tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13705746136497171682024-03-18T21:50:52.247-07:00Demon Hunting and Tenth Dimensional PhysicsVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.comBlogger309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-91435693309749976282020-09-28T14:16:00.001-07:002020-09-28T14:17:55.640-07:00A Chat About Our Country<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hey, folks. I think it's time we sit down and have a little chat, you and I. And it's not going to be one about writing or reading or publishing today.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know some of you aren't in the US, but a lot of you are in the US, so you're dealing with *gestures all around* the same way that I am. So I just want to have a conversation.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First of all, wear a mask when you're going to be around people you don't live with.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, now that all the idiots have been driven away, we can have a real conversation.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know that I'm just a fantasy author, but trust me, there are few non-political professions out there that seem to be more concerned with politics than SF/F authors. So we're going to lay this out.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Things are scary right now. Especially if you're a PoC, queer, or a woman, but all of us have been living with a generally heightened level of anxiety since at least March. For some of us, a lot longer, stretching back to Election Night 2016. <b>Those are valid emotions.</b></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And while I think there are a lot of places to look for hope, we have to do the hard things. Right now, today, we have to make preparations. Cis-women might need to start getting prescriptions for birth control, or even getting their tubes tied if they're willing to take that drastic a step. Queer couples need to get their paperwork in order, as if their marriage is going to be legally dissolved. Quadruply so if you have children. PoC...keep doing what you've been doing since forever, what you shouldn't have had to do in the first place. Trans folks need to get their paperwork and procedures and prescriptions in order yesterday.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you know any of these people, then help them. And if you're not in any position to help them, at the very least, don't tell them that their worries are unfounded.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the kind of go time that nobody wants to be in. But it is go time nonetheless.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The polling is good. A lot better than 2016. Our fascist would-be dictator has not only shown his hand, but has described it in detail. The available procedural levers, few as they may be, are being pulled. Coups don't have a great history of success, as a rule. We're not only more aware that we could lose, but we're halfway convinced that we could lose, so we won't be blindsided. There is hope.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But we have to take care of ourselves, and we have to do it while the law still allows. Even though it's scary. Even though all of us wish we could stop fighting for two seconds and breathe. Today is not the day for that.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Vote blue. Volunteer. Canvass. Get your house in shape. Make sure you're protected, and fight tooth and nail for a functioning society going forward.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And for those of you not in the US...hi. I guess offer us thoughts and prayers?</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Back to our regularly scheduled programming next time, but this was too important not to put out, too vital not to say it.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First of all, wear a mask.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Second of all, fight.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Third of all, breathe.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Voss</span></p>Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-41521643257869336552020-07-10T13:13:00.000-07:002020-07-10T13:13:36.491-07:00On Books and ExpectationSo I've been reading a lot more, since I'm now in a book club (Online, of course, because I'm not an asshole and I want this pandemic under control.), and part of the way our book club works is, each month, a different person gets to select the book we're all going to read. It leads to a lot of variety in what we're choosing. We started with The Island of Dr. Moreau, then went into Weetzie Bat, the The Night Circus, and then continuing forward into Ben Bova and Anne Rice and Josh Lanyon and on and on.<div><br /></div><div>This, all to say that we read a lot of different books, and not everything is to everyone's taste. Even when we all like a book, we're obviously not all going to be taking it the same way, bringing the same baggage to each title we go through (Not to mean baggage in a negative connotation.).</div><div><br /></div><div>As such, I want to talk about reader expectations, and specifically my expectations going into the last book we read. Anne Rice's The Wolf Gift. Now, I liked this book. I don't recall that anyone in the club disliked the book, in fact.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the member who chose it and I, specifically, had very different expectations for this novel than I did (Mild spoilers for the title mentioned. Or major. I'm writing this in one go, so...just spoilers.).</div><div><br /></div><div>I can't speak entirely to her expectations, but what I saw going into this book was a young man, disaffected, interested in art and the finer things, and all those things unappreciated by the remainder of the people in his life.</div><div><br /></div><div>So that was set up, for me, as the story of a man finding his place in the world, coming into his own confidence. And so I was disappointed when it immediately turned into a story of him...being a werewolf superhero. It ended up as a satisfying experience, all said and done, but it was quite hard for me to get into the more interesting part of the book because it didn't live up to the expectations that the author had unknowingly set for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>There was no reason for Anne Rice to know or care how I would take the opening of her novel. I very easily could have taken this character more like the person who selected it. She thought the main character was just a rich whiny kid. An "affluenza" victim, more or less. So her expectations were clearly very much different than mine, so she didn't experience that dissonance that I went through with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's something worth remembering as you read, and as you recommend books, and as you go through conversations about books. Something as simple as expectation can change the reading experience of reading a book, sometimes completely.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know precisely what the point was for this, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and wanted to get it out. Hopefully I wasn't <i>too</i> boring for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Voss</div>Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-77629939478295454222020-04-13T15:55:00.000-07:002020-04-13T15:55:01.202-07:00New Release: Elemental DisturbanceYes, at long last, the next Office of Preternatural Affairs is finally available. Say hello to Dash and the other spooks in <b>Elemental Disturbance</b>!<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2y8uT07" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcpL_ZSUw5uvtlhw-eOM3GtoXeeoKAhWYUEN5Aa2Go9ld9MKNE0-d_13UQ0O8HrxX4G6Mqh2IBl6uccm2fSJoaM9pN2KUwfz5u5Jheixa2bH0ixWwlWjesBUj1SWaD0rjqC1eGS15qFfW/s640/elem+dist+cover+adjusted.jpg" width="427" /></a></div>
<br />
World-ending poison snake? No problem.<br />
Illegal drugs filtering out of the Hidden Kingdoms? Piece of cake.<br />
Bureaucracy? Even the Office of Preternatural Affairs has limits.<br />
<br />
Dashiel Rourke: just another FBI agent, except he happens to work for the Office of Preternatural Affairs. Full-time now, too. Not exactly the career trajectory he'd charted for himself, but about the third time you get poisoned with the same group of people, you’re obligated to stick around. And honestly, Dash couldn't think of anyone he'd rather get poisoned next to.<br />
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A series of mysterious, elemental explosions draw Dash and the OPA up to Vermont, and down into an ancient conspiracy so deep it threatens the very balance of the Hidden Kingdoms, and possibly the fate of the Mundane as well. All this, plus the FBI director breathing down their collective necks, watching every move they make. It's a bitter cocktail, and Dash was never much for drinking anyway.<br />
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If there's an answer to fix all of this, the OPA needs to find it. Fast. Or else millennia-old fury will break through, and there won't be a dam to hold back the flood.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://amzn.to/2y8uT07" target="_blank">BUY NOW - FREE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED</a></span></div>
<br />Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-77346169930984947362020-01-18T14:21:00.002-08:002020-01-18T14:21:58.417-08:002020 Plans for The Voss<br />
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Hey everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In my last post, I said that I'd
tell you what I'm working on at the moment, and I do my best to be a man of my
word, so thus I present: the plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now there's no reason to think this
plan won't change. I'm nothing if not easily distracted, so if a new idea
becomes shiny enough, who knows whether I'll actually stick to this or not. It's
just the reality of living up inside my braincase. However, this is my
moderately ambitious set of plans for the coming year. Want to start the decade
off strong, after all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I <i>will</i> be putting out
<b>Elemental Disturbance</b> in early 2020. It's currently next on the editing queue
for another pass, and I've already been in contact with my cover artist. While
I can't share any actual images at the moment, I have seen the preliminary cover
for book two. She got so excited that she just made me one before I ever asked
and said "Does this work?"<o:p></o:p></div>
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And it works. I'll share it out as
soon as I can.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also have OPA book 3 incoming. I haven't
settled on a title quite yet, but right now it's called <b>Sovereign Malpractice</b>.
That's written, but hasn't seen a lick of editing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also have a couple of novellas,
including one set in the same world as The Psychic, that are <i>tentatively</i>
on the list. But really, 2020 is the year of the Office of Preternatural
Affairs over here. However, I also do a lot of short stories. I have one that's
already due to come out in 1<sup>st</sup> quarter 2020 (I'll give more details
once the publisher makes the announcement.), and several more making their way
through. There's also a pretty good chance that I release another collection of
shorts at long last, so stay on the lookout for that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And now, if you'll allow me to get
aspirational, there are a handful of things on my "I really want to do
this" list for this year as well. For starters, I'd like to take a crack
at editing an anthology. I would also really like to put out a non-fiction
title. I've resisted that for a long time, but I think there's finally
something I feel comfortable enough writing about, something I have enough
experience with that I won't feel like a complete and total fraud if I try to
act like an expert.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And in my heart of hearts, I want to
write an epic fantasy. Really badly a lot I want to write an epic fantasy. I
doubt any that I write this year would see the light of day before December,
but it's itching in my veins.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So that's my 2020 plan. What about
you? What exciting projects do you plan to tackle to start the decade off
right? Let me know so we can support each other…or drink vodka together.
Whichever reaction is appropriate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Voss</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-68235102898202325772019-12-31T16:03:00.000-08:002019-12-31T16:03:51.850-08:00Happy New Year/2020 Reading ListHappy-Almost-End-of-the-Decade! The twenties are roaring back to life as of tomorrow, and even though I'm having a hard time coping with the fact that it's going to be 2020, I'm still here for it. I'm mostly here for it because of all the books, however. I've been really getting back into reading, in part thanks to my book club, and I'm just dying to crack into some of these new 2020 releases. While this isn't an exhaustive list by any stretch, these are, as of right now, the three books I'm most excited to read.<br />
<br />
First is <a href="https://amzn.to/37oN6md">The Burning God</a> by R.F. Kuang. <a href="https://amzn.to/2SJKYkW">The Poppy War</a> was easily my book of the year, and is honestly vying for book of the decade spot. So of course I'm going to pick up the third of the trilogy when it comes out. I haven't been so completely engrossed in a story in a long, long time, and the bittersweet ending of the series is just around the corner.<br />
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Next is <a href="https://amzn.to/37rhahg">Shakespeare for Squirrels</a> by Christopher Moore. I've said for a while now that Moore's historicals are his best work (Noir being an exception for me. It just fell a little bit flat.). The Pocket books are no exception, but the third of them promises to be the best of them all. Moore's takes on Shakespearean classics are perfection, and I can't wait to see him tackle A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2020.<br />
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Now, The Fifth Season is the other book that's vying for my Book of the Decade spot right now, so of course I'm rounding out the list with N.K. Jemisin's newest addition to her catalog, <a href="https://amzn.to/2tis61N">The City We Became</a>. I've been following this book since its needlessly controversial announcement (For those that missed it, a bunch of white H.P. Lovecraft fanboys got in a tizzy because Jemisin expressed a thought.), and I've been in love with the concept the entire time. Now that it's finally here, it feels simultaneously too soon and somehow too far away. I've been obsessed with the ideas of Eldritch locations for a long time, so to see one of the modern masters of fantasy take it on is practically custom-made for me.<br />
<br />
And that's a short and very incomplete sampling of my 2020 reading list. I'll also be finishing up The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and I know I'll be reading James Michener's Sayonara for my book club in January. But beyond that, the world is sort of open right now. Who knows what I'll pile in before the end of 2020?<br />
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If you're wanting a look at what I'm working on, stay tuned for that post sometime after the New Year.<br />
<br />
Happy Revolution Day,<br />
VossVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-2564887791465190542019-08-28T11:44:00.004-07:002019-08-28T11:44:42.940-07:00What Comes After Netflix?Today, I'm getting weird. Hopefully you'll come along with me.<br />
<br />
So in the 1800s, the big entertainment was theater and serialized fiction released in newspapers. There's a reason Charles Dickens's work was so damn long: he got paid by the word to release serialized stories.<br />
<br />
Around the 1920s and 1930s, we were moving into the age of film, and 1927 was the first "talkie" released in the cinema.<br />
<br />
By the 40s and 50s, serialized fiction was already on the way out, and instead we had the rise of fiction magazines and pulp novels.<br />
<br />
The 50s and 60s saw the rise of home television and the death of road shows and the grand Hollywood musical. The 70s and 80s brought us home movies and the first ability to record from our televisions. 90s and 00s? The rise of the internet and the final death throes of the magazine industry.<br />
<br />
Now our entertainment is, surprising no one, in flux. Theatre exists, but is now purely for the elite. Magazines basically have to give their issues away for free in an attempt to make money...somehow. Big publishing is in a constant struggle with indie publishing for books. Ebooks...are a thing.<br />
<br />
And our TV and movie watching is steadily being replaced more and more by streaming services. Most of my generation (Millennials) are fine having no "actual TV," and instead just have whatever combination of streaming services works for them.<br />
<br />
(If you're curious, my "perfect mix" would be Netflix, Crunchyroll, Disney+, and DC Universe.)<br />
<br />
With all that in mind, I find myself wondering...what comes after Netflix? Right now, not only are we solidly in the "Netflix Era" of visual media, but we're also at the point where every new subscription/feed/streaming/borrowing service is compared to Netflix. Kindle Unlimited is the "Netflix of books." Music streaming largely came before ubiquitous video streaming, but I've still heard folks describe things like Spotify as "Netflix for music."<br />
<br />
So when everything is Netflix...what do we think comes next? What happens after streaming falls by the wayside?<br />
<br />
I have some thoughts, and most of them are half-baked at best. I'm imagining a YouTube-style platform for books. You can read X-amount of pages, then you have to watch an ad. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but I can certainly see it happening that way.<br />
<br />
I can easily imagine a future where magazines have no choice but to condense themselves down or find new ways to bring in ad revenue.<br />
<br />
I also think (This is my least half-baked idea.) that media is going to have to condense as a whole. A magazine will include music and video, that sort of thing. We're no longer going to have such stark delineations between different types of media.<br />
<br />
But those are just <i>my</i> thoughts, however. Where do you see our media consumption going? Let me know in the comments...so I can shamelessly steal them and try to get ahead of the curve.<br />
<br />
VossVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-76479138007444893222019-06-28T09:56:00.000-07:002019-06-28T09:56:26.767-07:00Toxic Influence: New ReleaseHello hello! I know it's been a hot minute, but I have a new book out at long last.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQD2FL4" target="_blank">Toxic Influence</a></u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQD2FL4" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDkekvXT-18gf4jW25MmGMZd670zjBcLNzXShBA9ytKROu_QH9ZSwrOupuCp75K4ri2_41clyIIXXwfNvqVl8LwvoWI4TBwqIP8bJCnrd4_FzXoEOIfgKkpKhoaWNF2c_Xn0x5LP6Nipjv/s400/Voss+Foster.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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Dashiel Rourke: sarcastic, questions authority - that's what my higher-ups say, anyway - and the newest member of the Office of Preternatural Affairs. Yeah, like I saw that one coming. I was a counterterrorism grunt and my own department head barely knew my name before things went to hell.<br />
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Now my partner's a troll, I've got a hag fixing up my wounds, and the bad guys can light me on fire with their brains. Or worse. The poison gas attacks I was checking out before I got into this mess? Turns out they were a little less terrorist attack and a little more magic spell.<br />
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So even if it's just for that reason, I'm going to see this one through. I got into that poison. I've seen what it does to people. Like hell am I going to lie down and let it run its course…even if that does put me up close and personal with one sorcerer too many.<br />
<br />
It's 3.99, or free in Kindle Unlimited. Click the link below to check it out.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQD2FL4" target="_blank">Toxic Influence</a></span></div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-53584971875178613532019-05-15T13:38:00.000-07:002019-05-15T13:38:03.172-07:00How YouTube Terrified Me into Reading More BooksI recently found a YouTube video that I want to share. It's right below, or if that's not working, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIW5jBrrsS0" target="_blank">here's the link to watch it on YouTube</a>. It's about half an hour, but to me, the most important bits will be covered by the time you're five minutes in, so you don't absolutely need to watch the whole thing.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lIW5jBrrsS0" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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If you're anything like me, you're now completely distraught. I know I fucking was after I watched this. Seeing that bookshelf and hearing "These are all the books you're going to read for the rest of your life" was not okay with me. I've always been a reader. That's just...scary to me. I read way more books than he does in a year (On the low end, I read probably eight. An average year for me is twelve to fifteen, but in my prime, I read about fifty per year.), but it still got to me.</div>
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I really hope it gets to you, too. Not because I want you to be miserable, but because I think everyone could do with a little more reading time in their schedule. I did the math from the video to figure out what I could get through, on average, in a year, and it was thirty books. Thirty books is plenty, with only half an hour a day. Lord knows I have a TBR pile that could use to get lower.</div>
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Now I haven't been perfect at this. The last couple of days have been rough on me finding time to read. Well, I guess they've more been full of me not making the time to read. I had the time, but I didn't spend it reading. I spent it watching video essays on YouTube and eating cold pizza.</div>
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So I'm posting this not just to convince everyone to read more (And I mean, honestly, that's pretty baldly self-serving. Read more books...also, if you look at my website, you'll see I have books you can read.), but to make myself a little more accountable. I want to read books. I love reading books. It's just sometimes hard to remember how much I love it.</div>
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The answer is a lot. A whole lot.</div>
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Voss</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-82887791142770624042019-04-02T10:54:00.000-07:002019-04-02T10:54:08.017-07:002019 Hugo Awards Finalists AnnouncedHello everyone!<br />
<br />
2019/1944 Hugo Award Finalists have been announced today, and I have some thoughts I wanted to share. And you're contractually obligated to listen to me because I have a blog, and everyone who has a blog gets read all the time, all the way through.<br />
<br />
So as tends to happen, I don't know most of the finalists, so I'm obviously only going to be speaking to the things I have some experience with.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.tor.com/2019/04/02/2019-hugo-award-finalists-announced/">You can read the whole list here.</a><br />
<br />
So, the names that stuck out to me most were in Best Novel (I'm not going to touch on the 1944 Retro Hugos in this post.). Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning is here as a first novel, and I've been excited about that book since before it came out. Catherynne M. Valente is one of my favorite authors, so seeing Space Opera make the cut was also exciting. And I always enjoy seeing our old guard pumping out books, so Mary Robinette Kowal's appearance there is good by me.<br />
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Aliette de Bodard and Nnedi Okorafor are also favorites of mine, so I'm thrilled to see them both up for Novella (Also, let's give a big shout out to the sheer domination of female candidates this year. We're talking about a genre that was born from Frankenstein, after all.). Best Short Story is full of new names for me, thus further confirming that shorts are still a solid launching point in the genre, and a place to watch or the novelists of tomorrow. I mean, de Bodard herself was someone I marked as really, really skilled off her short work, and now she's all over big books.<br />
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Short Form Editors are a strong showing as well. Neil Clarke, the late Gardner Dozois, and Lynne and Michael Thomas from Uncanny Magazine. Although personally, things being what they are, I think Dozois is going to be a hard one to beat. The SF/F community lost him in 2018, and he was so instrumental in the genre...I just think there's not much chance of anyone topping him out this year.<br />
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Semiprozine is strong across the board, although I love seeing both FIYAH and Fireside on there, and the now defunct Shimmer as well. And of special note in Related Work are Archive of Our Own, and Lindsay Ellis's Hobbit Duology. Metatextually, those are fascinating. Lindsay is, I believe, the second YouTuber to get a Hugo Final? And Archive of Our Own is...basically just a collection of fan fiction. Those are very different than what we would normally see in Related Work, so those excite me.<br />
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Anything from the finalists that really excites you? Let me know in the comments below.<br />
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VossVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-42375706576255391232019-02-05T11:39:00.002-08:002019-02-05T11:39:29.790-08:00Text Message Story: War of WitchesHello hello! I'm writing you from frigid, snow-covered Eastern Washington, with--this might be hard to believe--a new book!<br />
<br />
I know, I know, pick your jaw up off the floor. It's been a minute and a half since I've had a book out, but I have one today: War of Witches.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://chatstory.crazymaplestudios.com/Page/msgStory/5bdbbe55d1f9faec748b456a/1">Click Here to Read</a></div>
<br />
Fair warning, this book isn't in a traditional format: it's delivered one text message at a time. Highly recommend reading it on the phone rather than on the computer, but both options will get the job done!<br />
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I'm quite excited about this, since I love playing with format in my writing, and I hope you'll all be excited about this foray into urban fantasy as well.<br />
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Anyway, that's all I had to say. I hope your day is wonderful and considerably warmer than mine is looking to be.<br />
<br />
VossVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-47349082523125243572019-01-25T12:51:00.000-08:002019-01-25T12:51:00.563-08:00Diablero and Cultural Differences in Media<br />
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If you've been here for a while—remember when the blog was
that weird ugly brown color I picked to start out with?—then you know I have a
love affair with non-US speculative fiction. There's just a quality to it that
is so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">refreshing</i>, I just can't get
enough of it. The Neverending Story is one of my all time favorite books
(German). I grew up reading Eva Ibbotson and JK Rowling and, a little later on
than those, Phillip Pullman (British). I also watched a ton of anime and read a
ton of manga (Japanese). And I still watch and read British, German, Japanese,
Spanish, Chinese…I mean, translations or subtitled, obviously, but you can't
file off those cultural serial numbers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well it happened again. This time, it's a Mexican paranormal
drama I stumbled across recently on Netflix (If you're watching it, you
probably know what I'm talking about.). It's…it's like Preacher meets Hellboy.
Dynamic characters in a shitty situation with strangely intertwining personal
lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.thereviewgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/diablero-logo.jpg?fit=300%2C80" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="80" data-original-width="300" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.thereviewgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/diablero-logo.jpg?fit=300%2C80" /></a></div>
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It's called Diablero, and it really has me thinking, once
again, about spec fic from other cultures. Because I don't think any native
born US citizen could have made Diablero. At all. Nothing even close. The same
way an American couldn't have written The Book of Souls, or Bleach, or Dark, or
The Golden Compass.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think—especially if you're in a creative career or just
running a creative side-hustle—that these foreign produced media are some of
the best things we can take in as people. Seeing another perspective is a
powerful thing, both for personal growth and, in my case, a creative sense.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let's bring this around to Diablero, since it's the crux for
me writing this particular article right now. If I sold it as it was—a Mexican
demon hunting show—you might be tempted to think, "Oh, like
Supernatural." That's what my roommate thought when I explained it that
way, at least.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But it's so not. Spoilers, to a certain extent, but I want
to go into things a little deeper than the trailer (I still haven't finished
the show. I'm about halfway through it right now.). So, to start with, a US
show would have at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">least</i> blinked at making
a priest who got a woman pregnant their main character. They also might have
blinked twice at making the church have a shadowy underbelly. Not that a US
show or book has <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i> done that, but
it might make somebody along the way stop and take a closer look.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But more divergent is the use of old culture, and namely old
culture in a respectful way. America A: doesn't like to dive into its past
because it's ugly and B: doesn't tend to do it well or respectfully. Also C: we
really don't have much past to draw on. But then you have Diablero, which establishes
a history from the first moment. It brings in aspects of Mexican culture, from
as far back as the Aztecs with Diablero magic being cast in Nahuatl and
invoking the names of Aztec deities like Quetzalcoatl, to old school brujeria,
to more modern Mexican lore, legend, and religion like Santa Muerte. A full
spectrum of evolving, historically based magic is shown off in Diablero.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think, actually, having history is a huge part of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feeling</i> that media from outside of the
US evokes. Other than a sparse handful of Native American spec fic, like
Rebecca Roanhorse's books, the oldest US history that gets brought in is…when
the white people showed up. There's just not a ton of history we have to draw
on, which can make our fantasy…a little more sparse, honestly. I mean, when we
talk about worldbuilding, fantasy writers are supposed to know the history of
the world so they can see how things have come about. 250 years just doesn't
quite cut it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And, on a broader note about culture differences, Diablero
has made me—and will probably make others—challenge my notions about Mexico.
Even the most socially and culturally aware of us still has prejudices, good
and bad, that we haven't yet confronted. Diablero helped me confront it some of
that. It showed urban Mexico, which I shamefully admit wasn't a thought in my
head. It should have been, obviously, but…well, just goes to show you how much work
we all still have to do. And I think shows and books like this help, especially
if you're not one of those folks who can pack up and fly around the world to
expose yourself to other cultures…like I'm not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Seeing what people create, in a way, condenses culture into
a single, simple package. It's not a full course, it's not dropping yourself
off in a foreign country for a month. But it's a start, and I think it's a
worthy start.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And from a quality standpoint, I can't recommend Diablero
enough. It's short, and the English subtitles do <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> match the English dub track, but it's still wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you have a soft spot for media from other countries? Are
you from outside the US and have things to say about US media? Chime in and let
me know.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Voss</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-11951640906857533362018-12-28T15:24:00.001-08:002018-12-28T15:24:32.394-08:00New Year's 2019<br />
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Oh lord. 2018 is almost over, and I'm not handling this
whole "It's almost 2019" thing very well at all. Like…2019. 2001 used
to be far-flung future. People thought civilization would collapse in 2000. 2012?
Mayan calendar was up, remember?<o:p></o:p></div>
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When society has outstripped the dates of its science fiction,
that's something worth taking note of.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Me personally, I'm setting things up for the year to come,
even though it's a scary, freaky little year we're looking at jumping into. I
have a "planning party" with a couple fellow authors on the 30<sup>th</sup>
to get our years in some semblance of order. I'm looking at reading challenges
to get myself back into reading books. I'm even considering keeping Kindle
Unlimited, just so I have more books to read.<o:p></o:p></div>
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2018 was sort of an eye-opening year for me, at least from a
financial and business standpoint. See, I really floundered in 2017. I did
nothing. I finished 0 manuscripts, and most of my time was spent editing one
book for a publishing house that almost immediately went under after I turned
in my final edits (Yeah, that was super fun…). So 2018 was a lot of catch-up,
studying the market, writing books, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5Wy9GOAa8WpjSATjHJslT7zaJVOWNIsuVn2LxF_FTiFs2fw40MsVVrNwDsT55qIxwLLMUJZLRHeoIbare2NwhsJfb56HO6deLjdaiEDvLiFukuNCVDVpeHY6YGh2zYjz7CLuiIzMdqSL/s1600/cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5Wy9GOAa8WpjSATjHJslT7zaJVOWNIsuVn2LxF_FTiFs2fw40MsVVrNwDsT55qIxwLLMUJZLRHeoIbare2NwhsJfb56HO6deLjdaiEDvLiFukuNCVDVpeHY6YGh2zYjz7CLuiIzMdqSL/s320/cast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And then in August, I broke my ankle. Right through the
thickest part of the tibia. It was a nasty break, too. Like, surgery was on the
table at the start, and it's having problems, so surgery is now back on the
table, joy of joys (I'm hoping to avoid it. Just got a bone growth stimulator,
so we'll see how that goes.). But that really laid me up. I was completely out
of commission for about a week, then mostly out of commission for another two
months after that (I was bound to crutches, even after I got my walking boot).
I mean, I'm still using a shower chair because I can't stand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It really knocked me on my ass, is what I'm saying. And it
gave me a lot, lot, lot of sedentary time, just me and my laptop. While I'm not
here to say that breaking my ankle was a good thing—0/10, do not recommend—it
really did end up being helpful. I couldn't leave the house. I barely made it to
my podiatrist appointments because it was such a hassle some days.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It also meant that I got insurance, finally. And not leaving
the house meant I didn't really spend money, so suddenly I had a savings account.
A modest one, but I had one. Time locked up with my laptop meant I put my
fingers on the keyboard a hell of a lot. I started working on ads and cracking
the code on those a little more. Jesus, I mean, I sold my car and I was okay.
Like…I did things, and they didn't destroy my entire life. I got good at
things. I made strides, I made progress.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also eventually made purchases that put a dent in my bank
account. Things like internet blocking software…and a shit ton of smelly candles
because I'm a classy bitch. But that's just it: they were a dent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I feel like the aftershocks of my broken ankle actually did
help me out. At least my mental and emotional state. I ended up clicking a lot
of things into place that I wouldn't have otherwise, I don't think.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Okay, that was a lot of semi-esoteric rambling, but it boils
down to this in the real world: I'm moving. I have plans. I have new covers
purchased, new books ready to publish (I hope you like magic spilling into your
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Criminal Minds</i>.).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Things are moving, so watch out for me in 2019.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What are you doing in the coming year? What are you getting
prepared for? Are you in need of good TV shows to watch on Netflix, because I
also spent a lot of time with my eyes glued to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> screen while recovering from my broken ankle.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like…a lot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Whatever you're doing, whatever you have in store, I hope
you kick 2019 in the ass. Let's climb that mountain, and I'll see you at the top.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Voss</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-7332183383633666932018-12-20T16:40:00.000-08:002018-12-20T16:40:14.120-08:00Christmas Missive: 2018 EditionYou know, two years ago I spent Christmas drinking and telling everyone the world was on fire and we were all fucked. So even though it would be really hard to go <i>downhill</i> from there, I'm still going to take credit where credit is due for not being quite so hopeless as I was in December 2016.<br />
<br />
2018 has been one heck of a year. I'm not going to do a complete year in review sort of thing (Not yet anyway...), but Christmas comes with a certain nostalgia. I think about the family members I haven't been around in way too long. I think about past Christmases and how much more decoration went on when I was younger (When your dogs are as ball-crazed as mine are, it's...<i>difficult</i> to hang shiny, round, mouth-sized ornaments on the tree.). I drink the same drinks, smell the same smells, see the same lights, and read the same books (I'll be starting my annual reading of Krampus: The Yule Lord tonight!).<br />
<br />
So with that nostalgia comes things that are just a little different than I would have planned. I didn't plan on going through Christmas with a walking boot because my ankle still isn't healed. I didn't plan on starting a proofreading service. I certainly didn't plan on owning so many Bath and Body Works candles (If you don't have Frosted Cranberry in your life, you're missing out!).<br />
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But I think most refreshing, and simultaneously most depressing, is that I didn't plan to be so happy. I wouldn't have believed that things could be feeling so downright okay if you'd told me. And it really all happened from my birthday at the beginning of October to now. Yep, while I was still laid up in an actual cast, not the significantly more convenient walking boot.<br />
<br />
In October, I got a lovely reminder from my roommate that I'm cared for/about. She acknowledged the sacrifices I make, and it was just...incredible. I don't like to talk about any sort of personal hardships, so to have someone see them and accept them and all that, it was really something. And October just kind of built from there, in ways I would never have expected. Early October was spent with a very dear old friend, and then my local RWA chapter imploded, leaving me and two other friends holding the bag for the board if we wanted to keep the chapter. It was not pretty, but it's honestly proven to maybe be the best thing for the chapter's health, in the end. People are excited again, including me.<br />
<br />
In November, I actually made a new friend, which never happens. I'm a 27 year old introvert, currently with a broken ankle. I don't get out much. But she's been wonderful. More money's been coming in. Proofreading is going well.<br />
<br />
December is looking much the same. My dearest of dearests, <a href="http://francespauli.com/" target="_blank">Frances Pauli</a>, gave me a Christmas present that had a ton more impact than I think she's put together (It's an auryn pendant, from The Neverending Story. She's one of the few people who probably has any idea how much I love that book, so for her to pull that out of the ether or memory...well, it's another "you're cared for" reminder.).<br />
<br />
So this Christmas, as I'm happy, I hope all of you are as well. I hope you're all going to have a wonderful holiday season. I hope your troubles are vanishing. I hope that, if like me, you break your ankle, ruin your hands, and slice open your toe along the nail bed, you'll still be happy enough you're smiling your ass off. Because everyone deserves to feel like that.<br />
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Happy Holidays, everyone,<br />
VossVoss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-73347226081954160412018-10-01T21:16:00.001-07:002018-10-01T21:16:54.910-07:00Lamb, or How Christopher Moore Actually Made Me Care About Jesus**Note: The product links in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links. No extra cost to you, but I get a kickback from any purchases. Let's call it a headhunter's fee...but less cool.**<br />
<br />
So, I've said in the past in various interviews that I don't have a favorite author, per se. I find it nigh impossible to actually nail down one singular author I love the most. Rowling embedded herself in my soul, but Valente's words make my heart soar. Lem's wit and absurdity never lose their shine, but Jemisin's worldbuilding is to die for.<br />
<br />
But I think, if you drove the tacks down under my thumbnails and said I had to give one name, I think that name would probably be Christopher Moore.<br />
<br />
Those who know him are probably nodding to themselves knowingly. For those who don't...how to sum up Christopher Moore...hmm...<br />
<br />
Take a Mel Brooks movie. No, not that one. Yeah, that one. Then cut out all the fluff. Keep the insane, WTF concepts, then add a Richard Pryor sense of humor with a Joan Rivers (RIP) dry delivery, and <i>then</i> sprinkle on the sort of heartbreaking poignancy present in a movie like RENT or The Green Mile.<br />
<br />
Also some magic.<br />
<br />
And if you can imagine <i>that</i>, then you've got a much better imagination than I do. Christopher Moore's work is hard to parse out in a short summary like that because there really isn't anything like what he does. You have to make a minimum of two or three comparisons to really try and capture it. From <i>The Island of the Sequined Love Nun</i> and <i>The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove</i>, with their over the top absurdity, to his vampire trilogy (<i>You Suck, Bite Me, </i>and<i> Bloodsucking Fiends</i>) rife with wit, to my personal favorites (And personally, I think Christopher Moore's favorites, too.), his research-heavy novels. I've written already on <i>Sacre Bleu</i>, his Impressionist era fantasy, but it also includes <i>Fool</i> and<i> The Serpent of Venice</i>, his riffs on Shakespearean classics (King Lear and The Merchant of Venice, respectively.).<br />
<br />
But probably his most famous of the lot, maybe his most famous book of all, is <i>Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff.</i><br />
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One side will say it's sacrilegious...and the other side will agree, we just don't care. Have you ever wondered what happened in the missing years of Christ's life? Well, Christopher Moore has the best answers for that.<br />
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(Umm...the spoilers are going to start here. So be aware of that shit.)<br />
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See, I'm not a Christian. We won't get into many specifics, but suffice it to say that view isn't changing any time soon...ever, really. I don't buy into the religion, and I also have never bought into the sort of heart-wrenching, hair-ripping zealotry to Jesus that I grew up around. I've read The Bible. I've read The Book of Mormon. I've read a lot about Christianity, along with a lot of other religions. I didn't understand why people would <i>love</i> Jesus so God damn much.<br />
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<i>Lamb</i> is the first and only book that has ever made me love the Christ child. It's the only one that made me care. And after my fourth or fifth re-read just recently, I've been picking apart why.<br />
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It's dead simple.<br />
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Moore's Joshua (Apparently that would have been his actual name? Maybe? I'm not sure, but let's go with that for now.) is the only time I found Jesus sympathetic. He was relatable. He was <i>human</i>, which is supposed to be the big draw, right? He's just one of us. He's, at his core, supposed to be a man. But the religious version of Jesus is so holy and shit that it just doesn't connect to me. Never has.<br />
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But in Lamb...the first time we see Joshua, he's reviving a dead lizard that his brother keeps killing. Just an endless cycle of resurrection. Because what the hell else would a little kid with godly power do? He falls in love with Mary Magdalene, but he knows he can't do anything. It's a little boy crush. His best friend is a crude, sinful son of a bitch. And Joshua is wracked with doubt: he's not ready to be the Messiah, his dad won't talk to him, and he's trying to figure out how to just <i>cope</i> with all of this.<br />
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For five sixths of <i>Lamb, </i>everything is spent building up Joshua and Biff as characters. They travel along the Silk Road to meet the three wise men. They learn ancient Chinese chemistry and acupuncture and medicine. They study in a Tibetan monastery and learn Kung-Fu and Buddhism. They study with a yogi in India.<br />
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And Biff has a lot of sex. Joshua doesn't.<br />
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So by the time we get back to preach the gospel, we've followed about 2 decades of Joshua's life, traveling the world. And because the story is told from the POV of his best friend, we see him in maybe the best light possible.<br />
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That makes the return to Israel brutal. Saving Mary Magdalene from a disastrous marriage. Gathering the Apostles. Preaching on the Holy Ghost...I mean, it's a Jesus story. It ends one way.<br />
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But when we get to the scourging, the sacrifice, the crown of thorns, the crucifixion, it's <i>heartbreaking. </i>Not in a "human condition" kind of way, but in a "this is Joshua, and he's refusing to speak in his own defense" way. And for such a funny book (The scene where Jesus has coffee for the first time is one of my favorite scenes in any book, ever.), the ending is...well, it's a freaking Jesus story. the ending is miserable.<br />
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And that is to its credit. In the midst of the laughing, the silliness, all of that...you forget that this is the story of Christ. Somehow, Moore manages to make the crucifixion a surprise gut punch at the end. And it's the longest gut punch ever. Up to the last moments, he's feeding you hope...but there is no hope.<br />
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So rather than the actual Biblical Jesus, a figurehead instead of a person, <i>Lamb</i> takes Joshua, puts him through hell, shows you his human side in the best and worst ways, puts his flaws on display...and then rips him away from you. And <i>that</i> is why <i>Lamb</i> is the only book that makes me give half a crap about Jesus. Ever.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-29572706377343048512018-08-27T17:06:00.003-07:002018-08-27T17:06:40.763-07:00On Endings and Dragging On**Spoilers for Supernatural and The Almighty Johnsons may be encountered in the wilds beyond. Venture forth at your own risk.**<br />
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My roommate and I have spent the last, oh, year making our way through Supernatural, seasons 1-13. That experience is sort of what spawned this whole post into my head. But to talk about it, and the subject of endings, properly, we need to go back in time a little bit, to the mystical, long-forgotten year of...2008.<br />
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I was in high school, listening to my band director be directorial. He wasn't the kind of man who minced words, when things were important. He cared about the results we got out of something. The journey there was never the most important part of the lessons. So he dropped this pearl of wisdom that always really stuck in my head.<br />
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If you're going to work on anything, work on the beginning and the end. That's what the audience is going to remember. If the beginning and end are good, the middle doesn't matter.<br />
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I really do think, at least in live music, that's a lot truer than an audience would like to admit, and maybe truer than a musician would like to hear. See, I've been to live orchestras and symphonies. And I distinctly remember an example of this from The Four Seasons. I love that suite, and it started beautifully. I mean, who doesn't love Spring and Summer? After the intermission came Autumn, and it was fair.<br />
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And then Winter. My <i>god</i> Winter. It's never been my favorite, but it's not a bad piece. Except that night. That night, I don't know if they decided to double up certain sections, or play it at half speed, or if they were just exhausted, but it dragged. It was dull. They didn't nail the ending of the suite, and 10+ years later, it's still stuck in my craw.<br />
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I think you can apply the same thing to writing/reading. I mean, look at Harry Potter. Potterheads the world over can recite the opening line, and the ending line. And while there are moments that are just as memorable throughout the book, those two are universal.<br />
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Now, we're not quite back to Supernatural, but we're getting there. I promise. Stop judging me.<br />
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There's a phenomenon that's well-documented when it comes to long running TV dramas. The longer they run, the more confident they are that they'll be renewed, and the more they'll seed the next season toward the end of the current one. It leads to messy endings, and as we've established, endings leave an impact.<br />
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I'm looking at The Almighty Johnsons for this one. Great show. Can't recommend it enough. But that ending...yikes. Not only was it rushed, but they put in a very clear, obvious seed for the next season in...and there was no next season. Just Colin tossing a mysterious gemstone into the woods.<br />
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So now we can swing back to Supernatural, and their ending problem.<br />
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I wanted to establish the first type of ending because...well, we need a point of juxtaposition. Supernatural, with a couple exceptions, has sort of the opposite problem. They end a lot. Like, so many times, you can see that they were ending the series. That was it. Game over. There's no way to top what we just did, so let's pack it up. And that, honestly, is another problem entirely. It makes the storyline weirdly choppy, and there's no longer an arc to the series. It does take care of any cliffhanger endings or anything like that, but where The Almighty Johnsons swung too far toward continuation, Supernatural swings too far toward a nice, tidy package.<br />
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But even <i>that</i> is not the main thing I think Supernatural has an issue with when it comes to endings: I think they drag. I think the entire show is often being dragged along when it should be over. And that's a problem that crosses media.<br />
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See, what comes to mind for me here is a long-running D & D campaign. Supernatural started pretty close to the main characters, but it eventually had to move beyond their sphere and into new stories. And that works...for a while. But now, like in Dungeons an Dragons, Sam and Dean have both been to Hell at least once, resurrected at least a couple times apiece, both been vessels for archangels. And in a world where they took pains to establish other hunters...well, those hunters never seem to be able to do anything meaningful. In later seasons, it gets to the point of ridiculousness. They had to include a multiverse, alternate timeline plot just to have something new. And frankly, I found the world without Sam and Dean to be the more interesting one.<br />
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None of this is to denigrate the show as a whole. I highly recommend watching it, at least through a few seasons. And I honestly got really excited at the end of season thirteen. I'm going to watch season fourteen. But that doesn't mean it's beyond reproach, either.<br />
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Now, I think books have an interesting solution to this problem that TV shows either don't have or don't employ. When you look at something like Dragonlance or the Pern novels, they aren't "Dragonlance 1" to "Dragonlance 182." It's little snippets. Trilogies, maybe tetralogies. They follow characters through those groups, and then stop before it gets boring.<br />
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I think it's a solid choice. It obviously has sold plenty of books. And it would be worth trying in television. I mean, imagine if Sam and Dean were only one of three or four hunting groups. And not just for an episode or two. Instead of...the ever-growing mess in the middle, seasons 6-10 were following someone else entirely. Familiar places, familiar faces, but not trying to shoehorn Sam and Dean into everything, and constantly outdoing themselves with the level of the threat. I think it would have alleviated some of the plot slumping.<br />
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I don't know that there was a point to this, per se. I wanted to talk about endings. I wanted to talk about Supernatural. And I did those things. So I bed you good day.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-23958472255192468102018-08-06T11:27:00.001-07:002018-08-06T11:27:34.442-07:00Book Review: The Fifth Season by N.K. JemisinHi, I'm Voss and I am always behind the times when it comes
to media. Like, always. I only started watching Supernatural this year. I read
The Perks of Being a Wallflower about, oh, ten years after it first got onto my
radar. And let's not even talk about me and music. My most listened to station
on Pandora is 90's Country. If I want to push my boundaries, I hit up 2000's
Country.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H25FCSQ/ref=as_li_ss_il?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&linkCode=li2&tag=vossfoster-20&linkId=1d549bb9014dfb9010b0e01c387bbc41&language=en_US" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00H25FCSQ&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=vossfoster-20&language=en_US" width="138" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=vossfoster-20&language=en_US&l=li2&o=1&a=B00H25FCSQ" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
I'm behind on media is the point. So of course I only just
got around to reading N.K. Jemisin's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Fifth Season</i>. Now, I was at the Worldcon where the whole Sad/Rabid puppies
bullshit went down (Or at least where it came to a head.), so Jemisin and her
work were on my radar already. But I just never picked it up. I was too busy
re-re-re-re-re-reading Harry Potter and The Cyberiad. Very important work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, I'm picky. I'm a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">super</i>
picky reader. I'm not the kind of reader who subscribe to the "I'll give
it a chapter" mentality of picking a book. I give books a page. I know
that I'm probably missing out on some good books by doing that…but honestly? I
don't want to read good books. I want to read amazing books. And while I can't
always quantify what it is about that first page that turns me away or keeps me
reading, but I've always just judged that quickly on whether a book is going to
hold me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, I don't love high fantasy. I don't. I think when it's
done well, it can be incredibly strong, but I see a lot of the same issues
repeated in high fantasy/alternate world fantasy that I just can't get behind.
I'm tired of pseudo-medieval Anglo-Saxon settings. I'm tired of seeing the same
archetypes that you find in every beginning D and D session adventuring through
the world. I'm also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">super fucking tired</i>
of this oddly jagged writing style you see in a scary amount of high fantasy.
It doesn’t flow. It's not natural. I'm super guilty of it, the few times I've
tried my hand at high fantasy, and it's honestly why I don't write it much. And
when I do, it's hard work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All of that, every bit of that 350 word spiel, is building
to this point: I loved <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth Season.</i>
I loved it so much. It surprised me, and you might put together that surprising
a writer with your writing is not an easy thing, most of the time. Authors are
rarely taken unawares by plot and story progression. More often than not, we
see exactly what you're doing, there. But Jemisin threw me, and not only that,
she threw me in ways that I knew, in retrospect, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I should have put together</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At this point, we're going to be getting into spoiler territory
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth Season</i>. Spoiler
warning, spoiler warning, spoiler warning. There, I gave you four of them.
Listen to whichever one you want, because I don't review without spoilers. Sorry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth Season</i>
immediately opens with something different, something steeped in voice. And I
can't stress the importance of voice in reading enough. "Let's start with
the end of the world, why don't we?" Immediately, I'm interested.
Immediately, you learn so god damn much. You get an idea of how this book is
going to read. You learn early on that time isn't exactly a meaningful concept
within these pages. It's certainly not a singular linear pathway. And you
understand from this line, and the rest of the prologue, that the world we're
stepping into isn't a super hospitable one. It's a dangerous place to exist.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And the writing on a mechanical level also lends to the
intentionally disjointed, unstable feeling of the world. The Stillness is,
ironically, not still at all. It's plagued by constant seismic activity that
has to be stilled by the inborn magic of orogeny in certain people. And the
writing switches back and forth—hold onto something, because the reaction to
this is never good—between close third person and second person POVs. And yeah,
if you'd suggested to me that a book like that could be good? I would have
rolled my eyes and humored you while walking away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But it works. Damn it all, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">works</i> when it's done here. Essun is all told in second person. You
are Essun. You are learning about yourself. You are uncovering your own secrets
as you read. Damaya and Syenite are both close third person. You're seeing
their story unfold, and with the way this is written, it's perfect. It's beyond
perfect. It's the only way it could have made sense.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Okay, I did give spoiler warnings, but I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">am</i> going to give you a fifth one, because
this is a big part of the book. This is the twist at the end. Are you warned?
Are you feeling prepared? Okay.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are three characters…but there is also only one. Essun
talks throughout her chapters about changing who she is, becoming someone else.
She's clearly changed her identity before, and Essun isn't her original
identity. I kept wondering how Damaya, Syenite, and Essun would be brought together.
Then she revealed that Damaya chose the name Syenite when she became a proper
orogene.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I should have put the rest together at that point, but I
didn't. I assumed the book would end with Syenite and Essun meeting up. They didn't
have to, because after she stopped being Syenite, she started being Essun. It's
all one character. Essun is written in second person because it's direct. Those
other people with other stories? They are, for means of Essun's own survival,
other people. They are no, and cannot be, her. If they were her, then she would
be killed. Probably brutally killed. So she is no one but Essun. That's why
it's structured the way it is, and it's beautiful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth Season</i>
also shoots wide and away from my problems with high fantasy. This is not Anglo-Saxon.
It's set somewhere equatorial, with a mostly black cast of characters. It
instantly shifts the feeling of the book. The described beauty standards aren't
written through a European gaze. The senses of loyalty, cooperation, etc are
all shifted just slightly off from what's expected. It sounds like it shouldn't
make much of a difference, but it does. It makes a huge, sweeping difference,
and I honestly think that's part of what makes it feel like a new world. The
Stillness <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">feels</i> like it's different
than our world, and that immediately helps sell the fantasy for me. Just a tiny
shift away from what's expected, like the little slips of a fault line, changes
everything.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It doesn't stop with the worldbuilding though. I can
absolutely see why the Sad/Rabid Puppies hated this book. They're wrong, and they're
bigoted, but I see why it wouldn't appeal to them. Jemisin creates a world of casual
diversity. Female black MC. Most powerful character in the whole world? An
older black gay man. There's a casual mention of a transwoman, and also god
damn HRT in a fantasy world. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth
Season</i> is a place where diversity can live. And no, The Stillness is not a
place that encourages differences. They're not supposed to be. The government
in charge (The Fulcrum, the Sanzed, and Yumenes) hates difference, hates
change. But they're not the good guys.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So a chill black female main character, who ends up in a
three way relationship with a gay man and a bisexual man, and who travels with
a pseudo-adopted son and a transwoman from noble blood? Yeah, don’t' read this
if you're a bigot. You won't like it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And with that segue, I would say there's one more group who
may want to avoid this, but not for shitty reason like the bigots. If you are
particularly affected by tragic, awful things happening to children…maybe not
the book for you. While it always makes sense in the world, the story, and with
the characters, it's a noticeable thing: children in this story do poorly. Their
hands are broken to teach them lessons. They're forced to live in barns.
They're kept in comatose states to serve the government. They're molested by
their social superiors. And they're sometimes just flat-out murdered in cold
blood. It works, it really does, but there's enough that even I think it's
worth warning off people who just can't handle that. Or even if you just can't
handle it right now, or without warning. You've been warned.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But all in all, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fifth
Season</i> is the first book to leave me in a proper book hangover for…a few
years, at least. I think the last one was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How
to be a Normal Person</i>, and that hangover only lasted a day or so.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I'm on day three of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fifth
Season</i> hangover as I write this, and I don't see it getting better anytime
soon. So clearly I'm giving this book 5 stars. Thank you for writing this, Ms.
Jemisin. Thank you.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://amzn.to/2M87st1" target="_blank">Buy <i>The Fifth Season </i>Here</a></span></b></div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-88115573827768126712018-06-26T12:02:00.000-07:002018-06-26T12:02:08.197-07:005 Books I'm Excited for - June 26thAuthors, as a rule, are readers first, authors second. That especially holds true with fiction authors, because how else do you get a crazy idea like writing a novel if you aren't sitting around huffing book glue during your formative years.<br />
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While most authors don't read as much as they did before the writing bug bit, it's always important, and always a good little escape to go on.<br />
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Sometimes, however, books really dig under your skin in a way that you just can't shake. Whether it's the writing, the author, or simply the force of the idea, they take root.<br />
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Well, since today is Tuesday, and that's the day <i>most</i> new books release every week, I wanted to share with you some books that really have me excited to read them.<br />
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(Note: any links below are Amazon Affiliate Links, and I might receive a small kickback if you go buy something after clicking. It doesn't cost you or the authors anything extra.)<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2IuXZpQ" target="_blank">5: Mech Wars by Scott Bartlett</a><br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2IuXZpQ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioG7zTlgTsO2AXxtKOvtVQsxFKYrthtyw0aBUURdRLDVWLbim-ovKGCkNQPbDtU5Tm6K62PUsFFYhR_Od0_TAeB8-81kLqbeD72WBLrFkRJecSk3OAX9qi_p7E4ONJKBJGqWmg0lPKRUWy/s320/mech+wars.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Do you like giant robots? Because I like giant robots. I especially like it when giant robots punch each other in the face, or shoot each other, or fire grappling cables into each other. I grew up on Power Rangers and Zoids and Gundam, and my favorite TV show is still Code Geass.<br />
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Enter Scott Bartlett's Mech Wars series. Set at the beginning of a new military revolution--the introduction of piloted mechs--it follows gamer, Jake Price, who has been unknowingly training to pilot giant robots his whole life. Hand eye coordination and video game knowledge make him a force to be reckoned with as he competes for one of eight spots to pilot a mech and save the world.<br />
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And now, the entire Mech Wars series has been compiled, and is available for $4.99. It's a hell of a deal, and you should definitely go check it out. Well, you should check it out of if you like giant robots. If not, probably won't be your cup of tea.<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2tyn2nh" target="_blank">4: Galactic Genesis by Various</a><br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2tyn2nh" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51vujE487rL.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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Another collection of books, this is from a group of some of today's most popular, well-loved sci-fi authors. M.D. Cooper, Chris Fox, A.K. DuBoff, J.J. Green, Kevin McLaughlin, and B.C Kellogg.</div>
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But you don't have to have read their books to jump into this one. That's why it's so exciting to me. These are all new series each of them is starting. Galactic genesis is filled out with the first books of six brand new sci-fi series, and they're giving everyone a chance to try all six of them out.<br />
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Of particular interest to me are M.D. Cooper's Shore Leave, which is a new series featuring everyone's favorite space-faring lesbian, Tanis, J.J. Green's colony ship story, The Concordia Deception, which not only is about generational colony ships (Yay!), but also has a scientist as a main character, and A.K. DuBoff's Crystalline Space. You only need to see the tagline for that one:<br />
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What if save points were real?<br />
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All of that graciously offered for $0.99? I'll be weighing in on the contents when I finish, because I'm definitely buying the book.<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2N0xeNx" target="_blank">3: Whiskey Ginger by Shayne Silvers and Cameron O'Connell</a><br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2N0xeNx" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsLidYguUypVCYYHL43ZXPM4XR0vGleeLws_Ah3PCLJCPN5TpU4eqQncMNetX9oLQYhkG6sgT_0Q2KKjLZr_UH64OksezK8RTeOBt733-kHcoGxgUqvQ13mSCNoYjRF5mEoqzjo6XWdpY/s320/whiskey+ginger.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
I am a Shayne Silvers fan. I'm a book fan. I'm a <i>Supernatural</i> fan. I'm an urban fantasy fan. And I like books that feature strong, capable heroines.<br />
<br />
So obviously Whiskey Ginger, the beginning of the Phantom Queen series, has got me all atwitter.<br />
<br />
Quinn, our main character, is a black magic arms dealer. She smuggles and sells dangerous magical substances and artifacts...as long as the money's good enough. And she does it safely, because she naturally nullifies magic. None of these dangerous spells and enchantments can touch her.<br />
<br />
This book sets her up as an adversary to Silvers's main literary badass, Nate Temple. She makes the mistake of stealing from him and...well, that's just not a good idea.<br />
<br />
The series is also being released rapidly. The first three books are already out, with book three coming out just this week, and the fourth is on pre-order for an early July release date.<br />
<br />
But when a series opens with a vampire snorting crystallized hemoglobin, it's kind of hard to go wrong. The books all run $3.99, so you're not breaking the bank, and you're not going to have to wait a year between parts of the story. Win-win.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2KnoqzA" target="_blank">2: The Darkest Time of Night by Jeremy Finley</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2KnoqzA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheznMKQudK7xuGlsUyKWKRLQckY9UB26pbBugGLoL5RnZd43a_TVbJ8CmwYUDYnhUo38fyfpeGJTHGaoulywybtITePFS_44EUPHiz2viQp5LVJoCma4suRhNjoj7blBRwrrdRkxDi9LLl/s320/darkest+time+of+night.jpg" width="207" /></a>Jeremy Finley is an award winning investigative journalist, and he's now set his sights on the world of fiction. And boy howdy does The Darkest Time of Night tick all the boxes for me.<br />
<br />
Children disappearing in dark woods? Check. Other children rattling off mysterious phrases? Check. Political intrigue with proper research from years of journalistic experience? Check.<br />
<br />
Oh, also the main character is a grandma. Older, competent female characters with a mysterious past? Double, triple, quadruple check for me.<br />
<br />
Combine all of that with a character rich voice that straddles the line between literary and fast-paced, and Finley has turned out one hell of an opener into the world of fiction. Being from a New York publisher, unlike the others on the list so far, this one runs a little pricier at 12.99, but when else are you going to see badass astronomy grandma take on corruption, and possibly aliens?<br />
<br />
Before we get to the number one book, the one that I kind of have to have in my life right now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention <a href="https://amzn.to/2tvxrzV" target="_blank">Hannu Rajaniemi's Summerland</a> that launched today. I love alternate history, particularly set in the 1930s, and I have an obsession with a specific and hard-to-find trope that's present in Summerland: a human-constructed God. It's definitely on my list to check out, but it was just slightly edged out of the top five for the week.<br />
<br />
And now the big one, the one that has my blood all excited and shit.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/2lCG9s4" target="_blank">1: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse</a><br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2lCG9s4" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigMJ1y5pxd46mYlRdh3GElBm_pOqFL8wwQL2fCOcF9eyDR9Rh8jzbnLBvHL5-prVNK9HH9Jk06vtiDR8HOI1Qo5WLyjKIWSTz2TdXSKkr9jVnFNMsIclDDLMXWx5Ohl6JxHTaI7cW5FnCT/s320/trail+of+lightning.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
Guys. Guys, you can't understand how much this book gets me going. Like, you just can't. You know I love diversity in fiction. This is a book by an indigenous author about indigenous characters. It's also set on an Earth ravaged by climate change, so most of the land has flooded. The former Navajo reservation is now argubaly the most inhabitable place in North America, protected from destruction by magic.<br />
<br />
That should excite you. If not, check your pulse...and then keep reading, because I'm not done.<br />
<br />
The main character is a monster hunter. The book takes a dive into Navajo myth and legend, plus Navajo culture in general.<br />
<br />
It's written with a sense of immediacy and speed, while also conveying the character immediately and throughout. And unlike a lot of other books I tend to stumble across, we're not halfway through the series or anything: Trail of Lightning is the first book of The Sixth World. Which means that A: there's no playing catch-up and B: the book needs some serious love in order to keep the series alive and kicking. At 7.99, I wouldn't even hesitate to buy it.<br />
<br />
Also, I didn't even hesitate to buy it. Yum yum, time for reading.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-11831727313288210152018-04-16T09:29:00.000-07:002018-04-16T09:29:16.563-07:00Manic Monday: The Art that Came BeforeSo, if I haven't mentioned it on here before, I'm a country music fan. Yeah, I know, I'll get half a dozen links to that 6 song country mashup video. Ah, ha ha ha. That's stadium country, and yeah, a lot of it sounds the same. Welcome to popular music. Ever heard of a four chord song? It's been used forever.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I digress. Last night was the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards. It's one of the, like, 4 award shows we have every year (3? 4? There's a lot more than there probably should be, at any rate.). But being a fan, I watched it. I honestly am not invested enough in their music and goings on to care who wins what award. Like, it's nice when someone I like wins an award, but I don't watch it for that. I watch it because there's some good country music on these awards shows, and I like to hear it.<br />
<br />
But there's something I've noticed about country music. This isn't the first time I've seen it, but it did sort of crystallize. See, if you listen to country music, you're listening to everything. So many songs are part of what came before them in some way. Whether it's Jennifer Nettles referencing Jolene, or Maren Morris singing about Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, there are links back to the past that I just don't see in most genres of music (Classical/orchestral/symphonic not withstanding.).<br />
<br />
And you see it at the awards shows, too. One of the reasons I like to watch the country awards is because I know they're going to dust off something I haven't heard in a while. Or they're going to dust off some<i>one</i> I haven't heard in a while. Like when Charley Pride stepped back on stage a couple years ago to perform "Kiss an Angel Good Morning."<br /><br />And you could realistically expect that to happen and for people to applaud quietly, but that's <i>not</i> the case in country. The fans and the artists all love that shit. And it was the same when Alan Jackson stepped back on stage, or even Toby Keith. And <i>especially</i> for me, hearing Reba McEntire do "Does he Love You?" She was my favorite singer as a kid, and I've never gotten over that voice of hers.<br /><br />But that's the thing: it's not just me. The fanbase gets excited about these older songs getting played, and it's not just nostalgia. It's because it's all a part of our country. I don't know anyone who won't sing along to "Friends in Low Places" when it comes on. Who doesn't love Johnny Cash, or Hank Williams. Country has been, for a long time, looking backward. Moving forward, but never forgetting Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. And part of that is that older artists are still current artists in country. It's not a big deal when Reba McEntire or Kenny Chesney puts out a new album, because they hit the scene and they never left. Country stretches far, far back into its own history in the everyday, and I think that's something beautiful and unique.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-38959994427871595702018-04-12T09:51:00.000-07:002018-04-12T09:51:10.356-07:00Top Ten Trope Thursdays: O.O.C. is Serious Business<div class="MsoNormal">
*Note: I'm going to remain completely in character, but this
is still serious business: spoilers are in here. You've been warned*<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well it's time to go at this again: tropes. Who does them
well, who does them the best, and…well, I would say "who does them that I
don't know," but I don't know them…so we won't be seeing those.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is one that I'm fond of, but I honestly can't think of
a time I've gotten it into any of my own work, which is just saddening. So for
now, I'll just have to enjoy it in other work. What is it? <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OOCIsSeriousBusiness" target="_blank">OOC is SeriousBusiness</a> (OOC meaning "Out of Character.").<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We've all seen it: the normally affable, light-hearted
character suddenly narrows her eyes and speaks in a brooding, deep tone about
the awful looming shadow behind them. Turns out that it's Horgoth of the
Eternal Nightmares and shit just got real.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my favorites that just didn't quite make the list was
Luna Lovegood, our quiet and distant girl who sort of lives in her own world,
shouts across the way at Harry because, damn it, he needs to hear what she can
say…and he does.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as I said, that one didn't make the list. But here's the
ten OOC moments that <i>did</i> make my
list.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>10: Gordon Ramsay</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I'll get it out of the way right now: he's on the bottom of
the list because he's a REAL FUCKING PERSON. This isn't a plotted character
moment designed for impact. It's just his personality.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But with that out of the way, Gordon Ramsay's public
persona, especially in our modern online culture, is almost <i>centric</i> on this shift. He got popular
for being "that angry British chef" in the states. The guy we saw on
Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. And, yeah, I love that angry British
chef. I may or may not have attempted to write a character similar to him in
high school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No you can't read it. It went nowhere. Stop asking. Stop.
Stop. Stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stop.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then in comes Master Chef Junior, and we saw Gordon
Ramsay get serious about these kids. With adults who supposedly know what
they're doing, he doesn't have time. They've already learned – it's his job to
whip their shit into shape.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With kids, he takes it a lot more seriously. He calms down,
because he's a professional chef and it's his responsibility to teach them. He
wants to get them from being remarkably talented kids to being actual, proper
chefs. It's a damn duty to him, so of course he's not going to scream and call
them all fuckers and idiot sandwiches and donkeys. Gordon Ramsay made his name
swearing and shouting and getting (rightfully) upset at professional chefs. So
when you see him stop that? You know it's time to perk your ears up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>9: Bleach</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ah, Bleach. You had such promise and power and potential and
other words that start with P, probably. I'm not actually a huge fan of…well,
anything after they actually capture Aizen. But in regards to this trope,
Bleach does an amazing job in both parts of the series.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See, there are inherent powers and evolution of said powers
in Bleach, but the main thing I'm focusing on here is the zanpakuto. Short
description: soul reapers have zanpakuto, which have two power levels to them.
Shikai is a powerup, and bankai is almost like a nuke. Very powerful, very hard
to master.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bleach shows how serious the situation is through the
zanpakuto a <i>lot</i>. Because there are
restrictions put on soul reapers to what they can and can't do, and what they
should and shouldn't do, you see a lot of times where they won't pull out their
bankai until things are really, really serious. It goes for heroes and villains,
too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, just to run through some of the better examples really
quickly: in the Thousand Year Blood War, Yamamoto and Kyouraku both unleash
bankai for the first time. Two of the strongest, most devastating bankai in the
series. Kyouraku's actually kills him when he uses it, so you know it's for
real serious. Soi Fon hates her bankai, because a massive "fuck you"
missile launcher is surprisingly not stealthy, which she hates. The first time Isshin
is ever revealed as a soul reaper and not a bumbling father is when the first
Arrancar shows up. And a lot of the soul reapers, and later the espada, show
you that the battle is actually getting difficult when they bother to release
their zanpakuto/resurrecion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yeah. Bleach uses this trope a lot. But I saved one out,
because to me it's special and a little more plot/character potent than the
other myriad examples. Who is it? Well…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>8: Yumichika Ayasegawa (Bleach)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh, Yumichika. Introduced pretty early in the series, and
also one of the very first shikai we ever see with Fuji Kujaku. It turns his
sword into a four-bladed kopis. And that's about it. Honestly, kind of
lackluster compared to a lot of other shikai in the series.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Except not, because this trope. So, for background,
Yumichika is in Squad 11. The martial squad of the Soul Society. There's an
unspoken rule that all members of that squad should have "melee type"
zanpakuto.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cut to way fucking later down the line. Yumichika is trapped
in a dome with his enemy…and shit gets real. What should be a fairly desperate
situation makes Yumichika smile like a bastard. Come to find out, that
four-bladed kopis is not the power of his zanpakuto. He was suppressing it. His
real zanpakuto, Ruri'iro Kujaku, is kido based. Magic based. And now that no
one is around to see him use it, he unleashes it and kicks ass.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even that's not the full extent of this trope for
Yumichika. Near the end of the series, when it got kind of shitty overall,
people were really dying and struggling. And Yumichika releases Ruri'iro Kujaku
in front of everyone. Things are as bad as they possibly could have been, and
he's there to show you that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>7: Sam and Dean Winchester (Supernatural)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So in early Supernatural, the big thing was demons. More
specifically Yellow Eyes. In this universe, demons have to possess humans to be
on Earth. Otherwise they're just black smoke.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sam and Dean, being hunters, took care of demons. They
exorcized them and sent them back to Hell. They hated killing people. And yeah,
sometimes humans died during their travels. It was miserable for them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until the end of season 2. They have the Colt, which can
kill anything. And Yellow-Eyes, who killed their mother and is generally not
very nice. He's in a human host, and without any real hesitation they murder
the fuck out of him. And his human host. And while, going forward, they seem
less careful about killing humans, up until this point they had serious
reservations about killing people in the process of their hunting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>6: Yoda (Attack of the Clones)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yoda, Yoda, Yoda. Confusing you are. Okay, not really.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is one of the scenes people were looking forward to
forever. See, for four movies, Yoda has been this little wise old green dude.
He's strong with the force and shit, but we never even see his lightsaber.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until we do. When Count Dooku is royally wiping the floor
with Anakin and Obi Wan, Yoda comes in. He catches and redirects force
lightning. And he acrobats the shit out of Count Dooku. He actually beats back
Count Dooku, one of the most accomplished lightsaber fighters in the Star Wars
universe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don't piss off Yoda. It takes a while, but you won't like
him when he's angry.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>5: Molly Weasley (Harry Potter)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know <i>exactly</i>
what scene I'm talking about. Deathly Hallows. Battle of Hogwarts. Bellatrix
Lestrange curses Ginny, and that's it. "Not my daughter, you bitch!"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's glorious, but important for Molly. We needed to see
this. She's been built as a loving mother, sometimes overbearing, for seven
books. But she's also a member of the Order of the Phoenix and…that's weird,
right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Turns out no, it's not. It takes something in line with her
character (Protecting her family) to get there, but she does it. It has to get
serious for Molly personally, but then she takes on one of the most
accomplished, fervent Death Eaters in the series, and god damn it if she
doesn't win.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>4: Alexander Dane (Galaxy Quest)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
RIP Alan Rickman. A major loss to the acting community and
one we still sorely miss. One of my favorites was him as a high-class actor
relegated to a sci-fi show he hates being attached to. It's never more obvious
than when he says or even <i>hears</i> his
catchphrase.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"By Grabthar's Hammer, by the Sons of Warvan, you shall
be avenged!"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's a running joke all the way through the movie (BTW, if
you haven't seen Galaxy Quest, go watch it. For real.), and Alexander is just
so exasperated by the whole thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, there's also Quellek, the ship's science officer who
idolized Dane's character (The aliens think that the actors from Galaxy Quest
were actually on a space mission. They think the characters are real.). Toward
the end of the movie, Quellek is mortally wounded, and he says how much of an
honor it was to work with him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Dane gives him the line. Sincere as he's been the whole
movie. And I'm not crying, you're crying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>3: Richard Castle (Castle)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Castle is great popcorn television. It's a super-formulaic
detective show, and Castle, a writer, is generally lovable and charming and
roguish. I mean, it's Nathan Fillion. That's what he plays best, arguably.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there's a two part episode where his daughter, Alexis,
is kidnapped. And Castle doesn't take it well, weirdly enough. At one point,
they get someone who knows what's going on. He's standing in the way of Castle
getting to Alexis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Castel very calmly asks for some time alone with the
guy. He makes all kinds of hideous threats on what he's going to do to this
guy. But then it cuts away to outside, and you just hear the guy screaming.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And Castle, our lovable, kindly writer, comes out with the
information he wanted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2: Saitama (One Punch Man)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OOC is Serious Business is a huge part of Saitama's
character. He's the One Punch Man. He kills everything with One Punch. It's the
whole schtick of the series. So he rarely needs to <i>try</i> at anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But now and then, we see him get…drawn better. More in a
"traditional anime" style, as Americans understand it. That only
happens when he actually feels things and has to try in a fight. It's
quintessential, 101 OOC is Serious Business, in the starkest and most obvious
terms.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I don't think it's handled quite the best of all the
things I've seen/read/watched. That goes to a very special, beloved character.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1: Hawkeye (M*A*S*H)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fucking Hawkeye. I love him. I love this whole show, but I
love Hawkeye. He's maudlin and irreverent and just a general cacophony of a
human being. But he's almost always a lighthearted war surgeon. Yeah, if you
haven't seen it, it's as weird as it sounds. Also…why haven't you fucking seen
it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what makes Hawkeye marvelous in that particular way is
when he's not funny and irreverent. He gets dark. Hawkeye, more than every
other character combined, is our reminder to the vagaries of war. We see him
break, and it's a reminder that not only are they in war, but war is…well, not
hell. "War is war and Hell is Hell."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are lots of great lines and scenes that show it. I
really like the one where he and Margaret are trapped in a cave together. But
the biggest one for me is when they bring in Sidney Freeman. Hawkeye is
literally, psychologically broken. And to the viewer, that's scary. Hawkeye
can't pull himself together. He has to get a psychologist. It's…it's powerful.
It's not anything to shy away from for this show.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hawkeye, because of how integral he is in the success of the show, and how well the trope is handled in regards to his character, is my top OOC is Serious Business example.</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-44509938469417248522018-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:002018-04-09T13:13:09.500-07:00Manic Mondays: On Cirque du Soleil and Life-Changing ArtSo I'm a big Cirque du Soleil fan. I was always a fan. My mother loved them, so I watched a lot of the recorded shows on public access.<br />
<br />
But in high school I got to go to live shows twice. Those were, without exaggeration, life-changing experiences for me. And I really had to think about that today. I'm still thinking about it...hence writing this. See, I put up a post on my personal Facebook profile, basically saying "Hey, you probably can afford to see Cirque. It's only, like, fifty bucks a ticket." But I used the descriptor "massively inexpensive."<br />
<br />
Oh boy, did that get some hackles up. Apparently fifty bucks isn't massively inexpensive. Which, if the people jumping on that had been poor like me, I could have understood. But they were people who were more well-off than I am, so it really threw me. They were people I knew went to movies (I don't) and concerts (I don't) and took trips (I literally cannot remember the last time I took a trip that wasn't business or necessity related.). So I knew right away there was a disconnect.<br />
<br />
And I realized it had to be from me, because I'm a penny-pincher. I grew up poor, I'm still often on a shoestring budget...a frayed, frayed shoestring. Though not as much as we were when I was a kid. I have actual physical nausea if I spend money. So I knew there had to be something about Cirque that made it okay to me.<br />
<br />
And that was when I realized how impactful it was on me. Cirque du Soleil pushed the boundaries of my mind. What live performers can do. What the human body can do. What artists can do. It fundamentally shaped a part of my soul, seeing those shows. And that's not something that can be communicated effectively, I don't think. See, to me that fifty dollar price tag isn't insane, because Cirque is something otherworldly.<br />
<br />
And for the mere price of fifty dollars, I find out that I can take another piece of that otherworld with me into mundanity.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-66036137401785325732018-04-05T08:51:00.001-07:002018-04-05T08:51:04.622-07:00Top Ten Trope Thursdays: Even Evil has Standards<br />
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*Note: Spoilers, spoilers, cha-cha-cha. They're in this
article cha-cha-cha*<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Welcome back to Top Ten Trope Thursdays. This is where I
pretend you care about my opinion, and you pretend that I'm witty, charming,
intelligent, and don't have crippling self-esteem issues.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As I gear up to hit some solid villain/antagonist related
tropes, I had a thought about something I just absolutely love. It came to me
watching Supernatural (You'll see why when we get to that point.). And, as with
most fictional tools and building blocks, TV Tropes has a name for this one:
<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvenEvilHasStandards" target="_blank">Even Evil Has Standards</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If you don't know what it is from that, I promise you've
probably seen it. Especially in spec-fic, where our villains tend to really
chew up the scenery and monologue like everybody and their grandmother is
watching, it's a common occurrence. This is where our villain says "I'm
evil, but I'm not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> evil."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I think the most familiar example for most people comes from
the Joker. It's not on the list, but it's TV Tropes's example, and it really
illustrates the point. In a crossover comic with DC and Marvel, the Joker teams
up with Red Skull. He things the Nazi paraphernalia is just a get up. That's
his villain theme.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But when he finds out that's not the case? That's when this
trope is enacted. "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American
criminal lunatic."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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See, for all the evil and chaos that the Joker has wrought,
a Nazi? Nazis are right out. He doesn't play that game. And while this trope
can be played for comedic effect, I'm sticking as much as I can to the more
serious examples I've seen. If you're favorite is missing? That means it's
likely I haven't seen it, so I can't speak to it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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With all that said, let the list begin. Because I may be
long-winded, but I'm not long-winded <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i>
pendatic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>10: Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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This is at the bottom of the list for two reasons: Jack
Sparrow is hardly evil, and this comes from a deleted scene, so it's of
questionable canonicity. But it's so good I had to put it on the list.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So we have a scene with Sparrow and Beckett, where Beckett
is talking about how Jack got labeled a pirate to begin with. He was apparently
found "liberating some cargo."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Jack pauses and then replies, very simply, "People
aren't cargo, mate." Jack Sparrow is selfish. He's a drunkard. He's a
pirate. He's a murderer. He's a thief. But he's not a slave trader, and he
won't condone it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>9: Mirage (The Incredibles)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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You remember her? It took me a hot minute to remember her
name when writing my notes for this article. She worked for Syndrome, long
silver hair, nearly strangled to death by Mr. Incredible? Yeah, Mirage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Again, I never considered her evil, so she doesn't place too
incredibly high on this list, but she was willing to watch multiple superheroes
get killed to further Syndrome's plans, and was complicit in getting them there
and convincing them to fight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But where she drew the line was blowing a plane with children
on it. Superheroes have dangerous lives. Children…they're innocents, and Mirage
just couldn't blow them up, immediately setting her up as more likable than
Syndrome.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>8: Crowley (Supernatural)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Ostensibly, it doesn’t get much more evil than Crowley. He's
literally the King of Hell. And while that's not thoroughly and completely true
in practice, it doesn't make Crowley a nice dude. He tortures people,
physically and psychologically, and orders considerably worse done to humans
where he doesn't have to dirty his hands. Selfish, conniving, and all around
just not the sort of gent you want to invite around for tea…partially because
you'd probably have to sell him your soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So what's the line for the King of Hell himself? What's too
evil for him? Well…nothing. This is as close to a comedic example as I'm
willing to touch, in no small part because it inspired this entire list. But
also, it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> speak to Crowley's
character if you're willing to dig a bit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When he finds out that one of the demons under him has
opened a sex trade/prostitution ring to collect souls, he immediately orders it
shut down. Why? "I'm evil, that's just tacky."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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See, not only is it not the right thing to do, enslaving
innocent, unwilling women to be your prostitutes, but it's also not the way
things are done. Crowley is always presented as not necessarily the lesser
evil, but certainly the more sophisticated, honorable evil. And this plays into
that. If he's going to get your soul, he's going to do it the old-fashioned
way, god damn it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>7: The SCP Foundation (The SCP Foundation)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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(CW: Sexual assault, rape)<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is the last of my "Maybe they're not really
evil" entries for this list. The SCP foundation is actually a good
organization. They keep our world safe and secure so you and I can live without
immortal, genocidal lizards eating us, among other nasty things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Specifically stated by them, they are "cold, not
cruel." They won't do anything beyond what is necessary, but they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">will</i> do what is necessary to keep
everything "Secured, Contained, and Protected."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This example comes to us from SCP-231, which is a Keter
class. It will cause extensive and irreparable harm to the world and human
life, potentially ending everything if not contained. SCP fans are already
cringing, because they know what's coming.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Without going into huge detail, SCP-231-7, the last
remaining instance of the entity, is a young woman. To contain the SCP, they
administer Procedure 110-Montauk. It has to be administered by six felons with
sex offense backgrounds. SCP-231-7 has to be monitored only by medical
professionals who have not taken the Hippocratic oath. And the point is to
cause intense emotional and physical stress that also keep her from giving
birth to…something. That's why, ever 3-4 days, she's given drugs that erase her
memories, so she can experience it all as something brand new. That's pretty
much what we know.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, the implication and most widely accepted explanation is
that she's brutally raped by the six felons until she miscarries. The
Foundation tried and failed to find other techniques that would keep the world
from being destroyed, and nothing worked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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All of this is obviously pretty fucking awful. So where the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hell</i> do they invoke this trope? It's a
really small thing compared to what happens during 110-Montauk, but if one of
the felons tries to go beyond what is necessary for the procedure, they're
killed on the spot.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Cold, not cruel.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>6: The Capitol (The Hunger Games)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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What the hell kind of redeeming qualities could the Capitol
have? They cheer for and pay to watch children murder each other once a year.
It's a massive spectacle and they love it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Well none is the answer, but there's one sort of throwaway
line. It doesn't make them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">good</i>
people, but it does make them…less evil than they could be? As I talked about
in the Guile Hero article, Finnick is forced to prostitute himself to the
wealthy. But when talking about that, we find out that he was safe until he was
sixteen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So…so yeah, it's really not much of a redeeming quality. But
the point of this trope isn't necessarily to redeem, but to show that evil
characters do have their own boundaries. And the Capitols' boundary is
"prostitutes should be at least sixteen years old."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>5: Simon Phoenix (Demolition Man)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Kidnapper, mass murderer, possibly quite literally the most
violent man in the world, since they've pretty handily eradicated violence at
this point in the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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You'd think it would be hard to find something he's got
boundaries against, be wrong. As this trope does its best to demonstrate,
everyone has lines they won't cross, things of which they can't approve. For
Simon Phoenix, he sees the government robbing people of their free will, and
that's what drives him to kill the man who removed him from cryogenic
suspension. The very man who gave him freedom wants to control the will of the
people, so Simon is more than happy to turn on him, because that's fucked up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>4: The Comedian (Watchmen)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Hey! It's Negan!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Okay, that's out of the way. The Comedian is a bastard and
he always has been. We see that all the way back in the Vietnam War. He got a
local woman pregnant, so what does he do? He shoots her in the stomach, kills
her, and obviously destroys the fetus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Also he rapes the first Silk Spectre and gets her pregnant.
Doesn't murder her, at least…I guess that's something?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But no, the real something is that this flaming rapist
bastard does have lines. When the second Silk Spectre, his daughter, implies
that he's trying to sleep with her, he shoots that right down. He's a bastard,
but what kind of person does that with his daughter? And also, though he's
willing to kill indiscriminately, genocide? That's a big nope. Not because he
doesn't want to die, but because that's just not what you do. Killing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyone</i> just isn't right.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>3: Maleficent (Once Upon a Time)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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I have a love/hate relationship with Once. I used to love
it…now I really think it's trash. But when it was good, it was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">so </i>good. Part of that is the cast of
villains. Maleficent was a minor part, but there's a great bit very, very early
in the series where we see Regina going for the Dark Curse…which Maleficent
has.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now since these are fairy tales, a lot of the villains are
fully aware that they're evil. But Maleficent is the first time we see one of
them with some sense of general humanity left. The Dark Curse is some of the
most evil magic available, and Maleficent doesn't want to give it up. She'll
help you put people into a nigh-irreversible nightmare coma, but the Dark
Curse? No. Why? It's too intense…or as she puts it, "Whoever invented that
monstrosity makes us look downright moral."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>2: The Thiefmaker (Gentleman Bastards)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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(CW: Rape)<o:p></o:p></div>
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I'm a big fan of this series. It's dark and gritty and
complex, and it has thieves as the main characters, so I'm immediately sold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Thiefmaker is a central part of the backdrop. He takes
orphans off the streets and trains them to be thieves…and, you know, if he
thinks maybe they'll be a danger to him, he has no problem "handling"
things and getting rid of them. Children. Orphaned children who rely on him as
their guardian.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now also in this world are the Jeremites. They're from
another land and are not necessarily the nicest folks, but one thing stands out
above all others: they think redheaded girls are of special, magical
prominence. Specifically when they're raped to death.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh yeah, it goes there. You have an STD? Well, raping that
redheaded girl will cure you. You can get money or fame or really anything. And
it's especially potent magic if you're the "last one riding her" when
she dies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now excuse me while I shower with bleach real quick.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As it turns out, one of the Thiefmaker's charges,
Sabetha, has red hair. This penny-pinching, semi-murderous thief goes out of
his way to buy her hair dye, because even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i>
can see that's horrid. Far beyond anything he could condone, even on his worst
day.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>1: Johnny (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh, JtHM, how I love thee. It's certainly not for everyone,
but Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is the perfect thing for the grown up Invader
Zim fan. It's early Jhonen Vasquez, and it carries all that quirk and darkness
we know from Invader Zim.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The title character is, as it says on the tin, a homicidal
maniac. He has multiple levels in his cellar designed to torture and kill
folks. And he does it admittedly and gleefully. There's an entire arc about how
he's so terrible that he goes to hell. Johnny is a bad, bad, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bad</i> man.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But in two specific situations, we see that there's some
sort of rule to be had in even his life. He becomes famous enough that he gets
a copycat killer, but the killer is also a rapist.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No go. Johnny won't condone it, and Johnny never rapes.
Period. So he kills the copycat. I mean, I guess that's sort of what you do
when you're a Homicidal Maniac.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other thing we see is his protection of children.
Specifically his neighbor Squee. A pedophile tries to have his way with Squee,
and Johnny comes right after him…again, with the killing. He's Johnny the
Homicidal Maniac, that's kind of his only move.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I consider Johnny's character a prime example of this
trope because, for how awful he is, Johnny is our main character. He's evil, no
doubt, but he's likable, and in no small part because of these tropes. He kills
because he's a homicidal maniac, but sex crimes? No. He's an engaging and
interesting evil character with his own personal rules and boundaries…because
Even Evil has Standards.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-45535560388744737582018-04-02T22:34:00.000-07:002018-04-02T22:34:00.975-07:00Manic Mondays: Dinosaurs are Awesome<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I like dinosaurs. I think everyone likes dinosaurs, and I
think anyone who says otherwise is lying, or just not thinking about it enough.
How <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cool</i> is a triceratops, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seriously, really think about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yeah.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than that, though, dinosaurs are fascinating
because…well, because they aren't here anymore. We can accept that they were
truly and completely massive. Powerful. Cool. They reigned for a long, long
time. And then they <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">didn't</i>. Dinosaurs
are a lens against our own mortality as humans.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because right now, we're the dominant species. But tomorrow
our climate could take a massive shift and tardigrades would rule for the next
forty-thousand years. Which honestly, I think they're our current most likely
successor. Long-live our resilient overlords.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I'm an SF/F writer, so my brain has to wonder what we
don't know. How right and wrong were we about dinosaurs? Did they have palaces
and religion and, because we just don't understand, we assume they're stupid?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Probably not, but it's always a possibility, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So more than just a lens against our mortality and nearly
inevitable extinction, dinosaurs <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">also</i>
show us how little we really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So dinosaurs are cool…but I guess they're also kind of
dicks, bringing up all that stuff.</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-15738031009153004322018-03-29T10:31:00.000-07:002018-03-30T10:31:55.297-07:00Top Ten Trope Thursdays: Heart is an Awesome Power<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>*Note: if you've seen these, you know there's spoilers. If
you haven't seen these…well, there's spoilers. Fair warning.*</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now the last three of these were about characters. I'm
hardly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">done</i> with character tropes,
but I want to slip aside just a bit and explore another trope that I tend to
personally enjoy in media: <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeartIsAnAwesomePower" target="_blank">Heart is an Awesome Power.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all see this in sci-fi/fantasy settings. People have
awesome powers and abilities…except Jenny. Jenny can control sugar. That's it.
Everyone writes her off, maybe our one kindly character tries to make her feel
better, but even Jenny thinks her power is dumb.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until she realizes glucose is a sugar. Suddenly Jenny goes
from being a weak little nothing to an unstoppable killing force, halting blood
in its tracks at her will. Why? Because "Heart is an Awesome Power."
Less about the actual limitations of a preternatural ability and more about the
character putting it to good use, this is a trope that allows a writer to show
off creativity, and it allows characters to have obvious, visible growth within
a form of media.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, I'm not sticking to heroes with this, and part of that
is…well, this tends to play well for villains. It's a great way to bring a recurring
joke villain out of the shadows and shake everything up. Plus, if the character
in question was ridiculed for their shit power, there's a fair chance that
they'll retaliate once they figure out they can.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So on with the list!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>10: The Amoeba Boys (The Powerpuff Girls)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh boy, these guys. They really really wanted to be evil
villains. But at best they were nuisances, and at worst they actually made
people's lives easier in the City of Townsville. Oversized single celled
organisms. Not only do they not pose much of a physical threat, they don't have
the brain capacity to come up with anything more complex than, say, stealing an
orange. The Powerpuff Girls actually pity them, for the most part.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Until "Gesundfight." The Amoeba Boys are
determined to stand on the grass in spite of what the sign says. They stay
there overnight, get rained on, and get the flu…and that's a problem. Because
of their freaky-ass single-celled-organism-ness, the disease mutates inside of
them and, when spread around, is incredibly virulent. Within hours from
exposure, humans are passing out, coughing, sneezing. The Amoeba Boys have
released a plague upon Townsville.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course it all gets solved in the end, but they did it.
The only reason they're number ten on the list is that they didn't choose to do
this. They got sick and it kind of happened. But it couldn't have happened if
Mojo Jojo or Fuzzy Lumpkins got sick: only The Amoeba Boys (Of note also: a lot
of the villains in The Powerpuff Girls could fall in here. Fuzzy Lumpkins is…a
hillbilly. That's about it. Elmer Sglue has…glue powers. Sedusa has prehensile
hair.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>9: Ma-Ti (Captain Planet)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Trope Namer in this case. In Captain Planet, five
internationally sourced teens are given five power rings by Gaia to help
protect the planet. The rings allow them to control one individual aspect of
the world: earth, wind, fire, water, and…heart. Even Ma-Ti says it's a stupid
power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then Ma-Ti uses that power to control a motherfucking
bear to attack the Monster of the Week. Because "heart" is basically
a nice way of saying "willful manipulation." Ma-Ti can make a
connection to the metaphorical heart of any living creature. In fact, in an
alternate future, we see exactly how devastating his power could be. Ma-Ti becomes
an evil dictator, because his power of heart has allowed him to brainwash the
masses into following him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It doesn't get much more complex than that. Why so low for
something so clearly available? Like with the next entry, it's rarely, if ever,
used to that full devastating potential. Which in Ma-Ti's case, I think we
should all be thankful for.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>8: Jubilee (X-Men)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fireworks girl? Really?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, the fireworks girl. The one with the banana yellow coat
whose powers are only ever vaguely explained most of the time. And I know she
actually got depowered, but we're talking old school mutant Jubilee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See, those fireworks are actually plasma. She's just
creating plasma. And while this seems like a way to try to make her
cooler…think about what she has to do to accomplish that. She's supercharging
the air around her into plasma. Plasma that really has no difficulty creating
explosions wherever she wants it to, within her specific range.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it goes beyond that. Pushing her power, she's able to
break down matter. Yeah. She can actually split atoms with her fucking brain if
she wants to. She can split atoms inside your liver, or inside your head, or inside
your wife. Luckily, Jubilee is a nice person, and she only ever did that to a
Sentinel. But she could have done it to anyone she wanted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So yeah, the fireworks girl.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>7: Karen (The Almighty Johnsons)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This isn't the only time The Almighty Johnsons is going to
be on this list, so no worries. Karen, for anyone who doesn't remember her sort
of brief appearance, is Michele's mother, as well as the human reincarnation of
Lofn, goddess of festivities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parties? Now that's a lame power.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unless applied correctly. She's another one who doesn't do a
ton to fully capitalize on her powers, but if she plans a party, you're going
to be there. It's literally unavoidable. You'll find out about it, you'll be
there, and if there's a theme, you're going to adhere to it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She uses this all of once, as she's only a bit character.
But we see that power. She can make anyone show up anywhere she wants as long
as she throws a party. She does it for positive reasons, of course. She wants
to breed familial harmony. But if she was evil? If she'd been working with the
goddesses since the beginning, the gods would have been dead in an instant.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>6: Squirrel Girl (Marvel Comics)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now you can tell me she's just meant as a joke character,
and you're pretty much right. But on paper, as it stands, Squirrel Girl is one
of the most effective heroes in the Marvel universe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What's her power? Well, she has "things related to a
squirrel" down pat. She's considerably stronger than an average human,
though nothing compared to super-strength heroes like Carol Danvers. She can
jump several stories. She has a moderately prehensile tail. She has a spike on
her knuckle that can carve through wood. And she can also communicate with and
command squirrels. She also has enhanced regenerative abilities, like most of
Marvel's animal-themed mutants.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That's it. That's Squirrel Girl. But she makes damn good use
of those powers. She took down Thanos. She took down Doctor Doom. She took down
Terrax the Terror. Ego the Living Planet. Four Avengers. Wolverine. Deadpool.
Fin Fang Foom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Did I mention Thanos?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I say she's used as a joke because Squirrel Girl does most
of her fighting off screen. However, that doesn't make it less canon. I assume
that they just don't want to go that graphic, showing her army of squirrels
ripping Thanos apart an inch at a time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I were to meet Squirrel Girl in a dark alley, though? I'd
be super nice to her in the hopes that she never met me while the camera was
pointed somewhere else.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>5: Pig God (One Punch Man)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pig God is the tenth ranked hero in the world of One Punch
Man…and lord if you'd ever be able to tell. He's morbidly obese, constantly
eating…because that's his power. He can eat. More specifically, I suppose, he
has an "inhuman digestive tract," along with other abilities, such as
surprisingly immense strength.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sounds a little shaky. Like, maybe he should be in the top
100 heroes. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maybe</i>. But the tenth
strongest hero in the world?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But Pig God has several things going in his favor. He's
massively durable and can even survive being eaten himself. He has so many
layers of body fat that venom can't reach his blood stream, making him immune
to venomous attacks. And he has an inborn sense of duty to the people of the
world. He wants to keep everyone safe and healthy, which is not the most common
trait at the top of the hero pack in this world. A lot of them are fairly
self-centered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the eating is his "heart" power. He can eat
and digest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">anything</i>. Anything of any
size. Pig God's digestive abilities are one of the most destructive forces on
the planet. If there's an enemy that can't be beaten by conventional methods?
Feed them to Pig God. Problem solved. Not just solved for today, but for good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Damn.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>4: Aquaman (DC Comics)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yep, Fish Boy himself. I'm not even considering him controversial.
The only worry I have is whether he's high enough on the list. See, Aquaman is
scary. Other characters in the DC Universe are afraid of him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This one is not so much that his powers on paper seem silly.
It's just his perception. People out in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our</i>
world don't give him the respect he deserves. So let's break down what Aquaman
brings to the table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He can survive in the depths of the ocean. Boom, that right
there should be enough. He has immense speed and strength at the bottom of the
ocean, under 6000 psi of pressure. When you put him on land? Watch the fuck
out, Superman, you've met your match.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But you don't care about that. You want to hear how he talks
to fish. Okay. Conservative estimates put the percentage of ocean life at 50%
of all life on earth. So for every human, animal, and bird, there's a form of
sea based life form. A more realistic estimate is probably closer to 70%. And
yeah, that includes krill and plankton…but you know that also includes deadly
jellyfish, whales, giant squid, and thousands upon thousands of undiscovered
life that could be dangerous as fuck.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aquaman is dangerous enough by himself. With his marine
communication? He's nearly unstoppable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>3: Baise (Hunter x Hunter)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A minor character, but so deserving of this. She can kiss
any man and instill in him any sexual desire she chooses. And for the most
part, she imparts extreme, all encompassing masochism. Why?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because that masochism is so powerful that, as she literally
beats the man to death, he won't fight back. He enjoys it and asks for more.
Both disturbing and effective, all because she can grant men sexual desires.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>2: Cypher (X-Men)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don't ask me <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">how</i>
mutation makes you able to understand all languages, but it does…apparently.
That's cypher's ability. And initially that was it. But then he died and came
back, as comic book heroes are wont to do, and his powers had supercharged. He
could read and understand any spoken language. And computer language, which
made him an expert hacker. And body language, which made him able to read and
respond perfectly in battle. And sometimes, these powers extended to things
that are questionable language-based, like…somehow finding the weak point in
buildings. I guess the structure or the blueprints or something are a language
of their own?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what should have been a translator and possible diplomat
turned into a massively impress threat to the well-being of anyone who dared to
fight him or use a computer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>1: Mike Johnson (The Almighty Johnsons)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And here we arrive at the gold standard, for me, of this
trope. Mike, like most of the other significant characters in The Almighty
Johnsons, is the reincarnated version of a Norse deity. In his case, this is
Ullr, god of the hunt. Ullr, commonly invoked before duels in the olden days,
was also interpreted in this medium as the god of games. Whether that's
accurate or not…well, I can't find anything that puts him as god of games, but
it's A: not a huge stretch and B: not important. The Almighty Johnsons uses him
as god of games, and that's what we're going with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As such, Ullr can't lose. This seems to be a really narrow
power. Good for, say, beating everyone at rock paper scissors every single
time, or taking the house at poker, but otherwise not all that useful.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as the series progresses, we see how broadly a game is
defined, and hence see Mike's true power. He can not only bend the laws of
probability, but the laws of nature. Did you, in your villainous quipping, bet
that he couldn't beat you? Well, you've just made this fight a game, ensuring
your defeat. He now barely feels your punches, and you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> feel his.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or, did you say "Guess what happened?" Well,
that's a guessing game. He can now read your mind. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That's</i> the one that's really mind blowing. As long as you tell him
to guess, he's functionally omniscient.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's a specific set of circumstances, but once you initiate
a game? Watch out for Mike. Or better yet, just give up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-34829727226114460212018-03-26T13:48:00.001-07:002018-03-26T13:51:19.276-07:00Manic Mondays: Queering Power RangersLately, I've been watching Linkara's History of Power Rangers. It's no secret that I'm a Power Rangers fan. In fact, I'm planning on catching back up before Beast Morphers, and I might even go back and watch some of the better-reviewed Super Sentai series, just to see what's going on.<br />
<br />
But watching the history of Wild Force (Spoilers for that 15 year old series, I guess.), the ending "Where they are now" section shows Danny and Max off globe-trotting. I immediately was like "Oh, so they were gay together."<br />
<br />
But of course they weren't because it's a US children's show from the early 2000s, and gay people didn't exist. Jesus, women and POC barely existed. But it got me thinking: how <i>fucking</i> righteous would it have been to have two gay Power Rangers (Note: this is still possible, as the series is ongoing. Crossing fingers, but not holding my breath.)? One thing Power Rangers has had since the beginning is romance between team members. Tommy and Kimberly, anyone (I'm not giving you a spoiler warning for that one. It's been 25 years. And yeah, I know that she sent him a dear John letter and broke things off, but they were sill a couple.)? One of the major plot elements of Time Force was the weird 1000 year love triangle between Jen, Wes, and Alex. Even solidly into the Disney era (Spoilers now, I suppose), we see: Ziggy and Dr. K, Camille and Dai Shi, and Lily and Theo. So it's not that the showrunners think romance isn't a child-friendly theme for the show. And at least <i>some</i> of the showrunners carried over from the halcyon days of Disney into the...less halcyon days of Nickelodeon.<br />
<br />
(I haven't seen much of the Nick/Neo-Saban era, so apologies there - this is why I need to play catch up before Beast Morphers and the 25th anniversary.)<br />
<br />
But since we know that Power Rangers is currently attached to Nickelodeon, why couldn't it be queer? We know Nick isn't afraid to touch the subject, not after The Legend of Korra. Not to mention the rampant success of Steven Universe on Cartoon Network.<br />
<br />
Plus think of the possibilities. Power Rangers, for any who aren't fans, delves into some real deep, dark subject matter (So many spoilers are coming, guys. So. Many. You've been warned.). You have the Astronema brainwashing plot from In Space, not to mention Zayne's mysterious illness. Lost Galaxy opens with a guy falling to his death in chasm (He got better.), and also one of the Galaxy Rangers sacrifices herself to save the others...and then they have to deal with the actual fallout from one of their team mates dying. Cole's parents were murdered, the Time Force Rangers nearly have their memories wiped out, Eric and Wes display socioeconomic disparity...hell, even Operation Overdrive has Mac practically going suicidal because he finds out he's actually a robot. And RPM? Get the hell out of here, RPM opens with "The bad guys have basically won. There's one city left on Earth. That's it." And from there: brainwashing, infected humans, and their mentor was the one who created the big bad in the first place.<br />
<br />
So why couldn't their be a gay romance? "Gay people exist" is <i>way</i> less intense than "I was kidnapped as a child and gaslighted into believing I could never go outside, so I created a computer virus to break the security systems but they wouldn't let me stop it in time so it became sentient and took over the world and killed the majority of Earth's population."<br />
<br />
Not to mention, the franchise as a whole has now had a canon lesbian Power Ranger. So let's have two battle-hardened Power Rangers find love again - but this time, could it be boys loving boys or girls loving girls? Just, like, this one time, see how it goes? If not, we're just going to end up with more badly written Jason and Tommy fan-fic, and there's quite enough of that out there already.Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370574613649717168.post-74642287150330198482018-03-22T09:03:00.000-07:002018-03-22T09:03:46.716-07:00Top Ten Trope Thursdays: Science Hero*Note: My father was in the hospital for surgery, and I moved back home to help out for a week. Hence the lack of a post last week. Apologies.<br /><br />Also...spoilers ahead, me mateys.*<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We did the cunning, witty, charming <a href="http://vossfoster.blogspot.com/2018/03/guile-hero.html" target="_blank">Guile Hero</a>. We did the
"rush into battle" <a href="http://vossfoster.blogspot.com/2018/03/top-ten-trope-thursdays-action-hero.html" target="_blank">Action Hero</a>. So there's only one part of the
triangle left. Get out your beakers and test tubes, we're talking about the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScienceHero" target="_blank">Science Hero</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, this isn't someone you see very often anymore. The
Science Hero had something of a golden age while science was still this
growing, thriving wilderness that needed to be hacked apart. Science for the
sake of science rather than science for the sake of man. That was a big thing
back in the day, but as that attitude changed we saw the Science Hero give way
to our other archetypes. And, as far as I can tell, we actually saw the rise of
Villainous Scientists. It coincided roughly with World War II and I think it
was fueled by the experimentation done by Nazi scientists.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But all that speculation aside, we're here to talk about
Science Heroes and…okay, I have to be frank with you, Action Heroes are my
least favorite of the three in general terms. Guile is my favorite, but science
is right up there. Especially in science fiction? We should have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scientists</i> at least sometimes. So these
are my personal top ten examples of Science Heroes…or sometimes Anti-Heroes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>10: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (Bleach)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the Guile Hero list, we opened with Kisuke Urahara. Now,
his counterpart…replacement…whatever. Largely acknowledged as being not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quite</i> as brilliant as Urahara, Mayuri is
still a solid scientist and researcher, and he's made incredible strides in his
research. From hacking his own body and his own zanpakuto, to manufacturing an
entire soul reaper from scratch, to a serum that can regrow limbs after they've
been cut off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mayuri places low because, at best, he's an anti-hero, but
even though I'm putting him on this list, I can't fully get my support behind
that. Left to his own devices, Mayuri would be kind of an evil mad scientist.
He tortured people and performed vivisection. He implants bombs into his
subordinates without telling them so he can use them in battle. And he's
invented countless horrific things in his experimentation. Even his zanpakuto
modification was awful: poison that starts to kill on contact…unless you're
related to Mayuri…and it spreads into a 200 meter wide area and just basically
kills everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He's a hero because people annoyed him, or a fight intrigued
him intellectually, or he knew he wouldn't be able to complete his research
with them destroying X, Y, or Z. And so he worked for himself, but certainly
not for anyone else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>9: Bruce Banner (Marvel Comics)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Incredible Hulk is, in a lot of ways, nothing but a
modern Jekyll and Hyde story, just written for the nuclear age instead of the
chemical. But the Hulk is, at best, an Action Hero, and at worst a force of
nature.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, Bruce Banner himself is a brilliant scientist, and
hardly the only one in the Marvel Comics universe. He's easily the preeminent
nuclear scientist in the comics, especially where it comes to how radiation
changes biological tissue…I mean, obviously, right?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He's got other smarts to lean on as well, can build
computers and all that stuff. But nuclear physics, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that's</i> where he thrives. It's where his expertise lies, and Bruce
Banner is really, really good at it. When Dr. Doom says "Yeah, this is the
guy I need to talk to," you know he must have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something</i> going for him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>8: Tony Stark (Marvel Comics)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See, I told you there were a lot of them. A lot of comic book franchises have Science Heroes, but Marvel really seems to have a monopoly on
them…or at least on the really captivating ones. And Tony Stark is probably the
single biggest example in comics, at least in some ways. You can and possibly
should argue that Hank Pym is a better fit for Science Hero, since Tony Stark
is also a clear and absolute action hero, but when it comes to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">popularity</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">notability</i>? Tony Stark all the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And he is incredibly smart. I'm dying? Let me fix that. The
thing that saved me is killing me? Let me fix that. I need to synthesize a
brand new element? Give me a couple days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But more than that, Tony Stark is one of the most
interesting science heroes in Marvel Comics. He has one of the most dynamic
character evolutions. Even in the comics, he was a billionaire playboy
philanthropist at the start. He was an arms dealer. He wasn't a nice guy, and
seeing him switch from a smart dick to a smart but genuinely nice person is
what makes Tony Stark work so beautifully. He becomes more heroic while still
keeping the "science" part of the title, and that's why he just works
so well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>7: Agatha Heterodyne (Girl Genius)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I mean, how was she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i>
going to make this list? In the realm of webcomics, there are some great
characters, and there are some smart characters…but nobody like Agatha or any
of the other "Sparks" from the Girl Genius universe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The genius energy they have is a force of nature, one that
descends on Sparks and sends them into literal madness. Megalomania, delusions
of grandeur…it basically turns them into stereotypical Mad Scientists. Each
Spark is special, only works for certain fields of study. For Agatha, she can
work with small scale robots and arms. It is very specialized, but damn it all
if she can't do some amazing things within that field. Come to find out she's
the heir to a great and powerful family of other Science Heroes…the final, lost
heir to that family.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So no pressure. But if anyone can handle it, it's Agatha
Heterodyne. Not only is she a mad scientist, but she's emotionally and physically
tough, too. Her inventions basically just help her be more of a badass…well,
there was the one time her invention helped her make perfect coffee, but how do
you expect her to function without a good mug of that dark delicious brew?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>6: Lloyd Asplund (Code Geass)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a lot of bit part characters in Code Geass, and a
lot of particularly captivating ones at that. Prince Clovis is barely on
screen, but important. Milly Ashford is there for most of the series, but
hardly an important player. You can even argue that a lot of the Black Knights
aren't that vital, even the ones that are actually given characters.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But, with very few exceptions, no bit character is so
intriguing as Lloyd Asplund. A duke of the Brittanian Empire, but he could give
two shits about that. He doesn't actually care about…well, anything that's
important to the rest of the series. He doesn't care who wins the war. He
doesn't care if anyone lives or dies. He doesn't care about what's right or
wrong, and doesn't really have any opinion on what right or wrong means.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What Lloyd cares about is science. He developed the first
seventh generation Knightmare frame, and there was really one person who could
pilot it. It didn't matter if that pilot was an Eleven or not to Lloyd. He was
nothing but a piece in that properly functioning machine. Suzaku was important
to Lloyd not on a personal level, but on a technical level: the Lancelot
doesn't work without Suzaku, so keeping Suzaku alive is important.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In the truest, purest sense, Lloyd is a Science Hero. The
kind that went to the wayside after World War II here in America. He cares
about advancing his research, not about the results of it. It's a success that
his Knightmare frame is one of the deadliest and most efficient ever created.
Unlike the rest of the cast, Lloyd is unbothered by the tragedies of war
constantly before his eyes. In fact, the only times we see him upset are when
something might happen to his work. Not even when he or his assistant might be
in danger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And while I wouldn't ever want to hang out with a man like
that, by GOD he makes a beautiful character who just happens to fall on the
likable side of this Gray and Grey Morality show.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>5: Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Point of immediate note: I haven't read the books, so this
is all on the TV show. That said…God I watched a lot of this show. I wrote
multiple novels with this show on in the background. And what makes this show
work is the smart people. Temperance Brennan, of course, gets the most screen
time. She <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> the title character,
after all.<o:p></o:p></div>
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She's not quite as blasé about human life and emotion as
Lloyd Asplund, but she's still very science focused. What matters are facts,
even if you don't like them. She's intelligent and at the top of her field, and
she's not going to stand for being questioned when she knows she's right…or
sometimes if she just thinks she's right. Smart and stubborn and that normally
gets her her way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, you know, since she's the title character, she also
tends to be right, so hooray for plot armor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But in all seriousness, she gets the bonus points that get
her this high up for two reasons. One: she has compassion that really helps
define her character. She's put into these situations where she has to see
people suffering firsthand. She goes out into the field and handles the
families and friends of murder victims. And even though she doesn't handle the
social aspect that well, it really gets to her. That's clearer in one episode
than any other: "A Boy in a Bush." The victim is a child, and while
the rest of the team is breaking down, she has to tell them to separate
themselves. She's been here before, she's felt those emotions, and she knows
that they don't get anything done. But it shows right away that she feels them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And two: this was written by Kathy Reichs. You know, an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actual</i> forensic anthropologist? You can
just about guarantee that the science behind this particular Science Hero is
right.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>4: Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (Futurama)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Heroic? Not often. Scientific? Probably more than anyone
else. By pure virtue of what he's managed to accomplish, he qualifies here. And
he is a part of the protagonist side of things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But let's face facts: the entire series hinges on his
scientific advancement. The show wouldn't <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">work</i>
if it wasn't for the Planet Express ship. The drive that moves the universe
around the ship so you can break the speed of light and literally move faster than just about
anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And while that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i>
the main caveat of the series, having this ship, his achievements hardly stop
there. From robot sex change operations to the crafting of alternate universes
and, after that, storing the entire universe inside of itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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If Futurama was a drama series, you know full well Hubert
Farnsworth would be a force to be reckoned with. I mean, he <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> make doomsday devices for fun…just
hope that he never decides to be a villain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>3: Dr. Louise Banks (Arrival)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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When I first saw this movie, I hailed the fact we had a
sci-fi movie with a scientist for a hero. And as a writer I was very interested
that it was a linguist, but that's another story.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I find her entirely fascinating, and completely vital to
everything that went down. She was none too interested in working for the
government at the start, but in true Science Hero fashion she decides she's
going to do it once they suggest they'll go to someone else who she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">doesn't</i> think is as good as her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's still
questionable whether or not she wants to work for them even after that, but
she's damn sure not going to let an inferior linguist get the job.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And then, of course, she translates a totally foreign form
of communication from the ground up. Something humans can't reasonably use, at
least not at that point. I've already written <a href="http://vossfoster.blogspot.com/2017/03/on-arrival-sapir-whorf-and-bad-science.html" target="_blank">an entire article about theSapir-Whorf hypothesis</a> in regards to this movie already, how it's largely
disproved, but suffice it to say that doesn't ruin the experience for me, and
doesn't ruin the character and the sheer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">power</i>
that linguistics grants her. Mastery over time? Hell yes, let's make
linguistics cool again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Or for the first time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Or whatever.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>2: Mark Watney (The Martian)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Come on, you knew he'd be here, right? "I'm going to
have to science the shit out of this." That's the ultimate Science Hero
line, and I can't even fathom something that will <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ever</i> knock it down from that pedestal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The reasons why he deserves to be this high seem obvious: he
survived on Mars, alone, for over a year, and he managed to get back to Earth
when there was no way he should have pulled that off. But he did. He grew
potatoes from the rations that were sent with them. So, you know, the first
farmer on Mars, the first Martian potatoes, and the first somewhat successful
attempt at terraforming.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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On top of that, he also communicates with nothing but a
still camera, he makes water from the supplies available, and he rewires life
support systems into a manned rover.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There's so much he does, and the combination of that scientific
chutzpah with his determination to simply survive puts him up here at number
two. And on paper he should be number one, but I'm just a little biased…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>1: Dr. Gregory House (House)</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See, my bias is that House is my favorite character. End
sentence, full stop. I can't get over him. I compare almost every character to
his gold standard, including my own. He's simultaneously brilliant and
antisocial. Compassionate and hard-edged. Arrogant. Addicted. Broken. And, much
to the chagrin of anyone who has to try and control him, indispensable. All of
that, and yet he's somehow also charismatic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He's a genius on multiple levels. Medical, that part's
obvious. But he's incredibly self-aware. He's absolutely and totally focused on
his chosen field, and he's amazing at it, but he also knows himself well enough
to know what he needs: he needs Vicodin if he's going to function. There's a
very powerful scene where he says, "I'm an addict." Wilson offers him
help and he says no. He's an addict, but he's functional. He holds down a job
as a world-renowned doctor while he's addicted to Vicodin.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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And not only does he know himself, he knows <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you</i>, too. He knows how to play people,
because when you're as stubborn and unpleasant as him, you have to learn to
play those games. He's not winning friends and influencing people as much as
winning arguments and manipulating people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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But at the end of the day, he does his job. He does the
impossible again and again and again. And for me, the perfection of his
character and the fact that he's a dyed-in-the-wool Science Hero, puts him at
the top of this list.</div>
Voss Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103339132058102578noreply@blogger.com0