I want to be fannish, but I don't have much fandom in me right now.
I just blazed my way through the extant Percy Jackson books, which are actually quite good and which I would have read over and over and constantly over again if I were my son's age. I'm torn between love of Annabeth and love of Hazel (er, Piper too), and have decided I like them all quite well enough that I don't have to decide between them.
That said, there is certainly something positive for Clarisse and her badassery. Actually, I like her quite a lot too, and I kind of wish that Riordan had just up and made her and Silena girlfriends, since that relationship was a lot more emotionally intense than Silena and Charles Beauregard, which was kind of shoehorned in there. I mean, Silena got herself killed by impersonating Clarisse and leading the children of Ares into battle, and Clarisse was so incredibly distraught about this death that she up and slew a dragon (well, a drakon, close enough) and then stormed through the streets of Manhattan taking down everyone that got in her way. How is that not tragically dead girlfriend rage? (Clarisse also had a boyfriend. He seemed nice enough, and that relationship was more established. AND YET.)
Currently the only gay character is Nico di Angelo, who is Tragically Gay and Alone, and whom I am hoping will finally get a boyfriend in the final book, because Tragically Gay and Alone Characters Who Belong Nowhere are a little dated.
I see what they're setting up with the series, with Jason choosing Greek camp life and Percy choosing Roman camp life, but. Honestly. Okay, first off, the Romans, historically speaking, were assholes. Second, um. Seriously. What? Are you telling me that the Greek demigods are all doomed to die early, so the Roman way is the only way to go? That is quite ridiculous and also means that we shouldn't get attached to any of the characters from Camp Half Blood, because they're all going to burn bright and die early. Possibly I'm applying more logic than I should to a children's novel?
I'm also rereading The Ladies of Mandrigyn, by Barbara Hambly, which I have not read since it was first released. I was single-digits in age at the time, and wow, did I miss a bunch of the subtleties of that book, like how different types of women and women's personalities (and careers) were all worthwhile, and could do so many different things, like take care of the city and keep their businesses going and mount a resistance to an evil overlord type. I totally missed that one woman poisoning her husband for collaborating with the enemy, and the actual lack of narrative shaming of prostitutes. IN THE 1980s.
Clearly, this was the antidote I needed for that one irritatingly woman-less Zahn book that was written just one year earlier.
I haven't been doing much fannish stuff lately. A lot of reading, a lot of Diablo 3, and a fair amount of watching tv that I don't feel a huge need to engage with on a fannish level. It's not so much that I'm getting out of fandom; it's more that fandoms that grab me with the intensity of SG1 and SGA or BtVS (or before that, Forever Knight or X-Files or Highlander) are few and far between. I might've gotten into that level of involvement with Leverage or Fringe, if only I hadn't had major health problems during those shows' airings, and Vampire Diaries was looking likely, except that I could not have cared less about the epic love triangle at the heart of the show. OUaT is great and I'm fannish about it, but I tend to marathon a season at a time, which is not so great for participatory fandom.
I do miss St. Trinian's as a fandom. It's such a delightful pair of films.
I'd say Avengers (MCU, really), but I've also gotten tired of sorting my way through all the boy-focused fanworks to home in on the women-centric things that I want to talk or read about. Maybe Arrow or Sleepy Hollow, but I don't need to write fic, and my favorite characters aren't going to be ficced about much anyway. (Or they are, but primarily in het shipping, and I'm far more interested in them being the focus instead of half of a het pairing. Or, alternately, because there's canon femslash in Arrow, and I want some serious Nyssa/Sara character exploration.)
So I don't know where I'm going, fandom-wise, though I do know where I've been and how it affects me. I do wish I had more time for fandom. Or more energy. I get home, and by the time I get the kidlet to bed, I'm exhausted myself. (I'm sure it doesn't help that I had surgery about four months ago. My stamina isn't completely recovered from that.)
So I want to be fannish, but I haven't managed it for a while. Plus side, I don't know that I need to change it specifically, just to let it happen. But still. It's nice to find things to talk to everyone about. (Especially on Dreamwidth. Tumblr format doesn't particularly work for me, alas.)
This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.
That said, there is certainly something positive for Clarisse and her badassery. Actually, I like her quite a lot too, and I kind of wish that Riordan had just up and made her and Silena girlfriends, since that relationship was a lot more emotionally intense than Silena and Charles Beauregard, which was kind of shoehorned in there. I mean, Silena got herself killed by impersonating Clarisse and leading the children of Ares into battle, and Clarisse was so incredibly distraught about this death that she up and slew a dragon (well, a drakon, close enough) and then stormed through the streets of Manhattan taking down everyone that got in her way. How is that not tragically dead girlfriend rage? (Clarisse also had a boyfriend. He seemed nice enough, and that relationship was more established. AND YET.)
Currently the only gay character is Nico di Angelo, who is Tragically Gay and Alone, and whom I am hoping will finally get a boyfriend in the final book, because Tragically Gay and Alone Characters Who Belong Nowhere are a little dated.
I see what they're setting up with the series, with Jason choosing Greek camp life and Percy choosing Roman camp life, but. Honestly. Okay, first off, the Romans, historically speaking, were assholes. Second, um. Seriously. What? Are you telling me that the Greek demigods are all doomed to die early, so the Roman way is the only way to go? That is quite ridiculous and also means that we shouldn't get attached to any of the characters from Camp Half Blood, because they're all going to burn bright and die early. Possibly I'm applying more logic than I should to a children's novel?
I'm also rereading The Ladies of Mandrigyn, by Barbara Hambly, which I have not read since it was first released. I was single-digits in age at the time, and wow, did I miss a bunch of the subtleties of that book, like how different types of women and women's personalities (and careers) were all worthwhile, and could do so many different things, like take care of the city and keep their businesses going and mount a resistance to an evil overlord type. I totally missed that one woman poisoning her husband for collaborating with the enemy, and the actual lack of narrative shaming of prostitutes. IN THE 1980s.
Clearly, this was the antidote I needed for that one irritatingly woman-less Zahn book that was written just one year earlier.
I haven't been doing much fannish stuff lately. A lot of reading, a lot of Diablo 3, and a fair amount of watching tv that I don't feel a huge need to engage with on a fannish level. It's not so much that I'm getting out of fandom; it's more that fandoms that grab me with the intensity of SG1 and SGA or BtVS (or before that, Forever Knight or X-Files or Highlander) are few and far between. I might've gotten into that level of involvement with Leverage or Fringe, if only I hadn't had major health problems during those shows' airings, and Vampire Diaries was looking likely, except that I could not have cared less about the epic love triangle at the heart of the show. OUaT is great and I'm fannish about it, but I tend to marathon a season at a time, which is not so great for participatory fandom.
I do miss St. Trinian's as a fandom. It's such a delightful pair of films.
I'd say Avengers (MCU, really), but I've also gotten tired of sorting my way through all the boy-focused fanworks to home in on the women-centric things that I want to talk or read about. Maybe Arrow or Sleepy Hollow, but I don't need to write fic, and my favorite characters aren't going to be ficced about much anyway. (Or they are, but primarily in het shipping, and I'm far more interested in them being the focus instead of half of a het pairing. Or, alternately, because there's canon femslash in Arrow, and I want some serious Nyssa/Sara character exploration.)
So I don't know where I'm going, fandom-wise, though I do know where I've been and how it affects me. I do wish I had more time for fandom. Or more energy. I get home, and by the time I get the kidlet to bed, I'm exhausted myself. (I'm sure it doesn't help that I had surgery about four months ago. My stamina isn't completely recovered from that.)
So I want to be fannish, but I haven't managed it for a while. Plus side, I don't know that I need to change it specifically, just to let it happen. But still. It's nice to find things to talk to everyone about. (Especially on Dreamwidth. Tumblr format doesn't particularly work for me, alas.)
This entry has been cross-posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comments are welcome on either post.