We Want It! - September 25, 2015

[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 quarterly 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.

Ira

  

Books

Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer, Ursula K. Le Guin (Translator) — I haven't had much luck with books in translation, but then renay pointed out that I've only been reading translated books by men. She kindly pointed me toward this book, and it sounds right up my alley. I love books that weave together different kinds of narratives — oral histories, fairy tales, political commentaries — into one story. I really look forward to seeing if this book breaks the curse of translated works for me!

Zodiac Starforce by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau — This looks so cute and has so many girls in it! It's been awhile since I've really gotten into some good magical girl nonsense, and this looks like the very best, most girly sort of nonsense there is. For fans of Sailor Moon and Lumberjanes, it says! Count me in!

Film

The Girl King — I actually love historical films? In all their often overblown, inaccurate glory. And this is about a female leader — a queer female leader! I have resisted looking up the actual historical person to see if it all ends in tragedy, as queer cinema generally does, but nonetheless I'm excited to see it. Women! On screen! Kissing!

Games

Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser DLC — Finally, the plot-heavy DLC I've been wanting for DA:I! This looks like it really follows up on a lot of the loose threads left hanging by DA:I, and my ambivalence about some of the social issues in DA:I aside, I still really want to know what happens next!

Broken Age — I'm a huge Tim Schafer fan, and it's one of my great shames that I have yet to play this game. It has a bit of a rocky history, but the results look gorgeous, and also it co-stars a girl of colour! I just can't get over how pretty it looks!

Jodie

  

Books

The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin — The Fifth Season is patiently waiting on my bookshelves but its sequel has already been announced! Publishing seems to move so fast these days. Despite my inability to keep up I'm still pretty pumped for this book. N. K. Jemisin's work is a consistently good choice and you should all go read her stuff right now.

Empire Ascendant by Kameron Hurley — Already craving this one even though I'm going to have to go back and reread The Mirror Empire before starting it. Will I never learn that I should wait until series and duologies have finished before I start them?

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows — A new novel from one of my very favourite bloggers! Also, the third piece of epic fantasy (with what sounds like a lot of characters) that I've added to my list. This one had me at 'her fate becomes intertwined with that of three very different women'. Four ladies are mentioned within the first two sentences of this book's blurb and they're going to be interacting! You can never have enough great stories about women talking and doing things together.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin — A contemporary novel that sounds sad but beautiful.

Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan — To my shame, I still haven't read any of Sarah Rees Brennan's books but I'm also still keeping them all firmly on my very long TBR list. This is her newest release and it's got doppelgangers, an alternative New York and magic jewellery (just what is it about magic rings that makes them so irresistible?).

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman — Pirate romance! Although this doesn't sound like my ideal pirate story (I like 'em with teams of lady pirates) I really can't resist any kind of pirate story. And the cover is both quirky and dark as it features a deadly looking pirate ship in a bottle.

Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart — 'From the New York Times best-selling author of The Drunken Botanist comes an enthralling novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs.' Friends, I feel like I just got mugged by feminist emotions. God, imagine how many stories like this the publishing world could be producing if they cannibalised all that space and energy Franzen is currently taking up.

Come Hell or Highball by Maia Chance — I found this while drooling over Girl Waits With Gun. It sounds like a really fun 1920s caper featuring a ton of women (including a hard drinking woman set free by her adulterous husband's death).

The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennett by Kate Rorick and Rachel Kiley — Did everyone else know there's a Lydia Bennett spin off novel that follows on from the events in The Lizzie Bennett Diaries? Lydia was my fav character from that show — partly because she's played by the incomparable Mary Kate Wiles and partly because I felt like the web series imparted so much depth to her character (although the finale of her story still sucks so hard). I can't wait to see what happens to her when she heads to college.

Film

The Intern — THIS MOVIE LOOKS SO GREAT! Robert De Niro is a retired man who goes back to work as an intern and supports Anne Hathaway, his much younger career driven boss!!! At no point do they date!!! This should not be such a revolutionary set up but it is and so I am MAJORLY excited about it.

I Saw the Light — Tom Hiddleston singing. As someone who has watched the Jaguar adverts a zillion times simply because of Tom Hiddleston I care not a whit if everything else about this movie is terrible.

Legend — I said on Twitter that me following Tom Hardy's career is like an elaborate modern art project. I could not be more uncomfortable watching visual media about violent masculinity and the ways it is undermined by even more violent masculinity, yet I am very committed to following Hardy's career quest to investigate the kind of masculinity that scares him. Also it looks like someone paid attention to stylising the look of Legend, and I love films which surprise you by having a deliberately defined visual style.

Descendants — Sadly, I have yet to find a way to watch Disney shows in the UK without paying for The Disney Channel (same with Sky Atlantic) but I live in hope. I feel like Clare mentioned this film about the kids of Disney villains a long time ago but it's taken a while to land in the UK. Looks pretty fun. It would be great if I could somehow watch it >.>

Television

Show Me A Hero — Sky Atlantic is currently monopolising this show so again I'll just have to weep and wait. It sounds like a fascinating take on a subject that could easily be lost in the cracks of history. Also, it stars Oscar Isaac. I watched the whole of the very, very terrible Inside Llewyn Davis just to see his face and listen to his voice — I'm kind of committed to his career.

Secrets and Lies — Maybe I want to watch Secrets and Lies? I feel like I need advice on this one. On the one hand Ryan Phillipe. And then there's Juliette Lewis as a hard ass, potentially villainous cop. At the same time, it's been picked up by Channel 5 here (and not even the main channel, one of its spin off channels) which never bodes well for quality.

March Family Letters — I'm way behind on web series (still need to watch Carmilla for one) but adding this adaptation of Little Women to my expanding list. It looks like this show might do something with one of the biggest (most awful) events in the book which would make me very happy.

Orphan Black (Series 3) — The third series of Orphan Black finally arrives on UK shores this weekend. I have missed it so much (although Tumblr has tried to thrust spoilers in my face pretty hard). Excited to see Maslany is going to play some new clones and determinedly optimistic to see what the show is going to do with the new male clones.

Renay

  

Books

Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith — I remember when this book came out and a lot of people loved it. For some reason it hit my radar but bounced off. Then recently, Kristen reviewed the second book and it reminded me, "Oh yeah, I wanted to read the first book!" And I do, because it sounds right up my female friendship alley. :D Benefits: second book already out! Third book coming out soon! Aw yeah. :D

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard — Yet another book that caught my eye because the blurb immediately focuses on the relationship between the two girls and then mentions the boy. I'm hit or miss with books about witches but this looks pretty great.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins — Well, this just sounds weird, but I spotted this on the shelf at the bookstore and it jumped out at me (the cover is really arresting in person). This came out in June, and apparently I missed that a bunch of people who I take recs from really liked it??? But I don't even remember anyone talking about this. Mystery!

Film

The Martian — I have not read The Martian by Andy Weir because I just could not get past the first person narrator. I was so embarrassed; I can't even explain it. Maybe it's the voyeurism??? This feels like one of those books that's going to work way better as an audiobook for me because it reads like really terrible oral storytelling sounds so I bet out loud I'd be able to get into it. Anyway, that said, I love space movies! This space movie benefits from featuring Sebastian Stan in a really small role. Yes, I will go into space with Matt Damon again for the chance to see three seconds of Sebastian Stan.

Television

Agents of SHIELD - Season 3 — Lucky for me I mainlined most of Season 1 which made it a little less boring. I liked Season 2 all right, but couldn't figure out how I felt about the politics of it all. I am definitely on Captain "BURN IT DOWN" America's side when it comes to SHIELD as an entity. Then they made an infuriating midseason decision and when I went back I was pretty sure it was going to be my last hurrah unless they pulled off something amazing. For me they did, because I was seriously invested in Skye and Jiaying's relationship as soon as it became clear Skye might be on her own. I liked the alternate SHIELD more (although I don't like the dichotomy they introduced it under). So now I'm really looking forward to more of Skye's story now that we know what's going on. Unlike huge chunks of the world, I love Skye and the fact that Agents of SHIELD is basically her origin story. :D

Susan

  

Books

Skip Beat! Volume 11 (3-in-1 Edition) by Yoshiki Nakamura — I'm not sure what I'm expecting from this volume — I've been uncomfortable with the way characters in the series are going "Throw the seventeen-year-old girl at the man in his twenties! It will definitely solve all of their issues!" for a while and the latest volumes haven't helped with that. But on the other hand, I think this story arc is the first one where Kyoko and Ren are actually acting opposite each other, and I really want to see how that shakes out! I'm sure everything will be fine and Ren will not accidentally beat up one of his co-stars!

Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson — "So it's like Calvin and Hobbes," Twitter told me. "Only instead of a boy and his tiger, it's a girl and her unicorn." SOLD.

Small Town Witch by Alex "Muun" Singer and Jayd "Chira" Ait-Kaci — I have been waiting for this book since the initial sketches showed up online in 2012. It was advertised a deconstruction of detective noir and the femme fatale tropes with additional prohibition-era magic, and I am so excited. I love detective noir, but I love things that take it apart more, especially if they put it back together with a focus on female characters. The artist has been tweeting previews of the updated art, and it looks so amazing!

The Princess and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang — a 19th century prince who enjoys wearing dresses and falls in love with their dressmaker! And art that looks like it had a few nods to Studio Ghibli! 2017 feels very far away now that I know this is waiting for me.

Library Wars: Love and War volume 14 by Kiiro Yumi — I'm pretty sure that this is the penultimate volume of this series, and I am not ready. On the plus side, it looks like one of my long-standing complaints might finally be resolved this volume! I've complained before that it feels unfair that every volume involves Dojo rescuing Kasahara (physically or emotionally) without her being able to return the favour, and from the blurb it looks like this is going to change! (This comes with the disclaimer of "I'm okay with people needing to be rescued, but the way this manga handles it is quite heavy-handed, so I'd like to see the reversal.")

Games

Crypt of the Necrodancer — It's a rhythm-based dungeon crawler! I am going to be absolutely terrible at this, but one of my friends recommended it on the grounds of "dungeon crawling to Nikki Minaj just like you always dreamed" and that is a pretty convincing argument. Although the trailer music is really good, so we'll have to see.

Fox Tales — My spousal unit and I finished Never Alone/Kisima Inŋitchuŋa last week and really enjoyed it, so I was really happy when I realised that there was DLC out now, so we can fail together while enjoying new stories!

Horizon Zero Dawn — I finally got around to watching the E3 trailer of this (I know, I know), and it looks like a lot of fun! It looks kinda like a slightly more coherent version of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West; the same bright colour palette and reclaimed-by-nature post-apocalyptic world setting, only the animals-fused-with-machinery-in-cool-ways are now MECHANICAL DINOSAURS. I am definitely here for colourful exploration games with mechanical dinosaurs.