C.K. Burch's Blog, page 300
February 24, 2014
The Heavy, Short Change Hero
The Heavy, Short Change Hero
warsong-blademaster:
base coated mephiston red, these lothern sea guard are reminding me a lot of...
base coated mephiston red, these lothern sea guard are reminding me a lot of the red soldiers that came with the weapons and warriors castle battle set.
that was a big part of my childhood right there, playing weapons and warriors by myself or with my bros and ignoring all the rules
fuckyeahweaponsandwarrior.tumblr.com
Okay, that’s fucking it. If these dudes can look stylish...
Okay, that’s fucking it. If these dudes can look stylish as fuck while wearing boots like that, then I swear by god so can I.
therealkatiewest:
February 22, 2014
Sometimes I struggle with...
Sometimes I struggle with wanting to create images that show how much I love my body and how amazing it is and the longing I have to repel men who think I do that for them. I’m not being vulnerable or brave by posting my body on the internet: I’m being a boss. When I spend two hours getting ready, I’m not doing it so some dude will think I’m hot and send me messages that tell me so: I’m showing dudes that I already spent the time I had for them today on something much more satisfying and rewarding.
Katie West is amazing, in control, and fierce. I love her forever and for always for being an inspiration and an artist and a beautiful human being.
If JK Rowling Cares About Writing, She Should Stop Doing It
I didn’t much mind Rowling when she was Pottering about. I’ve never read a word (or seen a minute) so I can’t comment on whether the books were good, bad or indifferent. I did think it a shame that adults were reading them… But, then again, any reading is better than no reading, right? But The Casual Vacancy changed all that.
In one single post, never have I read a more petty, vitriolic blaming of one writer for another writer’s failings. For those who don’t have time to read, it boils down to novelist Lynn Shepard calling out J.K. Rowling for dominating sales charts based on her name alone, citing “A Casual Vacancy” and “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and their massive sales successes as preventing other authors from having a chance with readers. The problem with this is that Ms. Rowling had to establish herself once upon a time by writing this little-known book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She’s since well earned her name recognition, and even went to the degree of writing “Cuckoo” under a pseudonym just so it wouldn’t sell based on her name alone. Of course, details leak, but that’s not the point. The point is that the author of this article is bitter towards someone who worked hard and struggled to make their paycheck based on writing, for the love of writing and the want to write, who now justifiably can enjoy the name recognition she has rightfully earned. No artist, be they author or painter or otherwise, deserves this kind of treatment of their proven talent behind the creative wheel.
One of the reasons I think I’m struggling through the endgame of this novel is that, with...
One of the reasons I think I’m struggling through the endgame of this novel is that, with basically everything else I’ve ever written, I’ve always had a template of some kind to look at and draw inspiration from. Here, with this book, I can’t recall anything I’ve ever seen that is like this. That’s both pro and con: the pro is that I feel like I’m crafting something truly original, the con is that I feel vaguely uninspired and will have to go back over this with a careful eye and really flesh it out. Writer problems, I tell ya.
"With the upcoming fourth season of A Game of Thrones about to hit TV screens, you will soon see ‘If..."
With the upcoming fourth season of A Game of Thrones about to hit TV screens, you will soon see ‘If you like reading GRR Martin, why not try these authors?’ displays going up in bookshops. I will give a book of mine, of their choice, to the first person who can send me a photo of such a display that isn’t entirely composed of male authors. Because I’ve yet to see one. I have challenged staff in bookshops about this, to be told ‘women don’t write epic fantasy’ Ahem, with 15 novels published, I beg to differ. And we read it too.
But that’s not what the onlooker sees in the media, in reviews, in the supposedly book-trade-professional articles in The Guardian which repeatedly discuss epic fantasy without ever once mentioning a female author. That onlooker who’s working in a bookshop and making key decisions about what’s for sale, sees a male readership for grimdark books about blokes in cloaks written by authors like Macho McHackenslay. So that’s what goes in display, often at discount, at the front of the store. So that’s what people see first and so that’s what sells most copies.
”-
Juliet E. McKenna being brilliant (so what else is new) on the SFWA shoutback, public perceptions of the field, and equal access to offensiveness, sexism and idiocy. (via dduane)
In March 2012, while browsing in my then-local Waterstones in St Andrews, Scotland, I encountered a laminated booklet in the SFF section - produced entirely by Waterstones - that listed various recommended authors. I was so appalled by the almost total lack of women and POC that I photographed it as evidence. Behold:
So, to be clear: of the one hundred and thirteen authors listed in the genre-specific sections, there are a grand total of nine women and, as far as I can tell, zero POC. In the final two pages - the “If you like this, you’ll love-” section, things are little better: of the ten authors with suggestions after their names, two are women; but of the 101 authors recommended as comparisons, only twelve are women - and, tellingly, of those twelve, a whopping eight are listed as being similar to another female author. As far as this list is concerned, women have essentially become a speciality category, almost exclusively recommended because their work resembles that of another female author, and not because of their contributions to various other genres. As for POC authors, as far I can tell, there’s not a single one on any of the lists.
And, of course, as Juliet McKenna predicted, the authors recommended for fans of George R. R. Martin? All men.
When I saw the booklet, I suggested to a staff member that perhaps they might like to reconsider the contents, given how unrepresentative they were, and how many fabulous authors were missing from them. The sales person, a young man, looked vaguely sheepish, but said the matter was out of his hands. I don’t know if this same booklet is still in use by any other Waterstones stores, but if it is, it badly needs upgrading and replacing - because if I were a new genre reader looking for advice and guidance, literally the only conclusion I could draw from its contents is that SFF is a white man’s game.
(via fozmeadows)
February 23, 2014
"Remember that intimate conversation you had with your son? The one where you said, “I love you and I..."
Remember that intimate conversation you had with your son? The one where you said, “I love you and I need you to know that no matter how a woman dresses or acts, it is not an invitation to cat call, taunt, harass or assault her”?
Or when you told your son, “A woman’s virginity isn’t a prize and sleeping with a woman doesn’t earn you a point”?
How about the heart-to-heart where you lovingly conferred the legal knowledge that “a woman doesn’t have to be fighting you and you don’t have to be pinning her down for it to be RAPE. Intoxication means she can’t legally consent, NOT that she’s an easy score.”
Or maybe you recall sharing my personal favorite, “Your sexual experiences don’t dictate your worth just like a woman’s sexual experiences don’t dictate hers.”
Last but not least, do you remember calling your son out when you discovered he was using the word “slut” liberally? Or when you overheard him talking about some girl from school as if she were more of a conquest than a person?
I want you to consider these conversations and then ask yourself why you don’t remember them. The likely reason is because you didn’t have them. In fact, most parents haven’t had them.
”- The Conversation You Must Have With Your Sons | Carina Kolodny (via sanityscraps)
