-
oh my gosh
-
Trendy Books
Let’s talk trendy books.
I love to pick up books that everyone is talking about! I just need to know WHY the book is so popular. Read...
-
-
-
Oh my gawd this is good! <3 :D
I’ve discussed this topic a few times before, so here’s part one and part two (part one includes LGBTQ people, while part two just focuses on women).
Women in Fiction is Important; Round 2!
I honestly wish I didn’t have to do this again, but it looks as though this is going to end up being a monthly conversation. The reason why is that a lot of people just still don’t get it. There is a reason why women in fiction, every medium of fiction, is important.
I’m focusing on women in this post, because there’s still this stigma that if a product has a woman on the cover, it won’t be as wildly popular than if generic, white, cookie cutter man is on the cover. That stigma is the problem, and some can’t get past it, which means that a lot of marketing for video games, movie titles, books, comics and so on drops off because the head honchos don’t believe a female lead title can sell. Which is weird because a lot of female lead products have been wildly successful in the past.
- Xena: Warrior Princess
- Wonder Woman
- Batgirl (all three incarnations)
- Birds of Prey (the comic)
- Spider-Girl (and a good deal of the MC2 universe)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
And quite a few more that I can’t think of off the top of my head (though, I’m sure others can add to this list). So why are we always taking a step back whenever a new female lead title starts to make it’s way through the press? Why are we forced to deal with the same nay sayers over and over again over female characters in print, film and digital media formats? Is it an insecurity that suddenly women will become more ubiquitous then men in fiction? I doubt that considering that the number of female lead titles that exist is still only a small handful compared to the number of male (and white) lead titles that exist in the world. Keep in mind, for decades it was always a male power fantasy to be the shining knight and save the damsel in distress. This was the way of things. It’s old and tired now, but those who like old and tired things are trying to hook up the white knight to a heart monitor and keep him alive via external machines. Well, it’s time to just let him die, he had a good life, now let him die with dignity and let the new stuff happen.
This is another reason why women in fiction is important (and this part doesn’t just cover female characters, but female writers, artists, creators, and not just white women, but women of all colours); women bring something new to the table. A different point of view that can bring about new stories and keep the world’s creativity alive. Let’s face it, we’re starting to hit the bottom of the barrel, creatively speaking, and we need new stuff. After all, why the hell are we doing remakes of Total Recall and Psycho in movies when we could be searching for something different. The main answer to that is business people really don’t like taking risks and they’d rather play with a sure thing. When they do take a risk, doing so with something that has a female lead is often way too risky for them to go through with it. And even when they do go ahead with it, they don’t promote it enough in order to allow that thing to work.
Bottom line, let more women be creative leads in every aspect. Let women be the main characters of popular culture. But make sure it’s not in some patronizing way. Make it believable. We’ll all be more creatively richer for it.
pictured, the author’s character, Avalona Xanthe from Guild Wars 2 in level 48 armour and level 62 armour
It’s become pretty common that the higher in level, or better a fighter a character is in a fantasy game, the better their armour and weapons are going to be. However, it seems the default for armour for women is that less of it is more protective.
As I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2, I noticed this trend with characters in the profession of Warrior, Mesmer, Elementalist (the most guilty of this trend), thief and ranger. It’s especially mind boggling for a warrior or a guardian, both of whom wear heavy armour, chain, scale, and plate. At early levels, both warrior and guardian are covered almost head to toe (the player has the option to have helmets not show). But once past level 50, things start to change. Oh, yes, you can still get armour that covers realistically, but it’s not good armour. It’s no where near the epic armours that add to strength or power, or give small bonuses to defense.
Now, I will admit, the character of Avalona that I play in Guild Wars 2 is a Norn, and both male and female Norn have shown that when wearing armour, they aren’t picky if they’ve got a lot of skin showing. And admittedly, it’s kind of cool to see Ava’s tattoos. But this is an age old trend in fantasy.
I got thinking, there are many cultures that have a fantasy like mythos that drives them, but why is it when it comes to Western thinking, any woman who appears as a warrior is dressed in pasties and a bra made of chain when they go into battle? The answer is pretty easy and rather disturbing and we’ve heard it over and over and over. But, why isn’t other types of armour for women shown that might reflect a cultural choice. Like, say, for instance, a woman wearing a burka who happens to also be wearing metal plate chest protectors, arm guards, shin guards and so on. I’ve yet to see a video game with that kind of representation. Oh, there is that style, but it’s usually relegated to a ninja. And often depicted poorly.
Mostly, this is just an observation, but one I wanted to voice aloud.
The Way I See It - People of Colour In Fantasy Fiction (by Tim Holtorf)
I kinda went off on a tangent about the recent crap in fandoms regarding the appearance of a person of colour for the role of Lancelot, and using POC in fantasy in general (spoiler: there’s nothing wrong with it, so stop complaining). Also like to apologize for the grainy quality of the video, it appears I need to get a better quality webcam. Also, sorry, didn’t add links. I’m also quiet because it’s 10:00 at night and I don’t want to be a dick to my neighbours.
Writer’s Relief is an author’s submission service (not a literary agency, publisher, or publicity firm). We help creative writers get published by targeting their poems, essays, short stories, and books to the best-suited literary agents or editors of literary journals.
We can help you get published. We will:
- Identify the best literary agents for your book manuscript. Literary agents are key to publishing your novel, memoir, or nonfiction book.
- Identify the best literary journals for your poetry, short story, or personal essay.
- Create your cover or query letters.
- Proofread and format your submissions.
- Develop strategies that get literary agents and editors excited about your writing.
- Make more time for you to write without sacrificing the quality and efficiency of your submissions.
- Help you get published more often in reputable markets.
Submit Here: http://www.writersrelief.com/review_board/
Submission Guidelines: http://www.writersrelief.com/submission-guidelines-for-review-board/
Review Board FAQ: http://www.writersrelief.com/submission-guidelines-for-review-board/#reviewboardfaqs
(For more information about Writer’s Relief, visit www.writersrelief.com)
*** ALSO, all Review Board applicants are eligible to receive a FREE copy of our e-book, The Ultimate Guide To Cover And Query Letters For Creative Writers! ***
From Ian Morrison of Friends of the CBC:
I have just received the following note from my friend, Margaret Atwood.
Margaret and her team have developed a new way for artists and creators everywhere – including Canadian fiction and non-fiction writers, musicians, graphic novelists and others — to reach out to new audiences here and around the globe with webcast events, personal connections, and individual signing possibilities. It’s called www.fanado.com.
This project offers an important new way for the world-class art of Canadian creators to find and reach new audiences. I have supported this important project. I invite you to consider supporting it too by visiting www.indiegogo.com/fanado.
For a project like this to work, there must be a groundswell, and a wide base of support – just as for public broadcasting, of which Margaret is a steadfast supporter.
Writing projects, fiction and non-fiction, writers, musicians, graphic novelists and more! This might also be a great opportunity for women creators in Canada to showcase their work as well.
Related articles
- Margaret Atwood joins story-sharing website Wattpad (guardian.co.uk)
- Margaret Atwood starts raising funds for Fanado (teleread.com)
- Margaret Atwood joins Toronto-based writing site Wattpad (business.financialpost.com)
- Margaret Attwood joins the Wattpad community (teleread.com)
Let me be quite frank about this. These are women who present a positive influence that not only women can look up to, but all genders. Characters that are not simply pretty delicate flowers that some male hero needs to rescue, not at all. Because these icons I speak of can rescue themselves. Sure, there’s women out there that have no problem with being rescued and they have lots of role models to look to, in books, television, comics, film and so much more.
But there’s also a large number of women that don’t want or need to be rescued. Believe it or not, guys, but not every woman wants to be rescued. And if you believe they do, then you’re not looking at the big picture.
Every so often, a female character comes along that breaks the boundary and is someone worthy of looking up to. There are many out there right now that I can name, beginning with Wonder Woman. She’s not the only one. It might surprise you to hear, but another would be Anne of Green Gables. Sure, you really can’t compare Diana, Princess of Themyscira with Anne of Green Gables, the two are worlds apart in what they do. But they’re still positive role models.
The list is extensive and includes, but is not limited to:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Zoe Washburn
- Xena, Warrior Princess
- Dora the Explorer
- Barbara Gordon, Oracle (before the DCnU reboot)
- Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager
- Kinsey Milhone of the Alphabet Crime series of novels by Sue Grafton
- Hermoine Granger of the Harry Potter books (and to be honest, most of the girls in the series were strong role models)
The list could go on and on. Already, I know the usual comment from detractors. “Isn’t that enough for women? Do they really need more?” For each strong, positive role model a woman has, there has to be about twenty positive male role models. Here’s the catch, though. A lot of those positive female role models can be good role models for men as well.
Women should never be used as sex symbols alone in fiction. This is dangerous because it sets up bad examples for men, and often times women in real life become objectified because of that treatment. Women are not simply objects to be compared to fruit or candy or some precious gem.
Fiction needs more strong female roles. And don’t confuse the term “strong female role” with something akin to a Boris painting. There’s a lot more to a strong character than just how badass or sexy they look. Some of the sexiest characters are the ones fully clothed and use a superior intellect and knowledge of their opponent than how to seduce or pummel into the dirt (see the afformentioned Janeway and Granger).
But it would seem that mainstream media, whether that be in television series, comic books, movies or even advertising, would rather portray a women in a certain aspect that they believe the public is comfortable with. That view gets worse when speaking about women of colour.
As a society, we need to utilize the medium of story telling, whether printed or digital, text, audio or visual, to tell more stories about women. Good stories that women of all ages can look up to, and that men can learn something from. Because right now, we aren’t treating women very well, which not only distorts the view of women currently living in this world, but also distorts how we view the history of women. History has a large number of women that achieved many great things. Marie Currie, Laura Secord, Irena Sendler, and many others made great strides in history.
It’s time we started treating women better. In our everyday lives as well as how they are viewed in fiction.
I just want to go on record in saying that I think this is a great idea. Details at the link.
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose “sexual inversion” (that is, homosexuality) is apparent from an early age. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn, whom she meets while serving as anambulance driver in World War I, but their happiness together is marred by social isolation and rejection, which Hall depicts as having a debilitating effect on inverts. The novel portrays inversion as a natural, God-given state and makes an explicit plea: “Give us also the right to our existence”.
The Well became the target of a campaign by James Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express newspaper, who wrote “I would rather give a healthy boy or a healthy girl a phial of prussic acid than this novel.” Although its only sexual reference consists of the words “and that night, they were not divided”, a British court judged it obscene because it defended “unnatural practices between women”. In the United States the book survived legal challenges in New York stateand in Customs Court.
Publicity over The Well’s legal battles increased the visibility of lesbians in British and American culture. For decades it was the best-known lesbian novel in English, and often the first source of information about lesbianism that young people could find. Some readers have valued it, while others have criticized it for Stephen’s expressions of self-hatred and seen it as inspiring shame. Its role in promoting images of lesbians as “mannish” or cross-dressed women has also been controversial. Some critics now argue that Stephen should be seen as transsexual.
Although few critics rate The Well highly as a work of literature, its treatment of sexuality and gender continues to inspire study and debate.
(source: Wikipedia)
(via forrestbondurant)
Few months ago, I posted a link to NPR’s post seeing nominations. Looks like they completed the list the other day, which is available at the link.
Edit: And now that I’m going through it, I admit… I’m a little horrified to see some books ranked so highly.
Second Edit: Oh dear… I just got to the end, and I have to say, I’m feeling a bit of nerd rage. There’s some stuff that I don’t think has any place on any top 100 list (like Wizard’s First Rule) and other stuff that is horribly misplaced (like Book of the New Sun, which should be in the top 10). But it’s an interesting to read, in any case.
Several surprises in this.
- Neil Gaiman works appeared at least four times.
- Handmaid’s Tale ranked very high.
- Max Brooks World War Z got on the list.
- Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series (wich was one of my picks) ranked quite high.
- Wicked, which is the set in the Land of Oz, made the list. Awesome, because the play based on the book is currently in Saskatoon.
- A lot of series were featured, including at number one, Lord of the Rings. Also on the list, Xanth Series, Thrawn Trilogy, the Space Triology, Shanara Trilogy, Dark Tower Series, the Codex Alara Series, and the Dune Chronicles.
- Allan Moore’s The Watchmen made the list, and along with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, were the only comic books to make it. Though, the list calls them “graphic novels”.
Post your five picks in the comments.
I’ll do mine here, and post in their comments.
- Ranks of Bronze by David Drake. A defeated Roman legion is sold into slavery to alien traders seeking low tech soldiers to be used in conflicts to secure trading rights on alien planets. Their new masters soon learn that the Romans are the best low tech fighters that can be found.Given their worth as soldiers and success on the battlefield, the Romans’ alien masters provide them with everything, including near immortality. However, the Romans want only one thing, and that is to go home.
- Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crighton. The book that became the movie The 13th Warrior, which was based on the information written by Ahmad ibn Fadlan and his encounter with Vikings, possibly in Sweden. These historical encounters make up half the book, but the other half is inspired by Beowulf.
- The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. What the reader believes to be a magical filled land, filled with mythic creatures and enchanted weapons, turns out to be very familiar setting indeed.
- A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The famous series that gave us John Carter of Mars, and is thought to be the inspiration for DC Comics Hawkman years later. And speaking of Hawkman…
- Hawkworld: As Above, So Below by Tim Truman. The three issue prestige format comic that would be later collected into the tradepaper back. Written and illustrated by Tim Truman, known for his fantasy artwork, the story captures the feel of high towers and fantasy in a science fiction world of a distant planet.
As of Monday July 18th 2011 Ladylit.com will publish one lesbian short story per week, one installment per day. The story will be divided in five parts, the first will be published on Monday, the last on Friday.
Submissions
We are open to submissions. Please send your story to submissions@ladylit.com. There are no genre restrictions, but this website is for lesbian fiction only so please keep that in mind. You will receive an e-mail to let you know whether your story has been accepted and when it will be published.Guidelines
- A minimum word count of 3000 words is expected, the maximum is 10.000 words.
- Please enclose a short biography in your e-mail.
- Make sure your short story is ready for publication. Do check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Stories with too many errors will be rejected.
- You retain full copyright of your short story. We accept stories that have been previously published. Ladylit.com merely aims to promote − and celebrate − lesbian fiction.
- Erotic fiction may be considered but it is not our primary goal. There are plenty of other websites out there that cater to that genre.
It’s another round of shameless self promotion!
As introduced yesterday, Black Bowhuntress - Blood of the Moon is now up for reads at Wattpad. Here’s the synopsis:
Blood of the Moon is the story of a woman who takes up the costumed identity of the Black Bowhuntress. While fighting crime and keeping the streets safe, she manages to find love. But is it something she can hang onto as her past comes back to haunt her? Heroism, justice, love and lust.
Black Bowhuntress is a current work in progress, with most of it started. I won’t have set times to post the story, but I’ll let everyone know and remind everyone when each new part in the ongoing series is up.
As well, The Adventures of Black Mask and Pale Rider is available in both pdf and trade paperback form from both Amazon.com and lulu.com. You can also download a FREE second draft pdf from obooko.com. Here’s what to expect!
Elven magic meets gunslinger grit. What happens when two elven travellers find themselves in the United States in the middle of the Civil War? The Adventures of Black Mask and Pale Rider tells the story of two elven women who’s curiosity gets the better of them.
The wild ride takes them from the Union to the Confederacy and back again. Along the way they make enemies and friends and learn a little bit about this world, and about themselves. An adventure of six guns and sorcery.
And! Now the second story has started at Wattpad. Canyons of Steel - A modern day western, which was the first story written with a small role for Chelsea Morgan/Black Bowhuntress. Here’s the synopsis:
What happens when an old gun hand makes a decision to turn his life around and set a new course? In Canyons of Steel, Johnathon Tiberius Walker makes the choice of turning his back on the underground military of the Red Hand and try to make right his own sins. All because he wants his daughter to live in a better world than he does. Walker, together with fellow agent Malcom Montgomery Watt, and former assassin Marianne Wollcott, join forces to combat the evils of the world.
Along the way, they run into allies, adversaries and enemies. Some will help, some will hinder, and others will be trying to get the trio in their targeting sights.
This modern day western will travel the globe as the three will ride on in a quest for justice and redemption.
So, some of my followers are following this blog, which happens to be rather tame and kinda like fluff. In truth, it is. It’s to promote a book and promote reading. This link that you see now, leads to my other blog, which also does promote reading, in particular the web serial series (which I eventually will get published) called Flag on my Backpack, about a young Montreal woman who takes on the guise of the superhero Canadiene. Her stories deal with social justice as well as action, and music (as the main character is also the lead guitarist for an indie Montreal rock band). Also, the blog itself is rather politically charged, as I’ll use it to voice my opinion (or reblog other valid view points) that defend cultural diversity, defend the rights of those in the LGBT community, defend those of different faiths, and defend the rights of women. Plus a few other things down the road. Flag on my Backpack will be my political soap box for fiction, and I hope you take the time to read it, and even drop me any comments.
Thanks!
