Proud of my state and my premier this week, for creating legislation that brings gay marriage a little closer to Australia. Same sex marriage laws have passed the Tasmanian Lower House as of yesterday and now have to face the legislative council. It will be a hard road ahead but it’s about time someone in power took a stand. Check out Lara Giddings’ speech, which goes a long way to addressing so many of the issues concerned with allowing this important civil right to same sex couples.
Also on a smaller but still awesome scale, I am so proud of Galactic Suburbia and of Alisa, Alex, Finchy & myself getting our very first Hugo nominations in the brand new Fancast category. It finally feels real – and Julia Rios emailed us today to let us know she HAS OUR HUGO PINS which made my head explode a little bit. A Hugo pin. Every time I start feeling sorry for myself about maybe not achieving as much as I wanted to this year, I need to stop and kick myself in the ankle and remember that a Hugo nomination is one hell of a step up the career ladder.
I’m especially proud of Alisa this week who got over her stress and anxiety about public speaking to make a speech at the National Council of Jewish Women Australia WA evening for Women’s Achievers, and they gave her an award! Considering how rarely she stops to consider everything she’s achieved over the last few years, I’m always glad when other people point it out to her. Some excerpts of her speech here.
Short and sweet: Elizabeth Bear addresses those fantasy writers who think keeping women socially constrained and away from any of the adventure is historically accurate and therefore justified. Yep, it means you don’t know as much about history as you think you do.
A review of the New 52 Catwoman from someone who likes the comic still can’t avoid those niggling gender/sexism questions. Isn’t it nice when comics don’t do that to you?
Jeff VanderMeer interviews Brit Mandelo about Beyond Binary and also publishes some extra material from the interview. Cheryl Morgan reviews the book as well! It’s so exciting to be part of a book that is capturing so much attention internationally. Next goal will be to do this with a new story…
Sarah Rees Brennan’s Gothic novel parodies are always good value, but this one is especially interesting because it’s a book where the main plot is the way that even the most successful women’s books can be lost to history because of the way critics treat them. Yes, that is the plot of the novel. A BOOK is the Damsel in Distress. I really want to read this one for real now… but in the mean time, this is a fabulous and inspiring post which manages to prove all kinds of Joanna Russ points.