Comics Wrap-Up - Girl Power

Single Issues

I was uber-uber-uber-impressed this week with independent Pakistani free-for-all web-comic Raat.

This features a strong female lead, who fights crime on the streets of Karachi. And with a strong style, and a distinct voice, I hope it goes far :)

You can check out the series' website @ raatcomic.com and follow on Twitter @raatcomic

Other Stuff

When catching up on my comics-y blog-reading, I came across this post by Laura Harcourt @ Women Write About Comics.

It discusses the problems of race in the superhero TV show Supergirl - and how the diversity of the show can be expanded.

via GIPHY

(Just to be clear - I love Supergirl. I also love this post. It doesn't undermine Supergirl, just points out places where the show can make things better.)

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Also on Women Write About Comics is a post by Doris V Sutherland about a more distasteful side of comics.

Apparently there's a dude in America who likes to write comic-strip style Christian fundamentalist tracts.

Now, neither I nor anybody else would mind if these were just happy little stories celebrating the Christian faith.

Unfortunately, as can be seen in the post, they are pretty horrible things which claim that Halloween, neo-paganism, Harry Potter, etc., are all demonic and evil.

via GIPHY

This is particularly unfair for people who practice Wicca, witchcraft, or any other type of neo-paganism (which is completely unlike fantasy-story witches - can we please differentiate between folklore, fantasy fiction, and real people who follow real pagan religions? Thanks.)

Whenever I see something as ignorant as this bloke, I really want to bash my head repeatedly against my laptop!!!

That's about it for me this week guys: be excellent to each other!

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Aberfan

On October 21st 1966, 50 years ago this Friday, the village of Aberfan was changed forever.

A coal spoil-tip fell on the school.

Over 1 million cubic feet of industrial waste fell on the village, killing 116 children, and 28 adults.

We remember, and I give my small tribute here:

Aberfan

The heart was hollowed from the land

You left the guts to choke us.

A mountain fell on innocent heads.

You faced no prosecution.

Our children meant nothing to you.

Just a poor man's son, a poor man's daughter.

Our children were killed

By a black heart -

A company, an industry,

which cared more for profit than people.

You murdered them with your neglect.

When we screamed 'Murderers!'

you told us we didn't understand

Inferred we should defer to our betters.

Westminster ignored our anger and our pain.

You expected us to bow our heads,

Mumble 'yessir, nosir, threebagsfullsir,'

and creep away.

A father, speaking for a nation, speaking for a people, speaking for his child

Insisted on the truth.

Died of asphyxia and multiple injuries?

'No, Sir, buried alive by the National Coal Board.'

You buried our children alive.

You took the heart from the mountains,

Left the guts to rot on a hillside.

And buried our children alive.

And we remember.

Wales will always remember.

You murdered our children.

You murdered

the children

of Aberfan.

The Greek Mythology Tag

I was tagged for 'The Greek Mythology Tag' by both the lovely Emily @ The Paperback Princess and the fantabulous Tina @ As Told By Tina.

Go check out their awesome-sauce blogs because they officially rock!

Zeus - God of the Sky: Favourite Book of Your Own Category

I am going to pick the uber-specific category of favourite vampire detective novel (yes, yes this is a thing; a thing that I read; do not judge me until you've tried my way of life.)

My favourite vampire detective novel is the first in Tanya Huff's Blood books: Blood Price (UK - US.)

Not only is there a vampire detective who writes romance novels in his spare time, but he's also the illegitimate, bisexual, son of Henry VIII - really, what more could you want?!

Plus, this is the series that really got me hooked on urban fantasy - though, unfortunately, it's no longer easy to get hold of copies in the UK (argh!)

Hera - Goddess of Love and Fertility: Favourite Book Couple

At the moment, I'm shipping Linda and Sarah from Robin Talley's Lies We Tell Ourselves (UK - US,) to the point where they're nearly at OTP status right now (plus, canon F/F romance!)

You can read my review of Lies We Tell Ourselves here.



(Fangirling notes:

Shipping = wanting characters to be in/approving of romantic relationships.

OTP = One True Pairing. A relationship you will defend to your last breath. Despite the name, most people have several OTPs.

Canon = Official.

F/F = same-sex female romance.)

Poseidon - God of the Sea: Book that Drowned you in Feels

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (UK - US.)

I really don't think I need to say any more.

Athena - Goddess of Wisdom and Handicraft: Series with the Best World Building

The Hollows series by Kim Harrison does such a great job of setting up a post-tomato-apocalypse (I kid you not,) urban fantasy world, where vampires, witches, etc. are living out in the open.

Plus LGBTQ+ characters! :)

Hades - God of the Underworld: Book with a Dark Plot

OK, so many I could go for here... you know I like the gothic-y-ness...

I'm going to go with Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (UK - US.) This is definitely not one for the faint of heart.

Even those who've seen either of the film adaptations will be surprised at the brutality and grit of this book, as well as the hugely uncomfortable plot-aspect of the paedophile who is manipulated by our vampire-child, Eli.

Scandinavian horror is a step past Scandinavian noir - though (in this case at least,) exceptionally skilled. You have been warned.

Aphrodite - Goddess of Love and Beauty: 2016 Release with the Most Beautiful Cover

I don't know - a lot of the time, the UK has different covers to other countries anyway...

Oh! I know! The cover of graphic novel The Beauty, Vol 1 (UK - US.) Wow, that is still one of the most striking covers I've seen.

You can check out my review of The Beauty, Vol 1 here.

Ares - God of War: Most Violent Book you've Read

Hahahahahahahaha - OH MY GOD, do you know who you're talking to????

All of the gothic-y-ness often leads to the stabbage. #TrueStory.

It's really hard to measure one type of violence against another, but I'm going to go with The Crow (UK - US) here.

A legendary graphic novel, this includes rape, violence, and a core of pain, melded with James O'Barr's poetic skill and ability to somehow make bleak scenes beautiful.

Hephaestus - God of Blacksmiths: Scorching Hot Character

Loki. Obviously.

via GIPHY

(When Loki is Lady Loki, she's also pretty damn hot; #JustSaying)

Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt and Fertility: Kick ass Female Character

Red Sonja - that famous comic heroine who is so often de-clothed and subjected to out-of-character actions by unskilled, misogynistic, hands - is, at her very heart, the woman who will save a kingdom and cut the hand/thing off a molester on the same day.

Apollo - God of the Light and Healing: Sequel that Redeemed a Series


Actually can't think of one right now - my brain is just throwing white noise at me. Sorry!

Hermes - Messenger God: Book with the Best Message

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig (UK - US.)

Why? Read my review.

Hestia - Goddess of the Home: Book that's the Most Relatable

Luna The Vampire: Grumpy Space by Yasmin Sheikh (UK - US,) because I, too, am a grumpy millennial space vampire.

You can check out my review of Luna The Vampire here.

Demeter - Goddess of Agriculture: Favourite Bookish Setting


I don't know - I tend to forget places pretty easily. Narnia, maybe.

Dionysus - God of Wine and Celebration: Anticipated Release

Ummmm... nothing in particular, in honesty. I have enough books to read right now!

Ooh! I know! There's a new Robin Talley book slated for 2017 called Our Own Private Universe - and I really want to read that!

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The Writer Diairies - Learn to Love the Chase

Writing is hard.

You possibly know this - but writing is not an easy thing to do. Putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard is only a tiny fraction of the story.

(Ha, 'of the story' - I just noticed the pun!)

You've got to try and string these weird little symbols into words, and then those words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, chapters, a book!

And all of those little symbols comprising your paragraph, chapter, book, whatever, contain a plethora (woo! I have smart vocab dammit!) of worlds, characters, meanings, and cultural cues behind them. Sometimes the author writes subtext that even they don't know they've put in there.





And all of that takes time. It takes skill which you may or may not have (yet - skills are things you can build!)

I've been writing the 3rd part of my Cinderella posts (see part 1 here!) and it's going exceptionally slowly.

Because writing is a bit like whittling (not that I've ever whittled anything, so I have no idea where that metaphor came from.) A bit here, a bit there, and it can take forever.





But guess what? You have to learn to love that slow process.

You have to understand that it's ok for it to take a long time - as long as you keep working on it, it will be done when it's done, and not before.

You've got learn to revel in the thrill of chasing down the correct word. You've got to learn to enjoy weaving the words together, and letting your fingers dance almost rhythmically across the keyboard.

Because that's the way it works.

You can't create out of nothing - you have to love it, to care about it, to watch it sashay it's way into existence. If you don't love the process, you're not going to write anything worth while.

(It is however OK to also get p*ssed off at the process, and shout a string of swear-words and/or colourful insults at the screen. #TrueStory.)





You also have to understand that sometimes it doesn't work out - and that's ok too.

It's not going to work every time. But if you enjoyed the time you spent working on it, then it wasn't a waste - it just gave you something different to what you thought it would.






Maybe I made sense in this post, and then again, maybe I was talking cr*p.

What do you think? Is it necessary to enjoy the process of writing in order to be a writer?







Like this post? Try these:

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Nerd Church - SHE is NOT on Trial Here!

(This post is going to discuss rape, rape trials, rape culture, victim-blaming, and slut-shaming.)

No matter what your thoughts are on any individual rape or sexual assault case, there is one thing that should be clear: the person making the allegations - the victim - is NOT on trial.

Regardless of your thoughts on the details of the Ched Evans case, there is one thing that I hope you agree with me on: a woman's sexual history should NOT be a factor in the verdict of the man accused of raping her.





OK, some background for those who don't know what I'm talking about:

• Ched Evans is a professional footballer who was accused, and subsequently convicted, of raping a woman.
• He brought the case back for a re-trial after serving his sentence.
• He was acquitted in the re-trial (this week.)

As part of the re-trial, the defence was given special permission by the (male) judge to give details of the woman's sexual history, and to bring previous sexual partners to the stand as evidence against her.

Let me explain, as calmly as I can (because HOW DARE THEY,) why this was a stupid-a*s decision:

• Her behaviour with past sexual partners is NO INDICATION of how she acted that night.
• It DOES NOT MATTER whether she was 'instigating' or acting flirtatiously - what matters is how drunk she was, if she was capable of giving consent, and/or if she at any point indicated she wanted to stop.
• Bringing up people who had sex with her a few days before is A BLATANT ATTEMPT AT SLUT-SHAMING.
• Women are ALLOWED to have as many sexual partners as they want - this is the 21st Century.
• SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL. SHE IS NOT ON TRIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a harmful and worrying development, not only for this case, but for others that may follow.

This sends the message that if you have lived a sexually active life, you will not be believed if you are assaulted.

This sends the message that all of your past partners will have the chance to humiliate you in court.

This sends the message that, regardless of truth, the blame will be placed on you.

This sends the message that, even once a conviction is made, there is the chance you will have to sit through the whole thing again.

This sends the message that if you bring allegations to the law, you will end up having your private life examined. You will have to defend yourself, even though you are not the defendant.

This sends the dangerous message to all future rapists and victims, that justice is unfair.

I don't know the answer to this particular case - I wasn't there, and I haven't seen all the evidence. BUT justice is NOT done when a young woman is treated so appallingly by the court.

This trial was not about justice. And that makes me both angry and sad.

Nerd Church is a weekly post where I try to tackle the issues and make the world a little bit better - I have no idea whether it's working or not.

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Mental Health Conditions ARE Real Problems - And Books Need To Realise It

(This post discusses mental illness, negative representations and perpetuation of stigma around mental health, depression, anorexia, and suicide.)




Don't you hate it when you're reading a fairly awesome book, and then there's some ignorant and hurtful mental health representation just thrown in there?

You're there, enjoying yourself, and suddenly there's an ignorant portrayal of mental illness which does nothing but perpetuate the stigma around these conditions.

OK, let me rewind and explain what brought this on:

I've just finished reading We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (UK - US.)




Overall, this is a great contemporary novel about our point-of-view protagonist, Darling, growing up in Zimbabwe, and then moving to America.

It's not a perfect book - but then, what is? I was enjoying it though - but there was a chapter which left me with a sour taste.





What was my problem with it? Well, dearest nerdlets, I'll tell you.

In this particular chapter, a few chapters before the end, there is a rich, white, American girl called Kate. Darling does some cleaning work for her father.





Kate tried to kill herself not long before the two girls meet. Kate is starving herself because she thinks she's fat, even though she's super skinny.

Kate is clearly anorexic, and depressed.

Darling's reaction? Well, Darling's reaction is to laugh at her. Because according to Darling, Kate has no 'real' problems, and is therefore being ridiculous.

Let me make this clear: mental illness is not directly linked to what money you have. Mental illness does not care how comfortable your living conditions are.

Mental illness is not something you can get over simply by being more grateful for what you have, and neither is it a result of being ungrateful.

Mental illness can happen to anyone. At any time.

This depiction of Kate as nothing more than a silly, spoilt, rich girl is harmful. You don't get to judge her - no matter who you are.

We are given no background on Kate, and no rectification of these implications about her. She appears only in this chapter, and then is gone, not to be mentioned again.





Her pain - and the pain of millions of people like her - are used simply as a way of saying that American kids are ungrateful and complain too much, when other people have it a lot worse.

Yes, there are people who are worse off financially etc. than Kate. She has a safe home, a fridge full of food (as Darling points out,) and an overly-spoilt little dog which has its own wardrobe.

But pointing these things out to people with mental health problems does nothing but make them feel worse.

Again - just to reiterate - MENTAL ILLNESS DOES NOT CARE IF YOU ARE A PRINCESS OR A PAUPER.

You can be a millionaire with a mental illness. You can be in poverty and have a mental illness (and certainly, I'm not denying that there are often higher rates of mental health problems amongst those with lower incomes.)





Being unwell - being ill - with a potentially fatal illness (depression can kill; anorexia can kill,) is NOT BEING UNGRATEFUL.

And it's time people started to realise that.









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Friday Fics Fix - One For All...

I should've known, after the Pumpkin Incident of last week, to stay away from the Halloween-themed fanfiction.

But clearly, I don't learn quickly when it comes to fandom. Either that or I'm a glutton for punishment *shrugs*

(And yes, there was much disturbing-ness to wade through.)

Annnnyways, I managed to find another fluffy and fun Halloween fic, which, most importantly, HAS NO SEX WITH PUMPKINS. ANYWHERE.

Ahhhh, the things I do for fandom ;)





OK, so this week's fanfiction is based on the BBC series The Musketeers (which, oddly enough, is based on Dumas' Three Musketeers.)

If you haven't seen The Musketeers - go my nerdlets!!!!!!!! Watch the pretty leather-bound perfect-haired 17th Century French soldiers!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will not regret it!!!!!!!! (So many pretty people in this series... *sighs*)

via GIPHY

(Oh, and it has a diverse cast. A historical action drama about France with diverse actors in leading roles, based on a book written by Dumas - a 19th Century Person of Colour (PoC). And there's lots of pretty people. You really don't need more than that.)

This fic actually is set in a modern AU with a slightly OOC Aramis.

(Fangirling notes:

AU = alternate universe.

OOC = out of character.)

via GIPHY

And - and this is actually done really well - in this fic, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, are in a polyamorous relationship together.

I really liked the casual way this was dealt with - they're all in love; simple as that.

So this is based around one of those Haunted Houses that get set up for Halloween with animatronics and actors and all that. I've never actually been to one of those because we don't have many here.

So, dearest nerdlets, this week's fic is:

The Nightmare Before Halloween by SirLancelotTheBrave

Enjoy the fluffiness!!!! ;)



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