Linkpost makes the world go 'round

[dolorosa_12]

Welcome to what I hope will become a regular feature here: weekly posts of links to wonderful things. There are no criteria for inclusion: the links will just be things that have caught my eye in any given week, but I'm trying to focus on positive and/or thought-provoking material from a diverse range of perspectives. This is all part of my goal of collaborative and community-building writing for this year.

It was a great week for SFF podcasts. I particularly enjoyed Amal El-Mohtar and Natalie Luhrs on Rocket Talk with Justin Landon, talking about all things blogging and reviewing.

Fangirl Happy Hour is a new project by Ana of The Book Smugglers and Renay of Ladybusiness. Their second podcast is on sex and romance in science fiction, nominations for the Hugo Awards and The Very Best of Kate Elliott (which has rocketed to the top of my wishlist).

Renay also wrote a fabulous, heartfelt post about being betrayed by stories that the rest of your community has universally praised. Read the comments too.

A. Merc Rustad's short story 'How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps' is something I didn't realise I'd been wanting until now. Almost anything I could say here will be a spoiler, but I feel I should provide a content warning for depictions of depression.

Amal El-Mohtar's short story 'The Truth About Owls' hurt my heart in the best possible way.

No Award is not a new blog, but it is new to me, and is a breath of fresh air. I'm often frustrated by the US-centrism of the online conversation on media and social justice, so I'm thrilled to find a blog by a pair of Australians tackling these issues from an Australian perspective.

Finally, I really appreciated Foz Meadows' epic blog post on Teen Wolf. I don't agree with all her conclusions, but I am particularly happy about her comments on Scott McCall, whose gentleness, kindness and adoration of powerful women goes against all the usual stereotypes about boys raised by single mothers.

I hope you all have fabulous weekends. Since Eurovision is officially upon us, why not generate your own Eurovision song title?

This is a mirror of a post on my Wordpress blog. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[pax_athena]

Thanks! I need to read the stories, bookmarked them.

And I am intrigued by the No Award blog - I have the same frustration (aggravated by the fact that I *am* in the USA right now, by an intersection with work here, and by the dawning realization that a lot of cultural barriers between countries are even higher than I thought them to be) and spent quite some time last year discussing things with another expat, who happened to be Australian ... I will go and explore!

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I obviously have no issue with people posting about social justice issues from a US perspective, and I think their perspectives are important. What I resent is the requirement that people from other countries must either fall into complete ideological lockstep with US progressivism or hold their hands and explain a whole amount of context when the same courtesy isn't extended to those of us outside the US. I think we all learn from listening to other people's perspectives, so I'm always thrilled when I find non-USian bloggers writing about issues I care about. Being Australian myself, I was thrilled to discover No Award, and read the complete archives over several hours. So many posts raised points I'd thought of myself: there's a post on Pacific Rim sounding a note of caution in the face of the universal praise it received for representation (they were pointing out that it's hardly progressive - or representative of the reality of Australia - to have its two Australian characters be a pair of rugged, blond, white men, particularly when they weren't even played by Australian actors, and whose atrocious attempts at Australian accents were obvious to everyone from Australia, New Zealand and so on).

Anyway, I'm glad you think No Award is an interesting concept, and I hope you enjoy the short stories.

[spotsofcolour.livejournal.com]

"Only Love Completes"

I am so excited for Eurovision. I have marked it off in my diary. I need to make plans.

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

That's what I got too!

I am looking forward to Eurovision so much. We always host a party at our place, and I suspect this year will be no different.