Tag archives for Fiction - Page 13
Meeting the Bechdel Test
I first came across the Bechdel Test on Charles Stross's blog when he was discussing its importance for pushing gender equality in fiction. However what has prompted this post is this article on Rochelle Dean's blog about her current work in progress. Since becoming aware of the Bechdel test I have consciously tried to meet the spirit of it in all the stuff I write, and as much as I can the actual conditions too. The Bechdel Test The rules There are three rules to the test: There are at least two named female characters in the story The women have a conversation with each other The conversation should not be about a man The Spirit of the Bechdel Test What I think is most important though is meeting the spirit of the test, which as I understand is that there should…
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/html/themself/wp-content/themes/mesocolumn/lib/functions/theme-functions.php on line 502
Book Review – Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Grimm's Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm My rating: 3 of 5 stars Interesting to see the originals that Disney worked their magic on. There's a similarity across some of the stories where you can see that perhaps they are mutated versions of the same original that have morphed as they were told. Also there are a number of fairy stories that I hadn't heard before, them not having quite entered popular consciousness where I grew up. Possibly some of these would be the kernel of some good stories, Grimm's style is very much tell and no show. That suits the sort of morality tales these are, intended for someone to simply recount them at bedtime or round the fire or dinner table. They've come from an oral tradition, and anything taking longer to tell than 10 to 20 minutes would…
Read Around the World
A few months ago I responded to a Google+ post by Andrew Buckley, he had an idea for people around the world reading a story on camera and was looking for volunteers. The story in question is his novel 'Death, the Devil, and the Goldfish' by Andrew Buckley. You can read more on Andrew's website. The experiment started yesterday and will carry on until Christmas. So here is the link to my entry in the Read Around the World experiment! If you'd like to sign up and join in the fun just head to for more information. This is part 2, and you might want to watch Part 1 of Read Around the World first for continuity reasons. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the story as it happens. ;feature= Not my best video because I needed to read…
Book Review – Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton
Resurrection by Arwen Elys Dayton My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoyed this story, it was a mix of classic science fiction, ancient history and a modern thriller. I'm not an expert on the Egyptology, but what there was worked very well for me as a story and was plausible. It managed to avoid being too Erich von Däniken in its approach, and the way that the locals never grasped the technology was completely believable. Another aspect that I liked was the interplay between the metal poor and biotech rich Kinley (humans from a planet 8 light years away) and their enemies who used cloned Kinley to spy on them. This provided some of the science fiction backdrop for a modern day thriller, with the two racing to recover the lost secret of faster than light travel (the…
Book Review – War Stories edited by Andrew Liptak
War Stories: New Military Science Fiction by Jaym Gates My rating: 5 of 5 stars I really loved this fantastic collection of short stories. They are well laid out with a set of general themes, covering a wide range of perspectives and points of view. What first attracted me to this was that there was a short story by Linda Nagata set in the same universe as her The Red: First Light novel. (See my review here) I'd enjoyed that so much that I was keen to read more, hence funding the kickstarter. Having read it I think I'll need to go look up some more of those authors and add them to my reading list. Not one of the stories in the collection seemed like it didn't belong there, and all of them had something novel and engaging about…