Richard III took over my Twitter feed this week – is it just me who resists finding out the actual details of a news story so as to enjoy the surrealism of the tweets that assume you know what they are talking about?
I particularly enjoyed Brian Blessed weighing in about the discovery of his “dear old dad” only to later correct it to “uncle.” (Twitter, of course, is still correcting him several days later. Oh, Twitter, don’t ever change.)
If you haven’t heard about the reason why everyone is talking about Richard III this week, then you can check out this piece on the Huffington Post which explains things. It’s pretty cool, as all rockstar moments of archaeology tend to be.
In your FACE, William Shakespeare!
It’s women in horror recognition month, which means it’s time to sign up to the Stranger With My Face 10×10 challenge – can you write a 10 page horror script in 10 days? Bonus points for non-sucky representation of women!
In other Women in Horror February news, Ann Radcliffe is awesome.
You all need a new podcast, right? Something challenging and crunchy and inspiring? Well, look no further than Cheryl Morgan’s Small Blue Planet, which aims to explore the SF happenings (both fandom and professional) in countries where English is not the dominant language. Cheryl talks about her ideas for the project here. The first episode spotlights Finland, interviewing critic Jukka Halme and translator Marianna Leikomaa (both of whom have run conventions) about all kinds of things, including a Worldcon bid for Helsinki. I found it fascinating, a great way to look at cultural and linguistic differences. The February episode will look at China, and the March episode will look at Brazil.
Sarah Rees Brennan talks about recent developments in the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (they’re up to the really juicy stuff!) and the clever way that this web series has incorporated women’s work, education and careers (as well as entrepreneurial spirit) into the story, where only marriage made sense in Austen’s time. I’ve been really impressed by this (and am desperately hoping Lydia gets a better and more feminist ending than Austen gave her, not least because this Lydia is adorable and brilliant and deserves better for herself) myself, and how well the story stands up even with the separation of romance and business interests (though issues such as social climbing and marrying for security are still acknowledged along with the question of selling out in a career/artistic sense – the Charlotte arc has been particularly clever).
What I hadn’t realised until Brennan pointed it out was the massive difference (and improvement) this makes to the Lizzie/y & Darcy romance – whereas in the original he learns to appreciate her as a person (and grows to find her more attractive the better he gets to know her personality) which was pretty damned awesome and subversive for the era, HERE he can actually compliment her on what she does and has achieved as well as who she is as a person. YES THIS IS EVEN MORE ROMANTIC! (you can always tell when I’ve been reading SRB, my capital letters go crazy)
In more Sarah Rees Brennan meets Austen fabulousness, she has been having an ongoing conversation on Tumblr about the criticisms levelled at Austen, female writers in general, and groups of female writers, and how these criticisms may in fact be a wee bit gendered. She has updated last week’s “rant” on this topic to talk about the feedback and discussion that came out of it.
Chaka Cumberbatch talks about her experiences as a black cosplayer, and the people who find her costume choices (often of popular characters usually depicted as white) confronting or “wrong.”
Over on Hoyden About Town, a post on the hits and misses of the latest crop of kids movies turns into a fun discussion as a bunch of commenters (including me!) pile on in a GOOD way to defend Wreck It Ralph’s positive portrayal of female characters.
The Sleeps With Monsters series at Tor asks, where are all the older (and old!) women in SF?
Grant reviews Chicks Unravel Time over at the Angriest. I continue to be surprised at how positively my ‘the Sixth Doctor was actually pretty awesome, and the trial scenes were the best bits’ essay is being taken. I kind of thought it would be controversial…
Marianne De Pierres announced that her goth glam YA series The Night Creatures (Burn Bright, etc.) will be available to the REST OF THE WORLD in e and paperback later this year, via Amazon.
At Bitch Magazine, a class of teenage girls talk about their current feminist celebrity heroes. The girls are pretty cool but I totally want their teacher for any school my daughters go to.
Kathleen Jennings, the Australian artist that everyone should be paying attention to, has posted about the process of some of her illustrations for new online fiction magazine Eclipse.
On the Smell of Books, a post about the future of editing and how the profession is going to have to toughen up a bit with the scary times ahead, but will ultimately survive. As long as they take Microsoft Word into their heart. That was the message, right?
In conclusion, there is a Monster at the End of the Internet. DON’T LOOK! You’ll only encourage it.