(okay? okay.)

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA IS WAY BETTER THAN EITHER THE DISPOSSESSED OR THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS

LEGUIN'S SHORT FICTION IS BETTER THAN HER NOVELS BECAUSE NOVELS ALLOW HER TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON CHARACTERIZATION, WHICH IS MOSTLY JUST "SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION," AND THAT'S RARELY NARRATIVELY COMPELLING, OKAY

ANNNNNND HER NON-SFF SHORT FICTION IS HONESTLY ON AVERAGE BETTER THAN THE SFF STUFF, THOUGH HER LIKE, TOP FIVE, THOSE ARE PROBABLY SFF

(ASIDE FROM OMELAS (YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY FROM OMELAS, INCOMPREHENSIBLE THEMATIC SEA KNOWN AS THE "SFF GENRE," IT'S INESCAPABLE AND IT HATES YOU AND IT'S GONNA OUTLAST YOU) THREE OR FOUR OF THE TOP FIVE ARE PROBABLY IN A FISHERMAN OF THE INLAND SEA, BUT I'M UNCOMFORTABLE CHOOSING)

(okay that's it for leguin, and, uh)

THE GOBLIN EMPEROR WASN'T VERY GOOD, LIKE, EVEN IF YOU LIKE THAT KIND OF H/C IDFIC STUFF THERE'S MORE-EMOTIONALLY-AFFECTING EXAMPLES OF IT IN LIKE THE FIRST COUPLE PAGES OF THE AO3'S HOMESTUCK TAG WHEN YOU SORT IT BY EITHER KUDOS OR BOOKMARKS

AND STEVEN UNIVERSE IS ALL-AROUND BETTER THAN THE ANCILLARY NOUN BOOKS AT >60% OF THE THINGS WHICH THE ANCILLARY NOUN BOOKS ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE

THESE BOOKS ARE NOT GOOD AT DIALOG, AND ONLY INTERMITTENTLY GOOD AT CHARACTERIZATION, WHICH RENDERS THEIR PRETTY-COMPELLING AND -BELIEVABLE WORLDBUILDING CLINICAL AND PREACHY, AND ROBS THEIR POTENTIALLY-EXTREMELY-COMPELLING INDIVIDUAL EMOTIONAL ARCS OF ALL THE ACTUAL EMOTION

BREQ'S A SHITTY CHOICE FOR SOLE POV CHARACTER, SERIOUSLY, SHE SHOULD BE A FIGURE MOSTLY VIEWED AT A LUSTFUL/SEETHING/OVERAWED DISTANCE BY OTHER PEOPLE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HER DEAL IS LIKE SHE'S SOME KIND OF A FRANCIS LYMOND, HOW WAS THIS NOT OBVIOUS

THE FACT THAT ANCILLARY SWORD DIDN'T AT LEAST SWITCH OVER TO TISARWAT'S POV WHILE BREQ WAS OFF AT SUMMER CAMP IS A TOTAL WASTE OF A GOOD TISARWAT, I MEAN COME ON

(homestuck)

MOOMINVALLEY IN NOVEMBER IS ABOUT TWO HUNDRED PAGES LONG AND EASILY ACHIEVES 95% OF ANDREW HUSSIE'S APPARENT GOALS FOR ACT 6 OF HOMESTUCK, WHICH IS GONNA BE LONGER THAN PI BEFORE IT'S FUCKING OVER, WE WILL NEVER ESCAPE THIS INCREASINGLY-SELF-LOATHING RECURSIVE HELL-NARRATIVE

YET HOMESTUCK STILL DESERVES THE HUGO AND NEBULA AWARDS MORE THAN PROBABLY ANYTHING THAT'S WON EITHER SINCE 4/13/2009, BUT THE PEOPLE WHO VOTE IN THOSE AWARDS ARE JUST AS SMUGLY INSULAR ABOUT WHAT COUNTS AS "GOOD SFF" AS THE "LITERARY FICTION" PEOPLE WHOM THEY SO BITTERLY RESENT

SO THEY REFUSE TO READ IT BECAUSE IT'S GOT DICK JOKES AND EMBEDDED FLASH GAMES AND AN ENTHUSIASTIC FOLLOWING AMONG PRECISELY THE PEOPLE WHOM "SERIOUS SFF FANS" OF EVERY MAJOR POLITICAL STRIPE LEAST RESPECTS

FUCK US

I REGRET US

(AND HUSSIE'S JUST GOING TO KEEP POSTING OPAQUE HORSE JOKES ON TWITTER AND HATING THE WORLD FOREVER, WHICH IS NOT AN UNREASONABLE REACTION!, BUT IT'S GENERALLY DESTRUCTIVE AND SELF-DESTRUCTIVE AND Y'KNOW, UNGRACEFUL. AND I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER HIM SOME OF THE DRUGS I'M A LITTLE HIGH ON RIGHT NOW, I GUESS?

JUST, LIKE, TAKE A BREAK AND MAYBE WRITE LITERAL GODDAMN CON AIR FANFIC UNDER A PSEUDONYM OR SOME SHIT UNTIL YOUR HEAD'S IN A BETTER PLACE? TAKE SOME BRAIN-LASIX AND FLUSH THE RESULTING FLUIDS DOWN A SEPARATE NARRATIVE. THEN MAYBE SEGUE THAT ONE BACK INTO HOMESTUCK IF YOU WANT. BLOW SOME GODDAMN MINDS.)

(/homestuck)

THE HUGO AND NEBULA AWARDS ARE PRESENTLY WALLOWING IN A STATE OF SUCH DEEP INANITY AS TO BE USEFUL ONLY FOR MAKING PRIOR WINNERS FEEL BAD ABOUT THEMSELVES - WHICH OF COURSE IS THE WAY OF MOST ARTISTIC AWARDS MOST OF THE TIME! - BUT JESUS PEOPLE WE HAVE THE FUCKING INTERNET NOW, AND YOU'RE ALL NERDS WHO ARE ON THE INTERNET ALL THE TIME, IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS TO YOU THAT YOU'RE NOT VOTING FOR "THE BEST SFF BOOKS" YOU'RE VOTING FOR "THE BOOKS MOST APPEALING TO READERS OF A COUPLE OF OVERCOOKED AND SOON-TO-BE-RIGHTFULLY-ABANDONED SUBGENRES OF SFF"

SO THE PUPPIES THING IS NOT AT ALL SURPRISING, IT'S BARELY EVEN A THING

THIS "COMMUNITY" IS SO INSULAR AND LAZY THAT MEDIOCRE TROLLS LIKE VOX DAY AND MEDIOCRE DICKHEADS LIKE AJA ROMANO ARE REGULARLY ABLE TO HOLD PEOPLE'S ATTENTION, WHILE THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SHITARRAY THAT IS WINTERFOX WAS ABLE TO OPERATE COMFORTABLY FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME JUST BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE GOING ON IN HER GENERAL VICINITY WAS SO GODDAMN BORING

LIKE "LET'S ARGUE ABOUT WHETHER SLASH IS APPROPRIATIVE FOR THE THOUSANDTH FUCKING TIME, AND WHY THE GENRE'S FULL OF MONARCHIES EVEN IN SPACE, AND COMPLAIN ABOUT YA DYSTOPIAS AND ALSO DEFEND YA DYSTOPIAS, AND MOURN FOR OUR YOUTH FOR OUR SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL IDEOLOGICAL REASONS

BUT LET'S NOT READ ANYTHING BUT THESE FIVE OR SIX GODDAMN THINGS AND REMIXES OF AND REFLEXIVE REACTIONS TO THESE SPECIFIC THINGS"

LIKE YOU KNOW WHEN CERTAIN TEENAGE BOYS DON'T HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO, AND THEY START DARING EACH OTHER TO PUNCH THEMSELVES IN THE FUCKING FACE, AND INEVITABLY SOMEONE'S GOT TO GO TO THE ACTUAL ER

FUCK US, YOU KNOW?

(deep breath)

AND BUJOLD SUCKS NOW

Jun. 30th, 2015 11:30 pm
John Allison doesn't have the "well he wasn't dead when I started writing it" excuse this time, like he did with Michael Jackson. He is literally just writing unkind posthumous RPF about Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs shot some young girls into space to die just now.

This isn't something that bothers me, obviously someone has to do it, it's just I'm not sure I understand his priorities in re giving offense.

(Remember that time he sincerely apologized for drawing Esther with an undercut, and promised that he was not serious about this undercut.)

Mar. 13th, 2015 09:10 pm
One month until Andrew Hussie picks up the Buu arc again and commences the final destruction of our faith in human goodness. If you haven't yet started digging a hole to lie in face-down, you should get to work.
What fic should I read? Is there stuff about what Dupree and Gil were doing during the timeskip?
Wups, bad idea. Erased a bunch of MRA graffiti, including several repetitions of the n-word. I left the "HONK," though.
Achewood helps me to be depressed at the appropriate pitch, so I need to know when it's active.
Way to trivialize a serious fucking issue, dude. You're super-awesome.

In slightly less exasperating news, episode 12 of Psycho-Pass is on Hulu (and, you know, the usual less-disgusting-ad-ridden places), and it was a flashback episode about Yayoi. We basically learned that it is sad to be Yayoi, and also that her decision-making process is still pretty opaque even when she's the POV character. So, we didn't learn anything.

I mean, I'm glad she got an episode to herself, but given that this is only a 22-episode series and she clearly isn't destined for a major role in the endgame, I wish it had been a little less shallow.
1) I'm able to admire it in aesthetic terms, but yeah, I still find its basic premise exasperating.

2) Wow, there are kind of a lot of similarities between this and Homestuck. Circular spoiler:  )
I got two books, a sweater, a flashlight, incense, chocolate, a replacement breadmaker, and Homestuck updated.

One of the books was the second Finder omnibus. Why is Finder so ridiculously good? And creepy? "Dream Sequence" is unbelievably creepy. There are horror writers who spend their whole careers failing to come up with ideas as awful as the scarecrow people. And then McNeil switches tracks to the relentlessly adorable "Mystery Date," because she has an approximately one-volume-long attention span.

The Homestuck update was perfect and upsetting. Both things simultaneously. My heart hurts.

I hope that we get to see the moment at which Dave finds out about this. Actually, I hope Dave meets the sprite before he actually meets Dirk. I just want Dave traumatized forever, I guess. Hasn't been enough of that yet.
ahhhh calliope noooo this sounds very unsaaaafe. But good on you for clueing Roxy in on your awful plan before implementing it, I guess.

I'm sorry, Rose and Karkat, but Calliope and Roxy have displaced you as my favorite characters now. They are so adorable and screwed.
Even very short distances. Maybe it would stress me out less if I just brought my tea paraphernalia with me. Plug the electric kettle into the dashboard, cool the water to exactly 180 F by pouring it between two travel cups, and so on. Actually, that's a great idea with no conceivable drawbacks, I'm totally going to do that.

Unrelated Homestuck stuff: Everything Is Worse With Reddit. I will fight the person who made that comment and everyone who upvoted it. Calliope died all alone and Roxy couldn't save her, and now they're getting to talk again! Roxy can wait a little longer to meet Rose, this is important stuff that's going on. I am defensive of little green skull monsters.
My brain is broken. I've been working at home today, and am about to go in to the office and print and fax the thing I've been working on, but I'm having a slight anxiety attack about driving. The dog is going with me, so I need to calm down before I get in the car. Don't want to scare the dog.

Stuff I've read or reread recently:

Elvenbane Elf Opposite Day, by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey - I was not actually able to finish this. I got to the part where the girl is crushing on her brother, and he knows they're siblings but she doesn't, and rather than just telling her, he pressures her into getting engaged to his boyfriend. This is how you solve problems on Elf Opposite Day.

His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik - Reread. I always skim the battle scenes in this, as I'm unable to clearly picture what's going on. Maybe it would all make more sense if I read Patrick O'Brian?

The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman - Reread. Every time I get to the end I wish Pullman'd just like, waste some time writing a few unnecessary self-indulgent books about Lyra causing/solving smaller post-adventure problems.

Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie, over and over - My brain has been recolonized by carapacians following a catastrophe that extinguished all life. Perhaps someday their society will reach a level advanced enough that I can think about, like, anything else.
Kiwi Blitz

This is so cute. It's about a girl named Steffi who does Pokemon-seriousness-level arena fights in big cute mecha. Her dad, a roboticist, gives her a special one of her own, which looks like a giant kiwi bird. She naturally decides that she needs to fight crime in it. Her dad also thinks that this would be great. Her best friend/sidekick Benzene is less sure about the wisdom of the idea, but agrees to help her in a vain attempt to keep her out of trouble.

Oglaf

This, on the other hand, is extremely filthy. It's by the Platinum Grit people, and it is filthier than Platinum Grit, so. Extremely filthy. The archive page labels the comics that are not pornographic: "SFW", "Not dirty at all," "Low level swearing, questionable attitude." It's funny.

The present plotline, if you can call it that, involves a very angry bounty hunter woman and a hyperactive "doctor" who actually just gives blow jobs. Both of them are trying to destroy the Fun God, whose followers have been kidnapping the monks whom the doctor has been fellating. But I had to read it twice to figure out that that was what was going on. Plot progression is not exactly the main focus here. There's a sequence where, upon consultation with the monks, the doctor dresses up as a "fruit viking" to seduce information out of a bad guy, because none of them are entirely clear on the concept of seduction.
Dicebox, by Jenn Manley Lee

Griffen and Molly are a hard-bitten semi-lesbian sorta-couple who move from place to place in a dysfunctional far-future world, going whereever work is, and sometimes finding explosions in the same places. Griffen, alternately charming and acid-tongued, is a former highly-ranked civil servant. Something happened that left her deeply damaged and bitter, and she compulsively picks fights and keeps secrets. Molly, younger by at least a decade, has brain damage that makes her forget things, and causes her to see vivid hallucinations that may not entirely be hallucinations. She's both protective of Griffen and bewildered by her, though empirical evidence would suggest that she does a better job of understanding Griffen than Griffen does her. Image-intensive snark and sexiness under the cut! )

Afterschool Charisma, by Kumiko Suekane

Shiro Kamiya is the only ordinary human kid at an exclusive private boarding school where every other student is a clone of a famous genius of some kind. Along with his best friends, Napoleon and Hitler, and his crush Marie Curie -

You may still be stuck mid-way through that sentence. I'll give you a minute. Image-intensive shoujo manga insanity under the cut! )

Otoyomegatari / A Young Wive's Tale, by Kaoru Mori

This is another gorgeous, charming, carefully-researched, occasionally-slightly-less-than-feminist historical comic by Kaoru Mori, artist of Emma. Image-intensive prettiness under the cut! )

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

Those of you who are not presently reading the brilliantly-named webcomic “Vampirates” might do well to examine the most recent page and consider the gaping hole that would be left in your life had you not seen it.

Though the page is spoilery. If you want to know why you should read the comic without resorting to spoilers:

1) The vampirates are Canadian and are taking a boat to Saskatchewan (landlocked).

2) Apparently what Canadian vampire pirates do is, they lobby for health care reform. I know! I didn’t think it would top their list, but apparently yes.

3) It is very pretty with a good sense of flow in panel design. (Well, the people are very pretty - it’s not much for backgrounds, unfortunately.)

4) It is sort of BL, but has excellent female characters, one of whom is the Obligatory Person Who Keeps Saying, “Don’t Worry, I’ll Protect You.”

5) If none of that did it for you, go ahead and click on the link up there.

6) It’s called Vampirates.

(Though I warn you now that if you get into it, its iffy update schedule will break your heart over and over.)

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The contents of this blog and all comments I make are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License. I hope that name is long enough. I could add some stuff. It could also be a Bring Me A Sandwich License.

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