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Dec. 21st, 2016
What if the ‘clever thief in fantasy
Dec. 21st, 2016 02:28 pmvia http://ift.tt/2iam38z:
ardatli:
shiraglassman:
Review originally posted on The Lesbrary.
Fantasy literature is rife with ‘clever thief’ protagonists for the vicarious entertainment of the virtuous, like Bilbo Baggins, but most of them are not even female, let alone lesbians. Swan’s Braid and other Tales of Terizan by Tanya Huff gives us the wily but honorable Terizan, who waltzes away from the first story in her collection with the affection of a female mercenary with whom she maintains a casual romance for the remainder of the book. Most of Terizan’s adventures aren’t love stories, but “capers”–she gets assignments from the Thieves’ Guild, which she joined pretty much for their health insurance plan (“the guild takes care of its own,” and she’s worried about what would happen if she ever got more seriously hurt during one of her falls from a mark’s window. It’s that kind of book.)
The plots themselves are pretty clever, with inflection points and twists and rising action and punch lines, reminding me of Maurice Leblanc’s dashing gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin, only in a fantasy setting with a lesbian heroine. Whether Terizan’s adversary is a ghost, a wizard, a prince, or the cult of an upstart goddess, reading about her besting them was satisfying and not stressful at all because they’re written in that “good old fashioned fun” way, not grimdark.
The prose is easy to follow, with the occasional evocative bit like “[…]sales pitches as wilted as the vegetables[…]” Huff’s worldbuilding is unobtrusive and “generic fantasy” enough to be pretty easy to understand, yet with enough originality that I didn’t feel like I was reading homage or parody. And I really can’t say enough good things about how relaxing it is to read a story about a woman Doing Things in a shady underworld without having to fear gendered violence. The villains in this book are mostly men, but their offensives and defenses against Terizan never include a sexual element.
I love so much about what Terizan’s stories have and don’t have. Her best friend is a bisexual male sex worker, her adventures aren’t gendered (in other words, she gets to interact with her fictional universe pretty much the way male characters usually get to), and her three bosses at the Guild are a man, a woman, and someone who “could be either or neither” whose gender is never further discussed. These days things like this are becoming easier to find in SFF, at least if you’re like me and play Heimdahl with indie LGBT publishing, but this particular story was written in the NINETIES. So I quietly hold this up to those who go around leaving skeptical, ossified reviews on fiction with nonbinary characters.
I would love to see these done in graphic novel form.
(Warning for the word ‘whore’ used a few times; I think it was only said by the sex worker character but I can’t actually remember and I returned my eBook to the library already.)
Tanya Huff is pure spun gold. I love her books so, so much. (also, her. She’s as charming in person as her books are on the page.)
My favourite series will always be the Blood books - aka, What If Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, didn’t die in the 1500s. What If he was actually a bisexual vampire romance novelist living in Toronto in the 1990s? And What If the curmudgeonly private eye he ends up helping (as supernatural critters do) was a woman with a progressive disability?
The books have some dark moments, but they’re not GrimDark, and you know that things will come out all right in the end. They’re also wonderfully funny, and Vicki is one of my favourite protagonists of all time.
Seriously. Start with Blood Price and do not look back.
ardatli:
shiraglassman:
Review originally posted on The Lesbrary.
Fantasy literature is rife with ‘clever thief’ protagonists for the vicarious entertainment of the virtuous, like Bilbo Baggins, but most of them are not even female, let alone lesbians. Swan’s Braid and other Tales of Terizan by Tanya Huff gives us the wily but honorable Terizan, who waltzes away from the first story in her collection with the affection of a female mercenary with whom she maintains a casual romance for the remainder of the book. Most of Terizan’s adventures aren’t love stories, but “capers”–she gets assignments from the Thieves’ Guild, which she joined pretty much for their health insurance plan (“the guild takes care of its own,” and she’s worried about what would happen if she ever got more seriously hurt during one of her falls from a mark’s window. It’s that kind of book.)
The plots themselves are pretty clever, with inflection points and twists and rising action and punch lines, reminding me of Maurice Leblanc’s dashing gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin, only in a fantasy setting with a lesbian heroine. Whether Terizan’s adversary is a ghost, a wizard, a prince, or the cult of an upstart goddess, reading about her besting them was satisfying and not stressful at all because they’re written in that “good old fashioned fun” way, not grimdark.
The prose is easy to follow, with the occasional evocative bit like “[…]sales pitches as wilted as the vegetables[…]” Huff’s worldbuilding is unobtrusive and “generic fantasy” enough to be pretty easy to understand, yet with enough originality that I didn’t feel like I was reading homage or parody. And I really can’t say enough good things about how relaxing it is to read a story about a woman Doing Things in a shady underworld without having to fear gendered violence. The villains in this book are mostly men, but their offensives and defenses against Terizan never include a sexual element.
I love so much about what Terizan’s stories have and don’t have. Her best friend is a bisexual male sex worker, her adventures aren’t gendered (in other words, she gets to interact with her fictional universe pretty much the way male characters usually get to), and her three bosses at the Guild are a man, a woman, and someone who “could be either or neither” whose gender is never further discussed. These days things like this are becoming easier to find in SFF, at least if you’re like me and play Heimdahl with indie LGBT publishing, but this particular story was written in the NINETIES. So I quietly hold this up to those who go around leaving skeptical, ossified reviews on fiction with nonbinary characters.
I would love to see these done in graphic novel form.
(Warning for the word ‘whore’ used a few times; I think it was only said by the sex worker character but I can’t actually remember and I returned my eBook to the library already.)
Tanya Huff is pure spun gold. I love her books so, so much. (also, her. She’s as charming in person as her books are on the page.)
My favourite series will always be the Blood books - aka, What If Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of Henry VIII, didn’t die in the 1500s. What If he was actually a bisexual vampire romance novelist living in Toronto in the 1990s? And What If the curmudgeonly private eye he ends up helping (as supernatural critters do) was a woman with a progressive disability?
The books have some dark moments, but they’re not GrimDark, and you know that things will come out all right in the end. They’re also wonderfully funny, and Vicki is one of my favourite protagonists of all time.
Seriously. Start with Blood Price and do not look back.
via http://ift.tt/2iaMpYf:
eldestwand:
Hufflepuff is staying up all night giggling with friends. It’s the sleepy “I love you” at the end of a five hour phone call. It’s a significant other running their fingers through your hair during a Sunday picnic. It’s finding a baby bird with a broken wing and nursing it back to health. It’s smiling at a stranger on the subway. Hufflepuff is picking flowers off of trees and tying them into your friend’s hair. Its wiping the sweat from your forehead after a long day’s work. It’s freshly baked bread and golden sunlight flooding through the windows. Hufflepuff is loving food way too much and crying with friends and loving until it hurts.
Gryffindor is laughing so loudly that strangers stare at you. It’s playing truth or dare at three in the morning. It’s running around like crazy people with your lover. It’s catching fireflies on a warm summer night. It’s complimenting a stranger’s crazy hair color and feeling so good when they smile. Gryffindor is hurling toilet paper over someone’s yard then laughing so hard it hurts. It’s standing up to a childhood bully. It’s unhealthy amounts of candy and fiery red sunsets. Gryffindor is being an adrenaline junkie and trying to do what’s right and getting back up after being knocked down .
Ravenclaw is 3am conversations about the meaning of life. It’s having a small close knit circle of friends who would die for each other. It’s longing to touch your lover’s soul. It’s googling pictures of llamas in tuxedos when you actually got online for a research paper. It’s feeling an instant bond with a stranger who’s wearing a band or tv show t-shirt. It’s being quirky and not caring. Ravenclaw is drinking coffee at 11pm. It’s effortlessly acing classes that you’re interested in. It’s dusty sheet music and a starry night sky. Ravenclaw is being obsessed with a certain book or show and pouring your soul into your work and expressing yourself creatively.
Slytherin is being willing to kill for the people you love. It’s having 3am gossip sessions with your best friend. It’s staring into your significant other’s eyes and instantly knowing what they’re thinking. It’s daydreaming about what the future holds. It’s always having a twinkle in your eye because you’re always one step ahead. It’s the thrill you get when you’re playing strategic board games. Slytherin is putting up walls because you feel things so deeply. It’s people being attracted to your mysterious vibe. It’s a waterfall in the middle of nowhere and an ambitious dream. Slytherin is being a natural leader and being successful and loving so much more than you let on.
eldestwand:
Hufflepuff is staying up all night giggling with friends. It’s the sleepy “I love you” at the end of a five hour phone call. It’s a significant other running their fingers through your hair during a Sunday picnic. It’s finding a baby bird with a broken wing and nursing it back to health. It’s smiling at a stranger on the subway. Hufflepuff is picking flowers off of trees and tying them into your friend’s hair. Its wiping the sweat from your forehead after a long day’s work. It’s freshly baked bread and golden sunlight flooding through the windows. Hufflepuff is loving food way too much and crying with friends and loving until it hurts.
Gryffindor is laughing so loudly that strangers stare at you. It’s playing truth or dare at three in the morning. It’s running around like crazy people with your lover. It’s catching fireflies on a warm summer night. It’s complimenting a stranger’s crazy hair color and feeling so good when they smile. Gryffindor is hurling toilet paper over someone’s yard then laughing so hard it hurts. It’s standing up to a childhood bully. It’s unhealthy amounts of candy and fiery red sunsets. Gryffindor is being an adrenaline junkie and trying to do what’s right and getting back up after being knocked down .
Ravenclaw is 3am conversations about the meaning of life. It’s having a small close knit circle of friends who would die for each other. It’s longing to touch your lover’s soul. It’s googling pictures of llamas in tuxedos when you actually got online for a research paper. It’s feeling an instant bond with a stranger who’s wearing a band or tv show t-shirt. It’s being quirky and not caring. Ravenclaw is drinking coffee at 11pm. It’s effortlessly acing classes that you’re interested in. It’s dusty sheet music and a starry night sky. Ravenclaw is being obsessed with a certain book or show and pouring your soul into your work and expressing yourself creatively.
Slytherin is being willing to kill for the people you love. It’s having 3am gossip sessions with your best friend. It’s staring into your significant other’s eyes and instantly knowing what they’re thinking. It’s daydreaming about what the future holds. It’s always having a twinkle in your eye because you’re always one step ahead. It’s the thrill you get when you’re playing strategic board games. Slytherin is putting up walls because you feel things so deeply. It’s people being attracted to your mysterious vibe. It’s a waterfall in the middle of nowhere and an ambitious dream. Slytherin is being a natural leader and being successful and loving so much more than you let on.
via http://ift.tt/2ibqCj5:
dollsome-does-tumblr:
aislingyngaio-tv:
loadingdavet3:
twilightbritt:
confidentfuckup:
dollsome-does-tumblr:
“I keep saying it’s 20 people out there complaining [about Mulder and Scully being broken up],” Carter says, laughing. “It’s a loud minority.” [x]
well okay then. HEY FRIENDS! like or reblog this post if you are enraged and deeply bummed about the bogus nonsense that is mulder and scully breaking up
let us rally and baffle the hell out of chris carter
Say whaaaaaaaaaat??? CC, you be trippin’.
He be smoking some bad shit
Hey Chris, maybe you should remember that the “20 people” you referred to includes: Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Stephen King whose script you so famously rewrote to edit out the MSR.
He de-MSR’d Stephen King’s episode???? Do we know what the episode was going to be like originally?
dollsome-does-tumblr:
aislingyngaio-tv:
loadingdavet3:
twilightbritt:
confidentfuckup:
dollsome-does-tumblr:
“I keep saying it’s 20 people out there complaining [about Mulder and Scully being broken up],” Carter says, laughing. “It’s a loud minority.” [x]
well okay then. HEY FRIENDS! like or reblog this post if you are enraged and deeply bummed about the bogus nonsense that is mulder and scully breaking up
let us rally and baffle the hell out of chris carter
Say whaaaaaaaaaat??? CC, you be trippin’.
He be smoking some bad shit
Hey Chris, maybe you should remember that the “20 people” you referred to includes: Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Kim Manners, Rob Bowman, Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and Stephen King whose script you so famously rewrote to edit out the MSR.
He de-MSR’d Stephen King’s episode???? Do we know what the episode was going to be like originally?
via http://ift.tt/2hsBOnn:
stardust-rain:
“Fuck me, I thought. I can do magic.” Rivers of London fancast (v2.0):
elliot knight as peter grantjames d’arcy as thomas nightingaleemily berrington as lesley mayadelayo adedayo as beverly brooks
bonus Toby:
stardust-rain:
“Fuck me, I thought. I can do magic.” Rivers of London fancast (v2.0):
elliot knight as peter grantjames d’arcy as thomas nightingaleemily berrington as lesley mayadelayo adedayo as beverly brooks
bonus Toby: