2013: A Summary of Feelings and Media

[renay]

2013: Full of Feelings

Well, 2013 has had its ups and downs. On the up side, I read some books! I got a cool writing gig. I met my favorite author and wasn't an asshole/didn't humiliate myself (it's fine, I would later be humiliated in front of him by a complete stranger; thanks, complete stranger!) I made a lot of cool friends (hey, cool friends!) who I've been idolizing from afar for awhile (I'm going to mention Justin specifically because goodness knows I've spent huge chunks of this year weeping/screeching at him about various things — thanks for eating bugs for me, dude, and all the other stuff, too).

On the downsides, I infuriated SF fandom, got sucked into a soul crushing disaster of a television show like it was a super massive black hole, had the Internet dropped on my head, spent an entire year working for bupkis in retail, and not writing very much.



Even then the year ended in a net gain: I have more access to media thanks to the generosity of friends and thoughtful librarians, I might actually be able to afford health insurance soon, I live in a new place not filled with mold, I've learned a lot about writing and communication, and I guess it's okay about the TV shows since I have people to cry on/send emails written in capslock about it.

Empathy is weird and difficult. I struggle with knowing how to disagree with people respectfully, how to snark at people being deliberately cruel or disingenuous without dehumanizing them, and how to take apart an argument or a stance on an issue in ways that won't leave someone's confidence ripped to shreds. This is a hard line to walk. How do you inspire curiosity by disagreeing with someone? How do you challenge someone to want to see from your perspective, to want to learn why you're disagreeing with them? How do you learn to see more effectively from their perspective, too? I'm still learning how to be a more compassionate person, even when I disagree with someone else. I'm still learning how to juggle compassion with criticism. I'm still learning how to recognize when there's no benefit to further debate, and sometimes, no benefit to starting one in the first place.

A friend told me, "You achieve greatness by holding your head up high and being the best, most truthful, most genuine person you can be, and standing your ground and not cowering." and I've been trying to internalize it. Speaking is new, terrifying, and exhilarating, and did I mention terrifying? There is no shortage of people who want me to sit down and shut up and never critique them or the things they love and how dare I think I even have the right? But I really, really like it, speaking. I like the people I've met, the things I've learned, and the friends I've made. They're smart and clever and we have conversations that help me be a better person. It's difficult, but the rewards are pretty fantastic.

I read two posts that changed my perspective drastically when I was preparing to write a basic end of the year/favorite books/stats post, and ultimately decided to write about feelings plus all the year-end stuff, because the encompass so much of what I've struggled with this year. The first was Not Everyone Is Going To Like The Thing You Made, And That’s Okay by Wil Wheaton, where he says:

When I was younger, I would have completely ignored the first [positive comment], and obsessively focused on the second [negative comment] to the point of feeling shitty about myself. Part of having Imposter Syndrome is believing that people who praise you are dupes, while the people who criticize you can actually see through everything. […] Consider this, about having perspective on criticism: If you enjoyed making a thing, and you’re proud of the thing you made, that’s enough. Not everyone is going to like it, and that’s okay. And sometimes, a person who likes your work and a person who don’t will show up within milliseconds of each other to let you know how they feel. One does not need to cancel out the other, positively or negatively; if you’re proud of the work, and you enjoyed the work, that is what’s important. Don’t let the fear of not pleasing someone stop you from being creative.

Also see this comic, which is extremely relevant, and also painfully accurate. Hindsight is rough; I've spent so much time feeling bad about one or two horrible comments (or, in this case, a few particular tl;dr essays) when surrounded by people interested in my ideas and excited to engage with me I missed those chances to engage. I missed them because I was so mired in feeling like a failure about myself and my writing because a handful of people didn't like my perspective or methods. That's got to change, for sure; what a waste of my time and energy.

The second was How I Cured My Impostor Syndrome:

How good do people think I am? I wondered and wondered but I never came up with a satisfying answer. It was like trudging around one of Dante's circles minus even the companionable presence of other wretched souls. I eventually realized that endlessly interrogating my intellectual worth was akin to weighing myself three times a day, which I also used to do and which was an equally pointless exercise. When I finally conceded to myself that, well, f*ck it — maybe I’m not as good as people say I am. Maybe I’m not as good as I should be. Maybe I’m just actually as good as I am — then a more interesting question presented itself: What now? What now.

I love that. What now?

I guess I'll find out.

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Film and Television

The problem with film is that it's expensive to go to the theater and I can never decide what to get from Netflix and inevitably just rewatch The West Wing. I only had one bad experience this year, with Star Trek Into Darkness, which was a reductive, misogynistic nightmare with possibly the most ham-fisted marketing campaign and ultimate plot resolution I've seen from the films I paid to see. Because I didn't take too many risks with my dollars this year and steered close to things I knew I would like, all those things get to be on the list. :)



Pacific Rim: favorite movie of the year, hands down. I recorded an episode of LB+ about this film with Jodie, but then the flu happened, and then immediately after the holidays in retail happened. BUT SOON IT WILL BE POSTED. Months later everything about this movie still makes me ridiculously happy: Mako, her relationship with Stacker, Stacker, Raleigh's immediate transformation from "I can't be a pilot again! Pain!" to "OKAY SIGN ME UP!" and the hearts in his eyes after he meets Mako and finds out how awesome she is, and Newt and Hermann being asshole science nerds. Hearts everywhere, please deliver me my sequel.

Europa Report: This was a huge surprise for me, because I thought after I reached the ending I was going to hate it. I really, really don't like horror in space movies, unless it's Event Horizon. Event Horizon still reigns over any other space horror for me, except for perhaps Moon, although the latter is obviously more psychological to Event Horizon's out and out embrace of gore and over the top torture porn. Europa Report definitely embraces its footage premise, although it sets out from the beginning that the company releasing the footage has obviously re-arranged it to create a narrative, which was an interesting choice. It does its little dance toward horror toward the end, but thankfully never gets lost in that part of the story — they keep it about the people, about the science, about the work, which really pays off. Also, the music for this film was gorgeous.

Iron Man 3: I loved the first Iron Man, was a little bored by the second, but the third was awesome. There's so much interesting subversion going on. this gif set and commentary actually sums up my favorite bit of the film, although there are spoilers for the end. #teampepper

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: These films have really enriched this series for me, especially in regards to the books, which I don't like that much on their own (although they are extremely readable). The films add a lot of depth to the story and taking the stories outside Katniss's perspective deals a little more with my biggest complaint of the series, which is that Katniss's knowledge of the events she and Rue set in motion is extremely limited, and she's kept from important facts (often by men who "know better"). I also appreciate Katniss's relationships with her sister and Peeta much more. Also: Effie.

The Heat: I didn't manage to catch this in the theater, which I regret. However, I am also sort of glad I didn't because I spent the entire film wheezing and crying in laughter, which would have probably distracted people around me in a public place. I love buddy cop movies and emotionally challenged cops, so this was the perfect mix of all my favorite action movie tropes. I forget how much I love Sandra Bullock, but I don't know why, because she's fantastic. Also, Melissa McCarthy! WHERE HAVE I BEEN??

Television

Television was awesome. And awful? It's complicated.



I love Teen Wolf, but have been growing disillusioned with it as time goes on. As Jeff Davis inhales more and more dollars and loses his goddamn mind with regards to stories with continuity and consistent characterization (listen, when the narrative treats your character worse than the Supernatural narrative treats Sam Winchester, there's a problem) the sadder I get. I'm beyond the point of being able to be distracted by the shenanigans here with Tyler Hoechlin posed, artfully shirtless, or Dylan O'Brien dripping wet. I still really enjoy the show, but Season 3A has made me dubious that I'll be in for the entirety of Season 3B given all the sloppiness of 3A with regards to continuity and remembering that what made the first season so perfect was the relationships between the characters — not magical forces outside the characters making their lives harder with over the top revenge plots.

Also, if someone doesn't tell Danny the truth soon I'm going to flip a table.

Sleepy Hollow is perfect; even the weakest episode I've seen was good. I'm behind in the last half of the first season, but I've continued to hear great things about it and the mythology they're building, as well as about the character dynamics. The last episode I watched had Jenny and Irving double-teaming some bad guys, and hell if I don't want more of those superheroes on my screen, Ichabod being bemused by the 21st century, and Abbie being 100% done with everyone because they're wasting time she could be using to solve supernatural crime. The family dynamic that's happening on this show is beautiful; Abbie and Jenny are the sister-like relationship I've been waiting for, full of misunderstandings and clashing perspectives and different ideas about how to reach the same goal. But in the end it's very clear that they are working toward the same goal. I want this show to live up to the revelations set forth in Ichabod's boyfriend secret Bible: seven seasons! WE CAN DO THIS.

Grimm is my favorite police procedural right now. It's got so much stuff I love: a tight partnership with tons of trust in the main two detectives, a hipster werewolf, two female characters who are legit scientists who often know the right answers to save the day, awesome supporting characters, mysterious but sketchy royalty and spies, and a team dynamic that's been developing over the last few seasons which is finally, slowly, coming into play in season three, which of course I am utterly behind on (sob). Also, Wu, who just needs to become a detective already and join the team. I ship everyone with everyone else, everyone is lovable and flawed and there's a werewolf who plays the cello and fixes clocks, okay. He has SWEATERS and drives a VW Bug. I have no clue what people are waiting for.

Supernatural, of course, gets to be in category of misery and woe all its own, because for me it alternates between the best and the worst, several times per episode. I got into the show for Dean, I've stayed for Castiel, and along the way have begun to find I am becoming more and more of a Sam fangirl as his story dovetails with my own experiences of emotional abuse. A lot of the characterization for Sam and how the narrative treats him is becoming more clear in hindsight. That, of course, makes a lot of the stuff happening in recent seasons hard to stomach, because a lot of the unexamined behavior between the brothers is on the block to be explored by the writers. I suspect it's going to be super shitty for Sam, because Everyone Loves Dean and thinks the sun shines out of his ass even when he's been a raging douchenozzle and makes terrible choices and should be abandoned to his alcoholism and lonely tears while Sam finds a life and Cas becomes hunting buddies with Garth. I get this, because I love Dean a lot, too. But I have very little hope that what's been set up will finally be resolved without Sam being victim-blamed some more while Dean rides off into the sunset of Sam's Eternal Forgiveness. The Supernatural writers are clever with their long term story plots, but they absolutely suck at emotional character arcs and story lines that are painful but don't involve death or lying. They often fail the "could this be resolved with a a five minute conversation?" test, which means a lot of their emotional work is too shallow. They're also on my list of terrible writers in the category of "who cares about detail and continuity" for how they rehash or retcon established character experiences for cheap laughs/jokes, which was a big problem I had with Castiel's story in early season nine.

Supernatural is the worst. Yet I love it a ridiculous amount. Ugh.

---

Reading

My reading year has been a huge mishmash of things, and I still wasn't really able to get to all the things I wanted. I will say that am I seriously considering counting the fanfic I read in 2014 because that will give me a more thorough picture of my reading experiences. GREAT AND TERRIBLE IDEAS?

My list of favorite books this year is unsurprising because I've been shouting about the ones I loved the best to anyone I could get to stop and listen, shaking down authors for extra pieces of canon/fanfic (hi, Courtney!), and generally being obnoxious. YOU'RE ALL WELCOME.



Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: There's pretty much no topping this book for me this year. The farther I get from it the more I realize it did so many things I want from science fiction I read: it created a world that felt massive, challenged me on subjects I knew very little about, developed interpersonal relationships dynamics that hit all of my character kinks (loyalty! protectiveness! respect!), and built hope into an otherwise hopeless situation. Everyone should read it, because it will probably be June 2014 before I shut up about it, and at least then folks will know what I'm talking about. :D (review)

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: Although everyone kept recommending Eleanor & Park to me, it was Clare's generosity that allowed me to read Fangirl first (thanks!). So much of this story resonated with me, from Cath's struggle with her first year of school, her difficulty making friends, and the parallels that meet in the book over plagiarism and intellectual dishonesty with regards to fanfiction. I love that this book opens the door to even more interesting, varied stories about fans — people in large fandoms, small fandoms, zine runners, fandom newsletter editors, fans who run cons, fans who go to cons. The future is very bright, and if Fangirl and its success is any indication, I am hopeful that we'll continue to see stories about different types of fans living their lives with their fandoms at the center.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater: RONAN LYNCH.

Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach: This book surprised the hell out of me. 50 pages in, I was fairly sure I was going to bounce off the first person (I am so picky about first person narration. SO PICKY.) but then something happened and I was like "OMG. YES. OKAY I'M IN." I never looked back. This book was so much fun, Devi is brash and rude and completely and utterly arrogant, and I love her. I'm not sure how I feel about the romance, as it was great up until the very end and then took a nosedive into Supernatural-level badness. As justira says: Consent Issues Shitshow. I really enjoyed the book, though, so we'll see if the sequel handles it.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson: This was the most literary science fiction novel I've read since last December, when I attempted to read The Sparrow. I was expecting something totally different than what I received when I picked up the book, which was something much more pulpy and shallow. Instead, the narrative is quiet, interpersonal, and close (I seriously got some Life of Pi vibes off Tyler's voice, especially when he was talking about Jason), and to my eternal bemusement, a love story. It's a love story! I sure wish I had been around SF fandom when this book won the Hugo, because I would have totally loved to see people flapping about over the emotional core of this book being the love between a man and his best friend (am I seriously the only one getting asexual vibes off Jason, though??) and his childhood sweetheart which not even the end of the world can hold at bay. It's a really fascinating science fiction wrapper over a love story. I will not be swayed.



Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliot: I love this epic fantasy series so much. From the female friendships and mentorships at the center of all the books, the magic that Cat and Bee can both access in different ways, the romance that's not inevitable, but rather a choice that Cat makes for herself, to all the ways that Cat and Bee's stories parallel, overlap, and influence one another's adventures without the narrative ever once saying that Cat's or Bee's is more important, I love it all. It's so refreshing to find a series where female friendship is the emotional core of a story, where support and love is a given, rather than something Cat worries about or questions. It's perfect, and soon I'm going to get my hands on a a hardcopy of The Secret Journal of Beatrice Hassi Barahal, because I refuse believe this is a a world where that won't get some kind of second printing. (Cold Magic co-review with Jodie)

Saga (Volume 1 & 2) by Brian K. Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples: War! Bounty hunters! Robots with PTSD! Newlyweds! Newborns! Magic! Every time I try to explain Saga to someone, I utterly fail. It's a adventure story about two newlyweds trying to protect their newborn child from long time warring governments who want them dead and the child captured. It's science fiction, but it also has a distinctly contemporary fantasy vibe to it when you get up close and personal to some of the characters. It reminds me of Avatar:TLA, which did amazing things with its villains so you ended up tangled within their stories, empathizing with their struggles. In Saga there are villains here you sympathize with, who you cheer for, even though you know they're after the heroes (who you really, really come to love). I love stories like this, so combined with sarcastic ghost babysitters and characters who have televisions for heads, I was a goner as soon as I picked up the first volume.



Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant: This trilogy is so great. My dream now would be the announcement of Red, Yellow, Green: The Worldwide Impact of Kellis-Amberlee; an Oral History by Mahir Gowda, which unfortunately will probably never happen no matter how hard I keep hoping for it, but yet I will keep the torch burning regardless. (Jodie's review of Feed.)

The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer: I don't know, friends. Sometimes you think you feel one way and then realize you can understand why you felt that way, and might still feel that way, but are conflicted. LITERARY FEELINGS ARE FLUID, OKAY. Fucking characters. It's all their fault. (review)

The 10 P.M. Question by Kate de Goldi: I still haven't been able to find the right words about this book, even almost a year later, so I've pretty much given up hope I'll be able to discuss the story like an adult at any point in the future; it's too close. Instead, I will just point everyone to Ana's review, which is what convinced me to read it in the first place.

Honorable mentions: Locke & Key by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, vN by Madeline Ashby, The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, God's War by Kameron Hurley, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Reading Statistics

Stolen with no shame from Ana! When looking at the numbers for a year, I'm inevitably surprised by what I find and how wrong my assumptions about my reading are. I tend to devalue or erase my reading accomplishments, but putting the numbers down often proves my brain is a rotten liar. It's nice to see that I'm finally breaking out of my degree program blues.

The numbers here won't add up to 100% in most cases, because of category overlap.

Total: 76
Novels: 27 (35%)
Short Story Collections and Anthologies: 1 (1%)
Sequential Art (manga, comics, graphic novels): 27 (35%)
Nonfiction: 1 (1%)
Short fiction (short stories, novelettes, novellas): 19 (25%)
Science fiction and fantasy: 58 (76%)
Young adult: 7 (9%)
Middle grade: 1 (1%)
Contemporary: 16 (21%)
By women: 48 (63%)
By men: 28 (36%)
Re-reads: 25 (32%)
From library: 14 (18%)
By new to me authors: 31 (40%)
Favorite authors discovered this year: Courtney Schafer, Aliette de Bodard, Kate Elliott, Kameron Hurley, Mira Grant, Ann Leckie, Rainbow Rowell, Robert Charles Wilson, Pat Cadigan
Least favorite book of the year: The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. This is making several people curl up and die on the inside, but it's also a little misleading. Once the author stopped trying to hoodwink me (Really? You're seriously going to take this extremely obvious farce all the way to the end? Okay, whatever!) I liked it, and everything that preceded it, much more. I will probably continue the series, but for me this book was a struggle, and not in a good way. I've been assured the series gets better, which will probably change my opinion and enrich my experience of the first over time.
Best reading month: July, when I did most of my Hugo reading (nothing like a deadline) and October, when I mainlined most of HanaKimi, completing the reread I started in 2012 (and which now leaves me free to continue my One Piece reread!)
Worst reading month: I seemingly read nothing in April, which says to me I was too busy a) packing to move, b) watching Supernatural (lolsob), c) reading fanfic (SORRY ORIGINAL WORKS). Yeah, I should really track fanfic in 2014.
Top publishers: VIZ Media (21), Orbit (10)

2014 Reading Goals

I did better than ever on short fiction. I will accept this accomplishment and attempt to improve, although I still wish there was a hub that collected all the different short fiction reviews across all the different blogs and magazines, etc, because generally with short fiction I find it much easier to engage with it and decide my own reading if I can agree/disagree with other people. I'll keep plugging away at the goals I defined last year: focus on more new writers, nonfiction (specifically feminism, gender studies, and fan studies), and anthologies as I continue my attempt to understand original short fiction (sigh).

Also, space opera! There are 1,001 opinions on what qualifies as space opera. I have decided my own personal opinion as to what qualifies as space opera for my purposes can be answered with one simple formula: ARE WE IN SPACE, CAPTAIN????? IF Y, PASS GO, COLLECT $200 SPACE BUCKS. I also have a side goal of reading all the things about robots, which is both for pleasure/research. So there are going to be bonus points for reading about robots IN SPACE.

I'm setting a goal for reading new women writers at 15, since my partner and I are planning to schedule a six month period in which we read/review only women writers. This will have to wait post-Hugos, which I can maybe get done before the wire this year? I want to see, as Liz suggested, if making a switch like that changes my perspective at all.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my reading this year. \o/ How'd everyone else do?

Additional Links

• Reading the End: The superlatives of an outstanding reading year
• thingsmeanalot: 2013: The Year in Review
• The Book Den: My Favorite Books Read in 2013
• The Literary Omnivore: Saturday Morning Opinions: 2013 in Review
• A Fantastical Librarian: Favourite 2013 Reads
• Far Beyond Reality: 2013: The Year In Review
• Bookworm Blues: Best Books of 2013
• Courtney Schafer: Favorite Reads of 2013
• The Written World: Top Ten Tuesday: My Favourite Books of 2013
• Fantasy Cafe: Favorite Books of 2013

Comments

[chaila]

Ugh, someday I will read books without pictures again, and when I do I will start with some of this list.

I also didn't like The Thief. But if you read The Queen of Attolia and don't like it, THEN I might curl up and die. (NOT REALLY. BUT MAYBE).

[renay]

This is amusing, because in 2014 I plan to start reading more books with pictures. Do feel free to start with anything on this list, though! I WOULD BE SUPER EXCITED. :D

(I will try to like The Queen of Attolia. I will try really hard!)

[rj_anderson]

What Chaila said about The Thief. I read it going, "Okay, that was different than I expected but I'm still not sure I actually liked it or understood what people see in this series? Oh well, I have the second book out from the library so I might as well start into... OMG WHAT *mind blown*."

The rest, as they say, is history.

[renay]

I guess I'm about to get schooled when I read the second one. :D

[myfriendamy]

I tried to read The Thief a few years ago now and didn't get very far. As more and more people I like read the series and like it--I want to try again, but ugh it's hard to think of giving up precious reading time for a book I might not like that much just to get to the others!

Yay for Newsflesh! I love the zombie world in those books so so much. Will you read Parasite if you get a chance? I loved it like whoa, but lol, so far it seems I'm in the minority with my enthusiasm--others seem more reserved.

I was recently gifted the 10 P.M. Question and was excited because I remembered your enthusiasm! Hopefully I will be able to read it soon.

And aw Grimm really is a fun show, I just started finally watching season 3. To be honest I'm often confused on the plot, but I show up for the characters. Oh and I was excited to see an actress from Switched at Birth show up in one of the episodes!

I enjoyed your intro as well!

[renay]

Well, on the plus side, The Thief is pretty short. I read it in two days. But on the other hand, you could just as easily read a synopsis, then hit the high points of the book, then try the books after it.

I do plan to read Parasite! I had hoped to get to it this year, but alas, holidays in retail. I'm afraid most of what I've seen about it is the criticism about how it's nothing but repetition, same characters, same premise, etc. as Feed. But that's actually okay with me. As someone who will quite happily read every fake boyfriend AU in her fandoms, twice, I am down with similarities. :D

ALSO WHOA IF YOU EVER WANT TO TALK GRIMM WITH ME, let me know. Send me an email! I will happily capslock at you about various episodes, with bonus plot explanations. :D

[(Anonymous)]

"if you’re proud of the work, and you enjoyed the work, that is what’s important." I really love this. It's a wonderful reminder to just do what you love to do.

Sleepy Hollow is one of the few current shows I'm watching. There's a lot to love. I'm about a season and a half behind on Supernatural. It really is the worst, but it's one of my favorites.

I love your book list. There are several I didn't manage to read that I really need to make a priority like Fortune's Pawn. I've been hearing so many great things.

Ah, thank you so much for linking to my favorites list. That just made my whole day.

Jennifer | Book Den

[renay]

HOW did I not know you liked Supernatural! A season and a half...well, enjoy the pain! :D :D :D

If you get around to Fortune's Pawn, I'd totally love your thoughts. I didn't really think books could have jump-scares like film, but this book proved me wrong.

I love best-of lists, so linking was my pleasure! Thanks for writing it! ♥

[(Anonymous)]

:D Ooh, jump-scares. Nice! I will definitely share my thoughts. Thank you for the Locke & Key recommendation, too. I have not read it, and from the looks of it, I need to do something about that ASAP.

Jennifer

[renay]

I really love Locke & Key; I expected to be bored (me and horror are hit/miss) but in the end I was hooked and now I'm purchasing copies to keep forever. Definitely let me know if you pick up! :D

[goodbyebird]

Your thought on The Thief are my thoughts, down to a t! But I finished it due to promises having been made by several people I trust, and boy did the rest of the books deliver. I hope you continue with the series. They truly are fabulous.

And I've discovered two new books thanks to this list, yay! Btw if you do manage to keep track of your fanfic reading next year, not only will I be highly interested in the outcome, but also how you pull it off ;)

[renay]

I'm glad to keep hearing that the books after The Thief are better. It's on my list for 2014.

If I manage to keep track of my fanfic reading, I'll be impressed with myself. I did it for two months back in 2011, but it got so unwieldy. Probably I need a spreadsheet, a tag on Pinboard, and some determination. SURELY it's possible!

[(Anonymous)]

Both you and Ana read a lot more than me this year (I think like you there was a period where I wasn't reading at all), but I still had a good reading year. That's probably because I read a bunch of things you two told me to read :).

On short fic - I totally wish there were a hub too (maybe there is?) but we don't have time to start one. A thing I remembered recently will be eligible for short fic Hugos in 2014 is the "We See a Different Frontier" anthology which I could give you access to if you want?

Oh and you should do that fan-fic thing and tell us all about it (even if it does encourage me to crack that S1 Supernatural box set).

[bookgazing]

Comment above was me.

[renay]

I am actually fine with convincing you to read things. :)))))))) Although this year I so want to get started on Hugo stuff earlier so we could maybe talk about things at least a little.

I know there are different short fiction reviewers (I follow several) but there's ultimately not a place that collects them all together that I know of. IT'S AM EMPTY NICHE. Someone, somewhere, must want to fill it...!

(JODIE DON'T TEMPT ME ABOUT SUPERNATURAL, OKAY, I WILL MAKE YOU JOIN THE ONE-EPISODE-A-WEEK REWATCH.)

[bookgazing]

I've done some Hugo reading in the back end of the year - so far Parasite, Orleans, All Our Pretty Songs and this book called Orkney (which is probably too 'is it genre or is this dude an unreliable narrator' to be your thing but is about mystical women and sea wives). And Dream Thieves of course (absolutely making my draft slate unless something awful happens btw - 150 pages left). So I will try to talk about some of those in the NY - I think it's a good idea to try and generate interest well before Hugos so people have time to engage (but also I suck at generating interest, so there's that). Also we have that Catching Fire podcast to do! I have I think five more novels I want to get to, a graphic piece and two short story collections - this seems like a lot.

[renay]

I'm so torn about nominating sequels for awards but I am totally making an exception for The Dream Thieves. LET ME ASSURE YOU NOTHING AWFUL HAPPENS. In fact, it only gets better and better until your brain explodes with the sheer perfection of it all.

Also, yes, Catching Fire podcast! We should definitely schedule that soon. :)

[jinian]

Event Horizon tops my list of Worst Movies Ever. What is it that makes you like it?

[renay]

It was pretty formative for me! It's not so much the acting (although Weir still scares their shit out of me, but I think that's just Sam Neill being himself) or the story, but some of the stuff the movie did that I just wasn't seeing elsewhere, given that at the time it came out I was still largely watching the adult films my parents were (which weren't very progressive), because they were still buying me Disney movies/cartoons and not really helping me to graduate up and figure out what I liked. Their movies were often extremely gender essentialist or racist.

The two women, Starck and Peters, were important — they were present and they had skills and knowledge useful to the mission and Miller respected them. It was also really notable for me for race reasons. Okay, Miller dies, but the film underscores his death as a heroic act. And then Cooper doesn't die — the film fakes you out — and I was surprised, because this was such a trope in the things I was seeing elsewhere (dead black dudes), that I was shocked. A black man as a hero? A black man who lives against all odds? I was shocked enough to start seeing the pattern, if that makes sense? I'm certain a rewatch now (it's been awhile) would reveal all the terrible, problematic stuff I'm missing, but even though it might have screwed up it still gave me building blocks I would've missed out on otherwise.

(And without getting too TMI, this film gave me tools to start deconstructing the faith I was raised in, which was later help me find out that I wasn't broken or stupid — I was just an atheist.)

And of course it made me start thinking about the SF tropes that were being used, etc. and led me to other, better films. But it's an important piece of my development into an SF fan and just a fan generally — I wrote so much fanfic for this film after years of only really reading fic. I am so glad those stories are lost to the internet! /o\

I won't ever claim Event Horizon is a good film (even as a kid I found some of the stuff it does dumb/hokey). But even bad films can serve good purposes. :)

[theliteraryomnivore.wordpress.com]

Lovely, thoughtful post, as always. :) I'm so glad we've started corresponding more this year. (And you're super welcome for Fangirl! The more, the merrier!)

I cannot wait for the Pacific Rim podcast. It's going to be so awesome. You've reminded me how much I love that movie. Also, Jenny is totally the actual second witness in Sleepy Hollow. I will maintain this until I am proven correct, because it's so, so obvious, right? Crane, though I love him, didn't witness a thing! Sisters out to save the world, oh yeah.

[renay]

I'm glad, too! WHY DID IT TAKE ME SO LONG. /slacker

Jodie and I spend the whole podcast squeeing, then derail into some heavy stuff, then it's back to squee, so 80% squee. We're also releasing a resource document, with all the stuff we found that we loved via the tumblr and blogs when the film first came out.

I am also convinced about Jenny, too. I'm hoping for lots of emotional shenanigans when it happens, because Ichabod was so convinced of he and Abbie's partnership! AFTER the reveal he'll have to be, "I just want to be with you on your crime fighting team please take me!" and she will and they'll emote at each other and Jenny will be like "oh my god you can come on the condition that you both just make out already, the UST is such a downer, we have an apocalypse to stop." #DREAMS #SISTERS

[theliteraryomnivore.wordpress.com]

Oh, please, I was very intimidated by you and your awesomeness. :)

Exactly! He had this epic, cosmic reason for them to be together all the time and now he's not special anymore (except for being a time traveler and Abbie's favorite person). COMMENCE FEELINGS. Oh my gosh, and then they could have conversations about how Abbie doesn't want to put him into unnecessary danger because he's not a Witness and what would Katrina think?

(I am very much about Katrina/Ichabod, although more in concept—she's a powerful witch! He's her husband she accidentally turned into a time-traveler!—than in execution. Although Abbie/Ichabod is doing VALIANTLY.)

[renay]

CAN YOU JUST WRITE ME THIS FANFIC, PLEASE?

[theliteraryomnivore.wordpress.com]

…I'll put it in that word file I have full of fic ideas. :)