A great piece from Angela Slatter on the writing life as a really big echo chamber – and how being with a smaller publisher and having to do a larger share of the book publicity is not the scariest thing in the world. (as Nicole mentions in the comments and I endorse wholeheartedly, being with a big publisher does NOT guarantee you any level of publicity support)

N.K. Jemisin talks about the misogyny & racism on Oscar’s night, as symbolised by (but not entirely represented by) That Tweet from the Onion: Fantasy Fans, Where’s Your Outrage?

Over at Tor.com in the Sleeps With Monsters column, Liz Bourke asks: Is Epic Fantasy Crushingly Conservative? As with many Tor posts there is some interesting discussion in the comments. I made a few which can be boiled down to ‘if Epic Fantasy is conservative, you’re reading too narrowly in the genre – check out some books by ladies.’

The legendary Mary Doria Russell on making a comeback after being dumped by her publisher. Sigh, it happens to us all, even the greats.

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Congratulations to all Nebula nominees, and a big extra special CONGRATULATIONS to Margo Lanagan for being part of the inaugural Stella Prize longlist with Sea Hearts.

(Cough, and apparently the high number of women and people of colour on the Nebula list is a cause for alarm for some commenters over at SF Signal… yes, really)

The ongoing coverage, tweets and especially leaked images from the filming of An Adventure in Space and Time is bringing me nothing but joy. Normally I avoid set photos of Doctor Who because I’m all about the finished product, but this is different. Behind the scenes shots of a show about behind the scenes shots has allowed me to see fragments of Daleks recreating famous 1960′s ‘invasion of London shots,’ William Hartnell in a park with his family, Ian, Barbara and Susan on the TARDIS interior set for the first time (the console is green!) and a recreation of Totter’s Lane. It’s like actual time travel is involved.

Did you know it was the anniversary of Mists of Avalon? Neither did I until Bitch Magazine pointed it out, but man that book smacked me between the teeth when I was fourteen or so. Regardless of whether you liked it or not, it was a massively important cultural milestone of the 80′s which caused ripple effects through fantasy, historical fiction, the feminist and pagan communities, and general readers.

At the time I thought it was the longest book I would ever read. Ha!

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Congratulations to Erika Ensign (@hollygodarkly) & Steven Schapansky (@legopolis) who are in LA for the Gallifrey One convention and just announced they got married! Complete with a Lego re-enactment for those who weren’t there… adorable, guys.

(I love how many cute couples there are in Doctor Who fandom)

In other news, I spent a week tweeting as @WeTasmania. You can check out my week via Storify, the application that makes Twitter a little bit more archivable.

I also announced that I was running for Overseas Regional Director in the SFWA, which isn’t linkable because the election stuff pretty much all happens in closed forums. If you are a member of SFWA I’d really appreciate you checking out my platform statement and voting in the elections this year.

But what has everyone else been talking about this week?

Speaking of Erika, there’s a new episode of Verity out this week, discussing the Ninth Doctor – and which story most represents his brief run in the role. I really enjoyed listening to this one, and the strong debate as to whether the Doctor can ever be sexual or a romantic hero, what the Ninth Doctor’s relationship with Rose really was, and why it took a space station and/or a Dalek to convince us that the Doctor really, really was back this time.

My favourite Doctor Who thing this week was however this post about the Other Eleven Doctors, which posits an alternate history in which the Doctor was always a woman. The choices for the old Doctors in particular made me squee, as my knowledge of obscure British film came to the fore, and I love the way this was presented as a continuum and fully fledged history, from Joyce Grenfell all the way through to Miranda Hart. Inspector Spacetime, eat your heart out! (I’ve actually said that twice this week, the other time being while explaining the Doctor Whooves fandom phenomemon on Twitter)

I fell in love with this Cracked post on Six Ridiculous Myths about The Middle Ages That Everyone Believes. Ah, everyone, you are responsible for so much misinformation.

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Richard III took over my Twitter feed this week – is it just me who resists finding out the actual details of a news story so as to enjoy the surrealism of the tweets that assume you know what they are talking about?

I particularly enjoyed Brian Blessed weighing in about the discovery of his “dear old dad” only to later correct it to “uncle.” (Twitter, of course, is still correcting him several days later. Oh, Twitter, don’t ever change.)

If you haven’t heard about the reason why everyone is talking about Richard III this week, then you can check out this piece on the Huffington Post which explains things. It’s pretty cool, as all rockstar moments of archaeology tend to be.

In your FACE, William Shakespeare!

It’s women in horror recognition month, which means it’s time to sign up to the Stranger With My Face 10×10 challenge – can you write a 10 page horror script in 10 days? Bonus points for non-sucky representation of women!

In other Women in Horror February news, Ann Radcliffe is awesome.

You all need a new podcast, right? Something challenging and crunchy and inspiring? Well, look no further than Cheryl Morgan’s Small Blue Planet, which aims to explore the SF happenings (both fandom and professional) in countries where English is not the dominant language. Cheryl talks about her ideas for the project here. The first episode spotlights Finland, interviewing critic Jukka Halme and translator Marianna Leikomaa (both of whom have run conventions) about all kinds of things, including a Worldcon bid for Helsinki. I found it fascinating, a great way to look at cultural and linguistic differences. The February episode will look at China, and the March episode will look at Brazil.

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Jim Hines looks at some of the responses to his ‘posing like the uncomfortable ladies on cover art’ project and talks about why it is important.

Verity! Podcast has a new episode out, A Perfect Ten? – I’m not in this one and listened with great interest as Deb, Erika, Liz and Lynne debated which Tenth Doctor story was most representative of his era. The School Reunion episode spurred passionate debate in particular, though I felt Erika made a very coherent argument for “Journey’s End” – I’ll be adding my Two Cents on the Verity blog this week. It’s also worth listening to for the discussion about the ‘fake geek girl’ and ‘Tennant fangirl’ putdowns that can happen in our fandom as well as ALL fandoms, and why the attitude that you are entitled to judge other people’s fannish love is so very toxic.

A companion post to the new Verity! episode, Things We Like – the Allons-y Edition, provides links to some fun and delightful fanworks from the era that brought such explosively enthusiastic fan love to Doctor Who. Some old favourites in there, go check it out!

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Remember roller skates? Remember disco? Too young or too old or just right to care about either of those things? It doesn’t matter because the Rollercade Glow Party wants you anyway! The anthology ‘Glitter and Madness,’ a co-production between the editors of Apex and Electric Velocipede has just gone live as a Kickstarter, and I’m one of the authors committed to producing crazy glittery roller derby gold. No pressure or anything.

The Glitter and Madness website can be found here, and you can like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter at @glitzymadness. More to the point, you can support the project for as little as $10. Help make the glitter madness happen!

But what else has been happening on the internet lately? As we discussed on the latest episode of Verity! it was Delia Derbyshire Day in the UK recently. Was there ever a name more suited to having a day in its honour? I kind of want someone to write the Delia Derbyshire Murder Mysteries now…

The Mary Sue showcases a military design for Wonder Woman based on Scythian armour.

Lisa Hannett writes about Australian horror and gothic fiction.

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Apparently the secret to being successful at social media is about promoting other people rather than yourself. Finally, something I’m doing right!

Joss Whedon talks about Much Ado (it’s coming!) and why taking a creative shift can be as good as a holiday!

The AWW Challenge blog has been posting a great series of genre/theme-specific wrap ups of the year’s reviews, including speculative fiction, diversity, romance and erotica, young adult and many more.

Tobias Buckell on Things I Told my Intern (about being a writer)

Tasmanian romance writer Sarah Brabazon talks about life onboard a yacht with her family.

Marianne De Pierres’ space opera series Sentients of Orion is finally being published in the US! She talks about her inspiration for the books here.

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Yes, I said shipping, not sipping.

It’s a stinker of a hot day, I’m drinking iced tea poured from my shiny new T2 iced tea brewer jug into stylish citrus-coloured glasses, and trying not to spend all the electronic money I don’t have on Doctor Who themed tea. My favourite thing about this site is not just that they know who my beloved Hexy Scofield is (oh, Big Finish companions, why do I love you so?) but they allow you to ship tea blends together and give you discounts for doing so. Hex, for instance, is in a ship with Ace. OH YES HE IS.

Sure, there are people who design fandom tea based on the actual Doctors too, if that’s your bag (did you know tea fandom was a thing?). But I’m having more fun reading the blends for the companions. (Aww, Turlough isn’t shipped with anyone but OMG his blend is Earl Grey Moonlight, Caramel and Ginger!)

Speaking of Doctor Who, my favourite written response to the Doctor Who Christmas Special The Snowmen so far is this great Doctor Her article by Nightsky: My bustle’s stuck!: Women vs. Victorian values in “The Snowmen”. Brilliant stuff about Victorian women, Doctor Who, and why talking about clothes is not necessarily frivolous as a woman – sometimes it’s a matter of survival.

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The Mary Sue looks at the psychology behind the fake geek girl meme. At Tor.com, Liz Bourke looks at the boundary-policing aspect of the attitudes towards women in SF “geekdom”. She also rather generously linked to my Pratchett’s Women AND Xena series of posts, which has somewhat inundated this blog with new readers. Hi, new readers! *waves*

Diana Peterfreund looks at the ‘new adult’ genre/marketing category, and how it has developed since her first series, Secret Society Girl, was published.

Sarah Rees Brennan also has Opinions about New Adult, mostly about the criticisms that tend to get levelled at any media phenomenon (not just publishing) in which young women exert power over the marketplace.

Weird Fiction Review recommends 14 Notable Women Writers of Weird.

The Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival (with especial focus on female filmmakers, writers and characters) has announced its return next year – 7-10 March 2013. Mark the date!

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Julia Gillard has been hosting drinks and networking gatherings for all manner of groups this month, because it’s CHRISTMAS, but when she invited a group of women involved in digital publishing (not all bloggers, not all mothers), the media phrased it as her sucking up to “Mommybloggers” – as if that was somehow something cheap and degrading. Anne Summers critiqued this attitude very sharply at SMH, pointing out exactly why Prime Minister Gillard is savvy to get these women on her side.

I particularly found it interesting when Summers talks about the effect of Gillard’s ‘misogyny speech’ on the women of Australia, and how she has slowly come to realise the changing perception of her because of that one YouTube video – and appears to be growing more confident in her freedom to address women’s issues more candidly.

Ambling Along the Aqueduct is doing their regular series of posts by a variety of ‘regulars’ talking about their year in reading, watching or listening. Mine is here, and I keep thinking of things I forgot to include! But I’m quite pleased with it. Do check out the blog as a whole for the end of year posts, they’re up to 21 already and it’s a lovely and diverse range of people talking about far more than just 2012 releases.

Fablecroft and Twelfth Planet Press are running a promotion where you can get the regency science fiction anthology New Ceres Nights for just $10 (within Australia) when you purchase any other book from either of their stores. To promote this, Tehani has been posting excerpts from each of the New Ceres Nights stories which are bringing back all kinds of memories for me! She’s also including the lovely internal illustrations drawn by Dion Hamill for each of the stories. Here is the excerpt from my piece, “Prosperine When It Sizzles.”

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