Woo and hoo!

[rivkat]

Via giandujakiss, the AO3 is one of Time's top 50 websites of 2013.

Also: My relationship to Diet Coke, summed up.

An essay on Superman’s dog, in the form of a conversation between the author of an unauthorized bio of Superman and his editor. I may have to buy this book ….

Pretty Little Liars spinoff! (Spoiler for a character who will leave PLL.) The guy who’s been cast reminds me just a little bit of Jensen Ackles, so I guess we can add that to my DVR at least in the first instance.

And some fiction reviews:

Diane Duane, Omnitopia Dawn: Ok, so the crew of the Enterprise, as Duane writes them, instead run a MMORPG the day after tomorrow. I mean, not exactly the crew of the Enterprise, but you will recognize the types if you love Duane’s Star Trek books as I very much do. Hard work, competence, and compassion are her highest values and they are rewarded (along with a little bit of cheating only those who have been confirmed as trying to cheat you). It’s a cozy book, in its way.

C.J. Cherryh, Merchanter’s Luck: Rendezvous at Downbelow Station: The good: down-on-his-luck tiny-spaceship captain and high-status but junior officer on major vessel hook up and have apparently awesome sex, and he falls for her but their chemistry (which I have to take on faith) is not the most important thing in their lives, which also involve plenty of space politics, leading to situations in which the captain thinks, for example, that his now partner Allison Reilly is about to kill him, and it’s not a wacky misunderstanding. The bad: it’s all allusions, to politics and to feelings both, so I felt constantly buffeted by undercurrents but was less clear on why I should care. It struck me as written in a particular kind of 70s style, if that makes any sense (though the publication date is 1982).

C.J. Cherryh, The Dreamstone: Celtic-ish fantasy setting where the elves are fading and Men are rising. There are politics/wars and interventions at elvish whim, but no one I could care about. (I picked up a bunch of Cherryh a while back and am only now getting to them.)

Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong: Charming high school graphic novel about the robot team, the cheerleaders, and their power struggle over whether the school will fund a robot competition or new uniforms, which also turns out to be a struggle over Charlie, the captain of the basketball team—who has some issues of his own. Very enjoyable and bantery.

Comments

[hannah]

All I can think of is someone on Twitter saying that while Superman likes dogs, Clark Kent is very much a cat person.

funny article: silver age, from the center of a dog

[auroramama]

Oooh, I like that. Now I want to sort through various Clarks and Supes in terms of their lovers' locations on the dog-cat personality spectrum. Surely a Smallville Clark who (in fic or headcanon) can't give up on Lex would be a cat-loving person?

[cofax7]

Cherryh is a bit of an aquired taste. The emotional situation is usually subordinated to the political, and people's agendas often require a great deal of parsing.

Me, I would recommend starting with either the Morgaine novels or the Chanur novels, as both sequences are more emotionally accessible & easier to follow.

[dracunculus]

Just chiming in to say: Cherryh is enormously prolific and I think her output varies wildly in quality. When she's at her best she's one of my favorite authors, but I was pretty meh on both the books you read. Personally I didn't love the Chanur books either, but I would second the rec for the Morgaine books (Gate of Ivrel is the first). I also really like the Faded Sun trilogy and the Cyteen books. The stand-alone book Serpent's Reach is what I usually hand people when I'm trying to get them hooked on Cherryh for the first time.

[vass]

I couldn't get into the Chanur stuff at all. My favourite Cherryh is Cyteen, which I loved and really identified with, and later found that many other people found cold and clinical and slimy and claustrophobic and creepy for most of the same reasons I liked it.

[dracunculus]

Agreed! I would recommend Cyteen to people who liked Ender's Game (with the bonus that Cherryh is not a homophobic asswipe like Orson Scott Card).

[ariadnes_string]

whoa, I'm very excited to be even a tangential part of one of the great unsung popular literary movements of the past 50 years

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2013/05/06/50-best-websites-2013/slide/archive-of-our-own/#ixzz2SZODyNjI (won't let me quote w/o the link, sorry)

[tehomet]

Ditto. :)

[denynothing1]

"...a cake made of vegetables and cigarette butts and regret. A cake of lies."

Ahahaha. Thanks for the link. I follow Weldon on twitter, but somehow I missed that article. He's very funny in 140 characters, and even better in long form, I see.

[coffeeandink]

I feel that Cyteen is likely to be the Cherryh most Relevant to Your Interests, although there is a horrible expository preface to get through. Also, the ideas about computer security are hilarious, because 1988.

[auroramama]

Duane's adult F&SF is some of the coziest stuff I know, and I love it. Matter-of-fact polyfidelity, yay. I don't need every book to have that -- I'm aware that not everyone is that way inclined -- but it's so good to have some. Likewise a religion that flat-out declares the Deity less than omnipotent.

[bellona_rpg]

I remember being slightly confused when first reading Merchanter's Luck, as there were so many references to a wider universe (and its politics) which weren't clearly explained in the novel itself. Then I read Downbelow Station itself, and things got a bit clearer.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet read Cyteen myself (too many books on the waiting list), but it has been highly recommended to me.

The Faded Sun trilogy was wonderful, but rather melancholic. I didn't start the Dreamstone series, possibly because I got quickly tired of the fading elves (or other/elder race)/fading magic trope. (Maybe I'd had enough of it in the Faded Sun.)

It does seem in some novels that Cherryh is more interested in the wider sweep of history, politics, and social change and anthropology. Examples include Downbelow Station, the Cyteen series, and 40,000 in Gehenna (which was a bit of a slog at times).