There's a Little Black Spot on the Sun Today....
Is it really bad that I want to write an essay comparing and contrasting Mercedes Lackey's writing and Stephanie Meyers'?
I've long joked that everything Stephanie Meyer has done (plot and character type wise), Mercedes Lackey did it first in the fantasy genre. This was mainly just a humorous reference to Mercedes Lackey's heavy handed, often stiff and forced romance plots and her penchant for sparkly elves. But! If you go deeper, there are a hell of a lot of similarities. From women's issues to racial appropriation issues to victimization issues. Oh, and of course, sexual identity/relationship issues.
Now, Mercedes Lackey is nowhere near as well known, obviously. But she was quite the leading lady in the fantasy genre for a very long time, especially among teenage girls. Hell, maybe she still is, I'm not quite the follower of the genre that I once was.
There's only one flaw here. I'd have to do a lot of reading. And I don't own the Twilight books, nor do I know where my Herald Mage books are - that would be the Lackey series I'd like to draw most of my comparisons from. That and The Halfblood Chronicles, mainly the second book where Lackey's particular brand of plot and romance development hold center stage - plus, you know, The Iron People.
And before anyone gets on my case, I am not saying anything bad about either of these authors. It's no secret that I enjoy Mercedes Lackey books. Yes, they're crunchy, silly, terribly plotted escapism. But that's okay. As a friend was just talking about on my Flist, it's okay to enjoy things you know have issues. Mercedes Lackey's racial and women's issues? Piss me the hell off. Same with the issues regarding the treatment of women in the Silent Hill series. But I still enjoy the stories and the characters and the world. And I acknowledge the issues and don't shy away from pointing them out or discussing them.
The simple fact of the matter is that both of these authors (one of which I'm terribly fond of myself) have some serious, serious issues in their works. And I'm very curious to see just how deep these similarities run.
In other news! hbc_fic! The tiniest fandom on the internet has a community! And there's already a piece of absolutely gorgeous fic posted. See, when I get really into something that has no fandom, I just force and pester that fandom into existence.
I completely forgot I had to go grocery shopping this morning, and stayed up too late watching Venture Bros with nijawial. And I need to talk to summoneddestiny and enigmablade about a photoshoot this week.
The weather is beautiful, my plants are doing well, and I've got some fic to work on. Man, I could stare at my new default user-pic for hours. Guh, Bert is hot.
I've long joked that everything Stephanie Meyer has done (plot and character type wise), Mercedes Lackey did it first in the fantasy genre. This was mainly just a humorous reference to Mercedes Lackey's heavy handed, often stiff and forced romance plots and her penchant for sparkly elves. But! If you go deeper, there are a hell of a lot of similarities. From women's issues to racial appropriation issues to victimization issues. Oh, and of course, sexual identity/relationship issues.
Now, Mercedes Lackey is nowhere near as well known, obviously. But she was quite the leading lady in the fantasy genre for a very long time, especially among teenage girls. Hell, maybe she still is, I'm not quite the follower of the genre that I once was.
There's only one flaw here. I'd have to do a lot of reading. And I don't own the Twilight books, nor do I know where my Herald Mage books are - that would be the Lackey series I'd like to draw most of my comparisons from. That and The Halfblood Chronicles, mainly the second book where Lackey's particular brand of plot and romance development hold center stage - plus, you know, The Iron People.
And before anyone gets on my case, I am not saying anything bad about either of these authors. It's no secret that I enjoy Mercedes Lackey books. Yes, they're crunchy, silly, terribly plotted escapism. But that's okay. As a friend was just talking about on my Flist, it's okay to enjoy things you know have issues. Mercedes Lackey's racial and women's issues? Piss me the hell off. Same with the issues regarding the treatment of women in the Silent Hill series. But I still enjoy the stories and the characters and the world. And I acknowledge the issues and don't shy away from pointing them out or discussing them.
The simple fact of the matter is that both of these authors (one of which I'm terribly fond of myself) have some serious, serious issues in their works. And I'm very curious to see just how deep these similarities run.
In other news! hbc_fic! The tiniest fandom on the internet has a community! And there's already a piece of absolutely gorgeous fic posted. See, when I get really into something that has no fandom, I just force and pester that fandom into existence.
I completely forgot I had to go grocery shopping this morning, and stayed up too late watching Venture Bros with nijawial. And I need to talk to summoneddestiny and enigmablade about a photoshoot this week.
The weather is beautiful, my plants are doing well, and I've got some fic to work on. Man, I could stare at my new default user-pic for hours. Guh, Bert is hot.