There I Fixed It

Hey guys, Jonelle, Marissa, and Sade here! It seems like we’re back in the podcasting game after a very long time away. As you can see, we’ve rebranded from Fat Pink Cast to There, I Fixed It. We’re bringing you something a little different and casting a wider net into the fandom seas. We’ll be talking about what we love and don’t love about various shows and films, and providing suggestions to improve representation for marginalised groups in the media. We hope you’ll enjoy our first episode, so listen and let us know what you think! 

With the expectation that geekiness is an embrace of whiteness, what happens when you are in fact not white? I am a geek, and I am Chicano. Over the course of my life I have learned to be both things proudly, but this presents a paradox. How can I justify my geek-cred while also maintaining my street-cred? Often, I cannot. I am a geek, and I am a brown man, and this has earned me a lot of shit from both sides.

On the one hand, I can run a D&D campaign about how poorly certain races like half-elves are treated, and my group will rail against the injustice of it all, but if I bring up any real-world situation of inequality, I get the cold shoulder at best or at worst booed down and given “focus on the game” lectures. As Junot Díaz allegedly said: “Motherfuckers will read a book that’s 1/3 in Elvish, but put in two lines of Spanish and [white people] think we’re taking over.”

                                            Inside Game of Thrones S7: A Story in Cloth

Siddig interview does not have dangerous sodium levels, but enough:

Q: Our prince did not meet a pleasant end…

He didn’t. It’s funny, I’m not really sure what happened there. I was contracted to do at least four episodes this season, but then I was in L.A. doing publicity for something else, and I got a call at the Chateau Marmont and there were familiar voices on the other end of the phone. It was one of those guys, and because they didn’t introduce themselves it was like, “Hi, it’s me.” I was like, “Is that David or Daniel?” Anyway, they said, “You know what this phone call is about.” I was like, “Yeah, well, I guess I do.” “So we were going to kill you off at the end of last season, but we decided that we’re going to have to kill you off at the beginning of next season.” I was like, “Okay, life goes on.” But there was something wrong about that because I had been contracted for four episodes in the following season, so if they were going to kill me off at the end of the last season why would they contract me for those four episodes? Because it costs them money whether I do them or not, so it’s not great business sense to do it just in case.

So something happened; I have no idea what. There was an enormous amount of fan excitement when I got named to be on the show, and everyone was like, “Oh my god, yes, Doran Martell. He’s going to be great as Doran Martell.” That might have been the kiss of death. Maybe they didn’t want quite that much attention on that character. Maybe they thought, “Well, let’s prove that we’re going to stray from the books. We’re going to do something else, and he will be our first example of that.” So maybe that could have been the case. Or maybe I just screwed up. Maybe I said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Or maybe these writers are talentless hacks ¯\_(シ)_/¯ 

Hey!

So I’ll level with you here, depression’s been beating my ass for the longest time, and even though I know there’s good stuff out there, I’ve not had the energy to go delving into the nooks and crannies of the fiction world to find it, because…… y’know, it’s hard, there’s fudge all out there, I’m tired

But I’m so glad you sent this ask because it’s given me the motivation to sit my butt down and make this happen and this is IMPORTANT to me. So this ask has been an adventure for the both of us, anon friend~

Here’s what I found in my search! I’ve only read a few of them, for the above reason, but I’ve tried to collect stuff that’s been written by aro/ace authors or has received positive reviews from aro/ace people!! Here goes!!! I hope it’s not too lengthy, I got excited!!

The Bone People by Keri Hulme is a mystery novel featuring an asexual protagonist, the reclusive artist Kerewin. It’s set in New Zealand and focuses a lot on Maori culture (the author herself is of Maori descent, as well as openly asexual and aromantic). Trigger warnings for physical abuse, suicide and illness.

We Awaken by Calista Lynne ( @calista-lynne ) features two asexual protagonists, girls who love girls, paranormal shenanigans, and the most beautiful glorious amazing cover I’ve ever seen. It’s also published by Harmony Ink Press, who do positive LGBTQ+ stories and are all round awesome in general. I think this one is available for preorder now, but releasing soon.

Sydney West by Rebecca McKinsey is a mystery/thriller I’ve seen some really great reviews on, which features a canon aromantic protagonist, and also has minimal profanity and minimal graphic description, if that’s not your kinda thing.

How To Be A Normal Person by TJ Klune features an asexual stoner hipster and honestly I don’t even know what else to say about it but this book looks like a wild and very weird ride to say the least.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire has an asexual protagonist and creepy stuff and secret doors and other worlds. Also has a trans character! Seems like a neat premise, I’m keen to read it.

Cold Ennaline by RJ Astruc is paranormal novella also published by Harmony Ink Press, featuring an asexual (and by the sounds of the description quite possibly aromantic) protagonist.

Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith is an epic high fantasy with an asexual protagonist and a POC princess and lots of awesome worldbuilding and politics and yeah!

After I Wake by Emma Griffiths features an asexual protagonist and several queer side characters and is also published by Harmony Ink Press! Hooray! Trigger warnings for suicide and mental illness (though the story itself focuses on recovery).

Sinners by Eka Waterfield is a dark fantasy about an asexual sidhe drug dealer, so what else does a person need, really. But yeah! It’s got thumbs-ups from several ace reviewers on goodreads! Trigger warnings for drug use and violence.

Clariel by Garth Nix features a protagonist who’s pretty much 100% absolutely aroace and amazing, and from what I can see many of the aces/aros who’ve read this book strongly identify with her and her experiences and the general consensus is that it’s awesome.  

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld features a demisexual WOC and a lesbian love interest and I’ve heard pretty good things about it, though I haven’t read it myself.Quicksilver by RJ Anderson is a YA sci-fi with an asexual protagonist and lots of decent discussions on asexuality in the book, like the coming out scene, etc.

Interface: inSight by Lucy Mihajlich is another one maybe worth looking out for? It has a kickstarter going, and features a hearing-impaired aroace protagonist, nonbinary representation, and female and POC characters doing cool stuff and not dying… also has, like, cool edgy futuristic dystopia vibes~

A Word and a Bullet by Rachel Sharp has a very very very explicitly-stated aroace character. 100% aroace and cool with it. Also, quirky apocalypse stories are always fun, yeah?

And here’s some other neat stuff I found:

From Under the Mountain by Cait Spivey (panromantic asexual author, F/F high fantasy, lots of POC and women characters)

Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge (zero romance, cool premise)

The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan (ace character, not protagonist)

Radio Silence by Alice Osman (honest and open discussions of asexuality and demisexuality, female mixed-race bisexual protagonist, male and female leads do not fall in love)

Make Much Of Me by Kayla Bashe (lots of queer rep, including asexual and nonbinary, super positive feelgood themes)

Mindtouch and Mindline by M.C.A Hogarth (non-human asexual characters, queerplatonic life-partnership, sounds hELLA CUTE)

Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (asexual POC leading character, not protagonist)

Sci-fi fans and authors aren’t happy with this futuristic novel about slavery written by a white man

When the New York Times published an interview promoting a novel that “dares to mix slavery and sci-fi,” the reactions from literary circles on Twitter were swift and damning. Was it really fair for a white author to be praised as “fearless” for writing a book like this one?

Underground Airlines is a new thriller by novelist and playwright Ben H. Winters, set in an alternate reality where the American Civil War never happened. The protagonist is a former slave who nows works as a bounty hunter, specializing in tracking down escaped slaves. After capturing more than 200 people, Victor’s next task is to infiltrate an abolitionist movement known as the Underground Airlines.

In the interview, Winters is forthright about the controversial nature of this subject-matter. “The first impulse is to go, oh man, are you supposed to be writing about that, as a white American?” he told the Times. “We tend to think of racism and slavery as something that’s appropriate only for black artists to engage with, and there’s something troubling and perverse about that.”

Other authors did not accept this attitude with open arms.