Galactic Suburbia’s Joanna Russ Tribute Show
We started talking about doing a Joanna Russ Spoilerific episode just after she died, in April, and here it is! We discuss Russ’ non-fiction polemic How to Suppress Women’s Writing, her novel The Female Man, and the short story “When it Changed.” We also discuss whether the issues confronted are still relevant today, and some of the problems we have with these works. All in a spirit of love and respect, of course, and attempting to overcome our feelings of inadequacy and terror in the face of the mighty Joanna….
You can get the episode from iTunes, or download it from Galactic Suburbia. Do leave us a review on iTunes, or email your comments to galacticsuburbia @ gmail . com !
Galactic Suburbia 35!
In which “best” becomes “superior,” Pottermore is Pottermeh, one of us wins all the awards, and we visit/revisit classic non-hard works of SF and Fantasy by Bujold, Willis and Pratchett (with bonus Russian fairytales by Valente). We can be got from iTunes or streamed from Galactic Suburbia.
News
Pottermore announcement to be made during our podcast…
Theodore Sturgeon finalists.
David Gemmell Awards…
NatCon professional guests for next year are Kelly Link and Alison Goodman.
Sidewise Awards finalists.
Translation Awards winners.
Coode Street Horror Special with Stoker winners Datlow & Straub.
Gender Spotting Tool. Alisa’s verdict: Naff.
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Alisa: Connie Willis’ Passage in progress, the next 3 Twelve Planets.
Alex: so much Bujold (Cordelia’s Honorand Young Miles omnibuses… omnibi… whatever), Fly by Night, Frances Hardinge, Red Glove, Holly Black. Series 2 of V (reboot)
Tansy: Deathless, Catherynne Valente; I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett; Wyrd Sisters audiobook, Terry Pratchett/Celia Imrie.
Next Fortnight: Galactic Suburbia’s Spoilerific Book Club Presents: Joanna Russ. Reading How to Suppress Women’s Writing, The Female Man, “When It Changed.”
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Suburbia 34
In which we surf the wave of feminist SF news that has deluged the internet this fortnight, plus Margaret Brundage, why YA books are allowed to be as dark as they want to be, the Tiptree Award, Connie Willis, were-thylacines, Ted Chiang and Alex finally discovers Bujold… You can download us from iTunes, or download/stream from Galactic Suburbia.
News
Nicola Griffith on the m/f imbalance in an informal SF favourites poll in the Guardian.
The Guardian: Damien Walter, author of the poll & followup articles revises his comments in response to Griffith.
Niall Harrison follows up on Strange Horizons.
Cheryl Morgan on invisibility of women (some really interesting discussion in the comments, too).
The Guardian again, asking with wide innocent eyes if SF is inherently sexist.
Ian Sales announces the SF Mistressworks blog project.
Nicola Griffith asks you to take the Joanna Russ pledge.
Gwyneth Jones, Karen Traviss & Farah Mendlesohn talk on the radio about the perception of women in British SF. Transcript.
MK Hobson on the term ‘bustlepunk’ and why there is a place for a domestic sub-genre of steampunk; follow up post on the assumptions made about works coded ‘female’ .
2011 Chesley Award Finalists; Cheryl Morgan on female & trans artists.
Nine Reasons Women Don’t Edit Wikipedia (interesting in light of the recent spout of incidents we’ve watched, notably the one with Nick Mamatas where winning World Fantasy Award was considered too regional to be significant).
Wall Street Journal on YA fiction.
Change to the Norma eligibility guidelines.
Why Galactic Suburbia T-shirts are no longer available through RedBubble.
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Tansy: Thyla, Kate Gordon; Will Supervillains Be on the Final? Naomi Novik
Alisa: Coode St Podcast with Ellen Klages, Eileen Gunn and Geoff Ryman; Connie Willis – Even the Queen; Octavia Butler – Bloodchild
Alex: Chill, and Grail, Elizabeth Bear; The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang; Welcome to the Greenhouse, Gordon van Gelder; Steampunk! Kelly Link and Gavin Grant.
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Sububria 33!
In which we wax lyrical about awards, short stories and the love of reading. Because it’s that time of year! You can download us from iTunes, or get us at Galactic Suburbia.
News
Aurealis Awards and Ceremony!
Aqueduct links to 25 commemorations of Joanna Russ
New podcast – How I got my Boyfriend to Read Comics
Last Short Story is on Twitter @lastshortstory
New Galactic Chat: Kirstyn McDermott
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Tansy: The Shattering, Karen Healey
Alex: The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss; How to Suppress Women’s Writing, Joanna Russ; Welcome to Bordertown, Ellen Kushner and Terri Windling; finished Stargate SG1 for the second time.
Alisa: Ken Liu’s Paper Menagerie (F&SF March/April), Joanna Russ’s We Who Are About To
Pet Subject: Last Short Story 2011
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Suburbia 32
(It’s now older than me!) (just)
On Joanna Russ: some reminiscences (and here), and Samuel Delaney’s interview with her (transcript only).
Alisa: Madigan Mine, Kirstyn McDermott, Fringe Season 3
Alex: Deep State, Walter Jon Williams; Shattered City, and Love and Romanpunk, Tansy Rayner Roberts; Pushing Ice, Alastair Reynolds; Troubletwisters, Garth Nix and Sean Williams.
Tansy: Doctor Who & Big Finish audio plays (The Eighth Doctor Adventures).============
Announcing upcoming Spoilerific Book Club on Joanna Russ with particular focus on The Female Man, How To Suppress Women’s Writing and short story “When it Changed.” Read along with us!
Galactic Chat interviews Glenda Larke
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Suburbia 29!
Diana Wynne Jones passed away.
Strange Horizons: dealing with the low numbers of female reviewers.
The Age on the poor numbers of women’s work being reviewed (in the literary “mainstream”), and coverage of a panel on the gender disparity, again in the mainstream.
Prometheus Awards nominees, from the Libertarian Futurist Society.
Authors, editors, and controversy: Running Press, Tricia Telep and Jessica Verday (links not necessarily linked to individuals).
Livejournal not so live this week.
Galactic Suburbia 28
News
Lambda Awards
Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses the business of being an author
Woman wins award, man gets attention
Ian Sales’ SF Mistressworks & starts the SF Mistressworks meme
Hugo reminder: get your nominations in!
Galactic Chat
T SHIRTS
Tiptree!!
Feedback
Competition open for another fortnight – keep sending in entries! Email us with fave GS moment and what cake you ate.
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Tansy: Burn Bright, by Marianne de Pierres; Laid (ABC TV)
Alisa: Star Trek Enterprise Season 4, Fringe eps 11 -13,
Alex: Genesis, by Bernard Beckett; Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds; Version 43, Philip Palmer (abandoned)… Battlestar Galactica
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Suburbia: the birthday episode
A Galactic Suburbs CAKE (for the ingredients)
The First Rule about the YA Mafia is that you don’t talk about the YA Mafia:
http://blackholly.livejournal.com/148264.html
http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2011/03/03/ya-mafias-other-things-you-dont-need-to-worry-about/
http://gwendabond.typepad.com/bondgirl/2011/03/secret-cabals-are-overrated.html
http://karenhealey.livejournal.com/925514.html
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/03/04/dear-new-writer-im-sorry-i-dont-have-time-to-crush-you
http://allycarter.abeedoo.com/blog/cliques-and-cabals
The conversation is starting to turn into something else, which is more about the power writers do/do not have to help or hinder each other’s careers.
http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/182357.html
Gender bias at Midnight Echo.
Tiptree Book Club begins with Maureen McHugh’s “Useless Things”.
Announcing Galactic Chat.
Competition: tell us your favourite moment of GS from the last year and win a book!
(Glitter Rose, signed by Marianne de Pierres (limited print run hard copy)
Bold as Love, by Gwyneth Jones
Siren Beat/Roadkill by Tansy (and Rob Shearman))
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Alex: Darkship Thieves, Sarah Hoyt; Betrayer of Worlds, Larry Niven and Edward M Lerner (to be reviewed at Dreams and Speculation)
Tansy: Running Through Corridors, Robert Shearman & Toby Hadoke
Alisa: TED Talks and general update
Pet Subject
What has been a highlight of the year for us?
Has it been what we expected?
Have we achieved what we wanted to achieve? (What did we want to achieve?)
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Galactic Suburbia 26!
In which Tansy and Alex soldier on womanfully without their lost comrade, to catch up on three weeks of publishing news, the Nebulas, books, books, and more books, and tackle the crunchy pet subject of Australian SFF Publishing in its entirety: how do Australian specfic readers get their books? Who publishes them and how do we buy them? (Realised too late this is a pretty massive topic – please email us to tell us what we got wrong and what we left out!) We can be downloaded or streamed from Galactic Suburbia, or through iTunes.
News
Bitchgate round up; also a Scott Westerfeld interview on the topic.
LJ Smith, author of bestselling 20 year book series The Vampire Diaries fired by her publisher, who will hire a new writer to continue the books.
Interesting post by Tobias Buckell on ebooks (love the bit where he zooms out on the graph).
Borders and Angus and Robertson go into receivership.
RIP Nicholas Courtney!
What Culture Have we Consumed?
Alex: Life, Gwyneth Jones; The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin; Revelation Space, and Chasm City, Alastair Reynolds
Tansy: Debris (due Autumn (?) 2011) by Jo Anderton;
The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, Kim Newman; Across the Universe, by Beth Revis.
Pet Subject: How do Australians Buy SpecFic Books?
This comes from a request by Niall Harrison to learn about the other side of Aussie specfic – the mainstream/Big Name Publishers, how Australians buy books, etc.
Big Name Australian Publishers (who handle SFF)
HarperCollins Voyager
Hachette Livre/Orbit (incl Gollancz, Picador, Little Brown etc)
Allen & Unwin
Random House
Pan Macmillan
The Cost of Australian Books/Australian editions – GST, the fight against parallel importation.
Chain Stores – Borders, Big W, Collins, ABC, Dymocks, Angus & Robertson (Borders & A&R now in receivership but not all shops company owned – many will close)
Online Shopping – local and overseas (Amazon, Book Depository, Fishpond, BetterWorldBooks)
Indie/SFF Specialist Bookshops
Hobart: Ellison Hawker
Melbourne: Minotaur and Swords and Sorcery (Reader’s Feast also has a well-picked if smallish selection).
Perth: Planet and Fantastic Planet, White Dwarf and a few more new and not so new
Sydney: Galaxy, Infinitas
Brisbane: Pulp Fiction Books
(who did we forget? Tell us!)
Feedback: Tehani from Perth, Cat from Wollongong & Shane from Redfern.
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
A quarter-century of Galactic Suburbia
In which we hit and run the Locus Recommended Reading List, tackle e-books and piracy, and delve into the knotty issue of religion in science fiction. You can download or stream us at Galactic Suburbia, or subscribe to us on iTunes.
News
Locus Recommended Reading List – hot off the press!
Philip K Dick shortlist.
First annual Geek Girl Con in Seattle.
Cloud-delivered ebooks from Readings/SPUNC; comments from Benjamin Solah; and a response to comments on the internet about the cloud publishing.
Discussion of ebook piracy: Jim Hines found out the world is not the USA and the rest of the world does not experience publishing nor this ebook revolution apace with the USA. (Hines’ original post here). Charles Tan responds; Karen Healey says I was wrong and I’m sorry.
Weird Tales revamp (new website; pay rate to 5 cents per word; and implemented a new submissions portal for potential contributors).
Feedback (we love feedback)
Sean, Thoraiya, Niall
Pet Subject
The place of religion in science fiction. A Jew, a Christian, and a lapsed pagan discuss.
Modern religions, made up religions, machine religions… or no religions? What place can/does/should religion play in sf?
Jo Walton on religion in SF!
“There’s the kind of SF where the writer is themselves a member of some religion and this imbues their writing… .
Secondly, there’s theological SF… where the writer rigorously extrapolates science fictionally the consequences of some religious dogma being true. …
Thirdly, there’s the story as analogy thing… .
Fourthly, there’s using the way religions have worked in history and extrapolating that into the future.”
Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Randomly Yours, Alex 