Reading

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Otakon licensing announcements

Discotek and AnimEigo both announced new licenses at this year's Otakon!

From Discotek we have...

Megaman (USA series)
Shin-chan (English dubbed version)
Urotsukidoji: Sequels of the Overfiend
Goldenboy
Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro redubbed
Sgt Frog: The Movies
Zegapain
Digimon Movies 406
Monster: The Complete Series
Higurashi: When They Cry Kai
Higurashi: When They Cry Rei
Project ARMS
Zone of the Enders: Complete Collection
New Aim for the Ace

...and toku series like Kamen Rider Amazon and Kikaider 01

From AnimEigo we have...

Hotori: Simply Wishing For Hope
Alien Nine

...and updates on their release of Looking for the Full Moon, a magical girl series that's intrigued me for a while now.

Sanders' young ladies' reader

Sanders' young ladies' reader : embracing a comprehensive course of instruction in the principles of rhetorical reading : with a choice collection of exercises in reading, both in prose and poetry, for the use of the higher female seminaries, as also, the higher classes in female schools generally by Charles W. Sanders

A selection of prose and poetry intended for elocution classes. Interesting, nowadays, chiefly for the selections choosing. With an eye to variety, the preface assures us, because they are intended for the young.

This one is, unlike the fourth and fifth readers, aimed specifically at girls. Which means a couple on the education of women and the necessity of its being for their whole lives, and not the flurry of society to win their husbands, and more female characters in the stories. It has a couple of selections that overlap with those readers.

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Recent Reading: Annihilation

Today I wrapped up Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, a horror/sci-fi novel with fantastical (?) elements about a biologist exploring a very unsettling landscape.

There are no names given in this book—the narrator and protagonist is simply "the Biologist," and she refers to her other three teammates by their job titles as well. Locations outside of the place they're exploring—Area X—are not given either, but the world is implied to be much the same as our own, with Area X a troubling and relatively recent anomaly. A private company hires the Biologist and her colleagues to venture into this strange place and take notes. They are the 12^th such expedition.

I appreciate that much of the horror in Annihilation isn't in-your-face: it's the slow build of things that are just off. This quiet and subtle approach means that when something extreme happens, it feels extreme. The Biologist and her colleagues know that Area X is dangerous before they venture in, but even so, they are unprepared for how and to what degree. VanderMeer's portrayal of how trust frays among relative strangers under these conditions felt realistic.

( Read more... )

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daily: check in

WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 8 -- Friday

Hello on Friday! Looking back at the day today -- or yesterday, if today hasn't gotten going yet -- how did it go?

- I thought about my fic once or twice
- I wrote
- I did some planning and/or research
- I edited
- I've sent my fic off to my beta
- I posted today!
- I'm taking a break
- I did something else that I'll talk about in a comment

Looking forward, how are you planning to spend your weekend?

- I'm going to make up for not writing all week by having a writing marathon
- I'm going to keep writing at my current rate and see how it goes
- I have other plans, but I might have time to get some writing in
- I'm going to take a break from writing

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daily: check in

WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 7 -- Thursday

Hello on Thursday! (Sorry for missing yesterday!) How are things going in the world of fic?

Did you write?

- Yes!
- No!
- Not yet!

If yes, what kind of writerly activity did you engage in? How do you feel about it?
If no, what were the obstacles/situations that affected your writerly pursuits? What will you do differently tomorrow to get more writing done?
If not yet, because the day hasn't gotten going yet, what kind of writing activity are you planning (or hoping) to accomplish?

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Recent Reading: The Dispossessed

"There was a wall. It did not look important. It was built of uncut rocks roughly mortared. An adult could look right over it, and even a child could climb it. Where it crossed the roadway, instead of having a gate it degenerated into mere geometry, a line, the idea of a boundary. But the idea was real. It was important. For seven generations there had been nothing more important than that wall."

I knew this book was going to hit hard from the opening paragraph above, and it did not disappoint. I've enjoyed Ursula Le Guin's work before--The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite books—and I absolutely see why The Dispossessed is considered one of her crowning pieces. The setting for this book is a planet and its moon—Urras, the planet, is a lush world not dissimilar from Earth, which is home to several capitalist countries and at least one socialist country; and Anarres, the moon, which is a dusty, resource-scanty place home to a society of anarchists who fled from Urras just under two hundred years ago. The core of the novel concerns Shevek, a theoretical physicist from Anarres who chooses to relocate to Urras.

Le Guin captures truly great sci-fi because this work is so imbued with curiosity. Le Guin is asking questions at the heart of any great sci-fi work: What defines humanity? What can we achieve, and how is it done, and what does that mean for society? What is society? What does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to be part of a whole? To me, sci-fi can't be truly sci-fi without a measure of philosophy, and The Dispossessed has this in droves.

( Read more... )

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Pinch hits at Casefic Exchange!

caseficexchange is looking for pinch hitters to fulfil requests that include anime and manga fandoms.

About the event: Casefic Exchange is a fanwork exchange focusing on investigations. These can be solving murders, retrieving stolen items, finding missing people, missions, and mysteries. As long as it has an investigation as its core theme, it fits with the exchange. We are an AO3 exchange; you must have an account and be 18+ to participate.

Minimum requirements: We allow three mediums: a minimum of 3,000 words for fanfiction, a minimum of 10 panels for a comic, or a recording of a completed fic of 3,000 words minimum with "casefic" as one of its tags. Works must include a fandom, character/ship and be of a medium that the recipient has requested.

Event link:

caseficexchange.
Pinch hit link: Current pinch hits.
Due date: Friday 22 August at 11:59pm EDT.

Available post-deadline pinch hits:

PH 13 (comic, fic) - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, A Girl Corrupted by the Internet is the Summoned Hero?!, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime) [ includes canon consumption tips]

Thank you for considering!