Tag Archives: Research

Twilight, Religion and Misogyny

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Cora

At The Hooded Utilitarian, there is a fascinating essay by Mette Ivie Harrison, herself a Mormon writer of YA fantasy, about how Twilight relates to Mormon beliefs. Found via Sherwood Smith, where she also shares some observations made during a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Women Writers, Women Characters and International Wom

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Cora

March 8 is international women’s day and also the birthday of a very dear friend of mine (scroll down past the flowers). Tonight I attended the book launch for Triangel by Elke Marion Weiß. I know Elke from her time … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who is afraid of the sparkly vampire?

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Cora

At the Guardian, Stuart Heritage complains that vampires, werewolves and zombies just plain aren’t scary anymore and blames Twilight. The list of complaints are things we’ve all heard a thousand times before. Vampires and werewolves are no longer scary these … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Predictable Urban Fantasy Bashing – the female edition

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Cora

In the SFF community, the neverending genre versus literary debate has given way to the equally persistent but not quite so enduring slugfest of “Let’s all bash urban fantasy, because it has relationships and – gasp – sex and is … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Book Haul, Romanheft Woes and the Demise of the Cheque

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Cora

Today, I was at the bank to pay a cheque into my account and had an “Okay, now how does this work again” moment, because I haven’t actually handled a cheque in ages. For something that used to be nigh … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Genre Nomenclatura

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Cora

Catherynne Valente explains why she doesn’t like the term “speculative fiction”. (Link found via Charles Tan) I don’t agree with her at all, because I find the term “speculative fiction” very useful. If we’re talking about works that are very … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Don’t write off vampires just yet!

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Cora

There has been some gleeful reaction to this USA Today article, which states that sales of vampire fiction have dropped compared to 2009. Never mind that the article is actually summing up a whole lot of trends, that Stieg Larsson … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Recently Read Books

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Cora

I’m really behind on discussing “recently read books”, since I already finished one and a half books since this one. Still, here it is: Steamed by Katie MacAlister This is exactly the sort of book that the recent Steampunk backlash … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Research | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

A Speculative Linkdump

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Cora

I’m pretty busy at the moment with a big translation job, so here’s yet another bunch of links, this time vaguely speculative fiction themed. Sheila Finch has a great post on fairytales, sexual taboos and animal shifters at the SFWA … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Links, Research | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Vampiric Poo

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Cora

On TV tonight, I came across 30 Days of Night. Now I haven’t been remotely interested in the film back when it was in the theatres. But since many people have named it as an example of “vampires done right” … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Research | Tagged , , | 3 Comments