And Sundry

Aug. 13th, 2013 08:44 am
meganbmoore: (gerda: wind and snow)
 1.  Barbara Mertz, AKA Elizabeth Peters, AKA Barbara Michaels, has passed away at the age of 85.  She published 38 books under the name of Elizabeth Peters, 29 books under the name of Barbara Michaels, and 3 non-fiction books on Egyptology under her real name.  While I haven't read many of her Barbara Michaels books and none of her non-fiction (I intend to change both, but keep getting distracted) and the attitudes of when the earlier Peters books  were written tend to be obvious in the most cringeworthy way at times, her mysteries were a big part of my life in terms to fictional consumption and expectations for female leads in mysteries in my late teens, and Amelia Peabody is and always will be one of my favorite literary characters.  

2.  Male comic creators are being douches about women in comics (and POC, because representation is just tokenism*, but this article focuses on their comments about women).  News at 11.  I read a longer article yesterday about Mark Millar's dismissing the use of rape in fiction as being problematic by claiming it's just a good way to show villainy, but the comments were pretty much defending rape culture and shaming the objection to the casual use of rape in fiction, and I just never want to see the panels used for examples again.

3.  Related, it is explained how Jerry Conway is Very Very Wrong On The Internet (and at life) by claiming that Joan of Arc is the only female knight in history.  I do wish she'd also taken Eastern history and literature into account, though, because there's a whole lot more there.

4.  I'm finishing up a rewatch of The 10th Kingdom, and 13 years later, it's as delightful as ever, despite the fact that the trolls get even more annoying every time I watch it.  The opening credits are also still pretty impressive, despite how far CGI has come.

5.  I've tracked down a 1986 Finnish adaptation of The Snow Queen and a 1966 Russian one (both movies.)  Has anyone seen these?



*And it pains me so much that a panelist at WisCon said this in response to an audience member rattling off a list of shows with major female characters-mostly lead characters-between the ages of 35-50~, in response to claims that they didn't exist.
meganbmoore: (1930s sleuth)


This is Elizabeth Peters’s first Vicky Bliss book in I think 14 years. Since I only discovered Peters in 2001/2002 (I forget exactly which) and binged on every book she had written under that name within six months, I haven’t been waiting quite as long as other fans of the series.

Vicky Bliss is an art historian who looks like your stereotypical blonde bombshell. Obviously, she isn’t, and is actually incredibly intelligent, successful, and more than happy to turn people’s preconceived notions on their ears. She also, naturally, has a habit of getting caught up in murders and conspiracies. As one does, when one is the heroine of a mystery series. Usually, she’s accompanied by her boss, Schmidt, who never met a stranger because everyone is his best friend. As a general rule, his sheer force of personality takes care of any objections to this. She’s also accompanied by John Tregarth, her significant other, and an art thief. Among other things.

John has supposedly gone as straight as straight can go in recent years, and is even a respectable businessman. But when King Tut’s mummy is stolen, their old friend, Feisal, “The Inspector of Antiquities for All Upper Egypt,” comes to ask John to please give it back before word gets out, as the theft perfectly mirrors his own schemes. John, of course, claims to have nothing to do with it, and he and Vicky soon set off to prove his innocence.

In many ways, this is Elizabeth Peters-Vicky and otherwise- at her best. An indomitable heroine, amazing dialogue, a fun caper, and exotic locales where she goes out of her way to show respect to the people and culture of said locales. That said, it also shows at times that Peters hasn’t written a “modern” book since the mid-90s. It’s a minor thing, but in the first half, I almost wanted to start a drinking game over how many times it was mentioned that a character texted another, or was ignoring a text.

This, however, is a minor complaint, and in no way diminishes the overall enjoyability of the book. I’m not sure how well the book would hold up without having read the other Vicky Bliss books, but I think it would stand on it’s own pretty decently.

spoilers )
meganbmoore: (steele-busy kissing)
[personal profile] dangermousie[personal profile] dangermousie! (and any other Elizabeth Peters fans)

I just read in an e-mail that it's rumored that Elizabeth Peters's next book is a Vicky Bliss book! John!

It's been...what...10 years?  (actually, given the events of the last book, it'd need to be several years later, but...)

*flails some more in hopes*
meganbmoore: (Default)
[personal profile] dangermousie[personal profile] dangermousie! (and any other Elizabeth Peters fans)

I just read in an e-mail that it's rumored that Elizabeth Peters's next book is a Vicky Bliss book! John!

It's been...what...10 years?  (actually, given the events of the last book, it'd need to be several years later, but...)

*flails some more in hopes*
meganbmoore: (oz-hikaru reading)
The Scent of Shadows by Vicky Peterson-What's this?  An urban fantasy with nothing resembling vampires or werewolves in sight?  *clings*  This is kind of "if fantasy did superheroes" including the (deliberately here) corny dialogue comics are known for.  It's about Jo Archer, a photojournalist who concentrates on the Vegas nightlife who finds out she's the daughter of a supervillain and a superhero(that world's version) andthat not only do the two sides of herself not get along, but neither side of the conflict likes or trusts her.  Book was excellent, if a bit choppy(though not nearly as bad in that regard as many first novels) and I grabbed the sequel before work today.

Hikaru no Go Vol 9 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata-I concede, I read this almost solely for the absurd levels of cute that is Hikaru and Sai(though I'm also very fond of akira)  That said, I really wish they'd stick with a steady supporting cast.  Aside from the bearded guy and the brat in this volume, I've liked all the supporting characters, but I think we're on our third set now...

Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters-Ssssseeeettthhhhoooossss. *falls into rabid fangirl mode for a minute* *hem*  Excellent as always, though I'm starting to wonder if I like Nefret for Nefret, or if I like Nefret because Ramses loves her.  Interesting thing to think about.

Buso Renkin Vol 5 by Nobuhiro Watsuki-Ithink I'm through with this book.  I kept with it because it's by the Rurouni Kenshin mangaka and it took me a bit to go from "like" to "love" with Rk, but...well...5 books in and my dominant thought is still "Bleach if Ichigo were all happy and cheerful.  And it wasn't as good."  That said, if there's an anime, I might check it out...it strikes me as one of those that's just more suited as an anime(but then, that's most-but not all-fight-oriented shonen)
meganbmoore: (Default)
The Scent of Shadows by Vicky Peterson-What's this?  An urban fantasy with nothing resembling vampires or werewolves in sight?  *clings*  This is kind of "if fantasy did superheroes" including the (deliberately here) corny dialogue comics are known for.  It's about Jo Archer, a photojournalist who concentrates on the Vegas nightlife who finds out she's the daughter of a supervillain and a superhero(that world's version) andthat not only do the two sides of herself not get along, but neither side of the conflict likes or trusts her.  Book was excellent, if a bit choppy(though not nearly as bad in that regard as many first novels) and I grabbed the sequel before work today.

Hikaru no Go Vol 9 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata-I concede, I read this almost solely for the absurd levels of cute that is Hikaru and Sai(though I'm also very fond of akira)  That said, I really wish they'd stick with a steady supporting cast.  Aside from the bearded guy and the brat in this volume, I've liked all the supporting characters, but I think we're on our third set now...

Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters-Ssssseeeettthhhhoooossss. *falls into rabid fangirl mode for a minute* *hem*  Excellent as always, though I'm starting to wonder if I like Nefret for Nefret, or if I like Nefret because Ramses loves her.  Interesting thing to think about.

Buso Renkin Vol 5 by Nobuhiro Watsuki-Ithink I'm through with this book.  I kept with it because it's by the Rurouni Kenshin mangaka and it took me a bit to go from "like" to "love" with Rk, but...well...5 books in and my dominant thought is still "Bleach if Ichigo were all happy and cheerful.  And it wasn't as good."  That said, if there's an anime, I might check it out...it strikes me as one of those that's just more suited as an anime(but then, that's most-but not all-fight-oriented shonen)
meganbmoore: (Default)

(36) Something Sinful by Suzanne Enoch-This one reminded me of why I like this author's historical romances.  Intelligent heroine, nice(and intelligent) hero and lots of wit.  As always with Enoch, the history is far from perfect(but much better than many other authors) but not so off that it jars me, and my requirement is nothing that makes me go "wait...that's not right" as I'm reading, as opposed to when I think about it.  Now if we could just do something about

37) Hana Kimi Vol 16 by Hisaya Nakajo-The near-ultimate comfy cuddly read.  I seem to be becoming rather fond of Shin, he's kind of what you get when you toss Sano and Nakatsu in a pot and set it to stew.  This volume was pitifully lacking in Nanba, but they tried to compensate with Kagurazaka.  There wasn't much Umeda, either, but his scolding Nakatsu for freaking out of Mizuki getting a scrape and then fussing over it himself is worth a lot of mileage.

38) The Serpent of the Crown by Elizabeth Peters-Quite possibly my favorite novel series ever.  The only reason it took me so long to get to this book is because the PB edition is in that horribly "new and easier to read" format they tried out last year.  Which really sucks because it was hard to read more than 15-20 pages of this at a time.  Anyway, this book was as awesome as always, and I almost literally squealed when Sethos showed up.  That Margaret really needs to wise up and say yes the next time he proposes.  And I love that, as always, Ramses really is more like a younger and far more moral Sethos than he is like Emerson.  That said, I'm a little worried about Amelia. Yeah, a large part of the appeal to Amelia is that she sees herself as extremely grounded and practical, and while that's true, she's also a hopeless romantic.  But now...I don't know, I'm worry she may be starting to lose it or something.

39) Buso Renkin Vol 4 by Nobuhiro Watsuki-I maintain that this book came to be when Watsuki sat down with his editor and was told to make something like Bleach.  Which it's not as good as, much less Rurouni Kenshin.  Still, it is rather good and worth getting.  This volume mostly focused on the Hayasaka twins, and I'm glad things turned out well with them.  That said...what IS it with me and liking characters who like to disappear for multiple volumes?  You'd think I'd be used to it after Magatsu...first manga, first manga crush, favorite in Blade of the Immortal...sigh...

40) Pearl Pink Vol 1 by Meca Tanaka-This is a rather cute series.  I got it on a whim because my Basara wasn't in yet, and I'm glad I did.  For dorama fans, it reminds me a lot of It Started With A Kiss--if Xiang Qin were a tomboy and Zhi Shu were nicer to her and got stuck picking up hisd dad's porn from the bookstore all the time.  It's a very fun, light shojo and rather sweet.

(41) Basara Vol 22 by Yumi Tamura-"eyes long post from yesterday and spares flist*

meganbmoore: (Default)

(36) Something Sinful by Suzanne Enoch-This one reminded me of why I like this author's historical romances.  Intelligent heroine, nice(and intelligent) hero and lots of wit.  As always with Enoch, the history is far from perfect(but much better than many other authors) but not so off that it jars me, and my requirement is nothing that makes me go "wait...that's not right" as I'm reading, as opposed to when I think about it.  Now if we could just do something about

37) Hana Kimi Vol 16 by Hisaya Nakajo-The near-ultimate comfy cuddly read.  I seem to be becoming rather fond of Shin, he's kind of what you get when you toss Sano and Nakatsu in a pot and set it to stew.  This volume was pitifully lacking in Nanba, but they tried to compensate with Kagurazaka.  There wasn't much Umeda, either, but his scolding Nakatsu for freaking out of Mizuki getting a scrape and then fussing over it himself is worth a lot of mileage.

38) The Serpent of the Crown by Elizabeth Peters-Quite possibly my favorite novel series ever.  The only reason it took me so long to get to this book is because the PB edition is in that horribly "new and easier to read" format they tried out last year.  Which really sucks because it was hard to read more than 15-20 pages of this at a time.  Anyway, this book was as awesome as always, and I almost literally squealed when Sethos showed up.  That Margaret really needs to wise up and say yes the next time he proposes.  And I love that, as always, Ramses really is more like a younger and far more moral Sethos than he is like Emerson.  That said, I'm a little worried about Amelia. Yeah, a large part of the appeal to Amelia is that she sees herself as extremely grounded and practical, and while that's true, she's also a hopeless romantic.  But now...I don't know, I'm worry she may be starting to lose it or something.

39) Buso Renkin Vol 4 by Nobuhiro Watsuki-I maintain that this book came to be when Watsuki sat down with his editor and was told to make something like Bleach.  Which it's not as good as, much less Rurouni Kenshin.  Still, it is rather good and worth getting.  This volume mostly focused on the Hayasaka twins, and I'm glad things turned out well with them.  That said...what IS it with me and liking characters who like to disappear for multiple volumes?  You'd think I'd be used to it after Magatsu...first manga, first manga crush, favorite in Blade of the Immortal...sigh...

40) Pearl Pink Vol 1 by Meca Tanaka-This is a rather cute series.  I got it on a whim because my Basara wasn't in yet, and I'm glad I did.  For dorama fans, it reminds me a lot of It Started With A Kiss--if Xiang Qin were a tomboy and Zhi Shu were nicer to her and got stuck picking up hisd dad's porn from the bookstore all the time.  It's a very fun, light shojo and rather sweet.

(41) Basara Vol 22 by Yumi Tamura-"eyes long post from yesterday and spares flist*

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