Category: Asides
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Horror is a feeling, not a genre
Yes, I’ve started a new blog project called Noir Femme. This one is kind of a sister project to Sci Femme, about women writing horror and dark fiction, as opposed to science fiction. But before I could get started on the reading, I had to identify (for myself, anyway) exactly what horror is. Here’s my…
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New blog: Sci Femme
I’ve resurrected an old idea of mine, which is to read science fiction about women and blog about it. I call the blog Sci Femme, and I hope to use it as a forum for longer-form essays about themes and trends in science fiction written by women. I’ll be looking at both new and classic…
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About MFA Writing Programs
Things I Can Say About MFA Writing Programs Now That I No Longer Teach in One – Books – The Stranger by James Yamasaki. Well, this was a controversial essay, to say the least. He divides aspiring writers into three groups: I had a handful of students whose work changed my life. The vast majority of my…
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It’s election season…
I felt moved to comment on this story posted on the New York Times today: In Democratic Election Ads in South, a Focus on Racial Scars. Here is my comment, which is a NYT Pick and one of the top recommended comments: We have all seen ads that invoke race to get white voters out to…
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The defining characteristic of our era…
I recently came upon this bit of wisdom, from In the Woods by Tana French: To my mind the defining characteristic of our era is spin, everything tailored to vanishing point by market research, brands and bands manufactured to precise specifications; we are so used to things transmuting into whatever we would like them to be that…
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My 2013-2014 Project: iHRIS Implementation Toolkit
For the past 12 months I have been editing and compiling a web-based implementation toolkit as a consultant for the iHRIS project. iHRIS is free, open-source, health workforce information software developed for use in low-resource countries. The Implementation Toolkit is a guide to deploying iHRIS in a country, but also functions as a general tutorial for implementing…
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My Review of The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin on SF Mistressworks
The Dispossessed, Ursula K Le Guin (1974) Review by Shannon Turlington You shall not go down twice to the same river, nor can you go home again. That he knew; indeed it was the basis of his view of the world. Yet from that acceptance of transience he evolved his vast theory, wherein what is…
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My Review of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell on SF Mistressworks
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell (1996) Review by Shannon Turlington It’s hard to describe the exhilarating sense of emotion I felt while reading this book. I don’t consider myself a religious person, and this book is unquestionably about religion and our relationship with God. I am a spiritual seeker, though, and I found this novel…
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Our new neighborhood Little Free Library…
Our neighborhood Little Free Library officially opened for business on July 4, and people are already sharing books! Follow our Tumblr for updates.
Shannon Turlington 