Did anyone else here used to be a big Phantom of the Opera *sigh* “phan” back in the day? As usual, I don’t ask because I actually want to talk about Phantom of the Opera; instead, I’m trying to use the show to shed light on a trope in stories…
Confession time: my knee-jerk reaction upon hearing a piece of literature, a movie, a play, or another work of art* is “Canadian” is to run for the hills. Sure, I like Anne of Green Gables and Robertson Davies as much as the next Canuck, but I’ve been served far too…
Hi everyone, As some of you may know, I’ve been working for the past few years on a young adult novel. As others of you may know, at the suggestion of my instructor from the Highlights Whole Novel Workshop this summer, I’m looking for readers. Although of course I welcome…
Hi-ho, Kermit-the-blogger here on the scene of some of the most egregious dialogue diseases to strike authors this year. Forget H1N1 – these strains are virulent and highly contagious. I also must note that a number of popular published stories and many of my current works-in-progress have tested positive for…
Apparently, I’m not done with deciding my favourite stories are sexist yet. (But I am done with sharing this link to the first episode Cracked.com’s new series starring Swaim and DOB, because I for some reason find it to be unadulterated hilarity. Suggestive content, sexual themes, and bad language.) My…
Writing not-sexist stories is tough. I’m not being flippant: I’m a woman who was raised in a reasonably feminist household and who currently lives in an environment with more-feminist-than-average peers, and my first drafts nearly always make me cringe. It would be easy to explain that the stories in my…
I read Sarah Rees Brennan’s novel The Demon’s Lexicon last weekend. It was quite enjoyable (although I still don’t understand the title, but nevermind, I’m always missing details by the end of a book), and I recommend it. However, I’m bringing it up mainly because it reminded of something I’ve…
So, about strong women in fiction. And I don’t mean strong only in this sense. This past month, I had the opportunity to work with U of T’s Drama Centre on a production as a historical consultant and a co-lighting-designer. While doing one of the many tasks that fall to…
Dear Mom, Dad, and the rest of my relations: Please bookmark this page for future reference. My field overall is known as History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. I am an historian of technology. In particular, I study technologies of illusion on the Victorian London stage.
I don’t eat pork. (You probably guessed that from the title.) Not only do I not eat pork, I don’t eat other products derived from pigs, including bacon, lard, and gelatin, or any sort of food containing those items. Up until now, if you’d asked me why not, I’d shrug…