Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 143

The Shattered City Book Launch!

The Hobart Bookshop invites you to the launch by Dirk Flinthart

of Tansy Rayner Roberts' latest book The Shattered City.

This rich fantasy novel, Book Two in the Creature Court series, follows the critically acclaimed Power And Majesty.

5.30pm Tuesday 3rd May. All welcome to this free event.

The Hobart Bookshop

22 Salamanca Square

Hobart Tasmania 7000

P 03 6223 1803 . F 03 6223 1804

hobooks@ozemail.com.au

www.hobartbookshop.com.au

The Con of Conversations

If I don't blog now, I never will! I am home after one of the most intense and inspiring long weekends of my life! Swancon36/Natcon50 was definitely one of those legendary events of the Australian SF community. Cat Sparks called it 'the con of conversations' and it's absolutely true that the set up of the hotel bar, and the lovely mix of people we had, meant that all the pieces were in place for some amazing conversations. However, it's usually true that the cons which are the most fun socially are those with the suckiest programs, and that was definitely not the case here. I found so much to interest me in a professional development sense, even if I didn't get to nearly as much as I wanted to, and the feedback I got from other authors/professionals was the same.

The thematic streams (educational, academic, romance, writers etc.), run by different programmers, gave a real structure to the program and meant there were several flavours to each day of the convention – I only participated in and saw some of the writers stream but I heard great things from friends who spent time in the others. I'm glad to hear that the romance stream went well as that's something you don't often see given much time/space in a traditional con.

Jonathan, Tansy, Alex & Alisa, taken by Cat

The design of the bar, in the centre of the hotel lobby, gave a really nice vibe to the convention for me. It often feels like 'the bar' is a hub of private little groups in a dark squished-in space, which can feel exclusive and a little intimidating, especially if like me you're someone who actually doesn't spend a lot of time in those kind of spaces the rest of the year around. At this con, the cafe-bar seemed to allow for a lot more of spotting people you knew, and a lot more mixing up of people rather than always sticking to the same crowd. Also their homemade lemonade allowed for some serious injections of Vitamin C, which I was grateful for.

On the whole I found the staff really friendly and helpful – Good Friday was a bit of a nightmare day for them as they were understaffed as usual on public holidays – but I appreciated the cheerful waitstaff, bartenders, receptionist etc. It didn't hurt that Alex and I were sharing a club twin on the top floor which allowed access to a very swanky breakfast/coffee lounge. Lovely for when you needed the quiet moments.

I really enjoyed the panels I was on – I never cease to be appreciative when I am put on something other than the usual suspects. Yes I do remember the years where I only ever had the same panel (comedy and fantasy, who knew you could combine them?) at every convention. Which was fun and all, but being able to talk about adventures/quests, indoor v. outdoor fantasy, my TV influences, social media, feminism and gender, and all manner of other things was lovely, and with so many different people.

Particular thanks to Kitty who did the 'awesome women in comics' panel with me – I was very wary of that after the awful mess that happened at Worldcon, and because I still don't feel like enough of an expert on the comics field to talk about it for a whole hour, but it went well, was probably my biggest attended panel, and it was fantastic how we both had such different reading lists for people to look at. That and the other gender panel, the one I did with Justina Robson and Sarah Xu, were probably the most audience-participationy of the ones I did, and for the most part in a very good way. Let me hear a No Derailing Woohoo!

My big regret is (as it always is) that I didn't see more of the program myself. I am kicking myself about missing Grant's presentations, especially the Disney one. I kept hearing about these brilliant things other people went to! But I lucked out with the panels I did attend – a marvellous one about the midlist and the current state of the publishing industry with Justina Robson, Ellen Datlow, Kate Eltham and Kirstyn McDermott – so many smart opinions and perspectives on that panel. I also very much enjoyed sitting in the audience of the 'Casting your Pod' panel, and was rapt by the interview Jonathan Strahan conducted with Sean Williams – it was fascinating to just go through Sean's career like that, and they had a really good balance of warmth and professionalism, so it didn't just turn into two mates swapping in jokes.

Almost by accident I ended up going to the final panel of the con, in which the guests revolted from the original topic and decided to take casual question and answers. It was a pleasure to see how relaxed and comfortable they had become with each other, and it was a fun audience to be part of.

Terri & Love and Romanpunk, taken by Cat

Somehow I've talked about the con without hitting any of my personal high notes! I haven't always been able to capitalise on the thriving con nightlife in previous years, and with my family safely tucked away at home, this was an aspect I made the most of. Thursday night was great – I was quite askance about the first night being so heavily programmed (and having to do a panel at 11:30 Hobart time, gah) but it worked so well to give the con a massive energy right from the start, and meant we hit the ground running on Friday morning. Friday had the launch of the Twelve Planets series, which was elegant and involved Dirk Flinthart designing an impromptu cocktail to match the colour of "Love and Romanpunk" – ie, purple. If I could remember the names of the ingredients, I would share the recipe because it was yummy!

Because oh yes, I had a book out at this convention – something that really truly nearly didn't happen – and with The Shattered City only out a few weeks ago, it meant I had TWO. After having so many years of going to cons where I had nothing to sell or promote, it's lovely to have some actual stuff on the dealer's room tables, and it didn't hurt that several copies of Power and Majesty were given away in the con bags. So I got to sign lots of books and talk to new readers as well as people I've only talked to on the internet before. It's enough to make me feel like a real writer, or something…

The Twelve Planets Cake, made by Terri, taken by Tansy

Speaking of which, I have to say that after the Lean Years (cough, decade) as far as publisher attention and interest goes, it really does not suck to have both a Big Publisher (Voyager) and a Lovely Indie Publisher (Twelfth Planet Press) doing lovely things for me. If Friday was the TPP night (Terri made pink cake!) then Saturday night was all about Voyager – while the Masquerade was going on, a group of authors and a few others were whisked away for a swanky dinner at Chez Pierre, a restaurant that proved to be divinely decadent.

(to put this into context, authors who spend most of their year writing quietly in a room on their own are supremely surprised and grateful when people want to buy them a cup of coffee – getting to go to a fancy industry dinner is like Disneyland for Book People)

My greatest regret is that I didn't put on a frock for this event, but hey, we had a private room. We also had SNAILS (well, the more adventurous among us did, how can you go to a French restaurant and not try snails?) – I also had duck and the meltiest nougat icecream. Almost as much fun as eating my own delicious dinner was admiring the artworks that everyone else had on their plates – except for Simon Brown's teenage son who had regarded the menu with such horror that he was allowed to curl up in the corner with his book and a bowl of pomme frites.

I got to have lovely in depth conversations with many people at the dinner, and later in the taxi back to the hotel, and even later at a room party, and yes. The Con of Conversations. No wonder I came home with a squeaky voice. Of course, however wonderful all the evenings were, Sunday has to win hands down. Sure it didn't have purple drinks or snails, but… it did have awards. Many, many awards.

So um. This might require a post all of its own. But in short – Galactic Suburbia won things. And then each of us individually won things. And it got to the point where people were honestly pointing and laughing because we had won so many things (and that's just the kind of people our friends are!). And it did not get old. There was much kissing of Sean Williams, and giggling hysterically, and carrying armloads of trophies to the bar. And my speech – the only one of the whole awards, on demand – was a touch incomprehensible. So, sorry about that.

I will try to write a better one, and post it some time today.

The con was wonderful, in short, beginning to end, and I had a fantastic time. What made it even better was the reports from home, that the family (and particularly the baby) were coping wonderfully without me. I can't tell you how lovely it was to have that fear and guilt slough off me, day after day, as I received pics of Easter hunts, and heard how Jem had slept entirely through all but the first night. Considering I didn't manage to wean her before I left… it made all the difference, and I am hugely grateful to my honey for making it so easy for me to be away from them all.

By the awards night, I was reaching my limits. I could tell, because Thoraiya had brought her gorgeous little two year old, and my eyes welled up whenever I looked at her. By the time it was Thoraiya's turn to win all the awards, and she took her little sweetie up on stage with her to collect the trophy, I was working really hard not to fall apart.

Then, all too soon, it was over and time to go. I had breakfast with Alisa and Alex, said my goodbyes to people, and prepared to ship out. I was missing most of the last day of the con, but so hungry to get home to my girls. Then, ten minutes before we left, I got The Call from Virgin that my flight had been cancelled, and I wouldn't be leaving until evening – worse than that, I wouldn't get home until the next day. At that point I did rather fall apart – being apart from the baby for so very long had been manageable, just, but adding another day to it completely overwhelmed me. It didn't help at this point that I was sleep deprived as well as emotional! My grateful thanks to Kathryn, Terri and Alex (and later, Robin) who whisked me away for some quiet time in the Green Room.

The silver lining, of course, was that I got to stay out the whole con, got to hear the lovely things people (especially the guests) said at the end, and even got to enjoy the closing ceremony, and grab some more of those irreplaceable conversations before it was time AGAIN to leave. I had become utterly stupid with sleep deprivation by that point, leaving things everywhere, and lucky to string coherent sentences together. I blame that entirely for the fact that I forgot to double check when my delayed plane was leaving, which meant I arrived at the airport with only a few minutes to spare – something I only realised after I saw that the Virgin check in desks were not manned and, oh yes, because my flight had been delayed, I was also shut out of the automatic check in. After a major freak out on my part, a woman turned up to the desk and checked me in with ONE MINUTE to spare.

So yes, the flight home was not fun because I was exploding with stress, and arriving at Melbourne at 1am with 7 hours to go before my flight home was not fun, and trying to find the motel I had checked into, in the dark, amid a tangled web of streets and paths (I had to later concede that there was a straight route between the airport and the hotel but that's so not the way I got there) was extremely less than fun, but I got some quiet hours in a room with clean sheets and a plug for my phone recharger, and at that point it was all I needed. More stress in the morning when I managed to completely lose the Virgin Check In terminal (honestly, lack of sleep makes me SO stupid, can't think how I survived Jemima's first year of life) but finally I was on the last plane, and home, and home, and my girls had a welcome banner out for me, and I am now rich with baby and little girl cuddles. All's well that ends well.

Phew. Taking all that into account, it's a good thing it was such a good convention for me, really, wasn't it?

Galactic Suburbia Episode 30 Show Notes: Swancon 36 Edition

Image courtesy of Cat Sparx

Episode 30 is up, recorded live from Swancon on the morning of Sunday 24 April 2011 with an audience of loyal followers who were prepared to come to a panel at 9:30 AM!

Grab it from iTunes, by direct download or stream it on the site.

EPISODE THIRTY

At Swancon 36/Natcon50

In which we talk convention gossip, awards, go through piles and piles of reading for Tansy and Alex, while Alisa patiently explains her position on ebooks.

===========

Recorded Live from Swancon!

News

Shirley Jackson nominees

PK Dick winner announced

BSFA winners announced

SF Hall of Fame Inductees for 2011

What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alex: Kraken, China Mieville; Doomsday Book, Connie Willis; Contact (the movie), Mappa Mundi, Justina Robson; Brasyl, Ian McDonald; Nightsiders, Sue Isle

Tansy: The Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare, The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke, Fun Home & Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel, [http://tansyrr.com/tansywp/clockwork-...] Tales of the Tower: the Wilful Eye edited by Isobelle Carmody & Nan McNab, especially "Catastrophic Disruption of the Head" by Margo Lanagan, Nightsiders (twelve planets 1) by Sue Isle.

Pet Subject: Indie Press: Alisa talks Ebooks!

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!

Sad Day

Elisabeth Sladen

1948-2011

Swancon is Coming!

My one big trip of the year, and it's finally heeeere! Only a few days to go now, lalala! I arrive at Perth only an hour or so before the opening ceremony, and I'm on a panel pretty soon afterwards – or as my darling Girlie Jones tweeted to me "just a spritz of Evian water in the green room and you're away".

Utterly delicious of course that this long planned convention appearance just happens to coincide with the release of The Shattered City: Creature Court Book Two… and is just a gnat's wing away from Love & Romanpunk (which may have preview copies at the con, check out the TPP stall in the dealer's room). New books and conventions make such a perfect combination.

I'm excited about seeing everyone, and also about the many program items I'm on! Check it out.

THURSDAY

9:30 PM – Taking You on the Ride: Writing Adventure fiction with Bevan McGuiness, Tansy Roberts, Richard Harland

FRIDAY

9:30 AM – Not if You Were the Last Short Story on the Earth with Jonathan Strahan, Tansy Roberts, Alex Pierce and Sarah Parker

10:30 AM – What TV Did to Me : A chat about growing up on a diet of SF TV did to my creative brain with Tansy Roberts, Stephen Dedman, Sean Williams, moderated by Grant Watson

3:00 PM – Climbing Out of the Refrigerator: Great Women in Comics with Tansy Roberts, Kitty Hemsley, Brin McLauchlan

5:00 PM – That Spaceship has Girl Cooties: Feminism and the Female Gaze in SF/Fantasy with Justina Robson, Glenda Larke, Tansy Roberts



SUNDAY

9:30 AM – Galactic Suburbia Live Recording with Alisa, Alex and Tansy

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee excited!

The Shattered City Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, Part 4

Here I am again (still), bloggiting away. The exciting development this week is that books seem to have actually been appearing in bookshops around the country, and going home with people! I have particularly loved receiving pictures tweeted to me from friends & readers showing off their new copies. Love you all!

And of course I actually received a couple of copies of The Shattered City in the post which are just for MEEEEE – I had almost forgotten that I hadn't seen a real copy myself. It's very pretty, quite my favourite book yet, but I would say that, wouldn't I? Also this week I caught sight of the artwork that will appear on Book #3 – anyone care to guess who will be featuring on the cover and what colour the "iconic frock" for Reign of Beasts will be?

Alex asked me to blog about Aufleur and Rome, two of my favourite cities!

Trent asked for The Story of Book Two.

Over at Larvatus Prodeo, I talk about how backstory created the people that my characters are today.

.And at Nicole Murphy's blog, I talk about the delicious cocktail that comes from blending traditional & urban fantasy

Agathon 2. The Secret Adversary (1922)

Tansy and Kathryn have taken the challenge to read every book written by Agatha Christie, in order of publication and we're blogging as we go along. We're calling it the Agathon! As a warning, there may be spoilers, though the massive ones will be signposted.

Kathryn's post here.

2 – The Secret Adversary (1922)

Featuring: Tommy and Tuppence, Inspector Japp (mentioned)

KATHRYN SAYS:

I think it's fascinating that Agatha Christie is now best known as a writer of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot murder mysteries, and here we are at book two at the Agathon and it's a spy novel!

'The Secret Adversary' opens with childhood chums Tommy Beresford and Tuppence (Prudence) Cowell running into each other in London. World War I is over and there is a dearth of jobs for both ex-VAD women, like Tuppence, and ex-Army men like Tommy. They decide to form a joint venture the "The Young Adventurers, Ltd.", and hijnks ensue, as they are become embroiled in finding a missing American girl and tracking down a spy ring that is threatening to bring down the British Government. Even though I had already read it before, I found it quite exciting.

Is it a good spy novel? Well, given what I've read of John le Carre and Frederick Forsythe (who to be fair did write about the Cold War, whereas this is between WWI and WWII), I'm not sure it's a particularly accurate one. Other than Mr Brown, the villians are cardboard cutouts -there's a Russian and a German and a man from The Union (gasp!), and an Irishman from Sinn Fein. I have no idea how it actually relates to the politics of the time, but it comes over as a bit simplified. However, the level of detail in the political, erm, plot, contrasts signficantly against those parts of the novel that are rendered in lovely detail, such as the very detailed and specific description of how Tuppence went about posing as a maid for Rita Vandermeyer (and her qualifications for doing so). And, at the heart of this very jolly spy book, there is a murder and a mystery and Christie weaves these both into the story very well (though perhaps with a few less red-herring-y clues as in a Poirot novel). I also have to note that I *love* that this is a spy book where eating is important! Tommy and Tuppence are continually sitting down to buns or a good lunch of sole (particularly once they are ensconced at the Ritz).

After Tansy noted Hasting's propensity for ill-advised love in her review of 'The Mysterious Affair of Styles', it dawned on me that Agatha Christie books actually have a fairly high romance quotient. Two books in and we are two for two on ill-advised marriage proposals, for example. I'll be keeping an eye out for more romance in books to come. I don't want to include spoilers for ' The Secret Adversary', but I will note that Christie writes the sort of Repressed English Love that made me so fond of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, and this certainly something interesting to realise about both myself and Agatha.

So. In summary I love Tommy and Tuppence – or perhaps more accurately I am fond of Tommy and I love Tuppence (I have failed to wax lyrical about Tuppence's independence and initiative, but yea she is awesome). Christie only wrote 5 Tommy and Tuppence books (4 novels and 1 short story collection) over 50 years, approximately one every decade and one of the things I've been looking forward to particularly in the Agathon is reading them in order, and watching how the characters grow and age with each book. I would love to know what prompted her to write about Tommy and Tuppence in her second book, after having made what appears to have been a promisinig start with Poirot in 'Styles' (if anyone can point me towards a good biography of Christie that tells me this, please leave comment!)

TANSY SAYS:

Hijinks ensue indeed. This novel is utterly bonkers! It feels more like a screwball comedy than a mystery or spy novel, and I find it fascinating that once again we are getting meta-commentary about genre conventions from Christie in the mouths of her characters – in this case I was particularly charmed by Tommy's ruminations on how hard it was to follow a person in a cab in real life, as opposed to the cinema!

The first quarter of the plot is so entirely dependent on crazy coincidence that I got the feeling that Tommy and Tuppence were both completely aware that they were in a novel, and determined to make the most of it. Halfway through the story, though, the banter and the jolly japes become rather grim in a scene which makes it clear (or did at least to me) that one of two people our rapscallion heroes have in their confidence is actually a bad un – and very cleverly, the novel twists back and forth on the question of which right to the end.

I'm glad we had this interesting point, because otherwise the disastrously long separation between Tommy and Tuppence threatened to bore me – Tuppence remains interesting when her partner in (solving) crime is absent, but Tommy rather less so, except when he is talking about Tuppence.

But oh – I wouldn't have cared if the plot was ten times duller than it is, not when these two are around with their suppers at the Ritz and their pound notes, and simmering affections below banter and bluff. I'm rather sad to know that I won't get to see *this* Tommy and Tuppence, the careless twenty-somethings on the verge of real life, in future books, but I am terribly interested to see how they grow up.

As a side note, I love the fact that this novel is so deeply rooted in its time – from the Lusitania to the war history of our heroes (Tuppences wartime career is hilarious in the detail she recounts) and all manner of other social detail. I always find it fascinating to read novels that feel like historical novels – that is, are aware of things which people would later find of historical interest, if that makes sense.

Also, I'm pretty sure that significant chunks of this novel were pinched for a Trixie Belden plot. Just saying.

COMING SOON

3. The Murder on the Links (1923)

Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings

4. The Man in the Brown Suit (1924)

Anne Beddingfeld, Colonel Race

Poirot Investigates (1924)

Short Stories.

Clockwork, Rocks and a Tragicomic

I've finally kicked up a gear or two in my reading this month! Enough that I am way behind on my book blogging, in any case. So here's a mass post to catch up on three books I finished recently: gaslamp fantasy YA The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, epic political fantasy The Last Stormlord by Glenda Larke, and 'tragicomic' memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.

The Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Book One), by Cassandra Clare

I enjoyed Clare's first Shadowhunters trilogy, as a fun Buffy-style YA paranormal, though it didn't rank among my absolute favourites because I wasn't all that attached to either character in her central supercouple, and none of the far-more-interesting supporting characters got nearly enough page time for my taste.

The first book of this new trilogy, though, set back in the Victorian era of her same world, has absolutely knocked my socks off. Tessa is a touch too modern to feel like the Bronte-esque heroine she is obviously modelled after, as indeed are all the characters (the feel is more like that of a suave, postmodern TV adaption of a Victorian fantasy tale, than one which actually belongs in that era) but I didn't care because it was just so delicious from beginning to end.

Fans of Gail Carriger will really enjoy this story of warlocks, shapechangers and magical secret societies. Tessa is an orphan girl with attitude, coping with more tragedy, betrayal and terror than Jane Eyre on a bad day, and somehow managing to keep her chin up. Will and Jem, two teenage boys who embody Clare's fascination with deep, loyal more-than-family friendships, are both quite fascinating despite holding their mysteries close to their chest.

As with Clare's earlier work, it's the dialogue that really makes this a captivating page turner of a read, though the added bonus of really appealing protagonists this time around has made this a series I will be hanging out for, instead of merely adding to the reading pile if I have time.

The Last Stormlord (Watergivers Book One), by Glenda Larke

This is the kind of book which reminds me why I started loving fantasy in the first place. Glenda has created a stark, vivid and utterly convincing world which is unlike anything I've ever read before. Her desert people live in cities that descend down slopes and cliff faces, and the society is (understandably) obsessed with water, which is the only currency. We see these gorgeous, harsh and cruel cities through many different perspectives: the rainlords who form the social elite because of their powers to manipulate water magically, and their proximity to the throne; and also the waterless, who barely survive on the fringes of society.

Everything hinges on the abilities of the Stormlords to lift and desalinate water from the faraway oceans, and to bring it over the cities in controlled storms. But there have been no new Stormlords for generations, and those few hopefuls have had "mysterious" accidents befall them. The only remaining Stormlord is old and sick and weak… and there is no one to replace him when he finally wears out. These are desperate times, and the lack of water leads to awful political decisions, civil unrest and, ultimately, to war. And all this before we even get to the end of Book 1!

Court politics, tangled societal rules, gender issues, romance, art and scimitars. How could I not like this book? It's a measure of how much I did like it that I was able to get past the extremely gruesome death of a toddler early on in the story – for what should be fairly obvious reasons, death or cruelties visited upon babies and small children is one of my absolute pet hates in any kind of fiction, and something I just find myself unable to deal with. This one was rough, and still haunts me, but the story and the writing are both good and clever and crunchy enough to get me past that. I'm saving Book 2 (the one I share two shortlists with, in the Aurealis & Ditmar awards) for the plane, the one time I know I will have several of spare reading hours!



Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel

And moving into entirely different territory… This is a marvelous, awful, incredibly powerful graphic memoir (as opposed to graphic novel) of the artist/writer's childhood, and particularly her relationship with her father, who died suddenly (and, she believes, intentionally) when she was twenty, shortly after she came out to her family as a lesbian, learned of her father's own closeted homosexuality, and supported her mother in asking for a divorce. There's an intensity to this book that comes from the layers and layers of meaning through each panel – often the illustration completely belies the text, or shows a different interpretation of reality. This means that you really get the sense that you are dredging through someone's memories, circling round and round instead of following a single narrative line.

We are often told facts or details more than once, but each time it happens we understand more about the narrator and her family, and so we feel like we have been pulled deeper into the story. Bechdel exposes herself regularly as an unreliable narrator, but also pulls no punches in detailing her own perceived flaws or those of her parents – the three of them often feel like the only real characters in the story, or the only ones that she feels she can be honest and revealing about. Bechdel's brothers, for instance, are only lightly sketched.

Most of all, this is a story about books – and it's particularly interesting to me in light of several conversations this year on the topic of 'books within books' – Jo Walton's Among Others, which I still haven't got to, sparked off many of these, inviting comparisons with that classic book about reading books, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. Listening to Farah Mendlesohn on the recent Coode St podcast, I was reminded in a sudden startlement that Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock is also a book about reading books, and was fascinated by Farah's assertion that every book cited in that book contributes to a deeper understanding of what is going on in the story. I didn't need an excuse to go back and reread one of my favourite novels of all time, but now I am bursting to do so.

But yes, Fun Home is a book about books – I find it really revealing that Bechdel barely mentions her interest in art, but the whole story is wrapped up in her halting beginnings as a writer. We see her progression as a diarist, under the critical eye of both parents, and there is a whole meta conversation about herself as narrator, and how early she began to weave ambiguity and misinformation into her text. Likewise, she examines her father's letters, from his courtship of her mother as well as to Bechdel herself when she was at college, for clues as to his personality and his secrets. Bechdel discovers her sexual orientation through books, and we are treated to her reading list and her thoughts on several of the works which most affected her, through the narrative. Wound into the story also are the books she shared (sometimes with delight, sometimes with exasperation) with her father, an English teacher and (she felt) frustrated student of literature. After learning to fear, despise and be critical of Bechdel's father for so much of the story, it is quite stunningly effective to show how he and his daughter, who seemed barely capable of having a conversation together, bonded so deeply over literature. Bechdel's mother is an altogether less deeply realised character (as with her brothers, it seems likely that Bechdel was holding back here, only feeling completely free to write about herself and her late father) but we also see her portrayed through her intersections literature, the masters degree she regularly disappeared into and the amateur dramatics that seemed to consume so much of her attention.

Fun Home is a difficult, confronting read at times, but is a spectacularly realised memoir, and I was deeply affected by the artwork. Bechdel has copied in old letters and sketched new versions of real photographs, and you can see in her depictions of her family home in particular that she was using this book to capture and honour so many memories, from the deep and dark to the absurd. It's a masterpiece, and the kind of book you need to reference when people start saying dumb things about how comic books are shallow, or just for kids, or only about superheroes.

The Shattered City Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, Part 3

Yes, still here, still blogging! Here are some more guest posts of mine which appeared throughout the week.

This one was teed up before the Mighty Slapdash Tour began, but I'm counting it anyway. Over at the blog of Kate Gordon, author of new YA paranormal Thyla (also released this month!) I talk about the difficulties particular to the underappreciated middle book of a trilogy, and some of the particularly mean things I have written into this one.

Tehani totally tried to bait me by challenging me to write about the differences between men and women writing fantasy, and I think I acquitted myself reasonably well on that topic.

Jo inspired me to write about my daughter's response to Star Wars (if I'd gone with Doctor Who, you all know it would have turned into a book, right?).

Helen Merrick gave me four topics and of course I couldn't choose between them, could I? So she got a mighty, jam-packed blog post!

The posts each come with a little cookie from The Shattered City, out NOW from all good Australian/NZ bookshops (I hope!) and also available as an e-book in iBooks and Kindle (I hope other ereader sites too, let me know if you source it!)

I still haven't heard any evidence that The Shattered City *is* in bookshops yet, but I really appreciate everyone who has tweeted me or commented to let me know that they have it on order, and that their local bookshop is apparently getting in lots of copies (or wasn't getting in any until they ordered it). Release month is a nail biting thing, and you have definitely made it more fun!

Smart Women Saying Smart Things

I have been gathering a pile of interesting links for blog posts all week, many of them linking to each other and building upon each other in a fascinating conversation about writing, reviewing and gender.

Reviewing and Writing as Women's Work

Nicola Griffiths on how the gendered gaze affects our perceptions of how "hard" or "soft" science fiction actually is (and how sexual it is).

Madeleine Robins on the insidious, internalised cultural pressures of "nice girls don't brag or draw attention to themselves" and how that works against promoting your own books as an author.

Sherwood Smith on the gender imbalance in SF reviewing and how Important Books tend to be those on Manly Subjects of Manliness and yet books about/by women mysteriously turn out to be Not Important, and isn't that an odd coincidence? Also, how important it is to realise that if your literary tastes differ from the accepted standards of what is Good, that doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with you. In closing, in response to Madeleine Robins' post, she also points out that the mythical women who don't push themselves forward enough (and are therefore responsible for people not realising women can write good books) tend to be highly criticised by society when they actually do push themselves forward. Yes, still.

Owlectomy on how a gendered perspective of a novel's subject can absolutely mess with your instincts about whether it is worthy of an award, and it can screw with you even if you are a woman and a feminist. Her description of the Joanna Russ Fairy is epic and must become a staple of critical language:

And the Joanna Russ fairy said, "If you think that family and love and grief are not inherently important topics, you might as well put some zombies in your Pride and Prejudice and be done with it."

Juliet McKenna on how insidious Default/Lazy Sexism can be, and how easily people slip into the idea that fantasy is a genre for and about men.

Timmi Duchamp at Aqueduct on reviewing as a woman, reviewing marginal and mainstream work, and why we need more diverse critical voices.

Miscellaneous but Still Awesome

A powerful essay by Farah Mendlesohn about the work of Diana Wynne Jones, her literary influence, and why she was so terribly important as a writer. (not all that unrelated to the previous section, now I come to think of it)

Nisi Shawl on Race, Still - essential reading for anyone in the genre. And yep, this one's not all that unrelated either.

Diana Peterfreund announces that Errant, the medieval-awesome-women-with-unicorns novelette that was one of my favourite pieces of short fiction last year, is available as an e-book. If you didn't get hold of the antho it was originally in (Kiss Me Deadly) then I can recommend this one very highly.

Image found thanks to Ragnell – I have seen this fantastic cosplay group around the web all over the place but this is the first time I saw so many of them in one image. It may well be the awesomest thing I have seen in many months.