Link of the Day: Liz Bourke on (Male) Rape in Epic Fantasy

I've got nothing to say about Liz Bourke's recent post on the topic in the title -- at least, not right now (maybe later).  However, I do think she's raising a damned important question:  why aren't more male writers dealing with the sexual abuse/rape of male characters in epic fantasies (especially when the sexual abuse/rape of female characters is somewhat common)?

Head on over and read what she's got to say.  That is all.

Hugo Award Recommendations Needed! Inquire Within...

I've never voted for the Hugos before, which means this year is a huge "first."  Regardless, I've always had a problem filling out some of the categories, sometimes because I'm not familiar with the field (comics, for example).  This is where you all come in.  Below is the list of all the categories in which my nominations are either entirely absent or not firm.  What would you recommend I check out to help me fill the gaps?

Best Novella
Best Novelette
Best Related Work (I've got four ideas, but maybe I missed something you all know about?)
Best Graphic Story
Best Dramatic Presentation (minus Game of Thrones, as I've already seen it)
Best Fan Artist
Best Fanzine (I have ideas, but only one standout thus far)
Best Fancast (ditto)

Have at it!

Literary Explorations: Epic Fantasy = Crushingly Conservative? (A Sorta Response to Liz Bourke)

First, read this.

Have you read it now?  Good.  I want to start by briefly talking about two of the central problems that Ms. Bourke rightly struggles with throughout her post (and which many readers had issues developing or agreeing to on their own) -- definitions and the perception of their application.  For the sake of space and time -- you should read the actual thread anyway -- I'm going break this down into little, methodical sections.

I.  Definitions

The two main terms at work here are "conservative" and "epic fantasy."  The latter is somewhat impossible to define, in part because subgenres are, in effect, convenient marketing categories.  There might be something called "epic fantasy," but I don't think anyone can approach a satisfactory definition.  I tend to imagine "epic fantasy" as a matter of scale.  In most works in this class, what is at stake is not the individual so much as the entire world (or the world as the characters know it).  Thus, any actions the heroes take is in an attempt to save the world from destruction, whether literally through some kind of magic or figuratively through some

Literary Explorations: Rethinking the Classics -- Ringworld and the Golden Age (Brief Thoughts)

One of my colleagues recently asked me whether I think he should finish reading Ringworld by Larry Niven.  While he didn't say so directly, I assume that he isn't enjoying his first foray into the Known Space universe.  There are probably a lot of good reasons for that.  His research interests lean toward the last 30 years of science fiction, with special attention to works that fall loosely into the cyberpunk, biopunk, and ecocriticism categories -- authors like Paolo Bacigalupi, William Gibson, Pat Cadigan, etc.  He's made a solid effort to read the classics, though, since knowing about the history of the genre is important to the scholarship.

Personally, I think Ringworld is a fascinating book that falls prey to its age.  True, it is one of the most important works of science fiction ever written.  True, it has affected genre in profound ways.  But it is also a work that doesn't connect as well with contemporary audiences as it did in the decades immediately following publication (1970).  That said, it has not aged as much as the works

Teaching Rambles: If You Could Teach It...: The Space Opera Edition

One of the things I hope to do one day is teach a class on Space Opera.  Thus far, that opportunity has not arisen just yet, but the future is bright (as they say).  For this teaching-related post, though, I'd like to offer a suggested reading list for two different Space Opera courses and then get feedback from the wide world of SF/F.  I should note that I will conflate Military SF with Space Opera, in part because I'm not wholly convinced that they are always distinct categories.  For the sake of this post, I will use a slightly modified definition from Brian Aldiss' (italics mine):

Colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, often but not always optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes...

The problem, of course, is that so much fits into this definition.  To avoid that, I will put emphasis on "very large-scale action" and take that to mean "multi-planetary action."

Since I mostly teach American literature courses right now, I'm going to make two lists -- one for an American literature course and one for a British literature course.  However, I am also wide open to the possibility of a World Lit-style course, so if you have suggestions for space operas written by people outside the traditional science fiction zones, please suggest them in the comments.

Here goes:

Star Wars Going Commercial? Oh, Right, Normal... (Or, Look, It's Boba Fett and Han Solo!)

If you haven't already heard from io9, Entertainment Weekly, and Geeks of Doom, Lucasfilm is considering the possibility of two standalone Star Wars films -- one involving an origin story for Han Solo, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope (III and IV), and the other involving Boba Fett either between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (IV and V) or Empire and The Return of the Jedi (VI).  That is, of course, if you accept the rumors (including this weird one about a Yoda movie).  Frankly, we don't have much reason to believe Disney won't make as many Star Wars movies as they possible can, especially when you consider just how lucrative the universe has been for Lucas and his various companies.  Any new movie would equal a new video game, new books, new merchandise, and on and on and on and on.  Basically, unless a Star Wars movie ends up flopping at the box office -- unlikely -- Disney will probably pump out as many movies as is reasonable.  Expect one of these years to become "the year of Star Wars," with t

Rethinking Superhero Ethics and Myke Cole's Shadow Ops Series

On the recent Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast, my friend Jen and I interviewed author Myke Cole about Shadow Ops:  Fortress Frontier, the sequel to his 2012 hit, Shadow Ops:  Control Point (which we interviewed him about here).  During the discussion, we (Jen and I) sidetracked from asking Myke direct questions to actually considering the world he had actually created -- specifically, the ethics of that world and how it might actually happen in the real world.  I'd like to continue some of that discussion here (on top of this post by Myke on a similar subject).

For those that are unfamiliar with Myke's work, you'll need to know that Shadow Ops takes place in an alternate present where "magic powers" (a.k.a. superhero powers) are monitored and "controlled" by the various world governments.  In the case of the U.S., they have sought to control these powers and the people who have them by banning their use in the general populace and forcing people who discover that they are "latent" to join the military (or some related agency, depending on the need).  Much of the "forcing" isn't publicly acknowledged, which becomes apparent in this brilliant book trailer for Fortress Frontier:

Death Star Economics and Ethics? (Or, What Would You Do With a Death Star?)

I find it amusing when smart people take science fiction concepts seriously enough to question their validity in the real world.  From rocket packs to hover cars to laser guns, the smart ones have destroyed our childhoods, one reality-based argument at a time.  The Death Star is no different (and I'm going to add to the hurt).

Earlier this year, Paul Shawcross, acting on behalf of the White House, released a statement on We the People in response to a petition requesting the U.S. government to build a real-life Death Star by 2016.*  Because petitions that receive 25,000 signatures require a response from the White House, there wasn't any way to avoid this humorous situation.  Thankfully, they took the issue with a heavy dose of humor and succinctly reminded us that such a project is pretty much impossible -- it would cost $850,000,000,000,000,000 (or, as we poor people like to say,

The Hugos: Testing the Waters -- What will win?

In the interest of filling my blog with all your lovely voices, I want to know your answer(s) to the following question:

Which novels, novellas, short stories, films, fanzines/writers, fancasts, and so on do you think will win the Hugo Award this year?

I have a secret agenda for asking this question, which I will now reveal (thus stealing its secrecy) -- I am curious what I might have missed this year, for one reason or another, what others think were Hugo-worthy (which may reflect a particular taste), and so on.  In other words, you're going to give me a taste of a world I've never experienced (though I am attending Worldcon this year).

So have at it!

Say What? J. J. Abrams and the Star Wars Shuffle

It's official.  J. J. Abrams is going to direct the new Star Wars movie.  The good news?  He's not writing it.  Nope.  That would be Michael Arndt, who is best known for Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3.  That's good news indeed.

When I set out to write this post, I imagined it would begin and end with a long diatribe about how many times I have been burned by J. J. Abrams since the travesty that was Cloverfield.  As a writer, Abrams is, in my opinion, no better than whoever Michael Bay pays to write his bloated scripts of plot-ological stupidity (Transformers 2, anyone?).  But he's not a terrible director, given a good script, and he's worked with amazing folks like Steven Spielberg.

This post, then, will take a far different approach to whether Abrams is a good pick for the Star Wars universe (i.e., a randomly numbered string of equally random thoughts -- sort of):

Guest Post: Sassy Gay to Super Gay -- Marvel’s Re-Definition of the Supporting Gay Character by Benjamin Kissell

I remember being 9 years old and buying my first issue of Uncanny X-Men; my Mum had worked in a bookstore when I was little and had brought home rare gems, well-worn back-issues and cover-less comics [she couldn’t stand the sight of any book, comic or otherwise, being tossed into the garbage] so the sight of them on a newsstand was nothing new to me, however, this was the first issue I had bought of my own volition with my own money. And it? Was glorious.

Newsprint paper supported an array of colors most reminiscent of the Kirby-era, bold primes leapt off the page, and the cast of characters? Larger than life. A vibrant team of misfits and underdogs – each imbued with fantastic powers which set them apart from the everyday, yet

How the Genre Community Restored My Faith in Humanity

On January 10th, Catherine Schaffer and Mary Robinette Kowal organized a fundraiser to raise money for a genome sequencing procedure for fellow writer, Jay Lake.  Lake, as you might know, has been battling cancer for years, and recently received some terrible news about his future.  Having this procedure done could very well suggest new treatments that could extend his life.  The fundraiser offered a lot of amusing perks for different goal levels -- Paul Cornell, for example, offered to sing "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush (goal reached!):

Cloning Myself?

Would you clone yourself if you have the opportunity to do so?  I sometimes think it would be strange to clone myself (the scifi kind of cloning, where clones are literal, full-grown copies).  What kind of strange conversations would we have?  Would we each develop differently over time so that the only resemblance between us was physical?

Science fiction writers have asked these questions for decades.  Why?  I don't know.  Maybe we're secretly narcissists?  Or maybe there's just something fascinating about the idea that humanity is duplicable.  After all, if science fiction is, as many suggest, a genre deeply concerned with the human condition, then cloning is merely a "new" avenue through which we can interrogate what it is

Airport Shuffle -- Or, Hey, Airports in X-Files are Weird Places

I've been re-watching X-Files lately and it dawned on me how strange the world looked back then. For example, in one of the 1st season episodes ("E.B.E."), Scully walks right into an airport terminal and purchases two tickets (one with her credit card and one with cash). The desk lady says to her "You can catch your plane right over there," pointing to the actual gate at which Scully would board her plane.

Think about that for a moment. When was the last time you could do that in an airport? Granted, some of you are older than I am, so you have better memories of the pre-9/11 world. I, however, didn't do a lot of flying pre-2001 because I was a) not quite an adult yet, and b) not financially well off (by that I mean my mother didn't have a lot of money, as we spent part of my youth on welfare

What Star Trek Desperately Needs

I'm currently enjoying Enterprise, one of the least-liked of the various Star Trek incarnations.  I won't say that Enterprise is the worst of the lot; in many ways, it has the great adventure and anthological introspection commonly found in everything from Star Trek to The Next Generation to Voyager (and, I suppose, DS9 -- my least favorite).  Yet despite that, I think the problem with Enterprise is precisely that it maintains the format Star Trek fans have become familiar with in every single previous incarnation available.  It's an anthology show.  Every episode offers some new idea, which has to be explored and resolved, more or less, in 45 minutes.  What little overarching plot the show offered was pretty much irrelevant, except at random junctures the creators decided would serve as "connectors" to the series premiere.

Think about it.  The original Star Trek set the stage.  Captain Kirk and his crew set off to explore the universe, discovering new species, different cultures, and so on and so forth.  The Next