Good morning, Readers!

I'm over at Black Gate Magazine this morning (technically yesterday afternoon, if you want to get pedantic), making a plea for writers trying to write women.

Full disclosure: I am a woman, and so have a vested interest in how women are portrayed in all media, not even just the speculative. Since, however, the speculative is so able to better reflect the real world and imagine a better one, I’m going to talk about that for today.

I had been, at one point in my past, privy to a enormous internet argument about how terribly some male writers write women. The primary complaint of the defenders of bad writing of female characters was, and this is a literal quote, ” writing women is hard.”

Congratulations, random male internet commenter, you have accidentally his upon an immutable truth. Writing women is hard. Writing men is hard. Writing a compelling scene is hard. Writing plot is hard.

Writing is hard.

Good morning, Readers!

This weekend was the first of the long weekends we get here over the warmer months in Canada.  I spent that time wisely.. by watching a screen a great deal.  I have thoughts about a few of the things I watched.

First, I finally saw Avengers: Endgame.  It was... good?  It was fine.  I enjoyed it.  I might have shed a couple of tears near the end there.  It wasn't exquisite.  It didn't blow me away.  It was good, enjoyable, touching in places, even.  It was a wholly adequate end to the MCU as it was built, and a solid foundation upon which to continue the MCU without a couple of key characters.  It's not without its problems however, most of which are double-edged swords.

Of note, Thor.  The fact that his PTSD and subsequent weight gain were played for laughs is problematic to say the least.  That said, that he was still worthy of Mjölnir and could still fight like hell, a hero at any size, made me happy.  Like I said, a double-edged sword.  It wasn't the only issue I had with the film, of course, but all in all, it was a good film.  Also, I liked Cap's ending.  After everything, he deserved it.

I also watched the entirety of Netflix's animation Castlevania, based on the video game of the same name.  It's wonderfully gory, with some excellent moments of dark humour that gave me a good chuckle.  The first season yields no ground on its depiction of the medieval church as a negative force.  Some people might be offended, it occurred to me, but I found it a great addition to the tension.  The second season focussed on the drama within Dracula's court.  I enjoyed the flashbacks, highlighting humanity's own terribleness.  Also, there's a special place in my heart for the idiot that was Godbrand, who had some of the funniest lines.

All in all, it was a great show, though I feel like each season could have used more time to explore the characters.  This is especially true of the second season, where I wished for a more thorough exploration of the antagonistic relationship between the two male leads.  Still, it was a good show and I'm looking forward to the promised season three.

Lastly, Game of Thrones ended this week.  I watched it.  I am entirely ambivalent about it.  I'm glad Sansa, Arya and Tyrion made it out alive.  I knew Jon would end up doing what he did, but there was not enough time to explore the internal life of his character and his struggle, leaving his actions feeling hollow and, well, boring.  Also, so the dragon understands symbolism now?  Why wasn't Jon incinerated?  So many questions about it.  I'm also pissed that Brienne of Tarth did nothing but finish Jaimey's entry in the book of knights at the end.  She should have been entering herself, Ser Brienne of Tarth.  For fuck's sake.  She is a knight, and one who achieved an incredible amount.  But no, let's celebrate the child-murdering incest boy.  Christ, it pissed me off.

I also want to point out that Bran Stark is a goddamned monster.  Either he knew what would happen, or he manipulated it so it would happen.  He knew, or manipulated, Dany into going mad and slaughtering all those people.  He did nothing to stop it or, worse, made it happen.  The first is horrid.  The second is utterly unforgivable.  Look, I get what they were going for in the series, but they left themselves short-handed in the last season, without the time to explore the characters' interiority and so all of the actions felt empty and hollow and did not service the characters or the fans.  That said, I'm not one of the entitled fools who believes I have any say in the story.  I might be ultimately disappointed with it, but it's not my story to tell, and so it's not my place to lay demands at the feet of those whose story it is.  And neither it is yours.  So put away your petitions, you entitled brats.

Right, that's all I have to comment on today.  I'm off to try and inch closer to my manuscript's conclusion.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Last night, because I'm still recovering from the Con Crud, instead of going to training, I binged the second season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - the Netflix reboot.  I really enjoyed the first season, and I was not disappointed this time.  My only complaint is that there were too few episodes.

Once again, there were many laugh out loud moments, one of my favourites being Seahawk declaring loudly after Princess Scorpia (who remains my favourite of the princesses) while the pair are fighting together "I do not agree with that sentiment, but I am also here!"  I laughed so loudly, I scared the cats.

Look, when you get to that part, you'll understand why it was so damned hilarious.

This show is absolutely fantastic.  Granted, the first season had better character exploration, which, I mean, of course it did.  The characters were all new, and there were more episodes in which we could explore the characters.

Ugh... I just really want more.  It's such a fun, goofy, silly, heartfelt show that somehow manages to appeal to my sense of humour without it being overly dark.  Which is weird.  I tend to like dark stuff.  But this is great.

Anyway, if you haven't watched it yet, do.  It's so much fun.

Right, I have a lot of work to do right now, so I'm going to head off and do that.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday.  I was in bed.  Fast asleep.  Recovering from the Con Crud.  I slept all day, surrounded by purring kitties.  It was beautiful to cuddle and sleep all day, and it was sorely needed.  I'm back at work now, not back to a hundred percent, but at least able to function.  It's nice.  Though, to be honest, I'd love to be back home cuddling the kitties again.

I also haven't been doing any writing this week, because I've been so uselessly unwell.  That's a shame, as I'm inching ever closer to the end of the manuscript and this has set me back by about a week.  Oh well.  There's nothing for it.  I'm going to take the rest of this week off writing, and just relax a little bit.  I'll get back to work next week.

For now, though, rest.

Since that's the case, I don't really have any news.  I think, therefore, I'll just leave off here and stop wasting your time.  I shall be back tomorrow, to make up for the missing Wednesday post.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Guys, I'm sick today. I'm so unwell. It hurts to talk. My breath feels like fire. I'm exhausted, thanks to a cough that wouldn't let me sleep.  It's literally the worst.

I'm blaming ComicCon, for several reasons.  The first, I was not quite over the last bought of the flu I had when the event began.  It began on a very rainy day, in which I got wet, despite the umbrella.  I spent the entire weekend beneath a large fan, which blasted cold air directly on me.  I was surrounded by people of varying health all weekend, and I expended an obscene amount of energy on being 'on' all weekend (I didn't quite last the weekend.  Halfway through Sunday, my brain switched off and I couldn't function any more).

All of this combined together to create an immune system that will not function.  And now I'm sick.  Again.

Being 'on' is tough for me.  I'm a terrible introvert and being surrounded on all sides by tonnes of people I don't know particularly well, and having to appear peppy and bright the whole time is utterly exhausting for me.  I did not manage as well as I usually do this year.  If I seemed a little spaced out, incidentally, I'm sorry.  I was spaced out.

That said, ComicCon was so much fun this year.  So much so, in fact, that I've decided to give it one more year.  So, I shall be there next year.

My brain is too tired to brain currently, so I'm going to leave it here.  Hope you all have a spectacular day.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I'm over at Chalgyr today, writing a review of The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt.

Good morning, Readers!

I shall be at Ottawa ComicCon this weekend!  I'll be sharing my table with Renaissance Press this year, as the event upped the table prices substantially, and I've been priced out of my own table as of now.  Speaking of the price, chances are I will not be able to afford a table a Ottawa ComicCon again.  It's a damned shame, as part of what I loved about the weekend was the range of local artists the convention seemed to support.  It stings a little to feel like that support has been retracted.

But that's a different post for a different day.

The point is, I shall be there this weekend, and I'm excited about it.  I shall be at Booth 2610, with Renaissance Press and right beside the awesome folk JenEric Designs.  Because I'm sharing a table, I won't be able to have much of my art on display, though I should have it with me.

I hope you'll drop by and say hello.  I do so love chatting with you!

Right, I have to go... get stressed that I'm not ready for this weekend.

​Ciao!