Hugos and assorted memes
I kind of like this cadence of alternating between quarantine life posts and fannishness, so I'm going to keep doing that. (Usually I like mixing RL and fandom things, but RL and escapism are not mixing particularly well around now...)
Hugo nominations came out, and even though I'm VERY burnt out on Hugo homework after last year, I did nominate, and I have some thoughts, so I might as well put them here.
Novel: I emphatically did not nominate the one of these that I read fully (A Memory Called Empire), even though I'm entirely unsurprised it is on the list and expect it to win. And, hell, it'snot a bad book by any means, but I continue to be irrationally disappointed that it wasn't a better book in the ways I would've cared about. I made it about 40% into The Ten Thousand Doors of January before my train commute ended and have felt not the least desire to pick it up since, which makes me sad, given how much I loved Harrow's Hugo-winning short story last year. I have very expectation that I'll bounce off 'Gideon' if I ever get around to trying it. No particular high hopes for the Charlie Jane Anders, the Hurley, or the McGuire either. Well, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by this category, but, really, The Raven Tower doesn't make the short list even? (That was the novel I nominated.)
Novella: I'm glad "“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" (the Ted Chiang one) mae it in, but also super unsurprised, because Ted Chiang. I actually have both The Deep and the Chambers sitting in my to-read pile, and will probably at least try to read them, at some point, before the libraries reopen and want them back. Not surpried to see themon there, either, but I don't think they'll sway me over the Chiang. Oh, and the next Wayward Children installment, of course, which I don't think I'm interested in reading. I'm ambivalent on whether to try the Gladstone/El-Mohtar (I've not had great luck with the former outside of the Craft books, and bounce off El-Mohtar's prose almost as much as Valente's). I'm intrigued by P. Djèlí Clark's title, though -- and novella seemed like a good length for him.
Novelette: I'm glad the Pinsker I nominated made it in! (it wasn't my genre, but I really enjoyed it even so). I did not make it as far as "Omphalos" in the Ted Chiang collection, yet, but do want to read it. Beyond that, I started the Yoachim and "For He Can Creep", and neither grabbed me. I am not going to make myself read Gailey yet again to conclude that their stuff doesn't work for me. And Jemisin's short fiction generally does nothing for me, so not really planning to read that either.
Short Story: The one short story I nominated this year (Jamie Wahls' "Truth Plus") didn't make it in -- I wonder if it'll show up on the long list -- and I hadn't read any of these. I'm curious to check out the Harrow (because harrow) an Nibeita Sen's for the amazing title, and I may take a peek at the others, too.
Series: LOL, I nominate a full slate for this one, and there is ZERO overlap XP I bounce HARD off InCryptid, but hey, it's not a Hugo ballot if there's not some Seanan McGuire series on it, so it's not like I'msurprised. I *am* surprised by Arden's Winternight Trilogy making it in, since she hadn't seemed to make such a strong Campbell showing the last two years, which you'd think would be a less crowded field? I liked the first book, got bored midway through the second, and that's actually the farthest I've gotten with any of the nominees (two of which I know nothing about at all, and one of which I didn't realize was a series). What a weird slate... unless a bunch of people turned down nominations?
Related Work: This category elicited the strongest feelings in me, and they weren't positive ones. It seems to be a minority opinion, which is fine (I expect I have flisters who nominated this and/or are happy it made the ballot, and I'm happy for you guys!), but I really, REALLY disliked Ng's Campbell Acceptance Speech (which partly had to do with the fact that she was my least favorite of the nominees, probably, but partly also just... I didn't think that was an appropriate acceptance speech). Besides that, it seems to be a much more straightforward category than last year, and I'd completely forgotten about JMS's bio (which I want to read), and I want to see the LeGuin movie, and the Heinlein and Joanna Russ books sound interesting, too.
Graphic Story: I ended up not nominating anything for this one, because I checked out Paper Girls 6 and then just couldn't be bothered to read it. I saw Mooncakes on
forestofglory's Hugo rec post and a couple of other places, and it sounds cute enough that I might check it out (though also like it would probably be too Tumblr-twee for my taste...) Anyway, Monstress 4 is on the ballot and is going to win anyway, so, whatever (having forced myself through two volumes of Monstress for Hugo homework, I've solidly concluded that it's gorgeous and impressively imagined and very, very Not For Me).
Dramatic, long: Biggest overlap with my ballot so far, lol -- Endgame and Good Omens :P (I had Spider-Man 2 over Captain Marvel, but whatever). Mostly, I'm kind of shocked 'Skywalker' made it in -- it seemed like absolutely everyone hated it?
Dramatic, short: Zero overlap with mine, not just on episodes but also on shows, but not unexpected (I'll be curious to see the long list, as I wonder if the Good Omens episode I'd nominated was on the list but was subsumed by the long form nomination for the whole show). I'm looking forward to watching The Good Place one, at least.
Editor, short: I nominated just Neil Clarke this year, and am happy to see him on the list, among the usual suspects (plus Ellen Datlow :)
Editor, long: Alas, my one nominee in this category didn't make it in, although I'm happy to see Miriam Weinberg on the list, because she was fun in a panel (I am very unlikely to read any of the 4 books she edited this year, and even less likely to enjoy them, I think). That is the extent of my thoughts on this category. (Navah Wolfe is nominated again, and I keep wishing she'd qualify for short form nomination already, because I'd actually happily vote for her THERE, but I have very strong reservations about her longform editing after Space Opera and, to a lesser extent, Conspiracy of Truths.)
Pro artist: This was another category where I nominated a full slate (thanks to Rocket Stack's Rank compilation of cover art/illustrations which makes it easy), and only one of my "not the usual suspects" nominee made it in (Alyssa Winans). But a bunch of the other nominees are artists I also liked, who were on my long list (Galen Dara, John Picacio, Yuko Shimizu), so I'm pretty happy with this category.
Semiprozine: The two I nominted are in, unsurprisingly, but I'm also happy to see Escape Pod and Fireside back (I didn't nominate them becuse I didn't consume them this year, but I liked them a lot in past years).
Fanzine: This one I'm really disappointed by, as Rocket Stack Rank is the one I root for (and use), but it didn't make it this year. It always comes in last, so it's not huge surprise a newcomer would knock them off, but dammit, they's so USEFUL, and different.
Fancast: YAY, Serpents! One of the two things I'm actively happy bout on the ballot. I'm hppy to see Coode Street and Galactic Suburbia here again, too, and am curious about the newcomer YouTube channel...
Fan writer: I didn't nominte anyone, but am pleased to see Bogi Takács on the ballot.
Fan artist: I'm so happy that Ariela Housman is getting another shot at the Hugo, hopefully without incomprehensible rulings by Hugo admins preventing her from sharing her best work in the voter package >:/
Lodestar: AHAHA, The Wicked King, really? XD Minor Mage was cute. I'm looking forward to reading Deeplight, which I'm sure is amazing, and eventually Catfishing (I liked the short story), and am happy to see the Dragon Pearl nom, though I haven't read it myself. And I'm happy to see Offbrand Zukos 2 did not get nominted, or I might have had to set something on fire...
Astounding: Yay, R.F.Kuang (not a terrible surprise, though). Odd to see several second year folks who were not on the list last year (Sam Hawke, Nibedita Sen, Tasha Suri), as well as two newcomers (including Emily Tesh).
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sysann gave me a few more topics for the top 5 meme (where by "a few", I mean 17, because I appear to have succeeded in spreading my Dragaera obsession, LOL). So here's the first batch of that (sadly, I gave up on the idea of matching up the prompts to Dragaeran houses and answering them in Cycle order :P)
* Fandom pets you wished were yours
Using "pets" loosely, since some of these are full-on people, just, you know, animal-shaped.
1) Loiosh (Dragaera/Vlad Taltos) -- I mean, who DOESN'T want a telepathic shoulder dragon of their own? Especially such a clever one? (I'm not going to feed him dead teckla, because that's sad, but would be happy to share my sausage.) (I was tempted by one of the full-sized dragons, too, but I'm not sure even someone like Toothless could really be counted as a "pet", let alone the Temeraire-verse dragons, so I decided to stick to critters who could believably fit inside my house.)
2) Zhar-krys [the fire-rat] from Olga Gromyko's charming fractured fairy tale about Vasilissa and Koschei the Deathless, which was the first thing by her that I read, which probably increases my fondness for the zhar-krys as well. The fire-rat is a minor nuiscance turned sort of pet, really not very important to the story, but I was charmed by the decision to riff on the traditional Russian firebird myth (zhar-ptitsa) and turn the fiery mystical critter into a rodent. Especially as, here's the thing: Gromyko is a bona fide animal lover in real life, and she writes about animals just wonderfully in all of her books. She also keeps rats (and writes wonderfully about them on her blog), so there's a lot of adorable verisimilitude to the zhar-krys. Also, zhar-krys is a ridiculously fun word. (This is C&P'd from a different fannish critter meme I did, because this critter is more obscure than most. But very fitting to me, you have to admit.)
3) Pascal (Tangled) -- he's cute, he is clever, he is very helpful, seems to be a solid judge of character, and I like reptiles.
4) Pabu (Legend of Korra) -- a fire-ferret, which makes him a cross between a ferret and a red panda, two incredibly cute critters. I have thought it would be fun to have a ferret as a pet, and a fire-ferret is even cuter, and apparently less vicious. Pabu is pretty helpful, too, and could be trained to fetch me things.
5) Ged's otak (Wizard of Earthsea) -- I wrote a bunch about the otak here, but for the purposes of this meme, it's a cute, rodent-sized critter that can act as a familiar -- of course I'd like one!
Note: A couple of books earlier, Mouse from The Dresden Files would've also been on this list, but I find that I didn't actually like him much during the interlude when he could talk, so I went with the otak. These are serious questions and deserve serious consideration and disclaimers, naturally!
* Fandom pets nobody could pay you enough to look after
1) Scabbers (Harry Potter) -- this is a real tragic one, because I LOVED Scabbers in the first couple of books -- I mean, how fun was it for a major character in a series to have a pet rat? That doesn't happen very often! So I loved Scabbers, even named a Beanie Baby rat I had Scabbers in his honor... and then Prisoner of Azkaban happened, and, well, yeah. :/ It would be pretty creepy to have to "look after" a pet who was actually a transformed human being, and such a particularly unpleasant and untrustworthy one at that...
2) Momo (Avatar: The Last Airbender) -- I love almost all the critters in the ATLA-verse, but Momo, Aang's flying lemur, is an exception. First, lemurs are creepy-looking enough without the bat-like features these guys have. Second, Momo keeps getting into things, and it would be especially hard to extract him/keep him contained without having airbending skills of my own. So, way too much hassle for something that's not even cute.
3) Snowball the bunny in The Secret Life of Pets -- I just dislike him, the character, the voice, everything. And I'm not big on bunnies to begin with.
4) The Niffler (Fantastic Beasts movie) -- I ADORED the Niffler in the movie, and was seriously tempted to buy a plushie of it, because it's just so cute! But you couldn't pay me to pet-sit something so wiggly and larcenous and trouble-prone. Waaay too much liability!
5) Lying Cat (Saga) -- I think the concept is actually really, really awesome, and the look is just the right level of uncanny. But I would not voluntarily spend time with anything that looks like a giant Sphynx cat. The reason she's on this list, though, is that she will speak up to identify any lie, and I don't need that kind of thing around -- I want to be able to say things like, "No, it tastes just as good as last time!" and "Sorry, you caught me at a bad time" without being contradicted by a cat.
* Episodes you'd really like to watch again
I'm a person who almost never rewatches TV episodes (unless it's "whatever episode of The Simpsons or Friends is on). But at the moment, it's all Blake's 7, all the time :P I haven't gone back and rewatched any, yet, but here are the ones I do plan to rewatch at the first opportunity:
1) "Horizon" (s2) -- because I'm pretty sure this is the episode in which/after which I started shipping Blake/Avon, and I'm very curious to see it again, informed by knowing their later arcs.
2) "Countdown" (s2) -- I was merely OK with this episode on first watch, but I do think having watched "Rumours of Death", and also Avon's general reaction to loss, it will be very interesting to rewatch it, and see how I feel about it in retrospect.
3) "Space Fall" (s1) -- the one where Avon is introduced, to see if how I read him has changed after the four seasons, and also to watch his earliest interactions with Blake.
4) "Pressure Point" (s2) -- it's at the top of my list of favorites for the show, but I want to rewatch it both for that and to see if I still think it's at the top compared to "Star One" and "Terminal".
5) Maybe "Redemption" (s2), largely for the Blake/Avon wire scene, or maybe "Shadow" (s2), to see if it appeals to me more on rewatch, since fandom seems to regard it highly. Some early s2 episode, apparently.
* Books you re-read when you need to relax/recover
I'm actually not much of a re-reader, either, but here are some exceptions:
1) Taltos (Steven Brust, Dragaera series) -- it's wandered off somewhere, but for the longest while it was living on my bedside table, and I'd just read from it whenever I felt like cozying up to something familiar and very relevant to my interests. It's my favorite book in one of my favorite series; it's a prequel, so one knows from the start that everything' going to turn out alright; and it functions very handily as a ship manifest for one of my OTPs. So, no surprise I've read it a whole bunch of times in full (and am due for a reread, actually), and dipped in and out countless times.
2) Low-stakes Vorkosigan -- let's say A Civil Campaign (Lois McMaster Bujold). This is another long series, where I just really love spending time with the characters -- it's very much like hanging out with old friends. And LMB's prose is lovely and fun, so I get pleasure from reading it on that level, just spending time in the POV and drinking in the clever turns of phrase. I don't tend to reread these from start to finish, just open to a favorite scene or even a random page, and then keep reading until I feel cozy and welcomed.
3) Monday Starts on Saturday (Brothers Strugatsky) -- this was my big reread favorite until I discovered the two above. Here, I really love dipping into the setting, a magical institute peopled by all kinds of kooky and memorable characters. There are a number of scenes that never stop making me laugh, no matter how many times I've reread them, so I'm more likely to seek those out rather than read the whole thing through -- but there are SO MANY of those scenes, I pretty much end up rereading the whole thing anyway.
4) This one and the next one are less "sit down and reread to immerse myself" and more "hey, the book is here, an I know dipping into it will feel nice and make me smile" -- not the same level as above, but never fails to actually be a comfort read anyway. So, with that disclaimer: the first four Harry Potter books. Partly it's the familiar world, which is still cozy, prior to Voldemort's return. Partly it's the time and sense of community it takes me back to, both RL-ly and fannishly: discovering the books alongside with my parents and younger brother and B, all of whom enjoyed them, too (I've never had such overlap again), and also discovering LJ fandom at the time when that was the extent of HP canon, and the familiarity through the meta and fic as well as the books themselves -- it's a very homey feeling all around. Also, on a very random note, I've mentioned before that I used to study for my uni exams in the sauna (at my parents' house, not some random public sauna), with the heat turned on low and pleasant, because it helped me focus -- and I'd read a chapter of my textbook and then read a chapter of Harry Potter to reward myself, so I think partly its also that I now associate HP with being toasty and the smell of cedar, which makes it extra cozy.
5) Dave Barry books (not column collections) 1984-1991 (Babies, Stay Fit, business, marriage, US history, and travel guide specifically). Dave Barry is my favorite individual humour writer, and I find his stuff has the same reread value as the Simpsons do on rewatch -- knowing what the punchline is doesn't make it less funny, it just makes it cozier, because it's like hearing the joke from a friend. And Dave Barry is another author I have in common with my parents, to the point that we often quote him (if not as broadly as the Simpsons) -- it really is kind of like hanging out with family and telling each other funny things, which I guess I find relaxing. (The reason I cap it off at 1991is that the next couple of books I'm merely OK with, an then from 1996 onward, a lot of his books end up being a little sad, amidst the humour, because he is getting older and coming to terms with it. So, early Dave Barry for me, all the way.)
* Pairs (or groups) of Characters who should exchange letters about their experiences
Sys gave me several excellent "crossover relationships" prompts. This one ended up being the easiest of the prompts to answer, and, honestly, I could've just kept going. But cutting myself off at five. Also, I'm taking "experiences" broadly -- like, characters writing to each other as regular pen pals over a long period of time, rather than anything targeted at a specific event.
1) Elliot Schafer (In Other Lands) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) -- really, these two are the perfect cross-universe pen-pals (this is possibly not a coincidence, since ikel89 pointed out Elliot is a lot like the Ravenclaw!Draco of the author's fic "If You've a Ready Mind", who was great friends with Hermione, but anyway). First, Elliot and Hermione would get along GREAT -- they are both very driven, both hold very strong opinions and are very quick to express them, and being quite abrasive themselves (OK, Hermione is not as bad as Elliot, but she is also not the soul of diplomacy), I think would be likely to not be bothered by each other's rougher ages. And they would have plenty to talk about: Elliot would love to learn about the magical societies in the Wizarding World, and that technology can be incorporated into magic, and Hermione would at last have an enthusiastic reception for her SPEW-related ideas, it would be fabulous. But I do also think that Elliot and Hermione have enough philosophical differences (Hermione the Gryffindor is much more comfortable with solving problems with violence than Elliot is, for example; Hermione learned at a much earlier age to occasionally be actually nice to people she likes; Hermione's decision to stash her parents in Australia for their own safety would I think get an interesting reaction out of Elliot and his parental abandonment issues) that they'd be able to have some deep, important discussions in writing, too, and maybe help each other grow as people. Plus Elliot canonically loves writing letters, and Hermione is into any kind of bookish pursuits -- they'd be sending each other massive parchment scrolls every week, and definitely feel richer for the experience.
2) Empress Zerika IV (Dragaera) and Emperor Gregor Vorbarra (Vorkosigan Saga) -- these two kids! I've actually had this idea for a long while -- I think it first came up on a ship memeat some point (where Zerika and Gregor were parts of different ships), and I've liked this premise ever since. Gregor and Zerika are both young rulers at a time of major transition, with a lot of power and formidable advisors but also a lot of complicated things in their past/family history that I think would make them very good confidantes for each other. I mean, shepherding an empire through the advent of new technology and societal change -- check. Worry about turning into a mad ruler like one's predecessor / as genetic history predisposes one -- check. Growing up outside of one's biological family during a time of major upheaval and learning soe major truths about one's family as a young person -- check. Choosing an unconventional partner and having to balance duty to empire and personal life -- check. I definitely feel like Gregor and Zerika would have a lot to talk about, and would understand each other very well. But I also think Zerika's lighter, livelier personality would help Gregor not sink into melancholy and gloom, while his measured Ravenclaw nature would maybe help Zerika a bit more grounded (as she does seem to have a tendency towards hasty decisions), so I also think they'd be good for each other in that way. (Yes, this interdimensional penpal relationship was definitely fostered by Cordelia and Sethra, with Aral and Khaavren's blessing :)
3) Peter Grant (and Abigail Kumara) (Rivers of London) and Astrid Llewellyn (Killer Unicorns) -- I don't remember anymore whether
ambyr and I came up with the idea of Peter and Astrid as crossover buddies independently -- I think we did, actually, and it's an idea I've continued to enjoy for quite a few years now. Peter and Astrid are both urban fantasy protagonists, with all that implies -- modern world experience, pop culture awareness, coming to terms with supernatural things that are darker than one might expect -- but the reason I'd like those two in particular to correspond (by email, probably; I don't see Peter as the letter-writing type) is that their perspectives and attitudes would genuinely make them friends, I think, and also good supports for each other. Both Astrid and Peter are very Ravenclaw heroes, which is unusual in urban fantasy, I find -- the want to understand how the supernatural thing (magic, killer unicorns) works, even when the wisdom of the ages is unconcerned with that and just wants to tell them "here's what you do", and they both default to experimentation as a way to figure things out -- between the two of them, they'd have so much fun designing magical experiments to try in their own universes, and reporting back on results and trying to figure out what the conclusions should be. Peter and Astrid are also both people who are resistant to the kind of thinking that sees the supernatural as Other, even while opposing a supernatural threat. Not a lot of people in Astrid's universe see the unicorns as something that maybe humans can try to coexist with, but Peter would absolutely understand and encourage the impulse (his own traumatic unicorn experiences notwithstanding). Astrid, meanwhile, would cheer on Peter's comparative thaumaturgy efforts, and maybe even suggest taking some physics classes on the side to shore up the science side. Meanwhile, one of the toughest things for Astrid is estrangement from her mother/family, and I think Peter telling her fun family stories would let her have a little feel of that, at least. And Peter is just generally good at adopting people -- and Astrid could definitely use some adopting. Originally this was just Peter and Astrid, but over the last several RoL books Abigail has grown up and turned into a formidable practitioner of her own, so I'd like to throw her into the mix -- Astrid could also use another friend her age, whose life is complicated in a different way than Astrid's own. And then Astrid and Abigail can occasionally gang up and make fun of Peter together.
4) Emily (and Jane) Roland (Temeraire) and Deryn Sharp (Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy) -- this is another pair of cross-universe characters that I've wanted to be friends for a long time. They are both plucky young women in what is basically a fantasy airforce equivalent in wartime (dragons/Napoleonic Wars for Emily, living dirigibles/~WWI for Deryn), both serving despite their gender (though Deryn has to hide being a girl from everyone, while Emily just has to conceal that, or her role, outside the Corps). They are both pragmatic, no-nonsense, and brave, pursued by more romantic fellows, in partnerships that society would have some trouble with -- they would have a ton to talk about, and I think would really appreciate having someone to talk to who is coming from a similar place -- neither really has female friends her own age, and definitely not ones who can understand life in the service, having to hide who they are, etc. And Jane (Emily's mother), Admiral of the Air, occasionally dropping Deryn an encouraging note would be lovely, too.
5) Bleys (Chronicles of Amber) and Morrolan e'Drien (Dragaera) -- OK, this one's ideally less letters and more getting together for an evening in a wine bar, for magical shop talk and light dueling, but I couldn't pass up this combination. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize, actually, just how similar my two favorites in these respective fandoms were: gentleman-sorcerers who are also accomplished swordsmen, like relaxing with a glass of wine, and have strong bonds to their... somewhat complicated families. Their ambitions are different, but in a way that I think the other person would understand if not share. I think they would really enjoy hanging out together, talking sorcery, sharing stories from their adventures in different worlds, shaking their heads about "can't live with them, can't kill them" siblings/cousins, and just generally having a good time. This would be easier over a glass of wine -- and also very possible given that inter-universe travel looks quite possible in both canons -- but let's assume they supplement it with letters when they can't get away to physically hang out.
+1) And I did say I'd stop at 5, but also, consider: Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) and Sam Vimes (Discworld). They're not on the list because I don't see Vimes having the time or the inclination to write letters. But if they could have dinner together on a regular basis (I'm sure Garibaldi would make Vimes some dish that would end up 80% pancetta by content), I would love to see that.
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I volunteered for the icon meme tht was going around, and
zdenka picked:
(by
kate_nepveu) -- this was an icon I picked up for a specific purpose but liked so much I kept it long after the original purpose was no longer an issue. Once upon a time there was a Middle-Earth sorting comm where I was sorted as a Dwarf (to no-one's surprise, really), which made me happy, because I've always loved Dwarves, way before it was cool to love them. I knew right away I wanted a Gates of Moria icon for the comm business, because Moria is probably my favorite section of LotR, and the scene in front of the gates one of my favorite individual scenes. And I love Tolkien's design of them, too. This icon was just perfect and absolutely beautiful -- exactly what I was looking for! I've kept it on even though the landcomm has long since gone defunct. It's my most all-purpose-Tolkien icon (the others are Gandalf/grump, or Gondor-themed, or prose/philosophy, or poking fun at things, and I guess I have my Yavanna icon for Silmarillion things, but this one's the most "general LotR" one to me).
(by... not sure; I snagged it from someone who also didn't know who'd made it) -- this was my first Babylon 5 icon, and it's still the one I reach for first (I also have one with cute pixel art of the crew and a quote icon I love but which is very specific. Anyway, the reason I went with this as my first/default B5 icon is that B5 was definitely all about the aliens for me, an this icon captures the B5 aliens in a very clever way, without explicitly naming the show, but any fan, I think, would recognize the Vorlon encounter suit, and from there the subtler attributes of the Centauri and Minbari figures are clear. I like that the icon is general enough that it really CAN serve as an all-purpose B5 icon -- it's not about a specific character or even theme, but about the place and the whole show. Plus the juxtaposition of a space station with a road crossing sign just makes me laugh.
-- this one was made by me (you can tell by how it's not as good as the others :P), part of the first set of icons I made that I was actually happy with: a set of quotes from favorite poems (I have 4 others from the same set, with Larkin, Yeats, Milton, and Eliot, but the rest of the set has sadly been eaten by Photobucket). Anyway, this quote is from Dorothy Parker's "Penelope", which is a poem I like a lot. I think I've mostly used this icon in discussions of Dorothy Parker, and possibly also Odysseus(/Penelope)-related things, but one of the reasons I like having it in my "stable" is that it's also a handy icon for the thematic sense -- the different courage that is demanded of women when men go off to be heroic in battle and so on (I got a lot of use out of this icon when I was active in A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and participating in discussions about characters like Catelyn and Ellaria).
(Let me know if y'all want me to pick 3 icons of yours for you to talk about. You know the drill.)
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"GIVE ME A CHARACTER, and I’ll break their ass down:"
1 How I feel about this character
2 All the people I ship romantically with this character
3 My non-romantic OTP for this character
4 My unpopular opinion about this character
5 One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
6 Random pet theory about this character that you won't convince me is not true.
For reference, fandoms of note: ASOIAF, AtLA/Korra, Babylon 5, Buffy (through s6), Chronicles of Amber, Discworld, Dragaera/Vlad Taltos, Dresden Files, Firefly, The Good Place (through s3), Harry Potter, Killjoys (first two seasons), Kingkiller Chronicles, Kushiel's Legacy, Lord of the Rings, MCU, Rivers of London, Temeraire, Vorkosigan Saga, and anything else you know I'm into.
This entry was originally posted at https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/1124908.html. Comment wherever you prefer (I prefer LJ).
Hugo nominations came out, and even though I'm VERY burnt out on Hugo homework after last year, I did nominate, and I have some thoughts, so I might as well put them here.
Novel: I emphatically did not nominate the one of these that I read fully (A Memory Called Empire), even though I'm entirely unsurprised it is on the list and expect it to win. And, hell, it'snot a bad book by any means, but I continue to be irrationally disappointed that it wasn't a better book in the ways I would've cared about. I made it about 40% into The Ten Thousand Doors of January before my train commute ended and have felt not the least desire to pick it up since, which makes me sad, given how much I loved Harrow's Hugo-winning short story last year. I have very expectation that I'll bounce off 'Gideon' if I ever get around to trying it. No particular high hopes for the Charlie Jane Anders, the Hurley, or the McGuire either. Well, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by this category, but, really, The Raven Tower doesn't make the short list even? (That was the novel I nominated.)
Novella: I'm glad "“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" (the Ted Chiang one) mae it in, but also super unsurprised, because Ted Chiang. I actually have both The Deep and the Chambers sitting in my to-read pile, and will probably at least try to read them, at some point, before the libraries reopen and want them back. Not surpried to see themon there, either, but I don't think they'll sway me over the Chiang. Oh, and the next Wayward Children installment, of course, which I don't think I'm interested in reading. I'm ambivalent on whether to try the Gladstone/El-Mohtar (I've not had great luck with the former outside of the Craft books, and bounce off El-Mohtar's prose almost as much as Valente's). I'm intrigued by P. Djèlí Clark's title, though -- and novella seemed like a good length for him.
Novelette: I'm glad the Pinsker I nominated made it in! (it wasn't my genre, but I really enjoyed it even so). I did not make it as far as "Omphalos" in the Ted Chiang collection, yet, but do want to read it. Beyond that, I started the Yoachim and "For He Can Creep", and neither grabbed me. I am not going to make myself read Gailey yet again to conclude that their stuff doesn't work for me. And Jemisin's short fiction generally does nothing for me, so not really planning to read that either.
Short Story: The one short story I nominated this year (Jamie Wahls' "Truth Plus") didn't make it in -- I wonder if it'll show up on the long list -- and I hadn't read any of these. I'm curious to check out the Harrow (because harrow) an Nibeita Sen's for the amazing title, and I may take a peek at the others, too.
Series: LOL, I nominate a full slate for this one, and there is ZERO overlap XP I bounce HARD off InCryptid, but hey, it's not a Hugo ballot if there's not some Seanan McGuire series on it, so it's not like I'msurprised. I *am* surprised by Arden's Winternight Trilogy making it in, since she hadn't seemed to make such a strong Campbell showing the last two years, which you'd think would be a less crowded field? I liked the first book, got bored midway through the second, and that's actually the farthest I've gotten with any of the nominees (two of which I know nothing about at all, and one of which I didn't realize was a series). What a weird slate... unless a bunch of people turned down nominations?
Related Work: This category elicited the strongest feelings in me, and they weren't positive ones. It seems to be a minority opinion, which is fine (I expect I have flisters who nominated this and/or are happy it made the ballot, and I'm happy for you guys!), but I really, REALLY disliked Ng's Campbell Acceptance Speech (which partly had to do with the fact that she was my least favorite of the nominees, probably, but partly also just... I didn't think that was an appropriate acceptance speech). Besides that, it seems to be a much more straightforward category than last year, and I'd completely forgotten about JMS's bio (which I want to read), and I want to see the LeGuin movie, and the Heinlein and Joanna Russ books sound interesting, too.
Graphic Story: I ended up not nominating anything for this one, because I checked out Paper Girls 6 and then just couldn't be bothered to read it. I saw Mooncakes on
forestofglory's Hugo rec post and a couple of other places, and it sounds cute enough that I might check it out (though also like it would probably be too Tumblr-twee for my taste...) Anyway, Monstress 4 is on the ballot and is going to win anyway, so, whatever (having forced myself through two volumes of Monstress for Hugo homework, I've solidly concluded that it's gorgeous and impressively imagined and very, very Not For Me).
Dramatic, long: Biggest overlap with my ballot so far, lol -- Endgame and Good Omens :P (I had Spider-Man 2 over Captain Marvel, but whatever). Mostly, I'm kind of shocked 'Skywalker' made it in -- it seemed like absolutely everyone hated it?
Dramatic, short: Zero overlap with mine, not just on episodes but also on shows, but not unexpected (I'll be curious to see the long list, as I wonder if the Good Omens episode I'd nominated was on the list but was subsumed by the long form nomination for the whole show). I'm looking forward to watching The Good Place one, at least.
Editor, short: I nominated just Neil Clarke this year, and am happy to see him on the list, among the usual suspects (plus Ellen Datlow :)
Editor, long: Alas, my one nominee in this category didn't make it in, although I'm happy to see Miriam Weinberg on the list, because she was fun in a panel (I am very unlikely to read any of the 4 books she edited this year, and even less likely to enjoy them, I think). That is the extent of my thoughts on this category. (Navah Wolfe is nominated again, and I keep wishing she'd qualify for short form nomination already, because I'd actually happily vote for her THERE, but I have very strong reservations about her longform editing after Space Opera and, to a lesser extent, Conspiracy of Truths.)
Pro artist: This was another category where I nominated a full slate (thanks to Rocket Stack's Rank compilation of cover art/illustrations which makes it easy), and only one of my "not the usual suspects" nominee made it in (Alyssa Winans). But a bunch of the other nominees are artists I also liked, who were on my long list (Galen Dara, John Picacio, Yuko Shimizu), so I'm pretty happy with this category.
Semiprozine: The two I nominted are in, unsurprisingly, but I'm also happy to see Escape Pod and Fireside back (I didn't nominate them becuse I didn't consume them this year, but I liked them a lot in past years).
Fanzine: This one I'm really disappointed by, as Rocket Stack Rank is the one I root for (and use), but it didn't make it this year. It always comes in last, so it's not huge surprise a newcomer would knock them off, but dammit, they's so USEFUL, and different.
Fancast: YAY, Serpents! One of the two things I'm actively happy bout on the ballot. I'm hppy to see Coode Street and Galactic Suburbia here again, too, and am curious about the newcomer YouTube channel...
Fan writer: I didn't nominte anyone, but am pleased to see Bogi Takács on the ballot.
Fan artist: I'm so happy that Ariela Housman is getting another shot at the Hugo, hopefully without incomprehensible rulings by Hugo admins preventing her from sharing her best work in the voter package >:/
Lodestar: AHAHA, The Wicked King, really? XD Minor Mage was cute. I'm looking forward to reading Deeplight, which I'm sure is amazing, and eventually Catfishing (I liked the short story), and am happy to see the Dragon Pearl nom, though I haven't read it myself. And I'm happy to see Offbrand Zukos 2 did not get nominted, or I might have had to set something on fire...
Astounding: Yay, R.F.Kuang (not a terrible surprise, though). Odd to see several second year folks who were not on the list last year (Sam Hawke, Nibedita Sen, Tasha Suri), as well as two newcomers (including Emily Tesh).
*
sysann gave me a few more topics for the top 5 meme (where by "a few", I mean 17, because I appear to have succeeded in spreading my Dragaera obsession, LOL). So here's the first batch of that (sadly, I gave up on the idea of matching up the prompts to Dragaeran houses and answering them in Cycle order :P)
* Fandom pets you wished were yours
Using "pets" loosely, since some of these are full-on people, just, you know, animal-shaped.
1) Loiosh (Dragaera/Vlad Taltos) -- I mean, who DOESN'T want a telepathic shoulder dragon of their own? Especially such a clever one? (I'm not going to feed him dead teckla, because that's sad, but would be happy to share my sausage.) (I was tempted by one of the full-sized dragons, too, but I'm not sure even someone like Toothless could really be counted as a "pet", let alone the Temeraire-verse dragons, so I decided to stick to critters who could believably fit inside my house.)
2) Zhar-krys [the fire-rat] from Olga Gromyko's charming fractured fairy tale about Vasilissa and Koschei the Deathless, which was the first thing by her that I read, which probably increases my fondness for the zhar-krys as well. The fire-rat is a minor nuiscance turned sort of pet, really not very important to the story, but I was charmed by the decision to riff on the traditional Russian firebird myth (zhar-ptitsa) and turn the fiery mystical critter into a rodent. Especially as, here's the thing: Gromyko is a bona fide animal lover in real life, and she writes about animals just wonderfully in all of her books. She also keeps rats (and writes wonderfully about them on her blog), so there's a lot of adorable verisimilitude to the zhar-krys. Also, zhar-krys is a ridiculously fun word. (This is C&P'd from a different fannish critter meme I did, because this critter is more obscure than most. But very fitting to me, you have to admit.)
3) Pascal (Tangled) -- he's cute, he is clever, he is very helpful, seems to be a solid judge of character, and I like reptiles.
4) Pabu (Legend of Korra) -- a fire-ferret, which makes him a cross between a ferret and a red panda, two incredibly cute critters. I have thought it would be fun to have a ferret as a pet, and a fire-ferret is even cuter, and apparently less vicious. Pabu is pretty helpful, too, and could be trained to fetch me things.
5) Ged's otak (Wizard of Earthsea) -- I wrote a bunch about the otak here, but for the purposes of this meme, it's a cute, rodent-sized critter that can act as a familiar -- of course I'd like one!
Note: A couple of books earlier, Mouse from The Dresden Files would've also been on this list, but I find that I didn't actually like him much during the interlude when he could talk, so I went with the otak. These are serious questions and deserve serious consideration and disclaimers, naturally!
* Fandom pets nobody could pay you enough to look after
1) Scabbers (Harry Potter) -- this is a real tragic one, because I LOVED Scabbers in the first couple of books -- I mean, how fun was it for a major character in a series to have a pet rat? That doesn't happen very often! So I loved Scabbers, even named a Beanie Baby rat I had Scabbers in his honor... and then Prisoner of Azkaban happened, and, well, yeah. :/ It would be pretty creepy to have to "look after" a pet who was actually a transformed human being, and such a particularly unpleasant and untrustworthy one at that...
2) Momo (Avatar: The Last Airbender) -- I love almost all the critters in the ATLA-verse, but Momo, Aang's flying lemur, is an exception. First, lemurs are creepy-looking enough without the bat-like features these guys have. Second, Momo keeps getting into things, and it would be especially hard to extract him/keep him contained without having airbending skills of my own. So, way too much hassle for something that's not even cute.
3) Snowball the bunny in The Secret Life of Pets -- I just dislike him, the character, the voice, everything. And I'm not big on bunnies to begin with.
4) The Niffler (Fantastic Beasts movie) -- I ADORED the Niffler in the movie, and was seriously tempted to buy a plushie of it, because it's just so cute! But you couldn't pay me to pet-sit something so wiggly and larcenous and trouble-prone. Waaay too much liability!
5) Lying Cat (Saga) -- I think the concept is actually really, really awesome, and the look is just the right level of uncanny. But I would not voluntarily spend time with anything that looks like a giant Sphynx cat. The reason she's on this list, though, is that she will speak up to identify any lie, and I don't need that kind of thing around -- I want to be able to say things like, "No, it tastes just as good as last time!" and "Sorry, you caught me at a bad time" without being contradicted by a cat.
* Episodes you'd really like to watch again
I'm a person who almost never rewatches TV episodes (unless it's "whatever episode of The Simpsons or Friends is on). But at the moment, it's all Blake's 7, all the time :P I haven't gone back and rewatched any, yet, but here are the ones I do plan to rewatch at the first opportunity:
1) "Horizon" (s2) -- because I'm pretty sure this is the episode in which/after which I started shipping Blake/Avon, and I'm very curious to see it again, informed by knowing their later arcs.
2) "Countdown" (s2) -- I was merely OK with this episode on first watch, but I do think having watched "Rumours of Death", and also Avon's general reaction to loss, it will be very interesting to rewatch it, and see how I feel about it in retrospect.
3) "Space Fall" (s1) -- the one where Avon is introduced, to see if how I read him has changed after the four seasons, and also to watch his earliest interactions with Blake.
4) "Pressure Point" (s2) -- it's at the top of my list of favorites for the show, but I want to rewatch it both for that and to see if I still think it's at the top compared to "Star One" and "Terminal".
5) Maybe "Redemption" (s2), largely for the Blake/Avon wire scene, or maybe "Shadow" (s2), to see if it appeals to me more on rewatch, since fandom seems to regard it highly. Some early s2 episode, apparently.
* Books you re-read when you need to relax/recover
I'm actually not much of a re-reader, either, but here are some exceptions:
1) Taltos (Steven Brust, Dragaera series) -- it's wandered off somewhere, but for the longest while it was living on my bedside table, and I'd just read from it whenever I felt like cozying up to something familiar and very relevant to my interests. It's my favorite book in one of my favorite series; it's a prequel, so one knows from the start that everything' going to turn out alright; and it functions very handily as a ship manifest for one of my OTPs. So, no surprise I've read it a whole bunch of times in full (and am due for a reread, actually), and dipped in and out countless times.
2) Low-stakes Vorkosigan -- let's say A Civil Campaign (Lois McMaster Bujold). This is another long series, where I just really love spending time with the characters -- it's very much like hanging out with old friends. And LMB's prose is lovely and fun, so I get pleasure from reading it on that level, just spending time in the POV and drinking in the clever turns of phrase. I don't tend to reread these from start to finish, just open to a favorite scene or even a random page, and then keep reading until I feel cozy and welcomed.
3) Monday Starts on Saturday (Brothers Strugatsky) -- this was my big reread favorite until I discovered the two above. Here, I really love dipping into the setting, a magical institute peopled by all kinds of kooky and memorable characters. There are a number of scenes that never stop making me laugh, no matter how many times I've reread them, so I'm more likely to seek those out rather than read the whole thing through -- but there are SO MANY of those scenes, I pretty much end up rereading the whole thing anyway.
4) This one and the next one are less "sit down and reread to immerse myself" and more "hey, the book is here, an I know dipping into it will feel nice and make me smile" -- not the same level as above, but never fails to actually be a comfort read anyway. So, with that disclaimer: the first four Harry Potter books. Partly it's the familiar world, which is still cozy, prior to Voldemort's return. Partly it's the time and sense of community it takes me back to, both RL-ly and fannishly: discovering the books alongside with my parents and younger brother and B, all of whom enjoyed them, too (I've never had such overlap again), and also discovering LJ fandom at the time when that was the extent of HP canon, and the familiarity through the meta and fic as well as the books themselves -- it's a very homey feeling all around. Also, on a very random note, I've mentioned before that I used to study for my uni exams in the sauna (at my parents' house, not some random public sauna), with the heat turned on low and pleasant, because it helped me focus -- and I'd read a chapter of my textbook and then read a chapter of Harry Potter to reward myself, so I think partly its also that I now associate HP with being toasty and the smell of cedar, which makes it extra cozy.
5) Dave Barry books (not column collections) 1984-1991 (Babies, Stay Fit, business, marriage, US history, and travel guide specifically). Dave Barry is my favorite individual humour writer, and I find his stuff has the same reread value as the Simpsons do on rewatch -- knowing what the punchline is doesn't make it less funny, it just makes it cozier, because it's like hearing the joke from a friend. And Dave Barry is another author I have in common with my parents, to the point that we often quote him (if not as broadly as the Simpsons) -- it really is kind of like hanging out with family and telling each other funny things, which I guess I find relaxing. (The reason I cap it off at 1991is that the next couple of books I'm merely OK with, an then from 1996 onward, a lot of his books end up being a little sad, amidst the humour, because he is getting older and coming to terms with it. So, early Dave Barry for me, all the way.)
* Pairs (or groups) of Characters who should exchange letters about their experiences
Sys gave me several excellent "crossover relationships" prompts. This one ended up being the easiest of the prompts to answer, and, honestly, I could've just kept going. But cutting myself off at five. Also, I'm taking "experiences" broadly -- like, characters writing to each other as regular pen pals over a long period of time, rather than anything targeted at a specific event.
1) Elliot Schafer (In Other Lands) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter) -- really, these two are the perfect cross-universe pen-pals (this is possibly not a coincidence, since ikel89 pointed out Elliot is a lot like the Ravenclaw!Draco of the author's fic "If You've a Ready Mind", who was great friends with Hermione, but anyway). First, Elliot and Hermione would get along GREAT -- they are both very driven, both hold very strong opinions and are very quick to express them, and being quite abrasive themselves (OK, Hermione is not as bad as Elliot, but she is also not the soul of diplomacy), I think would be likely to not be bothered by each other's rougher ages. And they would have plenty to talk about: Elliot would love to learn about the magical societies in the Wizarding World, and that technology can be incorporated into magic, and Hermione would at last have an enthusiastic reception for her SPEW-related ideas, it would be fabulous. But I do also think that Elliot and Hermione have enough philosophical differences (Hermione the Gryffindor is much more comfortable with solving problems with violence than Elliot is, for example; Hermione learned at a much earlier age to occasionally be actually nice to people she likes; Hermione's decision to stash her parents in Australia for their own safety would I think get an interesting reaction out of Elliot and his parental abandonment issues) that they'd be able to have some deep, important discussions in writing, too, and maybe help each other grow as people. Plus Elliot canonically loves writing letters, and Hermione is into any kind of bookish pursuits -- they'd be sending each other massive parchment scrolls every week, and definitely feel richer for the experience.
2) Empress Zerika IV (Dragaera) and Emperor Gregor Vorbarra (Vorkosigan Saga) -- these two kids! I've actually had this idea for a long while -- I think it first came up on a ship memeat some point (where Zerika and Gregor were parts of different ships), and I've liked this premise ever since. Gregor and Zerika are both young rulers at a time of major transition, with a lot of power and formidable advisors but also a lot of complicated things in their past/family history that I think would make them very good confidantes for each other. I mean, shepherding an empire through the advent of new technology and societal change -- check. Worry about turning into a mad ruler like one's predecessor / as genetic history predisposes one -- check. Growing up outside of one's biological family during a time of major upheaval and learning soe major truths about one's family as a young person -- check. Choosing an unconventional partner and having to balance duty to empire and personal life -- check. I definitely feel like Gregor and Zerika would have a lot to talk about, and would understand each other very well. But I also think Zerika's lighter, livelier personality would help Gregor not sink into melancholy and gloom, while his measured Ravenclaw nature would maybe help Zerika a bit more grounded (as she does seem to have a tendency towards hasty decisions), so I also think they'd be good for each other in that way. (Yes, this interdimensional penpal relationship was definitely fostered by Cordelia and Sethra, with Aral and Khaavren's blessing :)
3) Peter Grant (and Abigail Kumara) (Rivers of London) and Astrid Llewellyn (Killer Unicorns) -- I don't remember anymore whether
ambyr and I came up with the idea of Peter and Astrid as crossover buddies independently -- I think we did, actually, and it's an idea I've continued to enjoy for quite a few years now. Peter and Astrid are both urban fantasy protagonists, with all that implies -- modern world experience, pop culture awareness, coming to terms with supernatural things that are darker than one might expect -- but the reason I'd like those two in particular to correspond (by email, probably; I don't see Peter as the letter-writing type) is that their perspectives and attitudes would genuinely make them friends, I think, and also good supports for each other. Both Astrid and Peter are very Ravenclaw heroes, which is unusual in urban fantasy, I find -- the want to understand how the supernatural thing (magic, killer unicorns) works, even when the wisdom of the ages is unconcerned with that and just wants to tell them "here's what you do", and they both default to experimentation as a way to figure things out -- between the two of them, they'd have so much fun designing magical experiments to try in their own universes, and reporting back on results and trying to figure out what the conclusions should be. Peter and Astrid are also both people who are resistant to the kind of thinking that sees the supernatural as Other, even while opposing a supernatural threat. Not a lot of people in Astrid's universe see the unicorns as something that maybe humans can try to coexist with, but Peter would absolutely understand and encourage the impulse (his own traumatic unicorn experiences notwithstanding). Astrid, meanwhile, would cheer on Peter's comparative thaumaturgy efforts, and maybe even suggest taking some physics classes on the side to shore up the science side. Meanwhile, one of the toughest things for Astrid is estrangement from her mother/family, and I think Peter telling her fun family stories would let her have a little feel of that, at least. And Peter is just generally good at adopting people -- and Astrid could definitely use some adopting. Originally this was just Peter and Astrid, but over the last several RoL books Abigail has grown up and turned into a formidable practitioner of her own, so I'd like to throw her into the mix -- Astrid could also use another friend her age, whose life is complicated in a different way than Astrid's own. And then Astrid and Abigail can occasionally gang up and make fun of Peter together.
4) Emily (and Jane) Roland (Temeraire) and Deryn Sharp (Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy) -- this is another pair of cross-universe characters that I've wanted to be friends for a long time. They are both plucky young women in what is basically a fantasy airforce equivalent in wartime (dragons/Napoleonic Wars for Emily, living dirigibles/~WWI for Deryn), both serving despite their gender (though Deryn has to hide being a girl from everyone, while Emily just has to conceal that, or her role, outside the Corps). They are both pragmatic, no-nonsense, and brave, pursued by more romantic fellows, in partnerships that society would have some trouble with -- they would have a ton to talk about, and I think would really appreciate having someone to talk to who is coming from a similar place -- neither really has female friends her own age, and definitely not ones who can understand life in the service, having to hide who they are, etc. And Jane (Emily's mother), Admiral of the Air, occasionally dropping Deryn an encouraging note would be lovely, too.
5) Bleys (Chronicles of Amber) and Morrolan e'Drien (Dragaera) -- OK, this one's ideally less letters and more getting together for an evening in a wine bar, for magical shop talk and light dueling, but I couldn't pass up this combination. It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize, actually, just how similar my two favorites in these respective fandoms were: gentleman-sorcerers who are also accomplished swordsmen, like relaxing with a glass of wine, and have strong bonds to their... somewhat complicated families. Their ambitions are different, but in a way that I think the other person would understand if not share. I think they would really enjoy hanging out together, talking sorcery, sharing stories from their adventures in different worlds, shaking their heads about "can't live with them, can't kill them" siblings/cousins, and just generally having a good time. This would be easier over a glass of wine -- and also very possible given that inter-universe travel looks quite possible in both canons -- but let's assume they supplement it with letters when they can't get away to physically hang out.
+1) And I did say I'd stop at 5, but also, consider: Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5) and Sam Vimes (Discworld). They're not on the list because I don't see Vimes having the time or the inclination to write letters. But if they could have dinner together on a regular basis (I'm sure Garibaldi would make Vimes some dish that would end up 80% pancetta by content), I would love to see that.
**
I volunteered for the icon meme tht was going around, and
zdenka picked:
(by
kate_nepveu) -- this was an icon I picked up for a specific purpose but liked so much I kept it long after the original purpose was no longer an issue. Once upon a time there was a Middle-Earth sorting comm where I was sorted as a Dwarf (to no-one's surprise, really), which made me happy, because I've always loved Dwarves, way before it was cool to love them. I knew right away I wanted a Gates of Moria icon for the comm business, because Moria is probably my favorite section of LotR, and the scene in front of the gates one of my favorite individual scenes. And I love Tolkien's design of them, too. This icon was just perfect and absolutely beautiful -- exactly what I was looking for! I've kept it on even though the landcomm has long since gone defunct. It's my most all-purpose-Tolkien icon (the others are Gandalf/grump, or Gondor-themed, or prose/philosophy, or poking fun at things, and I guess I have my Yavanna icon for Silmarillion things, but this one's the most "general LotR" one to me).
(by... not sure; I snagged it from someone who also didn't know who'd made it) -- this was my first Babylon 5 icon, and it's still the one I reach for first (I also have one with cute pixel art of the crew and a quote icon I love but which is very specific. Anyway, the reason I went with this as my first/default B5 icon is that B5 was definitely all about the aliens for me, an this icon captures the B5 aliens in a very clever way, without explicitly naming the show, but any fan, I think, would recognize the Vorlon encounter suit, and from there the subtler attributes of the Centauri and Minbari figures are clear. I like that the icon is general enough that it really CAN serve as an all-purpose B5 icon -- it's not about a specific character or even theme, but about the place and the whole show. Plus the juxtaposition of a space station with a road crossing sign just makes me laugh.
-- this one was made by me (you can tell by how it's not as good as the others :P), part of the first set of icons I made that I was actually happy with: a set of quotes from favorite poems (I have 4 others from the same set, with Larkin, Yeats, Milton, and Eliot, but the rest of the set has sadly been eaten by Photobucket). Anyway, this quote is from Dorothy Parker's "Penelope", which is a poem I like a lot. I think I've mostly used this icon in discussions of Dorothy Parker, and possibly also Odysseus(/Penelope)-related things, but one of the reasons I like having it in my "stable" is that it's also a handy icon for the thematic sense -- the different courage that is demanded of women when men go off to be heroic in battle and so on (I got a lot of use out of this icon when I was active in A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and participating in discussions about characters like Catelyn and Ellaria).
(Let me know if y'all want me to pick 3 icons of yours for you to talk about. You know the drill.)
**
"GIVE ME A CHARACTER, and I’ll break their ass down:"
1 How I feel about this character
2 All the people I ship romantically with this character
3 My non-romantic OTP for this character
4 My unpopular opinion about this character
5 One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
6 Random pet theory about this character that you won't convince me is not true.
For reference, fandoms of note: ASOIAF, AtLA/Korra, Babylon 5, Buffy (through s6), Chronicles of Amber, Discworld, Dragaera/Vlad Taltos, Dresden Files, Firefly, The Good Place (through s3), Harry Potter, Killjoys (first two seasons), Kingkiller Chronicles, Kushiel's Legacy, Lord of the Rings, MCU, Rivers of London, Temeraire, Vorkosigan Saga, and anything else you know I'm into.
This entry was originally posted at https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/1124908.html. Comment wherever you prefer (I prefer LJ).