Academic Spotlight: Afrofuturism — The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha L. Womack
This isn’t an explicitly academic book, but I’m sure the academically-minded will find as much value in Ytasha Womack’s upcoming Afrofuturism as anyone else who has an interest in the cultural movements within the SF/F field. I first learned about the concept of Afrofuturism in an American Studies course on African American SF at the University […]
The Rubric of Apologies: Demanded Apologies
Here’s a context-less story to set the stage for this post: Recently, I got into an argument regarding a popular SF/F character and sexism. From my perspective at the time, certain features associated with that character were undeniably sexist and, by extension, ridiculous. I still think there’s a lot of sexism involved with this character, […]
Top 10 Blog Posts for August 2013
And here they are: 10. The Fan: Discussing a Definition (in Dialogue w/ Jonathan McCalmont & Justin Landon) 9. Shakespeare Roleplaying (or, the Ridiculous Things Adam Callaway and I Do on Google+) 8. The #ThoroughlyGoodBooksbyPOC Reading List 7. Star Trek Movies and TV Shows: Ranked by Me 6. Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches 5. Talking […]
Oh, John Ringo and Your Silly Fantasies About People (or, I Now Like Redshirts)
In relation to this year’s Hugo Awards, I am two things: An unabashed crazy leftish pinko liberal hippy gerfferrmerrfle (whatever that is) On the record for having disliked John Scalzi’s Hugo Award-winning Redshirts (truthfully, I hated it) But #2 is over with now. I still don’t think Redshirts is a good book, and perhaps some […]
Worldcon Recap: The Nonsensical Version
I got back from Worldcon yesterday night. Things are still a bit of a blur. My mind has been dragged every which way by so many good feelings. Truly. Honestly. So what follows is a recap of things I can remember right now, in a completely random and nonsensical order. If I forgot you for […]
RIP: Frederick Pohl
The science fiction legend, Frederick Pohl, passed away yesterday. Jo Walton has written up her emotional reaction to the news (while in attendance at Worldcon) here, which I recommend reading. I may have more extensive thoughts later. Right now, I’m jetlagged and incapable of fully taking in such news. He was undeniably one of the […]