Entries tagged with topic: science fiction

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Star Trek: Discovery - The Vulcan Hello

Last year, at San Diego Comic Con, Star Trek fans watched 1:45 minutes of slow-mo spacecraft action, and it became clear Star Trek: Discovery was going to be emotional. Then, in May, Sonequa Martin-Green and Michelle Yeoh walked across a sand dune together, and it became clear that Star Trek: Discovery was going to be EMOTIONAL. Major new mainstream sci-fi where two chromatic women talk to each other? Major new mainstream sci-fi where two chromatic women are engaged in a mentor/mentee relationship? This is most definitely the future liberals want.

( Minor spoilers follow )

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The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

White, yellow and red book cover of Kameron Hurley's The Geek Feminist Revolution featuring an illustration of a llama

It's the start of July. I am trying to review Kameron Hurley's essay collection, The Geek Feminist Revolution. In my wisdom, I have decided an analysis of her essay, "I'll Make The Pancakes: On Opting In And Out of the Writing Game", would make a great entry point for my review. I reread it to remind myself of the piece's fundamental points:

The more women writers I read, from Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler to Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Toni Morrison, the less alone I felt, and the more I began to see myself as part of something more.

It wasn't about one woman toiling against the universe. It was about all of us moving together, crying out into some black, inhospitable place that we would not be quiet, we would not go silently, we would not stop speaking, we would not give in.

It's hard to see the keyboard when you're trying not to cry.

( Read more... )

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Space Opera: An "Essential" List

I'm very transparent in my love for (often bad) space, space adventures, spaceships, alien planets, exploration, and the very close teams that inhabit those types of stories. It's why I loved Stargate and all associated spin-offs (yes, I really liked SGU even though at times it was atrocious). It's why The Fifth Element, Starship Troopers, Lost in Space (blarp!) and the Dune miniseries (the new one) were touchstones of my young adulthood. It's why I was so happy to embrace Star Trek (2009) even with its horrible gender politics, and Firefly, which had problems but was full of so much heart. But my experiences here don't translate to literature because I often didn't have access to it. My access is still spotty, but hey, a lady can dream. So I was excited to see Crowdsourcing The Essentials: Space Opera over at Terrible Minds, because, yes, recommendations. I love recommendations.

So, using the comments of the aforementioned post, I compiled a list, which I love almost as much as recommendations.

I make no claims about titles fitting the spirit of the question; I just compiled what people mentioned using Goodreads as a resource. I tended toward listing series where available.

( List of Essential Space Opera )

I'm curious about the date ranges of these novels. I know they span at the least from the 1950s up to the early 2000s, and if I had more time I would actually research and graph the range of when these books were published, because as we go ever onward into the future I feel like we're going to see a shift toward honoring newer books in user-driven rec drops like this. That there are books on here say, published in 2004 — it makes me wonder how we define "essential". What's essential is going to differ from person to person, especially depending on their age.

And I just wouldn't be me if I didn't point out that this list is awfully dude-heavy, and I'm hoping by sharing it, I can pull in some additional recommendations of women, non-white authors, or authors of space opera fiction in translation that's good. Share'em if you've got them. :D

(However, please do not promote your own books here. That makes me extremely uncomfortable.)

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Hugo Thoughts and Friendly Fan Space

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... )

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Women in SF&F Month, Featuring Baby Genre Fan Feels

Today I am over at Fantasy Cafe, taking part in Kristen's Women in SF&F Month. Seriously, look at this line up:

April 1: Renay from Lady Business
April 2: Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel’s Legacy; The Sundering; Santa Olivia)
April 3: Karin Lowachee (Warchild; Burndive; Cagebird; The Gaslight Dogs)
April 4: Sherwood Smith (Crown Duel; A Stranger to Command; Inda)
April 5: Ana and Thea from The Book Smugglers
April 6: Lane Robins, aka Lyn Benedict (Maledicte; Shadows Inquiries)

My post is here and includes LIST MAKING, featuring: LADIES. I know I love a good list and I'm not alone, so you can just skip the tl;dr and feels if you want, scroll to the bottom and click the link for recommending ten of your favorite SF/F books by ladies. :D (I also wouldn't scoff at a signal boost, let's say. If by "wouldn't scoff" we mean "jump for joy", that is.)

(Seriously, list making. Why so addicting?)

eta: if you are the tumbling sort, the post is also here ♥

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SOMETHING NEW

Over at Torque Control Nic (of the ever joyous Eve’s Alexandria) has a post about feminism in Gwyneth Jones sci-fi novel ‘Life’. The quote below gets all my cogs spinning:

‘I don’t want to be liberated, I want to be a monster. He didn’t get it. No one ever got it, and Ramone could have straightened them out by saying nobody is born a woman and that what she hated was the way she COULD NOT ESCAPE from the role of second-class person. No woman could, the only escape was to become SOMETHING NEW that had never existed before.’

and I was hoping we could talk around the ideas in this quote a little bit (come on, it’ll be more fun than it sounds *puppy dog eyes*).

First I wonder, how could (edit: cis-gender women) become ‘SOMETHING NEW’, in the middle of a pre-existing world full of pre-conceptions about gender and behaviour?

Then, I’d love to know if you think this new state of existence is even what feminists should be aiming for. Are some current feminist goals (achieving respect for things that are traditionally female and respect for women who don’t want to be traditionally female) more important? Is it important to work towards both traditional feminism and the ‘new paradigm’ that Nic mentions in her review?

And do you think the idea of existing, without being being examined as a product of gender at all (in a negative, or positive way) is desirable for (edit:cis-gender) women?

Chuck your words at me if you’re interested.

Edit: Please note that I am specifically asking these questions about cis-gender women, because I don't have the knowledge to ask how this quote might apply to trans-gender women.