Elsewhere on the Internet: Game stories

I have a post up at The Ontological Geek as part of their romance series this month (which Critical Distance kindly linked and quoted as well). I'm writing about a pattern I've noticed in the Bioware video games I love to play: a fantasy race (elves in Dragon Age, asari in Mass Effect) whose people… Continue reading Elsewhere on the Internet: Game stories

A note on #readingwomen–and other underrepresented authors

As noted, I am a fan of the push to #readwomen2014. Now that VIDA has released their Count for 2013 (a breakdown of how many male or female writers are published or reviewed by leading literary publications), it's clear that calling for change in concrete terms (such as quantity of reviews and reviewers) can indeed be effective, and… Continue reading A note on #readingwomen–and other underrepresented authors

Elsewhere on the Internet: Women, art, and love

There's not really a theme here: this is just a list of links I've enjoyed this week that I wanted to share before I take to the sea. (I finally get to say that and mean it!) Remember when I posted about Lilit Marcus's article about reading only women in 2013? Lilit posted a sequel… Continue reading Elsewhere on the Internet: Women, art, and love

Books by women I’ve read in 2013

At Flavorwire, Lilit Marcus explains why she only read books by women in 2013: I’m a writer. When my book, Save the Assistants, came out in 2011, all I wanted was for other people to read it. So it seemed only logical to repay the favor. Most of my favorite writers – Iris Murdoch, Willa Cather,… Continue reading Books by women I’ve read in 2013

You should message me if: you read women’s fiction

Book Riot posted this excerpt from a recent interview with Meg Wolitzer, whose careful, observant fiction I really enjoy. Wolitzer often speaks out against various institutional biases against women authors, and in this interview she theorizes about the way packaging can discourage male readers from picking up new books by female authors. Book Riot's Josh Corman… Continue reading You should message me if: you read women’s fiction

“An I-word Salad”

This post originally appeared on Peachleaves blog. A friend sent me this link to an article about a psychologist’s study of pronoun use:  The Secret Language Code In brief, the study notes the frequency with which speakers or writers use different pronouns (first person singular words like I, me, my vs. first person plural words… Continue reading “An I-word Salad”