Earlier, I was in a comment thread that took a turn for both the creepy and the WHAT.

( cut for fictional consent issues )

I had another feminist click moment this morning, and it helped me articulate one of the things I find immensely frustrating about the recurring debates over female characters in fandom, especially the ones that center on labeling certain female characters as "feminine" or "girly-girls" and labeling others as "unfeminine," "rejecting or hiding ( Read more... )

I seem to have taken up fan beading today. Some of you (okay, maybe all of you) are wondering what I mean by fan beading. I mean I am making jewelry with bead patterns inspired by fictional characters. I'm planning on making fan bracelets inspired by all of the major female characters in ATLA and all the female Hunger Games tributes who got at ( Read more... )

Yet another fandom has recently been rocked by shocking news of character blackness: Click for evidence of how far we as a society have not come The linked post collects evidence of racefail, plus some gayfail in case the skeevy race issues weren't disappointing enough.

Two significant characters in The Hunger Games are obviously described as ( Read more... )

Finished Zoo City today! I am really, really into this book. It's making me think about scores of possible crossovers, and it's making me wish for sequels and a fandom. That last bit is troublesome because the book doesn't contain the a lot of elements that most of the fandoms I've observed fixate on. For me, however, it's been a long time ( Read more... )

I am currently devouring Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. I am loving the worldbuilding in this book! The story is moving along smoothly too, and it's fun to read about a woman in the "down-at-the-heels PI with troubled past" role. But the worldbuilding with the magic guilt-animals is what really has me hooked. Plus, it's a fantasy detective story ( Read more... )

I found a good pair of antennae today! These are really nice antennae, not just something I could have bought the component parts of any of a hundred stores within driving distance and convinced a second-grader to put together in exchange for cookies. *looks askance at a certain other costume shop* Now I have everything I need for my alien ( Read more... )

I'm reading The Truth of Valor, the latest book in Tanya Huff's Torrin Kerr series and the one that dares to ask the question "What do Space Marines do after the Very Big War is over?" and answer it with "Go after the Space Pirates!" While reading the previous book in the series, I suspected that the catlike appearance and endearingly (or ( Read more... )

Lately I’ve been reading a mostly good book, but it, like many other books before it, threw me out by casually dropping an aside about one of the characters having been Jack the Ripper in one of his previous incarnations. And then the matter was dropped out of discussion as quickly and casually as it had been dropped in. The character is rather ( Read more... )

I have been to the bookstore, and I have learned that A Compendium of Wolf Fail has a sequel. It is called The Tempering of Men. Its cover depicts shirtless troll-battle. Because who needs a shirt when you're living in a cold climate and fighting clawy, fangy monsters? Protection from enemies and elements is for those silly, offensive slashers ( Read more... )