Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 140
June 28, 2011
The Power of Hoodoo, Who Do? You do!
Emily Asher-Perrin on Tor.com wrote a lovely post about the 25th anniversary of Labyrinth, one of my all time favourite films! I think she pretty much sums it up with "they don't make films like that any more."
It was years before I rewatched Labyrinth after seeing it in the cinema, but I had a graphic novel version of it which I pored over repeatedly.
I also had the soundtrack. This was probably the first soundtrack to a movie that I ever owned, until Beauty and the Beast came along many years later. I listened to it over and over, despite the fact that much of the music is quite chillingly surrealist. I still think it's one of the best all time movie soundtracks, completely cohesive. It's also I think the only movie soundtrack I have ever bought in more than one format.
Okay, apart from Beauty and the Beast. But I really do need to get hold of Little Shop of Horrors on something other than audio cassette…
The first outfit I bought for my daughter (the only outfit I bought before she was born) was a red striped suit, like Toby wore in the movie. I did not actually want her to be stolen by the goblins, but it was a really cute outfit.
I cannot hear any criticism of Labyrinth. Even the cheesy bits are awesome. It is a truly magical piece of work, from beginning to end. Performances, design, script, everything. Except the 30 seconds at the beginning with the stepmother, who cannot act.
One of the greatest joys of my life is that my daughter loves this movie. Another joy is that my younger daughter is yet to experience it. We have that to look forward to! For all the marvellous special effects they can conjure up these days, no one has yet produced a fantasy movie to match Labyrinth for design, character, story, concept, music design and heart.
So thank you Jim Henson, Brian Froud, Wendy Froud, Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, and everyone else who made this movie. I loved it before it was a cult classic. But it makes me extra happy that it has aged so well, and that it's still so watchable today.
June 27, 2011
Peacemaker!
Marianne de Pierres is one of the most inspiring writers in my life. She's not only a great mentor and friend, but she is a writer who constantly challenges herself to try something new, and different, never confining herself to a single career track.
Marianne writes crime, science fiction, fantasy, YA, and has now come up with something completely different and exciting – a webcomic called Peacemaker, which combines westerns and science fiction with an Aussie twist, and a hint of sexy paranormal romance. Urban cowpunk, maybe? Marianne is working with award-winning Brigitte Sutherland, who has produced some beautiful art for the project. You can buy the first issue for 99 (Aussie!) cents at Marianne's website, and sales from this first issue will go towards funding Issue 2 and beyond. So if a comic like this, produced by two super talented women, is something you think you might be interested in, grab it now!
Marianne's press release:
Acclaimed Australian author, Marianne de Pierres, and award-winning comic artist,
Brigitte Sutherland, have teamed up to produce a new and exciting online comic.
Entitled Peacemaker, the web-comic combines the supernatural, the futuristic, the
Wild West and the Australian landscape in an exotic blend of storytelling.
Peacemaker introduces readers to park ranger, Virgin Jackson, and US cowboy, Nate Sixkiller. Dead bodies, missing spiritualists, an imaginary eagle and a wholly psychotic businessman, Joachim Spears, are just some of the things that force the two into an uneasy alliance to save Park Western from being closed. Trapped in the heart of a sprawling Australian super city, Park Western is the only piece of natural landscape left in the entire country, and Virgin will do anything to preserve it.
Marianne de Pierres has won awards for her science fiction and crime novels and had her work adapted for RPG and animation. Peacemaker is the result of Marianne's long term romance with Westerns, which started many years ago when her father gave her a copy of Light of the Western Stars by Zane Grey. It was only a matter of time before she wrote one herself.
Brigitte Sutherland's award-winning comic art has featured in numerous anthologies across the world. Brigitte recently released her first creator-owned graphic novel, The Adventures of a Homunculus. Peacemaker allows UK–based Sutherland to share the beauty of the land she grew up in while indulging in high adventures starring a sassy heroine!
Peacemaker is available for download from de Pierres' website. There are plans for a limited edition soft-cover to follow. It is published under de Pierres' own branded creative co-op, MDPWeb.
June 25, 2011
Of Jam and Valets
It's amazing how fast it returns. A week of writing 1000 words a day, and it's already feeling a lot easier, both to sit down at the computer, and to stay there for the full 1000 words without getting all twitchy and restless. The book is coming easier, and I've solved some major problems with it that had been bugging me for a while. Funny how writing a book actually makes the book, you know, get written. It's a foolproof method, really.
Jem's speech, which had been lagging behind her climbing, hugging and animal impressionistic skills, has recently been coming on in leaps and bounds. She has two two-word phrases now, 'more toast' and 'Doctorrrrooo' (generally while pointing at any pictures of well dressed Englishmen). We have also discovered that 'jam' and 'yum' are indistinguishable terms. Her favourite so far is quince jelly.
The cutest thing in the universe may very well be when I ask whether the girls want cereal or toast for breakfast, Raeli says 'both!' and Jem echoes, 'bofe!' These are the things which do not last, and need to be pinned down in memory.
Also this week I have inhaled the entirety of Downton Abbey, thanks to the encouragement of @zeft as well as the rest of the internet.
It's a simply glorious costume drama, like several years of Upstairs Downstairs distilled into seven incredibly plot-rich stories. I love the complex characters (very few out and out villains, though many of them are villains to a selected handful), the focus on domestic drama and social detail, and the gorgeous frocks. Also, Mary's eyebrows, which are a character in their own right.
I do love the younger characters, especially the trio of daughters. but it took many of them several episodes to grow on me. It's the older characters who really sing in this show, with lovely crunchy roles like Mr Bates the damaged valet with a secret past, and the war of queens between the Dowager Countess Violet (Maggie Smith) and the intelligent, infering Mrs Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton). Oh, and the butler. Truly the best of butlers!
I came away from it wanting to write and/or read an Edwardian house drama with magic. For now I am holding off cravings by listening to an audio drama of The Forsyte Saga, my favourite historical family saga of all time. I still love it, but can't help feeling it would be much improved by a magic system, and possibly some manticores.
Reading-wise I have been making my way through How The Dead See, the new Pufferfish novel by David Owen. I've always loved this Tasmanian police procedural series, partly because of the use of so many familiar details and setting, but mostly because of the protagonist, cranky old fat DI Franz Heineken (called Pufferfish by his colleagues but never to his face except by the woman he loves). I have a deep if select love for cranky, witty, macho detective stories, with added food porn. Considering that the last Puff book was published 14 years ago, what I found most interesting about this one were the modern touches, and the details about how policework and indeed crime has changed over the years. Plus of course I was hoping to get my brain into more of a noiry crimey place for more effective Nancy Napoleon writing. Which worked just fine until I OD'd on costume drama. If Nancy ends up in a crinoline, blame @zeft!
In feminist SF news (there always has to be a bit!) Kirstyn McDermott located an online copy of "When It Changed," the short story we'll be reading and discussing for our next Joanna Russ special episode of Galactic Suburbia, along with The Female Man and How To Suppress Women's Writing. It's a fantastic story, and well worth either a read or re-read. Check it out! (and hooray for the SciFi.Com archive)
June 23, 2011
It's the Friday Link Person!
(Thanks to Helen Merrick for knowing this picture was something I needed to see)
It's Friday! I wrote 5000 words this week! Smug, cheerful and almost caught up with the week's tasks. To make up for being so disgustingly pleased with myself, I present Friday links!
Via my Mum, who tries regularly to catch me out by knowing something on the internet before I do, and almost always crashes and burns, an interview with a new young Doctor Who writer, Tom McRae, who is not only contributing to the most mysterious episode of the next half of this season, but also is staging an interactive Doctor Who play for little ones. Who believe in Santa.
Jeff VanderMeer presents Women of the Supernatural: A Tartarus Press Sampler, which looks gorgeous, and features a story by Australia's own Angela Slatter. Kudos to Angela, it's not every day you share a TOC with Edith Wharton.
I think we were a little dismissive of the Pottermore announcement last night on Galactic Suburbia (and Twitter, and and and). Some other perspectives: Hoyden About Town report on some of what is being offered on the new site, while The Guardian explores some of the marketing genius behind the announcement, and the site itself. I think it's pretty disingenuous to suggest, as several journalists and bloggers have, that this is something that other writers will in any way be able to replicate, but I also think that anything which takes the wind out of Amazon's sails (heh, sales) as far as ebooks are concerned is fighting the good fight.
(my main thought on all this is… so, those bestseller lists that everyone's relying on to promote their ebooks, they're about to take a bit of a beating, aren't they? Suddenly that 99c price point can't be looking too hot…)
Speaking of ebooks, I was inspired by Sarah Rettger to download Babs: A Sub-Deb by Mary Roberts Rinehart from Project Gutenberg. As Rettger suggests, this is great fluffy YA fiction, with a very appealing voice, which happens to have been written in the 1920′s. I've inhaled a good chunk of the book already, despite the rather annoying quirk of including all of the protagonists spelling mistakes.
Jo Walton on how different people approach the process of reading for pleasure.
Ben Peek takes down rape apologist Scott Adams for his stupid, offensive Pegs and Holes post, with that elegant balance of outrage and cynicism that Peek does so well.
Three female scientists at the top of their field are interviewed about the challenges in their lives, whether they have the same chances as men to build successful careers, balancing work and family, and the advice they would give to the women who come after them. I think the best thing about this article is the focus on three women in similar positions rather than a single woman to represent her whole field, as they provide a wider perspective and often disagree with each other. Because all women aren't the same – shock!
Penni Russon writes about the choices (and non-choices) about having or not having (wanting, or not wanting) children, in a beautiful post. I always love to read Penni's posts about motherhood, because the way she looks at the world has such a gorgeous balance of pragmatism and romanticism.
In closing, Jem and I watched this on Sesame Street this morning, and at the risk of over-exposing you to the adorableness that is Neil Patrick Harris, I had to share The Fairy Shoe Person:
Galactic Suburbia Episode 35
New episode up! Grab it from iTunes, by direct download or stream it on the site.
EPISODE 35
In which "best" becomes "superior," Pottermore is Pottermeh, one of us wins all the awards, and we visit/revisit classic non-hard works of SF and Fantasy by Bujold, Willis and Pratchett (with bonus Russian fairytales by Valente).
News
Pottermore announcement made during our podcast…
Theodore Sturgeon finalists
NatCon professional guests for next year are Kelly Link and Alison Goodman.
Sidewise Awards finalists
Translation Awards winners
Stoker Awards announced
Coode Street Horror Special with Stoker winners Datlow & Straub
Gender Spotting Tool – Naff.
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Alisa: Connie Willis' Passage in progress, the next 3 Twelve Planets.
Alex: so much Bujold (Cordelia's Honor and Young Miles omnibuses… omnibi… whatever, Fly by Night, Frances Hardinge, Red Glove, Holly Black. Series 2 of V (reboot)
Tansy: Deathless, Catherynne Valente; I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett; Wyrd Sisters audiobook, Terry Pratchett/Celia Imrie.
Next Fortnight: Galactic Suburbia's Spoilerific Book Club Presents: Joanna Russ. Reading How to Suppress Women's Writing, The Female Man, "When It Changed."
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!
June 20, 2011
Time to Write
I have a confession to make.
I let my writing muscles atrophy.
It took me a while to realise and accept that this was what had happened. You see, for the last several years, pretty much since I signed on the line for the Creature Court trilogy, I have been leaping from deadline to deadline. There's something sparkly and marvellous about a deadline imposed upon you from someone else – not only do they pay you, but there's also a level of accountability in it that I find personally inspiring. I moved fairly seamlessly from being the queen of self-imposed deadlines to, well, being fairly competent at meeting other people's deadlines. Having a baby in the middle of process meant that the deadlines grew harder and harder to reach, and I occasionally had to move one or two, but on the whole I think I did a pretty bloody good job of it, especially as the deadlines for different books started imposing on each other.
This year, the deadlines began to drift further and further apart, especially as the book slipped further back into the schedule than we had originally allowed for. I had time to write new things! This was especially important as one of those new things, a novel called Fury, had netted me two separate grants. Hooray, I had time to write it! Better yet, I could take the time I needed to make it rather good.
And that's where the rot set in. I think 'time to write' must be one of the most misleading phrases in the English language. Because even though I now had two paid days of daycare a week, somehow I never quite found the time to write.
("How do you do it all?" they ask. "You must be really disciplined," they say. "I'd love to have time to write a book.")
Oh, I wrote. I wrote myself in slow circles, trying to find the new book. I told myself it was hard because it was the first time I had started something new in five years (though "Siren Beat" was new, and that got itself written crazy fast, because I was so in love with the character voice… the same character voice I'm trying to find again, for Fury). I told myself that I had plenty of time.
'Plenty of time' is even worse than 'time to write'.
When I wrote, I wrote fast, and I think well. I found my characters, and my story. I did all the things I wanted to do with the book. But… it wasn't actually growing very fast. There was something wrong with the beginning, that had to be fixed. Then something wrong with chapter three. You can't move ahead when chapter three isn't perfect, right, right?
I used to be good at this. I used to be able to knock over 20K a month, easily. And somehow I had made it halfway through the year, and still couldn't hit that first 20K mark, let alone a second, or a third. Somehow, I had bought into my own image of the kind of writer I was, and assumed somehow that That Person would get the book written. While I was getting the other stuff done.
When you only have two days of paid daycare a week, it's horribly easily to over-estimate how much you can get done in those days. Like, your week's worth of writing, AND catching up on the housework, AND taking your daughter to after school activities, AND picking up things from the post office, exercising, reading, sewing, planning dinner, shopping, etc.
Until you remember, hang on, it's actually only five and a half hours, twice a week.
And… maybe you need to write more than that.
Maybe (this time in a very, very tiny voice), maybe you should be writing EVERY FREAKING DAY.
"Write every day" is one of the more controversial of Heinlein's famous writing rules (the others being Finish Everything You Start and Submit Everything You Finish). Many pro writers are understandably scathing about the concept of writing every day because a) they are well practiced and disciplined enough not to need rules like that and b) they understand only too well that forcing yourself to write every freaking day is a good way to fill your novels up with timewasting crap, and a bunch of words that only existed because you guilted yourself into writing them.
On the other hand, 'write every day' is a terribly useful rule for people who have a tendency to faff about and get no writing done. Sometimes, imposing a rule on yourself like 'write every day' is the only way to get anything written at all. What I hadn't realised was that, as soon as the external deadlines had dropped away, I relaxed far too much, and slid from being one of those professional 'I can write regularly and produce the goods on time' writers into one of those faffing about 'oh I wish I had the time to write' writers.
Holy crap.
So I decided to get my act together. I had let my writing muscles atrophy, to the point where even getting 200 words on the page was painful, and boring, and made me want to do housework instead. I had forgotten how to be a writer.
Take heed, this could happen to you.
Obviously the way to get your writing muscles back, as with any skill, is to exercise them. To practice. To pretend to be a writer hard enough, that I make it happen, all over again. That's why I signed up for the Clarion Write-a-Thon (external deadlines are my friend!). My aim is to write 5000 words a week, ideally by writing 1000 for five days in a row, then collapsing for two, then doing it again.
The first day was agony. Every 200 hundred words made my head spin. Seriously, how had my writing attention span got so low? It used to be I could easily get to 800 or even 1200 before I started double checking my word count and admiring the weather out the window.
My honey actually watched me on the second day, as he was home from work with a cold, and he was horrified. It was, admittedly, gruesome. 60 words in, I was whining for a cup of tea and coming up with excuses to, in fact, skip the day altogether. "What the hell happened to you?" he demanded.
What indeed.
Today, Day Three, was better. I went to Pilates in the morning and spent most of the hour (when not whining about how tired my inner thighs were, or squeaking with alarm at the new stretch I was being challenged with) dealing with the novel that had not only completely taken over my brain, was demanding I re-structure it from scratch.
I will, I told it, but only after I've written my 1000 words for the day. And, after Pilates, I came home and did exactly that.
The moral of the story is simpler than any rule Heinlein ever coined. It's Move It, Or Lose It. If you don't write regularly, it gets harder to write. Or, to be more specific, if *I* don't write regularly, it gets harder to write. Right now, I can't be trusted to do anything but follow a set of rules, as slavishly as possible, in the hopes that I get my skills back in record time, and remember how this book writing thing works.
One word in front of the other. Rinse, repeat, until done.
Then do it again.
====
If you would like to encourage me as I retrain myself as a writer, you can sponsor me at the Clarion Write-a-Thon. No amount too small, but do let me know if you are sponsoring me! I also accept encouraging comments, attagirls and anecdotes about your own times of writerfail.
June 18, 2011
Half A Year of Big Finish
Big Finish has a huge back catalogue of plays – more than 12 years worth – and it's hard for people to know how and where to jump on board. I recently discovered the Little Finish podcast, which is great, but probably of limited value to casual listeners, as they review that month's plays, spoilers and all. If you're not keeping up with the latest ones, you're likely to not get much out of it, which is a shame because it's a very fun podcast! Anyone wanting to check it out might want to pick the Nicholas Courtney memorial episode, which reviews every Courtney appearance in Big Finish, and has some lovely recommendations and clips.
Anyway, in listening to Little Finish I came to the (not overly shocking) realisation that I actually am one of those listeners now – I subscribe to multiple streams of plays, and have caught up so substantially that I'm in a pretty good position to review, say, the Doctor Who releases for the entire first half of this year.
So here we go!
JANUARY 2011
The Crimes of Thomas Brewster (Monthly Release): Sixth Doctor, Evelyn, Thomas Brewster, DI Menzies, Flip
As far as the Sixth Doctor and Evelyn stories go, this is a self contained 3 story arc set fairly early on (at a guess) in Evelyn's timeline. I hadn't listened to Brewster's previous adventures with the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa, and didn't feel like I missed much, so I'd say this is a good jumping on point. My favourite thing about this story is the re-introduction of DI Menzies, the sarky Northern copper who has met the Sixth Doctor twice before (when he was with Charley) and reacts to all alien incursions with a world-weary attitude that always makes me grin. I am utterly furious they haven't made her the new companion. The story itself doesn't offer a lot beyond lots of character interactions for the Doctor, Evelyn, Menzies and Brewster, which is to say I came away from it loving the dialogue, but not really remembering the plot. It is a chance for people to preview young Flip, who was recently announced as the new Sixth Doctor companion, but did I MENTION how annoyed I am it wasn't Menzies instead?
Prisoner of the Sun (Eighth Doctor Adventure): Eighth Doctor, sort of Lucie Miller
Really I find it hard to suggest anything other than going back and mainlining the entire four season run of the Eighth Doctor and Lucie (I might do a separate review for this whole series) but this one is actually a beautiful standalone. It features the Doctor, trapped by his own conscience, trying to save the lives of his kidnappers. To keep himself sane, he keeps programming his robot assistants with the personality of Lucie (who is not currently travelling with him). It's a clever story that conveys the tone of this run very well, and is a good way to find out if you want to listen to all the others.
Peri and the Piscon Paradox (Companion Chronicle): Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor, Peri
I have an ambivalent relationship with the Companion Chronicles, which are normally two hander plays featuring the companion actor and one other performer, and focus largely on storytelling rather than dialogue. Some of these are truly excellent (Katy Manning playing both Jo Grant and Iris Wildthyme in Find and Replace comes to mind, and I adored the run of three Jean Marsh plays giving new life to Sara Kingdom) but many of them verge on the dull side. This one, however, is a masterpiece. Nev Fountain, one of the most interesting writers Big Finish have working for them, has written a story which manages to tread the thin and difficult line between dark drama and absurdist comedy, as well as acknowledging and dealing with most of the more problematic aspects of Peri as a character. Nicola Bryant is excellent in her dual role as the young and innocent Peri travelling with the Fifth Doctor, and an older, hardbitten version of herself. Colin Baker is note perfect as the Doctor, but very much takes the sidekick role in this adventure, as is only right and proper. I was dazzled by this one, which requires no prior Big Finish listening.
FEBRUARY 2011
The Feast of Axos (Monthly Release): Sixth Doctor, Evelyn, Thomas Brewster
This is probably my favourite of this trio of Sixth Doctor stories, despite the sad lack of DI Menzies (did I mention, REALLY DISAPPOINTED, BIG FINISH?). One of the things Big Finish does really well is building on classic monster stories with a sharp contemporary edge. This one works as a direct sequel to The Claws of Axos from the 70′s era, using some of the creepiest (though looking kind of dodgy on the TV) concept aliens in Doctor Who's history. I really loved the use of space as something that is scary, rather than just another setting, and particularly Evelyn's awestruck reaction to being in space, as well as her quiet horror when it looks as if space might be the thing that kills her… also the troubled relationship between Brewster and the Doctor continues to be crunchy and combative. I tend to sympathise with characters no one likes much, and Brewster is one of these – I felt so sad for him when he overheard the Doctor saying mean things!
Lucie Miller (Eighth Doctor Adventure): Eighth Doctor, Lucie Miller, Susan, etc.
No matter who you are, you are not allowed to watch this without putting in the hours listening to every other Lucie Miller episode that led to this place. She is truly one of the best companions ever, and *the* best of the 21st century companions. Yes, I made that call. Also, to understand where Susan is in this story, you need to have listened to the standalone story An Earthly Child as well as December's Eighth Doctor Adventure Relative Dimensions (but in the latter's case you would have listened to that any way because you listened to ALL the Lucie Miller ones first, right?
Lucie is brilliant, but this one and the sequel To The Death next month, is the end of her story as a companion, so this would be the worst possible place to come into the story. But it's good, oh, so good. Worth the journey.
MARCH 2011
Industrial Evolution (Monthly Release): Sixth Doctor, Evelyn, Thomas Brewster
A clever script, which showcases Brewster excellently, mostly ignores Evelyn, and reminds us that the Sixth Doctor is often an ass. The Doctor and Evelyn have returned Thomas to his own time and organised a job for him at t' mill, but there are suspicious doingses going on, and it's a good thing they decided to lurk around and check all was well before they abandoned him to his fate. (which actually goes to show that however ass-like the Sixth Doctor is in this, he's still doing better than most of his other selves, yes One and Four I am looking at you!)
To The Death (Eighth Doctor Adventure): Eighth Doctor, Lucie Miller, Susan, etc.
We remember what I said last month, right? THIS STORY IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS! Hot damn, though, it's good. And bad. Quite awful. Brilliantly awful. Made me cry. Graeme Garden's performance made me cry. Let's move on.
APRIL 2011
Heroes of Sontar (Monthly Release): Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa, Turlough, Sontarans
This is the second trio of stories set after Enlightenment, where Nyssa has returned to the TARDIS crew 50 years after she left it. I am really enjoying this threesome of companions, and the writers are doing a great job at proving that it's not impossible to write for a TARDIS crew of four, you just have to do it intelligently. This one is a very strange but likeable story, featuring a whole crew of Sontarans with distinct personalities. it was very well timed, coming out just before A Good Man Goes To War which also made us rethink what Sontarans were actually capable of. The oddness of this story comes from the fact that it's a comedy largely derived from Dad's Army, even including some rather sneaky reworkings of catchphrases and personality types… and yet it treads that comedy/drama line tightly, never entirely sliding into pure farce. Janet Fielding still sounds like she's doing a loud parody of 1980′s Tegan, but the rest of the crew are polite enough to pretend they haven't noticed.
Thin Ice (Lost Stories): Seventh Doctor, Ace, Ice Warriors
This release was the one of the year which most filled me with excitement and trepidation. The premise of the Lost Stories is to produce stories that were intended to be made at the time, and fell through for one reason or another. In this case, it's Season 28, the stories that famously were going to be commissioned next, if Doctor Who had not been cancelled in 1989. Among other things this season promised to write out Sophie Aldred by sending Ace to be a Time Lord student on Gallifrey (stupidest idea EVER) and to replace her with an elegant catburglar of a companion, possibly played by Catherine Zeta Jones or Julia Sawahla (one of those ideas that sounded quite good at the time, but hasn't aged well, as proved by Lady Christina De Souza in the fairly dire Planet of the Dead).
This story itself is a very good one, dealing with the suggested plotlines far more effectively than I dreaded. Ace, as it turns out, agrees with me that the Doctor's plan to get her some Gallifreducation is the stupidest idea ever, and is deeply insulted by it. We also get the Ice Warriors in Cold War Russia, in a plot that actually gives the whispery lispy ones some cultural baggage and personality. Oh Big Finish, you do so well by the old monsters! We also get Creevey, a dubious Cockney wideboy who has no idea that his hot Russian girlfriend Raina is pregnant and actually expects him to take some responsibility for the baby… Sophie Aldred does a really good job of playing late 80′s Ace, rather than the 20-something version of the character we usually get in Big Finish, and it was surprisingly affecting to see all her angst as regards the Doctor in the TV series come to an actual head. I also loved the rapport she had with our token sympathetic Ice Warrior, with his hanging around on Russian hotel balconies. Very nice stuff, and a good entry point to a new mini-series.
MAY 2011
Kiss of Death (Monthly Release): Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa & Turlough
This is the story where the Big Finish crew decided to give Turlough an actual plot to himself, which was a bit revolutionary considering that he spent most of the 80′s standing around and holding Tegan's coat. He's even provided here with an old flame and a whole lot of personal backstory, which dovetails with what is revealed in his swansong TV story, Planet of Fire. Rather cleverly, the script keeps the Doctor in the tunnels for most of the story so that the only revelations about Turlough's past are made to Tegan and Nyssa, neither of whom were around for his final story. I find it deeply amusing and yet kind of sweet that Big Finish continue to prioritise the integrity of the TV stories, despite repeatedly making them look shabby and parallel-universey simply by giving the characters better dialogue and depth than we almost always got in the old days.
Turlough with a romance isn't nearly as interesting as I thought it was going to be, especially the whole thing is basically a junior version of Avon (of Blake's 7) and Anna Grant, but I thought it was actually quite clever to put in a romance that felt like it belonged to a dodgy 80′s script. Or maybe I'm being kinder than it deserves… there are some nice scenes between the three companions, though, and Tegan as always gets the best lines. Despite the awful approximation of the Australian accent she put on in the 80′s (I know she actually is Australian, you listen to it and tell me it's real) I am enjoying Janet Fielding's work in these plays, far more than I ever did in most of her TV stories. The Doctor and Nyssa got some great material to sink their teeth into – Peter Davison does love to be possessed, doesn't he!
Crime of the Century (Lost Stories): Seventh Doctor, Ace, Raine Creevey
This one was a big disappointment for me. The best scene by far is the opening one which introduces the Doctor to his new companion Raine Creevey, posh bird and teenage catburglar, though sadly I was spoiled for all the detail of the scene thanks to the Extras doco from the previous story. Dudes, if you love that scene so much, let us actually listen to it BEFORE you share interviews of the writer etc. analysing it. The plot itself is… well, I don't even remember it, so let's move on.
I like every original Big Finish companion. Hell, I don't dislike any actual TV companions. Almost all the ones I used to dislike, I have since come around to, often because of the magic of Big Finish. I'm a loyal fangirl, I am! But I'm struggling with Raine Creevey. Part of it is her voice, which is so perky and upbeat that she sounds, it has to be said, exactly like Bonnie Langford. Now, I have a bit of a soft spot for Mel, but that doesn't mean I want another companion who sounds just like her – breathy, stagey and so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. Then there's the unfortunate character trait that Raine, daughter of a Cockney criminal and raised in a posh boarding school, is a total class snob. Her accent, then, and her aristocratic manner makes her sound entirely grating in a way that Charley Pollard, legit Edwardian adventuress, did not.
I suspect that in actual fact a big part of the reason why I am not warming to Raine is thanks to listening to the Extras interviews, where everyone at Big Finish, including the actors, writers, etc. seems so totally adoring of her. I'm sure the actress who plays her is lovely, and I really hope I come to like the character, but this story gave me very little to work with. I'm especially sad because I really liked Raina in the previous story (yes, it's her mother, they acted like this was a massive spoiler but it wasn't half obvious) and she seems to have been erased in this one, largely I guess because she's played by the same actress. I honestly would have rather seen the Russian spy bombing around the universe with Ace and the Doctor, she was much more interesting!
JUNE 2011
Rat Trap (Monthly Release): Fifth Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa & Turlough
The premise by this one is a touch heavy handed – intelligent rats performing experiments on humans – but the story is quite effective, claustrophobic and appropriately freaky. I lost track of some of the supporting characters halfway through, but rather appreciated the grotesque horror parts, and thought Turlough's scenes in this one were far more appealing than the awkward betrayed romance bits of his previous story. Nyssa also got some good sciencey bits, and Tegan got to be snarky to people. Hooray! The Doctor was perhaps at his most colourless here, I suspect because all the companions got such strong bits. Not every story can be perfectly balanced!
Animal (Lost Stories): Seventh Doctor, Ace, Raine Creevey, Brigadier Winifred Bambera
Okay, I like Raine a bit better in this one, but only a bit. The posh snob bits are still infuriating. I do like that not all her scenes with Ace are like that, though, and the two of them work together far more than they snipe jealously at each other. Oddly the plot of this one also revolves around the plight of laboratory animals, in this case a top secret (ha, not so much) wing of a university, and an impending alien invasion. The highlight of the episode is the arrival of Winifred Bambera, one of the best supporting characters to come out of 80′s Who – hearing her work with Ace and the Seventh Doctor again is just lovely, with a good balance of military competence, sarcasm and knowing the Doctor is probably right, damn him, most of the time. Even when she wants to put on record that he is wrong.
Highlights of the year so far:
Peri and the Piscon Paradox
Prisoner of the Sun
[Lucie Miller & To The Death but you know the drill, don't start with these]
The Feast of Axos
Heroes of Sontar
Animal
So far the monthly range are lagging somewhat behind the specials, but last year gave us Project: Destiny, A Death in the Family and the awesome Jamie-and-Six trilogy, so this year has a lot to live up to. Worth noting that I haven't heard any of the Companion Chronicles of this year yet apart from the Peri one but I defy you to convince me it's not the best one, possibly of the entire five year series. I am quite interested in the Steven & Oliver stories (new First Doctor companion!) so will probably get to those eventually. Coming up, the story I'm most excited by is Robophobia, featuring the Seventh Doctor, even if I'm a bit cranky he is appearing with Ace and Hex.
Also I just scored a bunch of very old Big Finish plays, thanks to the summer sale, so I'll be listening to those too. I think I recently came to terms with the fact that I'm just going to listen to all of them eventually!
June 16, 2011
Fabulous Review of Love and Romanpunk
The splendid review of Love and Romanpunk in the last Locus Magazine is now available on their website.
Among other lovely things, Adrienne Martini says:
You can of course buy this manticore-slaying little volume at Twelfth Planet Press.
A Linkier World
I am loving the Tumblr "A Doctor World" which remixes the odd, philosophical phrases of the art-tragicomic-musing-on-the-universe comic strip A Softer World with images from Doctor Who. These range from funny and romantic to sad and uncomfortable – wonderful stuff.
Also, this week on the internet…
Jo Walton talks about child-markers in the Robert Heinlein juveniles.
An inspiring interview with Hope Powell, England football coach and all-around awesome woman. I was fascinated by honest descriptions of what it was like to be a West Indian girl who loved football in Britain in the 1970′s, and how she made it to the top of her field despite how marginalised women's football still is.
Tehani and Random Alex are doing a chronological read-along series of posts about Bujold's Vorkosigan saga – Tehani, like me, is a diehard Bujold fan, and Alex is reading the books (and loving them) for the very first time. I'm excited to follow along! Two posts up so far, Cordelia's Honor and The Warrior's Apprentice. NOBODY SPOIL ALEX.
For those of you just joining us, Cheryl does a bang up job of summing up the current gender discussion on the internet, centering around The Guardian, lists, Nicola Griffith and others.
The SF MindMeld, which hasn't had a brilliant record at addressing gender parity in the past but I believe has been working to improve, reiterates Griffith's idea of the Russ Pledge and asks What's The Importance of the Russ Pledge Today? Sadly, while most of the official respondents have the right idea and some interesting things to say, there are many commenters who seem offended at the very concept of giving women writers a fair go.
"Why I won't be taking the Joanna Russ pledge" by Athena Andreadis. Powerful, important post – I think she is somewhat unfair in her characterisation of the pledge and its usefulness but hard to argue with "I have been implementing it for the last forty-plus years."
Speaking of gender politics, Gail Simone has publicly commented on the lack of female creators involved in the DC reboot (even fewer than usual in comics) and tried to discuss it on Twitter with her fellow professionals. A warning: the comments on this one are beyond depressing.
A cool piece about the equal male-female balance on the writing team of TV show Community and how it worked out really well for them, though starting as an experiment imposed upon them. While there's a little bit of 'wow, we included women writers and they didn't suck, and actually it meant we had a team that had a wider range of views!' and I think there is some belittling of the idea that a good racial mix among writers would be just as important, it still feels like a step in the right direction.
"Thinking too hard" about The Hunger Games, why the concept of the first book worked so well, and the subversive message it gives to teens, which goes beyond "be yourself" all the way to "if you have to pretend not to be yourself to anyone, chances are they are out to kill you."
June 15, 2011
Clarion Write-a-thon! (I am doing this thing)
I've never been part of a Clarion workshop, even when Clarion South was a Thing in Australia, but have always been faintly in awe of those people who do it. Six weeks of writing, critiquing and generally living and breathing writerliness, tutored by amazing professionals, and kicking your skills up as many notches as you can in what must be simultaneously a very short period of time and the longest weeks of your life.
This year, I'm playing along with the Clarion Write-a-thon. My Nancy Napoleon novel has not exactly stalled, but after working on it for several months I haven't been able to hit that momentum point when the writing gets fast and awesome and, you know, done. So when I heard about this over at Rachel Swirsky's blog, I thought it could be my answer, as well as a chance to fundraise for a good cause.
My goal is to write 5,000 words a week for the six weeks of the workshop, starting this Sunday the 19th June and running through to the 29th July. Really, this is the kind of writing output I want to get back to being able to do as a matter of course, but I've been scrabbling to get back my writing mojo since I had baby Jem. If you're interested in setting your own writing goal and joining up with the Write-a-Thon, you can still do so until this Saturday 18th June. You'll be in some great company!
It's not just about writing, though, it's also about fundraising, and of course providing me with some further incentive to reach my goals. So if you'd like to sponsor me in my endeavour, please do! Check out my Write-a-Thon page for how to sponsor me by Paypal – and let me know that you have, as I'm not sure if I get notified otherwise, and I am totally relying on guilt as an incentive to spur me on. The money all goes towards Clarion West, a very worthy institution, to help more writers reach their potential.
Fury currently stands at 20,000 words (or it will hit that number sometime in the next hour or so as soon as I stop blogging & get on with finishing my chapter) and my plan for the Write-a-thon is to get to 50,000 by the end of the six weeks. Wish me luck!
