Steampunk and whatnot

[meganbmoore]

alankria  recently read the recent Vandermeer steampunk anthology and commented on the lack of female characters.  I have said my piece (which amounts to 'yes it really really sucks and I wish a genre I like had more girls doing things but here are steampunkish-things where the girls are important!") and the post and comments are pretty interesting.

Also, I had store credit, so I went to Hastings before work today. I was forced to walk the gauntlet of Twilight and Eragon stands and tables and endcaps.  I FEARED BLINDNESS!!!

But on the "new releases" table, there was exactly one copy of Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness and one of a mystery featuring Arthur's Merlin as a detective.  There were 2 of us who wanted both.  Thankfully, we decided we each wanted the opposite book more and I have the Bowen, though it will be in the Box What I Cannot Touch Until I Get A Certain Amount Of The Older Backlog Cleared Out.

I'll have to get the Merlin one day, though.  It will be awesome, awesomely bad, or dead boring AND I MUST KNOW WHICH! 

ETA:  And since everyone I won from at livelongnmarrythat wasn't buy it now is on the f-list:  I won't be able to pay until next week, so I'll give you my wwwwaaaaannnnntttttttsssss then, unless you want a head start.  But, smillaraaq, it doesn't look like I'll be able to match the price for a second bracelet right now.

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

No worries & no hurries!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There, is, of course, also the issue of how we have the same wants for the same fandoms, mostly...

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

...that's an issue?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, unless you were planning on writing some massive crossover fic involving insane amounts of groping and panties viewing and immature men and girls a head or more shorter than their men, DECISIONS MUST BE MADE!

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Weeeeeelll, it is for charity so I am open to all suggestions. I'm sure we can work something out. Even if the result ends up something entirely insane and crackalicious. ;P

(Actually, I'd actually worked out in my head a way to cross over SDK/Mononoke and include the Blueseed mythos by having a previous incarnation of Kayo be the kushinada. Or reincarnation... Actually, I don't know if Mononoke takes place before, after or during the same time period as SDK. But whatever! Give me enough time & I CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You know, normally, I'm not a fan of AU or crossover fics. But every rule has an exception.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

I generally don't like crossovers or AUs either but as I said, it's for charity and I said in my original offer that I'd be willing to write them as long as I have knowledge of the series/settings involved. So I won't renege now if you really want an SDK/RK/Blueseed crossover.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You realize, of course, that I'm half tempted to say "KYO/YUYA POST SERIES BABYFIC!!!!" Just to make the Kyo/personal-favorite fandom go "eeeeeeeew."

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

If we threw in a competent Yuya who doesn't stay at home baking cookies, their heads would explode.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Not to mention a Kyo who hangs around longer than it takes to get her pregnant, then runs off expecting her to sit around waiting for him.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

Is ok by me. :)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Eh, no worries -- how about we say donate what you can when you can next week, and then note when you make you auction-paid post that we're still working out pricing terms for an additional piece to be noted later?

And if you already have ideas so far as bead colors, materials, chain weight and size, etc. goes, feel free to fire them off at me as you think of them; I'll be making a trip by the bead store *anyway* this week, so a head start on figuring out what can be procured locally in what price ranges, vs. what might have to be special-ordered, is all for the good.

Auctions aside -- oooh, new Rhys Bowen series? I've only read about half of her Molly Murphy mysteries, but I've thoroughly enjoyed them all; must check out her other books...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I need to think of colors. My father, brother and I are rather useless when it comes to colors other people like. Possibly, it's a flaw in my father's genetics.

I've been meaning to check out Rhys Bowen for a while, but wasn't sure how many books were in each series. I decided that this one was the way to go since it was the first. It features the pennyless 30-something-th heir to the throne in the '30s finding a naked frenchman in her bathtub. How can it go wrong?

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Hrm, going through family photos to see what sort of colors your gift targets wear a lot of the time would be one place to start -- and if you find that they tend to wear cool-toned white metals like silver more often instead of warm tones like gold or copper, we could work out some sort of arrangement to do these in sterling instead -- that just might mean either lighter chain/simpler dangles, or a larger donation, to deal with the higher material cost. (I can get vermeil, gold-fill, 14K, etc. if one of 'em seems really into yellow metals in particular, but yellow gold is going to run a lot higher than sterling or copper, and the less-costly plated stuff doesn't always have the best finish durability for something like a charm bracelet; for that sort of piece you're really better off sticking with a solid unplated metal.) It also wouldn't hurt if you can check via photos, peeking in the jewelry box, etc. to get an idea of what sort of weight of jewelry they like -- I can get fairly light, delicate chain and use fairly dainty dangles to match, or really heavy bold stuff with chunky beads, or any point in between; and if you can tell if their tastes run more towards fairly formal, symmetrical designs, or more irregular, organic-looking asymmetry, that would help me figure out how to slant the design as well.

Also, don't forget you need to go sneaking around jewelry boxes and such to get me wrist measurements. ;)

I've only read the Murphy books, but if you like mysteries with historical settings, I recommend them highly. If you don't mind mildly spoiling yourself, they can be read out of order with no lack of enjoyment -- I did this and didn't find the spoilering bothersome at all because the vivid, appealing characters and snappy dialogue were all for more important to me than the whodunit aspects of the plots.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it...if your perusal of gift targets ends up indicating that they are more earring or necklace wearers than they are bracelet wearers, well, I've been offering all sorts of customization even on finished pieces, so I'm not averse to slightly altering the terms here to include other types of jewelry. Earrings in particular are good if you end up wanting me to work in costlier materials, since there's less material outlay on the metal in particular than there would be for a bracelet. Snoop around, try to figure out their tastes, and we'll work something out. :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think Jen leans more towards bracelets(though that may be self-defense, as toddlers are far too fond of necklaces) and Mom towards necklaces.

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

Although it's a WIP used-to-be-published-as-a-paper-comic-book webcomic, not a prose novel, there is of course always the funfest that is Girl Genius (http://www.girlgenius.com), if you want Steampunk with women. Girl Genius started life as a self-published comic book from Studio Foglio (husband and wife team of Phil and Kaja Foglio; past projects of Phil have included XXXenophile, the MythAdventures illustrations, What's New With Phil and Dixie, Magic trading cards, Buck Godot, and assorted other cool things over a few decades), then moved to the web as a thrice-a-week, extremely popular and successful webcomic which is collected into books that keep getting nominated for "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" YALSA awards.

Kaja Foglio describes it as "gaslamp fantasy," but Girl Genius very much the Steampunk aesthetic. The main character is Agatha, who starts out as sort of a wallflower apprentice to a Spark, aka mad scientist, but is shortly revealed as being a Spark herself, and comes into her own as a very self-assured, driven, and commanding woman who inspires loyal followers. Phil Foglio is an intelligent, well-adjusted adult man who not only doesn't have bizarre sexual issues with the opposite sex, but actually likes women, so I don't think he needs any prompting to put strong, interesting women in the spotlight, but I doubt it hurts that Kaja is a co-writer.

It's really hard to describe the joy of Studio Foglio comics unless you've seen them--really lively, cartoony, sexy art, full of visual humor and cracky, often geeky fantasy/sci-fi culture jokes--although the underlying story of Girl Genius is very dramatic, it's delightful and hilarious, and you can tell that they love the look and feel of a Steampunk story, and enjoy playing with it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I've read and very much liked the first GG trade. There should be a post on it somewhere. Probably comics: girl genius (yes, I am too lazy to even check my sidebar) I have the second trade waiting for me, but haven't read it yet.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

If you're after steampunk, there's this comic called Ruse that you might enjoy...

gd&rlh

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The one I've read a few times? Yeah...

I suspect it may be a wee bit hard to get ahold of these days, though, making it difficult for recs.