January 2014 - One Month Down

The year so far:

- We had my partner's daughter with us over from Perth.
- We had Christmas.
- And New Years.
- And cleared out our garage.
- I discovered the Pandora app on my phone, and that led to all sorts of new music.
- Saw Frozen.
- And Sherlock.
- And The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, which was basically the same thing. ;)
- Compiled a truly intimidating to-be-read pile that is no longer under any control at all.

As for New Year's Resolutions... I have two. One of those comes in the form the above mountain. If I manage to at least pick up all of these titles to see if I like them by mid-year, I'll be happy. 

Notable mentions of good books read so far:



Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Retreat.

I'm not usually a huge graphic novel fan, but as soon as season seven ended, I knew I'd be buying all of season eight in comics. And so I did, and there they've sat for... far too many years. Every so often, I pick one up, wipe off the dust and commit to reading it.

Then, a Willow specific comic was lent to me (pictured in above pic, far right) and I felt I should finish the last three issues of season eight.

Well! I read it overnight. Kept on turning pages, so very, very compelled. The rest of the books have been a bit of a slog, to be honest, but this one made it all worth it!

Who's that on the left hand side of the cover? Why, it's the reason why I found this book so enjoyable. Oz is back! (full review..)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor.


For people who have just picked up this book, please don't be alarmed by the first chapter. You are not about to read a young adult novel with a thin plot and sallow romance front and centre. Though I don't blame you for thinking that with the introduction of Kaz.

Thankfully, the book only grows better than that, and the plot hits such a point that by page 100 you will not be able to put this book down.

I had heard many wonderful reviews about this book, and I am thrilled not to be disappointed by it. This is a young adult novel, with the heroine set in Prague so the schooling system seems a bit skewed from what I recognise; much more adult and seeming like TAFE or college with subjects like life drawing. That only improved my reading experience. Karou is also a kickass heroine who can take care of herself, which is the best pairing in young adult fiction up to date.


I'd also like to keep a record of what I write and where, at least once a month, even if it's fanfiction. (NB: It will be fanfiction at some point. We've just had Season 3 Sherlock. So...)

This month, between 10th - 21st January, I wrote a short six part series posted on Tumblr: Delilah and Sansa.

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5.
Part 6.

Inspired by artwork by Fukari, music by Jasmine Thompson and The Dresden Dolls. Word count: 1,448.

From 17th - 21st of January, I also plotted a new novel, projected approx 70,000 words. The first chapter was something I scribbled down during NaNo. Hoping to start that off properly in February, if not before.

S.H.I.E.L.D.: First thoughts, without (many) spoilers.

I've just watched S.H.I.E.L.D. for the second time. I know a lot of people are worried about spoilers still, so I'll try to keep my commentary suitably vague.

Unlike with Dollhouse, I found myself comparing this first episode to the first episode of Buffy from, jeez, so many years ago now. Does that make me old? If so, can't imagine any better reason than being nostalgic over the original Buffy release. But for people going in and expecting something A. Kitsch, B. Cheap looking or C. Mildly setting up what is to come, they are going to find their expectations... outdone.

When Joss first made Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they were running out of one corridor for the entire set of a school, actual graveyards that the vampires were rising out of. He had not just made more than a million dollars on a hit movie in the same basic franchise. And, of course, while Buffy did have a message to share, largely it didn't take itself all that seriously, and that silliness was part of what made especially season one so great.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has a budget. Boy, does S.H.I.E.L.D. ave a budget! From the opening scene, you feel like you are watching a movie on a TV screen. This series is also not your mild mannered anything. It has a pacing that will knock you flat on your ass if you aren't watching. Like the forty minute fight sequence in The Avengers, it doesn't seem to drag. Joss' expected witticisms drive the story and the character interactions, from Agent Coulson's miraculous return all the way to the end credits.

Highlights for me:

- J. August Richards reprised his place as a recurring Joss actor and was fantastic.
- Cobie Smulders made a guest appearance at the same time as juggling her new season of How I Met Your Mother.
- Lola.
- Some people complained about the cop out that was Coulson's death in The Avengers only for him to be pulled back out for this series. I think they will find a competent explanation in this episode. I also don't think it will be the last we hear of it.
- The members of the new team are all striking and individual, though I will admit a certain bias to Sky already.

In conclusion, S.H.I.E.L.D. was well worth the wait. Now, in addition to each weeks' new episodes, we only have Thor: 2 to look forward to!

The Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Joss Whedon.

Okay, a little bit about S.H.I.E.L.D.

When I first heard about it, I was a little ho-hum. When I first heard that Joss Whedon had been roped into putting together a television series based on the Oh-So-Popular Avengers Movie, I thought, 'Okay, I'm in.'

Still pretty lukewarm, I had yet to read about anything on when this series was supposed to be set, whether there would be guest appearances by anyone I liked, and of course there is the ever present fact that Joss Whedon's shows have been threatened or cancelled with increasing regularity ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

When I heard that ABC--not Fox--were going to be the ones running this show, I started feeling the first rays of hope.

Then there was this.

Punchy, startling, and a little under-whelming coming in at about 30 seconds. A teaser, in the truest sense of the word: It left me wanting more.

One day later, I'm wandering around my house with my eyes only half open as I haven't yet had breakfast and waking up is quite a bit to ask during a full week of holidays, and BAM.

Tuesdays this Fall! And also a two minute longer trailer!!

I said a couple of smart-ass things on Twitter, namely the fact that Coulson lives is the worst kept secret in a series that hasn't already started, and that isn't taking into consideration Joss' love affair with the particular trope, and something about wanting a Level 7 clearance, but all that's left to be said now is that for an hour each Tuesday starting as soon as this series does, I am busy.

I haven't been as excited about anything since the Neverwhere radio play.

Watch this space. I'm unlikely to be quiet as the countdown to S.H.I.E.L.D continues.

Real life and Brave New World

Today, I started Brave New World. I didn't make any specific posts for the individual books I was reading last month, but I might make an exception here.

Being a fan of Buffy for so many years, of course, I can't read the words 'Brave New World' without thinking of Anya with her full vengeance demon get-up telling Giles what an amazing 'brave new world' Cordelia has all condemned them to in the episode 'The Wish'.

The book's got such gems as, "For of course some sort of general idea they must have, if they were to do their work intelligently--though as little of one, if they were to be good and happy members of society as possible" and "That is the secret of happiness and virtue--liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapeable social destiny."

It's actually really, really creepy, and I've only just got to the end of chapter one. 

Nevermind the fact that it's making me think particularly uncharitable thoughts about corporate workplaces. I've been a student too many years to think of the corporation as anything other than the devil, but I've been spending a lot of time at work lately, and this book is already making me wonder why?!

Of course, I know why. My fiancee is an enterprising young man and is currently about to thrust both of us into the business of being franchisee holders, which means all his extra time is going into spending money and all my extra time is going into trying to find more money to spend. Which means working more hours than I am used to. 

I saw a post on Twitter about a month ago congratulating anyone who manages to write professionally at the same time as bringing up kids and/or holding down a job.

I don't have any kids, but lately I haven't been feeling like I'm keeping my head above water with the expectations that come along with claiming you're writing professionally at the same time as holding down a job. It's been more like, 'Okay, Nikki, but you're a writer, really, so you just keep on making sure to write at least half an hour to an hour a day. Or promoting, even promoting during that time is okay....'

And that's one of the reasons why there have been less posts here. The last thing I want to do when I get home from work is sit in front of another computer.

Thankfully, we are almost at the end of it now, then I will be once more the active and amazing online presence that you all know me to be.

Nostalgic post on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It made me so happy the other week to get all nostalgic over Buffy with Tony Head in his Giles tweed. On this night when we celebrate his most recent project in the radio play Neverwhere, I thought it might be a nice idea to do a nostalgic post to the series that first introduced me to the wonderful man known as Anthony Stewart Head.

For those not in the know, Buffy is this amazing cult classic of a show, screening largely in the 1990s and written by this god man by the name of Joss Whedon. Joss earlier than this wrote an origin story for Buffy in the form of a feature length movie starring Kristy Swanston, but it flopped. After the end of the series Buffy, and it's spinoff Angel, Joss collaborated with a bunch of mates and made the post-series comics (also referred to as Season 8 of Buffy, and After the Fall).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer first came on my television screen when I was a lonely eight year old girl. I thought this looked good, and identified with Willow perhaps a little too much, but thankfully did not pick up her fashion sense (until around season 5, when it became AWESOME). I laughed and cried with the four main characters, made up of Buffy herself, two best buds in Willow and Xander, as well as the older, mentor figure as well as guardian to Buffy's mystical slayer heritage, Rupert Giles.

I also laughed and cried through the various love interests over the 7 years that the series screened: Angel being thrust into a hell dimension after being evil Angelus for 9 episodes, Oz's tearful goodbye when he realises he's the wolf all the time, Anya's ridiculous/hilarious antics in trying to learn about dating and love (which I suffered through the first time, and only came to love gradually, through several rewatches). Spike's love of Buffy through it's various forms seemed much more real and layered to me than Buffy's high school sweetheart relationship with Angel (rife though it was with him turning evil the moment they had SEX). Tara's relationship with Willow was something that went completely over my head in its beginning stages, and then was something I came to adore as I realised myself to be bisexual and able to fall in love with a woman, too.

The important thing was, this was the formation of story, how a story can be told, (how a story *should* be told?) for a number of long years. I still play a game right now with my fiancee, whenever I'm stuck on a decision to do with a story, of saying, "What would Joss do?" Earlier this year, I made a post on my Tumblr saying I knew that, in some small way, the inspiration for my cover art and some of my stories came from Joss

A couple of awesome Buffy related things happened this year. Firstly: Buffy's 32nd birthday was noted and celebrated on the 19th January on Twitter by YA and Queer novelist Melinda Lo, as well as by many of my other friends. (This also means I am old, as I was always two years behind the Buffy crew.)

Secondly, there was this:



Buffy may not have been with us on our TV screens for the last 10 years, but the magic still lives on.

--

Gothic has been featured this week on Goodreads poll 'Paranormal Movers and Shakers 2013' http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/33975.Paranormal_Movers_and_Shakers_2013#17207130
If you have a Goodreads.com account, please consider voting #1 Gothic. I know we can get it to #1!

Polyamory in fiction, and other things.

I love Melissa Marr.

After at first being loaned the first book in the series by the friend of an ex-housemate of mine, I have since sought out that book, the rest of the series, including the eBook editions that have been promoted on her livejournal and graphic novels that she's released in the same world.

But the reason I make this post is because of a conversation I was having with yesterday (one of many, so many, conversations) about how the gay element is getting represented more and more often in teen shows. We had it in Buffy, which was the first time I really noticed it but that reveals my age more than anything else. There's been Skins; at the moment there is Glee, and we were talking about an interview where they'd posited introducing it in The Vampire Diaries (which I think could be amazingly interesting, if only because it's something that wasn't acknowledged in the books). 

At this, I believe my retort was that it would be nice to see polyamorous... arrangements represented, then lightly tagged that it would probably be another couple of decades until we got to the point with polyamory in the media that we are currently at with gay representation. At which the fast becoming stock-standard of polyamory, Big Love, was paraded, and I grouched about that, then went to bed.

Heading gradually back around to the first line of this post: I love Melissa Marr. On the eBooks that I have collected from her is the mini series 'Stopping Time' that follow on from her full length novel Ink Exchange. Now this is a great little bit just because it shows the love felt for one character by two different characters, without the need to make it into a love triangle where one gets the girl and the other.. well, doesn't. And as I'm reading this morning's review of the conclusion to Marr's series -linked by Melissa herself- I find myself getting a little excited. 

Certain... "er... arrangements" are said to be satisfied in this book. Pairings and... "er... arrangements", and this gives me hope, not the least for a new variation in an old staple of young adult books. But also for having a chance to see my lifestyle represented in the fiction I choose to read. 

 And while there's a part of me that can't help but think I've horribly re-contextualised Marr's meaning in the writing of this .... arrangement, for myself I choose live in hope!