Galactic Suburbia 20!!
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In which we talk World Fantasy, female editors, Joanna Russ, James Tiptree Jr, Connie Willis, Pat Murphy, and more World Fantasy – plus Alisa tells us off for not mentioning how awesome certain books actually are (we totally did).
News
World Fantasy Award winners!
Peter Tennant at Black Static looks at the stats for women being published in recent horror & dark fantasy anthologies; the Hathor Legacy compares representation of female authors in two recent horror anthols.
Cat Sparks is the new fiction editor of Cosmos, taking over from Damien Broderick.
Discussion on the lack of female editors in pro fantasy publications (read through the comments which raise many important points about the post).
Steampunkgate (yes, really):
Charles Stross criticises the “glut” of steampunk and calls it out at a subgenre;
Nisi Shawl talks about the literary side of steampunk just isn’t as diverse and interesting as the other aspects of steampunk… yet;
Catherynne Valente rants and then raves about steampunk;
Scott Westerfeld gets cranky about the steampunk haterz.
Small press turned imprint to publish line of multicultural SF/Fantasy for children.
Jeff VanderMeer reports on Amazon Best of SF/F lists for 2010.
What have we been reading/listening to?
Alex: Changeless, Gail Carriger; The Two of Them, Joanna Russ; Brightness Falls from the Air, James Tiptree Jr; Full Moon City, ed Darrell Schweitzer and Martin Greenberg; backlog of Tor.com (esp. AM Dellamonica’s “The Cage” and Robert Reed’s “The Next Invasion“) and Strange Horizons (esp. Sandra McDonald’s “Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots“).
Alisa: Fire Watch, Remake (both Connie Willis); White Cat by Holly Black; Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Tansy: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, NK Jemisin, Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell, by Pat Murphy.
Pet Subject
Capclave and World Fantasy Convention! Alex and Tansy interrogate Alisa about her trip away, her loot, her adventures and all the gossip.
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HTAA Conference seminars – day 2
*Well Done, Those Men, be Barry Heard (sp?), a Vietnam Veteran
*Sovereign Hill, Ballarat – doing authentic learning there. Suggested topics on the Sovereign Hill website.
Seminar 1
Catering for all Learners
*Definitions: Giftedness – the potential; possession of natural ability
Talent – the use; achievement/performance beyond expectations.
*History is like… a ladder
… a compost heap
… a mirror
Teaching is one quarter good preparation;
three quarters pure theatre.
HTAA Conference Keynote – day 2
Michael Caulfield, “Capturing History”
*In telling a story – any story – you decide what to include, and therefore what to exclude.
*For a doco on the Chinese PLA, they stole videotape from China. Is this legit??
*Was the ?producer/director of Australians at War Film Archive, which interviewed men and women who had participated in all theatres of war in living memory (basically). This archive is not censored by the producers. Some stuff is on embargo, at the request of the interviewee – say until their death, or that of someone else; very few actually did this. Also, current ADF interviewees not available for 15 years. The website has photos of the interviewee at the time of war service and at time of interview, as well as some of their own photos.
My take: I heard this exact same lecture at the national conference the year before. However, seeing the footage hadn’t grown old – it’s still affective, powerful, and really interesting basically. I’d love to use this in the classroom, but I’m not sure I’ll ever have the chance.
HTAA Conference Keynote – day 1
Usual caveat applies: my notes, from the History Teachers’ Association of Australia last year.
Peter Read, on “Murder, Ignorance and Reconciliation in the Nothern Territory”
1932: 4 Japanese fishers killed by Aborigines, on a reserve. What were the Japanese doing there, when only police, missionaries and protectorate people were meant to go there?! Near Groote Eylandt.
1933: two policemen sent to arrest the Aborigines who did this. One of them was killed. Large party of police planned for retribution (to arrest the Aborigines responsible); all whites were claimed to be in danger.
NB: there were already concerns at this stage down south and even in London about frontier police, laws and judges being unjust.
*There was a huge backlash at the idea of this police party from many different protest groups. As a result, the police party is not sent.
*Missios sent to find out who killed the Japanese and Dhakiyarr, who was said to have killed McColl (the policeman), and convince them to go to Darwin. They arrive in 1934.
1934: Dhakiyarr and others are arrested. Two Aborigines claimed
to have Dhakiyarr’s confession, although they are conflicted – one said McColl was killed because he attempted to rape D’s wife, the other doesn’t mention it. Journos self-censor ad refuse to mention this bit; judge not happy at impugning of police reputation.
There’s a 3-day trial. Ends in death sentence, within 28 days. This is extended; lots of protests at it. Appeal to High Court by Chief Protector (eventually), with 24 reasons.
*D was eventually set free by the High Court, because no jury could now be found that was not biased. Was meant to be returned to his country.
*The day after this, D was put into the half-caste compound in Fannie Bay, part of Darwin… and then he disappeared. Was presumed to have gone bush. There are rumours today that he was killed by police, but there is NO mention in the archives of this idea.
2002: A letter from D’s grandsons was sent to the Chief Minister of the NT, revealing their sorrow at not having had a funeral ceremony. They then did have a ceremony – a funeral and a cleansing of those involved, including McColl’s family.
*They told the story they knew: D and family went to their island; police group landed there and chained up the women (who were possibly out foraging), made them take them to the men. D saw this, and he speared McColl – the leader.
* Why was D so worried about the consequences of the killing of the Japanese fishers? Because 21 years before this, in D’s mother’s country, police had killed several Aborigines because of the mistaken belief that they had killed a geologist.
**You need to see the big picture, to see the little picture.
My take: I really enjoyed this lecture. Despite having grown up in Darwin, I have never heard about Dhakiyarr before. Illuminating.
Randomly Yours, Alex 