Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 30

Issue #1: Black Widow

Title: Black Widow #1 (2016)

Writer: Mark Waid & Chris Samnee

Artist: Chris Samnee

The Buzz: This creative team have just come off a highly celebrated run on Daredevil, and the previews for this run emphasised the commitment that the team have to working on Black Widow (who has herself just finished up a highly praised run by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto) as an old school spy adventure story.

All You Need To Know: Natasha Romanova/Romanoff is a former Soviet assassin, spy, Agent of SHIELD and Avenger, with a hint of ballerina and a drop or two of Super Soldier serum in her veins. She’s badass.

Story: This first issue is more of a statement of intent than a story: Natasha is on the run from her former allies at SHIELD, having stolen something important from them, and the entire first issue is dedicated to her getaway. It does for Black Widow what the pre-credits sequence of a Bond film is supposed to do, and it does it exceptionally well.

Art: Chris Samnee presents a Natasha who is powerful and dynamic without being overly sexualised, which is incredibly rare in how artists generally portray Black Widow. This 20 page action sequence is a love letter to her character – to her strength and capability and physical abilities as a spy and assassin, with only a brief nod to her seductress/flirtatious side. It’s so refreshing!

But What Did I Miss?: I love Black Widow, but I often struggle to enjoy her solo titles because they have a tendency to be overly earnest and angsty, to focus on her many tragic backstories and history of violence, and to lack the deadpan humour that makes her such a delight in team books, and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s too soon to say if this series is more of the same but it feels very fresh and promising. It also doesn’t rely so far on any of Natasha’s complex web of backstory – you could come to this issue with no knowledge of her character (or only knowing her from the Avengers and Captain America movies) and feel right at home. It seems to be looking forward instead of back – I look forward to finding out how that is explored in future.

Would Read Issue 2?: Yes, this one’s going on my regular list!

Read it if you Like: Daredevil, Avengers, Captain America, Batman, Batwoman, or if you really, really want a Black Widow movie.

Other titles reviewed in 2016:

Hellcat #1

The Adventures of Supergirl #1

Archie #1

Spider-Man #1

Sheep Might Fly: Fake Geek Girl Part 8 Show Notes

New episode of Sheep Might Fly!

You can listen now to Episode 8 on iTunes (or your own favourite podcast app, I hope), and also stream, download & follow Sheep Might Fly here on the Podbean site.

“Fake Geek Girl,” was originally published in Review of Australian Fiction Volume 14, Issue 4. You can buy the issue containing the story (along with a fantastic piece from Stephanie Lai) directly from their website.

Meet Fake Geek Girl, the band that plays nerdy songs at the university bar every Friday night, to a mixture of magical and non-magical students: lead singer Holly writes songs based on her twin sister Hebe’s love of geek culture though she doesn’t really understand it; drummer Sage is an explosive sorcerous genius obsessing over whether Holly’s about to quit the band to go mainstream; shy Juniper only just worked up the nerve to sing her own song in public and keeps a Jane Austen themed diary chronicling the lives and loves of her friends. When the mysterious, privileged Ferd joins their share house, everything starts to unravel…

In Part 8, Hurt/Comfort and Holly, the lead singer of Fake Geek Girl writes a revealing email to their former bandmate and Tansy learns that it’s very hard to convey crossed-out words in a spoken word podcast. Fun times!

Missed previous episodes? Start from the beginning with Episode 1, Episode 2 or Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7.

If you like what you hear on Sheep Might Fly, check out Tansy’s blog at tansyrr.com. Talk to Tansy on Twitter (@tansyrr), or check out her other podcasts: Galactic Suburbia and Verity!

You can become a supporter of Tansy & the Sheep Might Fly podcast at Patreon.

Galactic Suburbia Spoilerific: The Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan Edition

New Episode available for streaming and download! In which Tansy & Alex take apart the joyous wonder that is the latest Lois McMaster Bujold novel: Gentleman Jole & the Red Queen.

Discussed:

The Terrible Title

The Vorkosigan Saga So Far (with particular reference to Shards of Honour & Barrayar, with plenty of spoilers for All The Key Moments involving the Vorkosigan family)

Uterine Replicators and Their Social Implications

Older Women in Space (send us your Space Grannies story recs!)

Space Opera as Social History

Triad Marriages and Alternative Parenting Models

The Changing Roles of Mothers and Grandmothers with an extended lifespan

Oliver Jole as unusual male hero: how often do we see books about men choosing between career advancement and having children?

Aurelia is the prettiest name

Is Miles ‘the man’ now? Does he represent conservative Barrayar, or is there still a healthy rebellious Betan streak in him?

Oliver & Cordelia: an “old person” romance

Bereavement & retirement as positive life turning points

Miles and Oliver: “that” conversation as climax of the plot

Miles and Cordelia: how to surprise your adult son, how to come to terms with your parents as fellow humans

The sciencey science of a colonised planet: Sergyar needs marine biologists and plumbers more than soldiers and politicians!

Reader response: what was problematic, unrealistic expectations, what does a Vorkosigan novel look like anyway?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11598691

http://www.tor.com/2016/02/11/book-reviews-gentleman-jole-lois-mcmaster-bujold/

We love you all and we love this book: only listen to this episode if you genuinely don’t mind being spoiled for all the things.

PS: Tansy still maintains that the Vorkosigan saga is just fine read in random book order. Alex is not okay with this. Follow your own instincts on this one.

You can Skype us to leave a short message about any of our topics or episodes, to be included in a future show.

03 90164171 (within Australia) +613 90164171 (from overseas)

Otherwise, 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!

17. Margaret Brundage & Weird Tales [SF Women of the 20th Century]

A trained fashion designer and illustrator who studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, bohemian artist Brundage brought her portfolio to Weird Tales, “the magazine of the bizarre and the unusual” in the hope of finding something more interesting – and colourful – to work on than black and white fashion sketches. After trying her hand at a couple of covers for their publication Oriental Stories, she went on to become the most prolific cover artist of Weird Tales in the 1930’s. She produced 66 original covers for the magazine in total, with a period between 1933 and 1936 when she was the sole cover art for an uninterrupted run of 36 covers.

Brundage specialised in the popular SF artistic trope damsel in distress: the majority of her covers feature a glamorous, swooning maiden in skimpy, sensual attire, often clinging to a ‘hero’ while under attack from an alien, or otherworldly monster – or, just as often, tussling seductively with another woman. Brundage’s content often inspired complaints for its sexual nature; these complaints only increased when it was revealed in 1934 that “M. Brundage” was a woman.

There is a soft, dreamlike quality to Brundage’s work, which often dips into the surreal (as is entirely appropriate for the ‘weird’ nature of the stories in the magazine). She worked in pastels, which provided a lovely range of gentle colours and textures, and were very much responsible for the “look” of the magazine, still strongly remembered today for its memorable covers.

Known as the “Queen of the Pulps,” Brundage’s style undoubtedly had an effect on the SF artists that were to follow her, associating SF, fantasy and horror with a lush sensuality and general naughtiness that calls to mind the Clara Bow era of silent films.

These days, it’s hard not to see the wave of barely-clad damsel in distress figures in pulp art as a symbol of sexism in the industry, and yet there was something about Brundage’s women that often allows for a more progressive reading: her damsels were often fiery, but rarely distressed – at best, they exuded mild alarm at whatever alien was ravaging them this week. Their aloof quality took the power back from the concept, making it clear that – whatever the content of the stories within the magazine – these women saw themselves as protagonists.

Also, sometimes they had whips.

In his book, The Alluring Art of Margaret Brundage – Queen of Pulp Pin-Up Art, J. David Spurlock said: “Critics of the risqué covers complained that they were subversive to public decency, but Margaret was actually incorporating an alternative, inconspicuous level of subversion to enact a different level of decency. She took what was an illustration job and raised the bar: presenting women in stronger roles — something far from the norm for the times.”

Frank Frazetta is celebrated for his iconic covers featuring the ever-popular Conan the Barbarian, but Margaret Brundage drew Conan first, years earlier, thanks to Robert E Howard’s work in Weird Tales. Notably, while she illustrated all nine covers of Conan’s appearances in Weird Tales, she often left the iconic hero off the artwork altogether, preferring to illustrate the female figures from the story – her cover for “The Slithering Shadow” in 1933 depicts a blonde, barely-clad woman in chains, being gently flogged by a brunette in only slightly more clothing. Another, for “A Witch Shall Be Born” in Deaember 1934, features two women fighting; again, with a whip at the ready.

Brundage also illustrated for writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert Bloch – though Lovecraft in particular objected to her use of sexy female subjects and complained that she did not adequately represent the stories they had written. Other writers such as Howard and Seabury Quinn began to deliberately insert an appropriately ‘Brundage’ scene of sensationalism in each story, to catch the artist’s eye, knowing it increased their chances of being the ‘cover story’ of that issue.

Brundage’s soft pastel artwork was difficult to transport without being smeared, which led to Brundage being sidelined from the magazine after 1938, when the offices of Weird Tales shifted from Chicago to New York. Also in 1938, a new decency standard was pushed in New York for the pulp magazines appearing in newsstands, which meant there was more pushback against Brundage’s usual style and subject matter.

Brundage and her work had always been championed by the editor of Weird Tales, Farnsworth Smith, and despite the difficulties associated with her work, it was only after he left the magazine that her association with Weird Tales dwindled and finally dried up altogether, with her final cover published in 1945.

SF WOMEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY is brought to you by Tansy’s supporters at Patreon. Patrons of the blog can earn great rewards and help the campaign reach exciting milestones to unlock more content.



1. Raccoona Sheldon & “The Screwfly Solution”

2. Diane Marchant & Kirk/Spock

3. Connie Willis & To Say Nothing of the Dog

4. Clare Winger Harris & “The Fate of the Poseidonia”

5. Octavia E. Butler & Dawn

6. Wendy Froud & Yoda

7. C.L. Moore & “No Woman Born”

8. Robin Klein & Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left

9. Joanna Russ & To Write Like A Woman

10. Lois McMaster Bujold & Cordelia’s Honor

11. Naoko Takeuchi & Sailor Moon

12. Leigh Brackett & The Sword of Rhiannon

13. Thea Von Harbou & Metropolis

14. Andre Norton & the High Hallack Library

15. Nichelle Nicholls & Lt. Uhura

16. Anne McCaffrey & The Rowan

Random Act of Fiction! The Egyptian Androsphinx

One of my high-end Patreon rewards is the Random Act of Fiction, where I will write a micro-story featuring your name and the mythological beast of your choice.

This month, I posted (snail mail!) the first of these out to Marina (Min) Anderson, who is one of the marvellous people who supports my Patreon at the Deluxe Super Special Queen-Emperor of Glorious Patronage Level, the very best of levels, including all the rewards of various other levels combined.

Min nominated the sphinx – particularly the Egyptian Androsphinx, for her pet story!

Egyptian Androsphinx.

“Let me tell you about the Egyptian Androsphinx,” said Marina, from behind her fan of many feathers. “They are the best, simply the best keepers of secrets.”

Ida was intrigued, her fingers twisting in her strand of pearls as she leaned in to hear more. “Do you have so many secrets?”

“Not any more. I told them to the Androsphinx, and he ate them up like fish bones, crunch and bite.”

“I met a Sphinx once,” considered Ida. “Beastly creature – body of a lion, head of a ram. It moved in beside the mailbox one day, and I could not shift it with broom or rake. I made a trail of fresh mown grass to lead it away, and it barely even blinked at me. The postie didn’t dare come near us for weeks! I missed out on seven invitations.”

“Oh, a Criosphinx,” said Marina, bored already with Ida’s tale. “They’re quite mundane. You should have tried cake. A Criosphinx likes sugar even more than riddles.”

“Bartholomew read it a riddle,” said Ida, dejected at the memory.

“And?”

“It ate him. I didn’t even know a ram had the teeth for that sort of thing, but it managed somehow.”

“There you are, then,” said Marina, fluttering her fan. “At least my Sphinx is civilised.” She gazed across the ballroom, to where her pet Androsphinx sat majestic near the punch bowl. A Pharoah’s hat sat jauntily on its handsome head, and it rested its dimpled male chin upon soft sandstone-coloured paws.

“All your secrets?” Ida breathed.

“All of them,” Marina promised. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”

Random Act of Fiction is brought to you by Tansy’s supporters at Patreon.

Patrons of the blog can earn great rewards and help the campaign reach exciting milestones to unlock more content.

Sheep Might Fly: Fake Geek Girl Part 7 Show Notes

New episode of Sheep Might Fly!

You can listen now to Episode 7 on iTunes (or your own favourite podcast app, I hope), and also stream, download & follow Sheep Might Fly here on the Podbean site.

“Fake Geek Girl,” was originally published in Review of Australian Fiction Volume 14, Issue 4. You can buy the issue containing the story (along with a fantastic piece from Stephanie Lai) directly from their website.

Meet Fake Geek Girl, the band that plays nerdy songs at the university bar every Friday night, to a mixture of magical and non-magical students: lead singer Holly writes songs based on her twin sister Hebe’s love of geek culture though she doesn’t really understand it; drummer Sage is an explosive sorcerous genius obsessing over whether Holly’s about to quit the band to go mainstream; shy Juniper only just worked up the nerve to sing her own song in public and keeps a Jane Austen themed diary chronicling the lives and loves of her friends. When the mysterious, privileged Ferd joins their share house, everything starts to unravel…

In Part 7, Sage’s Coffee Shop AU, it’s Sage vs the Skinny Goth Waiter, and Hebe, and the rest of the band. He’s got some life-changing wisdom to share, but drummer heal thyself!

Missed previous episodes? Start from the beginning with Episode 1, Episode 2 or Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6.

If you like what you hear on Sheep Might Fly, check out Tansy’s blog at tansyrr.com. Talk to Tansy on Twitter (@tansyrr), or check out her other podcasts: Galactic Suburbia and Verity!

You can become a supporter of Tansy & the Sheep Might Fly podcast at Patreon.

Coming Soon to a Pirate Ship Near You!

Fablecroft are repackaging my first 2 novels, Splashdance Silver and Liquid Gold, with a gorgeous omnibus cover by Tania Walker, who also provided the art for the release of Ink Black Magic, the third in the series. Yes, Splashdance Silver and Liquid Gold will be available again in print as well as e-book format!

This is particularly good news for Tansy completionists who have struggled to find copies of the ‘yes the print run was a lot shorter’ Liquid Gold paperback. And also good news for me, because PRETTY COVER.

The Mocklore Chronicles are funny, fast-paced fantasy adventure novels about Kassa Daggersharp, daughter of a pirate captain and a legendary witch, and her crew of scoundrels and traitors. The books contain magical environmental concerns, a flying pirate ship (and, completely separately, a flying pirate sheep), a bunch of ancient history jokes and some really great frocks. Oh, and killer canaries.

Friday Links Provides the Recipe

I’ve been mildly obsessed with pie-baking over the last few months (thanks largely to watching far too many seasons of Supernatural in a very short time frame, good thing I’m not also going around shooting ghosts with rock salt) – and fans of the Livia Day books will be pleased to know that Tabitha has been likewise engaged! Mmm, pie.

Our friend Alexis had a Game of Thrones Murder themed party for his 40th a few weeks ago, and I happily dived into the Game of Thrones themed cooking blog. I went looking for Sansa Stark’s lemon cakes and came out clutching a strawberry pie recipe to die for! I especially love the thyme in the pastry. For the party, I made these as mini pies with pastry hearts on top (it was Valentine’s Day!) and I think they worked even better than the full sized pie I tried a few days later – the combination of strawberries and lemon curd is VERY sweet, so little mouthfuls work better. But oh! *dreamy sigh*

Speaking of pie and emotions, there were some major developments in Check! Please this week, one of my favourite current webcomics. Year Two of the story of Bitty, a tiny gay pie-baking, vlogging-and-tweeting hockey player navigating the weird world of bros and frathouse living at a very LGBT-friendly college, finished up with three updates and Major Boy Kissing. Fansquee was probably heard from Mars. If you haven’t been reading this comic, now is a great time to get started!

Jim C Hines wrote a great article for Uncanny Magazine, Men of Their Times, which addresses the common refrain we hear when trying to point out the extreme racism (or other problematic behaviour) of historical figures such as Lovecraft who are held up as icons of our field. I love articles like this, which mean you no longer have to argue certain points when the topic comes up on the internet (in this case: that you can’t judge people from the past for their racism, or how they expressed it, because history is super racist), you can just post a link, drop the mic and get on with your day.

My other favourite kind of article is the one that says all the things I was mentally composing into an article of my own, thereby saving me the trouble. Hooray! Kyle of the Nerdist looks at the box office success of Deadpool, and how Hollywood is taking all the wrong messages from the ticket sales of the Movie of the Merc With The Mouth: Deadpool’s Success is About Truth in Character, Not Raunch. And yes, trying to make R-Rated Superman movies is really dense. I have a spare 12 year old who can explain it to you if you really need to be convinced. No, seriously. I had this exact conversation with a 12 year old yesterday, and he was doing all the talking.

Why is it no one looks at Deadpool and goes “Oh, people really want superhero movies to be FUNNY!”

Speaking of superheroes, here’s an interview with the writers behind the new run of Spider-Woman on the process of writing Hydra’s favourite former double agent through late stage pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for a newborn. It’s so damned refreshing to see two male creators talking about becoming dads, observing the experiences of their female partners, and filling comics with domestic drama as well as action hijinks. I did think that Jess’ extraordinary feats shortly after her emergency caesar in Issue 4 were – well, a touch unlikely, but it’s one hell of a power fantasy for women. And yes, they’ve been putting in breastfeeding scenes, too! Bless.

Kameron Hurley talks about hacking her own writing process – good advice on how to keep adapting and changing your process with every book.

How To Find Non-White Protagonists in SF and Fantasy Fiction – fantastic reading/research list.

On refusing to write for free.

What it’s really like to work in Hollywood (if you’re not a straight white man).

How procrastination can actually be a positive tool for creativity.

Angela from the Doubleclicks guest-posts on Wil Wheaton’s blog, talking about how to deal with depression and negative thoughts while still pushing your creative career forward in positive ways: Finding the Bear That Helps You Make Things.

This Month On The Blog: February 2016

The two big Australian SF Awards released their shortlists this month! Thank you to everyone who nominated me for the Ditmars – I’m up for several categories, continuing my ongoing deep and meaningful relationship with the William Atheling in particular. I’m also delighted have “Fake Geek Girl” nominated in the novelette category. Over at the Aurealis Awards, they’ve put in some new short fiction categories, and launched the brand new Sara Douglass Book Series Award – which has my Creature Court trilogy on the shortlist!

Congrats to all the nominees, it’s always fun when award season comes around.

Friday Links has Fearless Optimism

SF Women of the 20th Century:

16. Anne McCaffrey & The Rowan

Great Ladies of History:

Mary Vindicated: The Life & Politics of Mary Wollstonecraft

New Blog Feature:

Not Not If You Were the Last… February Stories! I’m trying to read enough short stories that I can rec 5 great ones a month. Particular shout outs for Kameron Hurley’s Patreon-exclusive Nyx novella The Heart is Eaten Last, and Joe Abercrombie’s highly entertaining female-centred grimy sword and sorcery adventure “Two’s Company.”

Issue #1 Comics Reviews!

Archie gets rebooted by Mark Waid & Fiona Staples.

Spider-Man now features Miles Morales as its titular character in one of its most iconic titles – by Brian Michael Bendis & Sara Pichelli.

Sheep Might Fly is well and truly flying! I have 70 regular listeners so far, which is lovely. Thank you for tuning in!

Fake Geek Girl Part 2

Fake Geek Girl Part 3

Fake Geek Girl Part 4

Fake Geek Girl Part 5

Fake Geek Girl Part 6

Galactic Suburbia is back, at 2/3 capacity while Alisa is on maternity leave.

Episode 136: In which Alex and Tansy leap back into 2016 to talk Awards (it’s that season again!), comics, novellas, mysterious London novels and epic feminist canon. Also, Molly Meldrum.

Episode 137: In which we welcome a new member of the Galactic Suburbia: Next Gen, and embrace the awards season.

Last Month on the Blog: January 2016

Issue #1: Spider-Man

Title: Spider-Man #1 (2016)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Sara Pichelli

The Buzz: The good news is that Secret Wars/Battleworld is finally over, and I don’t have to feel stupid about it, because NO ONE understood what was going on with that whole mess of an event. But now the much-discussed Ramifications have landed in the Marvel Universe – which, as far as I can make out, pretty much means we get Miles Morales, AKA the Ultimate Universe’s second Spider-Man, AKA the black Spider-Man, in the normal Marvel Universe now. And nothing else has changed, I think? (Spider-Gwen still gets to hang out in her own universe, as I assume does Gwenpool)

Another Big Deal about this particular title is that while Peter Parker is still around in the Revised Marvel Universe that we used to call 616, and is going to have his own comics to play in, Miles gets the official Spider-Man With No Qualifier title, which is a nice way of acknowledging his importance to the Marvel U – likewise Miles is part of the All-New, All-Different Avengers, which is probably a better option than having Peter Parker’s Spider-Man in every possible team book all at once. We all know that only Wolverine can use teleportation to multi-task appearing in so many books at once, right?

All You Need To Know: So there was this other universe called Ultimate that Marvel launched in 2000 as a more modern reboot of their classic characters – and the lynchpin title was Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man in which a hapless 15 year old Peter Parker got to suffer and experience his decades of epic storylines all over again. Finally the poor kid was killed off in a horrible, horrible sequence, only to be succeeded by Miles Morales, one of the most popular of the Ultimate universe’s creation. Now he’s here instead, and Peter Parker is alive too, and if you think this title will explain any of that, then you are reading the wrong comic.

Story: There’s nothing startlingly original happening in this first issue, but all the important Spidey notes are being hit. Miles is a teenager struggling to balance school, dating and being a superhero. This shit is hard. Luckily he has steadfast best friend Ganke there to make fun of him and suggest appropriate superhero girls for him to make out with. Oh and there’s banter and quipping and fight scenes! If you cut this comic open, it would bleed Spider-Man.

Art: Sara Pichelli is the artist most closely associated with Miles Morales, and is as much a part of the success of the characters as is writer Bendis – I really like the way she shapes and presents her characters, especially Miles and Ganke who are the heart of the story. Ganke’s faces are hilarious and great. Also, she has some fantastic layouts, very dynamic and complex.

But What Did I Miss?: I failed to keep up with the entire Ultimate Miles run, not from disinterest, but because I blinked and suddenly there were years of graphic novels to catch up with! This issue feels like we’ve been picked up and dropped into the middle of Miles’ story – but it also feels like a natural hopping on point, because his story is such a universal ‘teen superhero’ narrative. It doesn’t have nearly as much substantial race & family narrative/context as I remember the original Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man debut issue presenting, which is a bit of a shame, but hopefully that will be at least drip-fed into the narrative as the series progresses.



Would Read Issue 2?: Sure, though part of me feels I really *should* read all the other Miles comics first – just because this works fine as a starter doesn’t help my completionist gene cope with skipping a few years.

Read it if you Like: Spider-Man! Also any teen story involving superpowers and teenagers. Just because this is a classic tale as old as time doesn’t mean it’s not great.

Other titles reviewed in 2016:

Hellcat #1

The Adventures of Supergirl #1

Archie #1