Category Archives: real life

Nature’s Nether Regions

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Pat Bowne

This book is about the evolution of genitalia. In practice, that means it’s largely about penises – as Dr. Schilthuizen readily admits, the field has had a gender disparity problem. That hasn’t prevented scientists from identifying female choice as a … Continue reading →

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It’s not just me, it’s spring

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Pat Bowne

Rochita Loenen-Ruiz weighs in on the state of science fiction and fantasy writing today in a column for Strange Horizons, and I see echoes of not only what I tried to say in recent posts but of the article I … Continue reading →

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You’ve told me how, now show me why

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Pat Bowne

In the last two weeks alone, I saw three articles on blogs I follow about how to write realistic female characters. But how many of those bloggers review books that contain realistic female characters? This seems to be a pattern. … Continue reading →

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Sometimes it all just fits together

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Pat Bowne

Yesterday my class discussed Munchausen Syndrome by proxy. Then I came home and read an article about how Rachel Swirsky had spit in the faces of working men everywhere by writing a story in which three anonymous characters in a … Continue reading →

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Happy About Sad Puppies

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Pat Bowne

The Sad Puppies are back again, putting forward their slate of nominees for the Hugo awards. I haven’t read any of them, or any of the other slates that have been put forward (except for one story that had absolutely … Continue reading →

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BookRiot Reading Challenge – BINGO!

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Pat Bowne

One of my FB friends dared a bunch of us to do the BookRiot reading challenge. But her rules said we couldn’t share the names of the books we read until the challenge was over, so it has caused an … Continue reading →

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Shop talk, AARRGGHH!

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Pat Bowne

I spent my entire life not caring about The New Republic, or The National Review, or whatever it was called. But now something or other has happened to it, and that’s upset a lot of journalists, and my feedly has … Continue reading →

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Authors Behaving Badly

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Pat Bowne

Seriously? An author traveling to another country to track down a reviewer who panned him, and attacking her in a grocery store? An author stalking a negative reviewer, going to her house and looking into her car? This is bat-shit. … Continue reading →

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Let’s Outsource Breathing While We’re At It

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Pat Bowne

Here’s the most irritating quote I’ve seen this year. “Do not publish any author who does not understand or is disinclined to co-operate with the notion that they are your most important salesperson, no matter how important what they have … Continue reading →

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Examples

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Pat Bowne

I was thinking about feminism in the shower this morning. Specifically, I was thinking about the recent videotaped chat between bel hooks and Gloria Steinem, and how it provided a great example of friendship between feminists. But because feminism’s main … Continue reading →