I Need Some Characters--Comic Con

For a story I'm writing, I need 3-5 characters. If you want to supply one, copy this little form and reply in the comments. When the story's up, I'll post a link here.

Name:

Age-ish (ie, teen, college, out of college)

Would cosplay as:

Three things the person would buy at comic con:

How much of classic who the person has seen:

favorite Doctor:

other sci-fi fandoms.

Thanks

Don't Tell Me My Heroes are Flawed

Don’t tell me my heroes are flawed. There’s already so much wrong with the world—I don’t want to look for shadows under the streetlight. I want to believe the best of people—is that so wrong? I know they’re not perfect, but I don’t want to say it aloud. Or if it they are flawed, let it be a flaw that makes their achievements more remarkable, because they overcame it. Let Batman be proud, that he may humbly take the fall for Harvey Dent. Let the Doctor be angry, because he cares for his friends. Let Boromir be greedy, because he defended Frodo from the Orcs. But don’t tell me that Superman never picks up his dirty socks, that Harry Potter has messy handwriting, because then they wouldn’t be heroes.

They’d be people:

just like me.

he Care and Keeping of Fans--Exclusive Comic-Con Clips

So, the clips that were shown at Comic Con are not getting put online. Drats. Double drats. And the discussion on one of my favorite fan sites generally boils down to one point, a subpoint, and counter-points of the sub-point.

• THAT'S NOT FAIR!
• The program's made with British licensing fee--the British should get to see it too, because they paid for it.
• Non-British counterpoints--It wasn't all the Americans who got to see it. Comic Con is international. A lot of Americans don't have BBC America anyway--can you blame them for wanting to see it.

Point 1, I agree with whole-heartedly. Point 2--I suppose. Counterpoint--Yes. British fans, you all have access to the series automatically--by TV or iPlayer. We don't.

One of my Doctor Who DVDs says "You can watch BBC America for the low, low price--of absolutely no additional money whatsoever." Pfft! Only if you already have satellite or cable TV. Yes, there's iTunes, but you know how much one season costs--$80! Eighty dollars through BBC America. Good luck being a poor American Whovian. Especially a legal one.

But I still want a trailer.

Three Quick Reviews

The Floating Island by

Four stars Elizabeth Hayden is a wonderful combination of fantasy and the early modern genre of "traveler's tales," such as Gulliver's Travels. When the young Nain shipwright Ven encounters Fire Pirates while testing a new vessel, he ends up leaving his home and setting off an adventure. The first in a series, this book has a wonderful, exuberant imagination, with several humanoid species in a world with humans, each with their own traditions and habits. The first-person narrative has an in-story justification, and the plot has several twists and possible interpretations that could be chosen.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart.

When I picked up this book, I had some vague memory of reading an Arthurian legend with this title and finding it rather dull. I must have been thinking of another book, because this one was beautiful. It was like taking a drink, expecting cherry cough syrup, and finding rich apple cider with caramel syrup instead.

This book is the first of a trilogy focusing o

n Merlin. It begins with twelve-year-old Merlin, bastard grandson of the king, at his home in Less Britain, learning about his Sight and other learning from a man living in a crystal cave. When his grandfather dies, he flees to join Ambrosius. This book has a wonderful combination of historical detail and imagination, and the writing style is gorgeous. I'm planning to add the next two to my interlibrary loan request list at some point.

Four and a half stars.

The Wingfeather Saga

Unfortunately, it's been a while since I read the first book in this series, and I was only able to find the second and third at the library. So I was a bit confused while reading it. However, Andrew Peterson's series is a wonderful fairy-tale adventure. With such original monsters as toothy cows and Fangs, the world of The Wingfeather Saga is new and fresh, wonderful for reading aloud and introducing children to the genre. The characters are well-written and realistic. I'd give you a summery, but the first book's ending is necessary for any sort of overall summery, and I don't want spoilers.

Four stars.

Apollo 23

This story of the Doctor and Amy starts with an astronaut walking into a burger joint, and a woman in a red coat dying on the moon. The two time travelers are drawn into an adventure on America's secret moonbase.

While I wouldn't rate this as one of the best novels, I really enjoyed seeing the how the Whoniverse's space programs compare with ours. After all, if Britain has a secret moonbase in the 21st century (referenced in the SJA episode "Death of the Doctor), America should have something. And they do. Oh, boy, do they ever.

Three stars.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

So, as of Tuesday morning this week, I had seen three episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbender. Now I have seen through Book 2’s “The Swamp,” and wish admittance to the fandom. The ending of “The Blue Spirit” almost knocked me backwards, but the real clincher was “The Siege of the North.”

IT.

WAS.

EPIC.

First thing that pops into my head.

Gondor. It’s Gondor, made of snow. It’s a beautiful, old civilization, and even if it survives, the scars of war will last for generations.

This is not just a kid’s show.

And then I went on to season two—I’m not sure which episode it was—but when Zuko is talking with the girl, and she says “The Fire Nation has hurt you—-” the irony of it all is that she’s right. Fire devours itself and consumes everything in it’s path, when there are no foundries. Iroh is wonderful, yes, one of my favorite characters, but…Zuko.

Fanfic In Progress

Apart from peculiar temporal origins, uncertain aging, psychotic depression, malnutrition, and dissociative fugue state, I’m perfectly healthy.”

“If that’s healthy, what’s sick?”

--The Subtle Thief of Youth

My current fanfiction in progress, "The Subtle Thief of Youth" is already five thousand words long, with at least another k to go. The title comes from Milton's Sonnet VII, and should serve as a hint to the general theme of the story. It's unusually dark for me, stemming from a dream I once had.