It’s almost midnight so… This will be short.
My roommates in the dorm are super sweet young women who have been nothing but generous and kind since we all moved in back in August.
They are awesome and without roommates as amazing as they are, I doubt my dorm life would be anywhere near as amazing as it has been!
Title: All About Mia
Author: Lisa Williamson (Twitter)
Rating: Recommended
Genre: Contemporary, Black heroine, Diverse, Coming of Age, Young Adult,
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Buy Links: AMAZON | BARNES AND NOBLE
Note: Please message me if you require trigger/content warnings for this novel beyond the alcohol abuse I reference in my review.
One family, three sisters.
GRACE, the oldest: straight-A student.
AUDREY, the youngest: future Olympic swimming champion.
And MIA, the mess in the middle.
Mia is wild and daring, great with hair and selfies, and the undisputed leader of her friends – not attributes appreciated by her parents or teachers.
When Grace makes a shock announcement, Mia hopes that her now-not-so-perfect sister will get into the trouble she deserves.
But instead, it is Mia whose life spirals out of control – boozing, boys and bad behaviour – and she starts to realise that her attempts to make it All About Mia might put at risk the very things she loves the most.
A good summary for All About Mia is:
LOCAL MIDDLE CHILD HURTS HERSELF AND OTHERS ON HER WAY TO FIGURING OUT HER PLACE IN THE WORLD.
I mean… at least I think so at least.
I’ve got complicated (but mostly positive) feelings about Lisa Williamson’s All About Mia.
Caught between her “perfect” older sister Grace and her “primed for the Olympics” baby sister Audrey, Mia doesn’t feel as if she has anything that’s truly her own. Her sisters get what appears to be the focus of their parents’ positive attention and Mia, a chill teenager who likes to party a bit too intensely, gets yelled at… a lot and feels super overlooked by everyone in her family unless she messes up. She feels super overlooked in favor of her sisters and that… kind of leads to acting out in the form of drinking and staying out with her friends.Read More »
I’m smushing the 5th and 6th together so I don’t mess up my blogging goals for December too badly.
2017 was a really good year for me book wise.
As in I bought a lot of books.
I’m really good at sales. I mean, if there’s a book I want on sale, chances are that I’ll find it. Couple that with our on-campus Barnes and Noble and the fact that I’ve made bargain bin diving a hobby and well… I’ve bought a bunch of books.
2017 was also the year that I started seriously preordering books in order to support my favorite writers. I have minor memory issues so if you don’t remind me repeatedly to do something, I straight up won’t do it. I’ll think about it every once in a while, very fondly even, but my brain needs active reminders or… in the case of book pre-orders, it needs choice taken out of my hands.Read More »
I flew to San Diego in April for PCA/ACA, a national conference for well… pop culture (and American culture apparently). I’m going to do another “Stitch’s Stuff” post on the conference itself, but this one’s about San Diego.
Prior to April of this year, the farthest away I’d been from my home in South Florida was New York. When I was eleven or twelve, my parents and I took a Greyhound bus all the way from Miami up to visit my family in the Bronx. It’s almost 1300 miles.
This year, I flew almost twice that distance to get to San Diego with my darling friend Katelynn at my side.Read More »
Fandom is nothing if not predictable.
I know I’m late, but I just saw the casting announcements for the upcoming Netflix/BBC series Troy: Fall of a City. One thing that immediately stood out to me was the way that the casting immediately flipped the script when it came to Achilles and Patroclus, casting two dark skinned Black actors in the roles.
I was (am still) excited by the choice to cast David Gyasi as Achilles and Lemogang Tsipa as Patroclus because it’s an inspired casting choice. Nothing about this story of gods and messy humans has whiteness inherent to the casting and I think it’s time that we got some dark-skinned people in these period pieces who weren’t slaves…
However, I know fandom.
I’m in fandom.
I know what the response will be from people who make a point of claiming objectivity and fighting against “blackwashing” with no sense of self-awareness even as they plaster #BlackLivesMatter and don a cloak of perfect progressivism. I can predict fandom racism and the forms it will take without even trying (and definitely without wanting to) because it’s a repeating pattern that fandom can’t let go of.Read More »
I think I finished the first Tokyo Ghoul series at the beginning of the year.
I still haven’t shut up about it.
The series is one of my major special interests and, it’s a series that I haven’t let go of even though I’ve technically stopped reading the manga. (The sequel series, while it contains interesting aspects of worldbuilding and develops some of my favorite characters very well, has problems I’m currently unwilling to engage with so I’ve dropped the series for now.)Read More »
Can I count Coco for December 2nd?
Because I’m gonna.
I saw Coco today with a friend that I hadn’t seen in over a month. I lived with Host Family for about a year and a half, only moving to the dorms for this last year of graduate school because I wanted to be closer to my friends and family members in the next county.
I’d made plans to stay in their lives because I truly love the family and without them, I couldn’t have lived in Miami since 2016.
Host Daughter, a younger woman who’s like a little sister to me, is one of the aspects of living with this family that I missed. And when Host Mom offered me a chance to spend a few days with them, I took it.
Same goes for seeing Coco.
Coco was like… Everything.
Clearly, I haven’t been stressed enough so I’ve decided that I’m going to challenge myself to write about one thing I read, did, wrote, bought, saw, etc in 2017 every day for the rest of December.
For December 1st, I’d like to talk about…
My thesis.
I hate the Joker.
I think it’s practically a part of my identity this point like I’m known for my intense Joker dislike back in meatspace (and like… obnoxious conversations about cannibalism but like… whatever).
To me, the Joker represents some of the worst things about superhero (villain??) narratives and his fanbase is generally super annoying to me because they claim to like him “as a villain” but then jump through hoops to talk about why he’s “just misunderstood” or “totally a badass”.
So why am I writing my thesis about him?Read More »
Some variation on the phrase “fandom is supposed to be fun” gets spouted like clockwork every single time that people of color in fandom try to talk about the way that fan spaces – predominantly slash fandom spaces – are frequently inhospitable to fans of color seeking more representation in their fan communities and downright disrespectful to characters of color in these slash-heavy fandoms.
Try talking about the way that characters of color are treated across the board in slash-filled fandom spaces sometime.
Try pointing out that while you like slash and have ID’d as a slasher for well over half of your life, sometimes it’d just be nice if characters that look like you weren’t either ignored or portrayed via racist stereotypes in slash fandom.
Try tagging any commentary that even remotely attempts to be critical of the reasons behind why fandom ships the ships they do.
Try it.
I dare you.
Watch how quickly a space that keeps being touted as a safe one for women quickly becomes unsafe. Watch how quickly your fellow fans treat you like an outsider and ignore any validity in your words because people like you are taking the fun out of fandom.
I agree with the basic sentiment, that fandom is supposed to be fun.
But I just wish that it actually was fun.
For everyone.
As a result of things I’ve seen and experiences I’ve had, I always find myself wondering: who’s fandom supposed to be fun for and why isn’t it fun for everyone?
Even the chilliest of observations of fandom that count as “fandom critical” are frequently met with rude and violent comments in our inboxes, snark from other people of color who just want to fit in, and people talking smack like it’s something they’re getting paid to do.
To point out that there is racism in fandom and that fandom does need to try a little harder to make its spaces more welcoming to people of color of all kinds is to wind up subjected to dehumanization from your fellow fans because the first rule of fandom apparently is “don’t mess up anyone’s fun or else”.
Why is it that our fellow fans constantly rant and rave about how they long for the “good ole days” of fandom and strive to #makefandomfunagain with some of the same dehumanizing tactics and language that certain political figures have used to refer to people of color and anti-racist activists offline.
Why is it that our fellow fans have decided that the main thing that makes fandom “un-fun” is other people being critical of it in any way?
Oh! And if you’re wondering what constitutes “un-fun” in fandom well… here’s a checklist for you:
Essentially, if you’re a person of color in fandom spaces (any kind of fandom space, true, but primarily slash-filled fandom spaces), by asking your fellow fans to respect and acknowledge what it means to be a person of color in fandom and what it means to like characters of color in fandom, you’re not fun…
And you apparently don’t deserve to have any fun in fandom as a result.
Title: Gluttony Bay (A Sin du Jour Affair #6)
Authors: Matt Wallace (Twitter)
Rating: So Funny I’m Gonna Die, So Highly Freaking Recommended
Genre/Category: Politics, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Food, Cannibalism
Release Date: November 7, 2017
Publisher: Tor.Com Publishing
Order Here: BARNES AND NOBLE | AMAZON (KINDLE)
I’ve been doing drunk reviews of Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series from the start because well…
I like drinking.
I also do it because I want to and it’s fun.
I started Gluttony Bay, the penultimate book in the series, while sober. I made it to the end of the first chapter before I straight up needed liquid courage to tackle this book. (If you’re wondering, I went with a rum-vodka-juice mix in my Homecoming glass.)
Matt’s one of my favorite authors and people. He’s writer goals to the nth power. He’s one of like five authors I feel comfortable talking to in my reviews (and then showing them to him afterwards). He’s cool as hell.
But man… Gluttony Bay had me all kinds of fucked up.Read More »
You can purchase Citywide from Amazon or directly from Riptide Publishing.
Santino Hassell’s Citywide is basically EVERYTHING to me.
From the second that he announced the title, I was prepared to go into full-squee mode. I love Hassell’s Five Buroughs series to the point where I wrote a grad seminar paper on Sunset Boulevard because I loved the way the narrative used “space” in the text.
I fan-Stitch over him on the regular.
And Citywide continues to validate my love of his writing thanks to three fantastic stories and the way that he fleshes out Queens crew (characters that are friends with the Rodriguez brothers from the first two books of the series) on their way to Happily Ever Afters.Read More »
After hearing the seer’s message, Iirin finds himself struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’ll soon be leaving the only place that he’s ever called home. Despite how he’s been mistreated in the temple-orphanage because he isn’t a typical demon, the idea of leaving still stings.
Despite owning only a few worn items of clothes and several toys and books from his youth, Iirin was determined to make packing for his new future drag on as long as possible. He lingered over every single step of the process, drifting around his tiny room in the temple-orphanage’s rickety attic and packing at a snail’s paces.
As one of the left behind children in Akkadia’s capitol city, Iirin had precious few possessions to start with and as an older former-foundling, he has had to hide most of them in various places around his room lest Matron take the opportunity to requisition even more of his things.
After opening his wardrobe to pull a faded green tunic out of its dark depths, he let his fingers brush over a tiny ceremonial robe with purple and silver stitching creating wondrous patterns across the soft white fabric. It was the only thing that Iirin had left to remind him of his parents.
Not that there was very much to remember.
“Why I kept that silly thing, I don’t know,” Iirin mused aloud, gaze lingering on the robe he had been dressed in when his parents had left him in a basket at the temple steps twenty years before. He had only been a few hours old, but his parents had at least done that much for him.
From what Iirin had gleaned over the years, they never seemed to regret their choice. They never registered him at the midwife halls or even left an offering under the name they gave him at Dorna’s temple to make penance.
“Maybe I should get rid of it.” Iirin muttered, eyeing the tiny robe with a frown on his face. “It isn’t like I need another reminder of how little I’m wanted.”
Iirin frowned even harder a moment later when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the dented silver shard mirror propped up next to his wardrobe.
Most of the time, Iirin didn’t mind looking at himself.
He liked looking at the way that his white hair brought out the shimmering silver-green sheen of his eyes and made his skin appear to be an even darker shade of brown. He liked his gangly tallness, the way that he always stood out in a crowd. He even, occasionally, didn’t even mind the fact that much of his body was covered in intricate markings that mystified all of the many healers that Matron had taken him to as a child.
Unfortunately, few people that Iirin had met over the years felt the same.
Iirin was hornless, fangless. A veritable sheep amongst the predators that trickled in and out of the god quarter. Sometimes, he wondered if that was why his parents had chosen to give him up instead of raising him themselves.Read More »
What I’m Reviewing: Not Now, Not Ever
Who It’s By: Lily Anderson
What It’s About:
Elliot Gabaroche is very clear on what she isn’t going to do this summer.
1. She isn’t going to stay home in Sacramento, where she’d have to sit through her stepmother’s sixth community theater production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
2. She isn’t going to mock trial camp at UCLA.
3. And she certainly isn’t going to the Air Force summer program on her mom’s base in Colorado Springs. As cool as it would be to live-action-role-play Ender’s Game, Ellie’s seen three generations of her family go through USAF boot camp up close, and she knows that it’s much less Luke/Yoda/”feel the force,” and much more one hundred push-ups on three days of no sleep. And that just isn’t appealing, no matter how many Xenomorphs from Alien she’d be able to defeat afterwards.What she is going to do is pack up her determination, her favorite Octavia Butler novels, and her Jordans, and run away to summer camp. Specifically, a cutthroat academic-decathlon-like competition for a full scholarship to Rayevich College—the only college with a Science Fiction Literature program, and her dream school. She’s also going to start over as Ever Lawrence: a new name for her new beginning. She’s even excited spend her summer with the other nerds and weirdos in the completion, like her socially-awkward roommate with neon-yellow hair, and a boy who seriously writes on a typewriter and is way cuter than is comfortable or acceptable.
The only problem with her excellent plan to secretly win the scholarship and a ticket to her future: her golden-child, super-genius cousin Isaiah has had the same idea, and has shown up at Rayevich smugly ready to steal her dreams and expose her fraud in the process.
This summer’s going to be great.
You should check this book out if you like: tons of references to Oscar Wilde, nerdy Black heroines, sweet romance development, and stories set in summer camps.
Purchase Link: http://amzn.to/2je47Ih
Giveaway Link (Sweepstakes End Friday night): https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/5bec7b8b273f2abd?ref_=pe_1771210_134854370#ts-fo
Thank you so much for watching my review and I’ll do my best to get a transcript together asap!
Every time a nerdy piece of media dares to center a Black woman in some way, White Feminists in fandom show up to show how much they don’t care about Black women.
You can go through my archives for the past three years to see the different ways that White Feminism has failed Black female characters and the fans that love them. I don’t need to go through how Black women are constantly desexualized or ignored or mistreated by fandom in the name of (White) Feminism.
In the wake of Thor: Ragnarok, I had the… unwelcome opportunity to see such dismissive content play out in the form of an Italian viewer whose attempt at tackling the film (and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie) showed the most basic grasp of gender performance and doesn’t bother to bring intersectionality to the table.
I’m not going to link to the original post or her blog, but I will quote it heavily because it is, word for word, emblematic of the way that seemingly progressive people in fandom talk about Black women in dismissive and dehumanizing language.
Also: y’all need to see this mess.Read More »
If you take an introductory anthropology or religion class, chances are that your professor will at some point bring up Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth, boiling it down to “every culture shares these aspects of myth and all stories in mythology share archetypes that are common across time and space”.
And since the person telling you this is supposed to be an expert of course, you don’t/can’t question them.
However, the idea of the monomyth as it applies to myth (and the mythological creatures we see in urban fantasy series) tends to be incredibly Western-centric and therefore, the monomyth as Campbell developed it and as authors have adapted it, doesn’t apply to every single myth out there.
Case in point? The supposed universality of the vampire. Read More »
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