First, Jim C. Hines' cover reshooting to raise money for the Aicardi Foundation has yielded a cornucopia of silliness. At the recent ConFusion, Jim C. Hines, John Scalzi, Pat Rothfuss, Charles Stross and Mary Robinette Kowal recreated “Young Flandry” – reversing the sex of the models, obviously. Thanks to Carrie S. and many others who forwarded me the link.
The result is just majesty.
There is a whole depository of hilarity as Jim posts more cover reshoots, including Jennifer Estep's Tangled Threads, Kelly Armstrong's Bitten, Lois McMaster Bujuold's Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and a very special pose-off for Christmas.
That last one prompted me to wonder where Mr. Scalzi got all that fuchsia carpeting. Because awesome!
The BBC has picked up on Hines' cover reshoots: Lynsea Garrison wrote a profile of him and of the project:
Jim Hines straddles the remnants of a defeated alien species (a table), and clasps a pistol (a toy gun) as he triumphantly raises a cyborg's head (a toaster). Sometimes he fights battles alongside his romantic interest (a large teddy bear).
But no matter the mission, Hines shows some flesh. Just because he is waging a war, it does not mean he cannot be alluring at the same time, right?
Hines, a fantasy author, is posing like some of the female characters on science fiction and fantasy book covers he says objectify women.
He gets into character by twisting his body into the same contorted positions as the female characters on the books.
“The way women are portrayed is just so ridiculous, so often, you just stop seeing it,” Hines says.
“I think posing has made people see it again – you see how ridiculous it is when a 38-year-old fantasy writer is doing it.”
…
Carrie S pointed out that Mary Robinette Kowal is also collecting awesomeness on the internet, specifically her spellcheck list of words used by Jane Austen:
One of the things that’s tricky about writing historical fiction like Shades of Milk and Honey is getting the vocabulary right. There are a lot of words which are obviously anachronisms but there others which aren’t. Short of looking up every word in a novel, there’s no way to really know if a seemingly innocuous word like “hello” exists yet.
So here’s my plan for Glamour in Glass.
I’ve created a list of all the words that are in the collected works of Jane Austen to use for my spellcheck dictionary. It will flag any word that she didn’t use and I can then look those up to see if it was in use in 1815. It also includes some of Miss Austen’s specific spellings like “shew” and “chuse.”
The entire list is available as a text file for use as an alternative dictionary in word processing programs. She also posted a list of words that she cut from Glamour in Glass as part of this execise. How cool is that?
…
Thank you to the many, many people who sent me links to this piece of most excellent news: in honor of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC is recreating and documenting the process of throwing a Regency ball – as accurately as possible:
Pride and Prejudice: Having A Ball will delve into the social history of balls – plus Regency drinks, dances, music and food – and the importance of such events in Jane Austen's world.
Taking on the roles of period party planners are Amanda Vickery and Alastair Sooke, who will be joined by the likes of Ivan Day, Professor Jeanice Brooks, Dr Wiebke Thormahlen, Hilary Davidson, Stuart Marsden, Dr Anne Daye and John Mullan.
BBC's Commissioning Editor for Arts, Mark Bell, says the documentary will offer Austen fans “a fresh perspective, exploring with depth and detail one of Regency Britain’s most crucial functions.”
The Pride and Prejudice-style ball will take place at Chawton House in Hampshire, the home in which Jane Austen spent the last few years of her life and penned many of her famous novels.
Y'all, I will watch the hell out of that. If it's not broadcast in the US, I'll be crossing the pond and sitting in front of a shop window full of tvs watching it. I imagine if there's a queue for tickets, it'll go around the UK. Twice.
