SCSF: It has been quite a while, has it not? At least next time should have more substance...
That's what you sound like, Douglass. That's exactly what you sound like.
That she does... and I find it even more pointless than talking about how "powerful" the protagonists are. Beauty is much more subjective than power, after all. (As a rather obvious example, I find all (naturally-occurring, like the one in my icon) salamanders quite beautiful, but I hardly expect any of my readers does, too.)
This guy being a sexist creep is Not Okay because he's Ugly. Axis is OMG SO HANDSOME so his own sexist creep behaviour is totally okay.
Hmmm, I rather think the beauty is supposed to be a reflection of how they are on the inside, so the ferryman is Ugly because he is Bad... which is just as ridiculous, of course.
Yeah, this is right out of nowhere. This entire interlude is pointless anyway.
(nods) Indeed it is... It keeps us from seeing how they find a way to Gorkenfort, and it would be better to show this change later on anyway.
How is he able to talk this much when he's being held up by the throat anyway?
That was about what I wondered, too, so I will note that next time!
I agree; Timozel's transformation into Evil Timmy is hopelessly rushed, and to make it worse, most of it is dictated rather than shown. Most notably in book two when right out of nowhere we're told that oh by the way he killed a kid while sleepwalking and it nearly drove him mad but never mind that it was never shown or mentioned up until now, at the last fucking minute.
I had recently noted that one, and that absolutely sounds like something to show! Building on that... a quick look through Enchanter does seem to show that his development is not so much rushed as nearly entirely off-page (he is mentioned one-fifth as often as in this book, and Enchanter is longer, for example!). It is a quite poor choice for someone who is relatively prominent in both this and StarMan, but then, I suppose Axis and Azhure must have prominence.
Or rather it just straight-up doesn't exist, pun not intended. Which is pretty damn funny given all the Sapphic overtones that keep slipping into the text.
Does it not? There is this quote from Chapter 7, after all:
He brushed past Isend and Borneheld talking in low tones in the corridor. Surely the dandified Isend wasn’t offering to fight alongside him? As far as Axis knew the closest he’d ever come to a weapon was the fruit knife that he constantly carried with him, hanging from his begemmed belt on a small silver chain.
~BattleAxe, Chapter 7, "In the Brother-Leader's Palace Apartment"
Or have this one:
As the group left the room, Earl Isend caught up with Borneheld and tweaked his elbow. “Duke Borneheld, if I may speak with you for a moment?”
Borneheld pulled his elbow away roughly, annoyed, and walked a little faster. He did not like the foppish Earl Isend very much.
Isend wet his lips nervously and struggled to keep step with Borneheld as he strode down the corridor. “Duke Borneheld? It is about my daughter…Faraday.”
~BattleAxe, Chapter 6, "In the King's Privy Chamber"
If this is not meant to imply that Isend is (boo! hiss!) gay, then I do not know what it is supposed to be. And, of course, there is Gorgrael and his interactions with Timozel. For that to work, Douglass has to acknowledge somewhat that gayness exists, after all.
Oh yes, all the wailing about how terrible separating is and how horrible Borneheld will be rings rather false, especially since Faraday was quite fine with marrying him before the Sentinels came along. For Yr's part... Jack mostly just complained about her and ordered her around, so I would not imagine Yr would be that sad to miss him, all the more so since she will be seeing him again very soon (on the scale of two thousand years, at least).
Same. It's just so generic and also right out of nowhere.
I think the problems with what Timozel gets angry over actually come from just how generic it is, and I also get the impression Douglass just wanted to have some more violence, because that is "dark". Yes, it does serve some purpose here, but she would have done better to think about what Timozel would do exactly because of that.
Most of it from the author.
(nods) That is what I was thinking of, and it gives me more to work with than the deliberate sexism, so her rather surface-level understanding of the issue goes to show again, I guess.
Same. It's cheap and dishonest and implies that only roughnecks and ugly guys can be sexist. When in reality it can come from just about any quarter, frequently including other women. And given the way Axis behaves, the heavy implication is that it doesn't "count" if the person doing it is highly placed in society and good-looking.
It comes down to "only people who are rough and/or slimy (those you would already expect to be sexist) are actually sexist", does it not? Seen like that, it is obviously quite unhelpful; it does nothing to help the people it is directed at with those they do not suspect of being sexist (who they are naturally more vulnerable to). (I also do not have "rough and/or slimy people" as my usual suspects for sexism, so that is another layer of disconnect.)
no subject
SCSF: It has been quite a while, has it not? At least next time should have more substance...
That's what you sound like, Douglass. That's exactly what you sound like.
That she does... and I find it even more pointless than talking about how "powerful" the protagonists are. Beauty is much more subjective than power, after all. (As a rather obvious example, I find all (naturally-occurring, like the one in my icon) salamanders quite beautiful, but I hardly expect any of my readers does, too.)
This guy being a sexist creep is Not Okay because he's Ugly. Axis is OMG SO HANDSOME so his own sexist creep behaviour is totally okay.
Hmmm, I rather think the beauty is supposed to be a reflection of how they are on the inside, so the ferryman is Ugly because he is Bad... which is just as ridiculous, of course.
Yeah, this is right out of nowhere. This entire interlude is pointless anyway.
(nods) Indeed it is... It keeps us from seeing how they find a way to Gorkenfort, and it would be better to show this change later on anyway.
How is he able to talk this much when he's being held up by the throat anyway?
That was about what I wondered, too, so I will note that next time!
I agree; Timozel's transformation into Evil Timmy is hopelessly rushed, and to make it worse, most of it is dictated rather than shown. Most notably in book two when right out of nowhere we're told that oh by the way he killed a kid while sleepwalking and it nearly drove him mad but never mind that it was never shown or mentioned up until now, at the last fucking minute.
I had recently noted that one, and that absolutely sounds like something to show! Building on that... a quick look through Enchanter does seem to show that his development is not so much rushed as nearly entirely off-page (he is mentioned one-fifth as often as in this book, and Enchanter is longer, for example!). It is a quite poor choice for someone who is relatively prominent in both this and StarMan, but then, I suppose Axis and Azhure must have prominence.
Or rather it just straight-up doesn't exist, pun not intended. Which is pretty damn funny given all the Sapphic overtones that keep slipping into the text.
Does it not? There is this quote from Chapter 7, after all:
Or have this one:
If this is not meant to imply that Isend is (boo! hiss!) gay, then I do not know what it is supposed to be. And, of course, there is Gorgrael and his interactions with Timozel. For that to work, Douglass has to acknowledge somewhat that gayness exists, after all.
Oh yes, all the wailing about how terrible separating is and how horrible Borneheld will be rings rather false, especially since Faraday was quite fine with marrying him before the Sentinels came along. For Yr's part... Jack mostly just complained about her and ordered her around, so I would not imagine Yr would be that sad to miss him, all the more so since she will be seeing him again very soon (on the scale of two thousand years, at least).
Same. It's just so generic and also right out of nowhere.
I think the problems with what Timozel gets angry over actually come from just how generic it is, and I also get the impression Douglass just wanted to have some more violence, because that is "dark". Yes, it does serve some purpose here, but she would have done better to think about what Timozel would do exactly because of that.
Most of it from the author.
(nods) That is what I was thinking of, and it gives me more to work with than the deliberate sexism, so her rather surface-level understanding of the issue goes to show again, I guess.
Same. It's cheap and dishonest and implies that only roughnecks and ugly guys can be sexist. When in reality it can come from just about any quarter, frequently including other women. And given the way Axis behaves, the heavy implication is that it doesn't "count" if the person doing it is highly placed in society and good-looking.
It comes down to "only people who are rough and/or slimy (those you would already expect to be sexist) are actually sexist", does it not? Seen like that, it is obviously quite unhelpful; it does nothing to help the people it is directed at with those they do not suspect of being sexist (who they are naturally more vulnerable to). (I also do not have "rough and/or slimy people" as my usual suspects for sexism, so that is another layer of disconnect.)