Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 123

Friday Links Didn't Burn Any Bras

Eh, I've been trying and failing to write an essay about how often women (fictional and otherwise) end up being shamed, dismissed or hurt in the name of feminism, but it's tangling me up in knots, so I'm going to stop now and do something productive instead.

Hoyden talk about the myth of the bra-burning feminists, an idea which has been used to try to make women look stupid for decades, and how the false story was spread.

The Moffat's Women series continues on Tor, with a comparison between the main female character in this Christmas special and last year's. I find it very interesting how quickly people have leaped to criticise Moffat for writing a story in which the mother is the hero, so this article made me happy.



Sarah Rees Brennan's response to the post we linked to in Galactic Suburbia about the wealth of positive girl heroes in YA right now.

One that I meant us to discuss on GS but forgot at the last minute (sorry, Sean!) – Sean the Blogonaut surveys his reading after a year of trying to change his reading habits, genderwise.

Linda Nagata talks about her rationale for self publishing rather than going back to big publishers.

The ever awesome Mary Beard comments on the latest salacious media drama about Ancient Romans and brothels. Yes, really. As ever, her pragmatism wins the day.

Alison Bechdel's new book is to have an opening print run of 100,000 copies and a massive publishing/publicity campaign when it's published in May, which is extraordinarily good news. It's a comic book about a lesbian and her relationship with her mother, people!!! In all seriousness, Bechdel is an extraordinary writer-artist, and Fun Home was a brilliant, fascinating memoir about her father and herself. The only flaw in it was the almost-invisibility of her mother as a character, which was why I (and I imagine, 100,000 other people) was so keen to hear she was working on a sequel about their relationship. To see an LGBTQ title getting such mass promotion and support is excellent, because it is a book which should absolutely transcend any idea of a niche market.

And it gives you all five months to read Fun Home while you're waiting!

I was interested in this article about how DC Comics have beat the pants off Marvel with their New 52 and then kind of horribly fascinated at how little information the article actually has. It entirely focuses on the print sales, mentioning the whole e-sales and day and date matters as some kind of quirky twist on the tale, but not actually citing those RATHER MORE INTERESTING statistics.

I continue to be annoyed that this entirely dull and by the numbers rendition of Justice League is in their top three sellers. Thereby proving, sadly, all over again, that comics readers don't care about women. BAH I SAY. Still, could be worse. It could be Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Galactic Suburbia Episode 50 is up!!

Hard to believe we've made it to 50 episodes. Of course the alternative is that we stop talking, and that would never happen! Sadly we didn't eat cake, but we did namecheck Joanna Russ at least once, so that's almost the same thing, right?

You may eat cake while you listen to it, if you want to. If you do, you know we want to hear about it!

Check out EPISODE 50 now!

In which we leap happily back and forth (with occasional ranting) over those fine lines between feminist critique and anti-female assumptions, plus share our bumper collection of holiday culture consumed. Happy New Year from the Galactic Suburbia crew!

NEWS AND LINKS

Hugo nominations open and we're gonna have our say

Aqueduct Press to publish Brit Mandelo's thesis, "WE WUZ PUSHED: On Joanna Russ & Radical Truth-telling"!

Islamic superhero comic turned animated series The 99 to screen in Australia (ABC3)

Amanda Palmer's wedding post

Great piece on how the very idea of 'Mary Sue' is sexist, ties into this episode's theme about the criticism of female characters.

The wealth of powerful girl heroes in today's YA



WHAT CULTURE HAVE WE CONSUMED?

Alisa: Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal; The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (with cover art by Kathleen Jennings); The Vampire Diaries; Primeval; The 99; Planetary; Homeland and Boxcutters.

Alex: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon, Julie Phillips; Changing Planes, Ursula le Guin; Perchance to Dream, Lisa Mantchev; Twilight Robbery, Frances Hardinge; Chronicles of Chrestomanci vol 1, Diana Wynne Jones. DOA and Going Postal

Tansy: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman; Beauty Queens, Libba Bray; Snuff by Terry Pratchett, Going Postal (TV) – Batman (animated) & My First Batman Book by David Katz, David Tennant & Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing (DIGITAL THEATRE DOWNLOAD AWW YEAH).

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

Big Finish in (the second half of) 2011

Back in June, I reviewed all of the Big Finish plays I had listened to that were released in the first half of 2011. It was a pretty full on time for me as I wasn't just a subscriber to the main monthly Doctor Who range, but also to the Sylvester McCoy Lost Stories and the 8th Doctor Adventures. Things were a little quieter for me in the second half of the year, but we're about to ramp up into a year with new Blake's 7, Fourth Doctor Adventures, and a whole bunch of other extras that I may or may not have ALREADY subscribed to. So I'd like to keep these posts going!

I'm trying to focus particularly in these recommendations on pointing out the jumping on points for new listeners, because lots of people have indicated they've either started listening to Big Finish because of my recs, or they want to and are still not sure where to jump aboard.

JULY

Robophobia – a Seventh Doctor standalone story which also happens to be a sequel to classic story, Robots of Death. I was resentful of this run at first because I am so enamoured of the Seventh Doctor stories with Ace and Hex that anything else feels like a waste of time at first, but Sylvester McCoy is really good playing a Doctor towards the end of his time, and these are all strong stories that work on their own, for a new listener to dip into. I've reviewed this one at greater length elsewhere but suffice to say, it has Ruth from Spooks in it, it's a murder mystery that explores the time & society suggested at in Robots of Death, and it's really, really good.



Earth Aid

The last of the Seventh Doctor-and-Ace-and-introducing-Raine-Creevey Lost Stories, this one is my favourite script of the bunch, if only for its opening with Ace in the captain's chair of a spaceship in trouble, with the reader given little clue as to how she ended up in such a Star Trek scenario. The whole story which revolves around Ace and the Seventh Doctor trying to do good yet deceive everyone they meet is quite interesting, and I think it could work on its own as long as you don't worry too much about who Raine is.

Tales from the Vault – the only Companion Chronicle I've read all year, but a really enjoyable one! I tend to get a bit bored with some of the more static one-two voice plays that make up most of the Companion Chronicles, with only a few really transcending the format to compete properly with the full cast plays. This one has such a clever idea and utilises many voices, and is a true two hander rather than one main character & one supporting character who usually turns out to be, surprise, the bad guy.

The two characters, Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato, are played by Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso, who played the companions in the Eighth Doctor TV Movie and due to rights issues are not able to portray those characters on Big Finish audio. Their characters here, then, are American UNIT officers assigned to 'the Vault,' a museum of alien artefacts. Sato is recruited to join the Vault, and takes a tour of some of the more interesting artefacts, as Matheson explains some of the history they are vouchsafed to protect – and through various audio recordings, they get to eavesdrop on fragments of the history surrounding that mysterious figure, The Doctor. I really enjoyed this one, and the way that the recordings brought in several voices of older companions Steven, Zoe, Jo Grant and Romana I.

Completely standalone.

AUGUST

Recorded Time and Other Stories – Big Finish have a tradition of marking anniversaries within their main range by doing plays which feature a particular Doctor and companion combination in four half hour standalone plays instead of one two hour play – this works very well as an occasional treat as well as a very good taster for the plays, as the scripts are generally tight and have quite small casts. Other anthology episodes include 45 (Seventh Doctor, Ace & Hex), 100 (Sixth Doctor and Evelyn), the Company of Friends (Paul McGann with 3 of his companions from other media: Fitz, Izzy, Benny; plus the one we never knew about until now, Mary Shelley) and the Demons of Red Lodge and other stories (Fifth Doctor and Nyssa).

Recorded Time features the Sixth Doctor and Peri, and has a really nice selection of stories. I especially liked the titular story which takes them to the court of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn but the standout is "Question Marks" which uses the amnesia of all the characters to great effect, telling a story that would only work on audio, where the distinctive voices of the Sixth Doctor and Peri gives the audience an extra layer of narrative.

Anyone who has ever been skeptical about Peri's worth as a companion based on the TV series could definitely benefit from checking out some of her Big Finish work, and this is a great place to start (though it's hard to beat Peri and the Piscon Paradox for that).

SEPTEMBER



The Doomsday Quatrain – this is my least favourite of this "season" of standalone Sylvester McCoy stories, but it's still not a bad story. The main talking point is that this is where the Seventh Doctor and Nostradamus meet, and while there are lots of Doctor Who-y plots, twists and turns, it's all about David Schofield's performance as Nostradamus, which is fantastic.

Again, standalone.

House of Blue Fire – the third of the lone, 'older' Seventh Doctor stories, this is a wonderfully structured Gothic (with hidden science fiction) tale, about a group of people with distinct phobias arriving at a mysterious house. It's powerful, crunchy and kept surprising me from beginning to end. I liked it very much – the only frustration being that two of the female characters had similar voices and I got confused at times.

STAND ALONE.

OCTOBER

The Silver Turk – this is one I've been recommending widely to people as the beginning of an exciting new run of Eighth Doctor Adventures. While you probably could start here, I do recommend you take up the Big Finish offer to read the short (half hour) introduction to Mary Shelley's adventures as a Doctor Who companion, Mary's Story, which is just a blinding piece of audio fiction, one of the best individual pieces that Big Finish have ever done. It's still hard to believe that such an epic story is told in such a brief space.

But anyway, once you're done with that, at only 99 cents/pence, The Silver Turk is a wonderful play about Mary's first "proper" adventure, only fifty years or so in her own future, but with steampunk Cybermen and other examples of Victorian entertainment. Julie Cox as Mary was a real find – she is gentle but intelligent, and sharp as anything. Her relationship with the absent Percy is an important ongoing theme in the story, as is her contrasting relationship with the Doctor. I DON'T WANT HER TO GO HOME!

The Doctor really has to stop going on about all the books she's going to write in future, though. Pressure much?

NOVEMBER

The Witch from the Well - this isn't the best of plays, I have to say, a weird take on witch burnings that ends up more confusing than clever, and with a pair of siblings that rival those twins in the Twin Dilemma for unlikeability. But… Mary Shelley. She's still awesome, and while I was disappointed to see so little of her with the Doctor, all her scenes are wonderful and I particularly liked her being tempted to research how all her friends turned out (particularly the bit where she learns more about Byron's past than she knew in real life, which seemed quite realistic).

Only for Mary completists, this one.

DECEMBER

A cavalcade of goodies! Only one release, Army of Death, is part of the regular range – the others are all extras I received for being a subscription. You can receive them free for any subscription made at any time which includes Army of Death, though.



Army of Death – the third of the Mary Shelley stories, this one was a compelling story of war and politics on an alien world, and I was interested in all of the characters deeply. Very good stuff! My only frustration with it (apart from Mary and the Doctor being separated for most of the story again) was the suggestion that Mary was starting to feel romantically about the Doctor. I found her character a lot stronger when that wasn't an issue, and it set off enormous warning bells. I adore Charley's arc with the Eighth Doctor but I think it's too soon to be trying that again with one of his companions – having said that, the way it was addressed and then resolved put my mind at rest and it looks like, should Mary continue as a companion, it won't be a huge aspect of her character. PHEW.

I wouldn't listen to this one without having listened to Mary's Story & The Silver Turk first, at least (and Witch from the Well to take in the complete character arc)

The Five Companions – this one, the special release created just for subscribers, is – well, a bit soppy, really. I enjoyed it thoroughly, there's an indulgence about it that makes it a Christmas treat, but very much what fans want rather than what they need. [I'M GONNA SPOIL THE HELL OUT OF THIS, DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW] Basically it's the Fifth Doctor running around a bunch of tunnels with an unexpected team of former companions – Polly, Steven, Ian, Sara Kingdom and Nyssa.

Yes, they're all very surprised to see Sara alive again. Heh heh heh.

The point of this one is not the plot at all, but the resolution, the character interactions, like they're making up for everything that no one was allowed to acknowledge in The Five Doctors. Ian is most definitely an old man (as he should be, RTD!) and his reunion with Steven was very touching. He, unlike the others, has little in the way of unfinished business to be addressed with the Doctor. But Steven needs to call him on the thoughtless way he was abandones, pointing out how young he was when he was hastily written out, Polly needs to work through how she felt like a bit of a useless screamy maker of tea in her travelling days, and Sara… did we mention Sara is still alive? Even Nyssa, who is likewise returning after saying goodbye to the Doctor (though they don't make it clear which time) has her issues to talk through.

And stuff blows up.

My favourite bits of this are Polly making it clear that actually yes, she and Ben DID get together after they left the TARDIS (damn straight they did), and the very clear indication that we're going to get to find out more of New Sara's story after her last Companion Chronicle (like, find out which Doctor found her), oh I hope so.

It's fluff, with Daleks, but it was a lovely Christmas present, and the kind of thing that TV Who could never have given us.



Memoirs of JNT – this was an unexpected subscriber bonus, not least because I didn't have the faintest idea this was a thing that existed in the world. The selected, Doctor Who related memoir-anecdotes of John Nathan Turner, the producer who ran Doctor Who from the late Tom Baker era all the way through to the end of the Sylvester McCoy era in 1989, read in his own voice. It's an interesting listen, which kept me entertained through a whole lot of boring house cleaning yesterday. Notably absent is any discussion of his personal life, though he does talk about the lengths he went to at times to protect his actors from the more salacious enquiries by the media, and he does address several key events/dramas that obviously still cause him some personal pain, along with all the funny actor banter. The most bizarre thing about this is that he sounds exactly like Paul Darrow. Even when relating anecdotes about Paul Darrow.

Short Trips, Lant Land & Neptune – sweet of them to include these, again as free extras, but I couldn't listen to either all the way through. It's very rare for a short story to come across well for me on audio (I prefer to reread in listening form, but single voice narrative tends to send me to sleep) though I have to say the audio production on this is excellent, with use of background music, etc. Just not for me.

The Big Finish Companion Vol. 1 – not an audio production, nor a freebie, but this enormous, long-awaited tome finally arrived in many over-stuffed mail boxes this December. I received mine the week before Christmas and had read it cover to cover not long after Boxing Day. Yes, I'm a sad case. I am well aware of this. It's a brilliant behind the scenes look at a bunch of Big Finish productions, by Richard Dinnick – I loved reading it, and only skipped over a few (extremely spoilery) synopses. The only thing where it fell down a bit for me was that I couldn't see much of a pattern to the non-Doctor-Who monthly range material, as it hopped and skipped all over the place, chronologically, so we leaped from 2001 to 2009 and back again a few times. Some sort of timeline might be in order to keep track of it all – but of course I am now hanging out for Vol. 2 in order to complete the picture. Quality stuff, and it resides with pride next to my 1980′s Peter Haining hardbacks, and more recent big non fiction books like Russell T Davies' Writer's Tale.

Creature Court: the Dolls

I received an early Christmas present this year, courtesy of my mother Jilli, who is the artist behind the Deepings Dolls. Three dolls, one for each of my Creature Court book covers.

I'm only sad that I don't have a hard copy of Book 3 to hand so I can photograph my scarlet flapper-with-sword like I have the other two!

First, we have Isangell the Duchessa, who appears on the cover of Power and Majesty [Creature Court Book One] in a gown with roses sewn all over it.

Then my main protagonist, Velody, who appears on the cover of The Shattered City [Creature Court Book 2] in an antique green dress, stolen from a museum.

In one deviation from the cover, I asked Mum to add some little brown mice to the hem of Velody's gown.

And before introducing you to the third doll, let me remind you what the cover of Reign of Beasts [Creature Court Book 3] will look like:

And here she is, Livilla in a scarlet flapper dress, with sword. You have to read the book to find out why she's bothering with edged weapons!

The three cover demoiselles together:

And finally, this is where they will be displayed, alongside my precious Blake's 7 dolls which I commissioned as a gift to myself back when I sold this trilogy. Full circle, people!

2011 A Year in Reading (actual novels edition)

As I mentioned in my Graphic Novels edition of the 2011 Year in Reading posts, I read 143 books this year, 60 or so of which had a lot of pictures in them.

Others were mostly made up of words, hoorah! I don't want this to be the neglected younger sister of the graphic novels post, but I'm really not going to write reviews of these at length. Consider it a list of the best, absolute bestiest prose novels I consumed this year. Chances are, if you want to hear more about why I liked them, you can find me raving on a Galactic Suburbia podcast. Or you could just ask in the comments! I have been rather lazy about written reviews this year, but you can't do everything.

Here we go…

YA and Children's

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

The Vulture of Somerset, Stephen M Giles

Careful What You Wish For, Maureen McCarthy

Across the Universe, by Beth Revis

Burn Bright, Marianne De Pierres

The Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Claire

The Shattering, Karen Healey

Thyla, Kate Gordon

I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett

The Demon's Surrender, Sarah Rees Brennan

Huntress, Malinda Lo

Only Ever Always, Penni Russon

Red Glove, Holly Black

Bumped, Megan McCafferty

Matched, Ally Condie

Akata Witch, Nnedi Okorafor

The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman

Beauty Queens, Libba Bray

Gatherings of Short Stories

The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, Kim Newman

The Wilful Eye – Tales from the Tower Vol 1, edited by Isobelle Carmody & Nan McNab

Nightsiders, Sue Isle

Love Songs of the Shy and Cynical, Rob Shearman

Thief of Lives, Lucy Sussex

Eclipse 4, edited by Jonathan Strahan

Fantasy & Science Fiction

Debris, Jo Anderton

The Last Stormlord, Glenda Larke

Stormlord Rising, Glenda Larke

Stormlord's Exile, Glenda Larke

The Female Man, Joanna Russ

Deathless, Catherynne Valente

Among Others, Jo Walton

Alcestis, Katherine Beutner

The Business of Death, Trent Jamieson

The Courier's New Bicycle, Kim Westwood

Zoo City, Lauren Beukes

All Men of Genius, Lev A.C. Rosen

God's War, Kameron Hurley

Snuff, Terry Pratchett

Non-Fiction AKA the Doctor Who tie in category

Running Through Corridors Vol. 1, Rob Shearman & Toby Hadoke

The Big Finish Companion Vol. 1, Richard Dinnick

Audio Books

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, read by Lenny Henry

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, read by Celia Imrie

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs

Thud by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs

Favourite Books I read with my 6 year old

Five Go On A Hike Together, Enid Blyton

The Naughtiest Girl in School, Enid Blyton

Alice Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

2011: A Year in Reading (Graphic Novels Edition)

It's New Year's Eve and I'm curled up with my family watching the animated adventures of Batman. As you do. It seems oddly appropriate considering how my year in reading ended up!

In September, it looked unlikely that I'd even hit 100 books read this year, let alone equal the 120 books I read in 2010. But then I took an interest in the DC Reboot, and one of my best friends rediscovered comics and started raving about the Ultimate Spiderman, and one thing led to another, and my house spontaneously filled with graphic novels.

So, yes. My total books read for the year is 143. Of which 61 are graphic novels/manga, all but one of which were consumed in the last three months. YEAH BABY.

Let's talk about those first. I'll do a separate post about the actual prose books, for those people (cough, Alisa) who aren't interested in comic books.

My stand out graphic novels/trade paperbacks for the year were:

Justice League: Generation Lost #1 & #2, by Keith Giffen & Judd Winick with art by Kevin Maguire, Aaron Loprecki & others. This was a just and fitting coda to the glorious Justice League International that was retrospectively ripped up and spat on by a variety of DC creators. It doesn't make up for the death of Ted Kord but it's still a fine, powerful story that shows that the real value of Justice League International wasn't (just) the bwa-ha-ha humour, but the characters of that era. I particularly liked the way Fire and Ice have been re-imagined over the years to become stronger characters, though I did find the girlie-body-in-armour pages hilarious.

speaking of which…

Justice League International #1-4, by Keith Giffen, J.M. Matteis & various artists. When I first heard these were trades now, I was dismissive, because I have a filing cabinet full of single issues. But then I remembered that I have GAPS, damn it, and I couldn't resist. Re-reading these, with my occasional missing issue gloriously present, has been a great joy of the last few months. I'll be ordering more!

Power Girl: A New Beginning & Power Girl: Aliens and Apes, by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, with art by Amanda Conner. Thanks again to Grant for recommending these, it's a lovely run that sums up the character I enjoyed in the 90′s and manages to balance so many important elements of her character and backstory into a dignified whole. The sense of humour and the feminism in the writing and the art is fantastic and I'm only sad they didn't stay on the book longer. It feels like a complete piece over the 2 volumes, though.

Ultimate Spiderman Vol. One (Peter Parker) #1-#10, written by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils by Mark Bagley. Damn, this is a good comic. This one was pushed on me by my friend Iz, who read them all through the library and is now acquiring the GNs at a rate of knots. I love it to bits. This Peter Parker is basically the male version of Buffy, and it's interesting to me that it was written concurrently to that show, and reflects so many of the same themes and issues. The women in the ensemble are fantastic, crunchy characters and I have a particular attachment to the Ultimate Gwen Stacy, who is an amazing, well-rounded character. Also this has to be the best version of Aunt May ever. This is the comic that got me reading Marvel, and the Marvel Ultimates universe in particular.

Questionable Content #2, written & drawn by Jeph Jacques – My only complaint is that they're not putting out the trades of this great webcomic faster! One a year is not quite enough for me. Having reread the series at least twice before, I am very much enjoying re-reading it again in this format, with commentary, and this is certainly a key era for the Questionable Content gang, especially Faye, my favourite character. Probably my favourite. I do like that basically this is the story of a skinny indie boy who doesn't get it together with his best friend, and while not getting together with her, slowly gathers a huge group of amazing, interesting female friends, very few of whom he wants to sleep with. It had a few uneven moments in the early days (a couple of rape jokes, for example) but has grown into a splendid, female-friendly soap opera about people who sell coffee (of doom) and people who drink coffee (equally doomed).

Runaways (Vol 1, the entire first run of 18 issues), written by Brian K Vaughn, art by Adrian Alphona – what a cool comic series! The premise is great, about a diverse, misfit gang of teenagers who discover that their parents are super villains, and run away so as not to be part of their schemes, but the characterisation and the writing (and the gorgeous art) rises to become a memorable and powerful book that shows how good graphic storytelling can be. I especially liked the feminist & anti-sexist touches, and the portrayal of the female characters in particular. From what I've heard, some things happen in the later volumes of this book that make me less keen to continue, as this had a perfect ending in any case, but I might suck it up at some point and pursue the later storylines just because… I love these characters so much!

She-Hulk #4, Rules of Attraction, written by Dan Slott – this clever story of a female lawyer at a firm that deals with superhero cases (who happens to sometimes turn green and super-muscled) completely sold me on Jennifer/She-Hulk and I'm now busily tracking down more of this particular run of She-Hulk, and other recommended runs with this character. She's marvellous – powerful and intelligent, and I like that her version of the Hulk powers is so much less destructive, to the point where she is almost willing to spend her whole life in the She-Hulk body. As long as she gets to carry her brief case too. I love her!

Powers #1: Who Killed Retro Girl? by Brian Michael Bendis, pencils by Michael Avon Oeming, a film noir style police procedural about how the cops deal with superhero crime. I liked the central characters of this very much, especially the spunky Deena Pilgrim, and the world is detailed and interesting enough to make me want to check out other books in this series.

The Ultimates & Ultimates 2, written by Mark Millar, art by Bryan Hitch – this is the series that, finally, made me care about the Avengers. A gritty, intelligent take on a militarised super team which doesn't pull punches about the fact that Iron Man is an alcoholic, the Wasp and Giant/Ant-Man have serious marital issues, Bruce Banner is a selfish arsehole (regardless of whether he is the Hulk or not), Captain America is basically your grandpa in the body of an underwear model, Thor is (possibly) crazy, Betty Ross has… issues, and don't get me started about Black Widow! All this, threaded through with a snarky sense of humour, and Nick Fury is Samuel L Jackson long before he actually was played by Samuel L Jackson.



The Ultimate Fantastic Four, written by Mark Millar & Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis & others, art by Adam Kubert and Stuart Immonen – I've never been remotely interested in the Fantastic Four, and the fact that they are awesome and crunchy and strange in the Ultimate universe just goes to show what a great universe it is. I really like the teen SFnal aspect of this and the bright, mostly blue artwork.

Batgirl (vol. 3, Stephanie Brown) – Batgirl Rising & Batgirl: the Flood, by Bryan Q Miller – okay I've already used up my 'it's like Buffy' card, but it's hard not to love an action adventure series about a snarky blonde who fights crime and goes to college and has a hardworking single Mom. I've missed Steph's various runs as Robin and Spoiler but oh, I love her as Batgirl. Also as a Birds of Prey fan of old, I really like this portrayal of Oracle as Steph's mentor. The big surprise was Damien Wayne, a character I was determined to loathe, who turns out to be psychopathically adorable. Like if Angelus was Buffy's 10 year old adopted brother instead of the evil side of her immortal boyfriend! Yeah, that. Hanging out for the rest of this run.

Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation, by Gail Simone – this one's just weird. It's a very dark, very twisted take on the superhero team, featuring characters that are so far into anti-hero that they're out the other side. And I love it. There are lesbians (actual lesbians!) and crazy people and all manner of villainous comrades, but most of all, there is banter. Simone is the queen of dark-edged banter, and this book is a great vessel for her talents. It's WEIRD.

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, adapted from the C.S. Lewis original by Robin Lawrie – I hesitate to recommend this one, because it's going to be all but impossible for anyone to get their hands on, as it's from the 90′s and barely makes a dent in Google. It's a wonderful, faithful adaption with packed information on every page, an old fashioned illustrative style, and a whole lot of verbatim quotes from the novel. I read this one with Raeli over about 7 bedtime stories and it was a marvellous experience for us both.

Thor: the Mighty Avenger Vol 1: The God Who Fell To Earth, written by Roger Langridge, art by Chris Samnee – this is just lovely. It's a lot like the movie but the lack of half naked Chris Hemsworth in the mud is made up for by a Jane who makes sense! She's a lovely character, a historian running a museum, and this is basically a slightly mad romantic comedy about the Norse God who crashes into her life.

Catwoman: Crooked Little Town, by Ed Brubaker – I like this version of Catwoman a lot, with her gritty noir world, her leather catsuit and her independent style. I'm not overly keen on Catwoman as a vigilante (shades of Helena Wayne!) as I do prefer classic catburglar Catwoman, but as vigilante Catwomans go, this one is pretty awesome.

UPDATE: I realised going through my book list that I forgot to include two graphic novels I read far earlier in the year: the extraordinary Fun Home & The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, written and drawn by Alison Bechdel, which are the best non-fantastical comics that I think I will ever read. Brilliant stuff.

In single issues, I especially enjoyed the new DC 52 versions of Batgirl, Batwoman, JLI, Blue Beetle, Superboy and the Huntress mini-series, as well as some older issues of Zatanna. At Marvel I liked the first few issues of the Miles Morales Ultimate Spiderman. With my six-year old daughter, I have been delighted with individual issues of Tiny Titans, Teen Titans Go! and the Cosmic Adventures of Supergirl, all on the iPad.

Now, other books. There were some!

The Shape of 2011 (how it was)

Wow, I've been all gung ho and planningy in previous years, haven't I! Maybe I've mellowed. Last year I made a stab at what the shape of 2011 would look like. Presented here with comments as to how it actually was.

1. Page proofs and copy edits to be done for Shattered City and Reign of Beasts

Done and done! Quite early, really, because the date was pushed back for scheduling reasons and yet the book itself was pretty much ready months ago.

2. Write a first draft of Fury, before ROR in September.

We moved ROR to January 2012, but I finished the draft of Fury before Nanowrimo, so that was on schedule.

3. Send in proposal for Fury to my agent to sell before it's finished.

I did this, but we (my agent & publisher) agreed it would be best to take it back and only formally submit when there was a full manuscript, because let's face it, it wasn't a happy year for book sales in Australia.

4. Volunteer regularly at Raeli's school

Fell down completely on this one, at least as far as helping her class goes! I felt bad about it, but I had so little Jem-free time to work, and it didn't happen at all. Still, I felt I had a much better relationship to her teacher this year after the calamity of the previous year, and I did sign up to join the School Association, so have been volunteering in that way. It feels like cheating because it's half a dozen evening meetings a year rather than regularly turning up in Little Miss's classroom to practice reading with them, but it's a job that has to be done and being the nosy person that I am, I do rather like being in on some of the school's admin decisions.

5. Launch Shattered City in April and do my best to contribute to & support the publicity for the book.

Done! We had a lovely launch, and I did what I could about the publicity side of it, though it didn't help that we had a royal wedding the week of my launch, plus a natural disaster or two that month, so getting radio time proved… impossible. Still, there was always:

6. Swancon in April!

This was such a fantastic convention, one of my favourite in many years. The programme was strong, and varied. The hotel felt decadent and professional. I didn't get to spend much time with the ever-harried Alisa, but Alex and I managed lots of bonding time thanks to sharing a room, and I got to hang out with some wonderful people. I was pleased to get to be in-person with Chris, Kathryn, Nick & Amanda and to cement several other long distance friendships. The crown of the whole event was the surreal and wonderful Ditmar ceremony, at which a whole bunch of projects I am associated with were honoured, and I was delighted to accept Best Novel for Power and Majesty. The only down side of the event was being away from my toddler for the first time, which was hard on me, and I did rather fall apart when Virgin cancelled my flight ensured our separation would last an extra day. I will be ever grateful to the friends who scooped me up and kept me company in that horrible hour while I was coming to terms with it. Still, I got the chance to stay for the closing ceremony, which I would have missed if my flight had happened, and to see Alisa thanked and praised for pulling off such a fabulous event. (let us not mention the fact that I almost missed my replacement flight, or the hideous all-night experience of actually getting home)

7. My quartet of stories from Twelfth Planet Press – publishing date is to be announced but I am hoping for this year, and will do my best to contribute to & support the publicity for the book.

Love and Romanpunk! Hard to imagine that it was barely even announced this time last year. I am so, so proud of this book, and the response I have had to the stories, especially "The Patrician," has been beyond gratifying. It definitely justifies the idea to me that you should write what you love. I wouldn't have this book, or have even got around to writing most of the stories, if not for Alisa and Twelfth Planet Press. I'm so proud to be part of the 12P series.

8. ROR in September!

Postponed to January

9. Launch Reign of Beasts in October (subject to publishing dates staying the same) and do my best to contribute to & support the publicity for the book.

Postponed to February! The very beginning of Feb, though, and I am delighted to have begged & borrowed goodwill to make this event collide with ROR. It means a lot to me to have Rowena launching my book, after all the advice and support she has offered me over the years.



10. Double the number of Galactic Suburbia podcasts we have out there.

Yes! We had 22 and now we have 49. Plus we started Galactic Chat (which we have neglected a bit lately, but will come back when the world has need of it!).

11. Make regular time for craft projects and quilting, because it makes me happy.

Not enough of this in 2011 though I have made mini quilts for the girls walls, and been working on a larger project. I'd like to sew more in 2012.



12. Read for enjoyment and perspective on the field rather than playing a numbers game this year. But having said that…

Ha well yes, I did that, and then the Tiptree jury came along which was one of my blindingly surprising joys of the year. So lots of perspective on the field this year. I didn't think I was going to get anywhere near 100 books this year but then the graphic novel obsession came along – which I am glad for, as it has put the fun back into my reading. And I'm not going to pretend it's not satisfying to have so many titles on my Reading Log!

13. I want to get started on the Read Agatha Christie In Order project! Kathryn, are you still up for joining me? I had a sack of the things delivered from a friend's collection…

Yay, we did this! We have let it lapse a bit lately though, and I need to get back into reading them regularly. I have enjoyed it so far, as there is a lot more to Christie's early works than I had imagined.



14. Write something that surprises me.

I certainly did this – I comfortably hit my Nanowrimo target with a combination of my Shakespeare Necromancy book which continues to surprise me, and also with the unexpected bonus of a co-written project with my friend Kate, which is a fun foray into the world of YA. With teen ghosts. Probably the writing which most surprised me, though, was the short story "Taking Leaves" which I wrote for a competition I would not normally think to enter (it sounding awfully literary) and not only hit the deadline under tough parenting-related-conditions but won one of the cash prizes. Huzzah for writing outside the box! I'd like to do a bit more of this, working outside my comfort zone.

There were other unexpected things in 2011. Raeli and her soccer team. Jemima going from barely saying a word or two to a full on rattle of words, words, words, words, sentences, imperatives. Mostly imperatives. Also, she's not Jem at all, as it turns out, but Mima. Jem still feels natural to type when I write about her, but she is Mima all the way. Comics. Not only did I & my friend Iz descend back into the crazy of DC Comics, we enabled each other in learning all about Marvel too, and our eldest children followed suit.

I was unexpectedly whisked to the Aurealis Awards by my publisher to help out with the awards presentations, which means an overnight stay in Sydney (so jetsetting) and then I went and won one of the things, which was a surprise and delight. I finally got to meet Nicola, the editor who helped make The Creature Court what it is. I also got to spend the morning after hanging out with Millie on the ferries, which was lovely. So much meeting of long distance friends, last year!

I'm mostly talking about the positives, which is what I tend to do on the blogs. There were sadnesses last year too. There have been dark moments for some of our family members. My Dad lost his best friend, which was rough on him and the people around him. Geoffrey Dean was not just a loss to his loved ones, but to the Hobart writing community.

Babies were born, too – one of my dearest friends acquired a nephew and another a niece, in the last month of the year. Another close friend is sending her youngest to school next year, so that's another milestone.

It's been a happy year for our girls, and I hope for another like it.

Peering at 2012

Well, obviously it's going to be a brilliant year!

Our January is packed already, and I'm determined to make the most of my last long summer with my daughters (Tasmania is going to 4 terms next year, so the summer holiday will be more of a punctuation point and less of a long, lazy sprawl). Raeli turns seven (SEVEN) and my godson Felix turns four (SERIOUSLY, FOUR?) before the end of the month. There will be parties.

Then there is ROR, a week of critiquing and industry chatter with some of my favourite writing people, right at the end of January, culminating in The Very Much Launch of Reign of Beasts Book Three of the Creature Court on the 2nd February.

The book I'm taking to ROR is Fury, book one of a proposed Nancy Napoleon series. I'm allowing myself 1-2 months afterwards to knock the book into post-ROR extra shiny shape, and then sending it off to my publisher to see if they're interested in taking another twirl around the dance floor with me.

And then… well, then I wait. Because after a year of grants and publishing deadlines, I'm fancy free for the rest of the year. It's… exciting and alarming. Given that I'm not going to start work on Nancy #2 until I have a publisher secured for her, I can write anything I want.

So there are plans, but they are nebulous, and multiple-layered, so I can bend to the wind. Anything I work on has to be dropped like a hot potato if Nancy comes up trumps, and if she doesn't… well, I need to have the next thing up and running, and if that doesn't work, the next thing…

I'd like to produce at least one publishable full length manuscript (not counting Fury) and one publishable children's chapter book this year. That's my plan. But I'm not 100% sure which books those will be.

And I have to do it without exterior deadlines. So deep breaths and inspiration at the ready. GO!

In the rest of my life… well, I still have a few more months to serve on the Tiptree jury, and we're getting to the crunchy end of that, so more reading for me. I am planning to have a good go at the Australian Women Writers Reading Challenge 2012. And Last Short Story, of course.

But apart from those things (heh, I KNOW) I want my reading to be fairly loose and unstructured, and my main reading goal for the year is to focus on reducing my criminally enormous To Read Shelf to something a little less likely to collapse on visitors. Which probably means reading & seeking out a lot less in the way of the New Cool. So don't publish any awesome books this year, okay, guys?

Travel-wise my honey and I are keen to make it to the Natcon in Melbourne, because my Mum thinks she is up to taking BOTH GIRLS for a long weekend (or that she will be by the middle of June) which means we could be out on our own for the first time in, well, seven years, basically. We haven't broken it to Raeli yet, though, who had a lovely time at Worldcon and has mythologised Melbourne in her head to an alarming degree.

And apart from that our important job for the year is to keep to a budget, something we've been shocking about in previous years. But if we're going to make it to World Fantasy in Brighton 2013, that means being sensible about money now. Especially if I want to keep my second daycare day for the next two years, before Jem starts kinder. Eek.

So… I don't really know what the majority of this year will bring. But I'm hoping for shiny wonders and domestic calmness.

Pratchett's Women VI: Pole Dancers, Goblin Girls, and the Family Man

Thud, by Terry Pratchett

Snuff, by Terry Pratchett

(spoilers for both abound below)

I know I read Thud when it came out. But this was the early days of motherhood when my memory retention was out the window, and the days of re-reading were gone forever… I know I read this book, but I'm pretty sure it was a speedy, uninvolved reading. It had to be. Because there is no other excuse for me not realising before now that this is SO GOOD.

For a start, this is the best Angua novel since Feet of Clay – and I think it might actually be better, in the attention given to her character. I like that she and Carrot have been allowed now to settle into a comfortable relationship without any stupid plotty dramas being thrown in to artificially shake it up. I also like that her main plotline for this novel revolves around a relationship/wary dislike/friendship with another female character.

But Sybil also gets to shine in this book, despite her new motherhood which can often cause a female character to disappear into the background, or lose all characteristics apart from those to do with her child (as, for instance, happens to Magrat in the Witches novels).

Then there's Cheery, who doesn't get a subplot or even a subplotlet to herself, but remains awesome, cute and gets to play with the other girls.

Discworld Doodles I, fan art by AndLatitude

There are two new women of note introduced in Thud, of which I assume one is going to be a continuing character, and the other probably isn't. Salacia Delorisista Amanita Trigestrata Zeldana Malifee (etc.) von Humpeding, Sally for short, is the first vampire that Vimes has allowed into the Watch, and I was really pleased that he decided to do this plotline with a female character. Sally is a good contrast to all the other female characters in and around the Watch and I thought it was particularly interesting that, while she looks young, her age was cited as 50 (most vampires tend to be a lot older or a lot younger in fiction) and it seemed to me like her apparently effortless confidence could as easily be because of her age as much as being a vampire.

Angua finds herself reacting badly to Sally, and at first I was wary about the female jealousy/competitiveness trope being trotted out here, but Pratchett was at pains in the narrative to show that this is very much about a natural werewolf reaction to a vampire, rather than anything gender-based. Still, a lot of cliches about the 'new girl' do flit through the story, particularly with Sally's attraction to Carrot.

However, the depth with which we see Angua's reactions and her thought processes go beyond the usual ways I see this trope carried out in fiction. Angua is constantly interrogating how she feels about Sally, and Sally is as it turns out, neither a completely innocent sweetheart, nor a vixen out to steal Angua's man. She's just a person. I was particularly impressed that Pratchett showed us Carrot's attractiveness through Sally's eyes, as that's usually the final hurdle of straight men trying to write the female gaze, and depicting female lust for a hot bloke is a rare thing in a) fantasy fiction generally and b) the Discworld in particular.

fan art of Angua by rubendevela on Deviant Art

Sally and Angua's partnership and the uneasy alliance between them made for great reading, and I couldn't believe that I had in fact forgotten this entire character development, or indeed the character of Sally altogether.

The other new female character we have, Tawneee, Nobby's pole dancer girlfriend, who comes to the aid of the women in the Watch, and consequently becomes far more integral to their story to that of Nobby. When Sally takes Angua, Cheery and Tawneee on a girl's night out to thank Tawnee for her assistance, they get to know her as a person, and deal with the elephant in the room, which is basically how a strange little person like Nobby (whose bizarre appearance is really nothing compared to his bewildering personality) could attract, well, such a hot girlfriend.

I was in two minds about this plot, because it relied on a lot of cliche aspects that I feel are a bit dated, or should remain in US sitcoms, and I was a bit uncomfortable with the way the girls were so quick to suggest that Tawneee basically could do better than Nobby. (The main topic of their girls night out is the "jerk" syndrome, whereby some women are so preternaturally attractive that no "normal" man is likely to get up the nerve to ask them out, so only shrubby guys are are too dumb or "jerky" to know the girl is out of their league will ask them out, and by that stage the girl is so lacking in self confidence that she'll take anyone)

Yeah. It's all a bit… Sex and the City, and I raised my eyebrows a lot about it. Ultimately, though, the way that Tawneee and Nobby resolved their relationship made me feel better about it, and it was kind of nice to see the women of the Watch bonding so successfully. I hope to see lots more of Sally in future! [note, I wrote this before reading Snuff, in which it turns out she's not a continuing character at all, or at least one of note in the City Watch books. Damn it!]

Sybil sadly was not invited to the girl's night out, but that's perhaps understandable as she has a baby to deal with. As with the previous book, the presence of Young Sam is more important to Vimes' character development than anyone else's, he being the main character. Thud in particular has a tight focus on Vimes' changing priorities now that he is a dad. I was a little bit irritated on Sybil's behalf that we are shown how he still ducks and weaves his responsibilities as a husband, while being so utterly awesome about his responsibilities as a dad. On the other hand, once you have a baby that's kind of the way around you'd choose to have it… and Sybil herself tends to figure out ways to balance her husband's time constraints with her own needs, as shown at the end where she gives up on the idea of a painted portrait and goes for a photograph instead.

Still, Vimes is an excellent dad, and the exploration of how he balances his workaholic ways with his commitment to reading The Story to his son at bedtime is emotionally compelling. Pratchett released a gorgeous picture book, Where's My Cow? that ties in with Thud and became my partner's official Daddy book to read to our daughter for a good couple of years – and basically is all about the importance of reading to your kids.

Sybil doesn't disappear into mumhood, either – I very much liked how her intelligence and insight is raised repeatedly through this story, and how her own cultural interests prove to be so useful to the plot – her knowledge of dwarf language is mentioned again, and her teenage fascination with art and geometry proves vital to the resolution of the story. She insists on joining Sam on his journey towards the end, not just because she wants herself and Young Sam to be near him, but also because she's not going to let him go off to Koom Valley on his own when it has been a lifelong dream of hers to go.

I also liked the way that Sybil sees herself as a robust woman. This was something I enjoyed about her previous appearances, when Vimes first wondered whether her pregnancy was likely to be safe, and she gave him a lecture on how her family were basically bred to breed successfully. Sadly this was dented a little back in Night Watch when her robustness was sacrificed for a bit of narrative 'WOMAN IN LABOUR PANIC' for the sake of tension.

Here in Thud, when Sybil and her son in particular come under attack, she is shown to be vulnerable but strong, and again cites the traditions of her family. Considering how often aristocratic women in history and fantasy are portrayed as frail, fainting waifs, who can barely survive a cold (as opposed to those rough, tough peasant women with babies on their backs) I always enjoy it when Sybil relishes her own family history as precedent for her own resilience, strength and general awesomeness.

When I first heard the title of the latest Pratchett novel, Snuff, I did wonder if it might be the last. Sadly, every time a new Discworld novel comes out now (and I do think there will probably be at least one more) we're going to be thinking that.

This one would certainly have been worthy, if it was. It feels as much as an epilogue and coda for the Vimes (and guards) novels as I Shall Wear Midnight was for the witches. It's very likely that this is the last City Watch novel, given how few new Discworld novels we can hope for now (though I would be delighted to be proved wrong).

It's a very good Sam Vimes novel, and takes his character to new places, something I wouldn't have thought possible. It is also, quite excellently, a good Sybil Vimes novel, and I was intrigued to see that Vimes's love, desire and respect for his wife is articulated more clearly in this novel than previously, where his actions have mostly spoken for his feelings.

Vimes feels done at this point, as a character. His interactions with Feeney Upshot, the young local constable in the village of Ramkin Manor, are notably different to his previous mentoring stories, because Upshot already has the right ideas in his head – largely because he has read Vimes' speeches from afar. The character's legend has spread to the point where he isn't necessarily needed in person to make change in the world – and of course, as we see, he's not always the right man for the job. He can, on occasion, take a holiday. Even if it's a policeman's holiday. I suspect this is where we will be leaving him, and if so, it's a good place to end.

fan art by Tregetour on Tumblr

Once again, Vimes' developing relationship with his son Young Sam is front and centre in the story, with added bonus male bonding with Willikins the butler, a character who has developed dramatically since his first appearance, and whose friendship with his 'master' is now essential to these stories.

Snuff does, however, give us little of the usual supporting characters – it notably offers an epilogue style resolution for Sgt Colon and Nobby, but hardly uses Cheery, Angua, Carrot or any other City Watch characters. Sally isn't even mentioned. But then it's not, actually, a City Watch novel at all – it's a Vimes one. Despite that, we're a long way from the male-centric Guards! Guards! Apart from Sybil's splendid contributions, Snuff also offers a wealth of varied and interesting female characters in supporting roles.

The theme of Snuff ties in with what has basically has become the signature theme of all Vimes novels from Men At Arms onwards: Vimes learns to overcome his prejudices about a particular type of person/creature and subsequently becomes their champion in the universe. In this case, it's goblins.

We meet Miss Beedle, a thinly veiled avatar of a certain Ms Rowling (with perhaps a side helping of Andy Griffiths) in our universe, an acclaimed children's author who has taught kids everywhere to be fascinated with poo. When not writing famous novels, though, she is secretly tutoring the young women of the much despised goblins in the ways of civilisation so that they can hopefully pass things on to their children and change the world.

The local toffs have their own smuggling operation, and as well as supplying deadly drugs for trolls, they are also responsible for treating goblins as vermin and shipping them out of the village as slaves. While the son of recurring villain/antagonist Lord Rust is supposed to be the main antagonist of this group of aristocrats who believe they are above the law, it's actually the ruthless female magistrate "Mrs Colonel" who comes across as the most compelling, creepy and awash in her own entitlement of the group.

As Vimes discovers the horrible way that goblins are treated, his way of dealing with it is by law, arresting people, upsetting the upper classes and generally causing havoc. But while he is desperate to make the world bend to his newly found perspective on how people the goblins are, it's Sybil who actually goes about making change, while her husband is leaping around on riverboats, pursuing slavers and murderers.

Snuff fan art by alicia-mb on Tumblr

Very quietly, with mass writing of letters and gently persuasive words, Sybil stages a public event in Ankh Morpork, attended by aristocrats, culture lovers and ambassadors of all kinds, and displays the beautiful music played by a young goblin woman. Tears of the Mushroom breaks all manner of hearts, affecting even Lord Vetinari, and a great thing is achieved.

The combination of Sybil and Vimes, in other words, is where things really get diabolical.

I also enjoyed, in Snuff, the casual drive by female characters, the type that never seemed to turn up in the early Discworld novels unless they were sexy or scary. The gaggle of daughters waiting for husbands, to whom Vimes gives a lecture about finding a useful path in the world, could have represented an awful and patriarchal mansplaining situation, but I felt it was mitigated by the fact that the girls' mother and Sybil had orchestrated his presence precisely so that his plainspoken habits could put a bomb under the crinolines.

There was a sly moment at the end where, Vimes having got rid of Lord Rust's corrupt son, Vetinari not happy about him being replaced as heir by his sister Regina: "Frankly, I was looking forward to dealing with the son, who is an ignorant, arrogant, pompous idiot, but his sister? She is smart!" I also took pleasure in Vetinari's on going (silent) battle with the lady who designs the crossword puzzles in the Times. Considering that he is a character usually surrounded by other men (except with the Aunt in Night Watch and when Lady Sybil decides to have a firm word with Havelock) it was nice to see him have a female nemesis for once. Too much to hope this is foreshadowing for the 40th Discworld book?

I'm heading back to the witches for my next Pratchett's Women post, then probably looking at the Susan Sto-Helit books. But if you have a favourite you'd like me to consider reviewing soon, let me know!

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Previous posts in this series:

Pratchett's Women: The Boobs, The Bad and the Broomsticks

Pratchett's Women II – Slash! Stab! A Lesson in Practical Queening in Lords and Ladies

Pratchett's Women III – Werewolf Glamour and the Sexing of Dwarves in Guards, Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay

Pratchett's Women IV: His Henpecked Voice in Jingo & The Fifth Elephant

Pratchett's Women V: The Seamstress Redemption in Night Watch

Friday Linklets

A little one today because, funnily enough, many people have been a bit too busy to blog much this week, and most of the best blog posts I've read have been of the 'summing up the year' variety that are only worth reading if you follow that blog regularly.

Over at Last Short Story, we've been posting our lists of best short stories for 2011. You can read about the opinions of Sarah, Mondy, me, Alisa and Alex.

Sarah Rees Brennan has written a marvellous, loving parody of Jane Eyre, Or: The Bride of Edward 'Crazypants' Rochester and it turns out that she loves Press Gang, too! I knew our tastes were eternally intertwined. I'm so looking forward to both of Sarah's new novels, to be released this year.

On a more serious note, Alisa wrote about her response to the Lovecraft-representing-World-Fantasy discussion, as a Jewish woman who recently won a World Fantasy Award and only learned about Lovecraft's racism and anti-semitism recently.

UPDATE: Excellent, crunchy post about the awards system by the ever-sharp Ursula K Le Guin.

And yes, that's basically it. Onwards to 2012! May there be linking frenzies, flamewars and feminist rage, as well as adorable music vids. That is what the internet is for, after all.