Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 52
September 29, 2011
Sale! To Girl Fever!
Quite some time after I originally wrote it, I've sold "The Airplane Story" to editor Sacchi Green for her anthology Girl Fever: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex for Lesbians, forthcoming from Cleis Press. My very first sale (and quite a few later ones) was to Cleis, so that makes it an extra-happy occasion. I'll post the publication date when I have it.
September 28, 2011
Some Thoughts on Nairobi Heat by Mukoma wa Ngugi
Mukoma wa Ngugi's first novel, Nairobi Heat, involves themes including African Americans in their relationship to Africans as well as outcomes of the Rwandan genocide, both for those who suffered and those who viewed from afar. The themes of the novel play into the tropes of detective novels in an interesting way. The moral concerns of noir detective novels are very present and densely complex, and the tone of the narration references classic hardboiled detective novels in that it is u...
September 26, 2011
Historical Sex Linkgasm
Today, a few links about Sex! In! History!
Lesley Hall's Victorian Sex Factoids. Want to know what historians know about those "treatments for hysteria"? This is the page for you.
Also at Lesley's site, The Condom Page, with useful bibliography, and The Clitoris: Historical Myths and Facts.
Studies in Scarlet: Marriage and Sexuality in the U.S. and the U.K., 1815-1914, a Harvard University Library Virtual Collection. Click Browse Indexes to see the available documents.
OutHistory.org ...
September 25, 2011
"Pro Patria," Owen Seaman
Pro Patria
England, in this great fight to which you go
Because, where Honour calls you, go you must,
Be glad, whatever comes, at least to know
You have your quarrel just.
Peace was your care; before the nations' bar
Her cause you pleaded and her ends you sought;
But not for her sake, being what you are,
Could you be bribed and bought.
Others may spurn the pledge of land to land,
May with the brute sword stain a gallant past;
But by the seal to which you set your hand,
...
September 23, 2011
Sometimes, you need comics.
I read a lot. I'm a writer, it's a vital part of what you might call my Continuing Education. Lately, I've been returning to comics.
Part of that is due to all the superhero movies that came out this summer, most of which I saw. Those movies reminded me of how devoted I was to following various comic series (The Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil, etc.) in my teen years and early twenties, and how much I learned about story from them, especially ongoing story in the soap opera vein. I also...
September 21, 2011
September 20, 2011
Goliath is out today!
I blogged about Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series at Heroes and Heartbreakers yesterday.
September 19, 2011
Thinking About (Erotic) Word Choice
I was recently reading a marriage of convenience romance story with erotic content.
The story's tone was very serious: the couple were initially forced into being together, and there was a lot of complicated angst on the part of the hero. It had lots of complicated conflict. Overall, I liked the story.
However, in the first sex scene, I burst out laughing. Why? A metaphor. It wasn't that the metaphor was bad. It was actually very evocative. But…one phrase the author used...
September 18, 2011
"Thomas of the Light Heart," Owen Seaman
Thomas of the Light Heart
Facing the guns, he jokes as well
As any Judge upon the Bench;
Between the crash of shell and shell
His laughter rings along the trench;
He seems immensely tickled by a
Projectile which he calls a "Black Maria."
He whistles down the day-long road,
And, when the chilly shadows fall
And heavier hangs the weary load,
Is he down-hearted? Not at all.
'T is then he takes a light and airy
View of the tedious route to Tipperary.
His songs are not e...
September 16, 2011
Talking about Comics at NINC
I'm a guest at the Novelists, Inc. blog today: Sometimes You Need Comics.
I have another "Fresh Meat" post up at The Criminal Element, this one on J.T. Ellison's new novel, Where All the Dead Lie.
