It’s been that kind of week.
Did anyone notice that I thought yesterday was Monday? It’s been that kind of week. While I may not be making much sense these past few days, many other people are, so here’s some linkitude to amuse you while I get my act back together.
The Book Bitches are grousing about the results of the AAR’s Top 100 Romances Poll. Unlike my friend Leslie Dicken, I’ve read about 40 of the books on this list. Also unlike the Book Bitches, I enjoyed Brockmann’s Out of Control, but it took too long to get to that story. I felt the Alyssa/Sam storyline had been dragged out for too long and by the time their book came out I wasn’t so into them as I had been at one point. Having said that, even books Brockmann writes on an off-day I know are going to be a great way to spend a few hours. It’s a real shame no Science Fiction Romance showed up on that list, though, not even Catherine Asaro. Linnea Sinclair has done a fine job of rounding up the thoughts of the people in her readers’ group about what they look for in SFR.
Pyr editor Lou Anders over at Bowing to the Future is covering the state of speculative fiction magazines. He links to a discussion over at Windupstories.com about how to market Science Fiction/Fantasy to teenage girls and there’s some interesting conversation in the comments. As as little girl, sure I loved rainbows and unicorns and dragons. It all came to a screeching halt when I discovered Princess Leia, though, and I wanted a lightsaber. So I guess I’m sort of the “full body armor with a spatter of blood on her faceplate” type. Maybe. Except that as a teen I was reading Arthur C. Clarke not Madeline L’Engle. I remember watching the original Star Trek with my Dad and being amazed that not only had he seen all of the episodes already, but that he could remember what each one was about. My Mom liked it too, so Science Fiction was a family pastime. I’m the big reader in my family, but we always experienced SF movies and TV together. I’m equally anticipating both Enchanted and the Sarah Connor Chronicles coming out. Really, Prince Phillip was the original McDreamy.
If I had half a brain this week, I’d tie the SF for teenage girls thing into the recent trend of special marketing to women in general. This is the tendency to make something pink and/or slap Hello Kitty or rhinestones onto something and market it as “for women.” In general, I’d rather companies just make their products better to fit a broader audience than come up with something special for a segment of it. Don’t listen to me, though, since I’m writing this while listening to my pink iPod. The iPod was actually a gift, but even so all the other colors were just not appealing. So we come back to just making the base product a better product. Gee, maybe that nap earlier did help my sleep-deprived brain?
My friend Kaigou has a fantastic article on the dynamics of the street in her article Dear Urban Fantasy Author.
Salon Magazine reviews the new Beowulf movie and outlines why it falls so far short of what it could have been, a story akin to The Lord of the Rings. Article author Gary Kamiya taps into the liminal aspects of LOTR and Beowulf, how both stand at the threshold of a time between Paganism and Christianity.
I’m grousing online about a recent MacWorld article comparing various blog software platforms like WordPress, TypePad and Blogger. Catch me in the comments.
I don’t understand not being attracted to sf as a teenaged girl. I read L’Engle and Asimov as a young teen, so both ends of things. To this day, they are my two favorite authors. My parents are both Trekkies. Mr. Spock was my first crush as a young girl.
If it’s good sf and sci-fi, teenage girls will love it.