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Link, link is a verb, linkpost is a doing word November 6, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: academia, aliette de bodard, alyssa wong, annalee flower horne, australiana, fred clark, isabel yap, joanna russ, jrr tolkien, leila rasheed, librarianship, m sereno, medieval literature, natalie luhrs, no award, people of colo(u)r destroy science fiction, rebecca merkelbach, rochita loenen-ruiz, salem witch trials, samatha shannon, tell them stories, the bone season, the song rising, the toast
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It’s been a while, but I’m back again with links: links that are important, links that made me think, links that made me smile.

Firstly, and most importantly, the fundraiser for Rochita Loenen-Ruiz is running until 9th November. Please support this if you can. Rochita is a wonderful person, and she and her family are going through a very difficult time.

The rest of my links are going to be grouped under headings, as it’s been some time since I made a post of this nature.

Reading, writing, history, community

Submissions are now open for the People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction anthology.

This is an unbelievably powerful essay on the Salem witch trials. The line that stood out to me was this one:

But what rings most dangerously prophetic about Salem is the ideology that suggests imagining the most helpless and vulnerable in our communities as the most powerful, in a kind of 1984-esque doublethink that provides a rationale for causing as much harm as one wishes to that group.

Aliette de Bodard on ‘History, Erasure and the Stories that Need to be Told’.

Annalee Flower Horne and Natalie Luhrs on the continued relevance of How To Suppress Women’s Writing by Joanna Russ

Leila Rasheed on diversity in children’s publishing.

Fred Clark on ‘communities of misconception’, unchallenged default assumptions, and how to respond when your assumptions are challenged.

Isabel Yap on Filipino monsters.

Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle Earth has been found.

We have a title and a release date for Samantha Shannon’s new Bone Season book: The Song Rising will be published in November, 2016.

Books I want to read

Kate Elliott talks about her new epic fantasy novel, Black Wolves, as part of John Scalzi’s ‘The Big Idea’ series.

Poetry and Short Fiction

‘Reasons I checked out of the diversity discussion du jour’ by M Sereno (content note for colonialism, homophobia and racism).

‘Song of the Body Cartographer’ by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz.

‘Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers’ by Alyssa Wong.

Academia

Rebecca Merkelbach on outlaws, trolls and berserkers.

Libraries

A bit US-centric, but I loved this article on the changing of librarian stereotypes throughout history.

Australiana

No Award on imaginary Australia YA adaptations. (Caveat: I do not share their dislike of the Tomorrow series, although I can understand their perspective, and I also feel ambivalent about adaptations of stories that were/are meaningful to me. I still enjoyed the post.)

Humorous

‘A Day In The Life of a Brooding Romantic Hero’ at The Toast.

I hope you all have fabulous weekends.

And it’s all for my true linkpost, who’s far far away October 2, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: activism, alana piper, angela slatter, ghostwords, hackers, kai cheng thom, kari sperring, kate elliott, kindness not fear, me elsewhere, of sorrow and such, rasheedah phillips, rochita loenen-ruiz, shannon hale, sofia samatar, sophia mcdougall, space hostages, tell them stories, the toast, those who run with wolves, vida cruz, zen cho
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That title doesn’t quite scan, but it will have to do.

Via Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, probably the best thing I’ve read all week: Nine Ways We Can Make Social Justice Movements Less Elitist and More Accessible, by Kai Cheng Thom. Really important stuff.

Read this essay by Sofia Samatar about being a black academic.

On a related note, Black Sci-fi Creators Assemble at Princeton and Imagine Better Worlds than This One, by Rasheedah Phillips.

Kari Sperring talks about justice, socialism, fantasy utopias, and Terry Pratchett.

Here’s Alana Piper on the myth that ‘women secretly hate each other’. Nothing throws me out of a story faster than female characters with no female friends, so this post was right up my alley.

Kate Elliott needs your help in a workshop on gender defaults in fantasy.

Shannon Hale writes about writing outside her culture. Note that at least one of the recommendations of books ‘by Asian-American authors’ is not by an Asian-American author, but rather, a Palestinian/Egyptian-Australian. It’s still a good list.

Rochita Loenen-Ruiz interviews Zen Cho. I wait impatiently for my copy of Sorcerer To The Crown to arrive.

As always, the new posts at Ghostwords are a delight.

Two new reviews are up on Those Who Run With Wolves:

Vida Cruz reviews Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter.

I review Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall.

It has been twenty years since two formative works of my teenage years, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and the film Hackers, were released. Here’s an interview with the Hackers director.

The Toast remains amazing. Two of my favourite recent posts: Dirtbag Milton (I remember studying him in uni and being furious about how badly he treated his daughters), and How To Tell If You Are In a Lai of Marie de France.

I hope your weekends are glorious.

Meet her at the linkpost parade September 11, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: aliette de bodard, amal el-mohtar, athena andreadis, british folklore and mythology, cindy pon, ghostwords, indigenous australia, kate elliott, leticia lara, mahvesh murad, no award, serpentine, sophia mcdougall, sorcerer to the crown, space hostages, tade thompson, the toast, those who run with wolves, zen cho
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The linkpost is early this week, as I’m going to be absolutely flat out all afternoon, and then away on various workshops and conferences. Oh, the glamorous librarian life!

I’ll start with a few reviews and posts about books I loved, or books I’m very much looking forward to reading:

A joint review of Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall, at Booksmugglers.

Amal El-Mohtar reviews Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho.

Zen Cho chats with Mahvesh Murad about the book.

She talks more about the book here.

Cindy Pon talks about her new book, Serpentine.

SFF in Conversation is one of my favourite columns at Booksmugglers. In it, various groups of writers sit down to discuss topics that are important to them. The most recent features Aliette de Bodard, Zen Cho, Kate Elliott, Cindy Pon, and Tade Thompson, and I highly recommend it.

This is the first part of a BBC radio programme about British folklore, monsters, and the landscape.

The reviews continue to pour in a Those Who Run With Wolves. Recent reviewers have been Leticia Lara, Athena Andreadis, and Aliette de Bodard.

Ghostwords has returned with a vengeance! The latest post sports a cornucopia of links, leading the reader off on an internet treasure hunt.

I very much appreciated this post on No Award about Indigenous (and other) seasonal calendars.

In case you missed it, I reviewed Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, and The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine. I loved them all.

Men Wearing A Military Helmet and Nothing Else in Western Art History: The Toast is a gift.

I hope your weekends are filled with as much fun stuff and opportunities for learning as mine will be.

One linkpost, one heart August 21, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: athena andreadis, bring it on, court of fives, judith tarr, kate elliott, tansy rayner roberts, the toast
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*dusts off blog*

It’s been a while. Have some links.

Sadly, the comments on this excellent essay by Judith Tarr about the invisible older women in SFF completely prove her point.

Kate Elliott talks about the historical inspirations and influences on her YA novel Court of Fives. There’s a giveaway underway there too.

Tansy Rayner Roberts is starting a new series on ‘SF Women of the Twentieth Century’. (A nice counterpoint to Tarr’s article, perhaps.)

Athena Andreadis: ‘Note to Alien Watchers: Octopuses are Marvelous, but Still Terrestrial’.

A Complete Oral History of Bring It On. Yes, really.

‘What To Expect When You’re Expecting A Changeling: Forum Names On Message Boards For First-Time Mothers Of Changelings’. I love it.

I am resolutely avoiding the inevitable Hugos drama this weekend by spending the entire time on holiday and without internet access. I hope those of you who are in Spokane, or will be following the awards live online, are well fortified against Puppy-related nastiness.

I’ll link you more with every breath, truly, madly, deeply do May 22, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: australiana, best young australian novelists 2015, catherine lundoff, emily st. john mandel, eurovision, game of thrones, irish politics, keri phillips, me elsewhere, naomi novik, natalie luhrs, representation matters, rochita loenen-ruiz, romanitas, sarah masle, sophia mcdougall, station eleven, tade thompson, the toast, zen cho
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So. Lots of stuff to get through this week, as my corner of the internet has been particularly full of people doing wonderful, clever and awesome things.

Rochita Loenen-Ruiz had a busy week. Here’s Rochita on the uses of anger, her new short story, and being interviewed for Lightspeed magazine’s author spotlight.

Catherine Lundoff has had so many submissions to her ‘Older Women in SFF’ recommendations post that she’s had to split it into two. Part one, part two.

I really liked this review of Zen Cho’s writing by Naomi Novik.

This review by Sarah Mesle of the most recent episode of Game of Thrones made a lot of points I’ve been struggling to articulate. Content note for discussion of violence, abuse and rape.

I really appreciated this thoughtful post by Tade Thompson on safety, community and dissent.

Natalie Luhrs makes some really important points here:

This is part of the ongoing conversation about the importance of different voices in our community. About making space for people who have been told–explicitly and implicitly–that what they have to say isn’t worthwhile and that they need to sit down and listen and that someday, maybe, they’ll be allowed to speak.

This list of Best Young Australian novelists looks great, and reflects the Australia that I grew up in. Congratulations to all the winners!

I have to admit that the #hometovote hashtag has been making me cry.

I wrote two longish posts this week. One is here at the Geata: a review of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. The other is over on LJ/Dreamwidth, and is a primer to Sophia McDougall’s Romanitas trilogy.

My mother is a radio journalist. Her programme this week is on Eurovision, and you can listen to it here (not geoblocked). There are additional features here. I am an unashamed Eurovision fan, and as you can see, it runs in the family.

Texts from Hieronymous Bosch made me laugh and laugh.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Raining on the linkpost parade March 27, 2015

Posted by dolorosa12 in linkpost.
Tags: buffy the vampire slayer, daniel hahn, exilic spaces, fahmida riaz, likhain, m sereno, malaysian sff, samantha shannon, sofia samatar, stephanie feldman, the book smugglers, the mime order, the toast, through the gate, translation, where ghostswords dwell, zen cho
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Today’s linkpost is a little early, and contains poetry, translation, and a literary treasure hunt of sorts.

This is a great interview of Zen Cho and Stephanie Feldman by Sofia Samatar.

Ted Hodgkinson interviewed Daniel Hahn and Fahmida Riaz about literary translation.

Samantha Shannon answers readers’ questions. (Beware Mime Order spoilers.)

The Book Smugglers announced their new slate of short stories, which should be great.

Zen Cho has set up a directory of Malaysian SFF writers and projects.

A new issue of Through the Gate is out. I particularly liked the poem ‘Juli’ by M Sereno, which I found heart-shattering and powerful.

I love the Where Ghostwords Dwell project. The site is dedicated to discarded text, forgotten words and the memory of dead manuscripts, and each entry embeds links hinting at its origin, or pointing the reader forwards towards further connections. It’s part Russian doll, part literary treasure hunt, and I love it.

I leave you with every argument about Buffy on the internet from 1998 to now. This is one blog post where you’re going to want to read every single comment, and it makes me ridiculously happy.

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