#Shaenon K. Garrity

[readtilyoudie]

THE DIRE DEEP OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR

[freshlybrewedbookreviews]

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity

This wasn't the book I was expecting, but it was fun. I won't give too much away, but if you enjoy gothic novels with a sci-fi twist, you may want to check this one out.

[thosearentcrimes]

Read Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I have strongly ambivalent feelings about it, actually. As a relatively frequent point of reference for its subject, I imagine people are mostly familiar with its topic, but I'm sure there are people like me before very recently who hadn't read it before and might not be entirely familiar with the execution. As such I will try not to spoil too much, but any discussion of themes inevitably will contain some spoilers.

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction novel framed as a series of autobiographical lab reports (well, really more of a diary) written by Charlie Gordon, the first human subject of an experimental surgery. The objective of the surgery is an element of the novel that I think is perhaps a bit of a cop-out. The procedure is billed as one which would cure mental disabilities like Charlie's, and generally when characters discuss it that is what they claim it is. But in the story, it actually turns him into a super-genius, who reads incredibly quickly, learns languages almost instantly, and can become a super-expert at any discipline in weeks. I think this weakens the book for two major reasons.

Firstly, depicting a super-intelligent character is obviously very difficult to pull off. All of fiction is ultimately reliant on illusionism, but some illusions are easier to maintain than others, and ones involving characters substantially more intelligent than their writers are particularly difficult. There are some tricks you can use, but they only do so much. Keyes does a decent job I would say, notably in basically just taking a handful of traits generally regarded as indicative of high intelligence and then making Charlie good at doing them very proficiently, typically meaning fast. This is obviously preferable to treating it as a comic book superpower, the way comic books used to do and damn near everything seems to now, but it strains credibility nonetheless, and is entirely an unforced error.

Largely because, secondly, the exaggerated contrast is not necessary in the first place, and is way over-blown. Charlie has an IQ of 68 at the start of the novel. I think the novel would have been better if it had chosen to either give post-surgery Charlie an IQ level and intelligence-associated capacities of either about 100 or about 132, that is, either the removal of his disability or a 'reversal' of it. IQ on the upper end of the scale is a particularly finicky measure and it is far more consistently effective at measuring/predicting outcomes at the lower end of the scale, which makes sense given that's what it was designed for, which would cause problems of its own for the narrative. But I think such an implementation of the central plot would still have been thematically a lot clearer. A more grounded, realistic approach would have lent the story more relevance and emotional depth, I think.

Anyway, inevitably the book adopts a perspective and vocabulary on mental disability that is seriously outdated, both in terms of language and in terms of attitude, but on the whole it is at least trying to be a humanizing portrayal. I think what bothered me the most on this point was actually the analogizing of mental disability to childhood. I'm not familiar with the research on the mechanisms and causes of mental disability, so I may be missing critical points validating such an analogy at least as far as some causes for mental disability go, but to me it often seems like a mechanism for the blanket application of permanent denial of various forms of personal autonomy to disabled adults without having to actually justify those interventions, which is obviously bad. I also think it's probably bad, in reverse, to effectively treat childhood as a (usually temporary) mental disability. That's a bit of a tangent though.

The book is well-executed as far as craftsmanship goes. The story strains against the framing device at times, but there is an extremely clear justification for its use and maintenance, since it allows for variation in the character of the narrator over time, obviously a useful attribute for a book about a large change in the life of that narrator. When I discussed Great Expectations, I believe I mentioned that it kind of felt like the novel was doing the same thing, except there it actually contradicted the framing device.

Generally speaking, aside from the impossibility of plausibly depicting super-intelligence leading to an entirely evitable failure on that point, I felt like the book was fairly well written and plotted. But I find I disagree with a lot of what it is saying because of differences in worldview, and even if most of these are an artefact of a different time, they affect my perception of the book. To me, Flowers for Algernon is interesting to read in terms of its function as a relic of its time and place and as a common point of reference, but it is an appreciation that is due to its cultural importance, and not because I enjoyed reading it, which really I mostly didn't. To touch on just one of the works it influenced because I like it a lot, the webcomic Narbonic by Shaenon K. Garrity is heavily influenced by Flowers for Algernon, which it name-checks repeatedly, and I like having more supplemental context for it now. But Narbonic is a comedy webcomic, it doesn't take itself very seriously and the wacky elements help a lot to cover up the super-intelligence problem. On the whole, I'm glad I read Flowers for Algernon, I can recommend reading it, but I didn't actually like it very much, though I can see why others might.

[graphicpolicy]

A Star Brighter than the Sun Vol. 1 is cute in its will they/won't they school crush romance #comics #manga #graphicnovel #ncbd

[blogthefiresidechats]

Latest haul...

I got to stop by the bookstore yesterday afternoon and came home with three new books. The first book was something I picked up on a whim because I thought it looked interesting. The other two books were books that were on my list. I’m one of those people that think there’s no such thing as too many books. 

[alpha-window-9-creations]

https://youtu.be/BD49HftOV50

Made another animatic! This was a lot of fun.

[virtualmentalitydeer]

Shaenon was in Munchkin once!?!?!?

[have-you-read-this-webcomic]

Propaganda:

"Answering an innocent job offer, Dave Davenport is drawn into a shocking spiral of vice, crime and moral depravity. Hopelessly ensnared by a madwoman's feminine wiles, can he return to the world of sanity before it is... too late? A normal ish programmer gets employed by a mad scientist and hijinks ensue. Starts out as a pretty silly bit based webcomic but gets more dramatic and convoluted as it progresses. Art also gets much better. If you like Girl Genius you’ll love this …"

Read it here!

[brainbuffering]

Top New Manga of 2024!

Another year has come to an end, so it's time to talk about all the great manga that came out this year! So in no particular order, these are my Top 6 New Manga of the Year!

In the Name of the Mermaid Princess by Writer Yoshino Fumikawa and Artist Miya Tashiro

T: Junko Goda, Adap: Shaenon K. Garrity, L: Susan Daigle-Leach, E: Annette Roman Publisher: Shojo Beat

“In the classic fairy tale, a mermaid princess gives up her special abilities for love. What happens if she doesn’t? Princess Mio is betrothed to Prince Chika. However, they’ve never met, and he doesn’t know her secret—she’s a mermaid! When her tutor, Yuri, takes her out of the castle to meet her subjects, Mio begins to accept her true self. But Yuri has a secret too… And when Mio tells her father, the king, she wants to live life openly as a mermaid, he punishes her. How can she stay true to herself? Plus, a bonus story about a royal subject with wings!”

This series was an absolute surprise to me! I always keep an eye out for new Shojo releases, but I accept that I am not the target audience for all of them. I assumed that was the case here, Mermaid Princesses were something I felt was in my past. Yet I took a chance on it on the Viz Media App and felt an immediate kinship with Mio! The story of the Unhumans' struggles for safety and respect really resonated with me as a disabled person. The series acts as a great “Disability Metaphor 101” for younger readers. With solid artwork, an enchanting story, and really moving and relatable moments it’s definitely been my highlight of the year! 

Otonari Complex by Saku Nonomura

T: Jenny McKeon, Adap: Carly Smith, L: Aidan Clarke, E: Kristina Korpus Publisher: SevenSeas

“Kuji Akira and Ninomiya Makoto are childhood friends and neighbors. Since Akira is “handsome” for a girl and Makoto is “pretty” for a boy, their gender presentation is often confused. As they try to untangle their complex feelings about themselves and each other, they find out their friends are crushing on them, too. It’s a complicated childhood friend love story!”

This was one of the series I was most looking forward to this year and it did not disappoint! “Gender Fuckery” has been a key component of all good Shojo since it began! From Princess Knight to Rose of Versailles to Fruits Basket, narratives about people discovering their gender identity, and playing around with what that means, are some of the most beloved. This was the year that I finally came out to my family as Gender Queer, so a having a book that has such a complex look at the notion of gender and gender identity in such a queer way was wonderful. I especially loved the way it explored body dysmorphia and misgendering. When Makoto presents as female, they WANT to have folks use she/her pronouns for them! Even if they still identify as a cis-man throughout the book. Meanwhile Akira chooses to present masculine, but when she gets misgendered as a boy she doesn’t experience the same euphoria that Makoto does. For her, it’s something painful and shaming. Volume 2 hasn't shipped to me yet, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing how these two love birds’ gender journey goes. 

Tank Chair by Manabu Yashiro

T: Max Greenway L: Evan Hayden  E: Maggie Le Publisher: Kodansha

“Shizuka takes on the most dangerous of assassin jobs, but she's not the one doing the killing. Rather, it's her brother, Nagi, a strong assassin who took a bullet to protect his sister, leaving him in a comatose state and having to use a wheelchair. However, Shizuka has figured out the key to waking her brother up: he must be faced with killing intent! Thus begins a violent journey of recovery, battling the most dangerous foes!”

I’ve already written about why I loved Tank Chair so much, but it’s worth repeating that whilst series like “A Sign of Affection” and “Blade Girl” are still great to have for disabled representation in popular media – nothing quite beats the euphoria I felt reading Tank Chair and seeing people get viciously murdered with disabled rage fueled Boudica spikes.

Magical Girl Dandelion by Kaeru Mizuho

T: Mei Amaki L: Finn K Publisher: Viz Media (App)

“Magical girls and villains are enemies, but can neophyte Tanpopo's bond with the villain Shade topple that destiny?”

To my knowledge, this is the first Shojo Manga that Viz have been simul-publishing from the get go! And they absolutely picked a superstar to start! Western Manga Fans have been chomping at the bit for more magical girl series to get localised into English, and this has not disappointed! Whilst series like Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon take a few chapters to get to their darker tones, Magical Girl Dandelion gets to it right off the bat! With cool battle sequences, fun character designs, and the battle between good and evil being morally murky from the start – Dandelion has the potential to be one of the all time greats!

Tokyo These Days by Taiyo Matsumoto

T: Michael Arias L: Deron Bennett Publisher: Viz

“After 30 years as a manga editor, Kazuo Shiozawa suddenly quits. Although he feels early retirement is the only way to atone for his failures as an editor, the manga world isn’t done with him. On his final day as an editor, Shiozawa takes a train he’s ridden hundreds of times to impart some last advice to a manga creator whose work he used to edit. Later, he is drawn to return to a bookshop at the request of a junior editor who wants his help dealing with an incorrigible manga creator who used to be edited by Shiozawa and now refuses to work with anyone else. For Shiozawa, Tokyo these days is full of memory and is cocooned in the inescapable bonds among manga creators, their editors, art, and life itself.”

A slow, thoughtful manga that gives you plenty of time to breathe and contemplate. The slower, and more mature pace was a great break from my usual diet of high energy action adventure romance. The book is a somber look at what it is to work in the manga industry in present day Japan, how it has changed over the decades, and what it means to age out of a business that’s famous for working their most talented artists to an early grave.

Colette Decides To Die by Alto Yukimura

T: Max Greenway L: Inori Fukada Trant E: Nancy Thistlethwaite Publisher: Shojo Beat

“Colette meets Hades, a fellow workaholic, while he is ill in bed with a rash and fever. After treating his condition, she learns about the work he does and what drives him, in turn renewing her sense of purpose as an apothecary. Colette is sent back to her own world, but is this the last she will see of Hades?”

This was one of those series that half my social media feed seemed to be absolutely begging to get published in English. And having read the first two volumes, I can see why! Whilst I don’t think it’s doing anything revolutionary, it’s still a cosy story of two people who struggle with self care falling in love and providing support, with a fun backdrop of greek mythology (although the lack of accuracy would make academics rage harder than at Disney’s Hercules) which makes it absolutely peek HanaYume. And heaven knows how much I love HanaYume! 

[violsva]

November Reading

Post delayed by a vacation and then PMS. More thoughts than usual, though.

Recent: Finally finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, but fast enough that things did not really sink in, or not all at once. It was good, interesting cultural differences and similarities, probably won't read the sequels.

Reread Steadfast, by Mercedes Lackey. This is not a good book, people. I knew that when I started it. In terms of pacing and plotting and unnecessary digressions and historical accuracy and giving agency to characters it is very very badly done. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is maybe what I need, given how much I get tied into knots about the free fanfic I write for fun needing its theme to be supported by a coherent narrative arc.

I read some of T. Kingfisher's commentary on fairy tales in The Halcyon Fairy Book and most of Lace Making by Eunice Close (published by a tiny Canadian press in 1975, don't go looking for it). I tried to reread The Bacchae for catharsis purposes, but it was a not-great Victorian translation and I didn't get very far. I did find out that Alan Cumming played Dionysus twenty or so years ago and the trailer for that is on Youtube.

Read A Phantom Lover by Vernon Lee, which was good for what it was but I did have to force myself to it. On the drive with @consultingpiskies I finally managed to articulate that I am just not up to unfamiliar fiction right now, and maybe that's okay.

I read all of May Morris: Arts & Crafts Designer at the library, which is the book of an exhibition of her work and was absolutely gorgeous and also gave me feelings about her relationship with her father, so that was great. And on the theme of the English Arts and Crafts movement, English Embroidered Bookbindings by Cyril Davenport, which might have been improved with more practical knowledge of embroidery but was generally good.

Also read Meet Me on the Other Side by @sparklepocalypse, RWRB 1890s cowboy AU. I could be nitpicky about a couple historical attitudes but basically this is just a really good romance novel and I liked it.

Current: Rereading Swordheart by @tkingfisher, and I really want to know more about the Temple of the White Rat's embroiderer(s). Like, maybe Zale does their own embroidery, but in that case I would have expected them to take a project along for the wagon ride. For a while I was carrying this around with me everywhere, but now that I am getting to the climax things are going more slowly.

Just gave 3/5 of my library books back unstarted due to the fiction realization above. I have two digital craft books to flip through, and also some from the Antique Pattern Library, and Chats on Old Lace and Needlework by Mrs. Lowes. Look, basically what I want to do right now is get overwhelmingly caught up in craft projects and never talk to anyone ever again. I won't, because there is Christmas shopping to do and people I am trying to make friends with and so forth, but that's probably where my head's going to be all month.

Various RWRB fanfics going on still. Oh, and there's been more Madame C—. Thank god for Madame C—.

Future: I still have The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin out from the library, which really does seem fun but I don't know if I have the brain for it. I would also like to get through more of my AO3 Marked for Later list before Yuletide adds a bunch to it, but, well. (I didn't sign up for Yuletide this year, not because I didn't think I could manage it but because I suspected I would hate the process, and that was a good decision.)

If all else fails I will relisten to the Roaring Twenties Magic audiobooks while sewing.

[smashpages]

Nancy cartoonist  Olivia Jaimes is taking a summer break from the strip, and to bridge the gap, Andrews McMeel has recruited several cartoonist to fill in on the popular strip, including Caroline Cash, Shaenon K. Garrity, Megan McKay and the creator of the first Jaimes-less comic, Leigh Luna. The publisher and Jaimes have been coy about when the strips would start — supposedly they weren’t supposed to debut until July, but surprise! Luna’s strip went live today, so we’ll have to check back tomorrow to see if there’s another guest artist.

Read more

[readtilyoudie]

THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR

[librarians-of-babel]

Have you ever found any full (probably public domain :p) novels in the library?

Yes, but only once. It was, perhaps fittingly, a transcribed copy of Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator's Revolution by R. F. Kuang. The librarian who found it promptly misplaced its shelving address in their excitement, and it is likely that this volume has only become more improbable to find again with recent reindexings of the catalogue. (The Library guards its words carefully, and it is particularly reluctant to make so many of them so easily accessible to the public.)

For further information on the phenomenon of finding literary works within the Library, we recommend you read Shaenon K. Garrity's Librarians in the Branch Library of Babel or the text located at Hexagon

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;

Wall 2; Shelf 1; Volume 28 (cwy .tut); Page 165.

[alienated-youth]

One of the earlier pieces I did this year. I had been reading through the entire run of the Narbonic webcomic by Shaenon K Garrity and felt it only right to draw the mad scientist herself, Helen B Narbon!

[graphicpolicy]

A Star Brighter than the Sun Vol. 1 is cute in its will they/won't they school crush romance #comics #manga

[beesandwasps]

(A lone panel from Skin Horse by Shaenon K. Garrity and Jeffrey C. Wells)

we all must get weirder and more queer. i am completely serious and genuine and this is urgent. please get weirder and gayer now. if you see me acting weird and gay mind your business a little bit.