[Book Review] Runtime

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Divya RuntimeTitle: Runtime
Author: S. B. Divya (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Science-Fiction, Politics, Classism, Cyborgs, Body Modification
Release Date: May 17, 2016
Publisher: Tor.com

Order Here: AMAZON  (KINDLE)| AMAZON (PRINT) | BARNES & NOBLE (PRINT)

Note: I received an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of this book from the publisher. All opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

At first glance, S. B. Divya’s Runtime is just about a race – the Minerva Sierra Challege – set in the distant future that is open for cyborgs to participate in.

Except, it’s about way more than that.Read More »

Wonder Woman Earth One Is Far From Wondrous

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Content warnings: This post contains descriptions and images of sexual assault/harassment from the comic that may be triggering or upsetting to readers.

WW EO 1

With every reading of Wonder Woman: Earth One, I hate it a little bit more.

Grant Morrison has been working on WW:EO for years.

Many years.

Seriously, the first book in DC’s Earth One line (Superman: Earth One Volume One) came out in October 2010. In the past almost six years in that same line, there have been three Superman books, two Batman books, and one Teen Titans book. And yet, the least represented version of DC’s Trinity, Wonder Woman, has been pointedly absent from the universe.

Part of it, is because Grant Morrison is apparently a slow writer. He had to get things just right and that takes time. Morrison, like his comic creator peers Alex Ross and Jim Lee, isn’t the best with deadlines.

However, there’s another, more insidious reason to the push back: sexism.

Read More »

To Market, To Market

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Market Square

— To market, to market, to buy a plum bun/ Home again, home again, market is done.

Maren walks two steps behind the governor’s wife on their way through the market near Fort Christensen, standing near enough to hear the older woman call her name, but not so near that anyone would assume them to be closer than they were. While she may only have been working for the new governor’s wife for a scattered handful of months, she already feels as if she understands the other woman.

When Regine pauses in front of a stall selling vegetables and fruits from local, small farms that used to be part of bigger plantations, Maren stops at her right elbow, head tilted as she raises the basket holding the woman’s coin purse in case there’s something there that the woman wants to purchase.  Read More »

Black Ladies Deserve Love Too: Lupita Nyong’o, Concern Trolling, and White Feminism

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Yesterday, internet gossip revealed that 12 Years A Slave actress (and all around adorable human being) Lupita Nyong’o was in talks to star opposite Chadwick Boseman in 2018’s Black Panther solo movie. One of the earliest (now seemingly refuted) tidbits of information about this potential role was that Lupita would be playing the female lead and specifically would fill the love interest role.

Almost immediately, the concern trolls came out of the woodwork.

“Why do you have to reduce Lupita to a love interest,” they cried. “She’s a strong Black woman who doesn’t need a man. She should play one of the Dora Milaje or T’challa’s sister Shuri or someone else who has no romantic life and exists to be strong and undesirable (because Blackwomen can’t be strong and desirable at the same time).”

Because that makes all the sense…

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[Book Review]Lois Lane: Double Down

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Lois Lane Double Down CoverTitle: Lois Lane: Double Down
Author: Gwenda Bond (Twitter)
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Young Adult, Superheroes (sort of), Mystery, Science Fiction
Release Date: May 1, 2016
Publisher: Switch Press

Purchase Links: AMAZON | AMAZON KINDLE | BARNES & NOBLE

I love Gwenda Bond’s Lois Lane because she exhibits all of the traits that make Lois one of the longest lasting and most beloved “civilian” characters in comics. (I use quotes around civilian because Lois is capable of throwing down just as easily as a costume wearing hero would be.) She’s a freaking brilliant badass and I adore that Gwenda Bond shows her as multifaceted in so many ways.Read More »

In Moderation

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I’ve had comments moderated since I started this site because I don’t want the comment sections on my blog to turn into a mess when I talk critically about fandom or nerd culture.

That’s not going to change.

You literally couldn’t pay me money to allow that kind of access to some of the people I’ve seen salivating over the urge to get nasty on critical posts about nerd/fandom culture. My need for safety on the internet and self-care are more important than any stranger’s need to belittle me or insult me for being critical about something they like.

So yeah, when some dude on the internet proceeds to comment on a months’ old post (From October!!) condescending at me and being kind of a jerk on what’s actually a pretty poignant post about why I love romance comics despite everything they represent of the United States’ history with racism and sexism, of course I’m going to let it stay in the spam box. It’s my blog, I get to do that!

When he comments again with the same comment, I’m going to let spam handle it as well.

And when he comments a third time a few minutes after saying that commenting on my  blog is useless (because he can’t belittle me in public, I guess), then I ban his IP address because I have done nothing to earn this person’s attention or his ire and I do not have to deal with it either.

Look, if you hate when people on the internet talk critically about the things they love, just talk up the things you love about that thing on your own website. You’re not entitled to a space at anyone’s table or a comment on anyone’s blog and to expect otherwise is rude.

Letters to the Author – JK Rowling

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Part passive aggressive stress valve, part honest attempt at expressing my continuous frustration with JKR, this first post for Letters to the Author  is me at my grouchiest. Future posts will be more moderate. Maybe.

Dear Jo:

I can’t remember exactly how old I was the first time I read a Harry Potter book I was either nine or ten years old. It was before I moved to Florida and before I knew that there was a certain kind of magic that really only existed in books like yours.

As a small child, I didn’t notice how poor your portrayals of people of color were or how lacking all forms of representation were. You got so much praise for the women you wrote, but aside from my own headcanons about Hermione’s implicit blackness, only a handful of your women were like me.Read More »

Thoughts On Tone Policing

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I’ve done the “proper” methods of discourse.

I’ve written carefully sourced articles about problematic aspects of media and fandom where I lay out to the letter how something is racist and why that’s bad. I’ve played educator, lecturing via tweets or responses to tumblr messages that demanded my time, energy, and identity for free. I’ve stripped the snark from my words, pretending that I’m not angry about how people are not getting it and may never get it.

I’ve been nice.

Do you know what being nice got me?

Nothing.Read More »

[Spoilers] Stitch Reviews BvS

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(Featuring my bestie Robert holding the camera and making commentary.)

I watched Batman vs Superman today and okay, it really sucked. In my opinion. Obviosly.

This video contains serious spoilers for BvS, mispronounced names, me saying Scott when I mean Zack (Snyder), and a metric ton of cussing. Deal with it. It’s also unedited because after almost three hours watching that crapfest, I needed to get my anger at it out as soon as possible.

You don’t have to feel the same way that I do about this movie. You don’t. But if you come out of BvS like “this was the best movie I’ve ever seen”, I’m going to wonder what rock you’ve been living under. DC’s attempt at a cinematic universe isn’t dead in the water yet. Batman vs Superman will probably make BANK despite not making any sense and having a Lex Luthor who put me in mind of a caffeinated hamster.

But that doesn’t mean it was a good movie.

Because it’s not.

At all.

(And I’ve liked some bad movies in my time — remember Jupiter Ascending and the bees and the albino angel werewolf soldier? But okay I’d rather watch that Superman movie with Richard Pryor than BvS again.)

Stitch Watches Daredevil Season Two

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I’m supposed to be writing a paper on the nature of transgression via the Marquis de Sade. Instead, I’m rebelling by watching Matt Murdock beat the shit out of half the criminal underworld in Hell’s Kitchen while Frank Castle murders the half.

I’ve been sporadically tweeting about the series (mostly cursing) but Tues/Thurs I’ll be putting up a video about the series and my thoughts. So far though, its okay. I’m not liking how so far its even less diverse than the first season (SOMEHOW) and obviously, I think The Punisher is a dick but he has a monologue in episode four that really kind of helped me get into his character.

If you’re watching Daredevil or you plan to, the comments for that forthcoming post will be a place where we can scream about the show together.

Happy watching, folks!

More thoughts on freelance writing and “writing for exposure”

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Earlier yesterday, I wrote a series of tweets about why online journalism’s push for writers to work “for exposure” is terrible and the reality of what life is like for someone who does it. (Thread starts here.)

Here are some more  (bitter) thoughts.

There’s something so very upsetting about the idea of online journalists (amateurs, newbies, and professionals alike) working “for exposure” as a rite of passage with no token payment or help with getting further along in their writing career.

Writing for exposure means that you get to spend hours, days, and even weeks of your time working to put out an article or essay that you aren’t getting paid for. This work comes on top of your day job or your education and can in fact take time away from things that bring you the money that you need to live off of.

And I think it’s wrong that journalism as an industry has conflated “earning your due” with “working for free”. Now it seems that freelancers that don’t want to or can’t write for free are “lazy”. They’re seen as trying to get over the established idea of building your brand and then building your bank account.

But here’s the thing:

When you work for exposure, the companies you’re writing for or that you want to write for aren’t seeing that you deserve to be paid for your writing. They’re not. What they’re seeing is someone that they don’t have to pay to create content for them and they won’t pay you unless they absolutely have to.Read More »

[Book Review] Zen Cho’s The Terracotta Bride

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The Terracotta Bride - Zen Cho

Title: The Terracotta Bride
Author: Zen Cho
Rating: Highly Recommended
Genre/Category: Fantasy, Mythology (Buddhist), Romance, Lesbian Fiction. Steampunk,
Release Date: March 10, 2016
Order Here: AMAZON (KINDLE)

I really enjoy Zen Cho’s writing style.

Her novel Sorcerer to the Crown was one of the books I spent most of 2015 waiting for and believe me, it was worth the wait. She’s just a fantastic writer who can make me ugly cry with just a few lines and her characters almost seem to leap off the page.Read More »

Ghostbusters Trailer #1: A Major Bust.

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Leslie Jones Patty Tolan.jpg

My nine year old niece wants to be a scientist when she grows up. For holidays and birthdays she begs for science kits and star wars stuff (because she dreams of being a scientist in SPACE). She does experiments and uses her telescope every night she can.

She’s also started getting into older movies about scientists and when she heard that Ghostbusters would be coming out with the core four characters as ladies, she was so excited because she would get to see a super cute Black woman onscreen as a scientist with Leslie Jones’ casting.

Except…that’s not what we’re getting, is it? At least, not from the first trailer…Read More »