Target Women: Vampires

In light of my recent post about Vampire Knight, I thought I'd post the most recent Target Women episode by Sarah Haskins, the comedic light of my and Maggie's lives.

In case you're unfamiliar with it, Target Women is Sarah Haskins' segment on Current TV's Infomania, which comes on every Thursday at 10 on Current. You can also watch all of her episodes at Current.com. 

Quick Review: The Scar (2002)

I know it's taboo to review a book before you're done with it, but I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to one of the best fantasy/sci-fi books I have ever read. China Mieville's The Scar is not only a fantastic piece of literature, but it has one of my favorite female protagonists in a fantasy/sci-fi book so far.

Let me tell you some of my favorite things. The protagonist is a middle-aged female linguist named Bellis Coldwine. She is somewhat detached, very guarded and highly intelligent. She has several lovers throughout the book and has no intention of marrying or falling in love. She is a normal human, no super powers. She is not beautiful, in fact she is barely even physically described. Are you in love yet? God, I am.

Also, Mieville drops these fabulously subtle hints about gender inequalities in the city of her birth. She publishes her work as B. Coldwine, a move that she calls a "harmless little piece of obfuscation"  so that people won't judge her work by her gender. Another character, Uther Doul, describes gender relations in Bellis' home city of New Crobuzon as "A certain sacralization of women. A contempt masked as adoration." Of course, Mieville is commenting on the status of gender relations in his home city of London, the model for the steampunk New Crobuzon. These statements make Bellis's character so much more intriguing for me, now that I know that she comes from a society like mine in which women aren't exactly given a fair shake. They also garner more respect for Mr. Mieville, as it lets me know that he is in touch with some of the subtleties of my issues.

The fact that Mieville even writes of gender issues in a book not entirely about gender issues has me in love. I wasn't expecting a particularly feminist read here, and I was oh so pleasantly surprised. There are many other reasons to check out this book even beside the female protagonist. Mieville is a highly inventive writer, a master at race creation and civilization building (he has an MA in social anthropology) and knows how to construct a great plot. Also there's a character in there with tentacles and gills, so I'd probably be reading this if it were a treatise on chauvinism. I can't help it, I just love me some octopuses. Over and out!