Jan 08 2009

Ilario: the lion’s eye

Published by Fence under Books

Image of IlarioAuthor: Mary Gentle
ISBN: 9780575080416 DDC: 823.914
LibraryThing ; Delicious links

We are so often a disappointment to the parents who abandon us.

This is a return to the world of Mary Gentle’s alternate world of mercenary captain Ash[1] although this book is set in a different part of the world and 50 years earlier, there is no need to have read one to read the other. I’m a big fan of Ash, and this is very similar in feel, although it doesn’t have the alternate narrators or indeed the flashing between the past and the present. But the idea of a central character who doesn’t fit in their society, who is trying to be themselves even if they don’t really know who they are.

Continue Reading »

Linknotes:
  1. which I may now reread…
Tags: 1400s, 1428, 8 Stars, 823.914, alternate history, C15th, carthage, fantasy, feminism, gender, gender confusion, Ilario, Ilario: the lion's eye, Mary Gentle, politics - gender, sff

Related posts

No responses yet

Sep 16 2007

Tamir Triad

Published by Fence under Books

Author: Lynn Flewelling

  1. The Bone Doll’s Twin
  2. The Hidden Warrior
  3. The Oracle’s Queen

DDC: Read with FantasyFavorites and FFSeries
See also: Lynn Flewelling’s LJ ; What we read ; Voracious Reader

As always the problem with reviewing a series of books is that you might give away plot points by accident, so I’m not really going to mention the plot at all.

Image of The Oracle's QueenIn many ways this is fairly typical “epic” fantasy. We have a chosen one prophesied to save the world. Or at least on country. Evil usurpers in power not the rightful monarch. And of course the quest to regain the throne. But despite that aspect is actually quite a good read. Flewelling has her own twist on the cliché that makes it much more entertaining and interesting than others that follow the same general plot. Plus her characters actually have shades of grey, not just the black and white that makes going into battle against the evil ones so much easier for our heroes.

I really liked the gender twist. And the problems that Tobin/Tamir faced were well-written. Plus it made for a fresh take on the whole romance side of the book. But overall none of the characters really leapt off the page for me.

I was interested, but never really gripped by the plot either, so I’d have to say that it was an average enough read. Nothing I’d recommend to anyone.

Tags: 823.914, battle, ffseries, gender, group read, Lynn Flewelling, magic, series, sff, Tamir Triad, The Bone Doll’s Twin, The Hidden Warrior, The Oracle’s Queen, War, witch

Related posts

No responses yet

Mar 23 2007

Does anyone know where I get my drugs?

Published by Fence under Ramblings

We’ll begin with the vague; this morning, or possibly last night[1] there was an ad on the radio. This of course is not a rare occurrence. There are many radios in the world, and usually they have ads. Every 15 minutes or so seems to be standard. But, getting specific here, I’m referring to a particular ad that I heard. It was a Cadbury ad.[2] but I’m not sure exactly what it was for[3] although it did mention Creme Eggs[4] and something else. Cow related[5] so possibly[6] Dairymilk related. Then again, possibly not.

Whatever the products mentioned, they were advertising some product of some description, but that isn’t important. What is important is the method of advertising. See they were going on about the love affair between the Creme Egg producing chicken and the the creamy milk producing cow. Fair enough, I have nothing against inter-species love affairs. However I am concerned that they managed to produce an offspring.[7] Let us call this offspring, cowick-egg, purely because I don’t think that that works as a snappy product name. So Creme Egg Chicken is female, cause only hens lay eggs right? And creamy-milk cow is female, on account of male cattle being bulls and producing a different sorta milk

Now this doesn’t mean they can’t get it together and fall madly in love. God no! Fair play to inter-species gay romances. The do tend to liven up farmyards and make them more entertaining places. So, fair play[8] to those two crazy kids for getting it together. But the fact that their love resulted in this new product, well colour me disturbed. Either one of them has secretly been infected with frog DNA[9] and so has gained the ability to swap sex and so has turned male, or, and to my mind[10] much more likely, one of them has had an affair with a male animal. Now whether this was a rooster or a bull I can’t say, the ad didn’t go into detail about which produced the wonderful new creamy-milk-chocolatey-eggy-goodness that makes up the new product. But either way, for Cadbury to be promoting this is wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong! After all radio is just like telly, only without pictures and different, and we all know how influential The Television is on everyday lives. We all live our lives according to the high moral standards of The Television[11] and the characters that live in that little box. Now, okay, radio isn’t quite a great as The Television, but still, with this example of non-monogamous behaviour, before you know it the world will be gone mad in an orgy of sex and partner swapping. And then it’ll be a short skip, hop or jump before we’re all murdering each other in our beds, for once you begin to step off the moral path, it is a slippery step slope all the way to the bottom.

Cadbury! I blame you for the moral decline of the world!

Either that or the cow or chicken have used some sort of genetic experimentation to produce their cowick-egg. And while, obviously not as bad as moral decline, messing about with the Natural World is never a good thing, and science is evil, and no doubt anyone eating this new chocolate goodness will die of some horrible, long-term, painful disease.

Or maybe the ad-makers are just stupid?

Linknotes:
  1. time-travel makes this whole linear thing difficult
  2. still specific
  3. reverting to vague
  4. who were only mentioned here recently, imagine that
  5. vague and specific at the same time, lucky you
  6. and now speculation enters the race, isnt this exciting
  7. that being the new product being advertised.
  8. in a Ronán Keating Gift Grub style
  9. Films ARE fact remember
  10. my soap-watching mind that is
  11. you probably should be making some sort of bow down and worship gesture here
Tags: adverts, Cadbury, chickens, chocolate, cows, cows are not male!, Creme Egg, gender, gender confusion, radio, wrong wrong wrong

Related posts

5 responses so far

Aug 14 2006

te, tes, tir; shis, shims, shim, shimself; zie, zees, zim, zeeself

Published by Fence under Pointless

It has been quite a while since I’ve done any of these pointless quizes, hasn’t it? So any here you go:

You scored as Either. You brain is neither specifically male, nor female in the way you perceive your surroundings. As bad as this may sound to some, it can easily mean that you are capable of combining both gender aspects to your advantage. Rather than being genderless you are possibly able think freely. This does not mean that you are bisexual or androgynous or indecisive, but it might.

Either

68%

Male

64%

Female

57%

Neither

36%

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?*
created with QuizFarm.com

Tags: gender, quiz

Related posts

19 responses so far