Galactic Suburbia

In which we leap happily back and forth (with occasional ranting) over those fine lines between feminist critique and anti-female assumptions, plus share our bumper collection of holiday culture consumed. Happy New Year from the Galactic Suburbia crew! NEWS AND LINKS Hugo nominations open and we're gonna have our say Aqueduct Press will be publishing Brit Mandelo's thesis, "WE WUZ PUSHED: On Joanna Russ Radical Truth-telling"! Islamic superhero comic turned animated series The 99 to screen in Australia (ABC3) Amanda Palmer’s wedding post Great piece on how the very idea of ‘Mary Sue’ is sexist, ties into this episode's theme about the criticism of female characters. The wealth of powerful girl heroes in today’s YA WHAT CULTURE HAVE WE CONSUMED? Alisa: Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal; The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman ; The Vampire Diaries; Primeval; The 99; Planetary; Homeland and Boxcutters. Alex: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon, Julie Phillips; Changing Planes, Ursula le Guin; Perchance to Dream, Lisa Mantchev; Twilight Robbery, Frances Hardinge; Chronicles of Chrestomanci vol 1, Diana Wynne Jones. DOA and Going Postal Tansy: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman; Beauty Queens, Libba Bray; Snuff by Terry Pratchett, Going Postal (TV) - Batman (animated) My First Batman Book by David Katz, David Tennant Catherine Tate in Much Ado About Nothing (DIGITAL THEATRE DOWNLOAD AWW YEAH). Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

Welcome to Galactic Suburbia’s spoilerific book club for 20 December, 2011. This time we’re tackling Yarn, by Jon Armstrong. It is totally full of spoilers. Please only listen to this podcast if you’ve read the book, plan never to read the book, or really and truly don’t mind spoilers.Characters: Tane Vada Kira Pilla M-Bunny authors books mentioned: Philip K Dick Janet Catherine Berlo - Quilting Lessons - notes from the scrapbook of a writer quilter Jennifer Chiaverini The Friday Night Knitting Club novels - Kate Jacobs GREY up for grabs - comment with your thoughts on Yarn and Alex will choose a random winner

In which we save the Tasmanian Devils, take on the Classics, review cars, discover that toy fandom exists, plan to read LOTS of Australian women writers, and Wonder Woman still doesn't have pants. News Coffeeandink on The Erasure of women writers in SF and Fantasy Mur Lafferty - My Problem With Classics Open letter to publishers: book bloggers are not your bitches Kate Gordon’s Devil Auction - help to save the Tasmanian Devils! (kitten pictures with TEETH) Australian Women Writers Challenge Sign up now Jason Nahrung posted a list of the books he plans to read for the challenge - let us know what yours are! In association with this, Tansy produced a list of award-winning SF/Fantasy books by Australian women. Please keep sending in your suggestions for a Galactic Suburbia Award - we hope to have a plan for this by our 50th episode and are loving reading the tweets and emails so far. What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa: Bellwether by Connie Willis; American Horror Story; Yarn by Jon Armstrong Tansy: Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor; Jingo The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett, Shortpacked, a webcomic about toy fandom, obsessed people, lots of GLBTQ characters and feminist commentary on pop culture such as this strip about False Equivalence. Alex: Coode St podcast with Ursula le Guin, and also with Ian McDonald and Alistair Reynolds; Spook Country, William Gibson; One of Our Thursdays is Missing, Jasper Fforde; Pirates of the Caribbean 4! Feedback from Kitty of Panel2Panel: Reasoning With Vampires Kitty's post about why Marvel has no equivalent hero to Wonder Woman TANSY RECS for DC comics that don't treat women appallingly: Birds of Prey (start as early as possible, either with the Chuck Dixon issues which are pretty good, or the Gail Simone run which is #56-108) Power Girl: A New Beginning Aliens and Apes - Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner Catwoman run by Ed Brubaker Stephanie Brown Batgirl: Batgirl Rising, The Flood etc. Secret Six, Gail Simone Batwoman. Anything with Batwoman. I HAVE NOT YET FOUND THE PERFECT WONDER WOMAN TRADE TO RECOMMEND. But I do think anyone interested in comics history could get value from reading her first year of adventures, available as Wonder Woman Chronicles Vol. One Marvel dude saying we don’t have to have female characters Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which we bid farewell to the queen of dragons, squee about 48 years of Doctor Who, dissect the negative associations with "girly" fandoms such as Twilight, and find some new favourites in our reading pile. News RIP Anne McCaffrey i09 obituary Charles Tan rounds up a bunch of tributes 48th anniversary of Doctor Who! Tansy says it with pictures Weirdfictionreview.com - a website devoted to The Weird and created by Luis Rodrigues. The project is the brainchild of editing-writing team Ann Jeff VanderMeer Critiquing the Bigotry of Twilight-haters, not the same thing as defending Twilight Original article Sarah Rees Brennan Holly Black Announcing the Galactic Suburbia Award - we don't know what it is yet either but we're figuring it out! Send emails/tweets to make suggestions. What Culture Have we Consumed? Alex: The Steel Remains, Richard Morgan; Alastair Reynolds, Blue Remembered Earth; "The Glass Gear" in Valente's Omikuji Project; also watched Thor. Tansy: Batman (1989); All Men of Genius, Lev A.C. Rosen; God's War, Kameron Hurley. Comics: Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman (abandoned); Batgirl the Greatest Stories Ever Told Alisa: Once Upon a Time; The Courier's New Bicycle, by Kim Westwood Note: the post we discuss which looks at the believability of the war in God's War by Kameron Hurley was in fact not written by Cheryl Morgan, but by Farah Mendlesohn. Which explains why I wasn't able to find it on Google last night. Thanks to Cheryl for correcting my confusion and my apologies to Farah.  (Tansy quietly headdesks to self) Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

Howie needs a hat In which we celebrate the World Fantasy Awards, take on the Kickstarter phenomenon and why people like to support authors/artists directly, Alex is betrayed by Isobelle Carmody, Alisa still can’t finish Tansy’s novel, and we indulge in a feedback frenzy. News World Fantasy Awards! Realms of Fantasy sinks for the third time Graham Joyce calls BFS Extraordinary General meeting December 9th - Authors kickstarting their own projects: Matt Forbeck - 12 novels in 12 months. Laura Anne Gilman's novella CE Murphy's novella (mentions also of self publishing projects of Tracy Laura Hickman, and Liz Williams) Catherynne Valente’s Omikuji project looking for subscribers in order to keep the project going. And Tobias Buckell talks about how just because you're self publishing doesn't mean you have to be a ... What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa: Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts, The Courier's New Bicycle by Kim Westwood Alex: the Stone Key and The Sending, Isobelle Carmody; I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett; end of Life on Mars S2; This is Not a Game, Walter Jon Williams; Distress, Greg Egan Tansy: Ally Condie, Matched; Lisa Goldstein, The Uncertain Places; Gail Simone, Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation; Geek Tragedy, Nev Fountain Feedback: well overdue! Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which Alex and Tansy wax lyrical about Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing (despite knowing next to nothing about it), welcome the new Apex overlord Lynne Thomas, celebrate the twin dawns of All Hallows Read and Nanowrimo, and embark upon an epic marathon of Culture Consumed. News Joss Whedon makes Much Ado About Nothing in secret at first we knew next to nothing then we knew something and every new bit of something brings squeeage! Harry Potter DVDs to disappear from the shelves after Christmas (and Tansy's still not over the whole Disney revelation) Lynne Thomas’ first issue of Apex comes out next week featuring an article by Tansy on The Australian Dark Weird. As the new editor, Lynne talks about what she wants from authors at Outer Alliance The lack of (paid) women reviewers (in the lit scene) continues to dismay and fascinate us in equal measure. All Hallows Read is upon us And if you're going to gift a scary book to someone, why not make it Australian? Nanowrimo is imminent! What Culture Have we Consumed? Tansy: Zoo City by Lauren Beukes Alex: Life on Mars S2 Tansy: Bumped by Megan McCafferty Alex: Obernewtyn, The Farseekers, and Ashling, by Isobelle Carmody Tansy: Debris by Jo Anderton Alex: God’s War, Kameron Hurley Tansy: Marvel’s Ultimate Universe: Ultimate Spiderman, Ultimate X-Men, The Ultimates Alex: Shadow Unit Tansy: Big Finish and Mary Shelley: Mary’s Story (for 99p) The Silver Turk. Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which we fight crime, rail against derailing and read a million books. News Our Sisters in Crime, Still Fighting and Why the Faux Oppressed Whinge Ada Lovelace Day Wonder Woman gets a father (yesthisisnews) Alisa’s news: Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex now available as e-book Tansy’s news: publishing date for Reign of Beasts and the Creature Court Fashion Challenge Contest What Culture Have we Consumed? Alex: The Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons; Yarn, Jon Armstrong; Thief of Lives, Lucy Sussex; Yellow Blue Tibia, Adam Roberts; The Word for World is Forest, Ursula le Guin; Eyes like Stars, Lisa Mantchev Tansy: The Courier’s New Bicycle, Kim Westwood; Thief of Lives, Lucy Sussex; Catwoman: Crooked Little Town, by Ed Brubaker; Fablecroft blog series On Indie Press wraps up; Sofanauts interviews Paul Cornell; Two Minute Timelord round-table about Season 6 Doctor Who Alisa: Doctor Who. Shorts: The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) - Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld March); Younger Women - Karen Fowler (Subterranean Summer), Valley of the Girls - Kelly Link (Subterranean Summer) Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

In which Alisa and Tansy look at crimes against superheroines in the DC Universe, the good and the bad of the companions' journeys in Doctor Who, and why we love Olivia Dunham and her gun. We also plug our own books (yes really!), Tansy is still reading comics, and Alisa confesses that e-books have broken her brain. No, seriously, she's broken now. News The WSFA SP shortlist (Tehani wooo!) Death of Sara Douglass Catwoman Starfire - this isn’t what empowerment looks like i09 on a seven-year-old who loves Starfire and her reaction to the new version of the character: "She doesn't do anything." A great webcomic response to the Starfire issue. Tansy blogged about it too! DC Comics, Bunker the Current State of LGBTQ Superheroes (Tansy would have commented on how Bunker is portrayed as a gay superhero in the Teen Titans but he wasn't in the first issue!) What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa: Haven, Fringe S4, Doctor Who Season 4?, Ringer, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, A Taste of the Nightlife by Sarah Zettel and one of my new reading projects Tansy: The Almighty Johnsons, New 52 (Batgirl, Batwoman, Wonder Woman, Superboy, Blue Beetle); Justice League Generation Lost (Part I), Power Girl: A New Beginning Pet Subject: Indie and E-books Twelfth Planet Press Website Twelfth Planet Press E-Store Wizard's Tower Bookstore (yay Cheryl) Tansy is Rocking the Romanpunk on her blog this week in celebration of the e-release of Love and Romanpunk. Feedback: Björn is embarking on a quest to read all women authors for a year - and he needs a catchy title to help this become an awesome internet meme. Can you help him? Send us your suggestions and we'll think of some prizes for the best ones. Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which we discuss Orson Scott Card's Hamlet, the agent who said no way to gay YA, Tansy's Blake's 7 dolls, the superhero who fights with her hair, and Alisa works through her issues with Doctor Who. COME ON IN, EPISODE 42 IS FINE News Subterranean Press address email complaints about Hamlet's Father by Orson Scott Card And Rain Taxi review that started it The other big Internet Thing - agent says no gay in YA dystopia please authors speak out New podcast - Live and Sassy Twelfth Planet Press opening for novel submissions What Culture Have we Consumed? Alex: Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding; Blake's 7; Hyperion, Dan Simmons. Tansy: Torchwood (non spoilery), Justice League comics (the new 52), The Business of Death by Trent Jamieson Alisa: Podcasts: Locus Roundtable (Gail Carriger and Francesca Myman; Kathleen Goonan, Eileen Gunn and Gary K Wolfe); Eurocon 2011 Gender in SFF Panel; The Outer Alliance Podcast Episode 11, Season 3 Doctor Who [Book calling for papers on the topic of race and Doctor Who] Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

It's the trilogy that put dystopia into YA and not only kicked Harry Potter and Twilight off the bestseller charts, but also shot them between the eyes with a crossbow.  While they were stung by wasps. Tansy and Alisa are spoiling the hell out of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins.  Listener beware, the first rule about the Spoilerific Book Club is... WE SPOIL STUFF. Please only listen to this podcast if you have read the books in question, plan never to read the books in question, or really truly don't mind spoilers.  Also, towards the end, we get pretty spoilery about Harry Potter too.  It's relevant!  Mostly

In which we hug the Hugos, plug the Stella, lament the loss of the Weird Tales team, and contemplate (briefly) our podcasterly mid-life crisis. Alex delves into the wonderful world of classic cyberpunk, and Tansy demands to know why on earth Alisa is still watching Doctor Who if she doesn’t actually like it? News Weird Tales Sold, Editorial Staff Kicked Out Strange Horizons Fundraising Drive The Stella: new Australian novel prize for women Galactic Chat Kelley Armstrong Ben Peek Tansy’s win What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa: Doctor Who Season 2, Outer Alliance Podcast Alex: Trouble and her Friends, Melissa Scott; Only Ever Always, Penni Russon; Synners, Pat Cadigan; Blake’s 7. Tansy: SF Squeecast #3, Panel2Panel, Among Others by Jo Walton, Alcestis by Katherine Beukner, Stormlord’s Exile by Glenda Larke, AM KINDLED WILL TRAVEL Pet Subject: Hugoriffic! Were you there for the Hugo Twitter party? Or did you have to resort to sitting in the live audience? The stats The results Hugos commentary round up Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which we defend Mary Sues everywhere, point at superheroes with their pants down, plan a Hugo Twitterparti and reveal which of the three of us is secretly a hardcore horror fan. But most importantly, Alex is watching Blake's 7 completely unspoiled and she loves Avon the best, hooray! News The Mary Sue Conversation: Zoe Marriott Sarah Rees Brennan Holly Black Elizabeth Bear "Sometimes a book is about a female character because there are female people in the world." What if Male Superheroes posed like Wonder Woman? Gender Bent Justice League Bonus, superheroes without pants (except Wonder Woman): Cat Valente steps down from Apex Magazine as fiction editor, Lynne M Thomas steps up. Alex wants to be in Reno. Watch the Hugos! Join @GalacticSuburbs in whatever the right time zone is and Twitterparti the Hugos with us! What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa - The Hunger Games, Life on Mars UK, The Women's Hour Podcast, Doctor Who Tansy - Lords & Ladies, Ter

In which none of your fearless podcasters are impregnated by mysterious aliens for the duration of a single episode, nor do any of us experience a rapidly accelerated pregnancy or give birth to an otherworldly demon/alien/vampire. Also: Batgirl, Bujold and a cranky feminist rant or two. News Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award - given to a living writer for the first time, Katherine MacLean. Mythopoeic Awards World Fantasy, of course! World SF Travel Fund raising money to send Charles A Tan to WFC The Mystical Pregnancy trope - torture porn? Reproductive terrorism, exploiting women for being female. Violent degradation of women's bodies for plot. Vote For Top-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Titles Swedish Writing Fairy crunches the numbers Andromeda’s Offering Offspring Issue 1 - new fanzine to “open up new female voices in SF, raise the awareness of female SF writers and share ideas.” (you can find them on Facebook apparently) Where are the women in the new DC Comics? newsy report proper interview with Batgirl crusader SF Signal Episode 70 - 6 men talk about their favourite podcasts and illustrate what we mean by gender disparity in SF gatekeeping Alisa makes reference to recent Mind Meld What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa - Passage by Connie Willis; Red Glove by Holly Black; The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang; Alex - Diplomatic Immunity and Cryoburn, Bujold; Chicks Dig Time Lords, ed. Lynne Thomas; The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell; Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (http://wp.me/p11HLi-Nf); Songs of the Earth, Elspeth Cooper (abandoned). SF Squeecast. Tansy - Glenda Larke-Stormlord Rising; Malinda Lo-Huntress; Penni Russon-Only, Ever, Always Feedback lovely review at Hoyden About Town Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

In which we discuss the SF Gateway and some great additions to the Women in SF conversation, Alex eats all the Bujold in one bite, and Alisa’s puppy does his very best to oppress us. News The Locus Awards Prometheus Award winners Sturgeon and Campbell Awards Shirley Jackson Awards Recent announcement - Gollancz announces the SF Gateway, huge project to digitise & make available thousands of SF classics as ebooks. Linda Nagata on ‘What’s in a Name’ and her career trajectory as a female writer of hard SF Chris Moriarty on labels in the women & SF conversation Women and the chilly climate at Scientific American Liz Williams at the Guardian on the way science fiction reflects human belief Alastair Reynolds to write Doctor Who novel: Tansy and Alex’s obsessions in one package! What Culture Have we Consumed? Alisa: Maureen Johnson on www.whyy.org/podcast; Twin Peaks; Mercy (not genre but interesting feminism); Alex: sooo much Bujold (3rd, 4th and 5th omnibi, and Memory); lots of books, because of holidays! But particularly Heartless, Gail Carriger; Blackout, Connie Willis; Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, NK Jemisin... also Harry Potter 7 and Transformers 3. Tansy: The Demon’s Surrender, The Holy Terror & Robophobia (Big Finish), Subterranean’s YA Issue Pet Subject: Feedback from our Joanna Russ episode Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us

Featuring: How To Suppress Women's Writing, by Joanna Russ The Female Man, by Joanna Russ "When it Changed," by Joanna Russ Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia @ gmail.com - we'd love to hear your stories of discovering and rediscovering Joanna Russ. Follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!