For my July author newsletter, I've given up trying to be cool and am embracing the voices in my head, which means-what else?-I'm going to write about Blake's 7 and why it's finally time for a reboot! [Newsletter essay posted here.] For the uninitiated, Blake's 7 is a 1970s BBC space opera about a band of freedom fighters striving to overthrow the ( Read more... )

I was coloring in my daughter's coloring book when inspiration hit me.
( Read more... )

Yet Another Post on Sexism in Moffat's ShowsI have reluctantly come to the conclusion that Steven Moffat is the Ben Steed of his generation. For those not up on their BBC TV writers of thirty-plus years ago, Ben Steed was a writer for Blake’s 7 (among other things), now widely remembered in Blake’s 7 fandom as that sexist pig. This is a shame for ( Read more... )

The final day (for me ( Read more... )

Quite light spoilers below for Blake's 7 if anyone cares (light enough I'm not bothering to cut ( Read more... )

Reading a lot of the other awesome posts people have been making for this meme, I realize I've been rather lukewarm in my discussion of Anna, spending a lot of time either criticizing the writing or begging for benefit of the doubt ( Read more... )

Tori Amos's song, Cars and Guitars is a song I've claimed as an Anna re. Avon, and I'll admit it doesn't read straight out of "Rumours"; it's more based on my fanon, but I like the balance it presents between genuine attachment and a sense of unbridgeable distance. This perhaps best exemplified by the chorus line, "...what if I keep on driving?" ( Read more... )

Blake's 7 wrote itself into a corner a bit by introducing Anna as a very important (and very sympathetic) presence in Avon's life about a series/season before we actually meet her. I suspect that for every fan who cares about Avon's personal life and who saw the series unspoiled and in order, this created a more-or-less jarring experience of ( Read more... )

Wherein I defend Paul Darrow's writing skills ( Read more... )

I've signed up to take part in the "Women Fandom Loves to Hate" challenge (see womenlovefest), and I decided to pick Anna Grant, perhaps most consistently hated female character in Blake's 7. The Fest starts tomorrow, but as I'm going to be on vacation, I'm going to start posting today.

Anna item 1: My Anna essay on hermit.org. I wrote this a few years ago ( Read more... )