Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 26

Snapshot 2016

The Aussie Spec Fic Snapshot has taken place five times in the past 11 years. In 2005, Ben Peek spent a frantic week interviewing 43 people in the Australian spec fic scene, and since then, it’s grown every time, now taking a team of interviewers working together to accomplish.

From August 1 to August 14 2016, this year’s team of interviewers have their turn. Greg Chapman, Tsana Dolichva, Marisol Dunham, Nick Evans, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Stephanie Gunn, Ju Landéesse, David McDonald, Belle McQuattie, Matthew Morrison, Alex Pierce, Rivqa Rafael, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Helen Stubbs, Katharine Stubbs, Matthew Summers and Tehani Wessely scoured the country (and a bit beyond) to bring you this year’s Snapshot.

You can follow all the action at the Snapshot site, via Twitter @AustSFSnapshot or on Facebook, and follow our interviewing team to keep up with all the happenings!

You can find the past five Snapshots at the following links: 2005,2007, 2010, 2012, 2014.

I’ll be cross-posting the interviews I did for the Snapshot here on the blog over the next fortnight, and while you’re waiting for those, check out the interview of me by Tsana at the Snapshot website!

Galactic Suburbia Ghostbusters (2006) Spoilerific!

New episode of Galactic Suburbia available to listen to now!

Was it better than the original? Did we love it or hate it? Was it appropriate for a 6 year old? If you want the new Ghostbusters movie thoroughly Spoiled, who are you gonna call?

Some links to other think pieces/reviews:

Ghostbusters is Still Haunted by Negative Racial Tropes (Polygon)

The Clothes of Ghostbusters (Women Write About Comics)

Ghostbusters 1984 vs Ghostbusters 2006 (Book Smugglers)

Not discussed but interesting: the clothes of Ghostbusters:

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

Sheep Might Fly: Unmagical Boy Story Part 3

New episode update!

“Unmagical Boy Story” is a 13-part sequel to “Fake Geek Girl,” and is original to this podcast.

One magical university, divided between the Colleges of the Real and Unreal. One pub. One indie band. A lot of drunk witches on a Friday night. One shattered friendship, due to be repaired. One Practical Mythology paper which really has to be finished by Monday… Oh, and trolls. Lots and lots of trolls. The trolls are not a metaphor, but everything else might be… let’s see who survives Friday night drinks!

Part 3 – 9PM I Hate That Song So Much Right Now

On student bands and disastrous back story.

Catch up on previous episodes here!

Part 1 – 7PM, Little Black Dress Alert

Part 2 – 8PM, Friday Night Cover Charge: Two Drinks

Sheep Might Fly has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

Magical Universities 101

For a long time, the subject of magical schools in fantasy fiction was dominated by Harry Potter, and Hogwarts. While the popularity of Harry Potter was at its height, any author who dared to tap into that particular trope was likely to be accused of anything from trend-hopping to plagiarism.

At the same time, there was an ongoing (and very loud) conversational track about how unoriginal Rowling’s books were, with fans of her predecessors waving their own favourite magical school books around, either defensively (look, it was written 20 years earlier, it’s not derivative of Harry Potter!) or happily (look, all these great magical school books to check out once you’ve reread Half-Blood Prince for the third time!).

Seriously, you haven’t lived until you have reread The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy post-Potter, and realised quite how closely Ethel Hallow, Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom map on to Draco Malfoy, Dumbledore and Snape… but I digress.

Works by authors like Diana Wynne Jones actually gained a new lease of life because of Pottermania – it was never this easy to access Chrestomanci books in the 90’s, I know I had to hunt for them in second hand book shops until the big first reissue of her novels in colourful, Potterish covers.

The most interesting thing about Hogwarts as a magical school (apart from the fact that it’s the biggest, baddest, most popular, most bestselling example of the trope) was the gaps in the educational system – the honking great question marks, which fanfic writers leaped on with great enthusiasm. What did wizards and witches offer as primary education? Where did they learn about subjects other than magic – surely they needed some form of mathematics, or basic english courses?

Most importantly, what were the options for further study after they graduated? We all know that Hermione wasn’t going to be content with going straight into the work force at the age of seventeen. What came next?

In the end, we didn’t even get to find out what Seventh Year at Hogwarts was properly like, because of the pesky war that got in the way, though some of us had managed to consume a LOT of fanfic that more than answered those questions long before Deathly Hallows was published.

It’s amazing really that there isn’t more fantasy fiction based around universities – that great hub of learning, personal growth and young adults trying to make as many mistakes as possible in a short space of time. No wonder that Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind became so popular so quickly, with its combination of epic fantasy and weirdly familiar modern university dynamics. Lev Grossman’s The Magicians also hits a lot of those buttons (it’s more of a magical school story than covering the college years, but the cynicism and weariness of the characters make them feel a lot older than we are told they are). More recently, the gorgeously elegant Tremontaine by Ellen Kushner and her writing team swung back and forth from royal palaces to seedy student digs, in a story about chocolate importation, murder and navigational mathematics.

Then there’s the Unseen University of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, that gloriously ramshackle and horribly realistic depiction of elderly academics dealing awkwardly with the embarrassing enthusiasm of their more youthful students while facing down regular otherworldly dimensions.

My own favourite university novel is Tam Lin by Pamela Dean – technically a fantasy novel, though the magical content is so subtle and elegantly placed that you don’t discover quite how much of a magical university story it is until the end. Unless you reread it every year, like I did between the ages of 15 and 25, and then it all starts looking a lot more obvious. Damn, that book ruined me for the university experience. Sure, I met the love of my life and made friendships that would last forever and immersed myself in Shakespeare and ancient history… but nothing I experienced at uni was anything like the intellectual romance that grew out of Pamela Dean’s imagination. Also, our campus was nowhere near as pretty, damn it.

University made its way into my fantasy fiction, from very early on. My second novel, Liquid Gold, was written in a contract-induced fever during my final semester of undergrad, and you can see the influence of every course I took in amongst the comic fantasy hijinks – particularly the fact that I was taking a Latin translation course on Book 6 of the Aeneid. There are some super obscure linguistic jokes in that book, of which I am only slightly ashamed – and worst of all, might not even recognise any more.

During my first year of postgraduate study, after I received my first big rejection of a finished manuscript, I plotted out the book that would become Ink Black Magic years later – in which my witch/pirate/adventurer Kassa retired into comfortable academia, using her personal experience to warn idealistic students away from the study and practice of magic.

By the time I actually wrote that book, I was on the other side of a doctorate, exhausted and made cynical by a university system that I loved and felt damaged by in equal measure.

I have a lot of feelings about universities, magical and otherwise.

I don’t think I could have written “Fake Geek Girl” and its sequels ten years ago. Ten years ago, I had a toddler on my hip, and had burned myself out, completing my thesis under pretty horrible circumstances. I was in mourning for the good years, of being completely in love with my subject and my work and my adademic community. I was really, really tired.

Did I mention I had a toddler?

My emotional recovery from the draining, soul-hurting experience of getting my thesis actually to the point of submission and assessment involved Harry Potter. I threw myself into the fandom, consuming a truly terrifying quantity of fic, and immersing myself in roleplaying games and Livejournal. I came out the other side with some great friends, some fannish scars, and a typing speed that put my previous achievements to shame.

I also emerged from my fugue with a novel that turned out to be publishable: Power and Majesty, which had nothing to do with magical universities.

Now that I’m a lot further from my university days (seriously, my eldest daughter is closer to hers than I am to mine, oh why did I type that, now I’m hyperventilating) and indeed from my extreme obsession with the worlds of Harry Potter (I’ve had so many other fictional and fannish obsessions since then), it’s probably not surprising that I felt the need to play with the idea of magical university stories again.

My influences this time around are not really magical at all. Over the years, I have acquired a lot of favourite university narratives that have nothing to do with fantasy fiction:

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

Check! Please, a webcomic about a hockey fraternity at a LGBTQ-friendly college.

Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society Girl novels

Season 3 of Veronica Mars, Seasons 4+ of Gilmore Girls, Seasons 5+ of Dawson’s Creek, Seasons 4+ of Buffy, all of the web series Carmilla… okay, some of those are totally based in fantasy, but the point stands.

Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

Pretty much all the college years fics in the Teen Wolf fandom, plus that one Avengers fic where they’re all Professors at a Tony Stark-funded science and technology university. I really like college AUs, it turns out. Did I mention the brilliant modern Musketeers AU in which they’re all in the same fencing club?

Not to mention sharehouse narratives, like This Life, Being Human, The Secret Life of Us, Threesome, and my favourite years of the Justice League comics. You could even argue that Doctor Who is one long 53 year sharehouse narrative about a really inconsiderate landlord…

ok in other news how did I not know there was a Brideshead Revisited adaptation with Hayley Atwell and Ben Whishaw???

I never experienced the dorm life side of university, and I’ve never known anyone who was part of a sorority or fraternity. When I was in Melbourne a couple of years ago, watching my kids play in a park in a terraced square, I started thinking of what an Australian magical university might look like, and how to tell completely ordinary stories of share houses and friendships and pub music and drunken movie marathons around a university that allowed you to study both magical and unmagical subjects. Stories where the magic – like in Tam Lin – is present but less important than the ordinary dramas that happen when young people pretend to be adults long before their brains have fully developed. And so I created Belladonna University, Hemlock Square, and the Colleges of the Real and Unreal.

When I was asked to write a long short story for Review of Australian Fiction last year, I took the opportunity to write the story of Fake Geek Girl, a student band made up of a bisexual witch lead singer (who writes songs based on her twin sister’s geeky interests), her sister’s gay ex-boyfriend on drums, and an obsessive Jane Austen fangirl cellist. I threw in a bunch of fan fiction tropes, playlists of song titles and fake pop culture references (I don’t care what anyone says, making up fake pop culture references is one of the greatest joys in life), a new romance and a whole lot of friendship feels, and ended up with a story that is simultaneously all about attending a magical university, and completely not about attending a magical university.

I even wrote a song. A whole song. To put in a story. I haven’t done that since high school.

I’m writing the sequel right now, Unmagical Boy Story, and serialising it for my Sheep Might Fly podcast as I write (terrifying, I’m only 2 chapters ahead of myself, I should be writing more RIGHT NOW). This one is actually about a postgrad student who takes her studies very seriously, though the story itself takes place over a single Friday night (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, eat your heart out) in which she isn’t about to work on her dissertation at all. It’s very stressful for her, but I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

The Belladonna University stories are not about my uni years, and they’re not about magic, and they’re not about all the college AUs I have read and enjoyed since I first discovered fanfic, and they’re not about that single, perfectly imperfect university experience that Pamela Dean wrote about in 1991. Except, of course, that they totally are about all those things. Because that’s how writing and reading works. Hell, they’re probably about Malory Towers and The Worst Witch and Chrestomanci and Hogwarts and The Secret Life of Us too.

I’d better get back to writing it.

You can support Tansy’s blog and the Sheep Might Fly podcast here at Patreon!

Galactic Suburbia Ep 147 Show Notes

In which Letters To Tiptree is still turning heads, and it’s winter in Australia. Much winter. So coldness.

Get the new episode HERE!

WHAT’S NEW ON THE INTERNET?

World Fantasy Award finalists

Locus Awards winners

CULTURE CONSUMED

Alisa: Undisclosed – Vacated; 4 hideous romcoms (Remember Sunday, Thanks for Sharing, Life Happens and Something Borrowed)

Alex: Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones; Beggars in Spain, Nancy Kress; Fifth Season, NK Jemisin; The Hollow Crown

Tansy: Person of Interest Season 5, Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac (especially John Chu’s “How to Piss off a Failed Super-Soldier”), Batman v Superman; Hamilton, Rocket Talk podcast – Amal El-Mohtar on Does Hamilton Count as Genre.

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

Sheep Might Fly: Unmagical Boy Story Part 2

New episode update!

“Unmagical Boy Story” is a 13-part sequel to “Fake Geek Girl,” and is original to this podcast.

One magical university, divided between the Colleges of the Real and Unreal. One pub. One indie band. A lot of drunk witches on a Friday night. One shattered friendship, due to be repaired. One Practical Mythology paper which really has to be finished by Monday… Oh, and trolls. Lots and lots of trolls. The trolls are not a metaphor, but everything else might be… let’s see who survives Friday night drinks!

Part 2: Friday Night, Cover Charge: Two Drinks

Catch up on Part 1, Little Black Dress Alert here!

Sheep Might Fly now has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

Penthesilea: from battle-axe to bellatrix

Great Ladies of History is a Patreon-sponsored essay series for tansyrr.com! One of the rewards at the $10 tier (Great Ladies Patron!) and at the $20 tier (Deluxe Super Special Queen-Emperor of Glorious Patronage) gives you the magical ability to choose any woman of history, fiction or art (yes, superhero comics count) for me to write about.

You can check out this and many other exciting Patreon rewards at my sponsorship page.

D. Franklin requested one of two amazing Ancient Greek ladies, and my policy in life is when in doubt, pick the Amazon. (the other option was Hypatia, but I don’t feel guilty about not picking her, because there’s a fabulous post about her here at The Original Black Woman).

So let’s talk about Penthesilea!

The Amazons are a staple of Greek mythology – women warriors who are often held up these days as symbols of strength and feminism. In the ancient world, however, they were generally framed as monstrous, unnatural figures serving as the antagonists (or the objects) of male quests. It’s no coincidence that when the Amazons turn up in a story, it’s almost always at the point of being conquered, or killed – they are treated in art as equivalent to centaurs or other monstrous foes for the Greeks to battle against.

Most of the discussion around the Amazons in the ancient texts concerns their male-free culture, which sparked various theories as to how they acquired babies: by visiting a friendly tribe regularly to conceive, only to murder/hand back any boys born; or by enslaving the men conquered in battle. The rumour that they actually cut off a breast in order to free themselves for easier archery (because dying of infection, so convenient in the military) has been largely debunked, as it is not supported by the artistic depictions.

Those of the ancient world certainly believed Amazons had once existed, but even the oldest accounts we have describe them as a long-lost race, whose traditions were maintained by some cultures (Herododus claimed the Scythians were descended from Amazons, which is why they let their wives ride horses).

It’s more fun to believe they really existed, so let’s go with that.

Hippolyta, the most famous and iconic Amazon, is known for her appearance in the Twelve Labours of Hercules, a suite of mythological tales about how the hero earned redemption for killing his own family while under the malign influence of the goddess Hera. With Hippolyta, Hercules’ challenge was to take her girdle, which represented her power as queen of the Amazons – he did so by “seducing her” (which in Greek mythology can almost always be read as an act of dubious consent).

Hippolyta is also at least a bit famous because a) Shakespeare put her in a play and b) she is the mother of Wonder Woman.

Penthesilea is one of the named sisters of Hippolyta (along with Antiope), who were believed to be the daughters of Ares, God of War, with his consort Otrera. Unlike her sisters, Penthesilea belongs to the Trojan Cycle of myths, which automatically makes her my favourite (true fact: all myths become more awesome if connected to the Trojan War). Pliny credited her with the invention of the battle-axe, which is a pretty awesome legacy.

Having accidentally killed her sister Hippolyta in a hunting accident thanks to a stray breeze sent to you from the gods (the moral of the story is always that gods are terrible to humans) she sought absolution among the besieged Trojans after the death of Hector at the hands of Achilles, and turned up with a whole team of fierce Amazon warriors to help the war effort.

Penthesilea misses out on an appearance in the Iliad, thanks to unfortunate timing, but does appear in several of the unofficial sequels, by poets other than Homer. Sadly we know that she appeared in the Aethiopis, a now-lost epic which filled in the gap between the Iliad and the Little Iliad, but the epic itself has not survived to the present day.

The Aethiopis has Penthesilea and her Amazons arriving as Hector’s funeral (the last event of the Iliad) ends, and describes her glorious battle against the Greeks, which concludes when Achilles finally defeats and kills her. At the moment of her death, Achilles sees her face and either a) falls madly deeply in love with her (ugh) or b) feels really really guilty at what he has done. Either way, he weeps over her corpse, and the warrior Thersites makes fun of him for having feelings. Obviously Thersites has not been paying attention, because Achilles is basically a big squishy stress ball of feelings, that is the point of Achilles.

We do have the Post-Homerica, by Quintus Smyrnaeus, also known as Kointos Smyrnaios, who was writing around 4 CE. Yes, that’s more than a thousand years after the actual Trojan War. Yes, honestly, that doesn’t make him the peer of Homer any more than Gail Simone is. The good news is that his poem covers the ground of the Aetheopis and the Little Iliad – the bad news is that because it’s not as famous as the Iliad, it hasn’t had as many translations and, well, the only one I could find was from 1913, so it’s super flowery.

Marvelled the Argives, far across the plain seeing the hosts of Troy charge down on them, and midst them Penthesileia, Ares’ child. These seemed like ravening beasts that mid the hills bring grimly slaughter to the fleecy flocks; and she, as a rushing blast of flame she seemed that maddeneth through the copses summer-scorched, when the wind drives it on; and in this wise spake one to other in their mustering host: “Who shall this be who thus can rouse to war the Trojans, now that Hector hath been slain — these who, we said, would never more find heart to stand against us? Lo now, suddenly forth are they rushing, madly afire for fight! Sure, in their midst some great one kindleth them to battle’s toil! Thou verily wouldst say this were a God, of such great deeds he dreams! Go to, with aweless courage let us arm our own breasts: let us summon up our might in battle-fury. We shall lack not help of Gods this day to close in fight with Troy.”

Actually what am I even complaining about, this is amazing, you should read the whole thing. She has verses and verses about how badass she is.

It’s sad that Penthesilea is mostly known for her death, but on the bright side, an epic death was the sort of thing that kept you in the hearts and minds of the Ancient Greeks for, well, centuries. Penthesilea’s fighting prowess and death was super popular with ancient artists as well as poets, which kept her very much in the public memory. Indeed, there was one prolific 5th Century Attic vase painter who has been dubbed ‘the Penthesilea Painter’ thanks to a particularly excellent bowl; he is considered a master of his field and era.

Her legend as a fierce warrior woman continued through various literary traditions – in the Aeneid, Virgil uses the glorious word bellatrix (female warrior) to describe Penthesilea (though she isn’t named) as well as the Latin heroine Camilla of the Volsci, explicitly comparing the two (incidentally, HELLO, expect a Camilla short story from me sometime soon). And who could forget the moment in Lois McMaster Bujold’s SF novel Shards of Honour when Cordelia Naismith is described as Aral Vorkosigan’s “Betan Penthesilea”?

PhD in Classics aside, many of my own historical headcanons come from favourite novels, because that’s how I first fell in love with the ancient world, before academia got its paws on me.

My introduction to Penthesilea was in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s epic novel The Firebrand, which retells the myths of the Trojan War from the point of view of Kassandra, presenting a subversive matriarchal slant on history. Much like Bradley’s more famous novel The Mists of Avalon did for the Arthurian myths, The Firebrand totally hacked my brain and forever affected my interpretation of these stories.

In this version of the story, Queen Hecuba of Troy was the sister of Penthesilea and thus had strong connections to one of the last Amazon tribes – at one point in the story, Kassandra is sent to stay with her aunt and learns the ways of the Amazon warriors, which deeply affects her way of looking at the world when she returns to royal life. Penthesilea and her tribe come to aid the Trojans because of that family connection, and she dies that same glorious single battle in defence of the Trojans – though there is no romanticisation about Achilles and his reponse to her death.

In the same novel, Andromache (wife of Hector) is framed as the daughter of Penthesilea who was raised an Amazon but was better suited to city/palace life, which explains why her name means ‘fights like a man’ despite her notable lack of fight scenes in the Iliad.

For a slightly more cheerful (only slightly, and sometimes downright gritty) take on Amazon mythology, can I suggest a Xena Amazon-athon? Xena built up its own Amazon mythology based on female warriors, suspicion of outsiders, masks and other elements of tribal costume, and an expertise in tree-based guerilla warfare. Danielle Cormack’s Ephiny, Alison Bruce’s Melosa, Melinda Clarke’s Velasca and of course Renee O’Connor’s Gabrielle are particularly epic Amazons from the series. Episodes featuring the Amazons include Hooves and Harlots, The Quest, A Necessary Evil, Maternal Instincts, Adventures in the Sin Trade, Endgame and Last of the Centaurs.

But when the Dawn, the rosy-ankled, leapt up from her bed, then, clad in mighty strength of spirit, suddenly from her couch uprose Penthesileia. Then did she array her shoulders in those wondrous-fashioned arms given her of the War-god. First she laid beneath her silver-gleaming knees the greaves fashioned of gold, close-clipping the strong limbs. Her rainbow-radiant corslet clasped she then about her, and around her shoulders slung, with glory in her heart, the massy brand whose shining length was in a scabbard sheathed of ivory and silver. Next, her shield unearthly splendid, caught she up, whose rim swelled like the young moon’s arching chariot-rail when high o’er Ocean’s fathomless-flowing stream she rises, with the space half filled with light betwixt her bowing horns. So did it shine unutterably fair. Then on her head she settled the bright helmet overstreamed with a wild mane of golden-glistering hairs. So stood she, lapped about with flaming mail, in semblance like the lightning, which the might, the never-wearied might of Zeus, to earth hurleth, what time he showeth forth to men fury of thunderous-roaring rain, or swoop resistless of his shouting host of winds. Then in hot haste forth of her bower to pass caught she two javelins in the hand that grasped her shield-band; but her strong right hand laid hold on a huge halberd, sharp of either blade, which terrible Eris gave to Ares’ child to be her Titan weapon in the strife that raveneth souls of men.

Blonde hair aside, doesn’t that totally sound like he’s describing the Xena opening credits?

Also recommended if you’re in an Amazon frame of mind – this amazing Tumblr post about how to dress your Amazonian warrior, and why the Wonder Woman movie should totally feature stripey pants.

OTHER GREAT LADIES OF FICTION AND HISTORY

River Song: in the Hero Seat

Mary Vindicated: The Life & Politics of Mary Wollstonecraft

Sheep Might Fly: Unmagical Boy Story 1

Here we are, starting a brand new Sheep Might Fly serial!

“Unmagical Boy Story” is a sequel to “Fake Geek Girl,” and is original to this podcast.

Viola Vale has a paper to write for an important academic conference – the last thing she should do is go to the pub with her ex-best friend and his new girlfriend, to listen to an indie band she hates. But this is Belladonna University, where a good night out means magical explosions, literal trolls, hexed cocktails and sparkle pixie hair product. This particular night out will change Viola’s life, friendships and future forever…

sity

Sheep Might Fly now has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

Sheep Might Fly: Julia Agrippina Part 6

New Sheep Might Fly episode update! Listen now on iTunes (or your own favourite podcast app). You can stream, download & follow Sheep Might Fly on Podbean.

This is the final episode of “Julia Agrippina’s Secret Family Bestiary” from my Twelve Planets collection Love and Romanpunk, a story suite about a universe where the Ancient Romans fought (and occasionally married) outlandish magical creatures, some of which survived to the present day and beyond. You can get a copy of the whole book over at the Twelfth Planet Press website.

“Agrippina” is a story about sex, death, domestic violence, emotional abuse, the erasure of women in history, and manticores. It features some surprising facts about Roman Emperors, only some of which are made up.

PART SIX: Werewolves

Need to catch up on the previous episodes?

PART ONE: Basilisk, Centaur, Dragon, Eagle

PART TWO: Griffin, Harpy

PART THREE: Lamia, Manticore

PART FOUR: Naiad, Peacock

PART FIVE: Sphynx, Triton, Vampire

Sheep Might Fly now has its own Twitter account: @sheepmightfly

and its own Tumblr account: Sheep Might Fly

Follow along for updates, previews and other Sheep Might Fly specific chatter!

Master list of Sheep Might Fly serials.

Support Tansy & Sheep Might Fly at Patreon.

This Month Online: June 2016

It’s been a big month! The Silent Producer and I celebrated our 20th anniversary by getting married, because apparently you can’t just backdate these things. (I totally backdated it in my head, in case anyone was wondering)

We eloped for the weekend, taking our parents and children with us, and were married underneath the bridge at Richmond. It was very cold. June weddings in the Southern Hemisphere are… a bracing choice, but we were pretty pleased with the results.

I’m actively writing the next Sheep Might Fly original serial at the moment, which will be a sequel to “Fake Geek Girl”, tentatively titled “Unmagical Boy Story.” It’s about postgrad life in a magical university, friendship wars, snobbery and mythology, and takes place over a single eventful night in the life of Viola Vale and the residents of the Manic Pixie Dream House. We’re also working towards a release of the ebook version of “Glass Slipper Scandal,” which will be going out free to all Patreon supporters, hopefully sometime in July.

You can support my Patreon here.

At the end of the day’s session, seven-year-old Davey, who had been creeping closer and closer to the worksite, tugged on Willa’s sleeve and confessed: “Solar’s my favourite.”

Willa smiled a wide, approving smile. It was immediately wiped off her face when Jimbo jumped in with: “You can’t have a girl as your favourite. Unless you are a girl. And girls don’t even like superheroes.”

Willa looked furious. Griff braced himself to explain to management how one of the Teen Volunteers had punched a twelve-year-old. Instead of going after Jimbo, though, Willa got up in Griff’s face. “What the hell are you teaching these kids?” she hissed between her teeth.

“Don’t look at me,” Griff protested. “I just fix shit around here.”

“Yeah, well this looks like some shit that needs to be fixed.”

from “Kid Dark Against the Machine,” by Tansy Rayner Roberts, The Book Smugglers

So my sequel to “Cookie Cutter Superhero” came out this month, and I’ve been getting some great feedback on it. You can purchase “Kid Dark” as an ebook just about anywhere, or read the story for free on the website along with its supporting essay, about my inspiration and influences.

Speaking of “Cookie Cutter Superhero,” this one was reprinted in the fabulous Book Smugglers Quarterly Almanac, which is worth a read for so many other reasons, too. (seriously, the John Chu story is worth the price of the issue)

On the Sheep Might Fly podcast, Agrippina’s secret history of the Caesars and their close encounters of the monstrous kind continues:

PART TWO: Griffin, Harpy

PART THREE: Lamia, Manticore

PART FOUR: Naiad, Peacock

PART FIVE: Sphynx, Triton, Vampire

On Galactic Suburbia this month:

Episode 45 (Continuum debrief, wedding debrief The Geek Feminist Revolution, Cleverman)

My third Cheysuli Reread post went up on Tor.com: Legacy of the Sword.

The Gothic sub-genre, characterised by Joanna Russ as “someone’s trying to kill me and I think it’s my husband” uses the trope of distrust within families to devastating effect. Donal is not merely compromised by a femme fatale type love interest as Carillon was with Electra; this is a story of the insidious, lurking horror that comes from not quite trusting those closest to you, including feelings of guilt and shame, micro-awareness of suspicious behaviour, and second-guessing your own instincts because of emotional ties… seeing Donal navigate this territory as part of an otherwise traditional male hero’s journey feels startlingly original.

Best thing I read this month was almost certainly The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley, though I also really, really loved “How To Piss Off A Failed Super-Soldier,” by John Chu and “The Invisible Woman” (an essay on the role of women in superhero narratives) by Genevieve Valentine, both of which can be found in the Book Smugglers Almanac. Media highlights of the month include Cleverman, the Person of Interest finale, and oh, THAT HAMILTON THING I GET IT NOW.