Jo Walton wins the Nebula!

science fiction
Published on 3 Comments on Jo Walton wins the Nebula!

The 2011 Nebula Awards were awarded last night and the deserved winner in the novel category is an old friend of mine — Jo Walton:

Novel Winner: Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)

Other Nominees

  • Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan UK; Del Rey; Subterranean Press)
  • Firebird, Jack McDevitt (Ace Books)
  • God’s War, Kameron Hurley (Night Shade Books)
  • Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine (Prime Books)
  • The Kingdom of Gods, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Unlike this year’s Hugo Awards, which were disappointing to say the least, that Nebula shortlist is fairly strong, with only the Jack McDevitt –who has never written anything not bland and workmanlike– out of place. It was also nicely diversive, with five out of six nominees being women and at least one person of colour (N. K. Jemisin) on it. In a genre where all too often award shortlists are filled with legacy white male candidates, more voted for due to their name than their books, this is a good thing.

Among Others was one of the best novels I read last year and I’m glad it got the recognition it deserved.

People, not disabilities

Numpties
Published on Leave a comment on People, not disabilities

Just because somebody’s in a wheelchair and can’t speak is no reason to patronise her, but people do:

I’m not a child. I don’t pinky swear. I don’t do patronizing sing-song voices. I don’t like to be touched by strangers and I don’t like strangers trying to force me to look at their faces, touch them, or promise them anything. And I don’t like being called a shithead for not responding to these things or looking terrified by these things. That goes double if you said shithead in the same light-hearted, patronizing way you would to a cat who just put their teeth on you for petting them too long. So don’t think that “I was just joking” would change my mind.

That this woman might mean well is of course no defense of her actions or her inability to understand that you can’t treat grown ass people like troublesome pets, but I can see how easily genuine concern could slide into patronising or worse. It’s the sort of thing I struggled with during Sandra’s illness, to keep treating her like the adult she was, to not let her illness get in the way of her.

Whither Marvel

Comix
Published on Leave a comment on Whither Marvel

Tegan O’Neil ruminates on the Avengers movie and its wider implications for modern America and in passing he mentions the following:

You want to know what I find really depressing these days? The Marvel superheroes used to be figures of the counterculture. I don’t want to press on this point to hard, because it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Stan Lee pushed the characters as being part of the sixties counterculture when he saw that he could leverage a small but enthusiastic readership of college-aged kids into cultural cache.

Which is something I’ve been thinking about as well. Marvel always used to be, if not a leftist, at least a liberal leaning company. Most of its heroes were always either being distrusted by the proper authorities, or were in active conflict with them in some way or another. In fact, the whole Marvel Universe was founded in an act of rebellion, with the Fantastic Four sneaking off on their ill fated rocket flight against the orders of the military. Then there was the Hulk, in which a scientist working for the military industrial complex gets irradiated by his own weapon and turns into a monster. Not to mention Spider-Man, or the X-Men, both hated and feared by a world they repeatedly saved, etc. etc.

It’s all a far cry from the espionage/black ops/governmental superhero death squads of the modern Marvel Universe, where Captain America is no longer a Roosevelt Democrat turned into the symbol of the American dream, but just another Republican thug. Which is one reason why I no longer read many Marvel comics, as even the good ones are drenched in this fascistoid atmosphere.

Lola

Art & Criticism, LGBT, Music
Published on 1 Comment on Lola



There’s an interesting discussion about “Lola” on Andrew Hickey’s blog, mainly about whether or not it’s problematic in its depiction of trans people:

I’ve dreaded writing about this song, because it’s witty, clever, and one of the catchiest things Ray Davies ever wrote, but it also perpetuates some negative stereotypes about trans people. However, it also shows more respect to trans people than any other pop song I could think of

Which might just be laying too much weight on what’s largely an ironic song gently mocking a young boy having his first encounter with what I always thought was a male transvestite, what with the last line of the song being “But I know what I am I’m glad I’m a man and so is Lola”. It’s the old story of boy meets girl, boy discovers girl is also a boy, boy discovers he couldn’t care less: well, nobody’s perfect.

If you look at it unfavourably, I guess you could say that it enacts that hoary old homo and transphobic fear of straight men being “tricked” into having sex with somebody who’s “really” a man, something that used to be a staple of bad American raunch comedies (or even the Police Academy series).

But I think that’s completely missing the point of “Lola”, which is really about love conquering all, gender not mattering and becoming fluid anyway (“Girls will be boys and boys will be girls, It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world except for Lola”). It’s all done with a wink and a smile, but at its heart it is accepting of trans people more than you could say it is damaging.