• As you can see, I’ve returned to the old Super Catherine layout idea, although with some tweaks – mainly to make it a two-column one.
• I’ve also been working on a brand new novel (the first part of a planned trilogy) in the vein of shows like Roswell and The Vampire Diaries. However the comparison to the former – especially when combined with the main couple being compared to Michael and Maria – often leaves people a bit confused. As such I have been introducing many people to the show and being antsy while I wait for DVDs. I have had to make do with music videos.
• While on my Roswell kick, I discovered this thing where people make credits for shows in the styles of others. For example, here’s the Roswell opening in the styles of Charmed, Alias, Stargate SG1 and The OC. And in the style of Roswell we have Buffy, Doctor Who and Charmed. And last but not least, we have Supernatural in the styles of Charmed and Friends. I don’t know about you, but I’d watch that second show.
• I am about half-way through A Game of Thrones. I have yet to watch the show and will do so once I’m through the books (I have the box set which is up until A Feast for Crows) but I am happy to say that I am now able to understand at least a few of the references people have been making.
• I found this post by Giraffe Days which showcases YA cover trends. So many solemn white girls in prom dresses – it’s no wonder I keep forgetting what book it is I’m meant to be looking for, as it gets lost in a sea of similar covers.
• I am wishing I had a tablet and have been drooling over the Samsung Galaxy Tab in particular. Maybe if I save up a lot I’ll be able to get myself one before NaNo.
• Speaking of NaNo, I haven’t made my decision of what story to write. So far there are two main contenders: a witch story vs an aliens story.

And that’s pretty much it, I’m afraid. Until next time!

Covers That Change the Genre and/or Gender

For me the best cover songs are ones that the cover artist makes their own, and right now I’m listening to a couple of classical crossover artists covering pop/rock/whatever songs. Whether it’s Josh Groban covering Linkin Park or Katherine Jenkins covering Evanescence, it adds a new aspect to the song not to mention it’s great for writing/character playlists.

Superhero Novels

I love superheroes. I love novels. Sometimes these two great tastes can be found together. A couple I have read:

• The Rise of Renegade X – Chelsea M. Campbell
• Hero – Perry Moore
• Soon I Will Be Invincible – Austin Grossman
• After The Golden Age – Carrie Vaughn

There are more out there: I am looking forward to reading the Masked anthology in particular.

Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You

I don’t really read a lot of stuff that’s pure romance, but Kimi Ni Todoke is my major exception. This manga is frustrating in all the right ways – most importantly the part where I eagerly gobble a volume down only to be very upset that I don’t have the next one on me right now.

My eReader

Reasons why I love my ereader:

• It saves on space.
• Books are cheaper.
• Some books are free!
• I don’t have to limit my options when it comes to travelling. TAKE ALL THE BOOKS!
• I can borrow books from the library without leaving the house. And because I have a passport I can borrow books from the Singapore Library as well!
• It’s light and I never have to worry about bookmarks – which is great if I want to read something like The Passage.

My New Layout

Finally I have broken away from the traditional style and this is the result.

Today’s focus: a pile of links related to women and comics. This is by no means a spam to all possible links; these are just the ones that I have been reading recently.

Websites

• Girl-Wonder.org – home to (the archive of) Project Girl Wonder
• Women In Refrigerators
• Womanthology – an anthology just with female creators
• Women In Comics Wiki
• Girls Read Comics Too

Tumblrs

• Ladies Making Comics
• No More Invisible Girls
• DC Women Kicking Ass
• Girls Love Superheroes – girls proudly showing off their love for superheroes
• Women Read Comics In Public
• Boobs Don’t Work That Way – includes anime/manga examples as well as superhero comics

Individual Posts

• How Sexism Operates in Comics
• The Women Men Won’t See – one woman’s post about her experiences in comic book stores results in several pages of comments of similar tales
• An Interview With The Batgirl of San Diego

Feel free to share your own favourite links!

“Women are not fans of superhero comics for the same reason men are not fans of romance novels… because they aren’t.” [Source]

“You know who the main target audience for super hero comics are? Fans of super hero comics.” [Source]

It’s not a new attitude – comics are for boys, no girls allowed, girls don’t like comics so why bother listening to them? – but it’s a big issue that has bubbled to the surface once again in the wake of events of the recent San Diego Comic Con.

It was there that a number of people – including the now e-famous “Batgirl of San Diego” – questioned the role (or lack thereof) of women in the new DC Universe. Some of the questions asked included:

• Why were there so few female characters in prominent roles?
• Why did the number of women creators drop from 12% to just 1%?
• Were DC committed to hiring more women?
• What the hell has happened to Harley Quinn’s outfit?¹

Okay, so the last question wasn’t one of the big three, but the internet has been asking it and it’s indicative of the problem we’re trying to talk about. And when we do try to talk about it we’re shouted down and booed, called bullies, told we’re not the target audience – basically, our opinion just doesn’t matter.

There are two main “reasons” I see given as to why comics aren’t “for girls”:

1. Girls don’t read comics/like sequential art stories: Yes, that is exactly why shojo manga doesn’t exist. Nope, doesn’t exist at all. Oh, and all those graphic novel adaptations/spin-offs of YA novels? They don’t exist either. After all, girls don’t like graphic novels and who would know better about what teen girls are not buying than publishers of YA?
2. Girls don’t like superheroes: All the money superhero movies made? Came from dudes. Only men watched Lois and Clark and Smallville. Girls don’t argue over who gets to be who when they play Powerpuff Girls. Women don’t write novels about superheroes, like After The Golden Age and The Rise of Renegade X.

So when girls buy superhero comics, write/draw superhero comics, watch comic book movies, are massive fans of the DC Animated Universe, cosplay as characters from superhero comics and speak up at conventions about what has happened to their favourite characters, how can you still say that girls don’t like superhero comics?

The interest – current and potential – is out there. There are a lot of women out there who would – and already do – spend a lot of money on comics. Create stuff that would appeal to girls and women, and market it in places where they will see it². Stop putting female characters in outfits that are just underwear and a weapon and killing them off to push a male character’s story forward.

Give us a a book where Stargirl and Cyclone travel the world having awesome superhero adventures. Have Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown team-up and kick massive amounts of butt. When someone pitches something like Lois Lane, Girl Reporter³ think about how many new fans it could bring in by acting as a stepping-stone.

We’re ready and waiting. And do you know why? Because GIRLS LOVE SUPERHEROES.

1. Seriously. What the hell? Harley Classic: Sexy yet goofy. New Harley: “How the hell does that even stay on? She’s a gymnast – what will happen when she does a backflip?”
2. Places beyond the local comic book store. Try the YA section of every bookstore with one. Try hitting up the YA bloggosphere and get these girls and women to spread it around for you.
3. I am so seriously saddened that this is not happening. It looked awesome.

Looking at IM rants today to/from mythologiced about a movie that is coming out this year, apparently not.

The thing is a lot of changes these movies make are just unnecessary and out of the blue. Look at Immortals: the movie is about Theseus opposing a king of Crete, so why Phaedra and not Ariadne? Why this King Hyperion instead of King Minos? And that’s just barely scratching the surface with this one.

Yeah, I know that Greek myth has many versions of the same story and that the timelines are forever out of sync with what is reasonable. But this isn’t picking one variant of the story – this isn’t even Euripides with his AU fanfics, complete with author’s note at the front explaining how it’s an AU.

Why can’t there be something that isn’t just… utter crap?

I’m aware that I am behind on NaNo, but I am not bothered by this at all. Last year I only reached 25 000 words in the entire month, so being nearly there in just over half that time makes me feel really really good about myself. I wrote about 2000 words yesterday, which helped catch up a little.

In other news, I got a $10 discount voucher from MightyApe to use for my birthday. I promptly pre-ordered The Vampire Diaries on DVD. I got up to about episode seven, then missed about four and it just became a hassle trying to catch up. With about two months until release at the time, I just decided to wait for the box set and watch it all then. Woo.

The episode I have just watched is “A Lighthouse In A Sea Of Time”, a very special episode about the importance of literacy. Unlike a lot of other VSEs though, “A Lighthouse In A Sea Of Time” (and the episode “Deadly Force”, about dangers of improper use of guns and the importance of respect and proper care of them) doesn’t come across as preachy, and as well as getting their message across they are also used as springboards for character development.

And if nothing else, “A Lighthouse In A Sea Of Time” gives us the following quote at the end, in-story as the forward of a novel a guest (and eventually recurring) character begins to write:

The written word is all that stands between memory and oblivion. Without books as our anchors, we are cast adrift, neither teaching nor learning. They are windows on the past, mirrors on the present, and prisms reflecting all possible futures. Books are lighthouses, erected in the dark sea of time.

If books are the lighthouses, then those of us who write are the lighthouse keepers. I don’t know about you, but I quite like that idea.

What I have also been up to, besides working on The Circled Green, is making playlists. Helps me organise my thoughts a lot, which is cool. Right now the character focus has been on Lauren, and here’s one of the songs.

It’s Vampire by Xandria.

So would you kiss the sun goodbye
And give your life to never die?

That is the way I feel about The Vampire Waltz by Hannah Fury. Gorgeous and dark, especially the lyrics.