This Month Online: June 2016

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

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

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

You can support my Patreon here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PART TWO: Griffin, Harpy

PART THREE: Lamia, Manticore

PART FOUR: Naiad, Peacock

PART FIVE: Sphynx, Triton, Vampire

On Galactic Suburbia this month:

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

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

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

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