It’s a real dinkum thinkum

[bironic]

Halloween vid is done! It’s not even the Halloween vid I meant to make (it’s The Nightmare Before Christmas instead of deathstravaganza, the latter of which will be for a Kink Bingo square), but it came easier. Now to see if I can hold off on posting it until Friday/weekend on the assumption that more people will see it then or if I give in, like, tonight.

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Am about a third of the way through Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which I picked up a couple of weekends ago for a dollar. It’s not bad. Interesting style. I like how it took time to assess Manuel’s intelligence because his narration is in Luna slang, and it’s fun that matriarchal poly marriages are standard because of the high male-to-female ratio in the colony.

On top of Ender’s Game and Jumper, though, I have had enough of male protagonists with violent arcs and casual misogyny. Next must be a change.

Was considering Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series, since I love me some Ursula LeGuin and that’s the only stuff by her on the shelf that I haven’t read yet, but it still focuses on a boy (Ged), no?

Would you care to share some fem-centric/fem-positive SF recs? I know you know more of it than I do, and growing up as I did on short stories of the ’50s-’60s, you can assume I haven’t read it. In the past I have liked Kate Wilhelm, Vonda McIntyre and Esther Friesner, but I’ve never read Octavia Butler or Lois McMaster Bujold, for instance. Fantasy also OK.

Maybe it’s time to dive into this Vorkosigan business. Or maybe it would go better for festivids if I waited a couple of months. :)

True story: I used to think Kim Stanley Robinson was a woman.

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh God, are there different series within the Vorkosigan series? There'd better be an index somewhere.

Assume nothing! I have read no Tamora Pierce and haven't heard of Wrede or Ball. Any particular recommendations for the former two, since you've indicated one for Ball?

I think I've read some Greg Egan and don't recall being impressed. Maybe because of the characterization issue you mention.

Thanks for these tips!

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

I loved the Song of the Lioness tetralogy when I was little, and I still love them now. The first book is Alanna: The First Adventure, in which Alanna and her twin brother decide they each would rather have the other's educational path, so Alanna disguises herself as a boy and rides off to become a knight. They come with classy YA covers these days instead of the amazingly and inappropriately trashy paperback covers I read them in. A lot of people seem to think Tamora Pierce's later novels are better, but I disagree with them. She gets into her stride writing-wise, but the worlds she writes about end up feeling much less raw and more "kid-safe".

Patricia C. Wrede wrote, among other things, the Enchanted Forest series, starting with Dealing with Dragons. They follow the life of a Standard Fairytale Princess who hates embroidery and would love to do something else, like cook or swordfight, so she goes and ends up finding employment with a dragon, which her Standard Fairytale family and suitors think is very much Not Done. A lot of women rescuing themselves, people being practical about silly fairytale things, and defeating of evildoers with cleaning supplies.

As I said, I'm a newcomer to Vorkosigan myself, so I might have this wrong, but I believe most of the books follow either Cordelia or her son Miles, with a few books being more distant relatives. The first one chronologically is Shards of Honor, which stars Cordelia. The first Miles book is The Warrior's Apprentice, which starts more quickly. They all come in omnibus forms -- Cordelia's first few books in Cordelia's Honor, Miles' first few books in Young Miles.

ETA -- I forgot we live in the same place right now (though you might be getting these in ebook form for all I know). I've got both the omnibuses out from the Cambridge Public Library, so you can't get them from the library until I'm done. :P But I would be happy to lend you (give you? I might have ended up with multiple copies of some) any of the others, which I own.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thanks much for this. I am pleased to have so many choices so quickly. Minuteman network to the rescue if my local branch doesn't have anything, and thanks for the offer of loans! I'll let you know, and/or we'll chat over lunch or something soon.