Author: Stitch

Stitch writes about what needs to be written.

Stitch Does Stuff in October

Stitch

Stitch does stuff in October

September was another notably busy month, but I got a huge chunk of work done and a majority of what I wanted to write in September done and posted. Here’s hoping October will be as successful as I try to find a balance between my critical writing and just… having fun and sharing my favorite pieces of media with y’all.

It’s also my birthmonth so I’m trying to return to my tradition of giving gifts to y’all in the form of writing and a wee giveaway (but I won’t say no to gifts anyone wants to buy me off of my book wishlist!)

Now, on to what’s on the menu for October:

My Website

Stitch Reads Stuff – October TBR List

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer Book Reviews

  • Taste of Wrath (Sin du Jour #7) – Matt Wallace (Plus an audio send-off for my favorite series.)
  • Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) – Rebecca Roanhoarse
  • Borderline (The Arcadia Project #1) – Mishell Baker

Fleeting Frustrations #2 – Miss Me With Non-Intersectional Fandom Analysis

Regular Reviews

  • Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Rafe
  • Talia Hibbert’s Untouchable
  • Craig Schaefer’s The Neon Boulevard
  • (More to be added as I read more things)

Gratuitous Birthday Story

Gratuitous Birthday Giveaway

Urban Fantasy 101: A Quick Guide to Dastardly Demons

Patreon

Audience Participation: Choose Your Own Essay

Patrons at the $5 and $10 Tier get a week to choose an article they’d like to read from a list of three different options. The next week, it goes live for them. By the end of the month, all Patrons will have access to it! There’ll also be a 2-month delay between when my Patrons get it and when it goes up here. (More details will be posted on the Audience Participation intro post!)

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Rumors of a racebent Superman? Yes, please!

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I’ve been sitting on my thoughts about the future of Superman’s presence in the DCEU for a while, but I’m done being introspective so it’s time for me to talk about these rumors.

Rumors that Henry Cavill might be exiting the DCEU have been swirling around for a while (and none of us nerds are quite sure what’s actually happening), but what’s new and interesting are rumors floating around that Michael B. Jordan’s star is shining so brightly that he’s actually a possible top contender for the role when they eventually return to a Superman-focused franchise.

Henry Cavill So Beautiful

I love Henry Cavill like I love naps – endlessly, deeply, and can I have some more – and while I’ll actually miss him as Superman because I genuinely liked Man of Steel and Justice League, I’m so cool with the cape going to a performer of color the next time they reboot the franchise.Read More »

[Review] Brooklyn Ray’s Undertow (Port Lewis Witches #2)

Stitch

Note: This review contains spoilers for the first book in Brooklyn Ray’s Port Lewis Witches series.

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Things get extra tense in Undertow, the second novella in Brooklyn Ray’s Port Lewis witches series.

Now, I seriously enjoyed my introduction to Ray’s writing in Darkling and thought it was a fantastic read, but Undertow is even better.

For one thing, Undertow introduces us to some more of the mysteries present in Port Lewis’s witch community – including a conflict between demons that shapes their lives.

Undertow is set shortly after Darkling, the novella that introduced us to necromancer Ryder Lewellyn and his friend-turned-boyfriend, Liam Montgomery, a witch whose magical affinity tends towards water. Liam is the focus of this novella and I think he’s an incredibly solid protagonist, fleshed out even more than he was in the previous novella.Read More »

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Only 33 Words in a Trailer

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Yesterday, the Captain Marvel teaser trailer broke the internet.

Today, I saw a tweet about said trailer from Shakesville.com’s Melissa McEwan from the night before that reminded me that when it comes to feminism and fandom, people of color are always stepped over on the path to (white) female empowerment.

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“In the first Captain Marvel trailer, Samuel L. Jackson’s character has 67 words. Brie Larson’s character, i.e. Captain Marvel, has 33.

Come on, Marvel.”

McEwan’s tweet didn’t just inspire me to write a whole tweet thread about White Feminism ™ in fandom.

It reminded me of a bunch of different brushes I’ve had with White Feminism ™ in fandom – from Maggie Stiefvater’s beef with the The Force Awakens fandom apparently focusing more on Finn and Poe than Rey, to Anne Theriault’s desire to keep Uhura “Strong and Single” in the Star Trek reboot films, and the Star Wars “Dude Free” edit of The Last Jedi that not only cut out Finn and Poe but… all of the Tico sisters’ screen time in the name of feminist satire.

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[Review] Deadline (Harrietta Lee #1) – Stephanie Ahn

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Deadline Cover

Stephanie Ahn’s debut novel is, frankly, one of the finest urban fantasy books that I’ve read this year.

Deadline is such a super rereadable book thanks to Harrietta Lee, our main character who happens to be flawed and fun, and Ahn’s incredible worldbuilding. From the first line in the book, one that sees Harry noticing a demon that’s busy checking her out, I was hooked. Harry is a witch who doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in New York’s magical community and, as a result, has been forced to take assorted odd jobs as a magical private investigator because she doesn’t have the connections she once had.Read More »

[Review] Soulless (Awakening of the Spirit #3) by Montiese McKenzie

Stitch

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I received an advanced copy of this book from the author. All of the opinions in this review are my own and entirely honest. There are no significant spoilers beyond what’s in the “Content Notes/Warning” section directly below the review.

Soulless Cover

Soulless, the third novel in Montiese McKenzie’s Awakening of the Spirit series, is an urban fantasy crime drama with expansive cast of interconnected characters, a thrilling main plot, and a frightening villain called the Darkness looming over the protagonists’ lives and manipulating the world around them.

Honestly, it kind of has a little bit of everything thanks to the book’s focus on found families, immediately aww-worthy relationships, intense action scenes, and McKenzie’s vivid writing style.Read More »

[Stitch Likes Stuff] Shipping, Fandom Racism, and Reylo

Stitch

I came across this video thanks to one of my old mutuals on tumblr and I think it’s a pretty great overview of the way that shipping trends and fandom racism are often one in the same.

The video’s narrator, Moth, starts with a “Shipping 101” introduction for the uninitiated and then jumps right in. They focus on a couple of specific areas that I feel are important to take into consideration in fandom/as a fan:

  • The popularity of “unhealthy” non-canon ships with two white characters over “healthy” canon ships with one character of color being shipped with a white character (Moth uses “unhealthy” to refer to ships involving minors in sexual/romantic relationships with adults, incest, one character being a noted abuser in canon, that sort of thing.)
  • The excuses fans in fandom give for why they’re not racist for being almost solely invested in ships between white characters — especially white villains and the white characters fighting against them.
  • And the Star Wars’ fandom’s Rey/Kylo shippers and several of the racist excuses that some of the fans of the ship use to explain why they can’t find Finn a “worthy” partner for Rey (but insist on shipping her with someone who she calls a monster and can’t stand).

Obviously, this sort of video hits a lot of my buttons because these are things I talk about on my website. I think it’s a really insightful video that clearly lays out what fandom does, what characters are impacted the most, and why it’s a set of trends that is racist. Much of the video focuses primarily on the Star Wars fandom, but as I think that’s one of the most racist fandoms active right now… Obviously, I think that’s a great thing to zero in on.

So please, go to Moth’s video and let them know how much you appreciate their work and upvote the video (because folks that talk about race and racism in media or fandom definitely get the short end of the stick and tons of abuse from assholes who don’t seem to get that they’re just… proving that fandom is racist).

Today In “Things I Knew I Never Needed”: HP Lovecraft in an Anime

Stitch

I was minding my business, looking at Funimation’s website to find out what upcoming anime series I can watch a single episode of and then never finish when I clicked on their link for folks to “Meet The New Faces Of Bungo Stray Dogs, Season 2” and saw none other than …

Howard Philips “So Racist I Named My Cat A Racial Slur and So Bad At Writing That I Only Achieved Serious Fame Posthumously and Had To Eat Beans” Lovecraft.

He — or a character representing him in some wildly inaccurate capacity in the context of this weird show I only watched two episodes of — is a new face in Bungo Stray Dogs’ second season and I am AMUSED.

Homeboy’s out here looking like a rather cadaverous bishonen.

I hate Lovecraft like I’ve hated few others (and one day will travel back in time to beat his pasty ass) but… I almost want to watch this series to see how ridiculous this is going to be.

If you want to see Lovecraft as a zombie bishonen (basically). check under the cut!Read More »

Sacrifice, Heroics, and Dead Characters of Color

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This post contains spoilers for Orange is the New Black season 4, Wynonna Earp season 3, Elementary season 6, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5, and a bunch of other stuff that’s been off the air or out of theaters for years.

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I knew I was never going to watch Sleepy Hollow again when Nicole Beharie’s Abbie Mills sacrificed herself in a heroic death for Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane at the end of the series’ third season.

When I saw spoilers that Orange is the New Black’s Poussey was killed off in a tasteless and traumatizing scene that called back to Eric Garner’s murder by a police officer four years ago – and the folks in fandom defending it as something that “had” to happen – I immediately took the show out of my Netflix queue.

And, every time a person of color dies so the Winchester brothers can live, I wonder why I even kept the show around as an afternoon marathon session.

Heck, not only did I think I’d have to say some pretty sharp words to Rian Johnson during the climax of The Last Jedi where he had Finn set up to kill himself in order to (possibly) save the dregs of the resistance, but to this day I block everyone I see on social media that wishes for Finn’s death by redemption arc – or suggest that his death would have somehow “saved” his character from being boring.

And now, Wynonna Earp has followed in the footsteps of these shows by killing off the main Black character Xavier Dolls (played by Shamier Anderson) in the third season’s second episode (“When You Call My Name”) and the fandom and crew alike don’t seem to get why that’s such a big problem.Read More »

Stitch Does Stuff in September

Stitch

 

Stitch does stuff in September (1)

So we’re eleven days into September and I’ve had one heck of a busy month already!

If you missed it, I attended BookNet Fest 2018 this past weekend and had a BLAST. I also didn’t get much work done because I am…mediocre at multitasking. So, once again I’m playing catch-up and blowing past deadlines while screaming.

Here’s what’s going to be (hopefully) up on my website and Patreon this coming month!

Website

“Sacrifice, Heroics, and Dead Characters of Color” – September 14th

“Dear Comic Fans, It’s Been Four Years And Y’all Are Still So Darn Angry About Brown Folks In Your Nerdy Media IN GENERAL” – End of September

#IKnowWhatIReadLastSummer Reviews for:

  • Deadline (Harietta Lee #1) – Stephanie Ahn
  • Borderline (The Arcadia Project #1) – Mishell Baker
  • Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) – Rebecca Roanhoarse
  • Shadow’s Bane (Dorina Basarab #4 – Karen Chance

Review for Soulless (Awakening of the Spirit #3) – Montiese McKenzie

Review for Undertow (Port Lewis Witches #2) – Brooklyn Ray

Fleeting Frustrations #2 – Miss Me With Non-Intersectional Fandom Analysis

Patreon

[Finished Draft] Queer-Coding, Bad-Bat-Takes, And Why The Joker Isn’t That Important to Batman – $3 Tier

Snippets and reading list for Urban Fantasy 101: Vampire Supremacy – $1 Tier

The next installment in The Great Big Anita Blake Reread – $3 Tier

Test snippets at the $1 Tier for:

  • What Fandom Racism Looks Like – Beige Blank Slates
  • Little Wolf, Big Red (Fiction)
  • Urban Fantasy 101 – White Saviors
  • Evil in My Heart: Thrawn (a new mini-article series analyzing the villains I love, because yes… I’ve been listening to that one Thrawn audiobook for a month straight and he’s one of a ton of villains who deserve some of my intense interest)

A Spooky Surprise (with Demons!)- $3 or $5 Tier

(Possibly) Writing Files: Demons – $5 Tier

I know It looks like a lot, but I am determined to get this all done and posted! Wish me luck and feel free to subscribe to my Patreon!

Urban Fantasy 101: A Few of My Favorite Fang-Havers

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I know I’m about to get my critical little claws all over vampires in the urban fantasy genre once more with my upcoming piece on vampire supremacy in the genre, but before I do, I want to shout out some of my favorite vampires in fiction. While shapeshifters are my main weakness when it comes to supernatural beings, vampires have always been… neat.

So, here are five of my favorite vampires in no particular order.

Marcel Gerard (The Originals)

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Backstory: First introduced on The Vampire Diaries in a backdoor pilot for The Originals, Marcel starts off the series as the ruling vampire in New Orleans. Born to the governor of Louisiana, a slaveowner, and one of the women he enslaved before being turned by Klaus Mikaelson (a werewolf, vampire hybrid with less morals than common sense), Marcel has spent much of his life and unlife trying to get respect and recognition. He’s got power now, but he’s constantly undermined at every turn and the respect he’s spent decades trying to get… is pretty fleeting.

Why I Love Them: In many ways, Marcel is a fantastic successor to many of our older literary vampires that literally shaped how so many of us view vampires. He is romantic, but tragic. Cruel, but with a deep kindness in him. He has so much going on because he’s a Black vampire in a world of largely white ones. Where he’s on the top of the heap in so many ways, but then there’s the Mikkaelsons to remind him that he’s “just” a former slave and not on their level in anyway. He’s one of the few characters in The Vampire Diaries franchise that I want to see survive and thrive. He’s a bit of a douchebag but… he’s my douchebag.

Alas, The Originals needs a writer’s room more diverse than a bag of marshmallows because I still don’t think he’s ever received the storylines that he deserves when compared to the other vampires in the franchise.Read More »

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: White Prioritization

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I think my pal Holly over at DiverseHighFantasy was one of (if not the) first people to use “white prioritization” in a fannish context in a piece on The Walking Dead fandom and the Rick/Michonne ship. So I’d like to open my piece by shouting out to hers.

As I’ve researched, I’ve found a really great starting point for talking about “white prioritization” in Sincere Kirabo’s definition of “white-centeredness” in this piece entitled “On White Supremacy And The Nature Of Norms”:

White-centeredness is a deeply-rooted aspect of U.S. culture. White-centeredness denotes the centrality of white representation that permeates every facet of our dominant culture. It upholds as “normal” and “expected” the ubiquity of language, ideas, prejudices, preferences, values, social mores, and worldviews established by the white perspective.

Like white-centeredness, “white prioritization” is all about focusing on white people alone. It’s a term that refers to the way that people constantly centers whiteness (white men and women primarily) and how that centering comes almost exclusively at the expense of people of color. It’s all about focusing on white experiences and making sure that everything is about white people – even the experiences of people of color.
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Urban Fantasy 101: Vamping Out

Stitch

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Vampires, in a Nutshell

If you’re familiar with my Urban Fantasy 101 series, you probably know that I’ve written about the way the genre thinks and writes about vampires on the regular. I’ve shot down the idea that there’s some kind of universal vampire-ness, that every culture that has a bloodsucker in its mythologies, has a vampire. I’ve talked about how difficult it is to empathize with vampires that used to (or still do) own people.

But let’s briefly talk about vampires as a whole.Read More »

Fleeting Frustrations #1: Heteronormativity in Urban Fantasy Revisited

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Content warnings for cis- and hetero- centric worldbuilding.

Back in June 2016, I wrote a whole Urban Fantasy 101 piece on the heteronormativity present in much of the genre (and I am including contemporary paranormal romance in this wide umbrella). While I know way more queer urban fantasy writers – and stories – than I did back then, one thing that still stands out to me is the way that so many of the big ticket urban fantasy writers still don’t bother to include any meaningful forms of queer representation in their massive series.Read More »