Six previews, one notable female character.

[mosca]

I went with some friends to see the new Star Trek movie. Going in, I was intensely skeptical but also excited. I mean, new Trek! But new Trek directed by JJ Abrams, whose work I generally detest, and who has asserted his lack of Trekkie-ness with a consistent and disappointing fervor that reminded me of Evan Lysacek's consistent and disappointing

Comments

[jule1122]

If I want realistic SF that sensitively explores issues of race, gender, and sexuality, I'll read Le Guin or Delany. There's a reason none of their novels have been successfully adapted into a summer blockbuster.

I've been looking for some new authors to try so convince me or at least give me a place to start.

[mosca]

Hmm. I don't know if you'd like either of them, because I don't know what else you like to read (other than my fic). Also, I am noticing, it is hard right now for me to talk about books without sounding like I talk about books for a living.

I actually sort of warn people about Samuel R. Delany, since he's a difficult writer -- rewarding, but he experiments with language and structure and can be very hard work. I'd start with Trouble on Triton, which at least has the framework of an old-fashioned space adventure.

Le Guin's most famous novel is The Left Hand of Darkness, and it's a reasonably good place to start. I like her more recent work a lot, and Four Ways to Forgiveness is a good alternative starting point. She's an approachable writer with an anthropological bent, so there's often a folk-tale-y feel to her work.

[mosca]

I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. I mean, I'm more sensitive to this, as a college teacher myself, but really. Most college instructors have, from time to time, considered getting involved with a student, but then you realize, wow, that makes me a creepster perv. So basically, JJ Abrams's idea of romance is my (and my profession's) idea of creepster perviness, and he has rebooted Spock into that persona. That's not really the Spock I want.

I prefer reboot!Kirk. He wears his douchiness on his sleeve.