We Want It! - April 2016

[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.

Our April iteration of We Want It! is running a little late, but has finally arrived! \o/ Onward to the cool media we're looking forward to. :D

Clare

Books

Feeding Hannibal: A Connoisseur’s Cookbook by Janice Poon — The dearly departed Hannibal employed food stylist Janice Poon for Dr. Lecter’s stunning and macabre dishes, and Poon wrote about her work on her eponymous blog. Fans have been asking for a book containing both her recipes and her styling choices (every dish comments on its narrative context! She’s a genius!) for years, and now, here it is. Or will be, come October, which is probably the best time to release a cannibal-themed cookbook.

Renay

Books

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi — This book recently came out. I knew of it but now it's starting to get some buzz. But I can be real about why I want to read it for sure now. I took a list of books to my local library and said, "Hey, I am real interested in this book in particular!" My YA librarian replied, "These authors just don't do well here because of racist parents." with a resigned sigh, and an apology for not being able to order it since it wasn't going to move.

"These authors" = authors with names like Roshani Chokshi's, i.e. people who may not be white. This isn't my YA librarian's fault, because she can't force people to pick up the book and check it out and read it. But on the other hand, isn't there something she can do to promote marginalized writers to kids who might be hearing the racist rhetoric at home that drives them away from these stories? I'm not a YA librarian so I have no clue but I just don't know what to do with the nature of her resignation and refusal to try to order it. But it's her collection, I guess.

Anyway, I went over her and submitted the book through the request system and the library ordered it...or maybe she had a change of heart. Who knows. Everyone says the writing is lovely and I've gotten one personal rec from a trusted fellow reader so I'm extra excited now. But I will be glad to move to a place with a more robust library system with fewer racist patrons.

Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1 by Kate Leth & Brittney Williams — I discovered this comic too late and filled up all my pull list slots, so I'm stoked to see a trade. Every time I see panels from it, it looks super cute and funny and the character is new to me so I'm excited!

Gena/Finn by Hannah Moskowitz & Kat Helgeson — I loved Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and was super hopeful that the success of that book would result in more fannish narratives and stories that delved deeper and into different parts of fan culture! I was so excited to see this (I think I caught it via ajaromano) and it's a cute online romance featuring fandom. I'M IN.

Runtime by S.B. Divya — CYBORGS. Also, there's a race, featuring CYBORGS, and a woman attempting to make life better for her family! I was sold when the blurb was like "cyborg's Tour de France". Heck yeah!

Film

Independence Day: Resurgence — Yes, it is I, the Nostalgia Kid who is actively excited for the film even though it lacks the critical mixture of Will Smith + Jeff Goldblum (I understand, Will Smith, but I am still sad). I know nothing about the plot or the characters due to the missing critical mix. I am literally going to see explosions. All this film has to do is not treat its women like garbage and I will be happy as long as there are tons of explosions. Transformers failed, and kept failing, so come on, Roland Emmerich! I believe in you! GIVE ME THE EXPLOSION FILLED ADVENTURE I DESIRE.

Susan

Books

Gangsta:Cursed by Kohske and Syuhei Kamo — I'm not saying that I'm a fan of Gangsta, I'm just saying that I'm on my fourth reread of the series (Volume seven comes out on August 11th, I am so hyped), so a prequel series about a character's much-hinted murder-filled backstory? I am there. I'm a bit worried that it doesn't appear to be written by the original creator, but I am still excited?

Mystery Girl Volume One by Paul Tobin, Alberto J. Albuquerque and Marissa Louise — I quite enjoyed Mystery Girl when I was reading the issues, so I'm very excited to get a collected volume. It's going to be great to read it all together, because it will be so neat to see Trine set wheels in motion and watch it all come together in one sitting!

Games

Aviary Attorney — While I'm sure that this isn't actually a Hatoful Boyfriend/Phoenix Wright crossover regency AU, I am intrigued by a game about birds solving crime in nineteenth century France! Even if I am assured by friends that it's full of utterly vile puns.

(Also, check out that art style - it's similar to the art style of books from the period, to my EXTREMELY un-expert eye? And that's pretty neat!)

Comments

The Star-Touched Queen

[(Anonymous)]

I actually went to the launch party for The Star-Touched Queen! I was planning on buying a copy, but it sold out before I could get one (I got Archivist Wasp instead). It was too bad because hearing Chokshi talk about it really made me want to read it.

Also WTF is wrong with that library?? Or is it just the librarian? That's the worst librarian story I've heard.

Re: The Star-Touched Queen

[renay]

Archivist Wasp is great if you like ghosts/underworld stories. :D

My library is located in the rural South would be my first answer. The second would be "it's complicated". I have had a lot of fundamental disagreements with my YA librarian over lots of things: race, representation, sexism, etc. During that same visit she also threw shade at On the Edge of Gone for throwing in too much diversity/representation and made out like she wasn't going to order the book. It made me really uncomfortable, because straight white lady, you are the last person who needs to talk about "too much diversity". Holy cow.

The last big blowup we had was over Andrew Smith, because she had met him and he was "nice" so of course it was mean feminists blowing things out of proportion rather than him deepthroating his foot. That lack of critical capacity is something she has shown to me in her comments over and over and over when it comes to marginalized authors. She doesn't understand the nuances of wider conversations about representation (especially race) and so I take my chances when asking her to order books and if she refuses send them through the main library system where the person who does ordering can make their own assessment. Whoever that person is has been great about ordering books from POC for me that would be otherwise out of my budget. I kind of want to bake them cookies.