books & writing – Page 6 – Hoyden About Town

Sunday writer: Jennifer Egan

By hatbluemilk on 2012-06-04 • ( 6 )

I have chosen the Pulitzer-prize winning writer, Jennifer Egan for this Sunday because she has just published a short story/poem on Twitter and the writing is brilliant and the medium is perfect. As others have noted, it is kind of… Read More ›

This week in Game of Thrones: Theon Greyjoy is horrid and horrider

By tigtog on 2012-05-08 • ( 7 )

Lots of other things are horrid too. Have a general snarking on Westeros thread.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

Friday Hoyden: Joanna Russ

By Guest Poster on 2012-04-27 • ( 3 )

Guest post from Tansy Rayner Roberts: Joanna Russ is one of the mighty legends of the science fiction field that everyone needs to know about. As well as writing many important novels and short stories, she was a brutal literary critic, a brilliant academic, an unflinching feminist, and a devastatingly articulate commentator on gender, not only in science fiction but in the history of culture.

My rant on The Hunger Games

By Guest Poster on 2012-04-24 • ( 22 )

Here be SPOILERS!!!

I’m interested in addressing it as an instance of popular culture that again has kids tearing through books, hungry for more, at the controversy and ‘moral panic’ that it seems to be creating, and in looking at the elements of what, for me, made it something out of the league of the ‘Twilights’ of the world.

Sunday Series: Discworld

By Mary on 2012-04-15 • ( 12 )

It’s been a couple of years since an entirely gratuitous Terry Pratchett thread, and a Twitter discussion asked about favourite Pratchett novels, with a focus on readers new to Pratchett. What think you?

photo of the top of a cupcake with bright yellow icing and the initials GS

Squee-Files: Galactic Suburbia nominated for a Hugo!

By tigtog on 2012-04-13 • ( 3 )

Congratulations to the fine women of Galactic Suburbia! Here’s how Alisa, Alex and Tansy open the summary of their latest podcast in response:

a thumbnail graphic: text reads BLAST FROM THE PAST

BFTP: This is what we use it for

By tigtog on 2012-04-11 • ( 2 )

The SF authors of the past might well have been surprised by the essential triviality of the way most of us use this amazing worldwide communication system we enjoy, but should they have been?

Quote OTD: Freedom, Rights and Accountability – the denialism of fools and knaves

By tigtog on 2012-03-01 • ( 6 )

It is depressing to have to point out, yet again, that there is a distinction between having the legal right to say something & having the moral right not to be held accountable for what you say.

BookCover showing two young women in matching brightly coloured dresses

Friday Hoyden: Dora Chance

By Anna on 2012-02-24 • ( 1 )

Dora and Nora Chance (the “Lucky Chances”, naturally) are twins born into post- war London, on the wrong side of the theatrical tracks. Bastard children of a grand Shakespearean actor, Dora and Nora learn to dance to work their passage through a world that makes a great fuss of legitimacy, but likes to have less licit elements on call as well. Dora narrates, and you accompany her giddy passions, frantic hopes and pragmatic compromises.