Replies

JulietEMcKenna, 3 months ago to fantasy

Persistent erasure of women and writers of colour, gay and non-binary authors is only one factor in the dominance of straight, white, anglophone men writing SF&F. A lot of factors contribute to this entrenched bias. I looked into this here.
"The Myth of Meritocracy and the Reality of the Leaky Pipe and Other Obstacles in Science Fiction & Fantasy"
www.julietemckenna.com?p=2615

#SFF #Fantasy #WritingCommunity #Books

wendymetcalfe, 3 months ago

@JulietEMcKenna Could you repost the link. It isn't work f. Thanks.

Princejvstin, 6 months ago to books

HAPPY RELEASE DAY @marthawells
#books #bookstodon @bookstodon

wendymetcalfe, 6 months ago

@Princejvstin @marthawells @bookstodon Eee, Didn't realise it was today. Off to buy the ebook to binge read in my writing retreat next week.

timnitGebru, 7 months ago to random

As my mom says, success brings many (fake) friends.

The added context is gold 😂

wendymetcalfe, 7 months ago

@timnitGebru So f*ing angry that this stuff is STILL going on in 2023.

robb, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

My mum would spend hours ironing clothes when I was a kid. I dont think I’ve ever seen an ironing board at any of my friends houses. A whole generation just said “fuck ironing” and we did. Good work everyone.

You know what we haven’t got rid of yet? Childhood cancer. Donate to St Jude today: https://rknight.me/stjude

wendymetcalfe, 7 months ago

@robb Yep. Life's too short for being domestic.

gamingonlinux, 8 months ago to random

Microsoft: we will only use what you set when we’re forced legally 🤣🤡

Their desperation to get you to use Edge however they can is just funny.

wendymetcalfe, 8 months ago

@gamingonlinux Yep. Just got a new laptop with Windows 11, and it was trying pretty hard to make their browser their default. Nope.

kimlockhartga, 9 months ago to bookstodon

I recommend purchasing used books from the library, especially if they sell donated books, and not just library discards. I picked up all of these for a cool five bucks.
@bookstodon

wendymetcalfe, 8 months ago

@mmiasma @kimlockhartga @bookstodon Yeah. Great book. Like Moon's stuff.

lauren, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

During the engineering work for the supersonic Concorde in England, "Thunderbirds" TV series creator Gerry Anderson was visiting the main facility one day. Someone asked him what he did for a living. Feeling massively outranked by all the engineering talent surrounding him there, he quietly replied that he made children's TV shows. Asked which ones, he mentioned Thunderbirds.

Within minutes he was surrounded by Concorde engineers who wanted to talk to him and shake his hand, many of whom told him it was his shows that had inspired them toward engineering careers, because they wanted to actually build the planes and rockets he had in his series. He was flabbergasted.

The original Star Trek had a similar effect on many career choices.

Now of course, TV mostly inspires people toward careers as lazy bums or crooks.

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@lauren Lovely story. The power of vision and creativity.

Sheril, 9 months ago to science

Physicist Lise Meitner’s brilliance led to the discovery of nuclear fission. But her long time collaborator Otto Hahn, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry without her in 1944, even though she had given the first theoretical explanation.

Albert Einstein called Meitner “our Marie Curie." She also adamantly refused to work on the atomic bomb during WWII. https://whyy.org/articles/lise-meitner-the-forgotten-woman-of-nuclear-physics-who-deserved-a-nobel-prize/ #science #history

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@Sheril Sigh. Oh, here we go again. Another woman's achievements erased. So tired of this.

mastodonmigration, 9 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to Astronomy

Congratulations to #Curiosity, the #MarsRover, celebrating its 11th birthday today! 🎂

Still operational after an amazing 4016 days!

Check out more #astronomy #space and #astrophysics at @AstroMigration

Edit: Image Credit - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Simeon Schmauß
@stim3on https://fosstodon.org/@stim3on/110839178786376410

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@mastodonmigration @AstroMigration 11 years! Wow!

AuthorHelp, 9 months ago to books

We're intending to run a #FediBookFair in November.

#Authors and #publishers will be invited to post about their books, or related subjects like research, using the #FediBookFair hashtag. They can also run competitions, offer signed copies, etc.

#Readers can watch or follow the hashtag to find #books to read and authors to follow.

Details and registration: https://authorhelp.uk/FediBookFair/

Boosts appreciated.

#author #WritersOfMastodon #writing #WritingCommunity

@authorindiespeak @writingcommunity

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@AuthorHelp @authorindiespeak @writingcommunity Interesting! hope to have an indie published book out by then. Will watch this with interest.

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@quietmarc @StorieswithaWill @CuriousMagpie @bookstodon Love Becky Chambers, but not that novella. Love The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit. They are comfort reads for me, books I return to when I need reminding that not everything that gets published is full of blood, killing, and gore.

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@bluejorts @quietmarc @StorieswithaWill @CuriousMagpie @bookstodon Yes! I'm a hopepunk writer, and she's one of. my big inspirations.

TheWarOnCars, 9 months ago to climate

"...SUVs use on average a quarter more energy than medium-size vehicles. They generate almost 1bn tonnes of CO2 emissions annually – the amount by which we overshot our Paris agreement targets. Their increasing adoption is directly contributing to the climate crisis, according to the International Energy Agency."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/27/france-crack-down-suv-drivers-britain-city-streets

#TheWarOnCars #climate #climatechange #climatecrisis #suv #cars

wendymetcalfe, 9 months ago

@TheWarOnCars Quickest way to reduce the numbers? Make it hard/illegal to have an SUV on a lease contract. If people had to pay for them they'd soon go out of use.

petersuber, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to books

To protest a #PrideMonth display at their local public #library, right-wing activists thought it would be smart to check out all the featured books and threaten to keep them until the library promised to remove them from its collection.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/22/us/pride-books-library-protest.html

It backfired. Citizens gave $15k and the city gave $30k to replace the books and expand the collection.

#Books #BookBans #Censorship #Libraries #SanDiego

wendymetcalfe, 10 months ago

@petersuber Yes! Way to go.

thevglibrary, 10 months ago to gaming

No matter what language you speak, you'll find something to enjoy in #TheVideoGameLibrary!

🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 🇫🇮 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇳🇱 🇹🇷

👉 https://www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/guinness-world-records-2018-gamer-s-edition

#Gaming #VideoGame #VideoGames #Gamer #Guinness #GuinnessWorldRecords #Book #Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Xbox #PlayStation #Nintendo #Retro #PCGaming

wendymetcalfe, 10 months ago

@l0ve30 @DarkMatterZine @EclecticLee @negative12dollarbill @thevglibrary @bookstodon It depends. If the work is misogynistic, then no, this isn't the right response. It does need challenging, sometimes with rage. Sometimes just saying it isn't for us and walking away isn't the right response.