Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 82

Watching New Who: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Series 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the “Doctor Who in Conversation” team, with a history in Doctor Who fandom that goes WAY back, and a passion for Doctor Who that inspires us all. We are working our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, and sometimes a couple of extra episodes we love as our blogging points. Just for fun!

Thanks to everyone who nominated us for the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review, we are chuffed and delighted and might even be inspired to run through these a bit faster than we have been doing. No promises, obviously!

“Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead” – Season 4, episodes 9 & 10

The Doctor – David Tennant

Donna Noble – Catherine Tate

River Song – Alex Kingston

TEHANI:

We skip ahead again to the first Hugo nomination for the fourth season (there were only two Doctor Who episodes shortlisted that year – well, three, but this counts as a single nomination). This is interesting to me, as the fourth season – Donna’s season – is definitely one of my favourites. More competition in that year?

The two episodes between our last post and this one were “The Doctor’s Daughter” and “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. Although “The Doctor’s Daughter” is a bit off in pacing and emotional points for me, I do think it’s a fascinating episode, particularly in hindsight! I think Moffat has well and truly riffed off this episode in recent times, but I can’t say more than that until David catches up! I like that we get a bit more Martha/Donna/Doctor, and watching this again after our recent viewing of “Genesis of the Daleks” made me laugh because it felt like there are a lot of similarities there! Just me?

TANSY:

I think “The Doctor’s Daughter” is a bit of a mess but can’t really pinpoint why – there are so many bits that are individually good, but somehow it never quite reaches cohesion for me. But yes seeing Martha back in the crew is pretty awesome.

DAVID:

I quite enjoyed “The Doctor’s Daughter”, but I agree – it did have a bit of a “Genesis of the Daleks” feel! I could watch a whole season of Martha/Doctor/Donna, I really could.

TANSY:

Two companions in the TARDIS is the best thing! And it happens so rarely with two women. Martha and Donna together were just plain love. (We almost didn’t need the Doctor!)

TEHANI:

“The Unicorn and the Wasp” is a lot of fun, another historical based on a literary figure (Agatha Christie) – written by the same person as “The Shakespeare Code”! I love that the fact Agatha disappeared for 10 days with no explanation is a REAL THING and could be used by the show like that. Not sure the humour of the episode always worked for me, but it was fun.

TANSY:

I really like that one – especially for the Doctor and Donna comedy team, but also I enjoy Agatha Christie stuff generally and Fenella Woolgar is spectacular in the role. Plus Felicity Kendall in Doctor Who for the first time. The plot resolution is silly but I still have a fondness.

DAVID:

I had to jump on Wikipedia to see whether the disappearance was for real! It’s one of those incredible historical facts that authors love – so many story ideas. I enjoyed this episode a great deal, it was a nice little play on all those British shows I watch with the family. From Miss Marple to Midsomer Murders, it riffed beautifully on the genre, while still managing to add a few little twists. And, David Tennant had way too much fun playing the detective! The byplay between the Doctor and Donna in this is absolutely wonderful, and we see Catherine Tate’s vast comedic talent given room to shine. Just love her when they go to the party!

TANSY:

I would take Donna time travelling with me any day of the week.

TEHANI:

And now, “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead”. Where to start?! RIVER SONG! BIG PLANET LIBRARY! HORRIBLE SCARY SHADOWS!

TANSY:

Everything I say about River Song will be a spoiler for David. I don’t know how to handle this at all.

DAVID:

I could close my eyes? But then an angel might get me…!

I’m quite liking these little intros at the start of episodes. it’s a wonderful setup with the little girl (and what a great performance throughout, I must say). One of the things I personally enjoy when it is done well is the contrast between a mundane, domestic setting and whatever the spec fic element of a story is, and I think here it is particularly effective. It’s a great hook, and the rest of the episode certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Moving on to the episode itself, the first thing I thought was how much I would give to go to a library like that! And, I loved the concept of people not being able to give up paper copies of books, though of course it is a very human-centric view of what books look like (insert gratuitous plug for Ken Liu’s wonderful “The Book Keeping Habits of Select Species” here). It’s a beautiful slow burn of mood setting, as we realise that something is not quite right.

TEHANI:

That library! Right up there with the Beast’s library in the Disney version… I’m a librarian, let me drool!

TANSY:

The lack of people in it not only makes the episodes more affordable, but makes it better in my eyes. One of the more spectacular and clever sets that they have come up with as far as alien landscapes … so far.

DAVID:

One of the things I admire so much about Moffat is that he does emotions so well. There are some really moving moments in this episode where he gets the balance just right, though of course that is helped by some excellent performances by the actor. The scene with Miss Evangelista was particularly powerful. He does a great job of making us feel sorry for her to start with, and then the pathos of her death scene really hits hard. You can sense the shame of the other characters, and Donna’s reaction is a masterful piece of acting and writing.

TANSY:

I agree that in this era the Moffat stories are generally the ones that feel most human to me. He’s also very good at creating characters that you get very quickly, though they’re never completely standard archetypes. Miss Evangelista is a great creation – the character who is pretty and dumb and no one likes because of that, and then such a horrible fate – ugh. And her redemption in cyberspace.

TEHANI:

Moffat is a master of taking the ordinary and everyday and mundane and turning it into something to scare the pants off us! Statues, shadows, stuff we can’t talk about yet because David isn’t caught up…

DAVID:

Yes, yes – I must catch up! lol

Another moment I found extremely effective was where Doctor Moon asks to speak to Charlotte alone, and tells her that her nightmares are real, and that the world is not. Just the change from his normal manner, and the complete unexpectedness, gave me chills. He was great the whole way through, though. I found it interesting how many times Moffat managed to toy with my expectations, I wasn’t sure whether Moon was bad or a good guy for a quite a while, and my initial dissatisfaction with what I thought was very a stereotypical character in the form of Strackman was turned on its head when we discover he is actually just trying to help his ancestor, a little girl. That’s the sort of thing that turns this from good writing into great writing.

TEHANI:

Rewatching this I had to laugh at Doctor Moon, because he’s one of a few DW actors to show up in Arrow, which has just hit our screens here! They’re poaching all the people…

TANSY:

I am enjoying Arrow as a guilty pleasure – not only does it have Captain Jack and Doctor Moon but a certain Doctor Song is supposed to turn up before the season is out… Cast David Tennant as Green Lantern for Season 2 please! And Billie Piper would make a much better Black Canary than the one currently inhabiting the role…

Cough. There’s so much packed into this story that I often forget about some of the narrative threads and narratives, ie. any scene Alex Kingston isn’t in. But the Doctor Moon stuff is so creepy and effective, where we don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. And, more to the point, we don’t know whether “Cal” is a victim or something scarier.

TEHANI:

The whole created world thing, especially for Donna, just made me so sad! Poor Donna lived a life in there, with a wonderful fellow, and then lost it all. I know it wasn’t REAL, but it was, to her!

DAVID:

Another reason for me to put Arrow on my “to watch” list! Ahem, after I have caught up on New Who, of course.

I felt so sorry for Donna, that was so sad. Tate is magnificent, too, she really makes the emotions so convincing. That moment where she promises never to close her eyes, and then the children are gone … sigh. And, the whole love story with her husband, and then losing him and the moment he is on the teleporter made get a little sniffly. I really hope that she finds him again.

TANSY:

It’s a tragic story, though to add a controversial note I might add – how much did that picture perfect romance/family actually feel like Donna? It’s certainly not anything like the future she is imagining for herself over the rest of the season when she tells the Doctor she plans to stay with him forever (NEVER SAY THIS, COMPANIONS).

TEHANI:

Okay, fair call – though in light of what comes later… Hard to say!

TANSY:

But I want to ask David a question: what do you think about River Song? Had you been spoiled about her before you reached this point? I remember when this story first came out it started all kinds of discussions – many fans resented her smugness for knowing more about some things than the Doctor. And others (like me) were desperate to see her back and started counting down the episodes to come with alarm, trying to figure out if a return trip could be scheduled in before David Tennant left the role…

DAVID:

I’ve done a reasonably good job of avoiding spoilers so far, though there are some things you just can’t miss. For example, I know there are some people called the Ponds coming up and I knew that there would be angels that you should avoid blinking around, even if I didn’t know why! Your blog is a dangerous place, incidentally!

TEHANI:

But now you know why we often say, “Spoilers, sweetie”!!

DAVID:

You’ve both been very good at not spoiling me!

So, I had heard the name River Song before, but I had managed to avert my eyes. I think I have made it pretty clear I am a little conservative about Doctor Who and relationships, but I have to say that I much preferred his dynamic with River Song than, for example, Rose. There was a much greater sense of them being on a reasonably equal footing in their relationship (even though the Doctor didn’t know who she was!) and the idea of her being from the Doctor’s future was quite compelling. They’ve touch on the idea of the Doctor’s future impacting his past a little before (“Battlefield” being an example that springs to mind), but not to this degree, but it does make sense. I’m looking forward to seeing more of River Song, she seems like a great character. She’s intelligent, capable and completely unawed by the Doctor, which I find much more enjoyable to watch.

TEHANI:

OOH! Maybe we’ll get a River/Ten interaction in the anniversary episode!

TANSY:

Could happen.

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

Season 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

Season 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

Season 3 Report Cards: David, Tehani, Tansy

Partners in Crime, S0401

Sad but Shiny

So, things are not okay right now. It’s not something I’m going to be talking about in detail (please don’t ask), and this isn’t any kind of cry for help. The support networks are all in place, etc. I just kind of want to acknowledge here that everything sucks right now rather than putting up another peppy post that pretends otherwise. In the future, when everything is okay again, I want to be able to look back on my blog and see at least a hint of reality in between the weekly Doctor Who posts (be glad I’m a few weeks ahead on writing these) and the Friday links.

I also want to acknowledge it because – well, if you’re not an immediate member of my family, and you need or expect anything of me over the next couple of weeks, then chances are incredibly high that I’m going to let you down, cancel plans and commitments at the last minute, forget an important detail, leave emails unanswered, and generally drop the ball. All the balls. I hate being that person, but right now it’s a miracle that I’m (mostly) driving in straight lines, and not leaving essential personal possessions at every SINGLE place I visit in a given day.

If you do need something from me, or are waiting on something, then don’t be afraid to ask/remind me of it! At the very least I should be able to give you some sort of revised timetable on when it might be possible. Or that might be one of the emails I manage to not answer for several weeks. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

QUITE ENOUGH OF THAT SORT OF THING.

There have also been a couple of nice shiny announcements that have managed to gleam brightly enough through the clouds that I have noticed them. And, you know. If you don’t acknowledge the wins, what’s the point of anything?

My story “What Books Survive” from the Fablecroft anthology Epilogue has been picked up for the Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, which is lovely. I won’t post the TOC here as it seems to have been published pretty much everywhere, but it really never gets old to be picked for something like this and I am very proud to share a table of contents with so many wonderful friends and colleagues in the Australian spec fic community.

I’m also quietly pleased to have someone notice “What Books Survive” as it was a ridiculously hard story to write and it joins several others I have been working on which will hopefully at some point be a collection of stories about books, predictive futures of publishing, and ruined childhoods in general. Narrelle Harris (@daggyvamp) read it recently and tweeted: “I just read What Books Survive by @tansyrr and it made me so sad.” Yep, bringing the joy, people, that’s what I do.

Another exciting Table of Contents reveal came this week from Glitter and Mayhem, the Kickstarter anthology of roller derby dance party skaterpunx stories that I was overjoyed to be invited to take part in. It’s the first time I’ve been actively solicited for a pro short story anthology outside Australia, and I’m very proud of my story “The Minotaur Girls,” especially after the whirlwind edit I pulled off a few weeks ago. It features 90′s hair and Aussie teen slang (from the same era, I hate to think what counts as slang among “the kids” these days). Though I’m pretty sure people still use bogan.

Pre-orders for Glitter & Mayhem are open now

Table of Contents

Introduction by Amber Benson

Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher Barzak

Apex Jump by David J. Schwartz

With Her Hundred Miles to Hell by Kat Howard

Star Dancer by Jennifer Pelland

Of Selkies, Disco Balls, and Anna Plane by Cat Rambo

Sooner Than Gold by Cory Skerry

Subterraneans by William Shunn & Laura Chavoen

The Minotaur Girls by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Unable to Reach You by Alan DeNiro

Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Headley

Revels in the Land of Ice by Tim Pratt

Bess, the Landlord’s Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl by Sofia Samatar

Blood and Sequins by Diana Rowland

Two-Minute Warning by Vylar Kaftan

Inside Hides the Monster by Damien Walters Grintalis

Bad Dream Girl by Seanan McGuire

A Hollow Play by Amal El-Mohtar

Just Another Future Song by Daryl Gregory

The Electric Spanking of the War Babies by Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. Johnson

All That Fairy Tale Crap by Rachel Swirsky

Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery.

Dance through nightclubs, roller derby with cryptids and aliens, be seduced by otherworldly creatures, and ingest cocktails that will alter your existence forever.

Over 120,000 words of brand new fiction from some of the best writers in the business are ready to bring you the most glamorous parties in the multiverse.

In “I’m proud of my friends news,” the Norma K Hemming shortlist consists of books by Margo Lanagan, Rowena Cory Daniells, Kate Forsyth and Jo Spurrier. A great shortlist, and I’m particularly pleased to see Rowena’s Outcast trilogy noticed as it hasn’t been given nearly enough critical attention in Australia as it should have.

And of course the big Aussie news this week is Ben Peek’s sale of a fantasy trilogy to Tor.uk in a six figure deal via his agent John Jarrold. I’ve been following Peek’s career for a long time and he’s a daring, experimental writer who always challenges himself artistically. It’s pretty rare for major publishers to give writers like that a chance to prove themselves at a commercial level, but very exciting when it happens. It’s wonderful to see a friend doing so well.

Scandals and Trials [WHO-50—1986]

This is a tricky year for me to write about, largely because I wrote everything I have to say about The Trial of a Time Lord season of Doctor Who in my essay for Chicks Unravel Time, and I don’t want to repeat myself.

Since I wrote that piece, however, I have had my head turned a little bit inside out about Doctor Who and the 1980’s, thanks to reading the new (upcoming) book The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner, by Richard Marson.

I was hesitant about reading the book, especially because that word ‘scandalous’ sounded a lot to me like ‘muck-raking,’ and I figured that having listened to John Nathan-Turner’s own memoirs read in his own voice (available super cheap from Big Finish) I didn’t really need to read anything else about his life.

But I received a review copy. And… whoa. What a book. It’s very much an in-depth look at what it was like trying to make TV at the BBC in the 1980’s, and the work culture of that era, a time when it was still acceptable to start drinking down the pub at lunchtime and not stop, even as the cameras were rolling, where there was no language yet to express concerns about workplace sexual harassment, and… well. All that stuff.

You can learn more about the book by listening to the Radio Free Skaro interview with its author, Richard Marson, who talks a lot about the context of the project.

I’d heard hints of some of the stories in this book before – I remember when Gary Downie, JN-T’s life partner and often his production manager on the show did a “tell-all” interview for Doctor Who Magazine many years back – but “tell-all” meant something a bit different then than it does now. Sex, drugs, abuse of power, tantrums, ruptured friendships and more are all exposed in this surprisingly sympathetic book, and everything is drowned in buckets and buckets of booze.

All of this is now overlaid over the era of Doctor Who I experienced as a child. I think the book affected me most because of its revelation of the innate sadness (and/or apathy) of many of the main players involved in the show at this time and it’s hard to imagine that this won’t colour my viewings of those stories in future.

JN-T obviously loved life and his work and his friends, but he and those around him also seem to have caused immense damage to each other. I was already aware that JN-T had been simultaneously credited with saving and destroying Doctor Who over multiple occasions in the 1980’s, and that his own career was likewise severely impacted by his relationship with Doctor Who, but I wasn’t entirely aware of the extent to which this was true.

I think there’s a lot to be learned from JN-T’s relationship with fandom, and I’m not talking about the ‘doable barkers’ or the abuse of power issues which are at times very hard to read about. I don’t want to minimise to render invisible the problematic stuff in this book which is being dubbed ‘scandalous’, it’s just not the area I personally want to focus on. Others are pretty much covering that elsewhere, and the tabloids have been pretty gross already in their coverage of what they think this book is about.

No, I’m talking about the quite toxic animosity demonstrated by Doctor Who fandom towards the person in charge of their favourite show. There were several elements in this book which reminded me very strongly of the entitlement we often see from current fans about how the showrunner should be listening to their critiques and concerns without any real understanding of what it would do to a relatively famous person to actually wade through the sheer quantity of casual crap that is said about them on the internet on a daily basis.

It’s one thing to dislike the content that a given showrunner/producer is offering us, but quite another to turn it into personal insults and insinuations, which is very much something still happening today. Sure, as it turns out, JN-T was less than professional in many of his dealings with colleagues as well as fans which makes some of the animosity of the time actually make more sense – but many of the insults and unpleasant assertions made about him (both at the time and still today) were nevertheless extrapolated from the Doctor Who he produced rather than his personal behaviour.

yes, this is a metaphor

RTD and Moffat have both largely shown great restraint and sensible attitudes in avoiding much of the online discussion about themselves and their work. Considering some of the awful things often said about them (and I’m not talking about critique of their work though even that would be overwhelming to wade through if it was you) I find it hard to imagine that JN-T would have shown that level of restraint if fan forums and blogs and podcasts and Twitter had been around in the 1980′s.

I am now imagining the Eric Saward/JN-T arguments as detailed in BBC memos within the Marson book, conveyed via Tweetstream. Oh dear.

Ahem. So getting back to the show I am supposed to be talking about, how exactly did JN-T save Doctor Who in 1986? Imperfectly.

In early 1985 Doctor Who had experimented with a new format (2 x 45 min episodes per serial), showcased a new lead actor, Colin Baker who was heralded by many as The Worst Doctor Ever (thanks largely to creative choices outside his control), and delved into grimdark, overly violent stories which were nevertheless brightly lit and costumed as if you were watching a sitcom. Shortly after that season aired, Doctor Who was cancelled.

most embarrassing protest song ever

Despite the fact that the show was verging on being an albatross wrapped around his neck, JN-T brought the show back from the brink of extinction, cleverly handling PR and the media to push the BBC to rethink their attempt to quietly ditch the show for which everyone in upper management had lost enthusiasm. Even the deeply embarrassing ‘Doctor in Distress’ music video, which everyone involved in shudders even to mention, served a key purpose in getting further commitment from the BBC.

The cancellation then was never made official, was hurriedly redefined to ‘hiatus,’ and Doctor Who was to return after an 18 month break, on a final chance.

But without any sense of what the upper management wanted (the Marson book makes it clear that they wanted Doctor Who and JN-T to both go away “and die, preferably”), JN-T and his team were left to reinvent the show without any guidance.

What we got was The Trial of a Time Lord, a story that I have always been fond of despite its many failings, and which I always think of as The Entire Colin Baker Years (because I missed his previous season the first time around). I’ve analysed the problematic nature of some of the TToaTL storytelling in my Chicks essay, especially the broken narrative of Peri’s leaving story, but that’s all about what we got as an end result, not how the creative team got there.

The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) led to some of the worst creative disputes in Doctor Who’s history. It was the final straw in the rocky professional relationship between producer JN-T and script editor Eric Saward (who was almost single-handedly responsible for the dark, violent nature of the stories of this era), and the even rockier relationship between JN-T and the fans of the show. To add to the emotional roller coaster, the death of Robert Holmes (who had been in the middle of writing the finale) in hospital threw everyone into a tailspin.

Critically, this season was a failure at the time. It has been re-assessed since, and while undeniably broken, many of us find aspects of it to appreciate. (Personally, I’m a big fan of the Trial scenes)

Much is made of the fact that the original draft of Episode 14, planned by Holmes, written by Saward based on his notes, then withdrawn entirely when Saward quit for a final time, ended with the Doctor and his enemy/dark half The Valeyard falling into a void, spinning through space, still trying to kill each other. It would have been a great ending, the kind of ending that – like that of Blake’s 7 – fans still talk about.

But it’s very clear from Marson’s book that JN-T was not willing to commit to that ending because he suspected that the BBC would take any excuse to declare the show done, and an ending like that would do it. While Saward scoffed at the time (rightfully pointing out that even neon credits saying they were coming back next year wouldn’t save the show if the BBC wanted to pull it), you can certainly see JN-T’s view too.

If the show had ended on that spiralling vortex in 1986, it would have had an immense, memorable power to it, and would be remembered with great joy even by fans who had lost patience with the show at this point. But then we really might not have got the last re-invention of the classic run of the show that came with the Sylvester McCoy era, not only one of my favourite eras of Doctor Who, but the one which spurred and inspired the next generation of creative, professional fans to keep the show’s memory alive.

I’m very, very glad the show kept going in 1986, because there were some golden years to come, on and off TV, and it might have gone quite differently without the extra three years that JN-T bought the show.

The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner, by Richard Marson, will be published next month by Miwk Publishing. It’s an excellent biography which gives you a strong sense of a very complex, troubled man.

ELSEWHERE ON 1986:

JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner by Richard Marson – review by Matthew Sweet [the Guardian]

“The Ultimate Sixth,” essay by me poking holes in what the Trial of a Time Lord got wrong & right, particularly in its portrayal of Colin Baker’s Doctor, and the horrible, problematic fates of Peri Brown – in Chicks Unravel Time, available in print or e-copy from Mad Norwegian Press.

Episode 1 of Trial of a Time Lord [The Chronic Hysteresis]

Episode 8 of Trial of a Time Lord [The Chronic Hysteresis]

Trial of a Time Lord Parts 9-12 [Wife in Space]

High on Your Own Supply, Terror of the Vervoids [Radio Free Skaro]

The Trial of a Time Lord Parts 13-14 [Wife in Space]

PREVIOUSLY:

Galactic Suburbia 79

Alex & Tansy discuss the Stella, the Shadows, behaving badly on the internet, criticising criticism of the Hugo criticism, and whether the suck fairy has visited Farscape, the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy, or The Mists of Avalon.

You can download the episode here, or at iTunes.

News

The Stella Prize announced its winner last night at a glittery ceremony. Carrie Tiffany won the $50,000 prize for her second novel Mateship with Birds and promptly gave back $10,000 to be awarded to her fellow shortlistees. Classy!

Australian Shadows Award – and the skulls go to…

Seanan McGuire talks about perceptions about self-promotion and the Hugos

We also wanted to draw attention to the post Seanan linked to, “Language Myth #6 – Women Talk Too Much.” Particularly this quote by Dale Spender:

“The talkativeness of women has been gauged in comparison not with men but with silence. Women have not been judged on the grounds of whether they talk more than men, but of whether they talk more than silent women.”

Hugh Howey – The Bitch from Worldcon post

In response: Tobias Buckell – Don’t Punch Down

Chronos Awards – for SF & Fantasy professional & fan works coming out of the state of Victoria.



Eisner Award shortlists – nice to see Saga & Hawkeye nominated, but Tansy particularly wants to draw people’s attention to the categories for comics & graphic novels aimed at children.

Mind Meld – favourite women writers in genre

(Also – books you savour vs books you devour)

Culture Consumed

ALEX: Farscape season 1; Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command, Timothy Zahn; Rapture, by Kameron Hurley; Sky is Calling, The Impossible Girl (Kickstarted album)

TANSY: Game of Thrones Season 2; Swordspoint the audiobook, The Mists of Avalon, Coode Street Podcast episode 140 featuring Nalo Hopkinson.

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!

Friday Links Soldiers On

This has been, quite honestly, the most emotionally draining week in the history of forever, and yesterday was one of the most stressful days I’ve ever had. But it ended on a note of hope, and today is going to be better. Next week will be better still. One foot in front of the other and all that.

In the mean time, Friday Links why not?

This joke only makes sense if you’ve watched Downton Abbey & Season 2 of Game of Thrones but it blew my mind to realise this was the same actress.

MindMeld has taken on the topic of favourite female writers in genre – and I’m one of this week’s contributors!

Neil Gaiman urges publishers to make mistakes - it sounds like it was a great, inspiring and innovative speech, but my favourite part of this story is how he felt the speech had gone down “like a lead balloon” with the audience because of their lack of response, only to discover that they had all been busy tweeting like mad.

Rolf Dobelli tells the world that reading news is bad for you. This validates my life choices at least.

i09 recommends podcasts that will feed your brain with science.

Bitch Magazine asks, how do you find feminist children’s books?

RL Sharpe on A Word on Women Writers, or What Does My Future Hold?

More stats! Tsana looks at Aurealis Award breakdowns.

Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles talk about how To The Manor Born changed their careers and lives.

Karen Healey answers 7 questions about When We Wake at Tor.com.

Enter the Rani [WHO-50—1985]

The first full-length season featuring Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor also produced one of the more memorably arch female villains of Doctor Who. Played by glamorous soap star Kate O’Mara, The Rani was intended to be the female equivalent of the Master, a villain who truly matched the Doctor in wits and plots but had a tendency to get overly obsessed with that rivalry to the exclusion of getting anything else done.

Unlike the Master, who dabbled in many different types of scheme, the Rani was devoted to a single cause, that of Science. She never set out to be evil or take over the world or anything so dramatic – it’s just that her experiments are generally so ruthless, ethically dubious and downright damaging to the test subjects that the Doctor is honour-bound to stop her whenever their paths cross.

The Rani is also a mistress of disguises. In her first appearance, “The Mark of the Rani,” (1985) she conceals herself with the appearance of an old woman, fairy-tale style – switching from crone to glamour queen at the blink of an eye and the flip of a shawl.

The story revolves around the industrial revolution, the rise of the luddites, and the prelude to Robert Stevenson getting his “rocket” off the ground, initiating the future of steam travel. The Rani is visiting this time period to draw a specific chemical from the brains of humans – one which leaves them without the ability to sleep, and has cruel mind-altering effects. She honestly couldn’t be bothered about that part.

Not only is the Doctor here, blundering about into her bath house (where she sources her human lab rats) and trying to uncover her secrets, so is the Master. (who is btw NOT a master of disguise in this episode, swanning around rural Victorian England in his standard black and silver ensemble with the words I AM A VILLAIN painted on the back in neon) Determined to turn the Rani’s experiments into something he considers useful (AKA defeating the Doctor), he steals her stuff, mocks and bullies her into attempting to take over the world, and generally gets in the way of the job she is trying to do.

Honestly, it’s a flat out case of harassment in the workplace.

The Rani rolls her eyes and goes along with his stupid schemes, because that seems more efficient than stopping her work to formally rid herself of the Master (I’d have pushed him instead of the Doctor in a pit in the cliff-hanger to the first episode, personally) but she also keeps up a running commentary about what A-grade blockheads both the Master and the Doctor are.

One of the most interesting things about the Rani as a character is not only that we get a female version of the mad scientist trope, who is unapologetically ambitious and lacking in empathy for her victims, but also that she isn’t overtly sexualised.

Sure, there’s some mild chemistry between herself and the Master, but nothing overt – and her squabbling with the Doctor is more siblingy than anything else. She is fully clothed (as for once is Peri), and shows no interest in using any form of feminine wiles.

In part this is due to the general sexlessness imposed upon the performers of Classic Doctor Who (except during photo calls), and is almost certainly the first aspect that would be ditched if the Rani was brought back into the new version of the show. This would be a shame because she stands as a powerful and innovative character because she is ruthless, powerful and driven by interests that have nothing to do with family, love, or an obsession with her own youth or beauty – and as I discovered when I recently researched a paper on female Doctor Who villains, it’s REALLY hard to find ones that aren’t motivated by those “traditional feminine” concerns.

Also, the Rani has the prettiest TARDIS. Seriously. No wonder the Doctor is jealous of it.

While there are some of the usual awful lines scripted between the Sixth Doctor and Peri in “The Mark of the Rani” – his pomposity in the opening scene and her corresponding meekness makes their relationship come off as uncomfortably abusive – the story is for the most part a good showcase for their characters. During the bulk of the adventure, there is much running about and action – and far more of a sense of humour exchanged between the two characters.

The Sixth Doctor’s coat has been on my mind a lot lately, especially after the awesome Verity! Podcast interview with costume designer June Hudson, and I have to say it really doesn’t look too bad in this story. That could partly be because of so many location shots, and the less fierce lighting in the studios, and also because the Doctor interacts with his costume in interesting ways – he ditches the coat at one point to rub dirt on his face and pretend to be a miner so as to have an excuse to go to the bath-house. But for once, the coat of many colours looks like clothes and not costume.

The Rani is a splendid villain for the Sixth Doctor – it’s a shame we didn’t get another story combining these two characters. She spikes his pompous nature rather than encouraging it (as the Master basically does), and there’s an interesting narrative to the way he appreciates her skills as a scientist while still disapproving of her terrible ethics.

At one point, the Doctor grudgingly admires the Rani’s groundbreaking design of a TARDIS remote, and wonders for a moment how nice he would have to be to her in order to get one for himself… before deciding it wouldn’t be worth it!

ELSEWHERE ON 1985:

Attack of the Cybermen [Wife in Space]

Viewer Rate Thyself, Vengeance on Varos [NeoWhovian]

Vengeance on Varos [The Angriest]

The Mark of the Rani [Wife in Space]

The Two Doctors Part 1 [The Chronic Hysteresis]

Timelash [Wife in Space]

Revelation of the Daleks [The Chronic Hysteresis]

Colin Baker Custom Figure with Costume Detail [Fabric of Time and Space]

Eric Saward [Doctor Who: The Writer's Room]

Doctor Who: A Celebration of Colin Baker. [Den of Geek]



PREVIOUSLY:

Double Tassie Fiction!

The bad news is that Australia Post have raised their postage prices again – to compensate and use all the prepaid parcel envelopes, Twelfth Planet Press has announced a special!

Grab A Trifle Dead by Livia Day direct from the site

and you can get the awardwinning “Siren Beat/Roadkill” by TansyRR & Robert Shearman for just $5 extra!

Use the coupon ATrifleDead upon purchase.

Both A Trifle Dead and “Siren Beat” are set in Hobart – one has a murder mystery and really great coffee, while the other has a sexy sea pony and kraken tentacles. Compare and contrast!

Meanwhile Random Alex and her awesome Mum have done a joint conversational review of A Trifle Dead – which also happens to be the first review I’ve read of the book!

Friday Links is Awash With Sentiment (and Robot-fighting)

This most excellent essay, A Sentimental Education: Sex and the Literary Writer, is fascinating in what it has to say about the attitude towards emotional writing in the Literary Sphere – and the association of sex/sentiment in fiction as being not only feminine, but lowbrow or worse, COMMERCIAL.

Speaking of commercial, Jared at Pornokitsch looks at Dragonlance, specifically the original Dragonlance Chronicles, and asks why no one will discuss/admit their massive influence on the fantasy genre. Leaving aside the fact that the writing is… well, not especially good, he does isolate several things that Dragonlance did that were either original or at least in strong opposition to the Tolkien school of fantasy – and suggests that some of the seeds of the grimdark genre can be found here.

I loved Dragonlance, for at least several months of my teen years. And at some point I think I’m going to have to write about the women in the series. Only… I might have to get myself drunk first, to reread the books. Hmm.

Jo Walton talks about escapist reading and why it’s awesome over at Tor.com.

After a flurry of news articles, blog posts and general outrage about the “buyout” deal on the table between the the authors of Night Shade Books and Skyhorse/Start Publishing, things have all gone rather quiet since it was revealed that the deal had been revised to be a bit more reasonable. (not, I might add, very reasonable) That doesn’t mean that this has stopped being a major issue for the writers involved (who are mostly doing their discussion with each other behind closed doors as is entirely appropriate for a business deal that will seriously impact on their lives and careers) but it’s not news for the rest of us until the matter is entirely resolved. Meanwhile, Kameron Hurley’s heartfelt and angry post is still important reading for writers everywhere. Too often, writers stay silent about bad treatment because they fear social and business repercussions if they speak out – and yet speaking out could potentially save other writers from signing on. I imagine that the debut/new authors who signed with Night Shade within the last year are feeling pretty angry right now about the discretion of others.

Which reminds me of my post yesterday about the amazing article by Deborah Copaken Kogan, and the constant threat she heard through her career if she dared speak up about rape, about mistreatment and disrespect in the workplace, and about her work being treated unfairly by the media. “You’ll get smeared…” There are no easy answers here. You have to do what feels right to protect yourself as well as your income. But… yes. In the case of Night Shade I have a deep sympathy with those authors who have been so terribly treated, and now have to make a difficult decision. And I think it’s very important to listen to why they are angry.

And speaking of anger and the internet, this might be a good time to link to Rachel Swirsky’s excellent post on Aqueduct about how it’s not okay to use genuinely awful things like witch-hunts, lynch mobs, crucifixion as metaphors for being criticised, and that kind of emotive comparison can actually silence criticism.

I’ve been loving the serialised YA graphic novel “Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong” by Faith Erin Hicks – about cheerleaders and a robot builders club joining forces to commit hijinks. It’s fun and awesome, and they are now running a big pre-order campaign with prizes to be won as the countdown hastens towards the printing of the actual book.

My good friend Alisa Krasnostein of Champagne&Socks has been getting down with her PhD topic and crunching numbers – STATS, baby! So far she’s been looking at the gender breakdown of several different mostly Australian SF awards but starting to crack international ones too – if they don’t crack her first. Her graphs are pretty. Check out: Playing with Data & Statistics, Aurealis 2012 shortlists, and The Kitschies.

Tobias Buckell talks about stats too – I really appreciate it when he goes into the in-depth meta about self publishing and the sales of his books. This is one of those, about what it (can) mean to be an Amazon bestseller.

Sean the Blogonaut is developing an Instapaper covering Australian reviews, author profiles etc. Here’s one he prepared earlier – and take note of the hashtag #ausfrev – anyone can use it when tweeting a relevant blog post/podcast/article.

Articles like this one! Our Margo has been doing pretty well with shortlists etc. over the last few weeks – here’s her Stella interview about her work, writing habits and so on.

i09 on how the cancellation and replacement of Young Justice (with yet another Batman-centred cartoon) prevented the development of a genuinely interesting version of the DC universe – one that was simultaneously more accessible and more respectful of the past than the New 52.

Speaking of comics: the Saga Saga! It was revealed (by creator Brian K Vaughn) that issue #12 of the Hugo-nominated, slightly gruesome space comic Saga had been banned from Apple’s app store, which he ascribed to “two postage stamp sizes images of gay sex.” Considering how many digital comics are sold via the Comixology app and other apps using the Comixology format, this was a pretty big deal. Naturally this caused a great deal of upset and discussion online, with a particular focus on the inconsistency – as pointed out by this brilliant NPR post that runs issue by issue through the graphic sex and violence already published in Saga which was deemed acceptable.

The story developed further when Comixology fell on their sword, declaring that they had interpreted the Apple guidelines independently. And PS: it wasn’t about the gay sex anyway, though they did not clarify what the issue had been. Apple’s reputation was saved. Except… well. We all knew that Comixology was a closed, horribly DRMed system, right? But something like this is a tangible reminder that this system has the potential to be substantially controlled by the Powers That Be. I know that I spend about a quarter of what I would on digital comics if I genuinely believed that I owned and could personally back up the comics that I “purchased.”

In short, digital comics are the bomb, and Comixology is convenient, but the system is screwing us. When companies have power over us and the way we purchase things, they can actually USE that power when they deem it necessary. This should never be a surprise to us, but as seems to be the theme of this Friday Links, it’s okay to be angry and to communicate that anger, because even when we KNOW we’re being screwed by a system, it can be helpful to vocalise that from time to time.

Australian Children’s Classics

There is very little in the world that can give me joy like an elegant, arty new edition of an old, beloved book. Check out these pretties. I haven’t been so tempted by cute books since those “embroidered” editions of Black Beauty and The Secret Garden. And, okay, every vintage-style Arthur Ransome edition ever.

You can find these cute editions (and more in the same series) at Booktopia, and other Australian bookshops!

You’ll Get Smeared

Normally I’d save this one for my Friday Links post but honestly I don’t want it to get lost in the long list of things other people are saying.

This article by Deborah Copaken Kogan, My So-Called ‘Post-Feminist’ Life in Arts and Letters, is simply extraordinary. It may be the most important and soul-kicking thing that I have read since I discovered Joanna Russ.

Upon being shortlisted for the Women’s Prize (formerly the Orange Prize) for her novel The Red Book, Kogan addresses the many and constant criticisms of the existence of the prize itself by calmly examining the many and various ways in which institutionalised sexism have affected her life, from graduation through several careers (war photography, TV news, novelist and writer of memoir) and the many ways in which her reputation and professionalism have been worn away.

The threat of ‘stay silent, don’t speak up, they’ll smear you,’ is a constant theme and now she feels “old” enough, safe enough, confident enough, to say to hell with it, and tell her story anyway.

I consider throwing in the towel. The lack of respectful coverage, the slut-shaming and name-calling, all the girly book covers and not-my-titles despite high literary aspirations, has worn me down, made me question everything: my abilities, my future, my life. This is what sexism does best: it makes you feel crazy for desiring parity and hopeless about ever achieving it.

The Nation