Guest Post: Growing up in Fandom in the 1970s, by LJ Cohen
I’m not sure if this still holds true today, but if you came of age in the 1970s, were a strong early reader who had read through all the books specifically written for children, and you were lucky enough to have a sympathetic librarian, you’d be directed to the science fiction and fantasy shelves. At least that’s my story. The Heinlein juveniles had been published a decade before I was born, but they were the first genre books I read. From there, I found all the Lensman books — written even earlier! I may have only been 10 or 11 when I read these, but even then I was frustrated by the insistence that only one special, fierce woman — to be born in some far future — could be a Lensman. Lenses were objects of power that amplified the qualities within a person. The message I got was that girls, as a rule, didn’t deserve power and couldn’t wield power. That I didn’t deserve power; that I was wasn’t good enough. It angered me that girls weren’t the ones leaping up to explore the stars. Asimov’s Robot books fascinated me, but the only woman portrayed in them — Susan Calvin — was more robotic than the robots.
Top 10 Posts and Episodes for May 2017
Time for another statistics post! Here’s what readers and listeners loved on our blog or podcast throughout May 2017: Top Posts: A Book by its Cover: The Dispatcher by John Scalzi (written by Shaun Duke) Metropolis (1927), Feminism, and Influence by Stina Leicht The 2017 Charity Fundraiser for Human Rights Watch: Make Us Review Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) for a Good Cause! (PLEASE DONATE!) Book Review: CUCKOO SONG by Frances Hardinge (written by Daniel Haeusser) Breaking News: Peter Jackson to turn The Silmarillion into a 14-movie epic by Mike Martinez Book Review: All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (written by Paul Weimer) Switching Between Lanes by Stephanie Burgis Ten Post-Apocalyptic Novels Written by Women by Nicolette Stewart Book Review: The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley (written by Paul Weimer) Book Review: Children of the Different by S.C. Flynn (written by Daniel Haeusser) Top Episodes: 324. Inclusivity in Fairy Tales — A Discussion w/ Sara Cleto, Brittany Warman, and Shveta Thakrar #55. Attack the Block (2011) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast w/ Tiara W. Signal Boost #6: Sophia Chester (Cosmic Callisto Caprica/Rocket Romance) and Heather Rose Jones (Alpennia Series/Lesbian Historic Motif Project) 313. Looking Back, Moving Forward: Anticipating 2017 Signal Boost #3: A Conversation about Marvel’s Nazi Problem Signal Boost #4: Gideon Marcus (GalacticJourney.org) and Andrew Barton (Tailings of the Golden Age) 323. Betsy Dornbusch (a.k.a. The God Sword) — Enemy (An Interview) Signal Boost #5: A Conversation about CoGeeko Ergo Sum 322. Babylon A.D. (2008) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure” w/ DongWon Song #58. Night Watch (2004) w/ Juan Sanmiguel — A Shoot the WISB Subcast What did you enjoy the most? Let us know in the comments!
Star Trek: Discovery and the Clueless
We’re getting a new Star Trek series!!! It’s called Star Trek: Discovery, and I’m excited for multiple reasons. We haven’t had a new Trek series in quite a while, and Michelle Yeoh is going to be a starship captain. I’m a big fan of Michelle Yeoh. She’s an amazing martial artist and an incredible actor. Sonequa Martin-Green (see below) will be her first officer. A Trek series piloted by women of color?!?! In addition, this will be one of the few SF properties wherein the women of color are not covered in makeup which hides their race. Also? A black woman with Vulcan training? (I can’t decide if she’s part Vulcan or a Federation ambassador’s kid or someone sent to Vulcan by the Federation to learn as much as possible.) That is wonderful. I can only imagine how affecting it is to see this kind of representation as a black woman who is also a Spock fan. (Hey, it only took a bunch of women pilots in the background of a Star Wars movie to bring me to tears.) Holy crap, I’m so proud to be a Trekkie at this moment, but I’m also disappointed.
Guest Post: Religions on Mars, according to Me, by Mary Turzillo
I truly don’t know if human beings need religions or ideologies, but history seems to indicate that we do. Every time a culture attempts to base its social values on entirely non-spiritual things, that very agnostic value-system becomes a new religion. People from England, France, Germany, etc. migrated to North and South America and to Australia in order to practice religions that were banned or looked down upon in Europe. Once they got to the New World, some of them started religions that did not harmonize with the social mores of their neighbors. Animal sacrifice, child marriage, and polygamy were three of the customs sanctioned by various religions that caused them to be ostracized. So the devotees moved further west, into less populated territory. I think this will happen when humans begin to migrate to the moon and Mars. I don’t discuss this much in Mars Girls, although I’m building another novel (Isidis Rising) where dissidents sequester themselves in a Martian enclave.
Movie Review: “Wonder Woman” (See it!)
I grew up reading Marvel comics, not DC, so most of what I know about the lore of Wonder Woman is what I absorbed from the 1970s Lynda Carter TV show plus vague memories of the Super Friends. I’m aware that the character has had many reboots and reinterpretations, but my perspective is that of many viewers who come to the movie with only a small amount of background knowledge. I think most of them, like me, will love it. (Spoilers, with a warning, appear about halfway through this review.) “Wonder Woman” is a very satisfying film, even if it isn’t perfect. I have some logical quibbles with some of its elements in the beginning, and it is not exactly subtle; however, the notes it hits ring true all the way through. By the end, tears of both sorrow and joy were trickling down my cheeks. There’s a lot of building up and following through, from the quiet, simple, opening narrative to the firm statement of purpose at the end. It doesn’t have the snappy patter of many Marvel movies, but the emotional payoffs are pretty great.
Torture Cinema Poll: June Classics
Even though you probably haven’t even had the pleasure of listening to Shaun’s singing in our Queen of the Damned episode yet, it’s time to pick our torture for June! This time, we’ve decided to force you to torture us with a classic… Ok, so ‘classic’ is probably being too kind to the utter drek that you get to pick from this month. May Cthulhu have mercy on our souls.
