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[personal profile] helloladies
Lady Business+ cover art


Episode #2 — The Scorpio Races


Renay and Susan discuss The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, complete with opinions about genre and marketing, feelings about horse narratives, and screaming rage about unnamed mothers. The horses are not optional. Spoilers for the entire book. Download the episode for an hour of wheezing laughter and Renay high on horse stories cough syrup.
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[personal profile] bookgazing
book cover shows sillouhette of female character and Empire State building - above it blue tinged clouds and silhouettes of birds and above the clouds an greenand blue picture of space - tag reads One choice will change her life forever


'2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can't travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She's an 'ape', a 'throwback', but this is one ape girl who won't give in.

Jarra invents a fake background for herself — as a normal child of Military parents — and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra's role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates — a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.' (source)


Read more... )

Other Reviews

The Book Smugglers
Phoebe North at Strange Horizons
renay: Text: I love being awesome! (Default)
[personal profile] renay
In the days leading up to this event, I spent my time either a) packing, b) working or c) reading all the books in the Old Man's War series, so assume mostly C. The series was just as good as I remember. I've changed as a reader a lot so I could see some of the man behind the curtain, but I also think that can be chalked up to Scalzi learning more about how to build stories since the first book was written. I so rarely followed professional authors before the late aughts that it's weird doing it now and seeing the progression of the artist. The reread was fun, I'm totally stoked to read my copy of The Human Division once my Hugo reading is done, I'm excited about the next installment, and left the event (shaking like a squirrel-addled poplar tree alksjdlkjasd) remembering just what John Scalzi means to me as a creator. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back! Read more... )
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[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
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[personal profile] helloladies
Because we haven't quite managed to work out a way for us to consume ALL the entertainment yet: to keep us from emerging haggard and zombie like after regular all night box set marathons, book splurges and music overload we've set up this monthly space where we can express our pure fannish glee at the fact that so many projects of awesome potential are continually being made. All of our past wants and desires can be found in the We Want It! tag. Unless otherwise stated any blurbs for books have come from GoodReads.


Read more... )
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
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[personal profile] renay
the cover of The Shining Girls


The girl who wouldn't die hunts the killer who shouldn't exist.

The future is not as loud as war, but it is relentless. It has a terrible fury all its own.

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future.

Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of the shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He's the ultimate hunter, vanishing into another time after each murder, untraceable-until one of his victims survives.

Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the ex-homicide reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on the impossible truth... (source)


This is a story about the murder of women, viciously gendered violence, and the brutal nature of time.

I cannot stress enough: this book is about the serial stalking of young girls followed by their horrific deaths as adults by a sexualized male predator. It is, especially for those sensitive to malicious violence aimed at girls and women, something to be handled with care, and possibly not attempted at all. Read more... )

Other Reviews )

Supplemental Material )
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[personal profile] bookgazing
White front cover of Cold Earth by Sarah Moss - a reclining blue skeleton watermark sits behind the title


I am always convinced I don’t really care for ghost stories, but then: ‘Ooo, ghosts involved in the world wars’; ‘Ghosts in the Arctic!’; ‘Vampires turned into ghosts – now that is just cool’. I seem to be lying to myself, although I’ve absolutely no idea why. At least my lies don’t seem to be getting between me and a good story as I’ve just finished another interesting book about people affected by ghosts; ‘Cold Earth’ by Sarah Moss.

Last year I read ‘Dark Matter’ by Michelle Paver a novel about a scientific expedition to the Arctic that is plagued by misfortune and ghosts. ‘Dark Matter’ was a hit around the blogging world and I may have liked it a teeny bit (Jack and Gus <3 *mopes*). Readers looking for something similar might want to try picking up ‘Cold Earth’ as it revolves around a contemporary scientific expedition that becomes stranded in an area of Greenland which is possibly plagued by ghosts. Six students journey to Greenland on an archaeological visit to excavate a Norse site. Just as they arrive at their camp, a new virus has begun to claim a few lives in their home countries but concern is not yet high enough to prevent them travelling. This added SF twist later (predictably) provides a means for the book to further isolate its characters and knock up its plots tension so even if ghosts aren’t your thing, as it appears they so clearly are mine, perhaps the introduction of an SF conceit into a fantasy novel about scientific methods will pique your SFFnal curiosity.

Spoilers about ghosts and death )

Other Reviews

Yours?
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )

Administrative Note: Sidetracks will be dropping to biweekly issues to allow LB editors focus on more media consumption and writing about aforementioned media consumption with appropriate levels of tl;dr. Sidetracks will resume on May 25, 2013!
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )

'Looper'

May. 2nd, 2013 07:56 pm
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[personal profile] bookgazing


'In the year 2047 time travel has yet to be invented. Thirty years later, however, it has. Though immediately outlawed, time-travel technology is quickly appropriated by the mob, and used to cleanly dispose of anyone deemed a threat. The process is simple: When the mob wants someone to disappear, they simply send them back to the year 2047, where an assassin known as a "looper" quickly carries out the hit, and disposes of the body. Joe Simmons (Gordon-Levitt) is one of the most respected loopers around. Each kill earns him a big payday, and he's got big plans to retire to France. Then, one day, as Joe patiently awaits the appearance of his next target near the edge of a remote corn field, he's shocked to come face-to-face with his future self (Bruce Willis). When the younger Joe hesitates, the older Joe makes a daring escape. Now, in order to avoid the wrath of his underworld boss (Jeff Daniels), young Joe must "close the loop" and kill his older counterpart. Meanwhile, the revelation that a powerful crime boss in the future has set the underworld ablaze pits the two Joes on a violent collision course, with the fate of a devoted mother (Emily Blunt) and her young son hanging in the balance.' (source)


Ah time travel — the SF device that leaves as many holes in the internal logic of stories as a weevil in a ship's biscuit. Very few time travel stories even vaguely attempt a consistent approach to time travel, I assume because letting the consequences of time travel run its logical course means throwing all your plotted intentions off a bridge. There's a difference between being willing to kill your darlings and being willing to pull down the story you cared about because a fictional element won't stand up to scientific scrutiny.The second one involves a lot more drinking at midnight I imagine.

So, unsurprisingly 'Looper', the newest filmic addition to time travel canon, does not escape the weevil; like most time travel stories 'Looper' presents a logically inconsistent vision of how time travel might affect the continuity of a life. What are paradoxes? We don't need to deal with no stinking paradoxes! Never mind 'Looper', I still like you.

Spoilers from the future )


Other Reviews

Asking the Wrong Questions

Yours?
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
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[personal profile] helloladies
I didn't think I was busy enough with a full time job, OTW work, LB, my family, and hours upon hours of misery/glee watching all these genre shows [personal profile] chaosraven got me hooked on. So I decided to dubcon some friends into a genre podcast. You're welcome, internet.

Lady Business+ cover art


Episode #1 — God's War


Jodie, Phil and Renay forgo the potential three-headed cerberus nightmare monster of a Google Document tri-review to talk about God's War by Kameron Hurley for an hour +. Spoilers for the entire book. Despite having a guide provided by the author herself, our pronunciation of most of the words in this episode is dubious at best and we apologize sincerely for the terrible verbal atrocities we've committed. Download for exciting amateur podcasting and 1,000 vocalized pauses.
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[personal profile] bookgazing
light blue cover of Diving Belles featuring illustrations of a mermaid, crows, an old fashioned portable lamp and a large goldfish


If you’ve been anywhere near me in the last few weeks you will know I am beyond excited about ‘Diving Belles’ by Lucy Wood. I think I have recommended it to every fantasy fan and every lit geek who has shown even a vague interest in the title. And every time I rec it I am like ‘There are too many word I need to use here’ and also ‘Must not appear scary, or oversell it’. We all know the disappointment of realising you’ve set everyone’s expectations way too high.

Very minor spoilers of some story content included )

Have you reviewed this? Drop me a link to your review in the comments and I'll add your review to this post.
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
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[personal profile] helloladies
Korra poses beside the giant statue of Aang


'The Legend of Korra' is somewhere between a sequel to and a spin off from 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'. It's set in the same world as Avatar, but 70 years later, and it features an entirely new cast of characters. There are, however, several links with the events of 'Avatar' - you learn a lot about how the events at the end of the third and final series affected the world, and you even get glimpses into the lives of beloved Avatar characters through flashbacks. You might remember how much we enjoyed Avatar from last year's posts; to find out our thoughts on 'The Legend of Korra', dive in.

We spoil everything, including 'Marley and Me'. )


Related posts:




Other reviews and interesting posts:

helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
helloladies: Picture of T-Rex from Dinosaur Comics reading You'll thank me when you share my politics! (Default)
[personal profile] helloladies
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.


Read more... )
renay: Text: I love being awesome! (Default)
[personal profile] renay
If you would like a fiery discussion about the Hugos, please see my tag on pinboard, containing all the passionate Hugo discourse you've ever wanted! Here, instead, I want to talk about my perspective as a new fan to this process. I'm almost tempted to not count my participation last year, because I missed all the verbal fireworks due to other professional obligations. This year has been a different matter. Read more... )

Who We Are


Renay is a long time member of slash fandom and nerdfighteria who stumbled into book blogging by accident and decided she liked arguing with herself at length and in capslock — it was all downhill from there. more? » twitter icon pinboard icon tumblr icon last.fm icon

Ana is a reader and proud geek who’s been blogging about books since early 2007. more? » twitter icon tumblr icon last.fm icon

✭ By day Jodie is one of those evil marketers you're always hearing about. In fact she’s an evil British marketer and probably the inspiration for the next Bond villain. more? » tumblr icon last.fm icon

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Booked All Week
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Calico Reaction
A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
A Dribble of Ink
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If you see us posting about a book, film, show, etc. you have reviewed, leave us a comment with a link to your review and we'll be glad to add it to the post. We do this because we find review interlinking useful for both bloggers and readers. Learn more »

"In the contemporary world, where things fall apart and the center cannot hold, you need to imagine a community where there is no center."John Green

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Yes! We welcome criticism and debate and seek to become better people and better critics through the process. However, we do have a comment policy and you should follow it in order to prevent abuse and keep the space safe for you, us, and our guests. Thanks!

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