Obama on Ray Bradbury

This might be why I like the man so much.

President Obama had this to say about Ray Bradbury's death:

His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. For many Americans, the news of Ray Bradbury's death immediately brought to mind images from his work, imprinted in our minds, often from a young age. His gift for storytelling reshaped our culture and expanded our world. But Ray also understood that our imaginations could be used as a tool for better understanding, a vehicle for change, and an expression of our most cherished values. There is no doubt that Ray will continue to inspire many more generations with his writing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

Your Feminist Avengers Post 5: Ms. Marvel

And...this is the last of these posts that I'll be doing for a while, as I wanted to do posts up to the contemporaries of the Black Widow, to illustrate which female Avengers might be good film candidates. That said, given the surprising popularity of the series, maybe if I have time, eventually I will return to the series.

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Please note Ms. Marvel's name. She is one of the first Marvel characters with a liberated name. In an age of the Invisible Girl or Marvel Girl, Ms. Marvel emerges as a mod character.(Note the two incarnations of her outfit: the oldest on the right, a little damaged, and the newest on the left.)

Her origin is equally progressive. Carol Danvers was a member of the United States Air Force, already a woman with a career. Through an interesting accident, her human DNA was merged with Kree DNA and she gets her super powers. She has a solid super hero career in the 70s, working with the Avengers in several encounters.

Things go south in the 80s. I don't know if the guys at Marvel just couldn't handle a strong, together woman, so they essentially had her brainwashed, seduced and impregnated, essentially raped against her will by a character called Marcus. The truly appalling part of this is that all the Avengers characters let her go when she told them this was what she wanted, in spite of its contrariness to past behavior.

Chris Claremont uses Danvers as a plot device. She returns to Earth after Marcus dies of old age and promptly has her powers absorbed by the mutant Rogue. Professor Xavier restores her memories, and Ms. Marvel rebukes the Avengers for their role in her rape.

And then Danvers becomes Binary because of Brood experimentation. Eventually Danvers reverts to her Ms. Marvel powers. She calls herself Warbird for a bit and rejoins the Avengers, but has some issues with alcohol. Hell, I should think so! She goes through a comics phase as an active conservative supporting the Mutant Registration Act. When that all blows over, she returns to the Avengers, and pretty much most of her troubled past is glossed over as Marvel returns her to her strong woman roots.

Ms. Marvel would be an AWESOME addition to the Avengers films. She is an unapologetic strong woman with immense powers and a sense of duty. Not always the most likeable character, she is nevertheless a hero who is consistent in doing the "right thing." She'd round out the team nicely.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

The Wiscon Wrap-Up Post

I was on two panels at Wiscon myself: Baba Yaga and Other Retired/Secret Goddesses and Newly Professional Older Writers: What Helps, What Hinders.

Of the Baba Yaga Panel: We really had some good participation. One of our audience members turned out to be a Russian scholar who knew a great deal about BY. I handled the academic angle with references to stories and the variants. Will Alexander talked about his thoughts, since he had used BY as a character in a recent book. Georgie Shnobrich told several BY stories. We were all wrangled adeptly by Delia Sherman. I am, alas, not the person to post notes from this panel, as I was on it.

Similarly, of the Newly Older Professional Writers Panel: This was more of a discussion than a panel, which was a good thing. The panelists ranged from insecure about this issue to talk about how they had perhaps a false confidence, since they were used to being competent. Pluses and minuses of the older writer were talked about. On the plus side, we have more experience and have practiced professionalism. Coming to writing later often means our income is more stable as well. Negatively, we can't party as hard or last as long. David Levine suggested that what older writers need to learn is different from what younger writers in general need to learn. Sure.

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Then, there was the sign out. I enjoyed it immensely. Caroline was kind enough to save me a spot, and lots of people stopped by to chat. I find it very easy to do that kind of thing. The hard part, I suppose, is writing and selling books.

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Thanks to all who made this year's Wiscon an enjoyable experience. No, Governor Walker does not get kudos.

So...that finishes the two things I've been working on before Taos. I think, for the next two weeks, you'll be getting Taos stuff. See you at 10,000 feet.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.