I Read the Internets – 10/18/08

Hello again, internets! Did you miss me? I know I keep on saying that I’m going to be more consistent with IRtI, but this time around you’ll have more than just me to provide you with fresh internets reading material. I’ll be bringing you some internets to read once a month, and some of the other fine folks here at Hathor will be providing you with reading, too, so that you’ll have some links to look forward to at the end of each week. Neat, huh?

So let’s get started. First, the Feminist SF Carnival is coming back! SpaceWesterns.com will be hosting number 22, with an optional theme of “Women in Space Westerns.” Blog posts from May 3rd through October 28th will be eligible for the carnival. I’m so excited, I can’t even.

In gaming and comics internets combined, the latest issue of Cerise is featuring content about comics and gaming together, in partnership with Girl-Wonder.org. Karen Healey also has some cool crossover content on her blog, Girls Read Comics (And They’re Pissed), this month. You can even listen to her chatting with me about comics and games, should you feel so inclined.

Elsewhere in comics, Rachel Edidin wrote a great post highlighting Five Characters Who Break the Paradigm of Feminine Beauty in Comics in honor of Love Your Body Day. In the comments she invites readers to share their own favorite mold-breaking comics bodies, so if you know of a few you should definitely stop by.

If you want to do some non-comics reading, you should check out the Top Ten (Eleven) Obscure Works that Naamen compiled from reader suggestions at Feminist SF – The Blog! Naamen explains:

When I started this whole thing my entire point was to come up with an alternative to an obscure Sci-Fi works list that was being linked to in quite a few places. All of the authors and characters on that list were straight white men so I decided to try to create a list that had some actual diversity. Especially since the works of marginalized authors are often not promoted as highly as other works and because of this have a higher tendency to fall through the cracks. There were various complaints of holding an open poll to find out obscure works and such and I understand those complaints. I created the list in this way because I was not arrogant enough to think I knew all the obscure works in SF. So I decided I wanted input from others and to give readers a chance to participate in the selection process as opposed to just putting up a list that I decided on all by myself. This method seemed more community orientated.

Once you’ve perused the top ten (eleven) picks, maybe you’d like to share your opinions on political SF novels.

And if you’re ready to jump right in to some SF reading, you might be interested to know that the bulk of Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners is available for free download under a Creative Commons license. How cool is that?

I’ll be back next month with some new internets for you to read. In the meantime, keep an eye out next week for one of the new linkblog columns. And for a little humor in closing, allow me to recommend a particularly insightful review of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice, at Reading by Moonslight:

Belle: There is almost a duel in several places! But Austen foolishly denies us. Also, she didn’t include the memorable scene where Colin Firth dives into the lake in a white shirt.

Claire: It’s the worst adaptation from a mini-series that I’ve ever read.