Guest Post: On sniping, women, and SF by Brenda Cooper
There’s a lot of sniping going on across genders in our field. Vitriolic sniping. Shame on us. Yes, science fiction is largely male dominated. So are a lot of fields. I know. My day job is in technology, where I’m a c-level exec. It wasn’t necessarily easy to get here even though I live in the liberal bubble of the West Coast where it’s easier than it is in a lot of places. I’ve been living this conversation my whole life across multiple fields of endeavor. Yes, it sucks. Yes, it needs to stop. But sniping isn’t the answer. Mind you, I’d be fine with sniping if it worked. It’s kind of fun. But as far as I can tell, it’s not effective. Yes, there are truly evil men out there in the midst of the current social fights, like whoever issued the death threats to women writing about feminism in the game world. This is not an article about how to deal with them. Jail time would be a great start.
My Superpower: Carrie Patel (The Buried Life)
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Carrie Patel to talk about how the power of making lists relates to The Buried Life. Once upon a time, I had the uncanny ability to down lots of mimosas without suffering any ill effects afterwards. I’d tell you my record, but my mother will probably read this. However, as I creep closer to thirty, I’ve traded in some of my youthful superpowers (infinite mimosas, staying up for two days in a row) for more grown-up abilities.
Book Review: Use As Directed Review edited by Simon Petrie and Edwina Harvey (Peggy Bright Books)
Left over to review as part of last year’s World Tour of SFF, Use Only As Directed fits just as nicely into the Women and Non-Binary in SFF theme for Skiffy & Fanty this year. The latest anthology from Peggy Bright Books, edited by Simon Petrie and Edwina Harvey, Use Only As Directed features Australian and New Zealand authors – of whom over 50% are female – crafting short stories around the titular phrase that one commonly reads on instructions for everything from medicine to the latest gadget. The anthology’s predominant characteristic is its well-balanced diversity in authors and styles, with an array of female, male, and nonhuman characters and a range across genres from horror to fantasy to science fiction. Author nationality and the unifying theme bring the major constants — though given the Australian/New Zealand focus, racial diversity is not really present here.
Around the Podosphere #7: Podcasts of Note for 3/2/2015
What nifty things dropped into our laps last week? This week’s edition of Around the Podosphere has the answer. Here’s what we’ve been listening to! On Literature: The fine folks at The Coode Street Podcast welcome Liza Trombi from Locus to talk about upcoming books, including a few we probably should read soon. In a prior episode, they brought on Alisa Krasnostein, Sean Wright, and Tehani Wessely to discuss the Aurealis Awards. Doing justice to everyone’s childhood, The Book was Better crew discuss the novelization of the classic 80s movie, The Goonies. Excuse me while I put that movie in my DVD player… Rocket Talk welcomes James L. Sutter and Mordicai Knode to discuss Paizo Publishing’s new relationship with Tor Books (hooray for positive changes!). More recently, Ferrett Steinmetz and Monica Byrne discussed the Clarion Writer’s Workshop and the problem with genre classifications for authors. On Movies: Compelled by ghosts, the folks at We Hate Movies discuss the horror dud, White Noise. On Leonard Nimoy: The Incomparable crew offer some very fine words about Nimoy, his career, his influence, and his legacy. A great man who will be sorely missed.
My Superpower: Kristi Charish (Owl and the Japanese Circus)
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Kristi Charish to talk about how the power of molecular biology relates to Owl and the Japanese Circus. Don’t worry, I’ll save you! I’m a Molecular Biologist. That’s right. Sit back and let me tell you about the highly underrated profession known as molecular biology. First and foremost, our degrees start with a modest BSc — note the B and S are capitalized (as Erik Williams pointed out while back, an expert ranking in BS is an essential skill set for becoming a writer). Want to survive the imminent apocalypse burgeoning on the horizon? While everyone else is stockpiling weapons, ammo, and canned goods us molecular biologists have everyone beat. We’ll be figuring out how to purify water, grow food, and synthesize antibiotics…Heck, with our collective minds, we’ll have a fully functional biodome up and running in no time, distillery and all (we’re talking about molecular biologists after all). A collective of highly educated researchers and molecular engineers living in peace and harmony while the apocalypse rages on outside…
My Superpower: N.P. Griffiths (Isabella’s Heiress)
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome N.P. Griffiths to talk about how the power of patience relates to Isabella’s Heiress. What is my superpower? Hmmm…this is a difficult one. I’m pretty sure everybody can write, and most people have an imagination which they use for anything from choosing an exotic location for a holiday to picturing their team winning a title or holding up a trophy. Admittedly, that last one requires a more active imagination for some than others (tragically, this includes me, as being a West Ham United and Houston Texan’s fan is a painful combination if ever there was one), so it’s not either of these. I suppose I could say that it is a clear vision of what it is I want to bring to the page, but that isn’t true either as I am never too sure what’s coming next when I write. That is constantly informed by the character’s actions before I reach that stage.
