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A whole multitude of things!
Nov. 13th, 2010 05:51 pmLet's start with books. Books are good.
Recently I read Dust by Joan Frances Turner, and I think I've already promised to do a proper review post, but I'm still in the stage of going, "Oh my God, that was amazing." So maybe coherent thought isn't going to happen. Let me just run through the things I tell my friends as I shove my copy in their faces:
It's a zombie novel from the point of view of the zombies, with a lead character who was a teenage girl when she was alive. Now she's a shambling bag of rotting flesh, and she's quite happy that way, thanks very much. She has her gang, their have their land, unlife is good. Only, something is changing. Humans are rotting from the inside out. The undead are growing new flesh and organs. And undecay is far, far more terrifying than the alternative.
The first thing you should know is that there's a Facebook group leading a boycott against this novel, on the grounds that it's written by a woman and is thus totes a romance and HOW DARE THESE GIRLS GET TO PLAY WITH OUR TOYS? The owner seems to have closed it to non-members, which is a shame because it was hilarious, and I'm not going to join to see if he still has a photo of a burning cross as his avatar.
The second thing is that if you have trouble with graphic descriptions of violence, decay and the peculiar eating habits of the undead, this is not the novel for you. (Those who recall the time I had to keep walking out of Shaun of the Dead because it was too horrifying can stop laughing at me. No, really.)
Third thing is that it's a pretty amazing novel, with a really vivid sense of place -- Indiana and the Great Lakes -- with a very strong, powerfully American narrative voice.
Also, it's an original and interesting twist on the classic zombie story of horror fiction, sidelining the Hapless White Men in favour of ... well, anyone else, really.
Oh, and it's not actually a romance. Even though it's written by a woman. Shocking, I know.
Further on the subject of books. Remember a few months ago, I reviewed Winter of Grace by Kate Constable? My review came out positive, but also had a lot of stream of consciousness capslock flailing. So this is a bit embarrassing, really.
I read her blog occasionally, and apparently she read through a bit of mine, because she also refers to my review of Chicks Dig Time Lords and offers her own. The circle of books continues.
(This is where I subtly segue into talking about fandom things.) Constable's review of CDTL made me a bit sad, because she comes to the conclusion that she's not a true fan because her enjoyment of and pleasure in Doctor Who is not communal. Which makes me want to sort of flap around at every single person who enjoys something without becoming obsessive and say, "No, no, no, you are still true fans! Without people watching and reading and just liking stuff, there wouldn't be stuff for other people to obsess over!"
This made a lot of sense in my head.
I mean, don't get me wrong, fandom is marvellous and lovely, but it's only part of the audience. Not even the main part, a lot of the time. And people who don't react to television (or movies, books, music videos, games, comics, etc) by going, THIS IS WONDERFUL! I NEED MORE! I NEED TO WRITE AND DRAW AND MAKE MUSIC IN THIS WORLD MYSELF! still have a place in the community*.
* I get really eye-rolly when people talk about The Community Of Fandom, so let's pretend I came up with a better way to phrase it.
This has been a whole lot of talk about things which involve sitting around. Let's move on to roller skating!
I have this secret dream to be a derby girl. Since I have, y'know, the arthritis, this is a pretty stupid dream, but I really do love skating. And I could totes be a ref, which involves wheels and a uniform and punnish pseudonym, but carries less chance of serious injury.
Some of my other friends have the same ambition, and (unlike me) have the equipment and practice hours to back it up. So we've been skating the last couple of Friday nights, and I really hope it becomes a Thing, because it was a great time. Even though skating rinks had much better music when I was a teen, and back in my day we didn't send text messages and play on our Nintendos whilst skating. Kids today, man. How do they learn to multitask so young? And how do they balance?
Anyway, skating is aces, and my goal for the summer is to improve my fitness and stamina, so that I don't turn into a GIANT SWEAT MONSTER within 10 minutes. (Always ladylike, that's me.) And also learn to do crossovers and T-stops/starts, because I've been skating since I was a kid, and I'm still basically at the same standard I was at when I was 12.
So that's a small fraction of what I've been doing and thinking lately, and if it all sounds unbearably frivolous, well, I also spent some time at work transcribing a police interview with a murder suspect, so I make no apologies.
Recently I read Dust by Joan Frances Turner, and I think I've already promised to do a proper review post, but I'm still in the stage of going, "Oh my God, that was amazing." So maybe coherent thought isn't going to happen. Let me just run through the things I tell my friends as I shove my copy in their faces:
It's a zombie novel from the point of view of the zombies, with a lead character who was a teenage girl when she was alive. Now she's a shambling bag of rotting flesh, and she's quite happy that way, thanks very much. She has her gang, their have their land, unlife is good. Only, something is changing. Humans are rotting from the inside out. The undead are growing new flesh and organs. And undecay is far, far more terrifying than the alternative.
The first thing you should know is that there's a Facebook group leading a boycott against this novel, on the grounds that it's written by a woman and is thus totes a romance and HOW DARE THESE GIRLS GET TO PLAY WITH OUR TOYS? The owner seems to have closed it to non-members, which is a shame because it was hilarious, and I'm not going to join to see if he still has a photo of a burning cross as his avatar.
The second thing is that if you have trouble with graphic descriptions of violence, decay and the peculiar eating habits of the undead, this is not the novel for you. (Those who recall the time I had to keep walking out of Shaun of the Dead because it was too horrifying can stop laughing at me. No, really.)
Third thing is that it's a pretty amazing novel, with a really vivid sense of place -- Indiana and the Great Lakes -- with a very strong, powerfully American narrative voice.
Also, it's an original and interesting twist on the classic zombie story of horror fiction, sidelining the Hapless White Men in favour of ... well, anyone else, really.
Oh, and it's not actually a romance. Even though it's written by a woman. Shocking, I know.
Further on the subject of books. Remember a few months ago, I reviewed Winter of Grace by Kate Constable? My review came out positive, but also had a lot of stream of consciousness capslock flailing. So this is a bit embarrassing, really.
I read her blog occasionally, and apparently she read through a bit of mine, because she also refers to my review of Chicks Dig Time Lords and offers her own. The circle of books continues.
(This is where I subtly segue into talking about fandom things.) Constable's review of CDTL made me a bit sad, because she comes to the conclusion that she's not a true fan because her enjoyment of and pleasure in Doctor Who is not communal. Which makes me want to sort of flap around at every single person who enjoys something without becoming obsessive and say, "No, no, no, you are still true fans! Without people watching and reading and just liking stuff, there wouldn't be stuff for other people to obsess over!"
This made a lot of sense in my head.
I mean, don't get me wrong, fandom is marvellous and lovely, but it's only part of the audience. Not even the main part, a lot of the time. And people who don't react to television (or movies, books, music videos, games, comics, etc) by going, THIS IS WONDERFUL! I NEED MORE! I NEED TO WRITE AND DRAW AND MAKE MUSIC IN THIS WORLD MYSELF! still have a place in the community*.
* I get really eye-rolly when people talk about The Community Of Fandom, so let's pretend I came up with a better way to phrase it.
This has been a whole lot of talk about things which involve sitting around. Let's move on to roller skating!
I have this secret dream to be a derby girl. Since I have, y'know, the arthritis, this is a pretty stupid dream, but I really do love skating. And I could totes be a ref, which involves wheels and a uniform and punnish pseudonym, but carries less chance of serious injury.
Some of my other friends have the same ambition, and (unlike me) have the equipment and practice hours to back it up. So we've been skating the last couple of Friday nights, and I really hope it becomes a Thing, because it was a great time. Even though skating rinks had much better music when I was a teen, and back in my day we didn't send text messages and play on our Nintendos whilst skating. Kids today, man. How do they learn to multitask so young? And how do they balance?
Anyway, skating is aces, and my goal for the summer is to improve my fitness and stamina, so that I don't turn into a GIANT SWEAT MONSTER within 10 minutes. (Always ladylike, that's me.) And also learn to do crossovers and T-stops/starts, because I've been skating since I was a kid, and I'm still basically at the same standard I was at when I was 12.
So that's a small fraction of what I've been doing and thinking lately, and if it all sounds unbearably frivolous, well, I also spent some time at work transcribing a police interview with a murder suspect, so I make no apologies.
