Merf. Thinking is Hard.

jhameia:

crossedwires:

inkstone:

Did I seriously just read a submissions call for a steampunk wuxia anthology that included the line an alternate history where Britain not only won the Opium War but conquered China…??

~~Does that even count as alternate history??~~

Look, okay, unless that scenario features Chinese rebels overthrowing their British oppressors, there’s no way that story wouldn’t be full of fail.

Ugh. I can’t believe someone thought this was a good idea. Well, I guess I can believe it (and that some people out there are probably contemplating writing it), I just don’t want to.

WHY does the world need more fic that glorifies imperialism & colonialism?

1) Yes you did read that line.

2) It’s TOTALLY ALTERNATE BECAUSE BRITAIN DIDN’T CONQUER CHINA.

3) A lot of white people probably think this is a good idea. Prolly now a lot more since China is becoming a rising power. So Chinese culture is totally equal to white culture amirite? And totally game for messing around with, because look, those Chinese ppls do that to us all the time anyway.

Is it… IS THAT THE GUY WHO WROTE A “WUXIA” STORY SET IN POST-APOCALYPTIC CANADA (no offense to my Canadian followers — I’m just saying, when I think “wuxia,” I don’t think of your country) THAT FEATURED CHARACTERS NAMED MARC AND SUSANNAH?

I don’t know. And I think I don’t want to know. His story is in Crossed Genres Quarterly 1 if you want to track it down.

But I have feelings about this antho.

(via inkstone-deactivated20130227)

Jul 10

On Being The Problem

yiduiqie: oh my god he left like a million messages in a row
what is his problem
Jaymee: ME!
yiduiqie: ahahahah
HOW DARE YOU JAYMEE
Jaymee: I AM YOUR WHITE MALE PROBLEM
I AM YOUR REMINDER THAT YOU ARE A WHITE MALE STRAIGHT CIS EUROCENTRIC DUDEBRO
yiduiqie: god i hate them
Jaymee: I AM YOUR REMINDER OF A HISTORY OF COLONIALISM YOU HAVE INHERITED
I AM YOUR REMINDER OF YOUR FLAWED CIVILIZATION'S SINS
I AM THE TEAR IN THE FABRIC OF YOUR UNIVERSE THAT WILL NEVER SEAL UP
I AM YOUR GODDAMN FUCKING PROBLEM BECAUSE I WILL NOT SHUT UP
UNTIL YOUR EDITORS REALIZE WHAT A SHITTY WRITER YOU ARE AND STOP PUBLISHING YOU
OR UNTIL YOU REALIZE WHAT A SHITTY WRITER YOU ARE AND START IMPROVING
and even then I still wouldn't shut the hell up
ME! I AM THE PROBLEM!
and that is my new manifesto.
yiduiqie: this is like how my brand in australian sff fandom is 'yells at people, is chinese'
and i'm ok with that
do it
Jaymee: yeah me too
yiduiqie: DO IT

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Did Arabs in Al-Andalus ever stop developing their sciences?

Serious question. Wikipedia’s not helping and I know way too little about this history to be able to create meaningful search phrases, whether for Google, the library catalogue, or journal databases.

Nov 21

Final Two Days to the Butler Scholarship Drawing ›

And 5 damned good reasons to support the Octavia Butler Scholarship, which will send two lucky writers of color to Clarion / Clarion West.

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Beyond Victoriana #50 Overcoming the Noble Savage & the Sexy Squaw: Native Steampunk by Monique Poirier ›

It comes down to mythology, to narrative, and to what stories we’re telling with the personas we portray and how we present them. Some of the attire I own will never be worn outside of a powwow or tribal gathering. For example, I don’t wear prominent feathers–or any feather at all that look like This as part of my Steampunk attire; I treasure the feathers I’ve actually gained through ceremony and ritual too much to wear them to anything less solemn than a powwow or tribe meeting, and I am not comfortable in making mockup feathers that my character /persona would have similarly earned.

It’s pretty grating, then, to be at a convention and having someone comment, “If you’re trying to look like a Native American, you should incorporate more feathers,”‘ because I do understand where that comment comes from. How do you know that an Indian is and Indian if they’re not in the Hollywood Dress Code attire for Indians? A hard and fast rule I’m going by: “If I ran into another member of my tribe while wearing this here, would I feel the need to explain or apologize for it?” If so, I am not wearing that. Even if it means that I’m losing recognition.

Nov 19

Cyberpunk-styled South Asian science fiction music video with an espionage story involving a chase, a hint of romance and betrayal.

INNIT IT GREAT???????

Nov 15

SHIT SHIT SHIT CHECK OUT THIS LIST OF SPEC FIC BY WRITERS OF COLOR ›

IF I HAD KNOWN THIS WAS ALL GONNA BE LOADED ON THE EREADERS BEING RAFFLED OFF BY THE CARL BRANDON SOCIETY…. I MEAN JUST LOOK:

Short Fiction

Judgment of Swords and Souls by Saladin Ahmed

Elan Vital by K. Tempest Bradford

The Executioner by Jenn Brissett

The Flinchfield Dance by Mary Burroughs (A Butler Scholar*)

The Abyss Gazes Also By Christopher Caldwell (A Butler Scholar*)

A – The Teachings by Chesya Burke

Chocolate Park by Chesya Burke

He Who Takes Away the Pain by Chesya Burke

Novels

King Maker: The Knights of Breton Court by Maurice Broaddus (Angry Robot)

Racing the Dark by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Agate Bolden)

Anthologies and Collections

A Mosque Among the Stars, ed. Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, Ahmed A. Khan (ZC Books)

Being Full of Light Insubstantial by Linda Addison – Winner of the 2007 Bram Stoker Award (Space and Time)

Tides From The New Worlds by Tobias S Buckell (Wyrm Publishing)

Slightly Behind and to the Left: Four Stories and Three Drabbles by Claire Light (Aqueduct Press)

SHJBhrfvdSDKBJVASkasjrhwvbesrv erdf!!!!!!

WANT THESE SPIFFY READINGS FREE??? BUY RAFFLE TICKETS MOTHAFUCKAS!!!

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This sounds like my kind of dissertation.

jessnevins:

You are all following Chinese History Dissertation Reviews, of course.

What? You’re not? Really?

Well, you’re missing out on things like this, from the review of Matthew David Johnson’s International and Wartime Origins of the Propaganda State: The Motion Picture in China, 1897-1955:

In Chapter Three, “Wartime Propaganda States, 1937-1945,” Johnson skillfully shows how cinema yielded to the omnipresent logic of wartime mobilization as the Nationalists, the Communists, and the Japanese state of Manchuria each used film to influence mass opinion and legitimate their political power. Driven by wartime mobilization, the Nationalists attempted to assimilate commercial modes of production under state control; yet a lack of resources left the Nationalist film industry unable to realize its hegemonic aspirations. The Communists, located in remote Yan’an and subject to frequent blockades and attacks, were not significantly more successful, failing to construct even basic film production facilities. At times, the Yan’an production stories recounted by Johnson read as tragicomic sagas: A Border Region Labor Hero, originally slated to be a major Yan’an production, lost scriptwriters, faced electric shortages and other technical difficulties, was repeatedly disrupted by battles, and was finally abandoned when the figure upon whom the story was based, Wu Manyou, was captured by the Nationalists and issued a public denunciation of the Communist Party. Japanese-occupied Manchuria, in the meantime, saw the emergence of an integrated ‘state-policy’ film industry which would serve as a model for later state film operations.

I can’t be the only one who wants to read about A Border Region Labor Hero and the nascent Communist film industry’s struggles in Yan’an. Can I?

Well, we Tumblrites might be if it were on Tumblr! However, many of us do have feeds of our own that we can most certainly add this lovely link to! Thank you, Mr. Nevins, for bringing this to our attention!

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Wouldja like an eReader? Want to support speculative fiction writers of color? ›

The Carl Brandon Society is holding a prize drawing of five eReaders starting on November 5th and ending November 22nd, 2010. The funds raised will benefit the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, a fund that sends two emerging writers of color to the Clarion writers workshops annually.

Entrants will have the opportunity to win one of two (2) available Barnes & Noble Nooks, one of two (2) available Kobo Readers (with Wi-Fi), and one (1) Alex eReader by Spring Design. Drawing tickets cost one US dollar ($1).

In addition, each eReader will come pre-loaded with books, short stories, poems and essays by writers of color from the speculative fiction field. Some of the writers include N. K. Jemisin, Nisi Shawl, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Terence Taylor, Ted Chiang, Shweta Narayan, Chesya Burke, Moondancer Drake, Saladin Ahmed, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, and there will be many more.

Nov 4

Fear of a Chinese Planet - SF Gate ›

wildunicornherd:

Via Racialicious, Jeff Yang (Secret Identities) has an excellent analysis of anti-Chinese sentiment in Western pop culture, from the turn of the century to the recent “Chinese Professor” ad. Yang focuses on sf and pulp in particular, discussing Fu Manchu, Ra’s al Ghul, the “techno-Orientalist never-neverlands” of cyberpunk, and Firefly.

He also highlights criticism and subversion: MELUS 33:4, “Alien/Asian” (2008), focuses on Asians in sf; The Dragon and the Stars (DAW, 2010), an anthology of Chinese diasporic sf; and the Evil Chinese Professor Meme-Off, led by Angry Asian Man, Reappropriate, 8Asians and Disgrasian. Go check it out!

(via zuky)