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Recently I was talking to the only other person I know who loves Altered Carbon, and we were trying to figure out why the slick, trippy, violent, and fascinating cyberpunk Netflix show didn’t seem to make a big splash in pop culture.

I mean this was cool-looking, but what?

We agreed that the marketing around season 1 was confusing and, perhaps, unappetizing. Posters blanketed NYC showing bodies that appeared to be freeze-dried. (The latest poster featured above, with Anthony Mackie’s face a crumbling edifice, is, uh, also odd). All in all, it’s difficult to explain what Altered Carbon is about, since it takes place in a distant tech-drenched future where a person’s consciousness can be downloaded into a new body, and people seem to fight a whole lot, and a sentient A.I. hotel themed after Edgar Allan Poe became the coolest character of the lot. At least in this future the filthy rich are still consistently and reliably awful!

But the show itself is great. Altered Carbon is based on the books by Richard K. Morgan, and anyone who loves science fiction deserves to give this series a shot; mystery fans will also find a lot to like here. Season 2 is finally almost upon us, and instead of Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman as soldier-turned-private investigator Takeshi Kovacs, we have the love of your life and mine, Steve Rogers’ choice to be Captain America, one Mr. Anthony Mackie. I cannot wait to see Mackie in action as Kovacs’ new “sleeve” and where he should always be, which is in the leading role.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In Altered Carbon, society is transformed by new technology: consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent.

Season Two begins 30 years after the epic conclusion of Season One, and finds Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie), the lone surviving soldier of a group of elite interstellar warriors, continuing his centuries old quest to find his lost love Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry). After decades of planet-hopping and searching the galaxy, Kovacs is recruited back to his home planet of Harlan’s World with the promise of finding Quell. Haunted by his past and responsible for investigating a series of brutal murders, Kovacs is stunned to discover his new mission to solve the crime and his pursuit to find Quell are one and the same. With the help of his loyal A.I. Poe (Chris Conner), Kovacs must now partner with new allies to outwit his enemies and find the truth: Who is Quellcrist Falconer?

Also exciting is that we’ll see some sort of reunion with the incredible revolutionary (or is she???) Quellcrist Falconer (Renée Elise Goldsberry—that’s Angelica Schuyler to you), and Poe (Chris Conner) returns!!! How??? I don’t care! In a world of clones, re-sleeved consciousness, and rich people who live forever, I can have my A.I. friend restored.

You must watch season 2 of Altered Carbon for the always-exceptional Anthony Mackie, but also know that Chris Conner is back as my favorite character on TV—a badass A.I. of Edgar Allan Poe—and now he’s running around in a red mock neck suit. Please watch Altered Carbon. pic.twitter.com/wax8l5BqNi

— Kaila Hale-Stern (@kailahalestern) February 11, 2020

Altered Carbon season 2 hits Netflix on February 27th, 2020. Watch it! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies!

(image: Netflix)

What else did we spy with our little eyes?

• “Trump’s latest rally stunts are designed to get you to surrender” (via WaPo)

• “They’re addressing a problem that just

  does

  exist.”

  South Dakota was on the brink of passing a bill that would do reprehensible harm to trans & non-binary kids, and several states are now on the same path.

  Here’s what’s really at stake for trans & non-binary youth. pic.twitter.com/PQjYfIocQ9

  — Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) February 11, 2020

• A new movie adaptation of Porgy & Bess? (via Deadline)
• Rian Johnson called The Rise of Skywalker “a really special experience” (via Comicbookmovie)

• here’s margaret atwood riding an electric scooter pic.twitter.com/N9EzBNwiGK

  — Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) February 10, 2020

What did you see today?

Knives Out, Gems Uncut, Mysteries? Unsolved. https://t.co/wFXET82aZc

— The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) February 11, 2020

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—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Three years ago Fiyah Literary Magazine emerged into the speculative fiction field with a straight-forward premise: to publish speculative short stories, novellas, and poems by and about Black people of the African Diaspora.

They have had a startling start. In their first year, they won the World Fantasy Award in the non-pro category. Since then, cover to cover, Fiyah has shaken the white world of sci fi, fantasy, and horror, appearing on Must Read and Awards lists around the world. They’ve introduced us to fantastic writers and served as the entry point for readers who felt excluded from other stories.

Fiyah demonstrates what we, Black readers, already knew — exclusion of Black writers from mainstream outlets was not based on our merit but on racism and cultural imperialism. While other magazines and journals scramble to update their submissions guidelines and invite more Black authors, Fiyah continues to put out the fresh, new science fiction and fantasy that I love. Here at the beginning of their 4th year, it is time to revisit the latest issue, #13. Does it still bang? You know it does.

Fiyah Goes Theme-Free

Issue #13 isn’t centered around a theme. The themes that have been chosen in the past have set the tone not only for each issue, but for the direction of Fiyah in general. “Big Mama Nature” or “Ahistorical Blackness”, for example, introduce the reader to a whole new way of organizing sci-fi, fantasy, and horror around the wide variety of Black experiences, religions, and pasts. In this case, while there is no theme, two of the stories would easily have fit into an Ocean or Water Goddess issue. “All That The Storm Took” by Yah Yah Scholfield tells a post-Katrina tale of two sisters who sacrifice everything for the family home in the lower Ninth.

Scholfield is a young writer, 20 years old, who weaves a solid monster tale, where the monster is memory and death and the storm itself. It is magical and haunting. Soleil Knowles writes another water story, “Lusca”. I didn’t know that Lusca is the name of a sea monster that prowls the Caribbean, part mermaid, part octopus, all hunger. Knowles’ telling is very much about that hunger, and how it affects a young woman who’s mother is trying to separate her from the sea, to no avail. This is a perfect example of what’s possible in fantasy when all mythology is in play, not just re-treads of Greek or Irish myths. I enjoyed “Lusca” overall, but would have liked there to be more to it. The story gets lost in it’s own language, which is beautiful, but also as tangled as seaweed.

The third short story, “Roots on Ya” is similarly short, and reads like a personal family story. A rootworker is called to clean up a crossing spell cast on a romantic rival. LH Moore tells the story perfectly, filling it with the right balance of Virginia dialect to make the location stand out. This is a story about the culture of the time as much as it is about the heroic rootworker, who is outcast by the community while also being a sought after resource. I wish it were longer, however, and explored more of the growth of the characters. As it is, “Roots on Ya” is a snapshot of a moment, rather than an arc of development.

“The Transition of Osoosi”

By far the longest story in Fiyah Issue #13, “The Transition of Osoosi” is about a young revolutionary, Mal, trying to liberate his people in America. Mal is a Citizen American, a codified second-class of American category into which all Black and Native Americans are placed. They are are the mercy of True Americans, white people. This is, in many ways, our current reality dialed up to the maximum in the way of so much good cyberpunk. The story is filled with augmented reality, neural chips, and projected emotion webs. That technology layer is fascinating world-building.

Alongside that is a deeply human story of Mal, his sister, and his friends, as they all persevere under the ever-watching eyes of the country of their birth. Mal is trying to contact the government of United Africa, a Wakanda-like African country that is open to the possibility of supporting the fight for liberation. But the price for their support is high. This story casts United Africa as saviors surely, but also as problematic as any other organization that demands everything.

Gartrell pulls together a story that crosses both Native American history and West African mythology, giving room and strength to both. In doing so, it also has plenty of American pop culture thrown in, to make a narrative that felt representative of a multiracial American experience. And what does Mal “transition” into? Here a bit of West African cultural knowledge will serve you well. I enjoyed “The Transition of Osoosi” beginning to end and would gladly follow an entire novel of Mal’s adventures in the techno-dystopia. As it is, this short story is enough to hook me entirely.

Still On Fire

I continue to recommend Fiyah Literary Magazine to anyone who asks. Every story is unique, introducing characters and situations that feel intimately familiar as well as new ideas and mythologies that send me researching to Google.com. The variety of the diaspora is on display in these pages — and this display is making an impact on the mainstream. More literary magazines are updating their submissions guidelines and recruiting Black authors. But Fiyah remains the best.

Pick up Fiyah #13 direct from their website, https://www.fiyahlitmag.com/. A subscription is a great deal that will keep you full of the best Black Gods, Black Monsters, and Black Aliens all year long. See more of FIYAH online on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Happy New Year! FIYAH #13 is now available to download. https://t.co/2QoBZf7wUt pic.twitter.com/NofSbZ7s9Y

— FIYAH Literary Magazine (@fiyahlitmag) January 1, 2020

See more of our site’s other literature reviews here. Look for more reading material on our Bookstagram account on Instagram.

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The post New Year, New FIYAH: Fiyah Literary Magazine #13 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Birds of Prey has finally hit our screens and we can’t get enough of the radical R-rated action romp. One of the highlights of the newest entry in the DCEU is its awesome action and stunt work. During our visit to London for the world premiere of the film, we sat down with the cast and director to break down how Birds of Prey became one of the most impressive superhero action movies we’ve ever seen.

With all the hype for the first female-led superhero team-up movie, it was easy to miss the fact that groundbreaking stunt person and helmer of the John Wick franchise Chad Stahelski was brought in as an uncredited second unit director on Birds of Prey. With Cathy Yan’s vibrant vision and Stahelski’s eye for bone-crunching practical action the film consistently surprises and delights with astonishing action, and the cast and director were quick to gush about the talents of Stahelski and 87Eleven the incredible stunt team behind the movie’s smash and grab brutality.

When we chatted to the film’s director Cathy Yan she explained that it had always been her intention to put action front and center in the film, luckily, it was something that producer and star Margot Robbie and writer Christina Hodson were fully in support of. Yan shot the movie in a unique fashion. The studio gave the creative team full reign over the film with no push to fit it into any particular rating. From what Yan told us, the crew hoped WB would allow for an R-rating. Looking at the first reviews and responses, that freedom and flexibility was a smart choice by Warner Bros. who recently saw huge success with another r-rated comic book movie and will likely be hoping that after the positive critical responses Birds of Prey will inspire a similar massive box office reaction.

Warner Bros.

The stars of the film were equally as excited about the intensive action training that Birds of Prey put them through. Robbie’s Harley Quinn is the heart of the movie and thus has some of the most outrageous action and biggest set pieces. The star of the film was clearly enthusiastic about the experience and the work of the stunt team who made the action sequences feel so real. She wasn’t alone; Jurnee Smollet-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Rosie Perez all eagerly spoke about how the tough regime and intense action training ended up feeling incredibly cathartic and empowering.

There’s plenty to love about Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn but the dedication to impressive, brutal, and ultimately fun practical action is something that truly makes the movie stand apart from other recent superhero offerings. As fans of stunt work and the people who make it happen it makes it even better that the cast and director spoke so highly of the team who made it all possible. Bring on the best stunt actor Oscar category; if it existed, Birds of Prey would be our top pick for the honor in 2021.

Header Image: Warner Bros. 

The post How BIRDS OF PREY Went Full John Wick appeared first on Nerdist.

With the release of DC’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of the One Harley Quinn), many have been wondering about one particular scene when Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) describes in detail about obtaining the perfect egg sandwich for her breakfast. The way Harley describes the egg sandwich could almost be told from a […]