This most excellent essay, A Sentimental Education: Sex and the Literary Writer, is fascinating in what it has to say about the attitude towards emotional writing in the Literary Sphere – and the association of sex/sentiment in fiction as being not only feminine, but lowbrow or worse, COMMERCIAL.
Speaking of commercial, Jared at Pornokitsch looks at Dragonlance, specifically the original Dragonlance Chronicles, and asks why no one will discuss/admit their massive influence on the fantasy genre. Leaving aside the fact that the writing is… well, not especially good, he does isolate several things that Dragonlance did that were either original or at least in strong opposition to the Tolkien school of fantasy – and suggests that some of the seeds of the grimdark genre can be found here.
I loved Dragonlance, for at least several months of my teen years. And at some point I think I’m going to have to write about the women in the series. Only… I might have to get myself drunk first, to reread the books. Hmm.
Jo Walton talks about escapist reading and why it’s awesome over at Tor.com.
After a flurry of news articles, blog posts and general outrage about the “buyout” deal on the table between the the authors of Night Shade Books and Skyhorse/Start Publishing, things have all gone rather quiet since it was revealed that the deal had been revised to be a bit more reasonable. (not, I might add, very reasonable) That doesn’t mean that this has stopped being a major issue for the writers involved (who are mostly doing their discussion with each other behind closed doors as is entirely appropriate for a business deal that will seriously impact on their lives and careers) but it’s not news for the rest of us until the matter is entirely resolved. Meanwhile, Kameron Hurley’s heartfelt and angry post is still important reading for writers everywhere. Too often, writers stay silent about bad treatment because they fear social and business repercussions if they speak out – and yet speaking out could potentially save other writers from signing on. I imagine that the debut/new authors who signed with Night Shade within the last year are feeling pretty angry right now about the discretion of others.
Which reminds me of my post yesterday about the amazing article by Deborah Copaken Kogan, and the constant threat she heard through her career if she dared speak up about rape, about mistreatment and disrespect in the workplace, and about her work being treated unfairly by the media. “You’ll get smeared…” There are no easy answers here. You have to do what feels right to protect yourself as well as your income. But… yes. In the case of Night Shade I have a deep sympathy with those authors who have been so terribly treated, and now have to make a difficult decision. And I think it’s very important to listen to why they are angry.
And speaking of anger and the internet, this might be a good time to link to Rachel Swirsky’s excellent post on Aqueduct about how it’s not okay to use genuinely awful things like witch-hunts, lynch mobs, crucifixion as metaphors for being criticised, and that kind of emotive comparison can actually silence criticism.
I’ve been loving the serialised YA graphic novel “Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong” by Faith Erin Hicks – about cheerleaders and a robot builders club joining forces to commit hijinks. It’s fun and awesome, and they are now running a big pre-order campaign with prizes to be won as the countdown hastens towards the printing of the actual book.
My good friend Alisa Krasnostein of Champagne&Socks has been getting down with her PhD topic and crunching numbers – STATS, baby! So far she’s been looking at the gender breakdown of several different mostly Australian SF awards but starting to crack international ones too – if they don’t crack her first. Her graphs are pretty. Check out: Playing with Data & Statistics, Aurealis 2012 shortlists, and The Kitschies.
Tobias Buckell talks about stats too – I really appreciate it when he goes into the in-depth meta about self publishing and the sales of his books. This is one of those, about what it (can) mean to be an Amazon bestseller.
Sean the Blogonaut is developing an Instapaper covering Australian reviews, author profiles etc. Here’s one he prepared earlier – and take note of the hashtag #ausfrev – anyone can use it when tweeting a relevant blog post/podcast/article.
Articles like this one! Our Margo has been doing pretty well with shortlists etc. over the last few weeks – here’s her Stella interview about her work, writing habits and so on.
i09 on how the cancellation and replacement of Young Justice (with yet another Batman-centred cartoon) prevented the development of a genuinely interesting version of the DC universe – one that was simultaneously more accessible and more respectful of the past than the New 52.
Speaking of comics: the Saga Saga! It was revealed (by creator Brian K Vaughn) that issue #12 of the Hugo-nominated, slightly gruesome space comic Saga had been banned from Apple’s app store, which he ascribed to “two postage stamp sizes images of gay sex.” Considering how many digital comics are sold via the Comixology app and other apps using the Comixology format, this was a pretty big deal. Naturally this caused a great deal of upset and discussion online, with a particular focus on the inconsistency – as pointed out by this brilliant NPR post that runs issue by issue through the graphic sex and violence already published in Saga which was deemed acceptable.
The story developed further when Comixology fell on their sword, declaring that they had interpreted the Apple guidelines independently. And PS: it wasn’t about the gay sex anyway, though they did not clarify what the issue had been. Apple’s reputation was saved. Except… well. We all knew that Comixology was a closed, horribly DRMed system, right? But something like this is a tangible reminder that this system has the potential to be substantially controlled by the Powers That Be. I know that I spend about a quarter of what I would on digital comics if I genuinely believed that I owned and could personally back up the comics that I “purchased.”
In short, digital comics are the bomb, and Comixology is convenient, but the system is screwing us. When companies have power over us and the way we purchase things, they can actually USE that power when they deem it necessary. This should never be a surprise to us, but as seems to be the theme of this Friday Links, it’s okay to be angry and to communicate that anger, because even when we KNOW we’re being screwed by a system, it can be helpful to vocalise that from time to time.