Crowgirl's comments

Crowgirl's comments from the Urban Fantasy group.

Note: Crowgirl is no longer a member of this group.

So burned out on UF that I'm just going to drop them for a while. My favorite authors are all backed up for reserve at the library for their newest books. So I'm reading an old series I never finished starting with Daughter of the Forest. This I read a long time ago and since there has been 3 more added.

Irish historical fantasy with excellent plot threads to various fairy tales and lovely writing. Characters with depth and well turned phrases unlike so much Occult Romance that's being labeled UF. I think I may have to find a group devoted just to fantasy.

Julia wrote: "Mannerpunk is to fantasy as steampunk is to science fiction, if that helps."

Scifi? One of my favorite Vampire movies is a Steampunk called 'The Perfect Creature' so there must be some crossover. I do get the concept.

Julia wrote: "One of the books mentioned most often as mannerpunk is Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner.Swordspoint
It's very, very good."

Is Mannerpunk the same or similar to Steampunk? I've added several movies to my favorite list that are reviewed as Steampunk as they have a Victorian look to them and are dark and moody with advanced technology run by steam.

I loved Swordspoint too but not so much Book 2.

Came across this list and thought it pretty funny.
SOURCE: "Love, Romance and Passion because books don't fall asleep afterwards."
http://www.loveromancepassion.com/6-reas...

6 Reasons Why the Paranormal Character is Always Male

1. We like our heroes mysterious. What is more mysterious than a mythological creature, be he vampire or lycanthrope or other?
2. Strong powerful hero + average heroine = swoon. When an extraordinary specimen of the male gender sits up and takes notice of a rather ordinary female it is easier to place ourselves in the heroine’s shoes. That’s not because we think of ourselves as unworthy, this formula just makes it more accessible for readers. This scenario also tends to fill the tenderness and protectiveness side of the fantasy.
3. Strong powerful hero + kickass heroine = hell yeah. When number two’s formula just doesn’t cut it there are the novels about strong heroes and stronger heroines. In this scenario the reader and heroine tend to dominate over the situation. The hero must work around the heroine to get in her good graces and who hasn’t imagine upon at least one occasion a strong sexy male groveling at your feet?
4. Angel, Spike, Jean-Claude, Asher, Edward Cullen, Jasper Cullen, Eric Northman, and Bill Compton. Do I really need to go on with this point? I think this pretty much brings it home. Otherworldly men are downright sexy! Especially vampires!
5. The desires of the paranormal fit better on a hero. The act of drinking blood is considered highly sexual in vampire romances. It’s become part of the erotic fantasy. Sometimes the heroine likes to pretend to be helpless and the hero’s act of feeding gives her a thrilling rush. Besides, I think I pretty much covered how icky it can be to read a heroine drinking blood.
6. Redemption always looks better on a man. Many paranormal stories involve the preternatural lead repenting his past acts dictated by his nature, circumstances, and misinformed beliefs due to change. This makes him now a brooding hero and occasionally puts the heroine in the middle of the path toward his salvation or as his savior.

mostunexpected wrote: "I prefer heroine. "

LMAO, what a set-up line, but instead of a joke here's a bit from Daily Writing Tips:

>>Related to the adolescent 'Look' is the reluctance among speakers of any age to use words that sound like something else. One such word is the feminine form of hero.

Admittedly, there’s a tendency for nouns with feminine endings to be abandoned in the face of modern feminism. Actress, for example, has mostly fallen out of use with members of the acting profession, except as an Academy Award category. Likewise “poetess” and “authoress” are felt to be abominations by women who write.

The word heroine presents a different problem. It is too common in the discussion of literature to be abandoned. In ordinary conversation, and on television, however, people seem to prefer to use the word hero for both male and female persons of prowess.

The word heroine is being driven out of ordinary speech because of its pronunciation. I’ve seen a cousin to 'The Look' on the faces of people who hesitate before calling a woman a “heroine.” Often they opt instead for “female hero” rather than say a word that sounds the same as an evil drug.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with using the word hero as a unisex word.<<

Link: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/alas-poo...

Theresa wrote: "Crowgirl, "She-ros"? What does that mean? Just curious... :)"

It came from a quote from a blog I get answering the question "What kind of Super Hero would you be":
>>"I'm a Post-modern Samurai She-ro."<<
~by Gwen Bell a yoga-teaching, social media Swami Girl
(she was named one of the 50 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media,)

mostunexpected wrote: "I don't have a problem with eating animals. I eat steak for breakfast.
"

You don't eat endangered wildlife I assume. That's the point. Humans are already pushing the wild out of existence by overpopulation without a book making it OK for vampires to help. I much prefer the stories that have Vamps eating the dregs of society like murders and child molesters. Leave the bears and pumas alone.

WELL, this will annoy those who liked this series but I ended up speed reading #2 & #3 because I found them so boring (library trip once a week so I was stuck with them.)

I am just so sick of "women with traumatic sex events in their past so they have to overcome their aversion to men and are a bitch because of it." Jo needs therapy not magic. In fact I would love to see one of these screwed-up She-ros do just that and set an example.

Since I've know many real life women who REALLY had horrible stuff to overcome I find Jo just pathetic. Not even the humor was worth the read.

Lynda wrote: "Read Twilight. Sorry, gave it 2 stars. I'll try New Moon. Sometimes I like 2nd book better. I was not impressed with the writing. "

I got into a big "I hate this" discussion with a friend who's and English Teacher. She had to show the movie as a student request in her classroom. She and I both found nothing in it but repressed sex, females as property and I-want-your-baby; basic romance novel crap.

I've actually read 3 of the books, as a young friend bought them and insisted I read them. I learned along time ago that Best Seller doesn't mean Outstanding Book. I'd give it 1 star for vampire concept. As an environmentalist I didn't thing killing Pumas and other beautiful animals BETTER than killing humans who deserve some weeding out.

Crowgirl wrote: "I particularly dislike the use of title Shaman, as its a New Age term that has nothing to do with North American Indian tribes."

We recently had people come close to death here in AZ due to the Plastic Shaman of the New Age money makers.
(see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09...)

If you are a writer and want to incorporate Amerindian myth into your story here is a good site to start with. Big letters in red: Native people DO NOT use the label "Shaman." http://www.newagefraud.org/

Michelle M. wrote: "How did people feel about how Jo handles her powers in the practical sense? Using her knowledge as a mechanic as an analogy for what she wants to accomplish magically?"

I'm about 2/3s of the way through this book and I feel like Jo just pulls rabbits-out-of-the-hat when she needs magic for the story line. I'm not very impressed with this story. I particularly dislike the use of title Shaman, as its a New Age term that has nothing to do with North American Indian tribes. I will cut the author slack in that its just entertainment but I do think the mythology is not used as well as it could be. Coyote is such a fun clown and comes off flat and uninteresting. I have the next 2 in the series and I will read them also. Often the first book in a beginning series isn't as well constructed as characters develop later on.

Summer wrote: "I also checked it out from the library...think it's really worth hunting down the rest? "

I wasn't greatly impressed with the Greywalker world. They're not the worst to kill time with. I'm probably going to read the rest just because I have lots of time on my hands. Like I said, by book 3 the characters were taking on more depth and the story was getting some interesting twists. Book 1 did drag. I tend to like the wise-ass, pulp fiction detectives more than the serious type as in these stories.

I just finished the first 3 in the Darkwalker novels by Kat Richardson: Greywalker, Poltergeist and Underground. The first book was a bit heavy in the attempt to EXPLAIN what the Grey is and what its like to be in it. The Vampires are good and monstrous (not pretty boy lovers) and the She-ro is tough but not a bitch. I enjoyed them, especially by the time I got to #3 but I don't know as if I'd spend money on them. Advantage of be a library supporter. Also they're not heavy on sex, more occult mystery.

I agree with Blackrose. I find some beautiful quotes about the magic of the world in many of UF books. They're are often very poetic.

I find many UF authors are very well educated on the Myths they're incorporating into their contemporary setting. I cut my 'reading' teeth as a child on the old Greek/Roman mythology and later read Celtic Myth so I love finding the old god/dess' and mythical creatures appearing in new stories.

Crowgirl wrote: "I'm only a few pages into Simon R. Green newest book The Spy Who Haunted Me."

Finished and loved it. Great fun. Green brought Walker from the Nightside to be part of Eddie Drood's story and even mentioned snippets of those stories. Good monsters!

I'm only a few pages into Simon R. Green newest book The Spy Who Haunted Me. I've enjoyed this quirky UF detective/magic user books. He's full of the pulp fiction detective quips and funny character names. Satisfies my Brit dry humor need.

mostunexpected wrote: "LCD televisions don't create CO2. They take in energy and put out light and heat. No CO2."

energy use = CO2 or is your house powered by solar?

Emmett wrote: "There's rumours of a Witchblade movie... don't think it will be linked to the series, though... and I hear it's going to deviate from the comic as well."

I'll have to watch for that, I enjoyed the Anime but wasn't in love with it. I liked the Hellsing, Volume 1 vampire stories much better and the 2 Anime series that came from the manga I really like. Blood The Last Vampire Night of the Beasts is a great, as is the stand alone movie made of it. The series it also created was OK and at least hadn't any of those 'cute' sidekicks too many Anime have as comic relief. The movie is about to come out on DVD so I don't know how true it is to the original story since it has to be on DVD for me to see it.

There's a carbon footprint chart for the UK at:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/energycon...
that gives 215kg for an LCD watched 6.5 hours a day. That converts to 474 pounds. Most people I know watch much more than that as there is usually more than one TV in the house.

Econundrum: Kindles vs. Books
Source: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2...

Q: Should I ditch my books for an e-reader?

A: My friends rave about their Amazon Kindles, but as a bookstore junkie, I’m wary. I’m pretty sure old-fashioned books are aesthetically superior—they look, feel, and smell a whole lot better than an LCD screen. But last year, the book and newspaper publishing industries used 125 million trees, creating as much carbon 7.3 million cars did in the same amount of time. A recent report from the environmental consulting firm Cleantech Group found that the Kindle’s lifecycle impact is much less: In its first year, it offsets the emissions created by its manufacture, and over its lifecycle, its carbon savings even out to about 370 pounds of CO2, or the equivalent of about 22.5 books per year. So what’s a book aesthete to do?

One (admittedly retro) option: a library card. Let’s imagine you buy 20 books a year. According to Cleantech Group, that’s about 331 pounds of carbon. Now say you’re willing to buy only five books a year—new releases that you just can’t wait for—and get the other 15 from the library. The San Francisco library bought 78,445 books in 2008. Let’s assume each of the library’s 2,265,209 visitors borrowed two books. Of course, they’re not all borrowing newly purchased books. But if all those patrons are shouldering the carbon burden of the new books, that evens out to about 0.3 pounds of CO2 per patron. You’ve reduced your reading emissions to 42 pounds of CO2, nearly an eighth of what they would be if you bought all your books new.

Another way to think about it: The carbon impact of reading—either on paper or via e-reader—is dwarfed by that of TV: A typical 34-37-inch LCD-display television creates about 474 pounds of carbon a year—significantly more than the 370 pounds of carbon emitted in a year of reading a Kindle or books—and that’s not even counting the carbon created by your TV’s manufacture.

The bottom line: Borrow more books than you buy—but whether or not you decide to join the Kindle-wielding masses, reading is always better for the planet than turning on the boob tube.