You live and learn. At least, I live and learn. Here are ten things I lived and learned this past year.
(But first, merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy statutory holiday to those who do not!) In case you missed the title, let me repeat it: Hannibal Lecter is from faerie land. No, seriously. Think about it for a second. I was thinking about it — how you…
Among the many things that bother contemporary readers in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia is his treatment of Susan, the eldest sister and second-oldest sibling of the four Pevensie children who defeat the White Witch to become the rules of of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In The…
I grew up in Ottawa, studied in Kingston, and now I live in Toronto. So the first pointer for those looking to survive a Canadian winter is this: there isn’t a Canadian winter. I remember wearing a snowsuit under my costume on Hallowe’en; I remember not having to wear boots…
Lately, I’ve seen a lot of material about how to treat introverts wending its way through the Internet. There’s this and this… and also this, which, despite often identifying as introverted, I like best. Why? First, let me explain my introvert “cred.” If I had to choose between always being alone…
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen the link to the article that made me consider this, Alyssa Rosenberg’s piece in response to the then-upcoming Ender’s Game movie and the documented homophobic actions of its author, Orson Scott Card. Although artists express themselves through their art, that doesn’t…
Back in the day, when I was an eager Harry Potter fan anticipating the next book, J. K. Rowling’s interviews intrigued me. The authors of the series I’d loved before were all dead; no one could post C. S. Lewis’s answers to fan questions online or ask E. Nesbit what…
(I promise that title is the worst and only pun in this blog entry.) Sherlock Holmes is one of the world’s most popular and iconic characters. He is re-imagined for every generation and niche. He’s a child; he’s an old man; he’s a she. Sherlock Holmes is a delusional drug…
(In Which Sarah’s Campfire Imagery Gets Out of Control) For most writers, random ideas are a dime a dozen. I read the news, I watch a TV show I almost like, I daydream a kick-butt action scene where I use hockey and my PhD research to fight off Moriarty, and boom: I…
Is it possible or desirable for a good story to make its audience uncomfortable? Everyone I know has at least one or two things they can’t bear reading about or watching. For some, having to perceive sympathetic characters in certain kinds of physical or mental pain is too much. For…