Sunday, September 16, 2007

BELATEDLY IS BETTER THAN NOT AT ALL

So the picture is finally up, but not by me. Sharon, the savvy admin, wrestled the photo into place. Thank you, Sharon.
Meanwhile, a few of you have commented on my writing a story set in China after six days there, and two more people felt moved enough to send me email (one for, one against). I'm persisting with the story, possibly unwisely, but I'm also taking this opportunity to recommend a booklet on this thorny issue. It's called WRITING THE OTHER, by Cindy Ward and Nisi Shawl, and it deals with if, when, and how to write POV characters that differ from the author in race, culture, gender, and/or sexual orientation. Cindy and Nisi do a lovely job in discussing this in ways that are actually usable to writers.
I recently saw STARDUST, the movie based on Neil Gaiman's novel. Now, I am not a huge fan of fantasy, especially fantasy with princesses and witches and the whole Celtic-lore background, because it's been done so much. But STARDUST is utterly charming: inventive and entertaining. Rober DeNiro's performance alone is worth the price of admission. Recommended.

8 comments:

Neil Gaiman said...

I think that the photo is of us just finishing singing Auld Lang Syne, because I'm up on the stage too, and for Oh Susannah I was down in the audience videoing it...

Neil

Nancy Kress said...

Oh, shit. I got the wrong photo! Well, Michael Swanwick has a good one that IS "O, Susanna" on his blog.

Ruhan Zhao said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ruhan Zhao said...

So you guys have sung several songs? I wish I were there!

none said...

That booklet sounds very useful--any idea how to get a copy?

Nisi Shawl said...

I'm one of the co-authors of _Writing the Other_. Glad you find it useful, Nancy. It's available through Aqueduct Press (www.aqueductpress.com) as one of the "Conversation Pieces." If you live in Seattle you can get it at a couple of bookstores. Nisi

none said...

Thanks!

Whispermoth said...

I looked for "O, Susanna" on YouTube, but it doesn't seem to have made it up there despite the apparent video evidence.