Silence and the Word, both a story and an essay, by Mary Ann Mohanraj. Text available online. Explicit. This story is about how the author is a writer of erotica, can read the stories aloud at bookstores, but has trouble speaking her own desires to her lovers.

Stiches: a memoir by David Small, graphic novel, 2009. YouTube trailer for this book. Gothic, haunting, full of raw emotion; this book is about Small's childhood growing up in a repressive, silent family in Detroit. He was taught silence as a behavior, and after a surgery during his youth, he lost half his vocal cords and therefore lost his voice above a whisper. Small retreats into art and explores his dreams, looking to understand his own existence. I enjoyed this book a lot and read it quickly, but would have liked a bit more reflection and more of the author's adult life and experience. Portions of this book are quite dark and disturbing and probably not suited for younger readers.

There are comments at Dreamwidth.

handyhunter at Dear Author: A Special Guest Post on Cultural Appropriation in Romance novels. You might not want to read comments.

tbonejenkins: It Happens in the Christian World Too On racism in Christian publishing and responses to it.

There are comments at Dreamwidth.

I thought of a job title for the work I have been doing for the past year, for the kind of work a lot of us do that spend a lot of time on the internet and in fandom and in various communities.

In Rosemary's Kerstein's Steerswoman's Road, Rowan wanders the world, talks to people, explores. She is an educated woman, a mapmaker and illustrator and diarist, but she has few firmly defined job duties. Her main charter is to tell the truth to any who asks it, and in return they must tell her the truth if she asks it of them. There are some provisions for personal privacy, tact, and taboo. She seeks mysteries, problems, information; she seeks puzzles and puzzle pieces. She follows her interests and instincts. She has basic freedom of movement and respect among the people of her world. Her basic survival needs are generally assured. Her enemies are wizards: people who withhold information, protect and control it possessively. There is a very open-source ethic to this book.

The book unfolds very slowly, and the pace can be off-putting to some. As a reader we can see more puzzle pieces than Rowan herself can: we have a wider perspective. Rowan is slowly working out the puzzles of her world. She has no assurances that she will ever be able to figure out the answers. It may take more than one lifetime, so she keeps notes to pass onto the next generations of steerswomen. But if or when she assembles those pieces, it can turn the whole world around.

So, we who wander the internet and speak the truth to one another, we are Steerswomen and Steersmen and Steerers.

This entry was originally posted at sasha-feather.dreamwidth.org. If you choose, comment there using OpenID.

All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an unrelenting, totally unreasonable, and only slightly enlightening headache a memoir, by Paula Kamen

This book was recommended to me by several people and I enjoyed it a lot. It's smart, funny, well-researched, and speaks a lot to my own experience with chronic pain. I thought while reading it, huh, I would have never read this book if not for my own status as a person with chronic pain, and that's sort of a shame, that a book like this doesn't have a wider audience, because it's simply good. And it's a shame too that a lot of people, including me, know little to nothing about chronic pain until it happens to them. Kamen is a journalist and her book is a good mix of feminism, science journalism, humor, and memoir. I bookmarked a lot of pages that particularly resonated with me.

One part of the book, early on, really bugged me. From pages 36 to 42 Kamen talks about gaining weight as a side effect of pain meds, which is a common side effect that patients are often not warned about. On page 37 she seems to make fun of people with eating disorders:
( possibly triggering content )
Moving on to things I liked:

*Quoting Dr. Frank Vertosick, p. 52: "There is something devilish about pain arising in the face and head. They strike us at the geometric center of our beings."

*The general absurdity of trying various doctors and alternative medicines, one after the other.

*The Problem of Illness as Metaphor

*Tying together Chronic pain/illness and feminism in a very clear and important way. She criticizes 2nd wave feminism for failing to advocate for women who are chronically ill, because it was important to the movement to portray women as just as strong as men. She points out that men are more prone to certain diseases and maladies too, but that is not used to keep them out of public life or to paint them as inferior (p.176).

*Criticizing Oliver Sacks (p.107)

*Emphasizing spirituality as a basic survival mechanism for those with chronic pain. Learn to let go in order to gain control. Learn mindfulness. Practice meditation.

*Kamen gives a few mentions towards the disability movement, but not as much as I would have thought. It was curious to me how long it took her to accept the label given that she even applied for disability benefits from the government at one point. But there is a lot of resistance, especially, as she says, "it was only a headache, after all". Learning about the disability movement (sort of simultaneously with feminism and anti-oppressionn generally) has been one of the greatest benefits for me.

*Anxiety, depression, and fatigue are some of the most common headache co-morbitities, because they are rooted in the same basic brain chemistry. The same neurotransmitters are involved.

*There is a whole chapter on "Tired Girls", women with fatigue.

*Acceptance: "I'd done all I could to get rid of that motherfucker, and I'd lost." (p. 225) She says this after almost 10 years fighting the headache.

In short, reading this book just validated a lot of my own experience. I'm glad I craved acceptance and worked towards it; I'm glad I found a pain counselor; I'm glad I'm learning about disability rights. I didn't take some of the super-strong drugs Kamen did, but I still had scary experiences with things like Tegretol and Lyrica.

The book ended on a not-very-positive note: there is no cure for chronic pain (is there a cure for ANY neurologic disease? No). Chronic pain is a progressive disease for many people. The treatments suck and have bad side effects. Alternative/complementary treatments can be helpful, but are highly individualized, often expensive, and sometimes stop working over time. The author includes a manifesto aimed at doctors, the government, journalists, insurance companies, and society in general, with specific things they can do to help.

This was a discussion rather than a panel; facilitated by Juliana. These are my somewhat disorganized notes. Feel free to point out any errors, or make any additions in comments. Sometimes I just wrote down authors or titles without any context!

*Buffy-verse: all the Slayers are female. I mentioned a fanfic I heard of, where a Slayer transitions to male but keeps his powers.

*Temeraire books by Naomi Novik. The Longwing dragons only choose female riders, but how do we know how the author is defining male and female? Maybe *most* of the Longwings choose female riders, but the occasional one wouldn't, and that might be regarded like queerness is in our culture. Someone also mentioned a fanfic dealing with a trans rider (FtM I think) who was supposed to inherit a Longwing. Also the dragons seem to think less about gender than the people do.

*A Companion to Wolves by Monette and Bear
*Babel 17 by Samuel Delaney</i>
*Glass House by Charles Strauss
*Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold
*Xenogenesis books by Octavia Butler
*The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
*The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
*Richard K. Morgan
*"Torch of Honor" or perhaps the sequel--switching gender
*Grant Morrison's "The Invisisbles" (comics)
*Terry Goodkin (faily) binary magical powers between men and women
*Dune - the Bene Gesserit have secret powers around reproduction, but their ultimate goal is still male power
*China Mieville's books: the Kepri have a large division between male and female. The females are sentient and the males are basically cockroackes.
*Terry Pratchett - male and female dwarves looks the same. Monstous Regiment and Men at Arms were mentioned, but there are many Discworld books.
*Emma Bull, Finder
*Laurie Marks, the "Logic" books. Women and men are truly equal in these books, seen as soldiers and farmers and co-parents.
*Scott Sigler
*The concept of covens vs. singular male wizards. Or if male wizards are in a group, they are a secret society trying to do harm of some kind.
*Gate to Women's Country (faily, gender-essentialist)
*I ranted about my loathing for the "Hominid" trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer. They have some cool interesting concepts (all the Neanderthals are bisexual), but do a lot of gender-essentialist things and want to address the "problem of male violence".

*Star Trek. The trill are genderless, but have the experiences of male and female hosts. Some species use pheromones to control men, which is the ultimate sexual power.

*Transformers - why are they all male? Why can't they just TRANSFORM into female?

*Godzilla is female in the newest movie adaptation

*AIs as gendered vs. gender-neutral

Overall, I thought this was a very good discussion! Good depth.

Help me come up with three suggestions for my "regular" book club tonight? It meets at 8 pm CDT. I seem to be having trouble making decisions (BIG AND SMALL). The only book I kind of want to read right now is His Majesty's Dragon. And traditionally this club has been more non-genre in their choices.

ETA We chose Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Thanks for your suggestions!

I seem to have stalled out on Mists of Avalon (I'll finish it eventually!), so I took a break to read Limbo by A. Manette Ansay, a memoir.

On her website, she writes, Memoirs about illness, much like personal interest stories on TV, always seemed to focus on people who had triumphed over adversity, who’d fought until they got better, who’d never lost faith. I wanted to write about what it was like not to triumph over anything. To accept that I didn’t know what was wrong, and that I probably never would. To make peace with the mystery that was my life and the shape that this life had taken.

You can see why I might like this book! And I did! I loved it! 5 stars!

( Read more... )

This is for 14valentines; today's prompt is Arts & Entertainment.

A list of recommended books about girls and women, where the girl or woman does not get married at the end.* She might end up in a non-married partnership with a man! Because sadly I'm having trouble thinking of many examples. Please suggest more in the comments (I'm thinking mostly SF/F or YA, but open to other suggestions).

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
First Test, Squire, Page, Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce
Bekah Cooper: Terrier by Tamora Pierce
The "Circle of Magic" books by Tamora Pierce
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Zarah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
The Kushiel trilogy by Jacqueline Carey (sort of)

*This is my own pet peeve. I'm not anti-marriage and I am a fan of romantic storylines. But I read way too many books and saw way too many movies as a teen where the girl got married and the book ended. I would even include Little Women, the Anne of Green Gables series, and the Beauty and the Beast Disney movie as primary examples. As an unmarried "spinster" who enjoys YA novels, this irritates me to this day.

See the comments for more!

Armin Shimerman's own face. On the cover art of the novel he wrote.

January

1. Spike: Shadow Puppets (comic) 4
2. Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan, 5 (graphic novel)
3. Graceling, Kristin Cashore 4

February
4. Body Outlaws, Ophira Edut, ed. 4.5
5. The Sharing Knife: Horizon, Lois McMaster Bujold

March
6. The Arrival, Shaun Tan (gn), 5 (textless)
Selected short stories by Ellen Klages, 4

April
7. Limbo, A. Manette Ansay, 5

May
8. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
9. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, 4
10. The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness, 5
11. Corambis, Sarah Monette, 4.5

June
12. Melting Stones, Tamora Pierce, 2
13. Little Brother, Cory Doctorow
14. His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik

July
15. Throne of Jade, Naomi Novik
16. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, M. T. Anderson
17. The Gold Cell, Sharon Olds (poetry)
18. Escape from Special, Miss Lasko-Gross (gn)
19. Naamah's Kiss, Jacqueline Carey
20. Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey
21. Strangers in Paradise, vol. 1 Terry Moore (gn)

August
22. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, Nancy Farmer
23. Black Powder War, Naomi Novik
24. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

September
25. All in My Head, Paula Kamen (non-fiction)
26. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers

October
27. The Dispossessed, Ursula K. LeGuin*, 5

November
28. Dykes to Watch Out For, Alison Bechdel, 5

December
29. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie*, 5
30. Stitches, David Small (gn)
31. Persepolis vol 1, Marjane Satrapi*
32. Persepolis vol 2, the story of a return, Marjane Satrapi

Total: 32
Male: 10
Female: 22
comics/graphic novels: 10
fantasy/sf: 14
non-fiction: 3
other: 5
50books_poc: 4
*Reread: 3

via mystickeeper

Which books do you read for comfort? These are not necessarily your favorite books (although they are probably among them), but ones you pick up when you don't know what else to do. When you feel like reading, but don't feel like reading something new. When you feel lonely and want to feel something familiar, without having to bring the awkwardness of another person into the equation. They're the books you've had for years which you will never disavow.

Jackaroo, On Fortune's Wheel, and The Wings of a Falcon by Cynthia Voigt
The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor
Dinotopia by James Gurney
Art books (mainly my Bev Doolittle and Spectrum books)
Harry Potter (specifically #3)
San Domingo, the Medicine Hat Stallion and other kiddy horse books by Marguerite Henry

Which things do you love in storytelling?

I don't think this list could ever be complete, as tastes are always growing and changing, but I'll give it a shot:

A character's life falls apart (Bujold, Monette)
coping with illness and disability
understated or unconventional romance, homosexual romance, middle-aged romance
gender-bendy, gender-questioning themes
feminist themes, strong female characters, queer characters
People who make mistakes (Miles Vorkosigan)
body modifiction, such as mechanical limbs, cyborgs, prosthetics, or even meaningful tattoos
horses
horses
horses (haha are you surprised)
the Old West, but only if told in interesting ways. I'm not a fan of violent, misogynist old Westerns. I do like some modern Westerns
landscapes and nature
cold climates, mountains, prairies
survival stories
alien landscapes
time travel
Certain kinds of clothing, but I'm not exactly sure what... I'm fond of the accoutrements of cowboy life-- saddles and bridles, long coats, cowboy boots and hats, etc. Also imaginary fancy dress wear, cold weather gear, alien clothing-- it's a nice visual and sensual cue to the reader.
Space stations, if done in an interesting way
alien people and planets, again if done well
Adventures and travel
Dreams
Religions that seem believable and healthy (Bujold's fantasy novels)
Calling into question the nature of reality ("An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge")
Cat burglars, thieves, and orphans
Realistic conflict, rather than good vs. evil
Close, profound friendships and bonds, usually (but not always) of a non-romantic sort. Sometimes these bonds are interspecies.
Psychic communication, communication with animals
Found or created families (as in Joss Whedon's works), but also blood relatives. I think there aren't enough actual blood-related family units in SF/F, or at least in what I've read/viewed. Exceptions are Veronica and Kieth Mars, and Jake and Ben Sisko. Those are really powerful, loving relationships.
Beautiful and interesting settings. I like to have a pretty place for my mind to go; I find it restful and very important to my long-term love of a piece of fiction.

Things I dislike:
Torture p0rn
Gratuitous violence
Unlikable characters
Dry writing
Many of the traditional fantasy tropes, such as Destiny! Good versus Evil! Magical Sword! Magician and King! Not only do they bore me, I don't think they say nice things. For example, Destiny undermines the importance of choice and free will and all people being created equal. I could go on, but suffice to say that I didn't like fantasy much at all until I discovered feminist fantasy.

52 Two Heads With But a Single Brain - Collaborators talk about writing together
How two (or more) can do what one can (or not). The advantages, the pitfalls of writers pooling their talent. Collaborators provide anecdotes, insights, recriminations.
M: Richard Bowes, Mark Rich, Sarah Monette, Eileen Gunn

Elizabeth Bear joined this panel. I mostly paid attention to Bear and Monette, although the other panelists were funny and interesting too.

Talking about A Companion to Wolves, the authors said that it was written to make fun of "fuzzy animal companion stories" like Dragonflight. When an audience member said, "Dragons aren't fuzzy!", Bear clarified that she meant "fuzzy wish-fulfillment" animal stories where the animal is the only one who understands you: total teenage wish-fulfillment fantasy.

It sounds like they wrote it as a lark, discovered a bigger story there, and turned it into a novel, only to be rejected by each of their publishers: "They wanted us to take the sex out and turn it into the novel we were making fun of!" Bear laughed. So they found another publisher (Tor).

They were a funny duo: "Sarah wrote all the sex," --"Not true! Not true!" was a typical exchange. And once: "One of us wrote the sex, the other wrote the violence... wait! They were the same thing!"

The panelists talked about how collaboration can be a good cure for boredom with a piece of writing, and also how each author can compensate for the other's flaws and play on the other's strengths. Monette has an extensive vocabulary (rebarbitive and froward were the examples given) and is good at world-building, for example. Bear is more plot-focused, likes to "collapse wave-forms", while Monette likes to let the wave-forms play out. Monette thinks that this is because she's a horror writer, while Bear is an SF/thriller writer.

The panelists mentioned that TV, movies, and theater all feature collaborative writing. Often people can write better together than they can alone. "It's like Fleetwood Mac!" said Bear. They talked a bit about the business end of things, working IRL vs. via email, things that worked or hadn't worked.

Bear and Monette also write for "Shadow Unit", a virtual TV show, along with some other writers. One of the writers of Shadow Unit is responsible for making executive decisions (has the final say). The show has a five-year arc.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
2007
662 pages (hardcover)

In short: I really wanted to like this book, but I was not all that impressed. It is too "conventional fantasy" for me, and it is too long.

( Read more... )

A couple of my friends do a monthly list of all the things they've read and/or seen over the month. As yet, I don't keep track of movies, but here's my book list for the year so far:

January

1. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, 4.5
2. Hellsing (manga); Kohta Hirano, 4

February

3-8. Runaways #19-24, Brian K. Vaughn, 4.5
9. Living with Chronic Illness, Cheri Register, 4.5 (my review)
10. Fables vol. 1, Bill Willingham, 2.5
11. A Companion to Wolves, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, 5 (my review)
12. The Curse of Chalion*, Lois McMaster Bujold, 5

March
13. The Gunslinger, Stephen King, 3.5
14. China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh, 5
15. Serenity: Better Days, #1 of 3; Joss Whedon et al (no rating because I don't even remember what happened.)

Bounced off of: Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb; Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
(This means I read a chunk of it and quit.)

Total: 15
Female: 7
Male: 4
SF/F: 4
comics/manga: 9
nonfiction: 1
other: 1
*Reread: 1

A Companion to Wolves
by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Tor Books, 2007, 302 pages

In short: I loved this book. I'll try to keep the squee to a minimum. 5 stars!

Advisos, etc: If you have a problem reading about gay relationships, sex, and/or gay sex, this book is probably not for you. If you read slash fanfic in your spare time, you'll have no problem-- in fact I think you'll love this book.

I read this book with only a vague idea of what it entailed. So I'm cutting for possible spoilers.

( Read more... )

I *so* needed a day off today, and I so got it! Thank you, weather! (Actually I worked for two and half hours. Good thing I have a short walk to work, or that wouldn't have been worth the commute at all.)

A mini-book review for today:

Living with Chronic Illness by Cheri Register
1987 (library edition, I believe there is a newer version)
302 pages

In short: highly recommended for chronic illness/chronic pain people

( Not a review exactly )

January

1. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, 4.5
2. Hellsing (manga); Kohta Hirano, 4

February

3-8. Runaways #19-24, Brian K. Vaughn, 4.5
9. Living with Chronic Illness, Cheri Register, 4.5
10. Fables vol. 1, Bill Willingham, 3
11. A Companion to Wolves, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, 5
12. The Curse of Chalion*, Lois McMaster Bujold, 5

March
13. The Gunslinger, Stephen King, 3.5
14. China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh, 5
15. Serenity: Better Days; Joss Whedon, 3.5

April
16. Tramps Like Us, vol. 9 (manga), 4
17. The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss, 3

May
18. Daughters of the North, Sarah Hall, 4
19. The Sharing Knife: Passage, Lois McMaster Bujold, 4.5
20-22: Ultimate X-Men, volumes 1-3, Millar and Austen, 3

June
23. Intuition, Allegra Goodman, 4
24. Castle Waiting, Linda Medley, 5
25. The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages, 3.5

July
26. The Terror, Dan Simmons, 5
27. The Bone Key, Sarah Monette, 3.5
28. Man's Best Friend (manga), Kazusa Takashima, WTF

August
29. Kushiel's Mercy, Jacqueline Carey, 4
30. Don't Say Any More, Darling (manga), Fumi Yoshinaga, 4
31. Shadows Return, Lynn Flewelling, 3

September
32. Menkui, Takama, manga. WTF.
33. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath, 4
34. Zahrah the Windseeker, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, 4

October
35. Jacques and Gerard, volumes 1-2, Fumi Yoshinaga, 4

November
36. Y: the Last Man, vol 10, Brian K Vaughan, 5
Selected short stories by James Tiptree, Jr.

December
37, 38, 39. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 8) 1-3. Joss Whedon, Brian K Vaughan, et al. 5.
40. A Companion to Wolves*, Sarah Monette, 5
41. Fray*, Joss Whedon, 5
42. The Wings of a Falcon*, Cynthia Voigt, 5

Total: 42
Female: 25
Male: 11
SF/F: 14
comics/manga/gn: 24
nonfiction: 1
other: 4
*Reread: 4

I read 100 books this year. Some people talk about the 50 book challenge. For me, the challenge is to put the book down, get off the couch, and socialize.

All the Books I read in 2007
The highlights follow--
(With a formatting nod to some people on my f-list!)

The Best (alpha by author)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian; by Sherman Alexie
Fun Home (graphic novel); by Allison Bechdel
Kushiel's Dart; Kushiel's Chosen; Kushiel's Avatar; by Jacqueline Carey
Book of a Thousand Days; by Shannon Hale
Privilege of the Sword; by Ellen Kushner
Melusine; The Virtu; by Sarah Monette
The Queen of Attolia; The King of Attolia; by Megan Whalen Turner
Y: The Last Man (comics/graphic novels); by Brian K. Vaughan

Honorable Mentions
Speak; by Laurie Halse Anderson
Feed; by M.T. Anderson
Princess Academy; by Shannon Hale
The Language of Power; by Rosemary Kerstein
The Mirador, Sarah Monette
Beka Cooper: Terrier; by Tamora Pierce

Authors or Editors:
Number of Authors: 46
Female Authors: 34
Male Authors: 12
(note that I'm making an educated guess on the sex of the manga authors. Will double check later.)

Miscellany!

I see now that my counts are slightly off. I read so many comics and manga and stories this year; I got a little confused in my record-keeping!

Re-reads: 3
Comics or graphic novels: 35 volumes
Fantasy: 54
Science fiction: 6
Nonfiction: 1
Contemporary fiction: 2
YA non-genre fiction: 2

Stories of MAN-killing plagues!: 2 (Y: The Last Man and A Brother's Price)

Authors from the WisCon Reading List (Is there such a list? I'm making this up!)
Laurie Halse Anderson (even though she's non-genre!)
Elizabeth Bear
Allison Bechdel
Lois McMaster Bujold
Rosemary Kerstein
Ellen Kushner
Laurie J. Marks
Sarah Monette
Tamora Pierce
Delia Sherman
Ysabeau S. Wilce
Connie Willis

And I'd also add loosely add Perry Moore, Lynn Flewelling, Maria V. Snyder, Megan Whalen Turner, Shannon Hale, Brian K. Vaughan, and Jacquelin Carey to the WisCon list.

I'm reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie. Wow. wow!
Perry Moore could really take a writing lesson from Sherman Alexie: this book and Hero are first-person YA books with teenage male narrators. And Alexie's book, judging by what I've read so far, is one million times better. Bitingly funny, brutally honest, and features hilarious cartoons!

I'm waiting on a best of 2007 list, because I think this book will make the cut. And I'll probably get some reading done on my upcoming days off, yay!

Yes, I am up way too late. A weird thing about the tiredness is that I also don't sleep well. I wish I didn't have to go to work so early.