PERSPECTIVES IV: Death and Video Games

Welcome to Perspectives IV, in which we do something completely different. Okay, a little different. 

Here’s how it works: an editoral, opinion piece or critical essay written by an external blogger, critic, journalist or creative person is presented by a regular contributor to nerds of a feather, flock together; it is then answered by other regular 'nerds of a feather, flock together' contributors. Crucially, each respondent will also respond to each preceding respondent. This episode's cast o' characters:


brian

brian is a contributor at Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together. He loves video games, maybe too much.


Dean

Dean is the author of the 3024AD series of science fiction stories. You can read his other ramblings and musings on a variety of topics (mostly writing) on his blog. When not holed up in his office
tweeting obnoxiously writing, he can be found watching or playing sports, or in his natural habitat of a bookstore.

EPISODE 4: In which we contemplate death, video games, and death in video games...

 

Death is a nearly unavoidable aspect of video gaming, and yet exceptionally rarely given any weight. In this episode of PERSPECTIVES, the Nerd of a Feather, Flock Together respondents take a whack at it in response to "I'm afraid to die in games" by Gita Jackson.

brian’s response

I am a sore loser. My first gaming experience, like many children of the 80’s, was Super Mario Bros., played on the neighbor’s Nintendo. It wasn’t mine, so I never got to spend a lot of dedicated time with it. I’d play it for a life or two, but then I’d have to hand it over. Dying in Mario was never a big deal because I never got very far in it. Not much loss of effort or time.

As I got older, my favorite games were Wolfenstein 3D, Mechwarrior 2, and Doom 2. But by this time my sore loserness was setting in. I couldn’t stand dying in these games, and I wasn’t about to take death lightly. I could defeat these games; I had cheat codes. For several young, impressionable years, my method of gaming was to search for cheat codes on Yahoo, apply cheat codes, play the game on the lowest difficulty, and metaphorically walk from beginning to end. Of course, I’d still participate in the game. I’d shoot the thing that should be shot. Collect the items. Finish the level. Feel like a winner.

When I was much younger, I had almost the opposite reaction of the author. Death in games held no meaning for me. I can’t die. I have all the weapons. I can walk through walls. I can skip levels. I’ve beaten this game because I’ve circumvented the challenge.

I eventually realized that these were hollow victories. I didn’t really accomplish anything. I started to play games on “normal” difficulty, and really enjoy them for the challenge they provided. I had to learn how to actually play video games because I’d been doing it wrong for so long. Nowadays, I forget that cheat codes exist sometimes, not only because they are a thing of the past in the world of video game achievements, but because I don’t want to win that way. I want to earn my victories and accept my defeats.

The lesson death in video games taught me was not that I was a failure when I died, but that time is short. I’m going to die eventually, so I should be happy with what I can accomplish, always try to do better, but never beat myself up for past failures. That’s a metaphor, by the way.

Dean’s Response

Woof, there is a lot to unpack in that article, not the least of which is there are a lot of people who take videogames far more seriously than I do. In fact, I rarely play them. There are several reasons for this, usually that things which are not books, or the creation thereof, rarely manage to hold my attention very long.

There is also the violence/death... thing.

This I find interesting, because in a book with which you may or may not be familiar, one character basically... guts another. This doesn't bother me in the least. Writing it didn't, nor did a very strongly implied torture scene later in the book (I will not include literal depictions of torture in my writing). But during Super Bowl week, two football players played the new Mortal Kombat, and I was out of the room, wondering what kind of monster was entertained by that.

I'm not going to say violence in video games causes violence in real life, but damn if it isn't obvious that is desensitizes people to it (just look at the GamerGate crowd- more than willing to threaten people with despicable acts for little or no reason). There is a lot of carry over from what we are entertained by to the real world, but interestingly in Gita's case, it goes both ways.

Usually we look at video games and say "it makes life cheap, since you kill- and die- over and over and over". But the potential lesson of failure=finality is very interesting. But at the same time, what's to stop you from going back over and over and over until you get it? That's not a good lesson, either, as far as life goes. It's not like you get to screw up infinitely at work and keep your job- nor does one C in a subject the vast majority of humanity despises doom you to minimum wage for eternity.

Now for the Freudian aspect. My dad loves to hunt, and man, would he love for me to hunt. But the whole thing is completely repulsive to me (even though the birds ARE delicious)- I hate killing things, I hate violence, save apparently, for in my own writing.

Besides all of that, what really fascinates (and confuses me) is that I have never understood the point of video games to keep my avatar alive. Death is an accepted part of the journey, and maybe it hurts but (worst analogy ever in 3...2...1…) it’s kind of like working out. Maybe it hurts, but that’s how you’re getting stronger. Your character dies, you learn not to do that and you go back and start at the last save.

I hate failure as much (probably more) than anyone, but living in fear of failure will make for few successes. 

***

POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014.

Microreview [book]: Abendau's Heir, by Jo Zebedee

A mostly believable, mostly enjoyable, majorly melodramatic spacemance...

Zebedee, Jo. Abendau's Heir. Tickety Boo Press Ltd, 2015.

Let me ask you this: do you agree with B.F. Skinner, that the human mind is infinitely malleable, a blank slate onto which a skilled behaviorist could write whatever s/he wants? Would you still be you if you'd been raised by someone else—an evil Empress, say? If you answered 'yes' to any of this, then the central conceit of Abendau's Heir will be convincing to you. But recent studies suggest limits to the malleability of the human personality outside the context of deeply traumatic events. Though the scientific literature is by no means conclusive, there are reasons to theorize that the development of one's personality may have more to do with genetics than who raises you or in what sort of environment.

On one level, Abendau's Heir is about an evil telepath Empress who rules a multi-planetary, multi-system Empire (actually more like a coalition of Great Families) and will stop at nothing to recover the child Kare, the product of her union with an (unwilling) resistance leader with psychic gifts. It's a multi-decade tale, with the majority of the exciting stuff occurring when the powerful psychic Kare is between the ages of 17 (the age when, out of options, he joins and eventually rises through the ranks of the resistance army and tries to avoid becoming a political pawn of the Great Families) and 25 (when some other stuff happens).

But that's just the political stuff. It's equally a love story between Kare and Sonly, and many aspects of that love story were appealing to yours truly, what with my sentimental romantic nature.  Who doesn't want to believe that love will conquer all, including some pretty grim stuff?

Certain aspects of the interface between the romantic tale and the political tale didn't quite convince me, however. Characters occasionally make terrible, hare-brained decisions that no one would ever make. I can't go into specifics without giving much of the story away, but just imagine you had the power to heal your best friend's mortal wound, and could do so if you just killed the bad guy everyone hates anyway; would you really choose to preserve the bad guy's life at the cost of your friend's? (And it wouldn't take much effort to kill the bad guy, since you can break bones with a thought!) That's not much of an ethical dilemma—no one on earth would let their friend die so that their enemy could go live in a padded room somewhere, and the only reason to have this sort of scene is to increase the melodrama, the emotional toll on the main characters. It doesn't sit very well with me that characters, who otherwise seemed like rounded individuals with coherent goals and whatnot, would suddenly act like meat-heads in these key, emotionally charged moments. That goes for the bad guys, too—why betray your cause and your own family over such a petty grudge? And if you're the sort of person who is capable of that (i.e., a sociopath at best), why didn't people notice it sooner and cut your arms off, or whatever?

And why is this all about another 'super' man, by the way? Why wasn't this story about Kare's twin sister, Karia? She was way cooler than him, and the only reason I can think of to hang the story on Kare rather than Karia is that some of the "grim stuff" later on would have felt even grimmer if it'd been Karia going through it...speaking of grimness, I had let my guard down and was viscerally shocked to read that stuff. Yikes! Be warned—the story eventually heads in a dark direction and there aren't many rainbows and fluffy bunnies and other nice things. I'm a gentle soul—I wanted more rainbows, fewer tears :)

All that said, it's quite an entertaining story, and for the most part the melodramatic excesses, which force characters into out-of-character craziness, is a minor distraction. My one word of totally unsolicited, impractical advice to the author is: next time, more bunnies!

The Math:

Objective Assessment: 7/10

Bonuses: +1 for creating a believable spacemance (space opera + romance)

Penalties: -1 for a gratuitously high grimness to rainbows ratio, -1 for sacrificing characters on the altar of melodramatic excess

Nerd coefficient: 6/10 "Still enjoyable, but the flaws are hard to ignore"

(Seem mercilessly low? Not at all--as you can see here, we at NOAF endeavor to eliminate grade inflation, one straight-shooting review at a time!) 

Bunny-lover (but not in an icky sexual way!) Zhaoyun has always preferred rainbows to grim stuff and has been saying so here at Nerds of a Feather since 2013.

Thursday Morning Superhero

The time of the summer event is upon us!  It seems both Marvel and DC are looking to streamline their offerings in the hopes of bringing in new readers.  It is no secret that the New 52 was a huge financial success for DC and it looks like it is time for another reboot.  I am not the biggest fans of events so it seems like a good time to read books from some smaller publishers.

Pick of the Week:
Feathers #5 - This all ages series is racing towards its epic conclusion and this issue could not be more intense!  I love that it features a strong female character in Bianca, a character struggling with his own identity in Poe, and a mystery that ties everything together.  It seems we are to learn the secret to Poe's feathers in the finale and it is going to be tough to wait for issue #6.  As a father of a strong daughter, I was moved by the scene between Bianca and her father when she felt nobody was listening to her.  In previous installments I urged you to read this with your kids and praised it for being a great all ages comic, but it is simply a great comic.  Really impressed with how this comic has developed.

The Rest:
Secret Wars #1 - The new Marvel event is here and it looks as if both the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe are dead.  I'm not sure if the other comic book publishers got the memo, but 2015 is the year to fix continuity errors by eliminating any additional worlds.  DC started it with Convergence and it looks like Marvel is planning something similar. I can understand Marvel wanting to relaunch with the recent success of the films and what not and will most likely follow this one closer than Convergence.  The summer events are here and it is likely a good time to turn to smaller publishers.

 

Jupiter's Circle #2 - Mark Millar is a creator that isn't afraid to push the envelope.  In Jupiter's Circle, Millar's protagonist is a closeted superhero who is torn between outing himself as homosexual or caving to the demands of a blackmailer.   In addition to the stress of living multiple lives including a secret identity and a superhero, Blue-Bolt is carrying an additional burden.  A very heavy and dramatic comic, it will unlikely appeal to the masses, but it is one that warrants our attention and I am happy that Millar has created this book.

Nailbiter #12 - We are so close to uncovering the mystery behind Buckaroo, Oregon.  Not quite this time, but the secret society that has been lurking behind the scenes for years is quite intriguing and only complicates things.  Joshua Williamson has created a rich world filled with all sorts of twists and turns.  When this series began, it was fun and campy, but clearly Williamson had big things planned for the town of Buckaroo and any fan of horror should be reading this series.






POSTED BY MIKE N. aka Victor Domashev -- comic guy, proudly raising nerdy kids, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.

THE MONTHLY ROUND - A Taster's Guide to Speculative Short Fiction, 04/2015

Welcome back to another month of tantalizing speculative short stories and fine drinkables. April saw an interesting mix of stories hit the internet, and apparently for me the majority of the ones making to the bar share an Earthbound, contemporary feel to them. Fantasy or science fiction, pretty much all of these stories don't range too far into the future or past, and all of them keep their feet planted on Terra Firma. Be they retelling old stories in a new context or spinning completely and refreshingly original ideas, these stories share a tie to the world that we know while hinting at all the worlds beyond. So sit back and relax and let your trusty storytender pour you something to take the edge off.

Tasting Flight: April 2015

"We'll Be Together Forever" by Joseph Allen Hill (Lightspeed #59) 

Art by Elena Bespalova

Focusing on a mixed race couple delving into dark magic to keep the spark of their relationship alive, "We'll Be Together Forever" hits with the force of barleywine, deep and mysterious and after which someone normally wakes up having done something they'll regret. The couple, Anthony and Audrey, have been together for a long time but their backgrounds and fears are keeping them from taking their relationship any farther. They are stuck, and so Anthony, an expert on old languages, decides to take a chance on a love potion, and idea that Audrey reluctantly agrees to. And it works. It works far too well. The two become instantly obsessed, and Anthony goes as far as to eat Audrey's favorite shirt to have a part of her essence. The potion brings to the surface all the love but also all the insecurities and fears in the couple. Anthony wants to possess Audrey, to devour those things he feels threaten to impede on her love for him. When he tries to eat her guitar, though, Audrey can't just sit back and be passive. Instead she takes the metaphor to its logical extreme, using the magic book to cast a spell that breaks her into a legion of smaller Audreys. A legion that force their way down Anthony's throat. He devours her. But, she forces him to devour her. And when the potion wears off and they wake up the next morning, their situation is completely changed. A complicated and wild ride, the story is a euphoric mix of magic and a kind of messed up relationship. Neither person is willing to talk about their real problems, their real fears, and so they are doomed to misunderstand each other, to miss each other. The story is moving and the voice energetic and engaging, the final action melancholy and conflicted. They are left afterwards to pick up the pieces, which like after a night of barleywine is a very messy situation indeed.

"The Wild Swan" by Anne Bean (Urban Fantasy #6) 

A retelling of the Swan Princess fairy tale set in modern times with just as much darkness as the original, "The Wild Swan" by Anne Bean tastes like a Riesling to me, a white wine that's semi-sweet and with a lightness to it, an almost feathery quality that helps it rise up from its fairy tale origins to be something more. The story follows the youngest of the seven brothers, Michael, the one who only got half-converted back to human and lives with an enormous swan wing instead of one of his arms. An outcast from most of the rest of his family because of his arm and because of his being gay, the only one of his siblings he gets along with is his sister, Ellie, similarly outcast because of her guilt that she couldn't completely save all her brothers and because she reminds them all of the curse, what they lost and what they were. A story about family struggle and learning to accept yourself over bowing to the pressures put you by your parents and siblings, the story has a bittersweet ending, a way for Ellie to escape the prison her family is to her and a way for Michael to see that he shouldn't need to hide who he is. It's a powerful if slightly mourning tale of two people deciding that they deserve to be happy in the face of a family that is embarrassed about them. And like a Riesling there is a certain rising feeling to the piece, a lightness that leaves the reader hopeful and refreshed despite a somewhat dry bite.

"Noise Pollution" by Allison Wilgus (Strange Horizons)

With a wry punch and a fast pace and a smooth finish, "Noise Pollution" by Allison Wilgus is a golden IPA, just a little brash and bitter but with a taste that makes it incredibly fun and drinkable. The story introduces a rather shiftless Musical, a woman who can use music to create magic. She's a natural talent, but with that talent comes a certain lack of dependability, a certain arrogance that often puts her at odds with her Choir. Which manifests pretty strongly when she gets out late for an important event and things just keep going wrong. Which comes to a head when, on the street bartering for stolen cassette tapes, she doesn't notice her magical wards fail and she is noticed by the Noise. In a moment of terrifying originality, the story makes the Noise a sort of sentient static that hunts Musicals, that seems to ever be lurking behind the tall buildings of the city. And suddenly in a fight for her life, the main character can only hold her own as her irresponsibility comes back to bite her. Luckily for her, the down-on-his-luck man she was trying to buy stolen tapes from turns out to be a latent Musical, and she manages to instruct him enough to get his help. Together the two push back the Noise in a stunning scene and the story ends with the main character having a new card to play, having managed to discover a new talent for the Choir just in time. This story is full of win, with a nice sarcastic voice that brings to mind the bitterness of an IPA but with a smooth action and pleasant excitement that takes the edge of and makes this story something to read with a smile.

"Every Hand a Winner" by Romie Stott (Farrago's Wainscot #14) 

Featuring a spectral deck of cards and a main character just hoping to use it to pull herself out of a bad situation, "Every Hand a Winner" by Romie Stott feels like a rye ale to me, just a bit harsh but with layers of flavor to pull the reader in and a strength that makes the ending a triumph. The frame of the story is that a young woman is giving some sort of interview about her experience with the cards. And so the story is told in her voice, which is fun and a bit wry even in the face of some incredibly events. She simply takes it as a matter of course and when she finds the ghost cards she starts to figure them out. Each card has a different feel, a different aura, and she learns them all as she carries them with her. As once she figures them out, she decides to use them to cheat at cards. Because of course that's what you do. The cards are only visible in low light, though, so she dims the common area of the place she lives, a sort of American hostel, and invites those she thinks have money to spare to play with her. It's not the most ethical of things but it does seem like she's not trying to be mean about it. Like Robin Hood, she's trying to take only what people are able to lose, though when a strange man shows up and wants to play, things begin to get a little out of hand. And it turns out she's being played, as the man turns out to be the original owner of the cards, who might be dead or might be a demon or the Devil itself, because when the narrator sees that she's going to lose it all, she quickly finds a way to get out and still pull out a win. It's great fun but with a struggle to it, a darkness to it, that makes the story a rye ale to me, a deep drink that's still quite fun to kick back and enjoy.

"Silver Buttons All Down His Back" by A.C. Wise (Apex #71) 

Art by Adrian Borda

With a main character struggling with insecurity and fear, unable to bridge the gap between himself and the man he wants to love, "Silver Buttons All Down His Back" by A.C. Wise is a stout, dark as the night sky with a bitter smokiness and a power that will linger well after the glass is drained. Devon is partially paralyzed and uses a rig fused to his spine to live a more "normal" life, but his feelings toward the rig and toward himself are complicated. When he meets Gary, an astronaut who's very sight driven, at first things work out great. They have chemistry and Gary seems to admire Devon's body, to revel in it as Devon revels in Gary. It's an interesting pairing, as Devon is something of a voyeur, watching without being seen, hiding himself while being drawn to others. And Gary loves to be watched, to be seen, even as he also loves to see Devon in return. Insecurity and doubt plague the relationship, though, with Devon not quite believing that Gary could love him without fetishing him, without objectifying his rig. I loved the way the story builds the relationship between the two men, how Gary needs someone to see him, to watch him, and how Devon, in the end, can't let himself, is too closed off to try. For all that they yearn for each other, for comfort and release, they end up betraying each other in incredibly intimate ways, and the tragedy of the piece left me a bit numb. Like a stout, the end of the story is like the bottom of a glass, leaving me empty, a bit woozy, and not sure if I want even more or if I should just curl up into a ball and sleep. An emotionally resonant (and perhaps devastating) story.

"You Can Do It Again" by Michael Ian Bell (Shimmer #24) 

Art by Sandro Castelli

Full of nostalgia and regret and the inability to move on, "You Can Do It Again" by Michael Ian Bell is a pilsner to me, filled with the memory of first drinks, of family, or regret. The story shows a world where a drug, Redo, can take people back in time. Kind of. It takes people back into their memories, to important events. It lets them relive those instants. But rumor is that people can actually change what happened. That they can, with incredible will, shift the events of the past and change their present. And that's what Marco, the main character, is desperate for. He goes back into his past, again and again, searching for his brother, for his brother who left him and never returned. Marco wants to ask him to stay, wants to tell him how important he is. But every time he goes back the events play out the same way, and every time Marco wakes again to his run-down life. Marco has had a difficult life, but his greatest failure has been his inability to open up emotionally. He keeps everything locked away, afraid to show weakness, afraid to show vulnerability, afraid to make a meaningful connection. Trouble has found him and he's found trouble, and he thinks that if he changes things it will all get better, but without changing himself first he's doomed to forever go back and relive the same events. Without actually being able to tell his brother that he loves him, that he needs him, Marco cannot change a thing. Like how drinkers who stick with pilsners never learn to appreciate the different and amazing flavors beer can have (seriously, people drinking Bud or Miller Light are missing out), Marco fails to move on because he's too rooted to what's not working to help him. A tragic story.

Shots

"Everyone's a Clown" by Caroline M. Yoachim (Unlikely Story #11.5)

With a terrifying premise and a solid emotional core, this story is (of course) a Clown Car, a corruption of the classic Side Car, but instead of two parts brandy, one orange liqueur, and one lemon juice, the Clown Car is two parts cotton candy vodka, one orange liqueur, and one lemon juice. It's a shot to keep you awake at night remembering it, which fits this story where a mother finds that her child has a terrible affliction where she sees that everything has an inner clown. These inner clowns show their emotions on the outside, and generally speaking a world of entirely clowns should scare anyone. Only when the mother decides to embrace this new vision, though, to help her child through the trauma, to make them feel less alone, do things start to improve. Despite the terror that the vision brings the mother, she pushes through it to help her child, to make everything okay. It's a sweet story in a lot of ways, but one cut by the horror and strangeness of a world made entirely of clowns.

 "You Are Two Point Three Meters From Your Destination" by Fran Wilde (Uncanny #3) 

Art by Carrie Ann Baade

For this incredibly short retelling of the Orpheus story through the frame of GPS directions, I'm going to serve up a Black Orpheus, a mix of equal parts rum and ouzo mixed with a muddled lime and simple syrup. The story itself is minimalist and sparse, but for all that it captures the feel of the myth incredibly well. The descent into the underworld. The confrontation with Hades. The climb up, getting closer and closer and then, the turn, the tragedy. It works so well as a way of enshrining the heartbreak in a way that in some ways is completely devoid of emotion. There is no inherent feelings to a set of directions, and yet the prose here manages to evoke so well that the lines are incredibly powerful. Somehow the feeling of the story remains, the implications all retained and re-purposed to devastating effect. It takes the core of the myth and strips it down and down to the point that this is nearly a poem. Still, it hits hard and takes an old and incredibly popular story in a very new direction (don't kill me for the pun).



"The Kiss" by K.C. Norton (Flash Fiction Online) 

Art by Dario Bijelac

This story about a psychic who can see the future of her relationships from the moment of the first kiss has to be a Kiss, a mix of two parts gin with one each of Aperitif and sweet vermouth with a dash of cherry liqueur. The story follows a date where the psychic wants to kiss her boyfriend, the guy she's been going out with for some time who has been pretty cool about the no kissing but who she wants to kiss. Only, she fears that when she kisses him it will be like the other times, that she will see how they break up. That she will see the bad things to come. And she doesn't want to see that, doesn't want to know that. Still, she refuses to allow that fear to rule her. In the end she takes the chance and the kiss and finds that some things are still mysteries, finds that things don't always have to go wrong. She gets no reading, but whether that means they are meant to be or just that her powers have stopped working she can't be sure of. All she knows is that she'll have to wait to find out, and that anticipation and mystery is part of what makes relationships so exciting and rewarding.


POSTED BY: Charles, avid reader, reviewer, and sometimes writer of speculative fiction. Contributor to Nerds of a Feather since 2014.

Disney, Maleficent, and Shifting Paradigms

I think its safe to say that even without its extensive list of subsidiaries, Disney pretty much rules the fantasy kidverse. While the earlier films are arguably racist and sexist, Disney has recently started incorporating more and more diverse characters. With films like Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Mulan, this diversity of characters was probably the result of the stories they chose to tell rather than the characters they chose to tell them with, but the characters at least tended to be appropriate to their setting. This is especially relevant given the level of global diversity of Disney’s films.

Image Credit: theantilove

This global and more so now racial diversity is commendable, but since such a heavy portion of their audience is young girls, it is especially important to combat the rampant sexism present not just throughout Disney, but all mass media. Disney, it seems, is starting to do just this. Either they are taking responsibility for the influence they have over the world’s youth, or they see a market for the ‘strong female character’ and are capitalizing on it. Unfortunately its probably the latter, but nonetheless.

I have written briefly about Frozen and the message it sends to young viewers, and I recently noticed this trend continuing with Maleficent. If you haven’t seen the film, I must admit it's not super entertaining for adults, but it does have stellar visual effects, gnarly fairy wings, and a boss dragon. Maleficent is one of those ‘the story you thought you knew’ films that are the hot trend right now but in my opinion were way overdone before they even began. The film also capitalizes on the current trend in fantasy of personifying and de-villainizing the villain. It tells the story of Sleeping Beauty through the character Maleficent, the 'evil' fairy that curses the princess Aurora to prick her finger on a spindle on her 16th birthday and fall into a deep sleep, only to be awakened by true love’s kiss.

But let's backtrack a little and discover why Maleficent is so angry. Turns out, she was a close companion of Aurora’s father Stefan before he was king. But overcome with ambition for the throne, Stefan tricks Maleficent, drugs her, and cuts off her fairy wings, robbing her of the ability to fly. Picking up what they're putting down here? It has been confirmed that this scene is an allegory for rape. Maleficent was seduced, drugged, and mutilated and a significant, proud, and identifiable part of her self was taken away against her will. She's hurt, she's horrified, and she's pissed and I don't blame her. But now she becomes another powerful female character whose story is defined by sexual violence and that annoys me. The previous link mentions this scene is important for justifying Maleficent's actions to the audience. Okay, but I think there are many other ways of doing that. They could have has Stefan attack her home or burn her forest, for example. It doesn't always have to be rape. I digress.

After the curse is placed on his daughter, Stefan sends the princess to live under the protection of the ‘good’ fairies and has all spindles in the kingdom destroyed, as you may remember from the original tale. But here, Maleficent is ever present, watching over the growing princess and often secretly keeping her out of harm's way since the ‘good’ fairies are rather neglectful. Eventually, we can see that Maleficent regrets her decision to blindly curse an innocent child and that over the years she has grown to care for her greatly. Finally, with doomsday approaching, the two meet and Aurora calls Maleficent her fairly godmother and Maleficent encourages Aurora to come live with her in the fairy forest. Maleficent attempts to revoke her curse but is unable to. Somewhere in here Aurora meets a prince named Philip and they are immediately smitten with each other.

Okay, spoilers friends…







Spindle. Prick. Sleep.

Maleficent sneaks Philip in to see the sleeping Aurora, hoping that he can save her. The good fairies find him and try to make him kiss the princess and very notably, Philip expresses that he's not really comfortable with that since she's unconscious and all (high-five Philip!). Eventually though he succumbs to peer pressure and plants a wet one on Aurora, but nothing happens.

Crying and apologetic, Maleficent pledges to watch over Aurora's sleeping form forever and kisses her on the forehead and, yup, that was it, Aurora wakes up. Same basic theme from Frozen: true love doesn't have to come in the form of a boy or conventional love interest, there are many layers to love and family, etc.

I think this is an important move because it shows that Frozen was not an isolated incident and that perhaps Disney is beginning to implement a shift it its princess paradigm. A much needed shift in the Disney princess paradigm, mind you. The fact that ‘Disney Princess’ is an official term and Cinderella wedding dresses are a thing, attests to the influence this image has over young girls. I don’t think I need to do much convincing to get this point across.



Maleficent was written by Linda Woolverton, the first woman to ever write an animated feature for Disney (Beauty and the Beast). In fact, the only other official Disney Princess film to not have a male screenwriter was Frozen, which was written and co-directed by Jennifer Lee. Both Pocahontas and Brave had female writers on the team, but Brave's creator Brenda Chapman has publicly denounced the "blatantly sexist" "makeover" Disney imposed on her character Merida. It begs the question, is this inkling of a paradigm shift we see with Frozen and Maleficent Disney's doing, or is it the result of women finally getting the pen and some semblance of control over the final product?

One final thought...

A few months ago, mediaite reported on a Fox News guest claiming that Frozen “empowers women by tearing down men” and that “Hollywood in general has often sent the message that men are stupid [and] in the way.” Of course I had my harrumph at this and a chuckle at mediaite’s statement:

“Rumors that men are the heroes of the vast majority cultural products and have been since the dawn of narrative went unconfirmed at press time.”

Even though claims such as those made by said Fox News guest are (in my opinion) not relevant at this time given the context, she (yes she) is not alone in making them. In fact, such notions are akin to some controversies plaguing fandom recently. We must be careful not to legitimize these claims. In Maleficent for example, Philip does seem quite useless. In fact, he serves no purpose in the plot except to NOT save Aurora. Right now though we need the Philips in order to show the status quo and how it is being challenged. But when things start to change, we must be sure not to objectify or stereotype characters of any gender, race, etc, (regardless of prior standards) and thus create new types of inequality.


"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."

--Friedrich Nietzsche

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POSTED BY: Tia  

P.S. Fingers crossed for Moana

INTERVIEW: Aidan Moher

We're excited to have Aidan Moher with us today! Moher is already well-known in the field for his Hugo Award-wining blog, A Dribble of Ink--home to some of the best book reviews you will ever read. But you may not know that Moher is also a writer, and today he is releasing a debut collection of short fiction, Tide of Shadows and Other Stories. He has also recently posted one of the collected stories, the excellent "Tide of Shadows," for free on Medium. 

NoaF: Tell us a little bit about Tide of Shadows and Other Stories--what kinds of stories does it include?

Tide of Shadows and Other Stories is my first short story collection. It contains five science fiction and fantasy stories spanning adventure, comedy and drama—from a star-faring military science fiction tale of love and sacrifice to a romp through the dragon-infested Kingdom of Copperkettle Vale.

“A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes” is the story of a young man reliving the last moments of his fellow soldiers’ lives; “The Girl with Wings of Iron and Down” tells the tale of a broken family and a girl with mechanical wings; “Of Parnassus and Princes, Damsels and Dragons” introduces a typical prince, princess, and dragon—and a not-so-typical love triangle; “The Colour of the Sky on the Day the World Ended” follows a girl and her ghost dog as they search for a bright light in the darkness; and “Tide of Shadows” is about a soldier and his lover, a mother, and a planet-wide genocide.

I've included notes that explore the origins of each story, reflections on how I've changed as a writer over the years, how the stories might look different if written now, and questions that I hope will make it interesting for readers to revisit them with a new perspective.

NoaF: You mention that there are both science fiction and fantasy stories in the collection. Some authors do both, of course, but more seem to specialize in one side or the other. Yet a collection, one presumes, has a thematic core. So I’d like to know--do you approach SF and fantasy differently, or are these just different settings for similar kinds of stories?

The latter. I think science fiction and fantasy--at least the kind that I seem to write--is all part of the same canvas. They're built on speculation, on exploring worlds and themes, cultures, and problems that are more easily dissected when we remove the biases that come bundled with narratives set in the 'real world.' All of my stories about about the characters first, and I fit everything else around them. Whether its the rolling hills of Copperkettle Valley ("Of Parnassus and Princes, Damsels and Dragons"), or the cold halls of the Spirit of a Sudden Wind ("Tide of Shadows"), I gravitate to a setting--and a genre/sub-genre--that allows the characters to tell their story.

The uncountable number of science fiction and fantasy stories, written by people of all backgrounds, proves that science fiction and fantasy are defined less by their setting than the themes they explore and their ability to view humanity through a speculative lens. Ramez Naam's Nexus could not be more different than Kay Kenyon's The Bright of the Sky, but nobody would argue that they're not both science fiction. The same can be said of Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood and Melanie Rawn's The Ruins of Ambrai -- both fantasy, both very different in execution, setting, and theme.

Science fiction and fantasy writers are the luckiest writers in the world because our canvas is unlimited and begs us to use all colours of paint at our disposal. Hell, it asks us to throw out the paint and use whatever medium suits us best.

NoaF: As a follow-up, what if any are the overarching themes you explore in this collection?

If you'd asked me this before I compiled the collection, I would have told you there were no overarching themes running through the various stories. Each tale was so individually defined in my head that crossover wasn't something I'd considered. However, reading through the collection as a whole, I noticed several strong themes and explorations that kept rearing their heads throughout.

Belonging--almost all of the stories in the collection deal with belonging and community in some way -- whether its a character's struggle to mould themselves to the expectations of others, or the drive within someone to demand of the world that it accept them as they are.

The effect of war on individuals--this is central to the first and the last story in the collection. "A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes" shows a young soldier burying his dead companions, and in their final moments, we see the war they are fighting from many different sides. "Tide of Shadows" examines the intense emotions of soldiers on the brink of being dropped into a combat situation that likely means their death. Beginning and ending the collection on this note provides a nice cyclical feeling

Light from darkness--As I mention later in this interview, I'm a big fan of post-Tolkien '80s fantasy, which often puts its protagonist into seemingly insurmountable situations and turns out the lights, only to have them persevere through the challenge by finding their own inner power. It's a classic theme and something I naturally think about a lot while writing.

NoaF: You’ve mentioned before that you want fantasy to re-open itself to the “magic” and “wonder” that marked the genre prior to the gritty turn in the 1990s (a position echoed in critiques of post-singularity science fiction). Now I don’t read this as a critique of gritty fantasy so much as a suggestion that there’s room for more than just gritty approaches. Is that accurate? And how does Tide of Shadows fit into that project? Especially considering that the first story, “A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes,” is quite gritty...
 
When I was selecting stories for Tide of Shadows, I specifically wanted to include a broad spectrum of fantasy and science fiction narratives -- from the gritty and violent "A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes", to the sugary and pun-filled "Of Parnassus and Princes, Dragons and Damsels". As you say, I believe that fantasy is an infinitely wide spectrum, and different sub-genres are better viewed as tools, rather than labels. I think the best gritty fantasy can steal moments of levity from satirical fantasy. And, on the flip side, lighter, adventurous fantasy can steal the dark parts from gritty fantasy to put an exclamation point on the parts that are really supposed to take a hold of a reader.

I wrote about this fairly extensively a few weeks ago when I dissected my relationship with 'grimdark' fantasy fiction.

I'll admit that my heart--as both a reader and a writer -- lies with the epic fantasies of the '80s and early '90s. Terry Brooks. Tad Williams. Barbara Hambly. Raymond E. Feist. They're all important to me, and, somewhat surprisingly, as I grow older, now a father, I find myself coming back to that style of storytelling more and more. Sometimes I just want to read a travelogue adventure story about a band of humans, elves, and dwarves fighting against a bad dude. However, in recent years I believe that this style of fantasy has been given the short shrift. Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane is a straightforward fantasy adventure about an aging hero's quest to slay a dragon -- but, it's also an incredibly sharp narrative about power and women in patriarchal societies. The writers of the '80s often used simple narratives to frame complex thematic explorations, further blurring the line between the perception of fluffy epic fantasy and its "more mature" older brother that the market is currently obsessed with.

"A Night for Spirits and Snowflakes" was directly influenced by Joe Abercrombie's work, and I hope, like his work, there's enough nuance in the story to please readers on both a thematic and more visceral level.

NoaF: How do you see original short story collections fitting into the broader ecosystem of SF/F?
 
I think there are two factors at work here, one that's been established for decades, and another that's unique to the modern SF/F ecosystem.

First, I see short stories as a peculiarly good medium for taking risks; by its nature, short fiction has an agility that long-form fiction simply doesn't. It's the perfect environment for writers to try new techniques, lay the ground work for larger works, breathe if they're stuck under another larger project, or take risks that might be too big in the higher stakes novel game. Because of this, short fiction is where a lot of SF/F's most exciting, progressive and interesting writing happens.

Second, you have the emergence of the Internet as a publishing tool--it's never been easier for a story to find readers. Whether its through traditional publishing channel--such as anthologies or pro-paying short fiction magazines--or the bleeding edge of digital- and self-publishing, the megaphone for writers is broadening from a realm ruled by long-tenured gatekeepers, to a wild west full of new anthologists, new writers and new publishers. Authors that might previously have been shut out--told their work wasn't commercial enough, wouldn't find an audience--now have the authority and courage to make that decision themselves.

Combined, these two factors are creating a short fiction environment that embraces authors from every walk of life. I'm thinking about writers like John Chu and Octavia Cade, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz and Sunil Patel--new and exciting voices that we may not have heard from a decade ago. It's a terrifically exciting time to be involved in the field, I think.

As for original collections themselves, they're an opportunity for readers to discover not just a new voice, but different variations on that voice. A single short story is a focused introduction to the author's voice--a single note ringing out clearly through a concert hall--but a collection allows that authors voice to become a complete symphony.

Is there a risk involved in buying a full collection of short stories without having access to them individually online? Sure. But no more than buying a book from a novelist you're unfamiliar with or an anthology compiled by a new editor. This can also be mitigated by the author through careful promotion and publishing one or two stories ahead of time -- just enough to give readers a taste of what they'll find in the collection, but not so much that they feel like they have experienced everything the author has to offer.

Is there a market for original short fiction collections? I don't know. I expect I'm about to find out over the next several weeks, however. Early pre-order numbers have been favourable, though.

NoaF: Tell us a little about your decision to self-publish. What informed that decision? What makes self-publishing exciting?
 
The decision to self-publish Tide of Shadows was reached after a long-winding path after several years of consideration. The oldest story in the collection was written in 2010, and the youngest in 2014. There's a big gap in time between those dates where I was writing a lot of short fiction and submitting it to short fiction markets. Like a lot of aspiring writers, I was flooded with rejections--some polite personalized rejections from high level editors, some form rejections from early slush readers. Each letter drove me to write more, to submit again. It's a game, and I wanted to win.

However, over those years, my definition of "winning" changed.

At first, I believed that to win the game I needed to be validated by editors of pro-paying fiction markets. I wanted to see my name on the marquee beside Rachel Swirsky and Ken Liu, lights shining bright. I thought I could skip community theater and head straight to Broadway. Confidence is essential in the publishing world, but it's also a double-edged sword. See, the pro-paying markets are difficult to break into -- and for good reason: they're the best of the best.

So, my definition of winning the game changed. I started to think about why I wrote, what my goals were for each story I produced. Aside from the worst of them, I wanted readers for my stories -- I wanted to set them free.

My desire to publish my own fiction went as my opinion of the self-publishing industry went. During the early days, I thought it was a lawless wild west full of writers who's work was little more than vanity projects -- surely all the good stuff was getting snapped up by legitimate publishers? We know now that that's far from the truth. There's too much good stuff out there for publishers to find it all. We've seen so many success stories in the self-publishing world that you can no longer say with a straight face that it's for writers who aren't good enough to make it in traditional publishing.

At about the same time I started reconsidering my opinion of self-publishing, I also began to realize that I was feeling weighed down by the stories, the the initial feeling of inspiration from those rejection letters was becoming a pair of cement boots. I wanted to be excited about these stories -- I knew they were good enough to find readers, despite limited success with pro-paying markets -- and then I realized that self-publishing was the solution. It would give these stories life, and allow me to let them go. Their voices could natter along in readers' heads, not mine.

So, Tide of Shadows and Other Stories was born.

I also saw self-publishing the collection as a learning experience, and opportunity to see the industry from the other side of the table. I've worked with a lot of writers, editors, and publishers, but I'd never really been immersed in the process of creating a book. It was terribly fun experience, and I already have some ideas of how to make my next book even better. 

NoaF: What, in your opinion, should readers who are considering self-publishing know about the process? What information have you learned that you’d want to impart to others?

I have two major pieces of advice for self-published authors: 

One, hire a copyeditor! Seriously. This is the best money you can spend. It ensures that your manuscript is as clean and professional as possible, which allows your readers to focus on all the good bits of reading a book -- plot, character, themes, etc. -- without becoming distracted by typos, poor grammar, and improper punctuation. I highly recommend Richard Shealy's SF/F Copyediting. Fair rates, fast, and he has a history of working with some of the best SF/F writers and publishers in the industry.

Two, have good cover art: This can get pricey, but the payoff is undeniable. Along with poor copyediting, self-published books often have terrible cover art. Sometimes this is because the author made the cover themselves, or they hired a bad or inexperienced designer to make it for them. Some even use cover generators. None of these options are suitable, frankly.

A lot of self-published authors begin their project with a limited budget. So did I. Working within my budget, I licensed a piece of art and did the typography/design myself. I have professional design experience from my day job, so I was able to get away with doing the work myself. But wherever possible, have a professional do the heavy lifting. There are a ton of talented illustrators and designers on DeviantArt, and their rates are often surprisingly affordable. Work within your budget, but don't skimp. My entire budget for Tide of Shadows was $300.

Also, I wrote about why (and how) I self-published my short story collection at some length a couple of weeks ago--I tried to make it a useful resource, so anyone who wants to learn from my experience can do so, and I've been told by a few writers--published and aspiring--that it is. So, if any readers are interested in self-publishing, or just want a deeper understanding of my process, please check it out.

NoaF: Okay, I want to switch gears for our last question. The cover art for the collection is stunning. Who can we credit for that, and could you walk us through the design process?

Thanks, G. Despite the old adage, we do judge books by their covers, especially in this Internet age that exposes us to thousands of new books each year. A good cover--especially for a self-published book--is an essential tool for capturing the eyes of new readers. Since debuting the cover a few weeks ago, I've had dozens of comments from readers--some I've known a long time, others I've only just met--complimenting the cover. That's a huge win, and I'm very proud of it.

The illustration for the cover is by Kuldar Leement, a wonderful digital illustrator and graphic designer from Estonia. I initially fell in love with Leement's artwork for its ethereal ability to transport me to the strange corners of the universe--in a lot of ways its pure, classic SF, full of wonder, and recognizable tropes, but it also manages to be unique, intensely personal, and unpredictable at the same time. I hope to see his art on the cover of more science fiction novels in the future.

Within the small budget I had for the book, earmarked some of it for cover art. I knew I wanted to have a piece of art that really caught the attention of readers, but I quickly found out that my budget didn't allow for commissioned artwork from the artists I liked. So, I decided to follow the SF/F Magazines--Clarkesworld, Uncanny or Apex--and decided to license a piece of existing artwork. Leement was at the top of my list of artists, so I found a few pieces from his portfolio that I felt would work well and mocked-up some covers to get a sense of which piece was right. Once I settled on "Resistance", I reached out to Leement and we negotiated a price and terms that fit within my budget.

As I mentioned, I have a bit of an advantage over most other self-published authors in that I have a day job as a designer. So, I was able to handle the layout, design and typography myself. I wanted to capture the feel of Kirk Bischoff's work on Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, but the cover went through several revisions before I landed on the final variation.

Outside of a copyeditor, I think hiring a good cover artist/designer is about the best thing a self-published author can spend their money on. It's going to make the difference between your book looking like a pet project and a professional product.


NoaF: Well, that just about wraps things up. Thanks for "sitting down" with us, Aidan!

Thanks for having me!

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POSTED BY: The G--purveyor of nerdliness, genre fanatic and Nerds of a
Feather founder/administrator (2012).

Thursday Morning Superhero: Free Comic Book Day Edition

Welcome to a special Free Comic Book Day edition of Thursday Morning Superhero.  For those of you who don't know, Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday and participating comic book stores will be handing out comics for free!  Since 2002, Free Comic Book Day has encouraged reading via comic books by providing free comic books to the masses.  Many comic book stores make an event of it with costume contests, giveaways, and more.  To find a participating store near you click here.  This Free Comic Book Day is bittersweet to me.  While I am excited to be moving back to Austin soon, it will be my last FCBD at Comic Quest.  Comic Quest is an amazing store that I will truly miss.  In honor of Free Comic Book Day I present my top 5 books for 2015!

#1 - Kodansha Comics Sampler - You had me at Attack on Titan.  This anime had me hooked from the first episode and I have since completed season and am looking forward to catching a glimpse at the manga that inspired this amazing series.  I thought it lived up to the hype and is an amazing drama that I would compare to Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead. 

 #2 - Teen Titans Go! Scooby Doo Team Up - What is better than enjoying comics?  Sharing the joy of comics with your kids!  I love watching both of these shows with my kids and can't wait to pick this up and share the joy of reading comic books with them.  It looks like there are some special guest stars in the Scooby Doo story that should be fun, but I would have preferred the Harlem Globetrotters.

#3 - Valiant 25th Anniversary Special - This past year I have really grown to be a fan of the work that is taking place at Valiant Entertainment.  They boast some of the best talent in the industry, just inked a movie deal with Sony, and have big things planned for 2015 that begin with this issue.  Great time to hop on board a fast moving train!

#4 - Avatar: The Last Airbender - In addition to the Avatar story, this Dark Horse title includes a Plants vs. Zombies tale and a Bandette story.  I think I will enjoy this one more than my kids, as both Avatar and Bandette are two of my favorites.  Any book that I actually enjoy reading to Henry and Zelda is a huge bonus from my perspective. 

#5 - Secret Wars #0 - Marvel has a history of launching its blockbuster events with a FCBD #0 issue and this year is no different.  While I tend to be skeptical of big comic book events, I do enjoy a free issue to see what it is all about.  There is good buzz around Secret Wars and I look forward to checking it out.

POSTED BY MIKE N. aka Victor Domashev -- comic guy, proudly raising nerdy kids, and Nerds of a Feather contributor since 2012.