#HaleNo Review Black Out Link Round Up

In light of the major issue of Kathleen Hale’s stalking as mentioned in today’s Friday Discussion, many reviewers are having a #HaleNo Review Black Out until October 27th which I initially saw proposed by Jane of Dear Author (I do not know if the idea originated with her, though)

This is something we support, not least of which because this is the result of actions like Ms. Hale’s being accepted will result in: the silence of review blogs and the death of critical, informative reviewing. After all, very few of us are actually making any kind of living at this - and few are willing to engage in an unpaid activity (especially one that can be a lot of work) that will bring obsessive and angry people to their homes and their family.

Of course, Fangs for the Fantasy runs on a schedule - and at present that schedule doesn’t include book reviews on Thursdays or during the weekend - the blackout rather falls in our dark period. So, instead of a book review today we are putting out a link round up of various blogs talking about the Hale stalking because we shouldn’t just chalk this up to another case of author drama and return to business as normal

Dear Author’s On the Importance of Pseudonymous Activity nicely sums up the whole facts of the issue

Smart Bitches’ The Choices of Kathleen Hale

Jenny Trout’s DON’T DO THIS EVER (An Advice Column For Writers): “Stalking The Hands That Feed You” edition

Love in the Margins also has an excellent Link Roundup

Bibliodaze: An Open Letter to Kathleen Hale & Guardian Books: Stalking Is Not Okay

Bookthingo’s excellent Storify: What happens when The Guardian lets an author gloat about stalking a blogger which also captures the reaction to Ms. Hale’s stalking which is, in many ways, as scary as the stalking itself.

Jim. C. Hines: Victim or Perpetrator?

The Dead Writer’s Society IS KATHLEEN HALE A “JOURNALIST”? #HALENO

Bookbinge: “Catfish”, “Doxx”, and “Stalk” – What You Need To Know About Kathleen Hale #HaleNo

Laura Pohl: The latest scandal on the book community – Kathleen Hale, the stalking and the inexistent response to her actions

Elfswood: Poisoning the Well: Kathleen Hale's Attempt to Justify her Stalking

Again from Dear Author - Poisoning the Well. How Ms. Hale’s actions hurt all in the book community, authors as well

Vacuousminx: The rising costs of membership in the booktalk community

There is also a petition to have Goodreads improve its privacy settings

Love in the Margins: Class and Privilege: The Listen Linda Edition

We do not know the various writer’s histories nor can we guarantee that other posts on these sites won’t be problematic

Links of Interest

Since we’re quite capable of losing hours to the internet if we’re not careful, we do come across some thoughtful discussion that are both relevant to Fangs and fire up the brain cells; here are some links of the past few weeks that have caught our interest

Please feel free to share your own links in the comments

This week we have a series of links about the vileness that is Game Gate, the misogyny that permeates it and the extreme lengths its going to.

What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks

A good summary for anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with this carnage

Video Gamers Are Having A Bizarre Debate Over Whether Sending Death Threats To Women Is A Serious Issue

And another highlight just how horrendous this whole “debate” is.

Are Feminists Taking Over Video Games?

This excellent examination shows just how little video game journalists actually talk about sexism - the petulant misogynists would have you believe it’s all consuming

Utah State University threatened with school shooting over Sarkeesian appearance

And this is the lengths they will go to. This is nothing short of terrorism.

Brianna Wu Describes “War On Women” In The Gaming Industry On MSNBC

One Feminist Critic's Battle With Gaming's Darker Side

These two articles are both important as they have the words of two of the women who have been targeting - Brianna Wu and Anita Sarkeesian. Another prominent target is Zoe Quinn

We do not know the various writer’s histories nor can we guarantee that other posts on these sites won’t be problematic - but these posts definitely whetted our interest.

Links of Interest

Since we’re quite capable of losing hours to the internet if we’re not careful, we do come across some thoughtful discussion that are both relevant to Fangs and fire up the brain cells; here are some links of the past few weeks that have caught our interest

Please feel free to share your own links in the comments

Where’s the Diversity, Hollywood? Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blockbusters Overwhelmingly White, Male by Lee & Low Books

The overwhelming dominance of cis, straight, white, male protagonists in the genre is really extreme.

Why we must strive for diversity in SF/F by David Mack

An author’s response to a petulant homophobe. Though I have to say while I love his reaction, trying to present the Star Trek universe as something even remotely welcoming to LGBT people is a stretch

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH CHRISTIAN BALE AS MOSES by Dion Beary

A post emphasising the difference between whitewashing a POC character, and re-casting a white role as a POC

On Telltale Games’ Ableist Treatment of Sarah by Lilly Caul

The newest series of the Walking Dead computer game by Talltale Games (review coming soon) again reminds us how all inclusion is not good inclusion

If you’re a straight cisgender woman writing m/m romance, sorry, you are not striking a blow for equality by Sunny Moraine

A pointed take down of the idea that the M/M genre is inherently gay friendly or somehow championing equality, since there’s a lot of problematic issues and fetishism in the genre

“Expendable” Gay Characters by Aaron Landry

The author joins me in not being impressed by “easter egg” inclusion of LGBT characters

A Disheartening Account Of The Harassment Going On In Gaming Right Now (And How Adam Baldwin Is Involved) by Victoria McNally

A sad look at how computer games geekdom has responded with rampant misogyny when faced with even the mildest criticism from a woman.

This Week in Video Game Criticism: Tropes vs Anita Sarkeesian and the Demise of 'Gamers' by Kris Ligman

A round up of several links concerning this trainwreck

Sexualized Saturdays: Queer Stories are Tragic Stories by Lady Saika

In the few places we have LGBT inclusion, we’re still dogged by the old trope of tragedy

We do not know the various writer’s histories nor can we guarantee that other posts on these sites won’t be problematic - but these posts definitely whetted our interest.

Links of Interest

Since we’re quite capable of losing hours to the internet if we’re not careful, we do come across some thoughtful discussion that are both relevant to Fangs and fire up the brain cells; here are some links of the past few weeks that have caught our interest

Please feel free to share your own links in the comments

On Katniss Everdeen by Kyoko M

A great viewpoint on Katniss in the Hunger Games and the whole concept of relationships being thrust on people, especially women

Sexism and Misogyny in Science Fiction/Fantasy by Kyoko M

What it says on the tin with a special nod to the casual use of rape.

Black Nerds, Escpaism & Why We Need More Diverse Books by Hannah Giorgis

What many minority fans in the genre have been saying and can related to. Also refers to the paucity of children’s books about Black characters

We need Diverse Books

Which seems a good time to link to the We Need Diverse Books Tumblr

BFI obligates and supports Lottery funding recipients to reflect diversity in the UK

The BFI is bringing in new diversity requirements for any films receiving lottery funding through them. While it looks like a good first step, we’re concerned at how low the requirements are. Reading their tick system, a sufficient number of visible minorities filling in crowd scenes will count - and some of their “tick” categories completely drop LGBT people as minorities.

GLAAD’s Verdict on Gay Visibility in Hollywood Films? Not Good

Speaking of diversity in film - Glaad has released their report on LGBT visibility in Hollywood films. It’s poor - with no LGBT main characters, only 17 out of 102 had LGBT characters at all and only 7 of them passed the Vito Russo test

Strong Female Character Friday: Malia Tate (Teen Wolf) by Deborah Pless

Kiss My Wonder Woman has a good series on Strong Female Characters

Why We Deserve More Bisexual Characters On Television by Lauren Davis

A strong piece in response to the straight washing of NBC’s Constantine - unfortunately, it also seems to be response to the angry criticism IO9’s other piece on the matter received - one which completely dismissed the issue in a rather homophobic manner.

Walking Dead Actor Struggling to Find Other Roles by Megan Diane

Steven Yeun, despite his success on The Walking Dead, is still struggling to find other work simply due to the paucity of opportunities for Asian actors.

Diversity in Geedom: Fantasy and Sci-Fi by Daisy Rosario

Latino USA has an excellent podcast interview with NK Jemisin, Daniel Jose Older and professor Nalo Hopkinson about racial diversity in sci-fi

We do not know the various writer’s histories nor can we guarantee that other posts on these sites won’t be problematic - but these posts definitely whetted our interest.

Links of Interest

Since we’re quite capable of losing hours to the internet if we’re not careful, we do come across some thoughtful discussion that are both relevant to Fangs and fire up the brain cells; here are some links of the past two weeks that have caught our interest

Please feel free to share your own links in the comments

When Will we get LGBT Cartoons by Irae Nicole

Includes a lot of what we complain about representation in the genres we follow

Mining the Data: Genre and Gender by Nicole Singer

Some analysis of trends of debut authors examining Jane Friedman’s statistics

21 Actors Offer their TV Characters One Piece of Advice

I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Nina Dobrev and laughing uproariously at Paul Wesley and Danielle Campbell

'True Blood' Can't Even Pander to Its Audience Correctly with Gay Dream Hookup by Joe Reid

A comment on the recent Eric/Jason scene in the latest episode of True Blood that had me saying “what they said.”

The Gary Stu, or Why I’m Not Subscribing to The Mary Sue Anymore by Laura Koroski

Some major issue with The Mary Sue’s new direction and some good general points on any marginalised media outlet that decides to go more “mainstream”.

A History of Michael Bay’s Gay Jokes by Rich Juzwiak

This shows us the importance of looking at trends and connections in media. Because if the same content creators keep doing the same thing? That’s indicative

Sidekickism Part 2: What a Difference Race Makes by David F Walker

An excellent article on how racial dynamics can change the nature of a portrayal (which has also a great example of how simply putting a Black character in a role once held by a White one doesn’t mean racist tropes won’t apply

We do not know the various writer’s histories nor can we guarantee that other posts on these sites won’t be problematic - but these posts definitely whetted our interest.