Midweek Link Love: Seen. Read. Heard.

Photo by JMC Photos via Flickr

Seen:

As much as I love the dynamic duo Abbie Miller & Ichabod Crane, I may have finally given Sleepy Hollow the boot. And lest you think I’m a Abbibod ‘shipper let’s just sort that business right away: X-Files aside, I prefer a good onscreen male/female platonic relationship (it’s not all about bumpin uglies, people!) I scream and flail every time Elementary seems to veer toward a Holmes and Watson hookup (and I’m not talking Mycroft). My beef with SH is that I tend to binge watch shows, and SH just doesn’t hold up to that level of scrutiny. I can’t identify a single moment – maybe the third or fourth time zombie John Cho wanders in with some message from Memnoch only to “disappear mysteriously” – but 3/4 of the way through season 1 I kind of tossed up my hands and decided to find something else to roll my eyes at. Maybe it’s the production value (a network show with abundant historical flashbacks seems a shoe-in for budgetary restraints) or the kind of loopy Apocalyptic plotline, but I’m not sure I’ll be back for the rest of season 1, and I’m certainly not panting after the “much awaited” season 2.

Rant over.

Anyway, I took a chance on the pilot of  Penny Dreadful which turned out to be moody, historical and oh so richly shot. Every scene feels decadent, and if you can take your eyes off Eva Green when she enters a room all broody and elegant, more power to you. The pilot plot seems a bit all over the place – LXG meets Mary Reilly? – but I hit my “I believe” button early on, so we’ll see if it proves me wrong later. I hate waiting every week, so I’ll probably allow a few of them to spool out before I binge myself silly.

In the meantime, Hannibal just finaled (is that a word?), so I’m returning to my favorite cannibalistic serial killer before the inevitable spoiler makes it past my radar. Hannibal is a show on which I HAVE to binge, and unlike other shows can’t even pretend to be doing something else while I watch it. Of course, it means a couple of nights worth of really vivid, icky dreams, but seeing Lecter and Graham face off is totally worth it.

And in a real change of gears, I watched DamNation at this years SIFF. If you’e looking for a totally objective critique of dam efficacy, this movie probably isn’t it.  However, having rowed “Snake Lake” (Snake River below Hell’s Canyon dam) a time or two, I witnessed the effect of  dams on our waterways and knowing so many of them are largely ineffective is heartbreaking. It’s beautifully shot, utterly moving, and, at times, hilarious. Of course, it helped that I was watching it in the region that is arguably the home of the damn removal movement. It’s an unabashed homage to that movement, and worth a look.

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Read:

First, let’s just get this out-of-the-way. If you haven’t been to twitter yet and check out the #yesallwomen hashtag, go ahead. I’ll wait. (If you’re male, turn off your gut reaction “but not me!” response and just read a few. This isn’t about you. We know you’re not all bad guys, trust me. But trust us, all women have been there, in one way or the other.) Now you’re  heartbroken, moved, angry and/or outraged, and dudes (especially) if you’re looking for what to do about it, go here and here.

Also, there’s a lot going on in the SFF community about diversity. I often remain silent because frankly an abundance of melanin does not equate to an abundance eloquence on the topic. What I know about the importance of diversity in fiction I know in my heart, and in my own experience. That doesn’t always translate well into words. One might argue that as a writer, that’s my challenge. The truth is I’m not there yet. Thankfully there are others out there who are speaking my heart, even if I can’t yet find the words. Start on Twitter with  and then for as specific slant into the conversation in genre, check out Vandana Sing’s Musings on Diversity in SF.

Now.

I’ve been catching up on some of the DSF stories piling up in my inbox. A total joy to read Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s “Solstice Cakes” which brought to my mind her novel A Fistful of Sky.  A master of the identity shaping power of family dynamics via love and pain, Hoffman found a characteristic sweetness without falling to saccharine, and a deft emotional punch.

Yay for finishing novels I started six months ago. Not sure why Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora got abandoned, but I was feeling icky this weekend and needed something to read (Calgon take me away style) when I discovered the partially read Lies on my Kindle. I backtracked a few chapters to catch up then it was off to the races. It’s Oceans Eleven meets Usual Suspects in a dark fantasy version of Venice. Con artist Locke Lamora heads up the Gentlemen Bastards and just like tumblers in a lock one thing springs another until Locke is in WAY over his head. And that’s when things get fun/interesting/deadly. What I loved most about the world building though was the range of characterization. Although Locke and his crew are all male, the story features a surprisingly well written assortment of female characters – allies, adversaries, marks and otherwise. Special kudos to a dark fantasy where rape isn’t the go-to threat to every female character (or backstory for female warriors of note). It was utterly refreshing. I hear the second book ups the ante in that department. It’s on my list.

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Heard (and also seen):

News that Maya Angelou passed away hit me hard today. Early on her writing (poetry and memoir) rattled me as a young writer. She had an incredible life, full of plot twists to strange to be fiction, and touched the world with her mastery of words.   Listening to/watching  “And Still I Rise,” was a balm for the ache of her loss.

Keep risin’ Dr. Angelou, keep risin’.

 

That is all. See you next week.