Friskbiskit

Get the Latest Slash Skinny

The new Slash Skinny newsletter is up over on LiveJournal and it's full of new fiction postings, review sites, calls for submissions and other up-to-the-minute information on original slash.  Check it out:
http://community.livejournal.com/origslash_news/29218.html

More Imposter Syndrome at WisCon

Here's a great post about imposter syndrome from another WisCon attendee:
go read it.

Ameranth & Ash 6

Please note: Ameranth & Ash is a work in progress and these installments are first drafts, entirely unedited, so be forewarned!  Also, Ameranth & Ash is m/m hurt-comfort.  It contains explicit violence and graphic sexual content.  By clicking on the links below, you are certifying that you are 18 years of age or older.

Ameranth & Ash 6

Ameranth & Ash Main Page

A Gift from WisCon

So as you know, I went to WisCon last week, and found it to be a very m/m friendly place.  Had some wonderful conversations about Why We Like It, and got some new insights, particularly from the Wish Fulfillment in Fiction panel, and from my buddy, Jennifer Stevenson.  Hugs all around to Jen and my fellow panelists.

As Caroline Stevermer and P.C. Hodgell talked about how their wishes to be strong and safe as women  have informed their fiction, it got me thinking.  That used to be my wish-fulfillment scenario too.  Magnolia, the main character in my first novel, is the embodiment of my desire to be able to face down all obstacles and kick ill-intentioned men in the nuts (or stab them in the back.)  She was an unusual heroine back when I wrote her in the early-nineties, but now, the kick-ass bitch  is a stock character in every action film going.  For a number of years now, I've found myself frustrated with the need for this wish.  I'm annoyed with the fact that women still have to fight so hard just to get along.  My fantasy has changed.  Now, I want to imagine a world in which I don't have to fight.  In which my safety and my freedom are a given, in which my competence is a given, and does not need to be proven with black leather and a submachine gun.

This brings me to baseline assumptions about male characters and female characters in fiction, and about writing in opposition to those baseline assumptions.  For me, as a forty-five year old woman raised in a not particularly enlightened environment, the baseline assumption about a female character has always and on some level continues to be that she is not capable.  Unless otherwise marked (with black leather and submachine guns, for example) she is in the story in order to be rescued by the male character.  Conversely, the baseline assumption about a male character in a story is that he is capable.

When I write female characters, I feel obligated to write against this assumption and make them strong, capable and confident, with or without black leather.  Who wants to read about a woman who doubts herself, who is weak and afraid?  I don't.  That's a message about myself that I grew up with and that I abhor, and one of the reasons I detest the kind of romance novel in which the heroine must be dominated by the hero before their relationship can really get off the ground.

And yet, and yet, to be weak is to be human, and to be forever strong is to be something less than that.  It is a kind of amputation, this insistence on super-competence in female characters which has become the current fashion in fiction.  I find I'm bored with it, while at the same time, the patriarchy is still out there, churning out plenty of sincere messages about women's appropriate role being submissive.  To be blunt, I don't feel safe doing it.

Now, I happen to be fascinated by characters who are afraid they can't cut it.  My favorite kind of hero is someone who is certain of failing, but who tries anyway.  This, as was pointed out by one of the audience members at the panel (thank you, whoever you are) is the drama of imposter syndrome.  What is wonderful to me about writing men is that everyone expects them to be capable, which means I can go right ahead and make them incapable, weak, fallible, flailing.  I can have all of the angst, with none of the nasty patriarchal aftertaste. 

I'm not suggesting any of this is ideal, or universal to everyone, or even a prominent draw of m/m to anyone but myself, but it is a brand new lens through which to look at m/m romance.  And it provides at long last an answer to a question that has long troubled me.  Why do my male characters always feel more heroic than my female characters?  Because with the men, I am free to play out my own worst fears, and conquer them.  It's not because I don't think women are heroic, its that male characters are better positioned in the overal social context to enact my particular wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Please, Mr. Postman

Yaoi Stamps in China:  According to a report on Sankaku Complex, the Chinese government has signed off on these yaoi themed postage stamps, which went on sale for official use in April. 

Google and Apple Sitting in a Tree, Are You Too Close Asks the FTC

Here's a story I bookmarked awhile back and then forgot all about.  It appears the Federal Trade Commission is looking into close ties between the boards of two of our techonology giants, Google and Apple.  I just checked and didn't find an update on this report from the NYT at the beginning of the month.  The story offers and interesting breakdown of the ways Apple and Google are competing with one another, and the ways in which their businesses complement one another.

Update: After I posted this (in advance), this story appeared, which offers an overview of Google's status regarding anti-trust issues.

Man Candy Monday goes to Budapest, via Istanbul, but not Constantinople

Candid street shot from somebody's trip to Budapest in 2007.  Apparently, it's quite hot in Budapest, in the summertime, I mean.

Posted in conjunction with Erotica Cover Watch.  Image ganked from Casual in Istanbul.

WisCon 33 Report

So I have an hour before dinner and I really should be taking a nap, but what am I doing?  Writing this blog post instead.  Own Worst Enemy. 

Anyway, I'm having a wonderful time at WisCon this year.  Basically, most of what I'm doing consists of going out to lovely restaurants and eating all kinds of different ethnic food I don't usually get, and talking with people I like.  If there were kayaking involved, it would pretty much be my definition of nirvana.  But, instead of kayaking, there are panels.  I had my two today.  I always get nervous about panels ahead of time though the number I've been on which were truly disastrous is surprisingly small.  Unfortunately, all of mine were scheduled for the second to last day of the convention, so I've had them hanging  over my  head all this time.  And... last night the parties were quite good, and I enjoyed some good beer, and was up until 3:30 am, so, I'm not at my sharpest.  Nevertheless, both the Battlestar Galactica panel and the Wish Fullfillment in Fiction panel went really well.  And, now they're over and I can get back to the serious business of eating and hanging out.

Other highlights:  Talking m/m romance, anime and vidding with Victoria Janssen and Jennifer Stevenson. The Book View Cafe reading yesterday, where my excerpt from that other project went over rather well.  Catching up with Nevenah Smith, my editor's former assistant who was instrumental in getting my first novel published.  Hanging out with my agent Jenny and being told that I'm a good writer to work with.  Playing a llama in the opening ceremonies skit -- I had an orange towel draped over my shoulder for a robe. Having coffee with Goeff Ryman, Janine Young, and Doe Young.  The enthusiasm with which my soon-to-be-released other project has been received.  And finally, the generally positive attitude among the attendees toward erotic romance in general and m/m in particular.

Now, I am going to snag a little nap before I got to dinner with Suzy Charnas and Eleanor Arnason.  Later tonight: the dessert banquet.

On Women Writing M/M

Another one from the way back machine.  In 2007, Erastes wrote this post about criticism of women writing m/m.  I like to collect these things, because I'm always looking for talking points on various aspects of the genre and issues people raise with it.

From time to time I've come across the notion that women writing love stories with male protagonists is exploitative of gay men.  I don't believe that in and of itself it is.  I think it is if the story itself is exploitative, but that depends on the author, and not the author's gender or sexual orientation.

In general, I get offended when I hear whole genres, subgenres or tropes of fiction dismissed as wrong.  That seems to me to be an attempt to control other people's imaginations.  In particular, I find myself feeling great frustration with the implication that as a woman, I am not permitted to "move freely about the cabin" of my own sexuality, because it belongs to someone else.  I feel that if I did not have m/m, I would be missing a big piece of who and how I am.  Am I co-opting gay male sexuality for myself?  Maybe, in the same way that drag queens co-opt femininity for themselves.  But me writing m/m and my old friend Dee Dee doing the town in her heels and her wig are no less honest, for all of that.  The truth is, that male, female, trans, gay, bi, or straight we all occupy overlapping territories when it comes to gender identity and sexuality.  It might surprise us who we find ourselves rubbing elbows with, but that's not a reason to assume that other person is not exactly where they belong.

Beyond that, I think that the rules of good writing, like the rules of etiquette, protect us all.  Be nice to people.  Don't interrupt.  If you make a mistake, apologize.  Write characters that are well-rounded, with virtues and flaws.  Make sure that every action a character takes has sufficient motivation.  Treat people like you'd want them to treat you and write people like you love them, even when they happen to be the villain.  Be honest.

Ameranth & Ash 5

Here's the most recent installment of Ameranth & Ash.  I have to say, I'm very pleased with the response I've had so far, (thank you!) and I'm finding the process of doing this very conducive to my creativity.  The story just seems to keep flowing on.  I don't know when I've ever had one be quite so well-behaved.  Of course, now that I've said that...  Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?

Please note: Ameranth & Ash is a work in progress and these installments are first drafts, entirely unedited, so be forewarned!  Also, Ameranth & Ash is m/m hurt-comfort.  It contains explicit violence and graphic sexual content.  By clicking on the links below, you are certifying that you are 18 years of age or older.

Ameranth & Ash 5

Ameranth & Ash Main Page

Verb Noire

In response to Racefail09 and the general dearth of characters of color in genre fiction, Mikki Kendall and Jamie Nesbitt Golden are creating a new small press, Verb Noire (great name!), which will showcase underrepresented groups in science fiction, fantasy, romance and mystery.  They want stories and novels with people of color and/or lgbt people as protagonists.  Oh!  And they're also interested in graphic novels. 

Here are their submission guidelines.

Off to WisCon

Okay, so I'm leaving tomorrow at the crack of dawn for Madison, Wisconsin, where I'll be attending WisCon, "the world's leading feminist science fiction convention."  I go almost every year, and I'm looking forward to reconnecting with a lot of folks I haven't seen in a long time, especially since I missed it last year. 

Wiscon and I go way back.  I remember a time, not long ago at all, when it was billed as "the worlds _only_ feminist science fiction convention."  Now they have to moderate that.  That's cool, huh?  And, (I'm very proud of this) I was present when Pat Murphy announced the inception of the James Tiptree Jr. Award.

This year, I'm appearing in the opening ceremonies sketch, in conjunction with Broad Universe.  I have a couple of panels, and I'll be getting together with my agent and my sf editor.  Should be a nice time.  Madison is a lovely town, and it's very pretty this time of year. 

In the meantime, I have a new Ameranth & Ash installment scheduled on Friday to keep you all entertained in my absence, and I'll try to check in now and then.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everybody.

Gender and Technology at Bryn Mawr

This spring Bryn Mawr College offers an interdisciplinary course entitled Gender and Technology.  It looks really cool.  Here's a student paper called Reconstructing Gender with the Romance Novel, which credits m/m with empowering women with their own sexual gaze.  I happen to agree.  There are some aspects of the paper I don't agree with (I'll let you guess which ones), but some of the analysis is pretty good.  And the whole Gender and Technology site is a rich trove of ideas.  Check it out and report back with your favorite title for a paper.

Fen of Color Speak Out

Today, people of color in the science fiction community are posting this banner, along with their works of fiction, poetry, art and commentary, to show the world that they exist and that they matter.  White allies like myself are also invited to post the banner and speak out against racism in sf/f. 

It's hard to know what to say, to be honest, beyond, yeah, don't be an ass.  It's true that we all have blind spots and we all make blunders, but when someone tells you you've offended them, why not try putting their feelings ahead of your own?  Just for a little bit.  They're probably a lot more likely to believe that you're the enlightened person you protest to be, if you actually listen to them, and practice some compassion.  And you'll feel better too, not having to haul that big edifice of always-being-right around.  Damn thing's clunky and at crowded parties, it makes getting to the bar sheer hell.

For more information on Fen of Color United and today's protest go to:
http://community.livejournal.com/foc_u/435.html

Man Candy Monday: Vintage Edition

from Male Submission Art.