Andromeda Romano-Lax's Blog
March 5, 2024
Workshopper Beware, an essay at Jane Friedman's blog
It's finally time to talk about writing workshops, the good, the bad, and the nuts. Literal nuts. Thanks for hosting this conversation, Jane Friedman!
https://janefriedman.com/workshopper-...
My forthcoming novel, THE DEEPEST LAKE, is set at a memoir writing workshop. I've attended and taught workshops for twenty-plus years--which means I've seen a lot--but I hear new horror stories from other writers all the time.
There ARE ways to prepare, at the very least by understanding that workshop "best practices" are not always followed and that what we consider "good workshopping" has changed a lot in the last decade and some instructors, especially in the private for-profit sphere, haven't kept up. Some advance reading and thinking can help prepare the writer for an experience that may be magical, uplifting, disheartening, weird, or all of the above.
https://janefriedman.com/workshopper-...
My forthcoming novel, THE DEEPEST LAKE, is set at a memoir writing workshop. I've attended and taught workshops for twenty-plus years--which means I've seen a lot--but I hear new horror stories from other writers all the time.
There ARE ways to prepare, at the very least by understanding that workshop "best practices" are not always followed and that what we consider "good workshopping" has changed a lot in the last decade and some instructors, especially in the private for-profit sphere, haven't kept up. Some advance reading and thinking can help prepare the writer for an experience that may be magical, uplifting, disheartening, weird, or all of the above.
November 20, 2023
A close reading of Plum Rains in an academic journal
How exciting to have one of books become the subject of critical inquiry!
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/12/6/132
Technologies of Care: Robot Caregivers in Science and Fiction
by Silvana Colella
Humanities Department, University of Macerata, Corso Cavour 2, 62100 Macerata, Italy
Humanities 2023, 12(6), 132; https://doi.org/10.3390/h12060132
Abstract
In the field of elderly care, robot caregivers are garnering increased attention. This article discusses the robotisation of care from a dual perspective. The first part presents an overview of recent scholarship on the use of robots in eldercare, focusing mostly on scientific evidence about the responses of older adults and caregivers. The second part turns to narrative evidence, providing a close reading of Andromeda Romano-Lax’s Plum Rains (2018), a speculative novel set in Japan in 2029, which explores the implications—ethical, affective, social—of communities of care that include non-human agents. My argument is twofold: (1) although science and fiction operate according to different models of knowledge production, considering narrative insights alongside scientific ones can enlarge our understanding of the complexities of robotic care; (2) hitherto overlooked in literary studies, Plum Rains deserves attention for its nuanced representation of a hybrid model of care, which does not discard robotic assistance on the basis of humanist arguments, nor does it endorse techno-solutionism, reminding readers that the fantasy of robots that care is fuelled by the reality of devalued human care work.
Keywords: speculative fiction; ageing; care robots; migrant caregivers; human-robot interaction
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/12/6/132
Technologies of Care: Robot Caregivers in Science and Fiction
by Silvana Colella
Humanities Department, University of Macerata, Corso Cavour 2, 62100 Macerata, Italy
Humanities 2023, 12(6), 132; https://doi.org/10.3390/h12060132
Abstract
In the field of elderly care, robot caregivers are garnering increased attention. This article discusses the robotisation of care from a dual perspective. The first part presents an overview of recent scholarship on the use of robots in eldercare, focusing mostly on scientific evidence about the responses of older adults and caregivers. The second part turns to narrative evidence, providing a close reading of Andromeda Romano-Lax’s Plum Rains (2018), a speculative novel set in Japan in 2029, which explores the implications—ethical, affective, social—of communities of care that include non-human agents. My argument is twofold: (1) although science and fiction operate according to different models of knowledge production, considering narrative insights alongside scientific ones can enlarge our understanding of the complexities of robotic care; (2) hitherto overlooked in literary studies, Plum Rains deserves attention for its nuanced representation of a hybrid model of care, which does not discard robotic assistance on the basis of humanist arguments, nor does it endorse techno-solutionism, reminding readers that the fantasy of robots that care is fuelled by the reality of devalued human care work.
Keywords: speculative fiction; ageing; care robots; migrant caregivers; human-robot interaction
December 6, 2021
Gratitude for a "Best Book of the Year" that almost wasn't written
I almost didn't finish writing my latest novel, Annie and the Wolves. Even after finishing it, and despite interest from my agent, I put the manuscript away, back in 2012, and never expected to look at it again.
(I changed my mind in 2018, rewrote it from page one with drastic changes, and published it in Feb 2021!)
Knowing how easily this book almost didn't come to fruition, I'm even more grateful, TODAY, that Library Journal picked it as a Best Pop Fiction Book of the Year.
It might be smarter to hide one's struggles and near-failures, but I like to share them because I know how many fellow writers have a draft of something they are ready to give up on--and how many readers underestimate the challenge of getting *any* book into print. When we receive an honor or prize, a good review or an authentically enthusiastic email from a reader, it means the world to us. It might even be the difference between us continuing to write and publish or giving up completely.
So, if you're working hard on something, keep working! And if you're one of those readers who takes the time to write honest reviews (which doesn't mean they all have to be 5 stars) and send encouraging notes, thank you.
(I changed my mind in 2018, rewrote it from page one with drastic changes, and published it in Feb 2021!)
Knowing how easily this book almost didn't come to fruition, I'm even more grateful, TODAY, that Library Journal picked it as a Best Pop Fiction Book of the Year.
It might be smarter to hide one's struggles and near-failures, but I like to share them because I know how many fellow writers have a draft of something they are ready to give up on--and how many readers underestimate the challenge of getting *any* book into print. When we receive an honor or prize, a good review or an authentically enthusiastic email from a reader, it means the world to us. It might even be the difference between us continuing to write and publish or giving up completely.
So, if you're working hard on something, keep working! And if you're one of those readers who takes the time to write honest reviews (which doesn't mean they all have to be 5 stars) and send encouraging notes, thank you.
March 24, 2021
Recipes to accompany Annie and the Wolves
Brave enough to venture into the world of 1800s trail cooking?
Stephanie Weaver of the Blue and Yellow Kitchen created this recipe featuring braised rabbit with gravy. At her website, you can also watch an interview with short reading, all while she cooks!
https://migrainereliefrecipes.com/bra...
Food by the Book columnist Melony Carey has come up with her own Annie-inspired recipes, to accompany her review of the novel. She shares recipes for cowboy potatoes and a no-nonsense cheese soup that makes use of canned ingredients and Velveeta.
https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/...
Stephanie Weaver of the Blue and Yellow Kitchen created this recipe featuring braised rabbit with gravy. At her website, you can also watch an interview with short reading, all while she cooks!
https://migrainereliefrecipes.com/bra...
Food by the Book columnist Melony Carey has come up with her own Annie-inspired recipes, to accompany her review of the novel. She shares recipes for cowboy potatoes and a no-nonsense cheese soup that makes use of canned ingredients and Velveeta.
https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/...
January 24, 2021
A good man and a myth that refuses to die: the true story of Annie Oakley and Frank Butler
Some 145 years ago, a fifteen-year-old girl was invited to participate in a private shooting match with a famous marksman and vaudevillian named Frank Butler—ten years older and amused to be in a face-off with a scrappy Ohio teenager.
Reports vary on whether Annie Oakley shot perfectly or missed one in twenty-five shots, but in any case, she beat Butler fair and square. He lost not only the match, but a $100 side bet, worth over $2400 today.
By all reliable accounts, Butler took the loss well. As proof of his regard, he gave Annie and her family free tickets for his upcoming show. Annie, for her part, showed more interest in Frank’s French poodle. The real courtship began when Frank sent follow-up letters to Annie signed with the performing poodle’s name, “George.”
The couple later wed, though Annie kept her professional surname. When Frank Butler realized his wife was the more talented and beloved performer, he stepped back, out of the spotlight, becoming Annie’s manager, publicist, and most loyal supporter, protecting her good name from the haters of her day, including a certain tabloids publisher, William Randolph Hearst.
Americans have forgotten most of the important things about Annie Oakley’s life and instead remember the details that are completely false: like the idea that Annie lost that famous match with Frank. Or that they tied. Or that Frank heckled Annie or stomped off, fuming. Wouldn’t that make sense? These were the 1800s, when men were surely more backward than they are now. Annie was a fatherless, poorly educated waif; Frank was famous, though not wealthy. He needed the money and he had a reputation at stake. Wouldn’t it be normal for a man to smart over such a humiliating loss?
Well, no.
But we’re forgiven for having few public images of men losing honorably—and I don’t mean just this year and especially this month, when our democracy was threatened by an attempted coup.
We learn a lot from movies and television. Our president certainly does—and no doubt, his followers do, too.
Broadway and Hollywood couldn’t stomach the true Annie and Frank story—one of complete female competence and talent, and of graceful male acceptance and humility.
In a 1935 film starring Barbara Stanwyck, Annie is shown throwing the match in order to save her rival from losing his job—a nod to the concerns of the Depression era, but also the first step in eroding our cultural memory of a feisty girl who wouldn’t have done any such thing.
In the 1946 Broadway musical, Ethel Merman’s smitten Annie sings “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” and loses the match on purpose. In the 1950 movie starring Betty Hutton, the character representing Frank quits the Wild West show in a snit, unwilling to be outgunned by a woman. In these versions, Annie has become not just feminine but silly, a girlish caricature—and Frank, even when he is called by another name, is unlikable as ever.
Even in recent revivals, the story stays the same. Annie either loses or can’t win without suffering negative consequences. Frank is an egotistical buffoon.
To the frustration of Annie Oakley’s descendants, the idea of a bratty Frank and a trivial and lovelorn Annie has outlasted what we know about the real couple. And that’s a shame. Equally lamentable is how few role models we have for an egalitarian marriage in which a man fully supports his wife’s career, taking pride in her ascent.
In that department, we have reason for cheer. If there’s one man who reminds me of Frank Butler, it’s Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Kamala Harris.
Frank Butler was a prodigious letter writer who stayed busy writing to newspapers across the country, defending his wife’s professional reputation. Emhoff fills a similar role, coming to the aid of not only his wife, but other high-profile women.
If Frank were alive now, he’d be tweeting—just as Emhoff did in December, defending Dr. Jill Biden after a demeaning Wall Street Journal op-ed suggested the future First Lady shouldn’t use her professional title. Using terms that Frank Butler would have used a century earlier, Mr. Emhoff tweeted: “Dr. Biden earned her degrees through hard work and pure grit.”
Whether Emhoff alone can provide sufficient role modeling as a supportive husband and decent human being, at the very least we’ll be rid of our most notable and recent example of a pathologically self-involved failure.
Hopefully, stories of graceful losers will some day prove more entertaining and memorable than our stories of sour ones.
Andromeda Romano-Lax
Reports vary on whether Annie Oakley shot perfectly or missed one in twenty-five shots, but in any case, she beat Butler fair and square. He lost not only the match, but a $100 side bet, worth over $2400 today.
By all reliable accounts, Butler took the loss well. As proof of his regard, he gave Annie and her family free tickets for his upcoming show. Annie, for her part, showed more interest in Frank’s French poodle. The real courtship began when Frank sent follow-up letters to Annie signed with the performing poodle’s name, “George.”
The couple later wed, though Annie kept her professional surname. When Frank Butler realized his wife was the more talented and beloved performer, he stepped back, out of the spotlight, becoming Annie’s manager, publicist, and most loyal supporter, protecting her good name from the haters of her day, including a certain tabloids publisher, William Randolph Hearst.
Americans have forgotten most of the important things about Annie Oakley’s life and instead remember the details that are completely false: like the idea that Annie lost that famous match with Frank. Or that they tied. Or that Frank heckled Annie or stomped off, fuming. Wouldn’t that make sense? These were the 1800s, when men were surely more backward than they are now. Annie was a fatherless, poorly educated waif; Frank was famous, though not wealthy. He needed the money and he had a reputation at stake. Wouldn’t it be normal for a man to smart over such a humiliating loss?
Well, no.
But we’re forgiven for having few public images of men losing honorably—and I don’t mean just this year and especially this month, when our democracy was threatened by an attempted coup.
We learn a lot from movies and television. Our president certainly does—and no doubt, his followers do, too.
Broadway and Hollywood couldn’t stomach the true Annie and Frank story—one of complete female competence and talent, and of graceful male acceptance and humility.
In a 1935 film starring Barbara Stanwyck, Annie is shown throwing the match in order to save her rival from losing his job—a nod to the concerns of the Depression era, but also the first step in eroding our cultural memory of a feisty girl who wouldn’t have done any such thing.
In the 1946 Broadway musical, Ethel Merman’s smitten Annie sings “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun” and loses the match on purpose. In the 1950 movie starring Betty Hutton, the character representing Frank quits the Wild West show in a snit, unwilling to be outgunned by a woman. In these versions, Annie has become not just feminine but silly, a girlish caricature—and Frank, even when he is called by another name, is unlikable as ever.
Even in recent revivals, the story stays the same. Annie either loses or can’t win without suffering negative consequences. Frank is an egotistical buffoon.
To the frustration of Annie Oakley’s descendants, the idea of a bratty Frank and a trivial and lovelorn Annie has outlasted what we know about the real couple. And that’s a shame. Equally lamentable is how few role models we have for an egalitarian marriage in which a man fully supports his wife’s career, taking pride in her ascent.
In that department, we have reason for cheer. If there’s one man who reminds me of Frank Butler, it’s Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Kamala Harris.
Frank Butler was a prodigious letter writer who stayed busy writing to newspapers across the country, defending his wife’s professional reputation. Emhoff fills a similar role, coming to the aid of not only his wife, but other high-profile women.
If Frank were alive now, he’d be tweeting—just as Emhoff did in December, defending Dr. Jill Biden after a demeaning Wall Street Journal op-ed suggested the future First Lady shouldn’t use her professional title. Using terms that Frank Butler would have used a century earlier, Mr. Emhoff tweeted: “Dr. Biden earned her degrees through hard work and pure grit.”
Whether Emhoff alone can provide sufficient role modeling as a supportive husband and decent human being, at the very least we’ll be rid of our most notable and recent example of a pathologically self-involved failure.
Hopefully, stories of graceful losers will some day prove more entertaining and memorable than our stories of sour ones.
Andromeda Romano-Lax
