I realized during Freshman year of college that I grew up with a subconscious, bone-deep prejudice against half of the human race, based on their gender. Not the half that's usually the target of socialized bigotry (which would be women) but in my case, I am afraid of and prejudiced against: men ( Read more... )

About a year ago I heard about a book with an absolutely wonderful title and a bright red cover with a cool-looking dragon on it. It was written by Catherynne M. Valente (catvalente), who I had heard about vaguely through Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) and knew had written a book called Palimpsest and also (I was vaguely aware) wrote music.

The book, of course, was The ( Read more... )

I finished this book a while ago, and never got around to posting about it, but the most recent book for my Reading Chronicle was The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. LeGuin was always one of those authors I felt I should read more of but never quite had the serendipity to explore, and this seemed to be touted as one of her best. (My only ( Read more... )

As my move out to California gets closer, it's starting to sink in that I'm leaving home again. Which is always an odd thought for me, honestly. Call me a homebody, but the Gallatin Valley is where I was born and raised, and something about the outline of the Bridgers in the northeast sky is intensely reassuring. When I was younger and went on ( Read more... )

So this post by naamah_darling got me thinking, and I started to write out a comment which got tangential and long, so I'm posting it as an entry instead ( Read more... )