Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 163

And the Nominees are…

I woke up to a lovely surprise this morning. The Ditmar ballot is out, and I'm on it! In several places! As are many of my favourite people.

Congratulations to everyone. I look forward to see you all in September, frocked up to the nines and shaking hands with Peter Watts.

The 2010 ballot is as follows:

Best Novel
—————————————————————–
* Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin)
* Liar, Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury)
* World Shaker, Richard Harland (Allen& Unwin)
* Slights, Kaaron Warren...

Aliens in Your Science Fiction, Messing With Your Definitions

So there's a new Galactic Suburbia podcast due to be recorded this week, and I have some homework left over from last time! That is:

Dear Tansy,

Howdy! Long time listener, first time emailer!

I just wanted to clarify the question from last night's show. You said that if science fiction was to be innovative and inclusive (was that the second word you used?), it should be broad in its definition. I wanted to know if you thought that "science fiction" as defined not by the genre (ie fiction based ...

The Lady's Not For Burning

Day 12 – A book or series of books you've read more than five times

Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean.

It's probably been close to twenty years since I first discovered this, one of the few perfect books in the world, and I would have reread it every year or two since. Not for five years now, since my last Great Re-reading phase. I would like to again soon, as it's the kind of book that grows up with you.

It's basically a love story to a liberal arts college education. I read it for the first time...

How to Read Big Fat Fantasy

My reading habits have drastically changed over the last few years. If I look at myself based only on my reading (and who doesn't do that?), then I can barely recognise myself compared to the reader I was five years ago. If this reading meme has made me think about anything, it's about my history with books and reading and styles, and how many different readers I have been in my life.

This is me now: I read YA books by the bucketload, mostly those that have come out this year. The same...

The Price of Expectations

Day 11 – A book that disappointed you

Most recently, Kraken by China Mieville, which I discussed in the last Galactic Suburbia – I do blame myself for this, not so much because of reading it as an e-book (I'm over that) but because I failed to notice ahead of time the obvious signs that it was a text heavily influenced/inspired by Lovecraft, and even once I worked that out, I failed to take into account just how hard I bounce off any fiction at all which is heavily influenced/inspired by...

To: abooksblog.com

I might have addressed this letter more courteously if, you know, the blog in question actually had a name anywhere on it that linked it with a real person.

You have been using whole posts from my blog (http://tansyrr.com) without permission, on abooksblog.com as well as on your Facebook feed. This is not acceptable. Please remove these posts immediately, and respect my copyright in future by not copying content from my blog for your own.

Regards,

Tansy Rayner Roberts.

So, internet ethics....

Glamazons and Harridans

Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

I worried about Joanna Russ' The Adventures of Alyx for some time before I read it. I was expecting a Jirel of Joiry type thing, and Jirel of Joiry (the first real swordnsorcery character created by a woman) had been a crushing disappointment to me – having read about Henna the Henna-haired Harridan and watched my body weight in Xena, I found the original warrior woman by C.L. Moore quite dull and pointless, much like the...

Unexpected Revelations of Rats

Day 09 – Best scene ever

Anna Louise Genoese writes beautifully about the type of scene she likes best. I have been able to come up with a handful of best beloved scenes or moments in books that come to mind, but I wasn't sure if I could spot a pattern until I typed them all out.

*Sophie (and the reader) realising that Howl knew her secret all along
(Howl's Moving Castle)
*a discussion on witch cliches ends when a house falls on Granny Weatherwax's head
(Witches Abroad)
*Cordelia producing the...

Warlord is a Lady Tonight [Xena Rewatch 1.1-1.4]

Yes, my reward to myself for… oh, something or other, mostly having money in my bank account for the first time in months, was the Big Ginormous Xena Boxset. It's so shiny! I've been rather longing for a proper Xena rewatch for some time. So here we go, in order, from the top.

1.1. Sins of the Past
They manage to pack quite a lot into this episode. It's rather clever in that it is basically a sequel to three linked episodes in Hercules: the Legendary Journeys from the year before, and yet t...

Sheepish

Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once

Another one of those questions I have to rail against. Didn't you all get the memo about me trying to wean myself off 'should'?

How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ would be a great one to include for this question were it not for the fact that it is still on my to-read shelf. Oh yeah.

The very idea of one text being so universally important that everyone should read it kind of boggles my mind. I don't believe one single book...