Kirstyn McDermott confesses to being a bad feminist… which brings home how very hard women can be on themselves! Sometimes allowing yourself to be imperfect is in itself a feminist achievement. On the other hand, it never hurts to reassess, and try harder. As long as you take care of yourself before you start helping others with their oxygen masks…

Foz Meadows expresses frustration at how heavily books (especially those aimed at teens these days) appear to be gendered, when they really don’t need to be. So does Seanan McGuire. This is a thing. I’ve had a similar conversation with about six different people in the last fortnight, including my seven-year-old! She likes to read books that aren’t girl books or boy books but KID BOOKS. It’s a pink glitter jungle out there.

Tehani Wessely provides some gender stats on the Aurealis Awards.

Mari Ness raises her eyebrows at a list of great YA girl characters from books that aren’t necessarily YA…

Mary Robinette Kowal is an astoundingly good sport about the fact that her new novel Glamour in Glass (sequel to the awesome Shades of Milk and Honey) is being published without its first sentence. I would be on the floor in pieces. She has devised a clever bookmark, a sticker, a plan for writing it into your book at formal signings, and a cool quiz. I scored 9/10!

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I reviewed Kirstyn McDermott’s debut novel Madigan Mine at the Australian Women Writers Challenge blog, with particular reference to how clever she is, and my new appreciation of gothic tropes. I have kind of missed writing book reviews, maybe I should do more of it instead of saving it up to blather once a fortnight on Galactic Suburbia.

Kirstyn liked my review! Always a relief when I think I’m spotting something clever and turn out to be right.

Over at Doctor Her, I interview Lynne M Thomas and Deborah Stanish about Chicks Dig Time Lords and the series of books it developed into. Chicks Dig Comics is out this week, people! And it’s wonderful!

You can check out the new Galactic Suburbia episode on our website or at iTunes. You’ll notice we were really subtle about the Hugo nomination, because we didn’t want to be tacky.

In which this Hugo nominated podcast is Hugo nominated and discusses the Hugo nominations while being Hugo nominated. Also, the internet is full of things. Some of those things discuss gender, feminism and equality, some have wide ranging implications for the future of SF awards, and some of them are nominated for Hugos.

HUUUUUUUUUGO SHORTLIST

Hunger Games Hunger Games Hunger Games

Build up to make a hit
The reviews are in:
Topless Robot
Forbes
Our Alisa

But in the real world, the character Katniss Everdeen faces an even greater challenge: Proving that pop culture will embrace a heroine capable of holding her own with the big boys.
It’s a battle fought on two fronts. First, The Hunger Games must bring in the kind of box office numbers that prove to Hollywood that a film led by a young female heroine who’s not cast as a sex symbol can bring in audiences. And second, for Katniss to truly triumph, she must embody the type of female heroine — smart, tough, compassionate — that has been sorely lacking in the popular culture landscape for so very long.

The Clarke Award Shortlist:
Christopher Priest’s original post
Cat Valente responds:
“Because let’s be honest, I couldn’t get away with it. If I posted that shit? I’d never hear the end of what a bitch I am.”
And further she responds

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Kathryn and I have taken the challenge to read every book written by Agatha Christie, in order of publication and we’re blogging as we go along. We spoil all the things! We’re joined this time by guest reviewer Cranky Nick.

TANSY:

To me, this book is the first one that feels like an Agatha Christie – or at least, what I think of as an Agatha Christie. It’s also one of a handful of her books where I knew going into it what the gimmick/trick to it was – as with The Orient Express, the solution to the murder is a matter of general pop culture knowledge.

[DID I MENTION SPOILERS??]
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Sadly the outfit I will probably wear to the Hugos this year involves pyjamas and ug boots, cos I’m certainly not going all the way to Chicago, but, but BUT…

Galactic Suburbia was nominated for Best Fancast.

This is a dizzying and most splendid honour, and all four of us, presenters and producer, are tickled pink.

Congratulations to everyone on the shortlists, especially our fellow nominees in the Fancast category:

Best Fancast (326 ballots)
The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester
SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

There is dancing, much dancing, and joyful celebration. Also, there will be HUGO PINS, that most exciting sartorial item. I also love that my Twitter feed has filled up with people talking about the acquisition of frocks for the ceremony.

The most splendid Karen Healey and I chatted this morning (in one of my brief holiday internet windows) about the importance of wearable tokens of awards, and how all literary awards could be GREATLY IMPROVED. You can read a cut down version of our conversation here.

The Creature Court trilogy is now available in the UK & US (& Canada too!) on the Kindle. This is hugely exciting for me, because it’s very hard for people outside Australia to access books that are only published here – bless the handful of you who utilised carrier pigeons, magic carpets and bricks-and-mortar to get hold of hard copies.

Hopefully HarperCollins will make the books available in other e-formats as well, later in the year. In the meantime, if Kindle is your e-reader of choice, go forth and explore the Creature Court!

I’d also appreciate any signal boosting my existing readers feel comfortable with – trying to promote the wider availability of books that have been out for some time is a tricky thing. I’m planning some fun promotional stuff over the next few weeks but in the mean time – if you have read the Creature Court and you liked it a lot, now would be a great time to tell others about it!

Book One – Power and Majesty
Book Two – The Shattered City
Book Three – Reign of Beasts

1. The First Man of Rome (and sequels) by Colleen McCullough
A gift from my Aunt and Uncle, a massive hardback that had some very adult scenes considering I was probably in my early teens. Inspired a lifelong obsession with Rome, the women in Roman history, and Julius Caesar. Certainly led to me choosing Ancient Civilisations at college, which led to my eventual PhD in Classics. All your fault, McCullough!

2. Shapechangers, by Jennifer Roberson
The first fantasy series I read because I was actively looking for fantasy fiction, rather than because I needed to read David Eddings so I could join in the conversation with my friends at school. I still remember being so inspired by this series that, after everyone had gone home after my fourteenth birthday party, I lay down on a pile of mattresses and started writing my own first real novel.

3. The Madigal, by Beverley McDonald
A paperback found in the book section of Myer, the first time I realised that Australians could write fantasy and get it published by an Australian publisher (I think Pan Macmillan)? Heady, brain-altering revelations, in a pre-Voyager world. I started thinking that my secret dream might be closer than I thought.

4. The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett
Just as I was getting completely overwhelmed by a glut of fantasy reading, and starting to suspect that my favourite genre wasn’t quite as shiny as I thought, here came Mr Pratchett to blow my mind with the idea that you could write fantasy that was funny and subversive and commented on the genre itself. The next fantasy novel I would start writing was one which turned the cliches of my earlier manuscripts on their head, and also the one that would get me published for the first time…

5. Up the Duff, by Kaz Cooke
The older I get, the less likely I am to find books that have an enormous, life-changing effect on me, but this was the one that made me feel sane about being pregnant, and at the time that felt like a pretty major achievement.

Has one book (or many) ever changed your life significantly?

Is this not the best author picture EVER? It’s an illustration by the wonderful Kathleen Jennings from this post at Angela Slatter’s blog, interviewing Australian media tie-in writers Sean Williams and Karen Miller about their individual work writing for the Star Wars universe. So very cool.

(and reminds me it might be time to send my CV to Big Finish again, begging them to let me write a Blake’s 7 novel – you don’t get if you don’t ask!)

The Locus Kickstarter project to restore & archive a huge collection of photographs and ephemera has already met its target, which is fantastic, but they have many other projects in mind so it’s not too late to sign up to support them.

Sean the Blogonaut talks about his platform in running for NAFF (the National Fan Fund) and links to where you can vote or support the fan fund. I’m voting this year, for sure! Check out the candidates for yourself.

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Some links of things to do with me (tangentially or otherwise) on the internet this week:

A very positive review of Beyond Binary at i09 – doesn’t mention my story at all (sniff) but it’s great to see such a positive reaction to this book, which I’m very proud to be part of.

Our Sean (yes, he’s ours!) has interviewed New Zealand fantasy author Helen Lowe for Galactic Chat.

A lovely, witty review of Love and Romanpunk – again, I’ve been so pleased at the critical reception for this book, and so very proud of it. I am always interested in the way that readers pick a favourite from the collection (there’s something about the four story suite in particular, I think, that makes people pick out one sweetie over the rest).

Over at Doctor Her, I’m back on the Domesticating the Doctor kick with a short essay about Human Nature/Family of Blood and the Doctor vs. Domesticity. Next one will tackle the Ponds, really truly, I’m not avoiding it or anything!