Links: Carrie Fisher, Asexual Characters, & a Cat Documentary

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.It’s almost 2017! Are we ready for this year to be over? I think I can hear the resounding yes from the Bitchery. Hopefully, next year will be leagues better than this one!

I will warn you that this first link is not for those with sensitive stomachs as it does deal with grisly crime scenes. However, Broadly’s interview with women who work in crime scene clean up was fascinating:

Cleaning. It’s not for everyone, but personally, I quite enjoy it. I’m one of those irritating people who finds distinct satisfaction in the noise of things being sucked into the nozzle of a vacuum or in wiping sticky residue off the kitchen counter.

I don’t want to paste more as some of the descriptions of the scenes can get graphic, but if you’re like me and totally entranced by the macabre, give it a read.

I’m sure many of us are mourning the loss of actress Carrie Fisher. I was particularly moved by Anne Thériault’s explanation on why General Organa is the role she might miss the most:

Tor has compiled a small, but great list of books with asexual characters:

Below, we’ve highlighted five books that feature asexual leads, and we hope that you’ll share your own suggestions in the comments. As author Lauren Jankowski has pointed out, the publishing industry has a long way to go in terms of making asexuality more visible, and many ace authors turn to self-publishing to share their stories—we’d love to help spread the word about any and all stories featuring strongly-written, complex characters that fall on the spectrum of asexuality, so please keep the recommendations coming!

What other books with asexual characters would you recommend?

It’s no secret that we love cats at the Bitchery, so I’m pretty excited about the announcement of this cat documentary, which follows a handful of stray cats living on the streets of Istanbul:

Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich. Claiming no owners, the cats of Istanbul live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame –and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could.

I’m very curious if it’ll come to a theater near me because I’d love to see it!

 


Frixion click pen in blue

Frixion Erasable Pens

I love these pens far more than is probably natural. They write smoothly, they erase for real (yes, way!), and they come in a bunch of colors. I have one with me at all times.


Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

Comments are Closed

  1. mel burns says:

    My heart is broken over Carrie Fisher…..I feel like a lost a friend.

  2. Ren Benton says:

    Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have posted that, as I look at the bottom.

  3. Zoë Archer says:

    Here’s a weird little fact: one of my cats actually comes from Istanbul. The woman fostering him was Turkish, and her mother would take trips back to Turkey and rescue dogs and cats to bring to the U.S. So, my cat is very well-traveled.

  4. Susan says:

    “My earliest addiction was reading. Tho books–however mind altering- don’t quite qualify as a drug. If they did, you’d have to go to ReADhab”

    –A 2014 tweet from Carrie Fisher

    Makes me want to sing Amy Winehouse’s song (They tried to make me go to readhab but I said no no no).

  5. SB Sarah says:

    Ren- I removed your comment under the impression that you wished me to do so. If I was wrong, please let me know?

  6. mel burns says:

    Thanks Susan that was really great!

  7. shiny says:

    The non-sensitive version of the email Ren posted, the one that went out to customers:

    ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS, LLC
    6252 Commercial Way #145, Weeki Wachee, FL 34613

    December 28, 2016

    It is with great sadness that I announce our intent to wind down the operations of All Romance eBooks, LLC. For the first year since opening in 2006, we will be posting a loss. The financial forecast for 2017 isn’t hopeful and we’ve accepted that there is not a viable path forward.

    We realize that you have choices when it comes to shopping via the Internet. We appreciate those of you who have chosen to shop at All Romance and will miss your patronage. We’re grateful for the years we’ve been able to serve you. The site(s) will be closing down on December 31, 2016 at Midnight (Central/US) and you will no longer have access or be able to make purchases.

    Please take this opportunity to finalize any transactions, download your purchases, and back up your library.

    Sincerely,

    Lori James
    All Romance Ebooks, LLC

  8. Linnet says:

    I still can’t quite grasp that Carrie Fisher is gone. WHY.

    As for asexual characters, one of my absolute favourite characters of all time – who also happens to be asexual – is Brother Philip from “The Pillars of the Earth”. It’s made clear that he’s had some brief struggles with sexual impulses in adolescence, but he realises that he’s different from other monks in that sex is never a big deal for him, and being chaste is not difficult to him, so he’s a life-long virgin.

    I loved and still love how he was written – someone clever and hard-working and just. He’s also someone who is a staunch pacifist in a very violent era. And yet he’s never “perfect” or saintly, or described as some unfeeling machine the way asexual characters sometimes are. He’s somewhat narrow-minded and sometimes he’s too hard on himself and others.

    “On Chesil Beach” also has an interesting character described by some as asexual (the girl in the main pairing, I can’t remember her name). OBC is not a romance, though! I don’t want to say more, as I don’t want to spoil the ending.

    Also, this could be controversial to some, but I’ve always read Sherlock Holmes as asexual. I’m talking about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes, not Mark Gatiss’ interpretation of him (don’t even get me started on “Sherlock”. Holmes in the books is not a sociopath, but someone who is firmly on the side of the victims and who has a great heart as well as a brain).

  9. DonnaMarie says:

    One of my Facebook friends posted a comment about Carrie being the latest in a long line of sad losses this year to which one of her friends replied that Carrie Fischer wasn’t really relevant any more. NOT RELEVANT!?!?

    I’ll say now what I refrained from posting on my friend’s page: You ignorant twit! You are undeserving of walking the path she paved or the inspiration she gave to women who struggled with addictions. A woman who led a life without the superficiality of what passes for a celebrity today. Not to mention they’re going to have to rewrite an entire multi million dollar movie because of her death. Not relevant my ass.

    I spent prom night ’77 in line for the first of a many viewings of Star Wars:A New Hope. A female character who was a leader of people, gave zero respect to the male ego, grabbed a laser rifle and told the walking carpet to get out of her way – that was a revelation for girls my age in that age.

  10. cleo says:

    @Shiny – OMFG! I didn’t get that email (or I haven’t gotten it yet). Damn. Now I have to find a new favorite site to buy ebooks. I guess it’s good that I’ve used up all of my book bucks. Damn.

    As for ace books – I’ve just discovered Just Love; Queer Book Reviews. They have quite a bit of coverage of ace characters in romance and it looks like of their regular bloggers identifies as asexual.

    https://justloveromance.wordpress.com/2016/01/25/reference-2016-ace-books/
    https://justloveromance.wordpress.com/tag/tag-asexual-character/

  11. jimthered says:

    When I went to the movies yesterday, I saw at least two women with their hair done up as the “side-buns” look of Princess Leia in A NEW HOPE.

    And speaking as a male and a geek, Carrie Fisher did become an iconic sci-fi sex symbol with the Slave Leia outfit. Woot!

  12. Joanna says:

    @DonnaMarie. So, so true. Princess Leia was a revelation for our generation, and I thought she was still awesome in The Force Awakens. The morning she died I had just downloaded her audiobook The Princess Diarist from the library – listening to it now is bittersweet.

  13. Crystal says:

    NOT. RELEVANT?!?!?!?!

    (deep breath)

    Sure, she was only a highly respected writer with a current bestselling release and starred in the biggest film of all time, which was just released last year, so while not the fresh young starlet anymore, she had become something even better. The elder badass, the leader, a role that reflected what she had become in real life as well. I wish I were half as “relevant” now.

    In the past year, I read Bloodline by Claudia Gray, which told Leia’s story during her time in the Senate and prior to the events of The Force Awakens. It was excellent, and gave such great characterization to Leia, and also it was basically a political thriller in space. It was one of the books I read this year, and I don’t say that lightly, especially since I am wary of tie-ins. That said, my husband is reading it right now, and told me last night, “It’s actually really sad to read at the moment, because I can picture her face and hear her voice, and the author is getting her really right, but it just makes it that much sadder.” It probably doesn’t help that she was, quite frankly, one of his first crushes (he likes vertically challenged brunettes, I guess). For me, well…I really liked seeing a princess that sassed off and shot back.

  14. Marci says:

    That’s disappointing about All Romance Ebooks. I have ebook bucks to spend and it doesn’t look like they are allowing any more purchases to go through. Time to make sure I’ve downloaded my full library.

  15. cayenne says:

    @Marci – they are allowing purchases to go through, but it takes a lot of patience. I managed to use my $35 in ebucks and a buy-10 code less than an hour ago, though stuff was vanishing out of my wish list as I clicked, and it took forever for the purchase to go through and books to download. I expect there’s a lot of traffic on the site right now and it’s slowing things down.

  16. cleo says:

    @Marci – I was able to buy a book from ARe just now. Some books seem to not be available anymore but at least some are.

    I don’t know if they’re honoring book bucks or not (because I spent all of mine already). I’d be happy if they’re honoring the get one free after 10 purchases because I’m really close to getting that, but I don’t know.

  17. Marci says:

    Thanks @cleo & @cayenne. I was able to find a few books I was able to use ebook bucks on. But they are disappearing fast. I had one in my cart but when I went to checkout it was no longer available on the site.

  18. Morgan says:

    I cried yesterday when I heard the news of Carrie Fisher’s passing. It was already a bad day, but when I heard, I just collapsed.

    And! Ace! Characters! Thank you for providing this link! I’m ace myself and I cry anytime I see a character that’s on the spectrum. Unfortunately, like stated above, stories about aspec people aren’t all that common. But I have a few recs myself!

    “Shades of A” is a webcomic provided by Discord Comics. It features a Muslim (!!!!) ace named Anwar and his developing relationship with a BDSM-loving guy named Chris. It showcases a fairly healthy relationship between someone who is a sex-repulsed ace and someone who is into kinks.

    There’s also YA books “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” and its sequels by Laini Taylor. I haven’t read the two sequels yet, but I loved the poetic language and the protagonist, blue-haired Karou is an absolute BA.

    One that’s one my TBR list is “Blue Chain Steel” by Alex Beecroft. I came across it when I was reading articles about LGBTQIA+ representation for my class on romance novels. I just screamed when I heard about it! It’s a thriller/suspense that, from what I’ve read on the Amazon reviews, can get really dark. Dark as in one of the heroes is in an abusive relationship. From what I sampled, the two heroes–James and Aidan–strike me as they would be an incredibly cute/sweet couple. I really, really can’t wait to read this one.

  19. Brigit says:

    Carrie Fisher’s passing is such a blow. I was so looking forward to seeing more of General Organa in the next Star Wars movies.

    And ARE are closing! That’s a shocker too. Where do I go now to buy my non-DRM ebooks? Only a few of the authors I read also publish on Smashwords. Right now I’m spending my ebook-bucks like mad. That still works, but downloading is nearly impossible.

  20. Cristiane says:

    Tragically, Debbie Reynolds has died, just one day after her daughter. Two genuine icons gone.

  21. cleo says:

    @Morgan – just in case you didn’t see it, there was a good discussion of ace romances on SB Sarah’s recent review of Blank Spaces by Cass Lennox – an ace romance by an author who identifies as asexual.

    http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/blank-spaces-cass-lennox/

  22. LauraL says:

    Glad I stopped by here as I did not receive the email from ARE. Just left them with 67 cents in eBucks and downloaded a few from my library. Saddens me because I was supporting them as independent of Amazon.

  23. cayenne says:

    Re ace characters: I forgot to include this in my earlier post, sorry. Two books from Jenn LeBlanc The Trouble With Grace and The Spare and the Heir, numbers 4 & 5 in her “Lords of Time” series, feature an ace heroine. They’re currently in my TBR, so I can’t give an opinion on them, I’m afraid, but hopefully someone else might be able to.

  24. Trix says:

    Found out about ARE from a Dreamspinner Press tweet (they’re honoring DSP preorders you made at ARE if you forward the receipt). Was able to use Book Bucks a little while ago, but books aren’t showing up in my cart as of the last half hour or so…

    As for ace books, I highly recommend Ann Gallagher’s ALL THE WRONG PLACES as one of 2016’s best. Some of the explanations of the various asexuality permutations seem clunky at first, but they actually turn out to be really helpful. I really love the characters, and aside from the unnecessary “this was going too well, so I’m breaking up out of insecurity about the relationship” drama near the end (something Gallagher also tends to employ in her LA Witt guise from time to time), it’s a really engaging story. There’s also Eli Easton’s THE TROUBLE WITH TONY (a murder mystery with comedic overtones involving a detective who discovers he’s demisexual), which also has a scorchingly hot massage sequence…

  25. Trix says:

    Oh, @Morgan–ALL THE WRONG PLACES has a Muslim ace MC too (and his son–yes, his son, it’s complex but well-explained–is a really well-written teen, which you don’t see often in romance)!

  26. Trix says:

    Sorry to keep chiming in: the Dreamspinner e-mail for ARE receipt forwarding is contact(at)dreamspinnerpress.com. I should probably mention that the Gallagher and Easton books are m/m, too…

  27. Ace MCs: I definitely recommend Wes Kennedy’s spoofy sci-fi m/m To Terminator With Love. (Also, the main characters are Asian and Black, and the author is a bi Black woman.)

    And A.M. Valenza’s Zhakieve Chronicles – so far, Alexey Dyed in Red and especially Breakfire’s Glass – have ace MCs and glorious Russian-inspired worldbuilding. The prose in the first one is a little wobbly in places (it’s AM’s debut) but the gorgeous visuals… wow. And Katerini, heroine of Breakfire’s Glass, is a rage-driven, sharp-tongued fury.

  28. Oops, forgot to mention that AM is ace herself. And that she’s working on a third book in the series, The Thousandfold Robe.

  29. EC Spurlock says:

    Carrie Fisher was such an inspiration to so many generations of women. She will continue to be so as her movies will live on for many more. She did complete filming for SW8 so we will see her one last time but I for one will need a WHOLE LOT of Kleenex. If they must write her out of the series, I hope they give her an on-screen hero’s death, even if it wont be the one I wanted to see (I really wanted her to grab a lightsaber and go all Molly Weasley on Snoke’s ass.)

  30. Crystal F. says:

    So many deepest condolences to the family of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. 🙁 It sounds like they were both very awesome women.

    I was just telling a couple friends a week or so ago that one of my resolutions for 2017 is finally getting around to watching the ‘Star Wars’ films. I’ve always been curious, but it was just never the right time. I’m only sorry I didn’t appreciate these two ladies and their work more during their time here on earth.

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