Ana Mardoll's Ramblings: April 2017

Asking for help

Hello there; I'm your friendly neighborhood Kristycat! I don't post as often as I used to, but I'm still here lurking around!

I find myself in a small crisis. Due to some factors beyond my control, my household is going to have basically zero income for the next few months; we have a little money saved up, but not enough to see us through the summer by a long shot. It's a little scary; I've spent the last few days quietly, calmly panicking.

However, what I DO have is a backlog of random writing! At Ana's suggestion, I've gone ahead and set up a Patreon account in order to trade stories for money. It's at https://www.patreon.com/kristygriffingreen - please take a moment to check it out, and if you can spare a pledge, even a small one, I would be extremely grateful!

In a shamelessly blatant effort to tug at your heartstrings and incur your pity, I will now include a picture of my child and a quiet mention that her fifth birthday is going to take place during the aforementioned lean months.

(Added note: I'm not too proud to beg for charity if it comes to that, but that's not what this is. The things I write are actually really good - and this is coming from someone who has low self esteem about everything. So if even I think they're good, they're actually good, lol. A few bucks a month isn't a bad deal.)

Open Thread: Where not to buy anvils and catapults

I had to stay with my baby nephew, so I didn't go inside this famous institution with the others, but I know from years of watching Wile E. Coyote (Super Genius) that buying anything from them is a very bad idea. It always goes wrong. Always. Yet, somehow, they manage to stay in business.

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Friday Recommendations! What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately? Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!

Writings: The Swordsmith's Daughter

March! Ages ago, I stumbled across this Tumblr post and it has haunted me ever since.

thefairyknight: Just once I would like the mentor's beautiful daughter to actually, sincerely hate the hero's guts.

Like, not like 'belligerent sexual tension' hate his guts. Not 'learn a valuable lesson about resentment and gets over it' hate his guts. No, just straight up, 100%, wouldn't-piss-on-you-if-you-were-on-fire, the-sound-of-your-name-makes-me-puke-a-little-in-my-mouth hate his guts.

And my entire kingdom for a story where she 'helps' him train and then goes and hands a detailed list of all of his weaknesses and strategies to his rival like 'kick his fucking ass'.

technoturian: Alternatively, how about the 'hero' is actually the villain, because it turns out that the mentor not trusting his own daughter's capabilities enough to let her be the chosen one and instead granting phenomenal cosmic powers to the first rando farmboy who comes along actually wasn't the smartest idea he's ever had.

thefairyknight: Yes this a good addition

In honor of these two wonderful minds, I present this fic for the first of our March stories: The Swordsmith's Daughter. [Trigger Warnings] I tried to keep the story light, but living with the threat of sexual assault is mentioned, along with the usual triggrey things that come with overlords and oppressive regimes. There is mention of sex that is not desired but submitted to in service to a goal. Additionally, there is an ailing parent who dies of natural causes.

Review: Pride and Prejudice (Manga Classics)

Manga Classics: Pride & Prejudice
by Stacy King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MANGA CLASSICS: Pride and Prejudice / B01LW0JIK6

I love a lot of Jane Austen, but I've always been the odd one out in English major circles for not caring much for Pride and Prejudice. I liked the plot just fine, but I never could get around not liking Darcy. At all. Even a little bit.

No, no, come back! The thing is, despite the fact that he's very proud and reserved and shy and such, it did feel like he spent so much of the novel being rude to Elizabeth that it was hard for me to stomach the turnaround later. This manga adaptation of P&P does an excellent job of overcoming that barrier for me by adding that most powerful tool in the actor's toolbox: facial expressions. We're able to see Darcy's embarrassment, chagrin, and regret as actions unfold and I find I like him so much better when his cutting remarks are accompanied by a wincing expression as he reflects on what he's just said.

Overall, I feel this is an excellent adaption of the source material and I stayed up late reading until the end, which is quite a feat given that I already knew the ending! The art is gorgeous, especially for Elizabeth and Jane, and I feel that the supporting characters and side panels are well-depicted in ways that better foreshadow Darcy's concerns (which make his actions easier to stomach, understand, and forgive). I will add that there are some cutesy "chibi-style" panels where Mrs Bennet is a little tiny doll waving her arms around; nothing manga fans won't be used to.

The only thing I did not like is that Mr Collins is drawn in a very strange style and he stands out against the more realistic characters; I realize we aren't supposed to like him but his cartoonish appearance in contrast to the others made his arc difficult to enjoy. It was just very jarring. I considered taking a star off for that, but the rest of the book is so good that I think it overcomes that fault. I'll say 4.5 stars, rounded up.

NOTE: This review is based on a free electronic Advance Review Copy of this book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

~ Ana Mardoll

Writings: Finding Out The Hard Way

Recently, @DynamiteComics was called out on Twitter for featuring an upcoming cover which included the words:

"She was a He! I found out the hard way!"

I do not know the exact context of these words (the comic isn't published yet), but based on the cover, the tweets in response to the call-out, and the history surrounding those words, it seems DynamiteComics were trying to evoke an "old-school" feel of gritty transphobia in exploitation mags with stories intended to scandalize and titillate readers. The words "I found out the hard way!" conjure a situation where a man is pursuing a sex with a woman only to find her genitals aren't to his expectations: in other words, a trans-panic narrative that is still regularly used to justify the vile and inexcusable murders of trans women.

In short: This is transphobia and I urge folks to tell @DynamiteComics how inappropriate this is. They've said the words have been removed from the cover and they are having a meeting over the incident, but they need to hear this isn't okay with their readers so it doesn't happen again. It shouldn't have happened at all.

But this incident got me thinking on what would be an actual "hard way" to find out someone is transgender. Too often our coming out experiences are described in terms of the impact on others: authors focus not on the trans person coming out but on a cis person's hurt feelings at the world not being how they expected. This is a problem of framing. The "hard way" to find out someone is trans shouldn't be a way that centers a cis person's hurt feelings; this narrative teaches us that it's better to stay in the closet rather than risk "hurting" a cis person with the revelation of our identity. That's a pile of garbage we will not further indulge.

But if hurt cis feelings aren't the "hard way" to find out someone is trans, what is? Well, the obvious answer is a conversation held during a pirate battle on a boarded galleon. That is the "hard way" to find out someone is transgender, because pirate battles are hard. Alternate scenarios involving ninjas are also acceptable, as are pirate-ninjas.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Writings: The Wish-Giver

I spent the week watching people fight TERFs on Twitter and occasionally wading in when I could. One of the things that bugs me most about TERFs is the bigoted and frankly nonsensical belief that a woman who is born with a vagina is somehow more special than a woman who had to go out and get herself one.

I made a joke about how trans women with vaginas went out and "fought a dragon" for that vagina, and then... well... this happened. I gave myself feels and The Wish-Giver was born. I hope you enjoy reading it; I needed this, to be honest. All typos are because I was crying too hard to see my screen at points.

Open Thread: Glass Octopus

I finally found primary camera. I'm away from home (watching a baby) and have no relevant cords. Here's something that I bumped into on the internet. A hand crafted --for the value of "hand crafted" that involves, "glass is too hot to touch when it can actually be crafted"-- glass octopus.

I think that's all I'll say because "no relevant cords" includes the power cord and my computer is telling me, repeatedly, that it's going to cut out due to lack of power any moment now.

Time Quintet: Grammar Nazis

[Content Note: Mention of WW2, Fictional Portrayal of Fascism, Racism]

A Wrinkle in Time, Chapter 7: The Man with Red Eyes

Hey, everyone! I was going to write this sooner but then trans stuff happened on twitter and I got sucked into a black hole. I've shared my Storify account with you here before, yes? (I hate using storify after that one time they set a stalker on me, but it's still the best tweet aggregator out there.) Anyway! We're on Chapter 7 which is honestly a good chapter because things start happening again, so I'm really excited and also I just had a lot of sugar. Let's do this!

Open Thread: Double Boxed Cat

I give you my cat ... in box, which is inside another box. Also bits of the massive mess in my house visible in the background.

She was actually significantly cuter before I turned the camera on, but the noise woke her up and I think it's a rule that, no matter how cute they are regardless, cats and babies/small children must move into a less cute position whenever a camera is pointed in their direction.

Secondary camera is still really helping me get pictures for these threads. Not the most inspiring pictures since I'm mostly stuck in one room, but pictures none the less.

Self-Promotion: Survival Rout Pending Paperbacks

This is now a physical thing that will soon be available! In order of how much I get in royalties (which is not much and that's okay but that's why the price is so high, I'm really sorry about that but Print-on-Demand is expensive) here are links:

CreateSpace: Link!

Amazon: Link! (This one might take a couple days!)

Libraries: Maybe? If you ask your librarian?

Remember! If you are a Patreon of $25 or higher, I will send you a signed copy free in the mail! I just need to know your address! Which you may not want to give me, and that's okay too! In which case, I think I can send you an unsigned copy via Amazon without me seeing your address, but you'll have to set it up via a wishlist.

Open Thread: Ducktopus

As mentioned elsewhere, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts. When I saw Donald's attempt to blend in with the underwater world, I knew exactly what this week's open thread picture would be. Probably would have been better if I hadn't had a bivalve mollusk in the background.

Anyway, Donald here has eight limbs total meaning only six legs, so the he'd be a hexapus/sexapus (depending on if you like Greek or Latin) but Ducxapus doesn't have the same ring. I attribute his tentacles being non-equally spaced to the magic being . . . less than perfectly stealthy.

Goofy was a dog-turtle and Sora was a totally mammalian merperson, his lower half seemed to be somewhere in the vicinity of dolphin-ish.

Writings: Arrow's Flight

February! An ace/aro patron requested a short story about a fantasy princess who doesn't want to wed but is facing pressure to do so. Content notes for capitivity and the threat of forced marriage, but I tried to keep this piece light and hopeful. May it bring you joy, and blessed be to you for your paronage.

Small acts of activism: Did you know that "aromantic" is not in the Merriam-Webster dictionary? (Search link here.) Please consider contacting the dictionary here and asking they include an entry for aromantic. Sarah Elkins has a Twitter thread here on why dictionary support for orientations is so important. Thank you!

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