So like nearly everyone else on the Internet, I spend the weekend watching Mad Max, and I still haven't shaken the urge to weld spikes on my VW Polo.
Anyway, like most other people on the Internet, I loved the movie. Who wouldn't? A feminist apocalyptic fantasy set in the desert with cool cars! The plot's similar to my favorite Mad Max movie, the second one (Road Warrior). Charlize Theron is AWESOME. I cannot emphasize this enough. And there's a whole matriarchy of motorcycle wearing grannies and holy shit I think I just found my post-apocalyptic occupation. So here we come to the real purpose of this post: if you've seen the movie too and you're geeking out these two links are REALLY sweet:
Wives, Warlords and Refugees: The People Economy of Mad Max, on Kameron Hurley (yes, that Kameron Hurley, the one who wrote 'We Have Always Fought') 's blog.Thought-provoking and apt, Hurley's blog is always worth a read.
Welcome to Your Steampunk Future (Sorry There's No Water But We Did Put Skulls On Everything) by Mallory on the Toast. The Toast is feminist and fucking hilarious. The comments aren't the best bit, but they're close.
oh and I wrote fic...
Among Others is a beautiful book.
It's one of those books that you imagine the author has written just for you, and it struck so many chords with me in so many ways.
The book's protagonist, Mori, has just saved the world from her evil mother's magic. Her twin has been killed while doing so, and Mori herself is badly injured. Sent to a boarding school where she makes few friends, she joins a local book group and talks to fairies, all the while devouring authors such as LeGuin, Zelazny and Tolkien. Mori is Welsh, from the valleys, and she tells us that fairies particularly favor places where humans have been , and where they aren't any more-places like abandoned tramways, old buildings, and industrial relics.
It's true that magic is not the main focus of the book. But the strength of Among Others is that it conveys quite perfectly what it means to be a lonely bookish child (full disclosure; I am a twin and was once a weird, bookish child) quite desperate for escape. I especially loved the passage where Mori quotes Psalm 121 'I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where comes my help."'
We grew up, my sister and I, on the edge of Nottingham in an area rich in post-industrial wastelands- -abandoned railway tracks, flooded gravel pits, and the grounds of stately homes that had long since been turned over to the state. Our family's escape route was always Derbyshire and the Dark Peak, our countryside peat-covered fells, our skies grey. We spent our weekends fell walking, and we holidayed in Scotland, the Pennines, the Lakes and once we got older, the Pyrenees.The hills have always been my help.
I have spent the last few years living near my man's family in Suffolk, where the fairies must have a far easier time than they ever did in Nottingham. I now live in the far south of New Zealand, though my twin still lives and works in the Midlands.We spend a lot of time in the mountains.
We will return at some point. I love it here, but it is a long way away, and Among Others brought me a little closer to home.
But there are so many mountains here.
And they are all so beautiful.
A sample: "Even the strongest and bravest must sometimes weep. It shows they have a great heart, one that can feel compassion for others. You are brave, Matthias. Already you have done great things for one so young. I am only a simple country-bred fieldmouse, but even I can see the courage and leadership in you. A burning brand shows the way, and each day your flame grows brighter. There is none like you, Matthias. You have the sign of greatness upon you. One day Redwall and all the land will be indebted to you. Matthias, you are a true Warrior.
Matthias, your entire family is dead and your lands have been burned and salted by Northern bannerman and also I’m betraying you and I’m going to use your skin to make a bagpipe and I’m going to play rude songs about your dead father on that bagpipe and then I’m going to set you and your pregnant wife on fire, Matthias."
1: The men in white picked their way up the gully (After This Age)
2 : Despite the rumours, the streets of Erebor had not been paved with gold. (The Smith of Arden, or How Thorin Oakenshield Used The Horseman's Word to Shoe The Lord's Black Stallion)
3: Anders stepped back and surveyed his work with pride. (A Magician And A Gentle Man)
4: Heroes get other people killed. (Resurgam)
5: The first thing Clint Barton thinks when they send him to Tibet is that they shouldn't have chosen a white guy. (Samsara)
6: Natasha visits Barton's room after the briefing even though she knows she shouldn't. (Debriefing)
7: The Normandy cut through deep space like a knife, heading for the Omega-4 Relay. (Stardust)
8: Malik heard a sharp whine from beyond the crumbled wall, quickly cut off. (A Brotherhood of Wolves)
9: It never snowed in Jerusalem. (A Song of Ascents)
10: It was always silent in deep space. (The Company of Stars)
11: Jack was cleaning her guns when she heard Shepard's boots marking time on the staircase. (The Importance of Names.)
12: "Have you got all of your defences junctioned?" (The Malboro Man)
13: Lena Romano died choking on the bed where she earned her living. (Lady Justice)
14: It was so late at night that it was early in the morning. (Strange New Worlds)
15: "Leonardo?" Ezio called. (The Culinary Catastrophes of Leonardo da Vinci, Genius)
16: "The trouble with you girls is that you can't think for yourself." (Stone, Ground, Mountain, River)
17: "I've found Miles." The Eve of the War
18: The plain was the colour of bones, bleached white by the midday sun. (An Assembly of Bones)
19: "Aren't you Marcus Aquila's slave?" (Rubicon)
20: I hate this place. (The Shadow of the Flame)
21: An eagle circled above over the desert dunes, looking for prey. (The Word of God and the Treasures of Wisdom)
As I'm feeling nostalgic right now, have three more first lines from the very first fics I wrote, three novel-length FF8 epics.
Seifer Almasy stared at the map. (Government Bloodhounds)
It was a beautiful day in Balamb. (South Down the Coast.)
"I'm not talking about this now." (Recovering the Satellites)
Having a bad writing time at present. The more I research and try to work to make my stories better, the more it feels like, well, work. And when I get home from work it rarely makes me want to do more. So far my writing doesn't seem to have improved, and I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to. Might try a fanfic challenge or something to reclaim the fun. 
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