Last one! I put all the remaining serious-ish topics together. Homestuck panel notes to appear once I have them tidied up!

EDIT: Do not trust the recs. They are a VERY mixed bag.

( Queer women in sff )
( Happy Queer Sff )
( Gender Ambiguity in pop culture )
( Why we like misery and violence in fiction )
( Matriarchies )

Forgot to mention: ISOBELLE CARMODY BORROWED MY HAT. She bumped into me in the lift as I was coming into the hotel and asked to borrow it for a friend getting over skin cancer (it's got a remarkably broad brim). She apparently later spent an hour looking for me, then left it at the front desk from where it wound it's way back to me. I of course totally forgot to say anything about liking her books, but she KNOWS WHO I AM. Which is kind of cool :)

( Making Indie Games )

( Invisibility )

Free international shipping (to many places including Australia)from Sock Dreams! They do very nice socks and stockings, including plus size, and differentiate between large feet, long legs, and wide legs in their descriptions.

Australian Story on Robert Hoge a disabled and deformed man in Australian scifi fandom. I don't know Robert very well (he goes to Swancon but moves in different circles to me) but he seems pretty cool, and I thought this documentary wasn't too bad as an exploration of disability and appearance. Probably only available in Australia, and only for the next 11 days.

Did I mention Miss Fisher has started again? Doesn't expire for 85 days, apparently! Quite enjoyable though it was weird watching it without hele to snark to. (Note to Hele based on the first few minutes: remember how you were saying you hate the sexy Latin lover stereotype? And how Phrynie seduces a different ethnicity every week? Well...)

My personal history with Isobelle Carmody

May be triggery(*): Anne Bishop does not CARE what you think

Don't get me wrong, both authors can be a lot of fun! But I would hate for anyone to start reading them before the con without knowing what they were in for.

*goes back to recuperating from post-con lurgy*

(*)For what you ask? For EVERYTHING. She's that kind of author.

Am at swancon having a wonderful time! Too much of a wonderful time to spend much time online, but here are some recs from the "What to watch after Buffy" and "LGBTI speculative fiction" panels.

Note: I do not personally endorse all these recs.
( Read more... )

My initial post
So you want to create an interactive story

I'm focussing on single person games like Interactive Fiction/Text Adventures, puzzle/RPG games with lots of story, visual novels etc.
( Read more... )

Glitch is closing :( :( :( It's so melancholy there now, though the developers have thrown out all the stops by lowering times/costs of things and releasing a bunch of content they'd been saving for later, there's a sort of doggedly festive end of the world vibe.

I haven't found an alternative but did get around to checking out StoryNexus, a game making and playing website from the creators of Echo Bazaar. I had a brief go making a game, which was fun, and also really enjoyed yhlee's game WinterStrike, even if I did end up constructing a maze of frozen corpses and wondering where I went wrong.

Today I FINALLY got around to using the Jackson's voucher I got for my birthday last year. Since it was about to expire I was open to large purchases...and left with a SEVENTY DOLLAR box of pencils. They are very nice pencils though (Faber Castell Polychromos) The Subiaco store isn't SUPER accessible but I could get in and park and the staff were very helpful. They also recognised the Firefly "I can kill you with my brain" shirt I was wearing :D (Which got me a number of confused frowns from passer's by as I went past in my wheelchair, as well as a look of EXTREME CONCERN from a little girl I shared a lift with)

After that I explored a bit and checked out Farmer Jack's supermarket in an arcade just off Rokeby road. They have CHESTNUT PASTE (soooo nice with almond butter) and ALMOND MILK ICECREAM. I sat staring sadly at the latter since (a) It was full of chocolate and (b)I was way too far from home to buy anything frozen. I think I will have to return with Cam and the car and buy it anyway, even if it is $14 for four tiny icecreams. They have a much wider range of coconut milk based icecreams if any of you dairy free peeps are into that.

Two unexpected signs of my impending BNFdom: I just had someone ask to translate one of my fics for a russian language interfandom battle (GO ATLA), and I have also apparently been chosen as a "featured user" on delicious. Either they have a lot of featured users or they are really desperate, I hope anyone who gets sent my way likes fanfic...

But speaking of delicious they have suddenly started showing people's real names! (Or at least what they think are our real names) Check your account, people!

I went to the Swancon programming meeting last week, it was lots of fun, and I only volunteered for one panel! I'm doing Interactive Fiction, which StoryNexus is nicely relevant to. On that note I shall preserve this interesting discussion from tumblr and bid you all adieu.

Geeky Girl's and Women's Anime/Manga My original brainstorming post
Josei and Shoujo The presentation I gave
Hold Me Now The Princess Tutu vid I showed

Further notes and recs:( Read more... )

Escher Girls:
Escher Girls
Comic Art Corrections
Don't Type Angry

"This!" moments for women in comics:
"This!" moments for women in comics

Recs (some for individual moments more than overall):( Read more... )

Happily, the reason I haven't posted much is that I've been out having too much fun. The wheelchair has made SUCH a difference. I'm resting tonight since there isn't anything on that really grabbed me and I needed some time out, but I haven't needed the frequent extended breaks I had to take last year, and am in SO much less pain.

The Pan Pacific is pretty accessible and is overall a pretty good venue, though the breakfast buffet was surprisingly mediocre. We got a two for one deal so will keep eating it anyway (a nice big buffet breakfast makes it easier to be happy with carrots and sandwiches during the day) The committee have been quite active about making sure the con is accessible, though alas the downside of asking me to check the room setup is that I've been using the chair for such a short time that I have little more idea what makes for good accessibility than a random able bodied person borrowing a chair would. But we did manage to make things better, if not perfect.

Brandon Sanderson has been a pretty cool guest from what I've seen of him, I wish I'd managed to start any of his books. (Chris Creagh and Marriane De Pieres are cool too, but they always are :))

I think I need a button that says "It's ok to ask about the wheelchair", I can see people doing a double take and biting their tongue before asking "So...um...how have you been?". Some people do ask of course, with varying levels of tact, but overall everyone's been pretty cool about it.

I helped out at the family stream today, taking requests from the kids for what to draw. They asked for dragons OH NO. It was so much fun :)

I like the art show at the back of the dealers room, shoppers can just randomly wander through but it's still really obviously a separate thing, and well lit. Have to see if my piece sold, but no big loss if it didn't. A lot of people did big fancy blockmounted prints, I'd be too afraid of noone buying it.

Chatting to people has been great, the chair plus anxiety meds have made me much more able to be cheerful and chatty instead of grumpy and sleepy and worried I'm annoying people. *waves to everyone*

There was a gold coin donation entry day today, the con was busy but not in a bad way, I hope some of the new people enjoyed their taste and come back again in future years.

Shoujo and Josei panel on Monday, other than that I am a free agent.