#check out the fire lesbian chronicles
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BY PENELOPE GREEN NEW YORK TIMES
In the winter of 2003, Norah Vincent, a 35-year-old journalist, began to practice passing as a man.
With the help of a makeup artist, she learned to simulate stubble by snipping bits of wool and painting them on her chin. She wore her hair, already short, cut in a flattop and bought rectangular framed glasses, to accentuate the angles of her face. She weight-trained to build up the muscles in her chest and back, bound her breasts with a too-small sports bra and wore a jock strap stuffed with a soft prosthetic penis.
She trained for months at the Julliard School in New York with a vocal coach, who taught her to deepen her voice and slow it down, to lean back as she spoke rather than leaning in, and to use her breath more efficiently. Then she ventured out to live as a man for 18 months, calling herself Ned, and to chronicle the experience.
She did so in "Self-Made Man," and when the book came out in 2006, it was a nearly instant bestseller. It made Vincent a media darling; she appeared on "20/20" and on "The Colbert Report," where she and Stephen Colbert teased each other about football and penis size.
But the book was no joke. It was a nuanced and thoughtful work. It drew comparisons to "Black Like Me," white journalist John Howard Griffin's 1961 book about his experiences passing as a Black man in the segregated Deep South. David Kamp, writing in The New York Times Book Review, called Vincent's book "rich and audacious."
Vincent died July 6 at a clinic in Switzerland. She was 53. Her death, which was not reported at the time, was confirmed Thursday by Justine Hardy, a friend. The death, she said, was medically assisted, or what is known as a voluntary assisted death.
Vincent was a lesbian. She was not transgender or gender-fluid. She was, however, interested in gender and identity. As a freelance contributor to The Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice and The Advocate, she had written essays on those topics that inflamed some readers.
In her year and a half living as Ned, Vincent put him in a number of stereotypical, hypermasculine situations. He joined a blue-collar bowling league, although he was a terrible bowler. (His teammates were kind and cheered him on; they thought he was gay, Vincent learned later, because they thought he bowled like a girl.)
He spent weeks in a monastery with cloistered monks. He went to strip clubs and dated women, although he was rebuffed more often than not in singles bars. He worked in sales, hustling coupon books and other low-margin products door-todoor with fellow salesmen who, with their cartoon bravado, seemed drawn from the 1983 David Mamet play "Glengarry Glen Ross."
Finally, at an Iron John retreat, a therapeutic masculinity workshop – think drum circles and hero archetypes – modeled on the work of men's movement author Robert Bly, Ned began to lose it. Being Ned had worn Vincent down; she felt alienated and dissociated, and after the retreat she checked herself into a hospital for depression.
She was suffering, she wrote, for the same reason that many of the men she met were suffering: Their assigned gender roles, she found, were suffocating them and alienating them from themselves.
Norah Mary Vincent was born Sept. 20, 1968, in Detroit. Her mother, Juliet (Randall) Ford, was an actor; her father, Robert Vincent, was a lawyer for the Ford Motor Co. The youngest of three, Vincent grew up in Detroit and London, where her father was posted for a while.
She studied philosophy at Williams College in Massachusetts, where at 21 she realized she was a lesbian, she told the Times in 2001, when her contrarian freelance columns began drawing fire. She spent 11 years as a graduate student in philosophy at Boston College and worked as an assistant editor at the Free Press, a publishing house that before it folded in 2012 put out books on religion and social science and had, in the 1980s, a neoconservative bent. Vincent's first work of fiction was "Thy Neighbor" (2012), a dark, comic thriller about an unemployed alcoholic writer who begins spying on his neighbors while trying to solve the mystery of his parents' murder-suicide: voyeurism as a means to self-knowledge.
Vincent is survived by her mother and her brothers, Alex and Edward. From 2000 to 2008, her domestic partner was Lisa McNulty, a theater producer and artistic director. A brief marriage to Kristen Erickson ended in divorce.
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✨𝒽 𝑒 𝒶 𝒽✨
#if you don't get it#check out the fire lesbian chronicles#by @xonar-verse#tflc#heah#pls check out tflc it's really good#the fire lesbian chronicles#sorry i'm just really into this
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Quarentine Hiatus Reading List
Fantasy novels to read based on your favorite cr character because no one in my family reads and I have to subject someone to my taste in literature
Beau- The Kingkiller Chronicle, Patrick Rothfuss
ok so admittedly there are less lesbians than I would like in this one (I haven't read them yet but Priory of the Orange Tree and Gideon the Ninth are on my list) but do you like your hero's cocky? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of the underdog kicking ass? Do you like to yell about fictional characters who underestimate their value to their friends? Well boy oh boy does tKC have that. It's fun to read, it has a charming semireliable narrator, and it's written by the guy who played Kerrek in campaign 1. (Also check out Julia Maddalinas art, those incredible six foot tall oil paintings are the reason I finaly read the series)
Fjord- A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab
What's hotter than suave magic gentlemen? Dimension hopping suave magic gentlemen that's what. This book follows a cool young ambassador/smuggler with a magic eye and a crossdressing thief who's only just learned theres magic adventures out there to be had. More YA fare than some on this list but its well written and there's just a hint of piracy that may grow further along in the series.
Jester- Unnatural Magic, C. M. Waggoner
A gunpowder fantasy novel. It has Romance, it has Female Empowerment, it has Huge Hot Trolls, it has a set of characters that step away from the Cis/Straight default expectation of modern fantasy, and it Fuuuuuuuuuuuuucccckks. (No seriously I kinda assumed this was a ya novel and then I got to the smut and I was like... damn I'm even more into huge grey fantasy folks than I thought)
Caleb- Realm of the Elderlings, Robin Hobb
(ok so I was going to say the Silmarillion as a joke but) RotE has 16 whole books in it and sometimes you need 16 whole books to fill that 16 book shaped hole in your heart. There's angst, and intrigue, and dragons, and did I mention theres 16 books? The first, third, and fifth series follow a royal bastard who is recruited as royal assassin, and his friend a "not really a human, not really a gender" prophet who is trying to save the world. It's real good y'all and *minor spoiler* the unrequited love in Tawny Man killed me dead
Nott- The Seven Realms Series, Cinda Williams Chima
Ok ok ok so Maybe this is a YA series and Maybe I read it back in high school and Maybe it's a little cliche but sometimes that's just what you need when the world is falling apart. The first book follows Han, a thief with a set of mysterious magic bracelets, and Raisa, the crown princess of the kingdom. Yes there is a love square, yes there are evil wizards, yes the first book is called "The Demon King", and yes the demon king is hot.
Yasha- A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin
ASOIAF is Good ol' Classic Fantasy, and I know what your gonna say "man that GOT ending sucked", and I get it, I do, but ASOIAF is not that. Martin's writting is some of my favorite of all time, and if you enjoy nuance and detail and quiet moments just as important as the big, then you will like ASOIAF. Also Martin's been hinting at getting a lot of work done in quarantine so maybe... maybe... book 6... soon?
Caduceus- The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Patrick Rothfuss
So yes this is technically a spinoff from tKC but this novella is very different from that. I mean there is literally a disclaimer at the begining of the book to warn prospective readers that this is a different type of story all together. It's in the title, this is a slow strange story about Auri, a young woman who lives in a labyrinth of tunnels underneath 'The University' where much of tKC takes place. A winding bittersweet mystery may not be everyone's cup of tea, but sometimes slow is nice.
If you find something new here, or read one of these and want to yell about them please yell at me! Without CR on a regular basis to sate my need for fantasy I have in fact read 4 novels in the past month and I may be losing my grip on what an acceptable amount of books is. Join me!
(And if audio books are more your style check out the OverDrive app, it's free and you can use it with your school or local library)
#critical role#books#beauregard lionett#fjord#jester#caleb widogast#nott the brave#yasha#caduceus clay#fjord stone#veth brenatto#jester lavorre#yasha nydoorin#pc#long post#book recommendations#fantasy#the kingkiller chronicle#a darker shade of magic#unnatural magic#realm of the elderlings#the farseer trilogy#the seven realms#asoiaf
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the fire lesbian chronicles part 12 (part 11, part 10, part 9, part 8, part 7, part 6, part 5, part 4, parts 1, 2 and 3)
(death mention tw) (fire tw)
“leah.”
leah lets out a small gasp, and her focus on her fire is lifted.
hero.
it’s her.
it’s been so long.
leah smiles.
she forgets what cal told her.
she forgets the last three years.
she forgets that they aren’t girls anymore, and that she can’t run into the arms of the woman she loves and just hold her for awhile.
she forgets.
hero smiles back.
and for a second, everything is good.
she is happy.
she is alive.
then hero hurls a fireball at leah’s head.
leah barely manages to duck in time for the fireball to hit a no-longer-snow-covered pine and burst into flames.
she curls her hand into a fist and extinguishes the fire, but hero swings her arm and the circle of trees around them burst into blue fire.
leah raises her hands and cools the flames, turning them to orange. the guardians of isa would find them soon; fire isn’t common in a magical ice forest, and the guardians hate when people mess with the ice trees.
“why are you doing this?” leah tries to make her voice steady, and fails. “i-i cared about you. we could have survived together. you didn’t have to do this.”
“we? you and me? after you got tessa killed? not a chance.”
hailee is pretty sure that ‘the tessa conflict’ was going to be the main subject today. satisfaction runs through her when she sees leah flinch.
but then her expression hardens.
‘i got tessa killed.”
“yes.”
“she had a plan, hero. she was going to survive, if you hadn’t shown up and made avia’s people think it was an ambush. she would have lived if it wasn’t for you.”
hailee takes a second to run over everything leah just said before calculating the perfect hero-response.
“if we had gone sooner, she would have survived as well.”
but leah isn’t taking the bait. she’s had enough.
she’s ready to end this.
leah raises her hands into the air, the trees coming alive with orange flames.
“you wanted a war, hero? you’ve waited three years. i’ve learned some tricks of my own. you know, like how yours are emotional guilt manipulation? mine are a lot simpler.”
she pushes her palms up to the sky, ripping the trees out of the groun with the force of her soul channeling through the fire. she then pushes her palms forward.
hailee realizes what’s about to happen a second before it does.
she does the smart thing, and turns and runs.
the trees fly toward her in a triangle, one at the front, leading the pack. once they catch up to her, she turns, throwing her hands out, heating the flames to blue, and tossing it toward leah.
leah slams her hands together, and a wall of fiery trees block hailee’s every attack.
hailee pushes her hands down to the ground, melting the snow and ice at her feet. “cal!”
oh no, leah thinks.
but cal doesn’t come.
not right away, at least.
he appears behind hailee, but he doesn’t attack leah.
he grabs hailee’s wrist.
and for some reason, he directs his next attack at her.
leah is briefly frozen with shock--from watching hero’s closest ally attacking her, and from the snow and ice, which are, shockingly, cold.
“leah!” cal yells over the fight. “it’s not hero!”
...not hero?
what?
“her name is hailee--hero’s clone! you need to go find hero, leah. she’s in dange--” hailee pushes him to the ground, and draws a narrow dagger from her sleeve. “go!” he yells. “go now!”
despite cal siding with hero in the war, leah still trusted him.
he was on both sides at the funeral. he tried to help.
he chose hero because he loved her.
she knew how that felt.
she makes her choice. she runs toward them, slamming into hailee and wrestling the dagger out of her hands. she has it posed over hailee’s chest, when cal says a panicked “no!”
she pauses. “why not? even if you’re lying, i still want to kill her. if you aren’t, what’s the harm?”
he takes a second to catch his breath. “ou--hero’s, life force is connected to hailee’s. kill one, kill the other.”
“oh.”
“...yeah.” he clears his throat. “you go find hero, i can keep her here.”
leah raises her eyebrows. “you sure you can handle her? assuming you’re telling the truth, obviously.”
“i...think so?”
she shrugs. “okay. if you’re lying, you’re dead, flynn.”
“of course.” he says. “you should check the tower. i didn’t have time to because i...i wanted to stop her.”
stop hailee. stop hailee from hurting her.
he still thinks of her as a friend.
leah passes him the dagger. “be...careful.”
there.
there it is.
she cares.
he’s a friend.
a teammate.
an ally.
she hasn’t cared in three years.
oh, dove was going to be pissed it was cal and not her.
cal doesn’t notice the rampage of emotions going on in leah’s heart, how could he?
he takes the dagger and nods. she nods back stiffly and gets up from the snowy ground, breaking into an awkward run-walk across the burnt circle of trees.
she needed to get to lady valdez’s tower.
she would find her girl.
and she would save her.
no matter the cost.
because that’s what you do when you love someone.
followers of the fire lesbian cult
o great creator: me
president: @enbies-and-felonies
vice president: @that-aro-asshat
cult empress of {something cool}: @clearlykeefitz
duchess of the cult of fire lesbians: @midnightbunnyy
treasurer: @book-limerence
cult alien-hedgehog: @alienlamp
cult demon: @ademonwithinternet
gay uncle that lives in a shed in the woods: @linhamon-roll
@silver-snow
@pencil-is-my-sword
@cozy-the-overlord
#yAY I LOVE IT#leah and cal are the ultimate brotp#i kinda did dove dirty in this lol#i kinda hate her because of what she does in dawn sooo#the fighting is kinda short and the leah and cal part was rushed#yes this is definitely rushed#buTT#amelia's fire lesbians#tflc#the fire lesbian chronicles#xonar-verse#my dad is telling me to go to bed now#i'll read all your very nice comments in the morning#send asks about the xonarverse maybe>#and what you thought of this part!!
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I love your blog! do you have any blog recs?
ahhhhhh thank you so much!!!!
@juliesupremacy I love her sm go check her out also we having matching urls and icons 😎
@xonar-verse is suuuuper sweet and caring and her fire lesbian chronicles are AMAZING
@blue-drarry-drarry-blue is also fantastic and lovely and her writing is wonderful you should def go check her out :D
@kagestatsumi (ooh I just noticed the new url I love it!!!) is also fabulous (watch me slowly run out of adjectives 😭) and her writing is aBSOLUTELY AMAZING AND LOVELY and is also super nice
so yeah??? i would start there, but if there’s a specific fandom or anything just send another ask and I’ll recommend eVEN MORE blogs considering how many lovely people there are here
#oh my god I’m getting anons and someone asked ME for blog recs#🤯🤯#and SOMEONE LOVES THIS MESSY BLOG??? WHATTT#thank you so much anon seriously
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it’s still... odd to me that other people had such different experiences growing up with this series than i did. i had such a personal relationship with it... seeing others talk about the sequels, what they liked and disliked for the series- and it’s like, really? we had very different childhoods (...story of my life, ha).
in my elementary school, our library only had one of the books- Dealing With Dragons (the one with this delightfully cheesy cover by Tim Hildebrandt lol).
(also, please note, there is no indication here that this is the first book of a series. just..... keep that in mind.)
haha, what if 🤭 ..... i was beautiful princess, and you were a dangerously charming dragon 😜 ..... and we were both girls? 😳💦
good god, little me LIVED for this book. i checked it out & reread it over and over again- the librarian must have got sick of me at some point but i didn’t care lol. i stayed up too late reading it with a flashlight under the covers, i read it during class beneath the desk (i was not... particularly stealthy. they kinda just let me think i was getting away with it lmao).
i know every young kid likes books with fantasy and magic to make their boring lives less lame, but the way i buried myself in this one was... 100% pure escapism. (pour one out for all the weird kids who had no friends outside of books, am i right ladies?)
the story has a theme of just..... running away from it all, cause everyone else apparently knows so much more about what’s Right for you- what interests are Right for you, what clothes are Right for you, what boys are Right for you, everything! everything was chosen for you, no dystopian YA lit required!
(CAN YOU POSSIBLY GUESS WHERE THIS IS GOING?)
i didn’t know what the concept of a lesbian was or why no one else thought it was weird that you couldn’t have interests that were Not Like Other People (the Right People), but that’s what this book meant to me. the entire core of the story was showing kids that you could pick your own hobbies, your own home, your own family & friends and it wasn’t up to the Right People to decide that for you.
fuck ‘em!!! run off to the mountains! live in exciting domestic bliss with a giant, well-read, protective dragon lady who can breathe fire and loves to eat your cherries jubilee every night (ABSOLUTELY NO METAPHORS HERE NO SIR)! back home your family is freaking out (but kinda relieved)- cause this is crazy, dragons are dangerous and ruin the women they steal away (where have i heard this before?), but also your family doesn’t... really miss you. they don’t actually want you back- as you were, anyway. once the prince sweeps you off your feet and away from the dragon’s evil clutches and properly marries you, oh sure, then you’re welcome back with open arms! (but that will never happen.)
fuck ‘em!!!!! make cool friends with other misfits and live a life full of adventure with the family you found along the way! there’s witches who live in eccentric homes with 50 cats, there’s neighborly old dragon grandpas who love chocolate pudding, there’s other girls who don’t think you’re weird and like to hang out and read magic books in the library too! you can make friends and be happy! it IS possible!
and that meant so much to me as a kid. i never fit in (i wonder why), i never seemed to like the Right stuff (I WONDER WHY), and for the things i did care about, i went about it wrong- according to the Right People, who didn’t much care about what i thought at all.
...anyway Dealing With Dragons is an allegory about the power of lesbian escapism & independence and i love it very much. i still love it, over a decade later. it’s a fun, captivating, whimsical little tale that means more than childhood nostalgia to me. i spent hours daydreaming about the story in elementary school, content with the characters and setting in a way that just... settled something in me.
but then i read the other books.
because there were... OTHER BOOKS!? WHAT??? (again, i never knew it wasn’t a stand-alone story lol).
when i got to middle school and had a whole new library to consume, i naturally looked for my fav type of books- those with cool fantasy ladies with swords and dragons on the front (that’s a genre, right?). and, lo and behold, there were more parts to my favorite story!!! lads, i lost my goddamn mind. there were THREE MORE? WHAT??? utter batshittery. how had they kept this from me? i had to read them immediately.
what would the stories be about? i saw Cimorene on the covers, sword-wielding and pants-wearing (’fuck yes’, said little me). what adventures would she get up to with Kazul, now that she was king of dragons? what would life in their new home be like? the new libraries and treasuries and kitchens would be massive- what secrets would they discover? what was living in dragon society like, now that they sat at the top together? what new recipes would Cimorene cook with her friend??? (that one was very important to me lol).
i checked out all of ‘em at once, and channeled deep into the obsessive focus that only a truly lonely middle school girl can attain. I was SO EXCITED for this.
-- and got my heart ground to dust under Patricia C. Wrede’s heel.
...because, see, i hadn’t known there was an Enchanted Forest Chronicles. i hadn’t thought about what that actually meant. it, as inevitably as the tides, meant the incoming of the one thing that made me truly hate reading sometimes- romance. cause these books weren’t about Cimorene and her friends or Kazul at all. they were about a sudden love interest and the child Cimorene had with him cause of course that’s what fucking happened. what else was i expecting? what else could stories possibly be about? i read through all of the books, feeling a little more like somebody shot my dog with each chapter, and could only feel sick when she got married & pregnant at the end. i was 11 years old and i knew something was wrong but not why.
(aaand looking back now, was that baby’s first taste of queerbaiting? does it count if you do it to yourself?? ah, youth. i don’t let myself get my hopes up anymore.)
for a very long time, i hated the idea of love (...quite the oxymoron, that one). cause it always, always meant that the people i cared about changed in ways that i didn’t understand at all. what, some boy you’ve never met before shows up, and suddenly your important quest and friends and family are... an after thought? why? don’t you care about them? don’t you love them too? why does this always happen? why is there always a boy and love and babies and nothing else? (why, why, why indeed? and yes, i was one of those kids who got fucking mean when their friends started only looking at boys, how’d you know?)
anyways. i hated it. i couldn’t possibly have articulated why back then, but it always made me so mad, despite the fact that the words on the page were telling me that this was the best thing that could ever happen in life. that just made it worse, cause why am i getting so upset over this? it’s a good thing, objectively- they’re in love. they’re happy. why is it making me feel so fucking angry instead?
this series doesn’t really... deserve any of the repressed vitriol it made me feel, though. Cimorene’s love interest that appeared in book two, Mendanbar, is actually a pretty cool guy! he has an innate, natural connection to his magic forest kingdom. he’s sick of fairy-tale tropes, he has a sweet anti-wizard sword, he’s very kind and brave- and i fucking hated his guts (...lmao, sorry dude).
there’s nothing actually wrong with this series’s romances. the couples care about each other and support each other well. i’m glad for all the kids who got to see some happy romances, i truly am. but god, that wasn’t for me, and it probably wasn’t for the other lonely kids who picked up a book about running away from what the Right People wanted for them either.
for a series about rejecting what society tells you is the Right thing to want, the characters just... end up wanting that exact same thing anyway. oh, the thought of marrying a man and spending your life with him, baring him heirs until you die, sounds unappealing? so distressing, in fact, you’d literally rather get eaten by dragons? WELL DON’T WORRY, this one particular guy is actually good! of course you’ll fall in love with him! you’ll want to be pregnant forever with his horrible frogspawn! you’ll be happy!
...what do you mean this is what you were running away from?
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i spent... an inordinate amount of time as a child reading Dealing With Dragons. while i cannot possibly blame the author for my individual experience with their work, which WAS written as a series (the finale was written first, actually! way back in 1985), the fact remains that my interactions with them were... soured.
in a way that was out of the author’s hands, really, but i just don’t know how to think about this series without that bittersweet hurt in my chest. i cried like, twice, writing this stupid, rambling essay thing, and i don’t actually know how to look past that. i suppose the tried-and-true method of just... rereading the first book and pretending everything’s fine always works lol.
i own a few different versions of these books. there’s a full set i was gifted later in middle school -the nice glossy ones, with Peter De Seve’s lovely cover art! -which i have never once reread. they’re in immaculate shape, really.
i also own an absolutely, completely beat-to-shit paperback copy of the same version i must have read a hundred times as a kid. its cover is creased and peeling, there’s a bunch of weird stains and rips and dogears, and i adore it. i picked it up this year at a used book place, and every time i look at it i can see some small, desperate kid who doesn’t even know they’re lonely but still curls up around that book again and again.
#personal#long post#dealing with dragons#the enchanted forest chronicles#(which. apparently WASN'T an allegory for lesbian escapism#anyway i was robbed but its fine <3)#ok to reblog
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Hi! This isn't from a meme but I find your writing quite unique and compelling and I was wondering if you could share your literary influences like authors, books, etc.
So…last night i wrote out a whole long answer to this….then i went to check something on GoodReads….and then i remembered The Crush™ said she loves GoodReads….and i looked her up….AND I FOUND THAT SHE DEF READS REALLY BAD, REALLY STEAMY LESBIAN EROTICAAAAAA.
Understandably, I had a massive scream and shut all my browser tabs on accident and lost this post. So, thank you, sweet anon, who ever you are….you have given me….such….a….gift. omggggg.
So I’m sorry if this is a bit less organized, I think my brain is like….gone now.
BUT to answer your question (and thank you, that is the nicest comment!!!), first, I’m a HUGE book re-reader. On a yearly basis I reread the following (often more than once) and I think they’re very engrained into who I am and how I write:
1) Harry Potter (whole series yearly reread, but that’s a duh! like many of us, its foundational.)2) Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine (something about this book just…ugh. I think it’s very Gay Experience? Like at the end where she’s trying to break the spell, especially, I think that had a lot of influence on me). 3) Crown Duel, Sherwood Smith (I’m on my 8th copy of this book because I’ve worn it out. I have such strong feelings for this protagonist, I just understand her and I cry through the whole book)4) Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente & also her Fairyland Series (The Crush™ rated lesbian erotica higher than Fairyland and I’m SHOOK). If I could write like anyone in the world, it would be CMV. She also has this short story in a wlw anthology all about how Gretel fell in love with the witch, and pushed her into the fire all the same. Now her brother dominates her life and she goes back in the nights and sits among the burnt out gingerbread house with the witch’s bones and like…oh my wowww, ok, yes I want to write like her. 5) Connie Willis’s time travel series. My current fic is super influenced by Black Out and All Clear, probably the best researched historical I’ve ever read. I literally get confused on the subway and will not remember I’m not in wwii London. And my other fic, ‘i wanna grow up from the rhythm of a younger heart’ was very much inspired by her book To Say Nothing of the Dog. 6) For plot twists, all books by Kate Morton and The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield (I’m still GASPING. That level of didn’t see it coming, but all the clues were there, is everything I aspire to). 7) The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede (this series is also super foundation to me. they’re just amazing).
I also grew up obsessed with fairytales (and def not Disney, was DEF not a Disney kid). I liked them dark and mysterious. I was obsessed with illustrations, like my mom had old anthology of My Bookhouse books from the 1920s with the original Beaupré Miller illustrations. The stories were from all over and I think they really had an impact on me. and I had really beautifully illustrated Eugene Field poetry book and of course all the Cicely Mary Barker Flower Books, and my grandmother’s original Raggedy Anne books which had really beautiful fairies. I feel like when I write, I’m always trying to bring those visual back because to me they just had a very specific, magical feeling for me.
Also, and maybe this sounds weird, but growing up I watched a LOT of old movie musicals. And I think something of the heightened drama and manner of dialogue rubbed off on me in some way. Like Katharine Hepburn in the Philadelphia Story and anything with Judy Garland (I cry through like everything with her) and Fred and Ginger movies that are like….absurdist but also weirdly emotional?
And I think I’ve always been attracted to like, pining and longing…like I memorized the entirety of The Lady of Shalott and would recite it to my class when i was like 10 years old and I would be SO EMOTIONAL. LOL.
this was longer than it should have been ahhhh! sorry! but thanks for asking, I’m not sure how I got to be such a emo magic obsessed lil bean but those are def all factors.
Happy New Year!
#sweet anons#thank you <3#literary influences#and general#influences#pining is a big theme#so is absurdist humor#and lovely illustrations#writing#asks#my fic#book recs#recs
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A love letter to the silver screen
WORDS GARTH CARTWRIGHT PHOTO LIMA CHARLIE
The Cinema Museum in Kennington is a place of magic and mystery and is one of south-east London’s hidden gems.
Founded more than 30 years ago, it has recently been garnering a lot of attention – winning Time Out’s most-loved local culture spot award in 2018.
Last year the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, which owns the property and leases it to the museum, decided to put the building up for sale.
A campaign to secure the property was launched with support from actors and filmmakers such as Ken Loach – and a petition to keep the museum on the site gained almost 20,000 signatures.
Ronald Grant, who co-founded the museum in 1986, is a droll octogenarian who expresses reluctance at having to do newspaper interviews. But once he starts speaking, the stories flow forth – and what stories he has to tell.
The Cinema Museum is a truly remarkable achievement, one that has involved singular vision, wild passion, great knowledge and huge energies. There is, I believe it is fair to say, no museum comparable to it anywhere in the world.
Ronald grew up near Aberdeen and became an apprentice film projectionist aged 15. “Ever since then I’ve been involved in film in various ways,” he says. “In 1986 I went from London to Aberdeen on holiday and, once there, bumped into my old employer. It turned out he had closed his cinemas and had much of their interiors in storage.
“I went and saw all these great artefacts from the golden age of cinema packed from floor to ceiling into this old church. I suggested to him that we set up a museum but he was a businessman through and through – and a Scottish one at that! – so only wanted to make money.
“For the first time ever I had some money in my pocket due to selling a house, so I bought various artefacts off him and shipped them down to London. Otherwise I could see them all being tossed in a quarry. And that was the origin of the museum.”
At the time Ronald was squatting in Brixton and, initially, the collection resided in the squat. Lambeth Council then provided the Cinema Museum with the Raleigh Hall building in Brixton.
Ronald describes in vivid detail how dilapidated it was – he even had to prop up one floor with two hastily nailed together pieces of wood. Eventually, Raleigh Hall proved uninhabitable so the Cinema Museum relocated to the ground floor of Kennington’s old fire station.
However, when squatters moved in upstairs, Ronald quickly discovered that the plumbing no longer functioned. “When flushed, the toilet water would seep through the ceiling and on to the displays,” he recalls. “Everything was covered in plastic and water was everywhere.
“Kennington was more expensive than Brixton but it had one room that was big enough to serve as a cinema, so to keep our morale up we had a film every fortnight, initially just for our supporters.
“Eventually Lambeth put the building on the market and we went looking for new premises, which is how we ended up here.”
“Here” is the Master’s House – the administration block of the former Lambeth Workhouse that was located on Dugard Way. The Cinema Museum shifted here in 1998, initially occupying only the ground floor as there were NHS offices upstairs.
Eventually the NHS employees moved out due to the noise and dust of the surrounding building works and the museum was given the go-ahead to move upstairs. This means it now has a small screening room on the ground floor – with original seats and carpet saved from a vintage cinema – and the huge upstairs hall where screenings and events can take place.
The spacious building allows for the museum’s enormous collection to be both stored (there are books, magazines and documents chronicling the history of UK cinema, alongside Ronald’s vast collection of photos from old movies) and displayed: 16mm and 35mm projectors, elegant swing doors, brass ashtrays, illuminated signage, movie posters, cinema uniforms, lobby cards, fixtures and fittings and much, much more from the golden age of cinema.
While the museum is fascinating to visit – organised tours costing £10 are held regularly and finish with a screening of old shorts – the most exciting events are its evening screenings.
These showcase a wide variety of films, ranging from contemporary documentaries through to the themed Kennington noir, westerns, classics, silent movies, gay and lesbian film events and lots more.
The Max Wall, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy societies all hold quarterly meetings here with features and shorts, which shows how highly regarded the Cinema Museum is to aficionados of great British entertainers.
“Programming involves a series of different things,” says Ronald. “People come in with different ideas and we provide the space.
“There is someone called the Celluloid Sorceress and the Misty Moon Film Society, who have contact with people from the film and television business who acted in fairly prominent material. I do some of the niche programming – talkies, westerns, classics and noir with Phil, our barman.
“I don’t think it’s that grand really – if you are fascinated and passionate about something, you don’t want to see things destroyed. And you want things around you.
“It’s all happened organically and accidentally and I’m very happy about how our little museum, which receives no funding from the Arts Council, is now getting such attention.”
A fascinating historic fact about the building is that, as a child, Charlie Chaplin lived here twice with his destitute mother and brother. Back then it served as a workhouse for south London’s poorest people: fitting then that the former residence of Walworth-born Chaplin, who went on to become one of cinema’s greatest stars, would end up being a museum that honours the medium he helped pioneer.
“I knew there was a Chaplin connection to this building,” says Ronald, “and so when we were asked to leave the fire station I contacted the NHS, who owned this building and said, ‘Could we move in here?’ It really has been perfect and Charlie’s daughter Victoria, who runs a wonderful small circus, came and visited once when she was performing at the South Bank. She was lovely and very impressed by the building, its history and our collection.”
While Ronald remains extremely passionate about cinema (“Brooklyn and Lady Bird were both wonderful”) he admits to not caring for the multiplexes that dominate our high streets today.
“I don’t much like going to the cinema now – people checking their phones and talking,” he says. “Here it’s quiet and there’s no disturbance.”
Ronald’s knowledge of south London cinemas is impressive. He worked as a projectionist at the Ritzy in Brixton when it first opened in the early 1980s and tells stories of fights in the foyer and riots outside.
He once approached the manager of the Coronet in Elephant and Castle asking if he could photograph the cinema’s interiors for the museum, but she refused him permission.
“I took along old Coronet programmes and she refused to look at them. Refused to even shake my hand. She obviously didn’t care about the Coronet.”
As for Peckham cinemas, Ronald only knows Peckhamplex, recalling its grand opening in 1994 as the Premier Cinema.
However, a quick dip into the museum’s voluble archives brings up documentation of movie palaces that existed in the first half of the 20th century, when Rye Lane was known as the “golden mile”.
The petition aimed at convincing the NHS to allow the Cinema Museum (and its supporters) to purchase the Dugard Way property failed and the land was sold to developers last year. So far they have given the museum a one-year lease and Ronald is trying to get it extended to two.
Obviously this insecurity is worrying for such a well-loved and longstanding institution, but Ronald refuses to complain. Instead he’s determined that his “Aladdin’s cave of things” continues to engage, educate and entertain the public.
For tours, screenings and other events at the Cinema Museum, visit cinemamuseum.org.uk
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Are you an avid reader of lesbian fiction or WLW books and want to make 2018 a little more interesting?
Then you might want to check out Jae’s Lesbian Book Bingo.
It’s a big, year-long event, with many authors and publishers—including Ylva—donating books for giveaways. You can win amazing books all year long—just by reading!
And under the cut is a little list of recommendations to fill your bingo card:
WOMEN IN UNIFORM
Conflict of Interest by Jae
In a Heartbeat by RJ Nolan
Rescue Me by Michelle L. Teichman
Between the Lines by KD Williamson
HISTORICAL FICTION
Charity by Paulette Callen
Fervent Charity by Paulette Callen
The Lavender List by Meg Harrington
Kicker’s Journey by Lois Cloarec Hart
Backwards to Oregon by Jae
Beyond the Trail by Jae
Hidden Truths by Jae
Shaken to the Core by Jae
Daughter of Baal by Gill McKnight
DOCTORS AND VETERINARIANS
All the Little Moments by G Benson
Who’d Have Thought by G Benson
Not-So-Straight Sue by Cheyenne Blue
Almost-Married Moni by Cheyenne Blue
Heart Trouble by Jae
Falling Hard by Jae
L.A. Metro by RJ Nolan
In a Heartbeat by RJ Nolan
Wounded Souls by RJ Nolan
Blurred Lines by KD Williamson
FANTASY
Caged Bird Rising by Nino Delia
Tread Lightly by Catherine Lane
Banshee’s Honor by Shaylynn Rose
Banshee’s Vengeance by Shaylynn Rose
Shattered by Lee Winter
WOMEN OF COLOR
Falling Hard by Jae
Falling into Place by Sheryn Munir
Pink by KD Williamson
Shattered by Lee Winter
The Power of Mercy by Fiona Zedde
CELEBRITY ROMANCE
Damage Control by Jae
Perfect Rhythm by Jae
Heartwood by Catherine Lane
FAKE RELATIONSHIP & MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE
Who’d Have Thought by G Benson
Rock and a Hard Place by Andrea Bramhall
Contract for Love by Alison Grey (to be published in August)
Just for Show by Jae (to be published on February 21)
Something in the Wine by Jae
Backwards to Oregon by Jae
Face It by Georgette Kaplan (to be published on February 7)
The Set Piece by Catherine Lane
Chasing Stars by Alex K. Thorne (to be published on March 21)
SCIENCE FICTION (INCLUDES DYSTOPIAN/POST-APOCALYPTIC)
Survival Instincts by May Dawney (to be published on March 7)
The Caphenon (Chronicles of Alsea 1) by Fletcher DeLancey
Without a Front: The Producer’s Challenge (Chronicles of Alsea 2) by Fletcher DeLancey
Without a Front: The Warrior’s Challenge (Chronicles of Alsea 3) by Fletcher DeLancey
Catalyst (Chronicles of Alsea 4) by Fletcher DeLancey
Vellmar the Blade (Chronicles of Alsea 5) by Fletcher DeLancey
The Lily and the Crown by Roslyn Sinclair
AGE DIFFERENCE (INCLUDES MAY/DECEMBER ROMANCE)
Just My Luck by Andrea Bramhall
Heartwood by Catherine Lane
The Brutal Truth by Lee Winter
Shattered by Lee Winter
FOODIE ROMANCE
All You Can Eat by R.G. Emanuelle & Andi Marquette
Order Up by R.G. Emanuelle & Andi Marquette
LGBTQIA+ CHARACTERS
This category focuses on bisexual, pansexual, trans, asexual, intersexual, queer, and other women-loving women (with the exception of lesbians since they feature in all other squares)
Flinging It by G Benson (bisexual main character)
Dark Horse by A.L. Brooks (bisexual character)
Reintegration by Eden S. French (bi, trans, and lesbian characters)
Perfect Rhythm by Jae (asexual main character)
EROTICA & EROTIC ROMANCE
The Club by A.L. Brooks
Hot Line by Alison Grey
Nights of Silk and Sapphire by Amber Jacobs
The Taste of Her by Jess Lea (to be published on February 6)
Don’t Be Shy by Astrid Ohletz & Jae
Shadow Haven by AJ Schippers
Heart’s Surrender by Emma Weimann
SUMMER READS
Any novel set during the summer months or in an exotic location, e.g., an island.
Not-So-Straight Sue by Cheyenne Blue
Fenced-In Felix by Cheyenne Blue
Where the Light Plays by C. Fonseca
FRIENDS TO LOVERS ROMANCE
Coming Home by Lois Cloarec Hart
Beginnings by L.T. Smith
ROMANTIC COMEDY
Just My Luck by Andrea Bramhall
Lost for Words by Andrea Bramhall (to be published in August)
Welcome to the Wallops by Gill McKnight
See Right Through Me by L.T. Smith
ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE
Who’d Have Thought by G Benson
Party Wall by Cheyenne Blue
Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks
Second Nature by Jae
Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple
The Red Files by Lee Winter
WORKPLACE/OFFICE ROMANCE
Flinging It by G Benson
Rock and a Hard Place by Andrea Bramhall
Miles Aparrt by A.L. Brooks
You’re Fired by Shaya Crabtree
Just Physical by Jae
Under a Falling Star by Jae
The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley (to be published in April)
The Brutal Truth by Lee Winter
DISABLED CHARACTER
Includes characters with chronic illnesses and mental health issues
Just My Luck by Andrea Bramhall
Just Physical by Jae
Wounded Souls by RJ Nolan
Hold My Hand by AC Oswald
BUTCH/FEMME COUPLES
Lost for Words by Andrea Bramhall (to be published in August)
Departure from the Script by Jae
Just Physical by Jae
Between the Lines by KD Williamson
PARANORMAL
Glass Lions by JD Glass
First Blood by JD Glass
Beyond and Begone by Lois Cloarec Hart
Yak by Lois Cloarec Hart
Second Nature by Jae
True Nature by Jae
Manhattan Moon by Jae
Good Enough to Eat by Jae & Alison Grey
Wicked Things (anthology) by Jae & Astrid Ohletz
Ex-Wives of Dracula by Georgette Kaplan
The Secret of Sleepy Hollow by Andi Marquette
HOLIDAY BOOKS
Do You Feel What I Feel by Jae & Fletcher DeLancey
Love Beneath the Christmas Tree by Jae
Under a Falling Star by Jae
The Bureau of Holiday Affairs by Andi Marquette
SPORTS ROMANCE
Code of Conduct by Cheyenne Blue (to be published in June)
Rock and a Hard Place by Andrea Bramhall
Romancing the Kicker by Catherine Lane (to be published in November)
Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE & MYSTERY
Archer Securities by Jove Belle
Fenced-In Felix by Cheyenne Blue
Collide-O-Scope by Andrea Bramhall
Under Parr by Andrea Bramhall
The Last First Time by Andrea Bramhall
Evolution of an Art Thief by Jessie Chandler
The Lavender List by Meg Harrington
Four Steps by Wendy Hudson
Mine to Keep by Wendy Hudson
Conflict of Interest by Jae
Next of Kin by Jae
If Looks Could Kill by Andi Marquette
The Red Files by Lee Winter
Daughter of Baal by Gill McKnight
A Heist Story by Ellen Simpson
Blurred Lines by KD Williamson
Crossing Lines by KD Williamson
Between the Lines by KD Williamson
Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter
Under Your Skin by Lee Winter (to be published in June)
SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE
The Art of Us by KL Hughes
Face It by Georgette Kaplan
Barring Complications by Blythe Rippon
Getting Back by Cindy Rizzo
Times of our Lives by Jane Waterton
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Pax 2017 Panels day 1
Today was an unrivaled success. I didn’t break anything.
Western Dating Sims: Beyond Tsunderdome
Are we having fun: Playing games critically
The State of Queer in games
Western Dating Sims: Beyond Tsunderdome
Barbara Kerr https://ms45.itch.io/
Jack Crnjanin
Pritika Sachdev
Cassiel Kelner localiser, translates from Japanese to English
Shakari former insomniac now indie
Jess Zammit games critic Queerly represent me
Not a competition between Western and Japanese dating sims, both are good. But there are trends.(The panel talked a bit about Japanese games too anyway)
Main difference: more established genre in Japan, less accepted in the West.
Basic framework: generic main character. Selection of different kinds of love interests, often very tropey. Situations range from mundane to fantastical.
Kenka Bancho Otome Dating sim where you are crossdressing as your brother at a fighting school and have to beat the boys to get them to respect. (Not available in English but checking the spelling lead me to an anime adaptation on Crunchyroll, no idea if it’s any good)
Often don't have much family, no mention of that background.
Freshman and Sophomore cute have f/f. (Couldn’t find links for these, sadly)
Saying exactly what somebody wants to hear until they kiss you- is that bad?
Everyone showered DAO characters with gifts.
Desire in the west to mirror the complexity of real relationships.
Examples mentioned: Cute Demon Crashers, Lady Killer In A Bind.
Strategic dating is good:
predictable
choose a character you will definitely like
"Game-Like"
clear differentiation between characters
learn how to interact with people
Kindness Coins: dating sims are safe. I can't be hurt, if I get scared I can shut it down. Safe space. Explore sex, relationships, communication.
Counterpoint: Strategic dating is bad:
predictable
replicates shitty real life behaviour "I was nice to you, you should date me", like blaming FPS for violence
Not much fun for the developer
Complex games justify complex mechanics
Tusks: gay orc dating sim. Can enable NPC autonomy. harder than he expected.
Queer relationships (Queer and gay used as synonyms a lot this panel :/)
Producing your own games allows you to reflect yourself
Coming Out On Top: straight dev, lots of consultation. A bit tropey in parts but not too bad.
Tusks: complex variables & approval w queer orcs
Lady Killer In A Bind BDSM safety warnings in loading screens
The Crown and The Flame it's good to be the queen. Pixelberry just lets you bang anybody. Kind of have to pay to follow the f/f path fully in some games.
Further recs:
Astoria Fate's Kiss: greek gods and mythological figures. Equal partnership with Hades. Medusa's story is full of queer characters, often you feel like the only queer character in a game, normalises it. Alex is non binary.
Brooktown High cheesy typical highschool game. Can be a boy or girl but have to be m/f. A bit dated, so bad that it's good. PSP game.
Pixelberry Choices: can date m or f, choose stuff about PC.
Dream Daddy is a very straight gay game but fun.
Date or Die.
A game about dating Japanese warlords that may or may not be Destiny’s Princess
The Arcana
Paris the City of Love
Fire Emblem: Fates
Great Personality
There was a liveplay of part of Dream Daddy. The audience voted overhwhelmingly to talk to Damien first.
Are we having fun: Playing games critically
Rami Ismail: @tha_rami
Alayna Cole: @AlynaMCole
Dakoda Barker: @JiroJames
David Hollingworth: @CPTHollingworth
Jess Zammit: zammitjess
Distinction between playing for work and fun?
We do this because we like games, except for the games we do in fact hate.
Rami: Started making games before he started playing, modding code in simple ways in QBASIC (this is also how I got started).
Alayna: Being paid in neocoins to make people's profiles. Didn't realise until after highschool that coding skills could be used to make games.
(And then I stopped keeping track of who said what)
Took a while to realise it could actually be a job.
Having been a critic changes the experience, doesn't make it less fun just different. Same with reading or watching tv when you're a writer.
Yonder the cloud catcher chronicles: playing to review took away from her enjoyment because she had to get a review done quickly when it's supposed to be played in a slow, relaxing way.
As a creator he’s looking for shortcuts and tricks. Walks back and forth to test out where he thinks a loading point is. "Did you see that cool action scene?" vs "Did you see that cool slow zoom??"
Played intro area of Mario Odyssey. This is so good I’m angry, time to pack up the games industry.
"I wish I could do that"
Used to be a rule never to give 10/10. Now they do it if they just really love a game.
Have to put a game down to play the next one, it’s frustrating.
Criticism doesn't have to be finding flaws but can be figuring out how it works. Creator’s job is to trick the player into believing that the world of the game is real and the plot is important.
What does it mean to you to play games critically?
Looking at the game means looking at the creator. What are they trying to do or say? How do they execute it? Even AAA games have a group of humans behind them.
Rami cheerfully ruined games for everyone eg FIFA goalies perform worst at the end to give more last minute wins. Every game with percentages is lying. If you are told it's 50% accuracy people expect not to lose more than one time in a row. Humans think stuff is "fair" when it's in their favour.
"It's a platformer where you shoot things...about love." How is that mechanic making you feel love?
Bad games can be informative. Earth Defense Force. Defending cities from giant ants. "I want ants. 1000!" "That can't work with the frame rate" "AND LASERS."
Every bit of a game is controlled. Someone chose every detail to be the way it is. Ask why it is the way it is.
Good to question the choices people see as default. "Did you notice every character is a white dude?" Things that are considered important vs things that are just made "the default"
Is there a conflict as both critic and developer? Even the positive feedback made him feel bad, he just focused on any negative aspect. Conscious as a reviewer of not attacking the developer themselves. Still write spiteful humourous reviews, but avoid attacking developer, know there are things they can do better.
Giving feedback is hard. Rather than questioning intent, help them achieve their intent better.
By the time you get most negative feedback, you know about the flaws, have heard about it all before. Let people be angry for three weeks, then fix. Half the time they end up fine with it.
People who play a game a lot will say it's too easy, if you listen to them you’ll make a game that puts off new players.
A player might say "this weapon is too strong" but they mean "the boss is too easy" or "you get the weapon too early". Listen, but not too hard.
Multiplayer game, teams supposed to be balanced, but one team kept winning. Turned out one had louder guns, made them more aggressive so they won. FEEDBACK IS HARD.
Who you are giving the feedback to makes a big difference. A student, a friend, a developer you want to help, asked to write a snarky review.
Games CAN be fun, but expecting them to be JUST that is reductive. Games can let you feel something, find catharsis.
We are affected by everything we engage with.
Games are part of a wider industry. Pays peoples wages, needs to be looked at critically.
Even if it's just fun for you, someone else might have a different experience from the same game. I won't tell you what games are for you and you don’t tell me what games are for me.
If you're at PAX you spent money to be here, you care.
"just" for fun implies “fun” is not a great value.
Knowing his game helped someone in hospital deal with pain.
If you want to be a good game maker, play lots of games and see how they're made. Keeping a journal of every game he plays.
If you are playing a game and feel something, figure out why.
When giving a student a game, give them a challenge like "explain X to me", so they have guidance, a direction to go in.
Thinking critically in a fun way: fun to write reviews when you're angry. Critical isn't negative, just more active.
You can't force players to engage in any specific way, just make the game and let them do their thing.
Some players will get really angry anyway so just make your game.
Hype can work against you as a reviewer, makes it hard to be objective if the game disappointed you. Can also be hard to say you loved a game if everyone else hated it.
Balance frustration with a sense of achievement. Frustration is a tool, as is a grind. The “random” drops aren’t entirely random: if you haven't gotten anything good in a while it'll give you something nice, and if you get a good drop too early it gets held back. Testing, see how people feel. If people aren't complaining you're doing something wrong. If everyone complains about all classes it's balanced.
Nanojam 3.0: Wacky Live Game Design
Jason Imms, Rami Ismail, Paul Verhoeven, Leonie Yue, Maize Wallin, Lucy Morris
So a little before this started my body went NOPE NOPE NAP TIME, and while I did manage to drag myself in near the end I wasn’t up to taking notes. I had a great time though, it was hilarious. The panel got given silly ideas for games and brainstormed them together, while an artist drew illustrations.
The State of Queer in games
Ashton McAllen @acegiak
Saf Davidson @wanderlustin
Charlie Francis kennedy @CharliethGfish
Alayna Cole @alynamcole queerly represent me
Jess Zammit @zammitjess
David Hollingworth @cpthollingworth
What have the panelists played in 2017 that was really good queer rep:
Horizon Zero Dawn subtle, sidequests, feels very natural
Tacoma lesbian couple part of the main cast. Very cute, positive and real.
Miss Fisher's Murder Mystery has cute background f/f couple.
Life is Strange Before the Storm isn't very gay yet but is going to be.
Mighty Games added queer couple to the background of Charming Rooms, support for marriage equality in update in Shooty Skies. Good place to work, big "Vote Yes" sign on the window.
Dream Daddy: lets you choose your previous partner and how child was born, cool as an adopted person. (Also makes it easier to play trans character)
Pyre: choose pronouns
Lady Killer In A Bind lets you skip sex scenes, has an option in the menu you can change at any time.
Night in the Woods. Background m/m couple.
Little moments that people enjoyed:
Heartstruck app dating sim (you ate the daughter of a president) LI actually SAYS she is bi. (not sure if the same as Lovestruck?)
Hacknet Labyrinths: Incidental queer content is good, rather than PLOT TWIST THEY'RE TRANS.
Criminal Case Pacific Bay: Background f/f in a hidden object game.
Recs from audience:
Overwatch made Tracer a lesbian, but only in extended content. In that case not so bad because of the nature of the game. All back stories are extended content (compare to harry Potter). She has a line in the game where she mentions her girlfriend.
Tides of Torment Numenara: 2 body types and 3 pronouns.
Stumbling blocks and salt:
Mass Effect Andromeda: had trans character tell you her deadname. At least they fixed it.
Where are the explicitly ace and bi characters??
Lost phone turns out to be owned by trans woman, feels really vouyeuristic, inspiration porn. No agency or voice.
Why isn't there more incidental queerness??? So easy!!
Don't rec stuff to us JUST because it's queer if it's not something we'd enjoy.
Only representation is aliens and robots.
Even in most games with incidental queerness it's a tiny drop in a sea of heteronormativity.
South Park lets you pick your gender etc and you get attacked for whatever it is. The fact it happens to cis people won't make it less awful for trans characters. Game designers need to talk to people with diverse POVs and have diverse teams.
Why not 3 body types, or sliders? Saints Row is the bar.
Encountered none as a reviewer of AAA games over 2017 (was playing as a dude in Mass Effect Andromeda and got bored before encountering any queer content)
Can make Shelob a sexy woman but not add queerness to Tolkein??
Annoyed that it's SO notable that a character has a gender neutral pronoun option.
As a trans person I am escaping my shitty life as a trans person, I don't need that in a game.
List of demands:
Gender neutral pronoun options if there’s a gender/pronoun choice. Charlie will help you.
Bisexual anything.
Asexual humans.
Robots having sex.
Incidental queers.
Explicitly non binary characters, not necessarily androgynous.
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10,000 Worlds; 10,000 Feminisms: What Even IS Feminist Science Fiction Anyway? - Wiscon 41 panel write-up
These tend to be long and only of interest to specific segments of folk so click the clicky to read.
Disclaimers:
I hand write these notes and am prone to missing things, skipping things, writing things down wrong, misreading my own handwriting, and making other mistakes. So this is by no means a full transcript.
Corrections, additions, and clarifications are most welcome. I’ve done my best to get people’s pronouns and other identifiers correct, but please do let me know if I’ve messed any up. Corrections and such can be made publicly or privately on any of the sites I’m sharing these write-ups on(tumblr and dreamwidth for full writings, facebook and twitter for links), and I will correct ASAP.
My policy is to identify panelists by the names written in the programming book since that’s what they’ve chosen to be publicly known as. If you’re one of the panelists and would prefer something else - let me know and I’ll change it right away.
For audience comments, I will only say general “audience member” kind of identifier unless the individual requests to be named.
Any personal notes or comments I make will be added in like this [I disagree because blah] - showing this was not part of the panel vs. something like “and then I spoke up and said blah” to show I actually added to the panel at the time.
10,000 Worlds; 10,000 Feminisms: What Even IS Feminist Science Fiction Anyway?
Moderator: Julie C. Day. Panelists: Jackie Gross (ladyjax), Lauren Lacey, (Kini Ibura Salaam was listed, but unable to make the panel due to travel issues)
#10000Worlds - lots of livetweets if you want to see more, also lists of recs including stuff I’m sure I missed
Julie introduced herself, saying this was her first WisCon, she is a writer, and “I am weird.”
Lauren introduced herself and talked about teaching at Edgewood college - teaches contemporary speculative fiction and directs the women and gender studies program. She recently taught a class on contemp. global feminisms.
Jackie introduced herself as a writer of fanfic (ladyjax on AO3), and also teaches at UC Berkley. Used to work for a women’s bookstore. Motherlands was the first feminist book she read at age 13. She said she started out as a feminist, and then a black feminist, and then a lesbian black feminist.
Julie started off the questions about SF as feminism being a broad category, so make it personal, and asked the panelists to list off a couple of best/worst works of feminist SF.
Lauren said a not-fave of hers is Sheri Tepper’s work, specifically Beauty. Revised fairy tales are ways that SFF writers were re-appropriating fairy tales. As feminists, we should be asking ourselves what do we keep - not just in our fiction but in general (example: the institution of marriage - what’s good about it, what it isn’t, etc.).
Lauren listed Angela Carter’s work as an example of her favorite feminist SF.
In regards to Tepper’s work, Lauren said that instead of re-working fairy tales, Tepper was just doing the same things. She also talked about dystopian narratives as being about how everything sucks, and thinks the point of feminist SF should be about giving hope.
Jackie brought up Daughters of a Coral Dawn by Katherine Forrest, which she hates with the fire of a thousand suns. It was hyped up, but she thought it was bad, although she likes Forrest’s other works.
Julie talked about feminist fiction as a reflection of how things are vs. pathways forward to something better - not necessarily perfect but better as opposed to the dystopian/utopian paradigm.
Jackie discussed the idea of entry points where you find yourself in a narrative. She references Suzy McKee Charnas’ Holdfast Chronicles, which brings you from the past to the present to the future, and Shelly Singer’s The Demeter Flower - “we seem to go to the woods a lot!” It’s like something goes wrong, women pack it up and head for the woods. There are lots of similar stories, you read them to see how this story does this kind of narrative differently. Charnas has others in this genre, also Motherlands.
Jackie laments that dystopias now are for the sake of the dystopia vs. being commentary on where we’re going wrong and how to change that. [I disagree but get where she’s coming from]
Jackie tells us that the director of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins, shot a film series with the idea of slow dystopia called Futurestates.
Julie asked the panelists about the function of YA dystopias. The teen state is about identity and rebellion, coming of age and opposition to authority.
Jackie posited that there is a difference between a dystopia and a distaster.
Lauren said a story doesn’t have to be just a dystopia or utopia, it can combine elements of both. She mentioned Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler’s Parable series as dystopias that represent the hope of resistance/rebellion.
She also brought up the New Wave 70′s stories where there was this narrative of women just entering SF (when actually we’ve always been here). At this time, there were a lot of feminist utopias - all female societies where men show up. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gillman is an earlier example of this type of feminist utopia.
Lauren talked some more about the timelines of these kinds of stories - the 90′s had an explosion of the more dystopian type, but they always existed as well. The dominate culture latched on to this kind of prepatory dystopia around that time.
Jackie said that she feels differently about Handmaid’s Tale now than in the 80′s when it came out. “All of this has happened to My people already.” Can/should the show give us stories of the people who were wiped out instead of just saying “they’ve killed all of these people” as part of the narrative. For example, in a conversation with a friend, they were wondering - how would the hood react when this started - because the hood is armed up.
She also talked about Womanseed by Sunlight, which has this idea of different people and groups of people who left society at different points eventually finding one another and joining up. Another example is Steve Barnes’ series that begins with the book Streetlethal about 2 different extremes of people working together.
Julie brought up Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea as examples where the narrative makes us relate to the main character so much that we’re pulled in to their reality. The real victim is the mad woman in the attic, but we don’t see that at first because of the point of view character.
Lauren said that a good writer will flag those silences so that we see who isn’t being represented by the main narrative. James Tiptree does this well. Literary theory asks the question - who can speak, and how can they speak.
Julie talked about feminist SF as being intersectional. An example is Ursula Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness and how reading this, she was exposed to ideas of gender identity much sooner than she would have otherwise. SFF leaves room for more expansion of ideas - gives permission for more and lets you experience things and transforms you in different ways.
Jackie emphasized getting away from the mainstream - especially look for gay and lesbian publishers. She mentions Return to Isis by Jean Stewart - things go bad, a new society develops, but there is war with others. Also Swords of the Rainbow, and Gilda Stories. Basically, seek out things that won’t get published by mainstream publishers.
Another example she gave was Space Traders by Derrick Bell, which asks the question - what happens when aliens show up and say they’ll solve all your problems if you give us all of your black people. It’s told as a fable that’s already happened.
She talked about how early copies of Octavia Butler’s Dawn featured a white woman, so it took awhile when reading the book to realize the main character was black. There was an another example like this that I missed the title and author of, but when the publisher was asked why they did this with the cover, the response was that 1) black people don’t read scifi [UGH] and 2) white people won’t read a book if there’s a black person on the cover [DOUBLE UGH].
Lauren brought up the fact that Indigenous fiction is sold as “Native American” fiction even if it should be put in other genres. She agrees about looking outside the mainstream. The mainstream is what publishes think sells, so we have to seek this other stuff out to find it, and also to send the message of what we want to see more of.
Julie talked more about gay and lesbian publishers still being very necessary.
Jackie added that Barnes and Noble might sell a book by one of these publishers, but it’s the only copy they have, and if it’s a book in a series they won’t have the other books, plus it will be shoved into the LGBT section in the corner. On the other hand, when Jackie was hand-selling books in a feminist bookstore, it meant being able to say “this is book #5 - do you want me to get 1-4 for you?”
Amazon’s name was taken from a woman’s bookstore - it’s important to remember our history. Mama Bear’s was the last woman’s bookstore in California.
Lauren brought up that on Amazon, it can be harder to find certain things because people can bid to be at the top of search lists. Amazon and Google are rigged - making smaller publishers and self-published books harder to find.
An audience member shouted out - “Library catalogs are not rigged!”
Julie stated that there are many narratives to tell and asked the panelists if things have changed?
Lauren said it’s dangerous to historicize the present, but there are ways in which the dominant popular culture has embraced SFF and it’s interesting to look at the ways that has contained the genre.
She added that we should check out WisCon’s Guests of Honor and Tiptree noms for examples of all of the great stuff out there right now. She said that 10 years ago when she was studying SF, people were surprised that it was a thing you could do - but now people are getting it more.
Jackie said she was fortunate to have studied the golden age of SF. She added that she was a Tiptree judge a few years ago - it’s not all necessarily feminist, but there’s a lot that is. She recommended All That Outer Space Allows by Ian Sales. In this story, women write SF but it’s seen as sort of housewife stuff. This ends up meaning that only women can see spaceships when they come.
Jackie also said that reading everything for the Tiptree judging showed her that while not everything she had to read was great - yes, there are indeed 10,000 narratives out there.
Jackie and Lauren discussed how people are looking for more Hunger Games-like stories, but that doesn’t work for everyone. Authors can’t keep telling the same thing over and over.
Julie discussed how publishers, editors, etc. may not connect to certain narratives, but that has more to say about them and their own biases than about the stories not getting published.
An audience member asked if there was a word for created societies that are neither dystopian nor utopian. Julie offered heterotopia. An example is Le Guin’s Dispossessed.
Another audience member said they are looking for publishers of contemporary feminist SF - not feminist fantasy and especially not romantic fantasy.
Jackie suggested Aqueduct Press, but also said not to discount the romantics. For example, Romantic Times reviews a lot of SF. Romance can be a gateway genre to SF.
An audience member brought up Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy as having a balance of dystopia and utopia, where the utopian society is based on reproductive technologies. (Either this audience member or Lauren on the panel - my notes aren’t clear which) stated that their students love that, as well as Octavia Butler’s work.
Another audience rec is Rachel Pollack’s Unquenchable Fire. Jackie seconds this rec and added that it’s a real mind bender.
Jackie said that utopias can get so boring, whereas many dystopias are like - well that’s kinda how life is.
An audience member said that as a male, he enjoyed the wave of feminist utopias because he found they were the only ones he actually wanted to live in - not like the male-written ones he’d previously read.
Jackie mentions The Wanderground by Sally Miller Gearheart as another in this genre.
An audience member asked Lauren about finding feminist SF on a global level. Lauren said it’s out there but in the US, we don’t tend to like reading stuff that comes from elsewhere, so it’s harder to find.
Jackie said that everything nominated for Tiptree is easily findable on their website. Also manga is get-able.
Lauren talked about how a lot of work from writers in India gets described as fantasy but there are genre issues there due to people writing about Hindu traditions and getting labeled “fantasy.”
Jackie mentioned the discussions that happened recently on twitter in regards to Justine Larbalestier and Magical Realism genre issues - post-modern female authors just tend to get labeled that way and it can be problematic.
An audience member brought up Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing. Jackie talked about it as coming from the SFF and woman’s spirituality movements, and added that San Fransisco SFF slipstream fic is a whole thing.
At this point of the panel a ton of recommendations got tossed out, but I’d stopped taking notes because I had to hurry off to the green room for my own panel in the next time slot. Do check out the twitter hashtag as the livetweeters were pretty diligent about getting those listed.
#10000worlds#wiscon#wiscon 41#wiscon41#wc41#10000 worlds#10000 feminisms#wiscon panel write-ups#feminist science fiction
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part 7 of the fire lesbian chronicles! (part 6, part 5, part 4, and parts 1, 2 and 3.)
with hero’s body safely tucked away in the coffin hailee spent most of her life in, hailee feels..accomplished.
she hears cal knock on the door. “come in,” hailee says composing herself. she’s been watching hero for a few months now, listening to her thoughts, taking notes on her posture. she knows how hero talks to cal.
“i heard a thump..? i was wondering if you were okay.” hailee wants to roll her eyes, but restrains herself. she not-so-subtly starts playing with the blue-and-red heart charm around her neck, trying to look as sad and depressed as possible.
“i’m...fine. just...distracted.” she nods to him. “you know how it is.”
he nods back. “it’s her birthday, right?”
he doesn’t need to say what her he means. there is only one fire manipulist born on december 16th, as far as hailee knows. she turns toward the window, getting up from hero’s war chair.
“this needs to end.” she whispers. hero’s hesitation to fight leah. hero’s feelings for leah, hero’s isolation. hero.
“what?”
oh, she’d almost forgotten that cal was still there. “this needs to end.” she repeated, louder this time. “this sitting around castles doing nothing, this hesitation.” he looks surprised. hailee doesn’t blame him--he’s been dealing with a constantly distracted hero for three years.
three years. three glorious years. three years of freedom, of plotting, of watching.
hero’s fury and grief had been what woke hailee from her sleep the night tessa died.
which brings her to a new thought...how was it that that woke her up? sure, hero cared about tessa, but not that much. maybe it was leah’s betrayal?
she looks back at cal, and sees him staring curiously at her right wrist. she immediately links her hands behind her back. she’s not sure what it is about her wrist that has cal staring at it, but anything that makes him suspicious of her is unacceptable. she resolves to check hero later and look for anything on her wrist.
just out of curiosity, she looks at cal’s wrist. a wide silver bracelet covers it.
ah. maybe hero has one, too. she’ll grab it tonight.
“we find...her, and her friends, and we end this.”
“hero...what brought this up?”
he’s looking at her so intently, she’s sure he’s searching for her--hero’s--tells. she shrugs. “it’s just...time.”
he steps closer, she she reaches out and gently takes his wrist--the one with the bracelet--in her left hand. his eyebrows scrunch.
“i decided it was time to let old things go.” she holds her breath.
he narrows his eyes at her, and removes his wrist from her hand. “hero...why aren’t you wearing your bracelet?”
oh, this is bad. “i...must’ve lost it on my walk.” he doesn’t look like he believes her, so she adds, “i’ll get a new one, i promise.”
he still doesn’t look convinced, but lets it go. “i’ll head a reconnaissance misson. we’ll find leah, and dove, and whoever else is with them. we’ll end this, like you want.” and with that, he
hailee smiles at him, as he glances back before he closes to the door. maybe this was going to work. she knew cal would be the hardest to convince--he was the closest to hero, after all. they had a lot of history. she hoped hero hadn’t told him about her...that would make it complicated if he brought it up to her.
but, she tells herself. i’ll focus on that later. for now, let’s concentrate on finding leah newport and burning her to ashes.
followers of the fire lesbian cult
O great creator: me
cult president: @enbies-and-felonies
vice cult president: @that-aro-asshat
cult empress of {something cool}: @clearlykeefitz
cult dutchess: @midnightbunnyy
cult treasurer: @book-limerence
@silver-snow
@pencil-is-my-sword
@alienlamp
@cozy-the-overlord
#this is 595 words of hailee panicking and cal being suspicious#i'm sorry it's really boring and not shippy but apparently it's called Plot?? idk i'd never heard about it before#amelia's fire lesbians#my fire lesbians#FIRE LESBIANSSSSS!!#not really though....#new tag time!!#evil fire clone lady tries to kill fire lesbian#yeah that has a nice ring to it#also a slight inaccuracy...hero is bi not lesbian#but they're still the fire lesbians cuz i say so#when i said hero and cal had History you know how i meant it#right?#me? editing this? after it's already posted? it's more likely than you think.
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What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in? What are the best things about your current fandom? Any NoTPs? Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike? If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of? What inspires you to write? Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics? Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world!
So many questions, @idealai!
What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?
I think that the most welcoming one and the one with the fewest gatekeepers was Highlander: The Series–this would have been around 1998-2003. That’s the one where I learned the most about research; the series wasn’t big on historical accuracy, but the fans that I ran with were…and they were vocal about it. It’s also the fandom where I learned about writing crack taken seriously, roleplaying with characters, and so on.
What are the best things about your current fandom?
For A Song of Ice and Fire? The meta, hands down. I learn a lot about world-building from people’s detailed constructions (and deconstructions) of backstory for the books and for the show (and I’ve written about them in an essay in Fan Phenomena: Game of Thrones).
For Harry Potter? The inclusive headcanons about established characters, original characters, and wizarding schools around the world, most of which beat both Rowling’s canon and the ghostwritten Pottermore essays all hollow. There are so many great ideas in the Potter fandom about how to make fantasy richer and better, and I love drinking them in.
Rewritten fairy tales? T. Kingfisher, a.k.a Ursula Vernon. You NEED to read the Kingfisher books, OMG.
Elsewhere University for the style.
Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch in the Night? THE WRITING. The story will break your heart a thousand times, but for God’s sake, read it.
Any NoTPs?
Oh, yes. I don’t like Remus/Tonks because I didn’t like its setup. It would have been fine if they had been unashamedly in love, but I disliked Tonks pining for Remus to the point where she lost her powers and Remus deciding shortly after his marriage that he was going to desert his wife. I always thought that those two would have gotten divorced within a matter of months if they hadn’t died in the war; there didn’t seem to be enough there to glue their relationship together. (And my impression that Rowling created the ship to negate Remus/Sirius–forgetting that bisexuality exists–does not help.)
Bottom line…it’s a NOTP because it’s so poorly crafted that I can’t believe it. It feels shoehorned in.
I tend to regard incest ships as NOTPs–like Pevensie-cest in the Chronicles of Narnia fandom, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark in ASOIAF and GoT (actually cousins, but raised as half-brother and half-sister), or Circlecest in the Emelan fandom (Circlecest involves a circle of four mage prodigies, all of whom have been foster siblings since they were ten or eleven and all of whom consider themselves to be one brother and three sisters).
I freely admit that the Pevensies and the Circle kids are emotionally closer to each other than anyone else (though I don’t feel that Jon and Sansa are in that position); I just don’t think that this means that the Pevensies or the Circle kids have to fuck. Instead, I want Tris Chandler to come to terms with her asexuality (a popular headcanon) while smacking down everyone else’s fatphobia (canon) while her sister Daja Kisubo finds herself a nice, understanding girlfriend (yes, she’s explicitly and canonically lesbian).
Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?
Harry/Draco. I’ve always seen Draco as a bully who got in over his head, and that hasn’t changed. I also don’t like Jaime Lannister/Brienne the Blue. No matter how much Jaime appears to change, he still threw a seven-year-old out a window, permanently disabling him, because the kid saw Jaime having sex with his sister. I feel that both Harry and Brienne deserve better.
If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?
Honestly, I don’t know. I’d be too busy being flabbergasted that anyone wanted to do so.
What inspires you to write?
As a rule, the juxtaposition of an impossibly difficult situation and how Character X would try to change it, improve it, escape it, etc.–I’m a big fan of plot arising out of a character’s personality and actions–or a piece of canon that is in dire need of fixing or explaining. I also love AUs and crossovers, and taking a cracktastic situation and finding a way to make it make sense.
Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?
I write both one-shots and multi-chapter fics. I’ve never managed anything of epic length, which I’d define as being 100K words or more
Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction?
Sometimes. It depends on how much energy I have that day, as writing reviews (or answering them) generally takes me hours. If I don’t have the energy to review or if I’m in pain that day, I just leave kudos. And I always feel bad about not providing a long and detailed, because I love to hear from readers myself…even if I do get embarrassed and have a hard time answering reviews.
Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world!
Uh...can I take a rain check on that? Thanks to political and economic stress, I’m feeling exhausted at the moment, and ranting and gushing both cost a lot in energy. Sorry.
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New top story from Time: The 5 Best New Shows Our TV Critic Watched in May 2020
Summer is, at least theoretically, almost upon us. Which helps to explain why even the platforms that have enough seasons stockpiled to last through the pandemic have begun their previously scheduled transition from the cerebral fare that kept us nourished through the first four months of this impossible year. Along with slapped-together reality junk from broadcast networks on autopilot, May has offered an impressive array of sunnier entertainments. My favorite new shows this month include an animated comedy from the Bob’s Burgers folks, a dreamy series about downtown skater girls, a trip back in time to Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and more. For additional recommendations, check out my picks from April, March and February.
Betty (HBO)
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The teenage map of New York City—with its parks, public pools, takeout joints and cramped dive bars that don’t card—is a landscape in constant motion. That parallel realm is the setting of HBO’s Betty, a half-hour dramedy adapted by Crystal Moselle from her wonderful 2018 indie film Skate Kitchen. With macho skate culture as its backdrop, it follows five young women from a variety of backgrounds as they claim space at the skate park, party, pursue crushes and get in trouble. The show inherits both its cast (members of a real all-female skate crew) and its loose, kinetic vibe from the movie. Each character has the authenticity of a real person: Kirt (Nina Moran) is the goofy, extroverted lesbian Casanova. Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) hangs with male skaters but is starting to doubt that they have her back. Like so much coming-of-age fare, it chronicles self-discovery through friendship; everyone’s unique set of privileges and struggles slowly comes into focus. But it is Moselle’s eye for the gritty beauty of the teenage city and the youthful energy of its inhabitants—specifically the free-spirited girls who roam its sidewalks with boards in hand—that makes Betty a breath of fresh summertime air.
Central Park (Apple TV+)
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A sense of civic pride suffuses Central Park, a delightful animated comedy created by Bob’s Burgers team Loren Bouchard and Nora Smith with Josh Gad (Frozen, Avenue 5). Like in Burgers, a family of lovable oddballs does the thankless work that gives their lives meaning. A sweet nerd in head-to-toe khaki, Owen Tillerman (voiced by Leslie Odom Jr.) manages the titular New York landmark, where the family also lives in a scruffy castle. His wife Paige (Kathryn Hahn) writes for the city’s “most-left-on-the-subway paper” and longs to move on from fluff pieces to hard news. Their children nurse their own obsessions: comic artist Molly (Kristen Bell) with a certain boy, and her brother Cole (Tituss Burgess) with animals. [Read TIME’s full review.]
The Great (Hulu)
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It’s kind of a funny story: a penniless teenage girl (Elle Fanning’s Catherine) bides her time in a terrible arranged marriage until she’s positioned to hijack an empire—and actually triumphs. Tony McNamara, who co-wrote Oscar darling The Favourite, certainly sees the humor in it. As creator of The Great, he offers another droll, raunchy, yet sneakily insightful account of 18th century court intrigue. It isn’t quite the perfectly paced masterpiece that movie was; some episodes drag, including a smallpox romp that’s more tiresome than timely. Still, its witty dialogue and lively performances from Fanning and Nicholas Hoult (who plays her ill-fated husband Peter III) yield a sharp, fun dramedy. [Read the full review.]
Laurel Canyon (Epix)
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Baby boomers’ nostalgia for the pop culture of their youth can be a noxious, ahistorical thing, yielding too many uncritical celebrations of figures and events that look a lot more complex in retrospect. That is, in large part, what makes Laurel Canyon such a welcome surprise. As someone with little patience for ’60s supremacism, I was surprised at how much I got out of the two-part docuseries (airing on May 31 and June 7). Director Alison Ellwood doesn’t just take a comprehensive look back at one of the 20th century’s most mythologized music scenes; she also complicates that mythology, reckoning with the many failures of the era’s utopian youth culture and pulling in voices that never made the jump from the canyon to the popular imagination. Ellwood includes a telling vignette about how the visionary rock band Love, who arrived on the scene long before many of their contemporaries but whose racially integrated makeup prevented them from touring in the South, saw their fame eclipsed by acts like The Doors. Under-recognized women such as photographer Nurit Wilde talk about carving out niches as artists rather than groupies. On a less politicized note, Ellwood paints a fuller picture of the canyon’s musical community—where, for instance, Alice Cooper and The Monkees were known to rub elbows at Frank Zappa’s house—than most gauzy remembrances of an enclave known for its folk-rock singer-songwriters have conjured, without sacrificing the doc’s sense of intimacy.
Legendary (HBO Max)
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The HBO Max launch has been something of a mixed bag. While the new streaming service has a superlative catalog (I might’ve teared up a bit at the sight of every Studio Ghibli movie in one place), many viewers have expressed frustration that those titles aren’t yet accessible through Roku or Fire TV. Max’s initial lineup of original shows also feels like a bit of an afterthought. The exception is this reality competition that finds ball culture—whose late ’80s/early ’90s New York heyday is the backdrop for FX’s Pose—alive and well and thriving all over the world. Real-life houses go head-to-head in categories judged by boldface names that range from extremely appropriate (ballroom icon Leiomy Maldonado) to straight-up random (The Good Place alum Jameela Jamil). And while the show raises some tough questions about the mainstreaming of queer, trans, black and brown subcultures, the fun, fierce, resourceful artistry on display and the moving bonds the show captures between members of each house make Legendary well worth watching.
via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste
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IT’S MAY Y’ALL. Even though I’ll still be doing blog posts in May, it’s not going to be as hectic, as I finally finished my second year of university and have decided to take it easy after a very packed April.
I’m also doing things a little different with my wrap up this month by getting rid of star ratings. I watched a video on it, and I just feel like I’d rather people go by my actual comments on the books than look at the rating and decide that covers all my thoughts. I still have star ratings on Goodreads for my own personal use, but I’m doing my best to start writing proper summaries of my thoughts from now on!
READING WRAP UP
Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan– a solid follow up to the first book, although there’s a startling lack of dragons in a series about a dragon naturalist! Definitely go into this one expecting a lot more politics than book 1, and Isabella starting a lot of Drama.
The Elementals by Michael McDowell– such an amazing horror novel! McDowell is so underrated for a writer who wrote predominantly in the seventies and eighties, and it’s so tragic how young he died.
Princess Jellyfish Volume 1 by Akiko Higashimura– such a disappointing read. It’s really problematic, to the point where it drastically impacted my enjoyment of the plot, especially when I’ve got so many other more recent manga I could be enjoying more than this.
Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 8 by Hiromu Arakawa– speaking of next tier manga… holy shit. I am so scared of volume 9 and finishing this series, it’s meant so much to me and it’s really helped me immerse myself fully in reading manga.
Lumberjanes Volume 9 by Shannon Watters– Barney is a precious precious bean and I love them! This is a roller derby volume, and it was pretty great: I’ve been a fan of roller derby since I first watched Whip It, and this volume was super entertaining!
Lumberjanes Volume 10 by Shannon Watters– wholesome volume where the parents come to visit their kids. I do feel really sad for Molly, but it was nice seeing everyone else’s parents!
Lumberjanes: A Midsummer Night’s Scheme by Nicole Andelfinger– this was a fun bonus one shot comic. However, it does get very cheesy and it’s whole message is just so obvious that them explaining it was very much unneeded.
Smut Peddler Volume 1 by Various Authors– this is a fun anthology of smut comics that I super enjoyed reading. E.K. Weaver’s comic is by far my favourite, and it’s only after I realised that it was a one shot about a character in her webcomic!
Rumple Buttercup BY Matthew Gray Gubler– a very cute children’s graphic novel about loving yourself and finding acceptance!
Smut Peddler Volume 2 by Various Authors– this wasn’t as good as volume 1, but I still read it really quickly and had a fun time looking at the different art styles and methods of story telling!
Dream Daddy by Various Authors– there are so many good moments in this comic, it’s so great. Highly recommend if you’ve played the game, and if you haven’t, check it out, it’s real fun! Damien and Robert’s issue was by far my favourite as they were my favourites in the game too.
Tokyo Ghoul Volume 5 by Sui Ishida– finally, I’m starting to enjoy Tokyo Ghoul. It took a while this volume to actually understand what the hell was happening, but once I did, it really did become something I enjoyed.
Rick and Morty VS Dungeons and Dragons by Patrick Rothfuss– A decent enough read, although there is way too much dialogue and exposition on every page. The font is really small, too, so reading it was a hassle.
Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero– this book was actually terrible and I have a whole review discussing my issues and how harmful it is!
Jackass! Volume 1 by Scarlet Beriko– This is a funny, sweet manga about fetishes and blackmail. It has an age gap romance between an 18 year old and a doctor, and there is some transphobic bullying/weird treatment of bullying being okay if the person has a crush on you, but the main relationship is great, and the MC has a really lovely relationship with his older sister.
Batwoman: Elegy by Greg Rucka– Chronicles the Alice Batwoman arc from Detective Comics, as well as giving the backstory for Kate. It’s so great having a badass DC hero who is a lesbian, whose storyline also touches on homophobia in the ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ era of the military. Glad I finally got to this!
Sparrowhawk #5 by Delilah S Dawson– a really disappointing series conclusion overall. I knew I should’ve just stopped reading after the first issue and I wasn’t feeling it, and I honestly wish I had after such a dissatisfying conclusion. Others may enjoy this, but it really wasn’t for me.
Assassination Classroom Volume 1 by Yusei Matsui— an amazing series starter! Already really moving with a teacher who spends all his time encouraging his students despite being a threat to the entire world they have to kill within the year. I have a feeling this will become a new favourite.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara– really great non-fiction read written by a journalist who played a massive part in the resurgence of talk surrounding the Golden State Killer. You also get some of her life story, and by the end I was almost in disbelief that the author had already died by the time her work was published. I will say it did drag at points, especially in the parts not written by McNamara that had to be finished after she died, but overall a really thorough look into the cases and the victims.
The Woods Volume 5 by James Tynion IV– this series is- dare I say it- picking up? I still have issues with the representation and the fact that most of the main characters to have died, especially in this volume, were POC while the white characters are in the exact same situation and survive. Will have to see if this carries on.
Backwards & In Heels by Alicia Malone– this started off strong, and I found out so much about women in film and their presence in the industry since the creation of film in the 1800’s. However, by the end it got so repetitive and formulaic in the way information was presented that I started skimming. This is more of a coffee-table, occasional-read book when you fancy learning more about amazing women! Also, even though there is diverse rep and talk of lack of hiring of WOC and LGBT+ women in the industry, we also get the author praising white women earlier on in the book who took on roles where they did blackface and yellowface, which really dulled down the conversation in the latter half of the book.
My Love Story!! Volume 6 by Kazune Kawahara– so GOOD. I got so emotional reading this volume, I ended up crying. This is by far one of my favourite manga series, I can’t recommend it enough. It follows tough-but-soft boy Takeo as he enters into a relationship with Yamato, cutest girl in the universe, with the support of his best friend Suna. Truly the PEAK of romantic comedy fiction.
When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry– emotional, hardhitting read about a group of friends who end up with superpowers after discovering a strange alien object. It’s very reminiscent of the film Super 8 in my head, and if you love stories about not only aliens but found families through friendship, highly recommend!
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle– I just don’t think Sherlock Holmes is for me. I love the retellings and adaptations, and in theory, I’m invested in the murder mysteries, but I just think Doyle’s prose weighs it down and there’s always that underlying racism I don’t think is appropriate to even attempt to shake.
And my May TBR Jar pick is…. MY HEART GOES BANG by Keris Stainton!
TV SHOWS/MOVIES/VIDEOS
At the start of the month, I started bingeing Dead Meat videos, a channel entirely revolving around horror. My personal favourite series is the Saw kill count videos, and the movies that changed horror podcast episode James (the host) does with his girlfriend Chelsea (who is amazing)!
I finally watched season 2 of Stranger Things! I adore Steve, as always, and it was such a solid season (BOB). However I did have an issue with the needless rivalry that festered with Elle towards Max, season 3 better sort that and stop pitting girls against each other for no reason other than because of boys.
Zoe from Read by Zoe was on FIRE this month with some really great read-a-thon videos! I loved her 24 read-a-thon vlog especially, she read only books she enjoyed growing up and it all felt really nostalgic.
This is very much a personal one, but my favourite streamer returned to a podcast with the company he used to work for, and it was just…. so heartwarming to watch. I can’t believe he left four years ago! I’ve been watching this company since I was about fourteen, so it was so nice watching this, a long-awaited reunion.
Kat at paperbackdreams did an amaaaaazing video rant reviewing After by Anna Todd, and I loved it. In general Kat is a top tier booktuber for me, I highly recommend her videos as much as I can!
MUSIC I’VE ENJOYED
Pressure by The 1975
Old Town Road Remix by Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus
The Black and White and I Spend Too Much Time in My Room by The Band CAMINO
I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix From US) by Michael Abels, Luniz, Michael Marshall
Soldiers (From Stranger Things) by Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein
REVIEWS I POSTED
Three Romance Reviews: Kulti, The Hating Game and Sunstone
The Elementals Book Review
Meddling Kids Book Review
OTHER POSTS I’VE DONE
Spring Cleaning Book Tag
Film Friday: Favourite Campus Films
Getting Through Exam and Essays: ADVICE
DISCUSSION: Reading at University, and how I do it!
Music Monday: OMG This Song Book Tag
Top Ten Tuesday: Rainy Day Reads
Top Ten Tuesday: First Ten Books I Ever Reviewed on Goodreads
April Wrap Up & May TBR Jar Pick IT'S MAY Y'ALL. Even though I'll still be doing blog posts in May, it's not going to be as hectic, as I finally finished my second year of university and have decided to take it easy after a very packed April.
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OUTshine Film Fest is Back with its 20th Miami Edition
Film lovers, rejoice! In most places in the U.S., you’d be lucky to have even one local LGBT film festival. But here in South Florida, we’ve got two.
A few years ago, the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival merged with the Fort Lauderdale Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and last year the two fests were rechristened as OUTshine. But while the organizations merged, the events themselves did not. OUTshine Film Festival produces two major cinematic events every year: a Miami festival each spring, and one in Fort Lauderdale in the fall.
Perhaps at OUTshine’s Fort Lauderdale edition last October you caught the biopics Tom of Finland or Battle of the Sexes (with Emma Stone as Billie Jean King, and Steve Carell); or the critically acclaimed French paean to the ACT UP years, 120 Beats Per Minute; or one (or both) of the sexy coming-out-and-coming-of-age features Beach Rats and God’s Own Country. Then, no doubt, you focused your attention on the Oscar race from November until the Gay Super Bowl (the Academy Awards broadcast) last month.
Well, now it’s April, and Hollywood is taking its l-o-n-g, annual break from awards-caliber films, so your local cineplex is featuring The Rock battling giant mutant alligators with the help of giant mutant apes (or is it the other way around?), that bomb of a Tomb Raider re-boot (Don’t worry, we still love you, Alicia Vikander!), and Pacific Rim-jobs.
Well, OUTshine’s got your back, cinéastes! Its 20th Miami edition is here this week and next to entertain you, touch you, challenge you, give you a refresher course in LGBT history, and provide the perfect date-night activity for that new crush you want to impress.
The Miami festival boasts dozens of films: features, foreign flix, comedies, tearjerkers, documentaries, and several full slates of shorts — plus panels, an awards brunch, and, of course, parties, parties, parties!
You can bone up on all the important festival details below. Then check out our Hotspots Hot Picks to help you select a film — or two or three. For the full lineup of films, panels and parties, go to outshinefilm.com.
OUTShine Film Festival Miami
Festival dates April 20–29
Regular screening tix Advance ($11 members/$13 guests) and day-of tix ($12 members/$14 guests) are available at outshinefilm.com or 877-766-8156. (Prices shown do not include ticketing fee.)
Special-event tix Tickets for Opening Night, the Centerpiece Film, Closing Night, Ladies Night, Men’s Spotlight and the Award Brunch are also available at outshinefilm.com or 877-766-8156. Prices range from $30 to $70 (plus ticketing fee).
Rush tix 10 minutes before any sold-out show, a very limited number of unclaimed and unused tix may be made available ($15 regular screening/$25 special events; cash only). First come, first served!
Venues All screenings are held at the Regal South Beach (1120 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach) except for the Opening Night Film, which is at the Scottish Rite Temple (471 NW 3rd St, Miami). Panels and parties are held at various locations; for details: outshinefilm.com/events.
OUTshine Miami: Hotspots’ Hot Picks
THE GALA SCREENINGS
My Big Gay Italian Wedding (Puoi Baciare lo Sposo, Italy)
Opening Film Fri Apr 20, 8pm
Antonio and Paolo live happily together in Berlin and are finally getting married. They decide to celebrate in the small village in Italy where Antonio grew up. While his mother immediately supports his intentions, her husband Roberto, the town’s mayor, is not pleased. Paulo, whose conservative mother hasn’t spoken to him since he came out to her, must get her to the wedding as a condition of the marriage. Throw in a couple of wacky roommates and the aisle to the altar is paved with hilarity, hijinks and lots of love!
The Marriage (Martesa, Kosovo)
Centerpiece Film Wed Apr 25, 7pm
In a rare gay-themed film from Kosovo, Anita and Bekim are adding the final touches to their big wedding day which is only two weeks away. Despite expecting news about Anita’s parents, declared missing since the 1999 Kosovar War, and having to deal with Bekim’s controlling family, the couple seems to manage all the preparations. But when Nol, Bekim’s secret gay lover, returns unexpectedly from abroad, the situation becomes complicated, especially since Bekim realizes that a spark still exists.
1985
Closing Film Sat Apr 28, 7:30pm
Shot in luscious black and white, 1985 follows Adrian (Cory Michael Smith, Gotham), a closeted young man returning to his Texas hometown for Christmas during the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Burdened with an unspeakable tragedy in New York, Adrian reconnects with his younger brother and estranged childhood friend as he struggles to divulge his dire circumstances to his religious parents (Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis).
TRANS TALES
Transformer
Sun Apr 22, 3pm
From self-proclaimed white-trash kid to decorated U.S. Marine to bodybuilder to world record powerlifter, Matt Kroczaleski now faces his most daunting challenge: becoming a woman. In the summer of 2015, Matt was publicly outed as being transgender. She was abandoned by sponsors and her parents and banned from competition. Now as Janae, she must find her place in society, unable to lose the muscle she once so desperately gained and living between an alpha male and a gentle woman. Will Janae’s transformation bring her the peace she’s looking for?
Beyond the Opposite Sex
Sat Apr 28, 12:45pm Free Community Screening
In this follow-up to Showtime’s 2004 documentaries The Opposite Sex: Jaime’s Story and The Opposite Sex: Rene’s Story, we learn how the lives of Jaime (male-to-female) and Rene (female-to-male) have changed over the past thirteen years.
PLUS Matt Bomer stars as transsexual neighbor Freda in the unlikely L.A. love story Anything. (Sat Apr 21, 5:15pm)
COMING OF AGE AND COMING OUT
My Best Friend (Mi Mejor Amigo, Argentina)
Sat Apr 21, 7pm
Lorenzo lives in rural Patagonia. He’s a quiet teenager, a good student, curious, and more skilled in music and literature than sports. When Lorenzo’s father decides the family will temporarily take in his best friend’s son, Caito, Lorenzo is intrigued by this tough guy from Buenos Aires. As the boys’ friendship evolves toward something deeper, Caito reveals a secret that changes everything.
A Moment in the Reeds (Finland/UK)
Mon Apr 23, 6:45pm
Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help. When Leevi’s father must return to town, the two young men establish a connection… and spend a few days discovering one another.
Mario (Swiss)
Sat Apr 21, 9:15pm North American Premiere
Star soccer player Mario has fallen in love for the first time. The object of his affection is Leon, the team’s new striker. When their teammates discover the budding relationship, rumors begin to spread beyond the locker room. Mario fears the professional soccer career he’s dreamed of is in jeopardy. Will he risk it all for the only man he has truly loved?
Postcards from London
Fri Apr 27, 6:45pm
Buff and beautiful teenager Jim (Harris Dickinson, Beach Rats) moves from the London suburbs to Soho where he falls in with a gang of unusual high-class male escorts — The Raconteurs — who specialize in intelligent post-coital conversation. From shy novice to sought-after escort and eventually artist’s muse, Jim would be the toast of the town if it wasn’t for his annoying affliction — Stendhal Syndrome — a rare condition that causes him to hallucinate and faint.
F-F-F-F-FASHION
Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion & Disco
Thu Apr 26, 6:45pm
Mentored by Karl Lagerfeld, friends with Grace Jones, roommate to model Jerry Hall, fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez was the toast of the NYC and Paris fashion scenes in the 1970s. His colorful work, inspired by street life, people of color, and a particular take on transgressive sexuality, took the then-sedate world of fashion illustration by storm. This revealing documentary by Douglas Crump is a heady cocktail of fashion, glamour, and disco that’s impossible to resist.
McQueen
Sat Apr 28, 3pm
Alexander McQueen’s rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale. An unremarkable working-class boy, he harnessed his demons to become a global fashion brand and one of the most iconic artists of the century. How did this punk rebel conquer the silver-spoon world of Paris haute couture, and why, at the height of acclaim, did he shockingly put an end to it all? McQueen is an intimate revelation of a radical and mesmerizing genius.
QUEER HISTORY
Cherry Grove Stories
Wed Apr 25, 9pm North American Premiere
In an era when it was illegal for two men to hold hands in public, the pristine beachfront hamlet of Cherry Grove on Fire Island, NY was a safe haven for gays who were often targeted for arrest and prosecution. Michael Fisher’s oral history of the enclave uncovers long-hidden secrets and exposes little known stories that are more relevant than ever today.
To a More Perfect Union: U.S. v. Windsor
Sun Apr 22, 2:30pm
A story of love, marriage and the fight for equality, this inspiring doc chronicles two unlikely heroes — octogenarian widow Edie Windsor and her attorney, Roberta Kaplan — on a quest for justice that would lead all the way to the Supreme Court.
PLUS: Queerama weaves together fantastic archival images and a soundtrack by John Grant and Hercules & Love Affair to lyrically portray a century of persecution, liberation and pride. (Sat Apr 21, 9:45pm)
DRAG
Alaska Is a Drag
Sun Apr 22, 7pm
Tough, but diva fabulous, Leo is an aspiring drag superstar stuck working in a fish cannery in Alaska. He and his twin sister are trapped in the monotony of fist fights and fish guts and spend their days figuring out how to escape to a better place. Out of necessity, Leo learns to fight back, which catches the attention of the local boxing coach. When a new boy moves to town and wants to be his sparring partner, Leo must face the real reason he’s stuck in Alaska.
SHOW BIZ
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Sun Apr 22, 4:45pm
This cinema-vérité feature, an alternate pre-Stonewall history of Hollywood from director Matt Tyrnauer (Valentino: The Last Emperor), reveals the deliciously scandalous story of Scotty Bowers, a handsome WWII marine who landed in Hollywood after the war and became confidante, aide de camp and lover to many of Hollywood’s greatest stars. An unsung Hollywood legend, Bowers would cater to the sexual appetites of celebrities, straight and gay, for decades.
Still Waiting in the Wings
Sat Apr 28, 5pm
Follow the trials and triumphs of actors waiting tables in Times Square as their dreams of Broadway stardom meet the harsh reality of slinging hash under fluorescent lights. With cameos from: Nick Adams, Ed Asner, Carole Cook, Lee Meriwether, Patricia Richardson, Chita Rivera, Seth Rudetsky, Sally Struthers, Bruce Vilanch, and Cindy Williams.
PLUS: Every Act of Life tells the story of Terrence McNally, one of the world’s most renowned and risk-taking playwrights. (Sun Apr 29, 5:15pm)
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FLIX
Nobleman (in Hindi)
Wed Apr 25, 9:15pm World Premiere
Struggling with adolescence and sexuality, 15-year-old Shay is terrorized by a gang of bullies in his posh boarding school. Shay and best friend Pia are the studious theater kids. Arjun and Baadal are the jocks and bullies. Events take a sinister turn when Shay walks in on Arjun, Baadal, and their cronies on a debauched night, unleashing a chain of events that leads to tragic consequences. Based on The Merchant of Venice!
Last Days in Havana (Cuba)
Fri Apr 27, 9:15pm
Two mid-forties friends are neighbors: Miguel, a dishwasher who dreams of settling in New York waits for a visa that never seems to arrive, and Diego, a gay man with AIDS who is determined to enjoy every single day of his life from his bed. This odd couple is surrounded by an oddball set of characters from all walks of life.
SAPPHIC STORIES
Daddy Issues
Tue Apr 24, 7pm
Maya, a talented, queer artist, is desperate to attend art school in Italy but lacks the funds to do so. Instead, she spends her days escaping into her drawings and social media, where she pines for the enigmatic Jasmine, an aspiring designer in an emotionally charged, co-dependent relationship with her neurotic sugar daddy. All three become implicitly connected, though none of them realize it, and their respective relationships blossom. Daddy Issues is for the misfits, the dreamers, the lovers, and the loners in all of us.
Disobedience
Fri Apr 27, 7pm
Sebastián Lelio’s (A Fantastic Woman) mesmerizing film follows Ronit (Rachel Weisz), a New York photographer who returns home to mourn her father’s death in the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a female childhood friend (Rachel McAdams). Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality.
Kiss Me (Embrasse Moi, France)
Sat Apr 21, 7:30pm
Océanerosemarie’s life is full of energy and friends, but mainly of ex-girlfriends: 76, to be exact — but who’s counting! Things change when she meets Cécile. Can Océanerosemarie grow up enough to win the heart of this very special woman?
FAMILY DANCING
Anchor & Hope (Spain)
Sat Apr 28, 5:15pm
Eva and Kat enjoy a carefree existence on their houseboat on a London canal. After the death of their beloved pet, Eva’s dream of becoming a mother is reignited. Kat just wants to get a new cat, but when her best friend Roger visits from Barcelona, they decide in a moment of drunkenness that he can be Eva’s sperm donor. Anchor and Hope is a fresh and funny rom-com with a twist.
Funny Story
Sun Apr 22, 7:15pm
After years of being a neglectful father, a womanizing TV star unknowingly crashes his estranged daughter’s same-sex destination wedding. This delightfully dark comedy takes us on a California coastal road trip full of dreams, love, disillusionment, and tequila-fueled karaoke.
In Between Seasons (South Korea)
Mon Apr 23, 9pm North American Premiere
Though a mother has a close bond with the high-school-age son she is raising alone, she doesn’t realize he is gay, and only finds out after he is critically injured in a car accident. When Mom takes out her confusion and anger on her son’s close friend, the young man deals with the situation more calmly and with greater wisdom than she does. Brought to vivid emotional life by an excellent cast, the film confronts Korean homophobia and depicts a mother-son relationship with searing clarity.
source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/04/19/outshine-film-fest-is-back-with-its-20th-miami-edition/
from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2018/04/outshine-film-fest-is-back-with-its.html
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