features an alien language described as "harsh" and "sibilant." Based on this and on the vowel-less representation of the words, I chose to pronounce the language this way. In retrospect, I could have done more pops and clicks, I suppose. Like and subscribe for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #sciencefiction. Comment below with guesses as to which story I'm reading. (at Phoenix, Arizona)

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A is for arvies In the world of "Arvies", the unborn have such paramount rights that the most privileged are simply never born. They are instead kept in baths of amniotic fluid and their physical development kept at a fetal level while their cognitive development is allowed to flourish.  The underprivileged allowed to live are used as tools for the elites, either as manual laborers or as arvies, which are legally considered dead. I don't know how much Adam-Troy Castro intended to evoke the contemporary abortion controversies. I read this is a satirical #ifthisgoeson extension of the notion that restrictions on abortions infringe on a woman's #bodilyautonomy, implicitly giving fetuses more rights than any born person. It also plays into the notion that abortion opponents who simultaneously advocate for cuts to aid for needy mothers and impoverished children are #profetusnotprolife. I could be overthinking it, though.  What do you think? Background animation courtesy of @sojourn.project Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction. Let me know in the comments section if you would want to live as an immortal fetus transplanting from husk to husk. (at Chandler, Arizona)

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B is for Braille tablet. In "Red Planet" by @carolinemyoachim, Tara wants to be a xenobiologist, but the "ableist" Martian government won’t allow her to travel to Mars because she is #blind. Her disability, she believes, won't prevent her from doing her job, partially because of the technological developments that allow her to do anything required of her. The Braille tablet is one of those things, not just because it allows her to read, but because the tactile display also allows her to feel tactile pictures. She gets around the you-have-to-see-to-be-on-Mars requirement, but I won't spoil how. Technologically incongruous ableism aside, the benefits of tactile feedback on screens would be something I would want, too. The lack of a real tactile feedback is why I don't like typing on my tablet's screen and why I make as many texting typos as I do. The ability to feel the keys as if they were temporary buttons would be a great help for this. Learn about real-world efforts in making better Braille readers than we have now here:  http://www.popsci.com/new-touch-screen-design-could-display-in-braille Read the story for free here: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/red-planet/ Background image courtesy of @ociacia.vladislav Song lyrics in Braille text form courtesy of Rick Astley Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction (at Chandler, Arizona)

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C is for consensualism In "Dividing the Sustain" Been Watanabe is en route to deliver a personality transplant to help someone's mind from going stale (people are technically immortal, but they can lose their mind if they are not periodically "recast").  His delivery is secret, as Little Chin, his destination, is a colony of consensualists. This means that the personality transplant is technically legal, but perhaps against the will of the community of Little Chin. Hijinks ensue on the ship, but we never really meet the consensualists. I imagine that a society like this wouldn't work very well without tremendous amounts of empathy, which humans are notorious for lacking when it comes to large numbers. There would also need to be a quick method of ascertaining group consensus. Perhaps a middle ground would work between absolute consensualism and absolute libertarianism where the group has veto power on an individual's decisions, using the metric of group interests. Background image courtesy of Neil Blevins https://www.artstation.com/artwork/g9BBP Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction (at Tempe, Arizona)

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D is for d-mat In Sean Williams's #twinmaker series, the invention of the d-mat has allowed for a post-scarcity society because people can use readily-available devices to travel instantaneously (anywhere there is a d-mat present) and duplicate otherwise rare objects. It seems as though Sean Williams (@adelaidesean) created this setting to explore the implications of #teleportation technology like we see in #StarTrek and the Fly (The #DavidCronenberg version starring Jeff Goldblum). People might oppose use of the technology, and, as is the case with "The Lives of Riley", might duplicate themselves. It's an interesting concept but, from what I've read so far, the stories are a little light. Background image courtesy of Orest Terremoto https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GW6BN Animation courtesy of Or Terry https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BaGRA Read "The missing metatarsals" for free here: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-missing-metatarsals/ and “The Lives of Riley" (also free) here: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-lives-of-riley/ Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction (at Tempe, Arizona)

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E is for extra-systemic While we consider “extra-terrestrial” to be a sort of technical term for non-humans, more precise than “aliens” and less precise than buggers/grays/vulcans/hutts/lizardpeople, this becomes less precise when, as is the case in “Flowering Mandrake” humans have colonized the solar system. So, when a creature from the #Capella System arrives in a spaceship, it is not simply extra-terrestrial (that is, from beyond the Earth), but extra-systemic, because it comes from another stellar system. Background image courtesy of @ismael8y8 https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EZW9N Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction (at Phoenix, Arizona)

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F is for fabricant In "An Orison of Sonmi~451”, (Part of Cloud Atlas) the obscenely capitalistic "corprocratic" allows the barely nonsentient fabricants to work as slaves with chemically-induced subservience, as well as a rigorous religion-like catechism that guides their behavior and the promise of retirement after 12 years. The eponymous fabricant works at a fast food restaurant and is ascended into full consciousness as a sort of experiment by abolitionists. I had a tough time figuring out how fabricants were made. Were they a mix of clone and robot? Humans genetically modified to be subservient and unintelligent? Are they simply biological constructs that don’t need to eat or sleep? When you think about it, it doesn’t matter, given the themes. Oh, hey, they made a #CloudAtlas movie. Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction Background image courtesy of Charidimos Bitsakakis https://www.artstation.com/artwork/n0nn6 (at Tempe, Arizona)

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G is for gastrogineer In "Taste the Singularity" Nico is saving up to become a freelance accountant, but must battle with his love of food trucks. He discovers that Alberto, an acquaintance from a cooking class he took as a child, is a vendor of a popular food truck near his work. Alberto introduces Nico to the world of black market gastrogineers that take part in unregulated cutting edge food technology research and then sell it to daring customers. For Nico, the food truck circus is safe because he has Alberto as a guide. But I couldn't help but see the legitimacy of the FDA's efforts to crack down on the market. For Alberto, it seemed the issue was one of authenticity. The FDA is connected to large-scale food conventional producers, as if food safety is not a concern. The story tickles the imagination, but it sort of breaks down if you think too much, I guess. Background image courtesy of YuanZhi Chen https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VZoLR Read the story for free here: http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/taste-singularity-food-truck-circus/ If you haven’t already, you can also listen to an excerpt of the story I produced for my podcast, AE Reads Skiffily, here: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2017-03-06T19_20_42-08_00 Like and subscribe for more #skiffydefinitions. Tag a friend who likes words and #sciencefiction (at Tempe, Arizona)

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You've been trembling with anticipation. Now Episode 7 of of AE Reads Skiffily is ready. In this episode Mona (@sewingagainstthegrain) and I read "Her Husband's Hands" by Adam-Troy Castro, about a woman whose husband comes home from deployment as a mobile pair of hands. Download or listen to the episode here: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/aereadsskiffily/episodes/2017-06-04T12_02_36-07_00 AE Reads Skiffily is a podcast featuring readings of #sciencefictionstories with immersive #soundeffects Subscribe to this podcast at #PodoMatic or on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ae-reads-skiffily/id1225685225 Like, subscribe, and #share for #skiffydefinitions and updates on my #podcast. If you are inspired by this podcast to make #scifiart, be sure to tag me and/or use hashtag #skiffily. Tag a friend who likes #podcasts, #literature, and #speculativefiction (at Chandler, Arizona)