Instead, Scalzi is the one who steps up to tell Gordon off. Not that he didn’t deserve it.
Welcome to the club!
Dear Lois McMaster Bujold
I have a lot of respect for you as a writer and as a person. Though we have only met a few times, we have many acquaintance in common, and those acquaintance value you as a friend and as a critical thinker. That all being said, perhaps it’s time for you to step back from the current conversation and just not say anything for a while ((I used to have links directly to Bujold’s comments on this post, but the Tor.com backend changed and now they’re not valid. To see her comments, search the page for Lois Bujold.)). Listening would be good, but really just stop talking for a bit, because you are not helping anyone at this point in time.
Just some friendly advice.
Best,
Tempest
All My Mothers
Last year on Mother’s Day I posted about how all of my mothers are now gone. My own mother, Marjorie T. Bradford, passed away ten years ago (it doesn’t feel that long ago), my maternal grandmother, Anna Ree Tidmore, passed away just before my birthday last year, my fraternal grandmother, Genevieve Bell, passed away when I was a little kid, and my mother’s mother’s mother, Katie Bell Rembert, passed away when I was just 3.
Ever since my mother died I’ve done my best to ignore Mother’s Day for my own sanity. I can’t completely, though, because there are many mothers in my life. Many of whom I love and admire a lot for how awesome they are as mothers and how awesome they are in general. I’m especially partial to my friends who have daughters, because it makes me think of me and my mom — she was my favorite person in the world even when I didn’t always show it. It makes me so happy to see that in a lot of the mother/daughter relationships my friends have. I see all their beautiful girls growing up into strong, intelligent, independent young ladies and I am so jealous of them. I want to tell them to cling to their moms as tightly as possible for as long as they can, because there’s no guarantee they’ll be there forever.
This year I decided to not ignore Mother’s Day and instead offer up one last gift to my mom: my story, Élan Vital, from Sybil’s Garage #6 is now live on the Senses Five website as a special preview for the zine (out by WisCon!). Matt Kressel and I thought it would make a nice Mother’s Day promotion. Go read and then go hug your mom for me :)
The POC Have Spoken and Declared Star Trek Good
Therefore I guess I will be seeing it. *weeps for the loss of continuity*
Anyone up for Saturday?
Dreamwidth, I Has
I’m ktempest on Dreamwidth. I have not yet decided what I want to do, exactly, with that account or with my LJ as of yet. Once I start posting over there it will most likely be crossposts from here with occasional Dreamwidth-only posts, as now. The consequence is likely to be that I won’t post on LJ specifically.
So if you’d like to friend me, please do! I may nto friend everyone back as I, again, figure out exactly how I want to use this service.
WisCon 33
Later with this than anyone else, but there were some changes to my panel lineups and I was waiting to make sure everything else was settled. As I emailed everyone on the panel I’m moderating on Sunday, I figure I can be public about it all now.
NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL — Fri 9:00 – 10:15PM — Senate A
Nora Jemisin (M), K. Tempest Bradford, Moondancer Drake, Nnedi Nkemdili Okorafor, Naamen Gobert Tilahun
Writers of color working in F/SF face unique challenges, it’s true. But, at the end of the day, being a ‘person of color’ is only one aspect of what makes up our identities as writers and, while it’s very flattering to asked to be on panels, most of these panels never crack the ceiling of Race 101. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be nice for multiple writers of color to sit on a panel that isn’t about race at all? Here’s our chance to do just that. So, what are we gonna talk about, instead? Practically anything! Presented in game show format, NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL brings together writers of color to get their geek on about any number of pop culture topics (perhaps chosen from a spinning wheel of fortune)—none of them race related.
Was It Good for You? — Sat 10:30 – 11:45PM — Conference 4
Nora Jemisin (M) , K. Tempest Bradford, Sumana Harihareswara, Rachel Kronick, Betsy Lundsten
A common response to requests for increased representation of women/PoC in science fiction seems to be—we are just looking for good stories. Writers are concerned that, even absent overt discrimination, the themes they want to write about and the stories they want to tell will be dismissed as irrelevant to the white male audience. This doesn’t really have anything to do with quality. What stories do readers wish they could see more of and what stories do they wish they never had to read again? How many technically proficient stories about nothing, and stories that are metaphorical for male orgasm, do we have to read, anyway? Why is it so hard to find stories about my experience?
Judging the Tiptree — Sun 8:30 – 9:45AM — Senate B
K. Tempest Bradford, Gavin J. Grant, Catherynne M. Valente
I think maybe Gavin might not be there after all, so it coudl end up being the Tempest and Cat show. At 8:30am on Sunday we may have to promise people major shenanigans to get a crowd.
Authorial Intent vs. Reader Response — Sun 4:00 – 5:15PM — Capitol A
Vito Excalibur (M), K. Tempest Bradford, Ellen Kushner, Debbie Notkin, Delia Sherman
Umberto Eco said once that a novel was “a machine for generating interpretations….” Once a book has been released into the cruel world, does it matter what the author intended for people to get out of the book? If it does, does it matter more than what the readers see in the book?
Netbook Show and Tell — Sun 10:00 – 11:15PM — Conference 5
K. Tempest Bradford (M), Shaun Kelly, Rowan, Genevieve Valentine
Asus EEE, Acer Aspire One, HP Mininote … do those names sound familiar? What are those wee laptops around the size of a hardback book? Bring your netbook and show it off! Discuss the pros and cons. Q&A for those looking to purchase their very own netbook.
Additionally I will be participating in the following POC-only events:
POC Meet & Greet — Fri 5:30 – 7:30PM — Madison Concourse Lobby
We’ll head somewhere to eat or chat at 6:00PM.
Meet the Angry Black Women — Sun Lunch — Noodles & Company
K. Tempest Bradford, Nojojojo, Karnythia
Have lunch with the three contributors to the Angry Black Woman blog.
I think I am most excited about the netbook panel! Not just because I am mod, but because after 3 days of RACE GENDER LITERARY THEORY and TIPTREE I feel I will enjoy being able to just geek out about computers for an hour. The Not A Race Panel panel should be a good time, too. Also, I am on a panel with Ellen and Delia and Debbie and Vito? *swoon*
There will be other additions to this schedule once the final, full-length one comes out.
X-Men Origins: It All Depends On How You Look At It
Like any geek worth her salt, I saw the movie this past weekend. I try not to pay too much attention to casting, spoilers, or even trailers, so I was really surprised to see will.i.am in the movie. As the sole brother, I expected him to make me proud. All I can say is that he didn’t completely embarrass himself, but being pwned by Liev Shrieber is… well… not very gansta.
Anyway, if we’re just scoring on the manflesh, the movie gets an A, as demonstrated by the review at Fantasy. However, if we’re scoring on portrayal of female characters, the movie gets a big old F, as discussed on Feminist SF.
I tried to enjoy the manflesh as much as possible.
My viewing companions despaired of the movie being any good because of Ryan Reynolds, but I must admit I have a lingering affection for him. I’ve been watching him on screen since he was 13 or so and always felt happy he made good after his very, very rocky start. (He also grew up to be not-bad-looking!)
Dollhouse: Is It Done Yet?
My thoughts on the latest Dollhouse episode are over at Fantasy. One aspect that bothered me that I didn’t mention was the character of Mellie/November. Mellie, specifically.
Ever since Mellie first showed up I have been super-annoyed and wary of her character. In the beginning because I am so over the I Am Desperately In Love With Man Who Ignores Me stereotype. She seemed so pitiful and desperate that I was really rooting for her to be a doll just so it wouldn’t be so horrible for her to exist. It makes sense for the Dollhouse to program her to be desperate for Paul, even if it is still annoying.
So then we discover Mellie is a sleeper doll — fine. But THEN. Then the annoyances keep coming. Paul has wet dreams about Caroline even though he is sleeping with a woman who is — pardon me for being so crass — about 20,000 times more attractive than Eliza Dushku. Later Mellie tells Paul right out that she does not care if he doesn’t return her affections in any way, as long as she can keep doting on him. I’m paraphrasing — the actual sentence was so much more sickening than that. Yes, I know Mellie was put there to keep an eye on Paul by being the kind of woman he would want, but what man who is not an asshole would find a woman who would say such a thing desirable? It speaks to Paul’s character, I think, that they programmed her that way. And, of course, his response to this speech was not “Hey now, I return your affections, you do not need to say that or feel that way.” (Yes, I know, this would have been a lie. Still.) No, he responds by engaging in an excessively problematic “sex” scene.
Dear Show: WTF.
I have to wonder if there wasn’t some way to achieve the same goals with Mellie/November without making her character so awful. In fact, it would have made me feel so much more sympathy for Paul if the kind of woman he desired was not someone who only had one want or need (him) but was ultra-kick-ass and also thought he was attractive. It would have been so much more interesting if he really did have to struggle between being in the present moment with someone who cared for him and being obsessed with the Dollhouse (and Caroline). Lack of stereotypes is always a big turn-on for me.
Poor Mellie. I mean, I do definitely feel for the girl. Even knowing she’s a doll, I still felt really sad when Paul walked out and cruelly told her to go to hell. (This is perhaps due to the fact that I think the actress is doing a damn fine job with this inanity she’s been given.) It was clever of him to do so in order to track her back to the Dollhouse, but think about that: he purposefully emotionally abused a woman because he essentially ceased to see her as a real person. He flat-out refused to save her even though she was just as much a “victim” as Caroline because he decided that Caroline was indeed real.
I have a problem with that.
If anyone is supposed to be a hero in this show, it is Paul. He falls very short of that label.
And if anyone can be said to be a victim here, I would definitely nominate Mellie. That she was created in such a way, subjected to such things, and will probably cease to exist from here on out is depressing. But not more depressing than another season of this show.
Show Off Your Steampunk Fashion
*eyes all the people on her f-list who she knows totally rocks the steampunk clothing and jewelry and whatnot* All of you click over to Fantasy and show off your fancy, fabulous selves in the stempunk fashion show. None of you are shy (why else would you be wearing that corset?) and you know you love getting compliments on your clothes. You could be the belle of the virtual ball!
And you folks who don’t have any fashion to show off, go find a friend who does and point them at the site. I demand a long thread of steampunk finery. I’m a closet lover of costume porn, what can I say?
Dollhouse, Earned Trust, Joss Whedon, Stop With The Rape Already
All that and more over on the ABW today. And tomorrow there will be a piece on Fantasy about rape and taboos in spec fic which you may also find interesting.