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help_haiti story is done, and I need a beta! It's 1900 words of Data gen, post-Descent.This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/161
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Criminal Minds
( Strangers in Airports )
Title: Crossing Timelines?
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Torchwood
( Crossing Timelines )
Title: Who watches the watchers?
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Highlander
( Who Watches the Watchers )
Title: A Visitor from Valhalla
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Stargate: SG-1
( A Visitor from Valhalla )
Title: Wrong Redhead
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Harry Potter
( Wrong Redhead )
Title: Just Another Politician
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #093—mistaken identity
Fandom: BtVS/Star Trek Enterprise
( Just Another Politician ) This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/161
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hradzka pointed out the trailer of a Kenyan SF short that's playing at Sundance, and OMFG I WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/160
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bracketyjack now. (And if you've never read the Vorkosigan series, you need to go read it and then go read Forward Momentum.)In this story, set post-Winterfair Gifts and AU before Diplomatic Immunity,
bracketyjack takes LMB's famous dictum for coming up with character-centered plots (figure out the worst possible thing you can do to a character and then do it to him or her) and takes it absolutely opposite (figure out the best possible thing you can do and then do it). It works surprisingly well when combined with a note-perfect depiction of (almost) all characters and the Vorkosiverse in general, particularly underlying thematic and historical aspects of it. (Okay, I didn't quite like the way she handled Ivan. But he was such a minor bit-player in this story that it didn't bother me much.) bracketyjack calls this novel the companion-piece to a scholarly essay he/she has written about the Vorkosigan books, and I believe it; there is an astonishing amount of meta packed into a lot of places, mostly moments of clarity and analysis from people who are, after all, exceptionally smart and perspective and have enough pieces of enough puzzles to put much together when they decide to.Here's my comment to the story:
First, are you by any chance a devotee of Golden Age literary science fiction, as well as of LMB? Because there is a strong trend in that era for authors to start their stories with a revolutionizing technology, explained in a scientifically plausible way, and which then drives the story. (In this case, that is the frames.) They were also filled with a great deal of talking, of telling-instead-of-showing, but done in the most thoughtful manner possible. There is also an underlying understanding of the world as harmonious, of the perfect being humanly possible, of a faith in goodness and truth and virtue as being always triumphant, a kind of innocent simplicity that is the product of a pre-Vietnam Americanism. They are also very stylized. When reading this story, I had the most curious feeling of reading one of those stories. This novel feels like them, both in obvious structural ways and in its inherent optimism. It was oddly like reading, say, one of Asimov's Robot stories.
Second, while you tie things up neater than I think LMB herself would ever choose to do, you have her characters, settings, and underlying themes down cold, for which I salute you. The melding of her tone and that of the Golden Age is odd in places, but ultimately works, perhaps because LMB herself is in many ways shaped by authors before her. She is more subtle in her themes, at times, and while she lifts up truth and justice and goodness as the earlier authors did, she does so in a way that makes clear that for her, their value comes in the striving for them, that they can never be won without cost, that perfection is impossible but should still be sought. The only way the melding of the two understandings is possible so seamlessly in a work without pain is that the pain has already happened; you have woven in the pain from all the earlier works (both what is shown and not shown) and used that as the emotional framework of your story.
I'm not sure if I have explained myself as coherently as I would like. But this is a major accomplishment, and I salute you.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/160Second, while you tie things up neater than I think LMB herself would ever choose to do, you have her characters, settings, and underlying themes down cold, for which I salute you. The melding of her tone and that of the Golden Age is odd in places, but ultimately works, perhaps because LMB herself is in many ways shaped by authors before her. She is more subtle in her themes, at times, and while she lifts up truth and justice and goodness as the earlier authors did, she does so in a way that makes clear that for her, their value comes in the striving for them, that they can never be won without cost, that perfection is impossible but should still be sought. The only way the melding of the two understandings is possible so seamlessly in a work without pain is that the pain has already happened; you have woven in the pain from all the earlier works (both what is shown and not shown) and used that as the emotional framework of your story.
I'm not sure if I have explained myself as coherently as I would like. But this is a major accomplishment, and I salute you.
I guess so. Because I just read two awesome essays on the ugly underbelly of misogyny in slash fandom in general.
Why can't a woman be more like a man? by
bookshop On female characters "not being good enough" by
tielan Go. Read now.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/160
Also,
winged_mammal won me in help_haiti and has several very interesting Data gen prompts to choose from, which I am looking forward to writing as soon as I'm not in a seminar anymore and have time to re-watch episodes and think. (BTW, does anyone know if TNG episodes are available online anywhere? I only have season three on DVD, and the eps I need are later in the series.)This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/159
help_haiti is a community for people who are offering works (particularly fanworks) for sale, all proceeds to go to Haiti relief. My offering post is here.Please, folks, the Haitians need a lot of help, and they're going to need a lot of help in the long term. Whether you want to buy a fanwork or just give directly, I know times are tough but every little bit helps. My charity of choice is LWR, which is an organization with a long history of good work around the world.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/159
[Bad username: trekreversebigbang]
It sounds like a lot of fun! Artists make fics, and then authors fic them! And the commitment of 6k words is doable. (I can't write long stories on a deadline, they don't percolate through my head like that. Alas, without a deadline, I get too easily distracted by the shiny of other stories.)
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/159
I've known this date for months. Thursday afternoon I sat by the phone and waited for them to call me and let me know. Friday afternoon I kept my cell with me and charged up, but was too chickenshit to actually call and ask. Monday the office was closed. Today, I called. Turns out, they were waiting until they had the formal letter of notice to my candidacy committee written, and were going to notify me by emailing a copy. I am so relieved!
( Excerpt from the letter, for those interested. )
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/159
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/158
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/158
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/158
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/157
Rio Bravo: My Three Good Companions. This is a post-movie story to showcase the wonderful camaraderie of the three main characters. Rio Bravo is a 1959 Western starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan. It's a little formulaic, but it's about the height of that genre. For classic Westerns, it doesn't get much better. I am always amazed at how much gets packed into each frame, how much good acting and directing there is. For example, the first five minutes of the film set up the action for the whole rest of the movie, and does so clearly and brilliantly without using any words at all. The audience simply doesn't need them. (Also, it is one of Wayne's many later films that works to counter racist stereotypes either subtly or blatantly. Wayne's only friend in town outside his deputies is the owner of the hotel, a short cheerful Hispanic man. Carlos shares the duty of comic relief with Walter Brennan, but in the shootout at the end he shows up to provide ammunition and covering fire while the white citizens of town hang back and watch from a distance as if this battle to protect them is merely an afternoon's entertainment.)
Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles: Eudaimonia. I always loved the underlying philosophical questions of SCC, particularly between Ellison and John Henry, and this was a wonderful excuse to explore it, so I jumped on this pinch-hit as soon as I spotted it.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/157
( Addams Family (Movie), Alien(s), Ballet Shoes, Beauty and the Beast (Disney), Calvin and Hobbes, Casablanca, Love Actually, Marvel Comics, Peter Wimsey, Rio Bravo, The Sound of Music, Temeraire, Terminator, Vorkosiverse )
Yuletide Madness!
( Anthropomorfic, Calvin and Hobbes, Static Shock ) This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/157
(It's turning out to be a kind of Ballet Shoes Christmas--my old childhood copy was worn out, so I got a replacement copy of the same edition with the same illustrations, and also a copy of the 2007 movie version starring Emma Watson, which I highly recommend. And then a Yuletide story!)
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/157
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/156
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fandom_wank : a wank about those snowflake v-gifts on LJ, and how they weren't personal or anything. To quote a commentator:This is a rant. About snowflakes. That are not sufficiently special.
Wat.
It's too early for Christmas, and yet it's come anyway.
On other news, the unfulfilled request list is up at Yuletide. It's open to all who want to take a crack at writing a story in a day, whether or not you participated in Yuletide. Oh, and if you don't get it done in time, it can always be added after Jan 1 as a New Years Resolution.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/156
yuletide and I have a problem. There are too many I want! There's one in particular that I have a gorgeous plot bunny for, but it's too big to do in a fandom I've never written in in the time I have available. There are others I know I could write, but I've written in that fandom before and it's not as big a draw. And for two of them, my canon is on the other side of the country (perils of living in Oregon and going to school in Pennsylvania--whatever I need is always at the other place, without fail).Have picked one and sent in the request--we'll see if I get it.
This entry was originally posted at http://beatrice-otter.dreamwidth.org/156
