Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 63

A Birthday Musketeer Space Web Serial Introduction

It’s my 36th birthday tomorrow! Which is as good a day as any to launch a web serial featuring spaceships, exotic planets, alien gamblers, gender-swapped Musketeers, royal politics and psychedelic drug duels.



Musketeer Space is a story that has been rolling around in my brain for some time now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are some novels I’m just not going to write without deadlines. Enter: the self-imposed deadline.

So, for the next year and a half or so, I’ll be posting weekly chapters of a space opera retelling of The Three Musketeers, one of my favourite stories of all time. Writing without a net!

The story will be free to read, though if you want to make a financial contribution towards the ongoing care and nurturing of the space Musketeers and their author, I have set up a Patreon page to collect small monthly donations. Anyone who donates during the web serial process will receive an e-book of the complete story when it’s done. So if you hate waiting for a story to be updated chapter by chapter, you can donate now and not read it for another year and a half. Procrastination for the win!

I’ll be offering additional blog content if the donations reach particular milestones, but the novel will continue no matter what – I want to find out what happens! Rewards for patronage come in the form of ebooks, exclusive content, and the naming of spaceships.

Chapter One will go up tomorrow morning, with future chapters posted on Wednesdays. Here’s a sneak peek of the chapter:

Before Dana D’Artagnan left home, her Papa had some advice for her. As he ran Mama’s old ship through that last coat of colour and polish for the journey, he said: “Fight as much as you can, lovey, it sharpens your reflexes. The best pilots are demons with their fists. Just look at your mother. She was a menace in every bar fight, and there was no one faster than her at the helm of a dart. Everyone knew it.”

“That was why I crashed so many,” laughed her Mama.

Stay tuned…

New Who Series 5 Report Card – Tansy

We would like to thank everyone who nominated our “New Who in Conversation” series for the William Atheling Jr Award again this year – it’s a great honour to be on the ballot! Voting for the annual Ditmar Awards (which the Atheling is included in) is open to all members of Continuum X (2014 Natcon – Melbourne) and Conflux 9 (2013 Natcon – Canberra), and can be done online.

You can find David’s report card and Tehani’s report card for this season on their websites.

The Doctor: Matt Smith

Well, he’s wonderful, isn’t he? From “The Eleventh Hour” onwards, Matt Smith proved everyone wrong about whether an actor under thirty could play the iconic role. He quickly became a favourite of mine, not that I have favourite Doctors! And while the show continued the fresh, modern ever-changing style that had been launched with New Who back in 2005, it was with this Doctor and this version of the show that it started to feel that maybe there wasn’t such a thing as Classic and New Who after all – the Eleventh Doctor felt most coherently like the last in a long line. That scene in Eleventh Hour where he steps through the holographic images of his former selves, straightening his bow tie… it gets me every time!

The Companions:

Amy Pond: Karen Gillan

I’m a big fan of Amy Pond. I guess I just like stroppy redheads in the companion role (also a big fan of Turlough). Her bravery and gutsiness really appealed to me, as well as her snarky, undercutting sense of humour. She learned very quickly that the only way to survive the Doctor is to mock him at all opportunities. I also really liked the fact that there was a brittleness to her – the impending idea that there was something a bit wrong/damaged about Amy. She had already survived a hell of a lot, in her 20-something years – even when the Doctor first met her at 8, she was already a survivor thanks to the quiet trauma of the crack in her wall and the people she loved disappearing into it. This was not really the first time we had the ‘companion as mystery’ trope (Donna is the prototype of this, and to some extent River) but I think it’s the best – I was fascinated by the way that the whole season was shaped around the Amy revelations and resolutions. Really good, crunchy writing. She’s earned her imaginary friend, and her journey in the TARDIS.

Rory Williams: Arthur Darvill

He’s a sweetie! I like that Rory is set up as being a very mild-mannered, insignificant character – someone for Amy to leave – and yet every repeat appearance makes him more compelling and interesting. He really is the only grownup in the TARDIS, tidying up after Amy and the Doctor’s wild and irresponsible antics. Arthur Darvill is a fantastic actor, and he brings Rory to life in a marvellously understated way, often “winning” scenes against Matt Smith, which you would think was basically impossible. These three characters together are magic.

Recurring Characters:

River Song: Alex Kingston

Series 5 River Song is the best River Song! Contrary to a lot of fan opinion, I love River when she knows more than the Doctor, that archness to her, matched with the sadness that the man she loves has barely met her yet. We see so many different facets to her across her four episodes this season – practical adventurer, glamorous troubleshooter, and of course, expecting the Doctor to come when she calls him. I really like that the final episode of the season, instead of being a massive thing, is actually the four leads running around being awesome in a museum. It’s the point at which you realise that for now, Doctor Who has become an ensemble show…

What is your favourite episode of this season?

Incredibly hard to choose. My answer to this question has bounced around quite a bit – but even though it has a spectacular opening with The Eleventh Hour, a great angels epic, Amy’s Choice, Vincent… hell, I even have a soft spot for Vampires of Venice! (I almost hit publish before remembering The Lodger is in this series too – another of my favourite Doctor Who stories of all time!) But for me it has to be The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Right from the beginning of Season 5, Moffat’s Who had a different feel to it – different tone, different colour palette, different music. But the season finale reminded us of the format that RTD established, and made it ten times better. I don’t think there’s a frame of this double episode that I don’t enjoy. I do think I love The Pandorica Opens slightly more because of the Romans and the banter and all the splendidness, but then I watch The Big Bang and fall in love with it every single time.

Least favourite episode?

Cold Blood. I liked a lot of elements about The Hungry Earth, including the redesign of and reintroduction of the Silurians, but the second part was boring and strange, and simply wasn’t the episode I was expecting – I wanted a 21st century take on the Silurians that would present their point of view and actually address the massive moral problem at the heart of their story. And, frankly, I wanted this to be the point that humans started dealing with aliens and Silurians – it’s the thing I’ve been wanting New Who to do since the Slitheen ship crashed into Big Ben back in Series 1. (Bizarrely, they did it brilliantly in Sarah Jane Adventures, portraying a world after aliens are known to exist, and addressed it substantially in Torchwood, but kept pretending it hadn’t happened in the main show) Postponing the solution for another day was weak, and blaming it all on one woman’s moral failings without giving the Silurians more nuance themselves was all very disappointing. A shallow finale which left a bad taste in my mouth.

Favourite guest performance?

It’s a toss up between Sophie Okenedo as Liz 10, and Helen McCrory as Signora Calvierri. Though I’ll admit that on rewatching now, it’s the stoic appearance of Iain “Jorah Mormont” Glen as Father Octavian that makes me smile the widest.

Describe this season in one word!

Splendid.

Grade: A

PREVIOUS “New Who In Conversations”



“Rose”, S01E01

“Dalek”, S01E06

“Father’s Day, S01E08

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances”, S01E09/10

“Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways”, S01E12/13

Series One Report Card – David, Tansy, Tehani

“The Christmas Invasion,” 2005 Christmas special

“New Earth”, S02E01

“School Reunion,” S02E03

“The Girl in the Fireplace”, S02E04

“Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel”, S02E05/06

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, S02E12/13

Series Two Report Cards: David, Tehani, Tansy

“The Runaway Bride”, 2006 Christmas Special

“Smith and Jones”, S03E01

The Shakespeare Code & Gridlock, S0302-03

Human Nature/The Family of Blood S0308-09

Blink S0310

Utopia / The Sound of Drums / Last of the Timelords S0311-13

“Voyage of the Damned,” 2007 Christmas Special

Series 3 Report Cards: David, Tehani, Tansy

Partners in Crime, S0401

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky, S0405 S0406

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, S0408 S0409

Turn Left, S0411

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End, SO412-13

Series 4 Report Cards: Tansy, Tehani, David

The Specials

The End of Time

The Eleventh Hour, S0501

The Beast Below/Victory of the Daleks, S0502-3

The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone

Vampires of Venice/Amy’s Choice, S0504-5

The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

Vincent and the Doctor/The Lodger

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang

A Christmas Carol

Agathon #15 Peril at End House (1932)

Kathryn and I started out with a challenge to read every book written by Agatha Christie, in order of publication – we’re blogging as we go along. We spoil all the things!



KATHRYN:

So this is a weird little story. It seems quite slight, but also over the top on melodrama as well. And I don’t want to be a prude, but the amount of illegal substances that come crawling out of the woodworks by the end is *quite* impressive. The young people in this book are a different crowd to the comparatively wholesome Bundles, Tommies and Tuppences that we have met (and loved) in other stories. Perhaps it has something to do with Cornwall… (kidding)

The story opens with Poirot and Hastings going off on holiday. Which of course begs the question: WHERE IS HASTINGS’ WIFE? Is she still somewhere in darkest South America? How is it that Hastings has sufficient leisure time to just go off for a week to Cornwall, rather than get whatever he needs done and get back to her? Look, I realise that Hasting really only exists to act as a foil for Poirot, but it would be polite to at least mention her. The other major theme in the opening paragraphs is Poirot’s ‘OMG I am *so* totally retired I can blow off the Home Secretary’ (I may be paraphrasing here), which again is probably there to contrast with Poirot later a) being unable to keep away from a mystery and/or b) being able to choose his own mysteries to solve thankyouverymuch. But it’s just a bit clunky.

It is interesting, though, that he also mentions ‘The Mystery of the Blue Train’ in the first pages – this is the first mention I’ve seen of a previous mystery (that I remember), and possibly just there because Poirot’s last mystery was 5 books and 4 years before this one.

Anyway, on paper the mystery is serviceable enough. There’s misdirection, conflicting plots and some impersonation. However, I don’t think there’s anything particularly new, and I didn’t really feel much for the victim of the piece, Madamoiselle Nick Buckley. So when (SPOILER ALERT) it is revealed that Nick is actually the killer, I didn’t really care. Maybe it was because I had guessed/remembered the twist fairly early in the book. Maybe it was because the young people were too languid and insincere. Maybe it was because everyone is on drugs. (Seriously, they are all on drugs).

TANSY:

So many drugs! It feels like the cast have wandered in from an Evelyn Waugh novel, though sadly they left most of the gay subtext behind.

I also noticed that Hastings is back at Poirot’s side, with no explanation about what’s going on in his domestic life, or whatever. Did Poirot secretly build a Hastings robot to replace his old sounding board?

Also it’s kind of funny that the mystery as revealed is: Poirot, quite a bad judge of character in the presence of a pretty face. Usually that’s Hastings’ role!

The plot is very personal, and it’s all tightly written – so many things said in the first few chapters are vital to the resolution, and it’s interesting how easily I fell into the trap of liking and suspecting the characters that Poirot or Hastings told us to. (Like you, K, I never especially warmed to Nick, but I did completely believe her, perhaps because the ‘damsel’ trope is so ingrained.

All in all, clever but not especially memorable – I know Agatha’s novels are often short, but this one felt like it only had enough meat for a short story, not a novel.

I’m always a little taken aback by the haste to enable suicide in mysteries of this era, because the whole death penalty thing doesn’t come naturally to me as a concept – I remember being quite shocked when Lord Peter Wimsey invited a murderer to leap to his death, as calmly as offering him a sandwich.

The unexpected comedy forgers who are unravelled at the end were actually my favourites. I want to read a book of their adventures!

PREVIOUSLY:

The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930)

Murder at the Vicarage (1930)

The Sittaford Mystery (1931)

NEXT:

The Thirteen Problems (1932)

Lord Edgware Dies (also Thirteen at Dinner) (1933)

Mara of the House Acoma is in the House

I’m undertaking a regular reread column at Tor.com! I put a lot of careful thought into what books I wanted to reread (I was rather hoping to do Sarah Monette’s Melusine series, but the insane lack of availability of those amazing fantasy books made it impractical).

In the end, I went back to the beginning, to one of the fantasy series that meant the most to me in my teens, when I was first discovering the genre.

And so the Empire Trilogy Reread was born!

So far there are two posts up:

An Introduction (in which Tansy confesses her teenage reading loves)

What do I want in a good fantasy book? Court politics and social interactions based around houses and cities. Powerful women and devious men. Drama and action with emotional ramifications. Frocks. Kissing. Swords. An intense impression of history in the world-building. Magic and religion that is embedded in society rather than balancing prettily on the top of it. Alien culture, and culture clashes. Assassins. Loyalty. High stakes. Wit. Diplomacy. Battles and bloodshed. Hard choices, uncomfortable compromises. Suffering. Personal growth. Tasty imaginary food. Did I mention frocks?

Daughter of the Empire Part I (in which whitewashed covers, Mara gets towered, and the Acoma are doomed)

Daughter of the Empire is an immersive fantasy, told largely (though I think I remember not exclusively) through Mara’s eyes, and already we are noticing the things that she observes without challenging: her world is based on slavery, prostitution is an acknowledged and licensed profession, poor people are toiling in the fields. On the worst day of her life, with “everything” lost, she is still carried by slaves in a litter decorated with silk bearing her family’s crest.

I hope some of you read or re-read the books along with me! One or two chapters a week. Apparently they’re not available as ebook (another publishing travesty!) but they are at least still in print.

Galactic Suburbia 100 Show Notes

Alisa, Alex and Tansy invite all our listeners to join us as we celebrate our 100th episode of Galactic Suburbia in time-honoured tradition, with cake!

You can download or stream the new episode here.

Alisa is eating Golden Gaytime cheesecake. Tansy is eating orange sour cream cake. Alex combined them both to create chocolate orange cheesecake! Let us know what kind of cake you ate while listening to the podcast! If you’d like to enter our cake logo contest, please send a picture of your Galactic Suburbia themed cake to us by email or Twitter by the 27th May!

NEWS

The Norma Shortlist includes some Twelfth Planet Press books!

Alisa recently announced the Kaleidoscope TOC, and may be launching Rosaleen Love’s book Secret Lives of Books at Continuum.

Hugo Packet – Orbit UK not including the novels.

Tansy news: upcoming Tor.com reread column & web serial

The Galactic Suburbia scrapbook available soon for download.

Listen to the episode for giveaway codes. Free books!

Limited editions second print run for Love & Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Let Alisa know now if you want one of these – she’s printing them for London.



What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alex: Hav, Jan Morris; Graceling, Kristin Cashore; so much Fringe. And Orphan Black. No more Comixology for me.

Tansy: Captain America: Winter Soldier; Gravity; Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Saga 3

Alisa: OMG I AM IN EDITING/PROOFING ARMAGEDDON – Kaleidoscope almost ready to drop and Secret Lives of Books! And …. Tea and Jeopardy

Galactic Suburbia highlights.

We love you all, thanks for listening to us!

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!

Verity! Extra! – In Defense Of… 3 Rounds Rapid

It’s been a while, but once again, we’re making good on our promise to defend Doctor Who. Those bits you think are dodgy? We’ll find something good in ‘em–even if it kills us. Join Deb, Erika, Lynne, and Tansy for our most ridiculous Extra! yet. Deb springs a last-minute rules change on us, and it results in consternation and hilarity. Can the Verities keep their defenses to two minutes? (EXACTLY two minutes!) Listen and see!

^E

Download or listen now (runtime 36:28)
http://traffic.libsyn.com/veritypodcast/verityido3rr.mp3

Friday Links Wants A Dalek and a Novel Contract for Mother’s Day

Ah, Mother’s Day, that time when our media and shopping spaces fill up with the assumption that “What Mum Wants” is a universal concept. Just once I’d love to see a ‘last minute gifts for Mum’ suggestion list that includes a kabuki sword, a new modem, and a chemistry set. Or maybe noise-cancelling earphones, and a new podcasting microphone. And a butler.

New historical film Belle about a wealthy, privileged woman of colour in Regency England (starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, AKA Martha’s sister Tish from Doctor Who) sounds really interesting. And look, it’s made by women of colour too! Bitch Magazine talks about how Belle takes on sexism, racism and class issues of the Regency, and the Mary Sue talks about why this movie is so important.

Terri is chronicling her latest Twelfth Planet Press macaron adventure. I’m biased, of course, but her Love and Romanpunk fig and port wine macarons are the best.

I don’t link to Buzzfeed a lot, but I love this piece where women have rewritten misogynist, mocking headlines about female celebrities, to reflect the actual non-gossip-magazine reality that most of us live in. I think I love “Woman runs in appropriate clothing” best, but you’ll have your own favourites.

Also Agent Carter has finally been picked up as a series, by the same network that makes Agents of SHIELD!

Joanne Harris (who recently published her first fantasy novel, The Gospels of Loki, as Joanne M Harris), talks about the phenomenon of men being given credit for women’s work and ideas, and the idea that women’s creative work must be ripping off men. Examples she cites are particularly charming, including not only that her novel must be capitalising on the Tom Hiddleston fandom, but also that her Chocolat sequels must be capitalising on the fans of Johnny Depp as opposed to the fans of her BESTSELLING FREAKING NOVEL.

“Given how many influential people (most of them male) are still disseminating the myth that women can’t get there on their own; that women are okay writing for women, but that men need something more durable; that women read (and write) commercial fiction, but that men write literature, we’re going to keep getting people making the same assumptions.The trickle-down effect of sexism in the book business will continue to apply, on Goodreads, on Twitter, in bookshops, on blogs.

How can we stop it?

Don’t let it go. Don’t assume that your voice isn’t worth listening to. Call people out when they talk crap instead of slinking sadly away.”

(Joanne Harris)

Foz Meadows responds to the recent John C Wright kerfuffle (and yes I chose that word QUITE deliberately, talk about making a flouncey mountain out of a molehill) with some incisive data, pointing out the many errors, deliberate or otherwise, in Mr Wright’s hyperbole.

Random Alex still loves Indiana Jones, but recognises what we all need to accept – he is very bad at his job. Her comparisons to Schliemann made me giggle.

Jenny Crusie writes sensible things about sex scenes, and their place in the novel. (hint: it depends on the novel)

Sarah Granger talks about the expectations building up around Daisy Ridley, the new Star Wars “Disney” Princess. Can she be for our kids’ generation what Princess Leia was? Or can we expect a slow-burning disappointment of Padme proportions?

This is why The Addams Family are the best television family.

That Captain America Movie (and that imaginary Black Widow movie)

I didn’t expect to start caring about Captain America. Even when I started getting seriously into the reading of Marvel comics (something I’ve only been doing this decade as opposed to DC comics which first captured me back in the early 90′s), he was never a character that interested me.

It probably didn’t help that I read the Ultimates pretty early on, which didn’t just have the effect of ruining me for the ‘real universe’ versions of Nick Fury and the Wasp (just not as good), but also set in my mind that Captain America was a bit of a dick, really.

Reading the Civil War run of comics didn’t actually change my mind on that, so it’s not just the Ultimate universe’s fault. Like Superman, Captain America has a long history behind him of being the straightest guy in straight town, and it’s hard to get invested in that as a character.

And let’s face it, I met the Justice League parody of Captain American, General Glory, two decades earlier. I was never going to be able to take him seriously. (the one where Power Girl ends up trapped back in time as the replacement for Bucky/Ernie? Priceless)

The first Captain America movie was okay, but I was mostly in it for Peggy Carter. It was in The Avengers that I really started warming up to Cap, as the man out of time who doesn’t get any of the pop culture references. A brief cameo in Thor 2 (one of Loki’s disguises) made me realise – oh, yes. I like this character.

Then came Captain America 2 – The Winter Soldier. Which I flat out loved. There were so many things to enjoy in this movie! Sadly, the Winter Soldier himself was the least interesting aspect of the story, but I’m okay with that.

Things I liked (SPOILERS FOR WINTER SOLDIER):

Peggy Carter is still Cap’s love interest, as is only right and proper. Yes, they’re obviously placing the mysteriously competent fake nurse secret agent Sharon there as a future love interest, but he’s allowed a longer mourning period for his what-might-have-been than action heroes usually get.

The scenes of him spending time with Peggy in the hospital, still obviously in love with her despite the age difference, were really sweet. I also appreciated that they went to so much trouble to show Peggy losing herself through dementia/Alzheimers rather than the obvious cheaper option which would have been to show Cap sitting sadly at a grave.

I’m a bit bewildered that they haven’t yet established whether or not Sharon is Peggy’s niece yet, though. Obviously I’d prefer not if they’re doing a romance (creepy!) though it would be awesome to show Peggy’s legacy continuing if Sharon was going to be a great ensemble teammate and not Cap’s future love interest. So… I guess it’s okay that they’re hedging their bets.

Given the wonderful use of friendships in this movie, I would kind of love it if they kept Peggy as Cap’s girl and continued to focus on him making connections in this modern world that are not about romance. Not everyone needs a current soulmate to make the stories satisfying! That’s what fanfic is for.

Speaking of friendships, Sam Wilson (the Falcon) was brilliantly used in this movie. His backstory and the reason for his participation in the superheroic side of things was set up very well, and his character brought an really important perspective to the story. Captain America is completely about military stuff, it kind of has to be. So having the issues of modern veterans front and centre added a great deal of depth. Falcon made a good team with Cap and Black Widow, and it was nice to see the acknowledgement of how hard it is for those who have fought in wars to adjust to civilian life – not least because this becomes a significant theme for the entire movie, not just for Cap but also for Natasha and the rest of the survivors of the SHIELD collapse.

How annoying is it that there are almost no publicity photos of Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon together, considering that their trio is the heart of the movie? REALLY ANNOYING.

I would a zillion times like more development of the friendship and partnership of Cap and Falcon in the third movie, more than a romantic storyline with some girl who isn’t Peggy. If Sharon comes in as a platonic ally, taking Black Widow’s spot in the trio in the third movie, I will be happy. Or, you know, she could fancy Sam instead of Cap. (yes obviously the third movie will have a lot of Bucky in it too, probably as friend rather than villain but I don’t CARE, the Winter Soldier part was the least interesting bit, I’m bored even typing this)

The big theme of this movie (I like it when movies have themes) apart from the isolation that military people have when out of their professional element, was ‘Trust Exercises.’ I loved how much the idea of ‘trust’ ran through the story, so that pretty much every talking scene was somehow about the layers of trust and lack of trust between the main characters – Captain America, Nick Fury and Black Widow in particular – and nearly every action sequence was a variation on a trust exercise, with them relying on each other, hurling themselves out of windows expecting their friends to catch them, and so on.

The friendship between Falcon and Captain America in particular was set up in dialogue and a mutual understanding, but expressed through action scenes in which they relied on each other to be in the right place at the right time. I liked that Falcon was quickly included as an equal partner to Cap with Black Widow, having established a history that meant they knew exactly what he was capable of in a tough spot.

And of course the ongoing tensions Cap had with Nick Fury and Natasha are resolved through action sequences too. It’s rare for an action movie to be so clever and satisfying.

Nick Fury himself got a lot more screen time in this film, including some full on action scenes, enough that I did believe they were actually going to kill him (for a while at least). Maria Hill was not used enough (again) but was great in what she did.

Jenny Agutter kicking butt, even if it was really Natasha underneath it all, may have been my favourite minute in the film. Also, Jim from Neighbours was part of the secret council! Classic.

Black Widow is brilliant from beginning to end in this movie. Of course. I really enjoyed Scarlett Johanssen’s take on the character in The Avengers, and she balances Cap out really well. Lovely to see a platonic male-female friendship – in fact, more than one in this movie as we also saw a lot more of Natasha’s relationship with Nick Fury, and how important they are to each other.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about people wishing for a Black Widow movie – and don’t get me wrong, I’m all for that. Right now she’s the best candidate for the first solo female superhero movie of the twenty first century. I’m a little skeptical about how it would turn out, though, largely because I find many of the solo Black Widow comics I’ve read to be a bit cold and alienating. When she doesn’t have a team or a partner around her, we get Soviet spy angst and grimdark assassination stories – the current title, for instance, looks great, but I couldn’t bring myself to read beyond the first issue. Marjorie M Liu’s The Name of the Rose is really good but violent – I think I’d steer well away from a movie based on it for the same reasons I can’t bring myself to watch The Hunger Games.

I love Natasha best as a character when she’s paired with someone who is a contrast to her, and allowed to have wit and to show her competency. Which is why she is brilliant in teams. So far in the Marvel movies, they’ve shown this to great effect with her in scenes with Captain America, Hawkeye and Bruce Banner. (the latter was especially good because it made her the least angsty person in the room)

By all means, bring in the Soviet spy angst and assassinations, but leave the grimdark in her chequere past, please. Two hours of Natasha being great at her job with interesting people backing her up would make me happy, but not two hours of blood-stained snow, loneliness and miseryguilt.

It’s pretty obvious from Winter Soldier that Black Widow isn’t necessary for the next one (unless they are doing the Bucky-Natasha romance, bleurgh) – but I can see how easily she could become the renta-sidekick for other Marvel movies, always the bridesmaid and never the headline act, just because her character works so well for that. Which, considering how much audiences are howling for her to get her own movie, would be a waste of resources. Let’s NOT have her get around all the other franchises in order to make it look like there are more women in the Marvel universe than there really are.

A Black Widow movie, for me, will live and die on who she’s paired with. I’d watch the hell out of Black Widow and Hawkeye, but for the sake of actually showing a solo female “superhero” movie that can work, I’d like them to do what they did in Winter Soldier with Falcon – establish a movie-new Marvel superhero for her travel alongside, who could also later join the Avengers/Marvel Movie franchise in her own right. Black Widow makes a great trainer/mentor figure, and there’s no reason that her shepherding a newbie into the fold couldn’t be the main thrust of a story while keeping her as a protagonist, especially if that is combined with a plot that has more to do with Black Widow herself. I can think of a lot of great possibilities. Spider-Woman. She-Hulk. Captain Marvel. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Valkyrie. Mockingbird.

It doesn’t look like we’re getting the Wasp in the Ant-Man movie (or are we?) – bring her in here!

Actually I kind of love the idea of doing a Black Widow and Hawkeye movie, which doesn’t just feature the two character from the Avengers, but adds the other Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) to the party. What a trio that would be!

Or steal Lady Sif from the Thor franchise, and team her up with Black Widow to hunt down and capture the Enchantress.

Or, you know, Marvel movies could just admit that they have a complete gem in Cobie Smulders and send Maria Hill and Black Widow on a mission/road trip together. I’d watch that until it DISSOLVED.

Cough, I just caught myself before posting. The only objection (and the I mean ONLY) I actually have to Black Widow sharing a movie with a male superhero/Avenger is actually my own assumption that she would have to share billing, which would be a cheat and not help puncture the ‘superhero movies starring ladies always fail’ myth. However… why on earth would she have to share billing? Why couldn’t a Black Widow movie have Hawkeye, Hulk or even Captain America as her back up character, while still being a Black Widow movie? This one isn’t Captain America and Black Widow: Trust Issues, now is it?

I wonder how defensive it would make people, though, if Black Widow had an established male Avenger as her sidekick? Would it be “better” or “worse” if it was an Avenger who already had his own movie franchise? Sigh, even I get caught in this trap. I will quietly headdesk over here by myself while working on the latest layer of patriarchy programming that I found in my brain, thank you very much.

I just realised I have in fact talked about almost everything in this Captain America post except Captain America himself. I quite like him now! Though I am unconvinced about whether comics Captain America is of any interest to me… any recs out there to prove me wrong?

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST, TRY:

Wonder Woman is Not the Problem

Where the Wonder Women Are: Black Widow

What Geek Girls Wear (is none of your business)

Verity! Episode 41 – The Legend of Sontar: A Linx to the Past

Our survey of Doctor Who baddies continues with those kings of the potato people themselves! Join Deb, Erika, Liz, and Tansy as we chat about Sontarans. We all rewatched “The Sontaran Stratagem” and “The Poison Sky” as a jumping-off point for this conversation, but fear not classic Who fans, there’s plenty discussion of their origins and development throughout the series (and even Big Finish)!

What do you think of these (usually) stocky, militaristic foes? Let us know in the comments!

While you’re commenting, please vote! We’re going to try our hands at an audio commentary. Let us know which one of these stories you think we should do. (Or let us know on Twitter using #VerityVotes.)

The Gunfighters
The Visitation
Black Orchid
Paradise Towers
Father’s Day
The Curse of the Black Spot

[Tansy note: obviously Paradise Towers is the best option here. RED KANGS RED KANGS RED KANGS ARE BEST.]

PLUS, feel free to ask us any Doctor Who-related questions you might have. We’ll start covering those in future Extras! (Again, you can also ask on Twitter, using #AskVerity.)

^E

Also covered:

Tansy loves Doctor Who Magazine, and not just because it told her Richard Marson is writing a biography of Verity Lambert! She also raves about Jacqueline Rayner’s Relative Dimensions column about family and fandom.
Erika is amazed and inspired by Radio Free Skaro‘s ability to stay fresh after nearly 8 years of podcasting!
Liz is amused that Matt Smith will be in the new Terminator movie!
Deb laughed out loud for five straight minutes at the promo for The Time Run!

Bonus links:

The First Sontarans

The Five Companions

The Time Run (full video)

Download or listen now (runtime 1:25:15)
http://traffic.libsyn.com/veritypodcast/verityep41.mp3

Let’s Talk About Livia, and Crimescene WA!

I had lots of lovely writing, free/discounted fiction news last week, but now it’s time to talk about the other author who lives in my brain, my crime-writing alter ego, Livia Day.

Livia writes fun murder mysteries which balance out nasty crimes with delicious, tasty food. Because murder tastes better with trifle!

The sequel to A Trifle Dead, Drowned Vanilla, will be released from Twelfth Planet Press later this year. I’m currently working on a novella set between the two books, which will be released e-only, and am putting together a grant application to write book 3 next year.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Livia lately, about what distinguishes a Livia book from a Tansy book, and how to extend her repertoire beyond just the Cafe La Femme series. I’m a little bit in love with some of the novel concepts that I have for her to play with.

And now I am very pleased to announce that Crimescene WA has invited me (or rather, Livia) to be one of their headline authors alongside Michael Robotham and Julie Szego. So I’m going to Perth in October, which is very cool indeed.

You can follow Crimescene WA on Facebook.

A Trifle Dead by Livia Day is available from the Twelfth Planet Press store, as well as all e-book platforms and some fantastic independent bookstores.

Livia Day also has a website and is on Twitter as @liviadaysleuth.

I made an A Trifle Dead board on Pinterest! And followed it up with a style board for Drowned Vanilla, which is a little more sinister though still extremely fabulous!