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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I loved this book of essays and I kinda want to give it to everyone I know. If you pay attention at all to the feminist section of the interwebz there isn't very much in here that will be new to you but I do like her perspective and thoughts on issues. I think it was interesting to read her take on different subjects. Definitely recommend.
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
3.5-ish. This book is astute in pointing out problems in the world of sci fi and video games, where women (and other minorities) are often excluded. The essays, however, get quite repetitive by the end, don’t offer too much new information, and I didn’t feel like I learned anything coming out of this. It was more of an affirmation of my current views, which isn’t bad, but I hoped that perhaps it contained something that this current wave of trendy tumblr feminism didn’t have. It doesn’t.
I picked this book up at the library knowing nothing about it or the author - the title and description caught my eye. Based on that alone, the actual contents about this book were much different than what I expected - it was primarily about writing as a woman in science fiction. This was interesting, but not exactly what I had bargained for as I don't read much science fiction and am therefore clearly not the target audience. Hurley's insights are on point and I'm glad I found them, but might have enjoyed encountering them more through her blog or another outlet.
Very readable collection for essays. Kameron Hurley has an interesting life and interesting ideas and a great voice to talk about it all. The essays mostly center on writing and how to make it better, specifically by telling stories and giving voice to the many people who've never had it. A couple of them summarize some of the recent misogynist backlashes too--Gamergate and Sad/Rabid Puppies. Oh, and she also has has really interesting thoughts about how women's looks are criticized as a form of control and the dangers of playing into the game of trolls.
I had read a few of these before, which tends to happen when a writer I like puts out a collection, but the "new" ones and the old were both very good and very useful. Hurley continues to be one of the leaders of the movement to open up science fiction and fantasy to a wider range of futures, which should be the self-evident goal of any SFF writer, but shockingly isn't always. Her essays on persistence and her own story are a great complement to the ones that cover the industry as a whole and some of the less savory elements therein. Worth a read for anyone who loves our genres and wants them to live up to their possibilities.
This is an earnest collection of blog posts and various essays, ranging in topics from Hurley's experiences as an aspiring writer and a published one to critiques of various pieces of popular culture to calls to bust sexist/racist/etc. tropes in science fiction writing and awards. It's clear that Hurley is well-read in her field and that she has contributed quite a lot to ongoing conversations about reforming the types of stories we tell in genre fiction. The trouble I had with this collection, though, was that so many of the points seemed entry-level, but presented as novel--for example, that women can be more than passive damsels or loving caretakers. If you have been paying attention to internet conversations or exposed to feminism in any way, many of these ideas won't strike you as new, and unfortunately, the blog-post format doesn't allow Hurley to delve deeply into a topic. I wish these essays were fewer, longer, and deeper.
Nope.
Also... I hate to be so picky, but I wasn't happy to catch a spelling error on page 55, paragraph 2, sentence one -- it drove me nuts. Should be "in fact" instead of "it fact."
Finally, to the author... Let your work speak for itself. Don't tell the reader you're a good writer -- the reader gets to decide how good you are.
Also... I hate to be so picky, but I wasn't happy to catch a spelling error on page 55, paragraph 2, sentence one -- it drove me nuts. Should be "in fact" instead of "it fact."
Finally, to the author... Let your work speak for itself. Don't tell the reader you're a good writer -- the reader gets to decide how good you are.
Posted at Heradas
Terrific essays, a little repetitive in some spots, and slightly more sarcastic than I'm used to. But, great stuff nonetheless.
At the very least read 'We have always fought', the essays on Mad Max, Die Hard, and True Detective, as well as 'In Defense of Unlikeable Women'.
I've never read any Kameron Hurley fiction, but I would really like to after reading this. It sounds like she has a fantastic grasp on writing real, living, breathing characters. She also clearly understands—and opened my eyes to—the monumental power that storytellers have to change the world, and how our worldview is flavored and interpreted through the lens of fiction.
Terrific essays, a little repetitive in some spots, and slightly more sarcastic than I'm used to. But, great stuff nonetheless.
At the very least read 'We have always fought', the essays on Mad Max, Die Hard, and True Detective, as well as 'In Defense of Unlikeable Women'.
I've never read any Kameron Hurley fiction, but I would really like to after reading this. It sounds like she has a fantastic grasp on writing real, living, breathing characters. She also clearly understands—and opened my eyes to—the monumental power that storytellers have to change the world, and how our worldview is flavored and interpreted through the lens of fiction.