Gretchen Stull's Blog, page 6

ReBlog: Nerds and Male Privilege

A friend of mine linked to this blog post on Facebook, and I loved it SO MUCH I had to share. Yes, it's a little old (dated Nov 28, 2011), but the issues it raises are still very relevant. What place do women have in Geek Culture? Does Geek Culture - a culture that prides itself on inclusivity - limit the voices of those who aren't straight, white men? Entertaining and insightful post.

"Y’see, one of the issues of male privilege as it applies to fandom is the instinctive defensive re...

Book Hangover

I generally have a book in progress. Sometimes 3 or 4. I seem to juggle even more, now, that I'm reading to the Littlest Kraken as a part of his nightly bedtime ritual. It's no longer bizarre to see children's books like James and the Giant Peach or Coraline  rubbing digital shoulders with more adult tomes like Good Omens  and Nerd Do Well  on my Goodreads "currently reading" shelf. I'm not often without reading material, and even though I lack the time needed to read as much...

Do You Hear the People Sing?

I have a deep and abiding love of Jon Stewart, but John Oliver's opening segment in reaction to the Supreme Court's decision regarding DOMA is a thing of beauty. Then he tackled Wendy Davis' amazing filibuster. I'm sold, John Oliver. I'm sold!


Watch and enjoy!

Of Beasts and Broken Heroes

It's a running joke, among my friends and critique partners, that I like broken* heroes. They're the characters I write, they're the characters I prefer to read. I have a nasty habit of all but hobbling the heroes in my stories. We're not talking just emotional issues (although I dole those out with shocking alacrity), I often given my heroes some physical impairment, disability, and/or disease they have to overcome as well as a traumatic backstory. Looking back over my last 4 manuscripts, ea...

Of Monsters and Men

I love music, which seems like a rather pointless claim, because I don't know that I've ever met anyone who didn't like music. Anyhow, I do love music and listen to everything ranging from classic rock to classical, old school country to gansta rap. About the only thing I don't enjoy is techno. It's something about the repetitive, electronic nature of it. Just not for me.

But regardless of genre, my favorite songs are those that tell as story. Whether it's Reba McEntire singing about a young g...

&@#^*@!: or, why I can't wait for World War Z

Summer is the season of movies. If you avoid sunlight, heat, non-walled natural spaces, and the beach (*shudder*) like I do, the escapism provided by summer blockbusters is even more anticipated. Forget the lazy river, a bucket of popcorn and a medium movie theater soda (which, incidentally, contains as much liquid as the typical lazy river) is all I need to get me through the dog days until fall.


At the top of my Must See list this summer is, no surprise, World War Z .

To read more, please...

The Real Wolfman

Due to a lingering illness that's trying it's best to end me, I've been working from home a lot lately. It's funny how much the drone of cubicle noise can irritate me in the office, but several days of silence is almost as bad. To combat the wheezing drone of my own congested breathing, I've taken to turning the television to innocuous programming to provide some background noise as I work. The goal here isn't entertainment, it's distraction -- just enough to keep my subconscious happily preo...

You know it's a Monday

It's a Monday. Monday's don't tend to be too high on my list of Favorite Days of the Week. This particular Monday, I made it about 15 whole minutes before my faithful zombie stress doll EOR became a makeshift voodoo doll.

Alas, poor EOR
Maybe "voodoo doll" isn't the accurate term since no actual ritual was held, but I don't know a more succinct way of saying "I stabbed the poor doll profusely in impotent rage until I felt marginally less hostile towards the human beings in my direct vicinity."
O...

Should have seen this coming

I wear many different hats these days. Wife. Mom. Zombie Enthusiast. A darling red plaid fedora I picked up on the cheap.

You heard her wrong, honey. The checkout girl totally said I look "rad." With an "R," not a "B."
It was only a matter of time before the different parts of my life collided. Why oh why couldn't the collision involve the fedora?

So, the Little One. Let's call him the Littlest Kraken because, well, if you heard the sea monster-esque noises emitting from that baby monitor night...

Que Up Some Staind

I've taken a blog break. Nothing major, just took a step back to have a baby, bring him home from the hospital, and, you know, watch him grow and turn 8 months old.     o.O

Okay, so perhaps it was a longer break than I'd anticipated...from blogging, and writing, and, um, what was that thing I had pre-baby? It's on the tip of my tongue; I used to get all wrapped up in it... Oh yeah! A life. But enough hibernation. Nolan is getting bigger every day and it's time for me to return to the...