The Guardian profiles one of the neglected female writers of “1914,” May Sinclair – an accomplished modernist author (as well as the critic who coined the literary use of the term stream of consciousness) whose works are mostly now out of print.
At the Mary Sue, Becky Chambers writes a stirring essay about her grandmother’s attitude towards video games, the death of books, and how it’s hard to appreciate the new benefits of changing technology when you’re still (understandably) mourning the loss of the art of letter writing.
Phillipa Gregory, author of The White Queen (now a successful female-led historical drama series that I am dying to watch) talks about unearthing history’s hidden women – and how historical fiction is way more fun than writing straight history, not least because of how accessible it becomes to readers. (and, cough, she points out that your favourite historians all use many of the same techniques she does in her fiction, including selective theories, story-based narratives & ‘picking sides’)
No Award looked at how Pax Australia was quite female-friendly as an event, and some reasons why they had not thought that would be the case. This led me to an excellent Ben McKenzie article about why he had decided against participating in Pax Australia.
Cheryl Morgan talks about the gender inbalance in publishing with particular attention to the ‘why’ of it.
Make me a Sammich talks about why it sucks when people assume you’re ‘Offended’ because you are pointing out gender issues (or any other social justice type issue) and why it’s belittling and derailing to rephrase protest or criticism as mere offense: I’m Not Offended.
Tabz has written a followup to last year’s much-linked essay about why she doesn’t cosplay because of her weight – in her update, she talks about how she now DOES cosplay, and has an awesome time doing it! Hooray!
Kate Elliott answers Six Questions and ends up talking in depth about her career thus far, and the many ways in which she is doing interesting things with the fantasy genre.
Seanan McGuire on why the whole ‘Geek Girl Credential Check’ issue seems to be getting worse, not better (and not just because more people are talking about it). She particularly looks at the double standard where a woman in a costume (sexy or otherwise) is likely to be harassed or harangued about whether she knows the entire history of that character ever, while many men often spend those same conventions snapping pictures (without permission) of those same women in costumes regardless of whether they know the difference between, say, Storm and Emma Frost.
[Tweet of the Week from @gailsimone: I was writing a kickass fight scene then I remembered about fake geek girls and made it a fashion show for cats with shoes.]
Next week is likely to be a Doctor Who frenzy, as the Twelfth Doctor is set to be officially announced on the BBC at 7pm on Sunday night. In the mean time check out my favourite wishlist yet of future Doctors, the Verity! podcast (not featuring me) discussing the possibilities of a Female Doctor (just got that one under the wire, ladies, well done) and the beginning of a new Nerdist series of blogs about Doctor Who from the start. Yes, the very start. Season One.
Meanwhile, Big Finish have announced that their entire first 50 plays will be available at the ‘Fiver’ for a CD, 2 bucks or so for Download price – FOREVER. Sadly I already have all of them, but this is a great deal. I may have to post soon with my recommendations as to which ones to snap up.
Oh and the Glitter and Mayhem reviews are starting to roll in and this one has nice things to say about my story as well as the anthology as a whole. Woohoo!
In conclusion, Lois Lane is better than Batman.