Mermaid Day

Today, The Mermaid's Madness officially hits the shelves! From someone who is already two hundred pages into the book, you can take it from me: it's a damn fine read. (For bonus cool, the author, Jim C. Hines (jimhines), is also on the good list :Db)

Last month, Jim's blog/LJ readers were given a chance to ask questions about the book. Here's my question, and his answer:

Q: Will ninjas be making an appearance in this book, or will we have to wait for book five: The Ninja's Nemesis?

A: Actually, ninjas are an integral part of all of my books. Now I know some of you are already reaching for that old copy of Goblin Quest or flipping through the pages of Stepsister Scheme, but don't bother. They're in there, but you'll never find them. Because they're ninjas!

[Helpful diagram:]



Other questions and answers can be found here.

Now go buy the book [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy], and read it! (Oh, but if you haven't read The Stepsister Scheme yet, get a copy of that [Amazon | Mysterious Galaxy] and read it first. Bonus points if it's for the MSU Safe Place fundraiser, but I know money's tight, so a library is fine, too.)

Five words meme thing

Nabbed from branewurms/woodburner, who gave me some very interesting words with very interesting intersectionality and stuff :3

1) feminism

Duuuude, feminism ¦Db Feminism is my new drug.

( Cut for a history of personal feminism )

Feminism is a core part of my identity. If I were forced to give it up, my personality would change drastically. It has taught me to think more deeply about what I do and why I do it. It has taught me to reexamine my own work from different angles. Most importantly, it has taught me strategies for how to avoid hurting people, and how to deal with the fallout when I do.

Feminism is about equality. It's about owning privilege and defining yourself. It's a tool to help recognize where things are wrong in society, and how we can change them. It's a formula for making the world a better place - not just for women, not just for marginalized groups, but for everyone. It's about the steps we can take to get there.

And I can't get enough of it.


2) avatar

And now, on a less serious note! \o\ Avatar is totally my favorite show in my life so far. It's got some serious feminist messages worked in in such a way that it mostly doesn't contradict itself. It's got wonderful, lovable characters in a gorgeous, incredibly intricate setting. It's got an engaging, epic plot, using elements unexplored by most of Western media, and staying true to its sources. It is not without its flaws (I would've liked some old women in the White Lotus group, for example), but it's as close to everything I could ask for as I may ever see in mainstream media (hint hint, world).

And now, a bunch of people in Hollywood are trampling all over most of that. *sigh* I'll just be over here, watching the season one finale for the nth time.


3) slash

Hmmm, slash. Well, as a word, I like its inclusivity; while it's still widely considered separate from het (to the best of my knowledge), it includes a lot of different romantic arrangement schemes, from m/m to f/f to three- and moresomes. It's a very flexible concept, and it's fun to stretch my mind with it :)


4) books

I love books \o/ I love them soooo much. Possibly it is because both of my parents are librarians, and met at the library, even. Possibly it is because I was read to nightly from a very early age. Possibly it is because there was a bookshelf in every room of the house I used to live in save one, and it was either love them or do something drastic and regrettable. The smell of the pages, the weight of each volume, the way the paper feels to my fingers... I just really, really love books.

And also reading! Which I don't really consider too separate from books. Reportedly, a teacher once told my mom that she loved it when I was reading in class and laughed out loud, because it showed the other kids that reading could be fun (gasp!). Just the idea that a few squiggles on a page can contain the blueprints for another universe, and all the materials are in my imagination, and all I have to do to go there is interpret them according to concrete rules...

I love it so much, someday I want to make my own :)


5) activism in fandom

And we're back to the first and second topics XD

Seriously, though. A lot of our culture is defined by media, and also reflected in media. If we ever want to change the way the world is seen, we have to do it on both sides. Frequently, this starts with noticing problems in the first place. From there, we have two (not mutually exclusive!) options: create something new in the media genre that deals with the problem correctly, and express displeasure with the original's problem to its creator(s). There's a lot of noise from the people who uphold the status quo about just doing the former if you have complaints about how it's done now, but that can be quite difficult even without fighting the system in small and large ways. The latter can be done by writing letters, making posters, talking to friends and people you meet at conventions, or even just not buying something that gets it wrong and spending money on something that gets it right. That's a form of activism, as well, and it's certainly capable of getting things done.

Isms in media have their own inertia, and without both new people with better ideals entering the industry and people who will hold those already there to basic standards of human decency, they are very likely to keep perpetuating themselves, and even getting worse. Considering how bad things are already, I hate to think of where they could go.

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Whee, long entry is long! Anyhow, comment here asking for words, and I'll give you five to talk about. I'll try for five topics I associate with you, but may fail miserably and have to pull stuff out of thin air ^^a

On a completely different note, we've currently got two to three cups of fresh raspberries in the fridge. Anyone have any good recipes?