"

“I recently spoke at a university where a student told me it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel.

I told him that I had recently read a novel called American Psycho, and that it was a shame that young Americans were serial murderers.”

"

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian novelist, editor, and lecturer and winner of the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction for Half of a Yellow Sun (via thisisnotindia)

22:48pm | 218 notes | Via - Source
#oh snap
Author Scott Lynch responds to a critic of the character Zamira Drakasha, a black woman pirate in his fantasy book Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second novel of the Gentleman Bastard series.

fuckyeahscifiwomenofcolour:

The bolded sections represent quotes from the criticism he received. All the z-snaps are in order.

Your characters are unrealistic stereotpyes of political correctness. Is it really necessary for the sake of popular sensibilities to have in a fantasy what we have in the real world? I read fantasy to get away from politically correct cliches. 


God, yes! If there’s one thing fantasy is just crawling with these days it’s widowed black middle-aged pirate moms. 

Real sea pirates could not be controlled by women, they were vicous rapits and murderers and I am sorry to say it was a man’s world. It is unrealistic wish fulfilment for you and your readers to have so many female pirates, especially if you want to be politically correct about it!

First, I will pretend that your last sentence makes sense because it will save us all time. Second, now you’re pissing me off. 

You know what? Yeah, Zamira Drakasha, middle-aged pirate mother of two, is a wish-fulfillment fantasy. I realized this as she was evolving on the page, and you know what? I fucking embrace it. 

Why shouldn’t middle-aged mothers get a wish-fulfillment character, you sad little bigot? Everyone else does. H.L. Mencken once wrote that “Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” I can’t think of anyone to whom that applies more than my own mom, and the mothers on my friends list, with the incredible demands on time and spirit they face in their efforts to raise their kids, preserve their families, and save their own identity/sanity into the bargain. 

Shit yes, Zamira Drakasha, leaping across the gap between burning ships with twin sabers in hand to kick in some fucking heads and sail off into the sunset with her toddlers in her arms and a hold full of plundered goods, is a wish-fulfillment fantasy from hell. I offer her up on a silver platter with a fucking bow on top; I hope she amuses and delights. In my fictional world, opportunities for butt-kicking do not cease merely because one isn’t a beautiful teenager or a muscle-wrapped font of testosterone. In my fictional universe, the main characters are a fat ugly guy and a skinny forgettable guy, with a supporting cast that includes “SBF, 41, nonsmoker, 2 children, buccaneer of no fixed abode, seeks unescorted merchant for light boarding, heavy plunder.”

You don’t like it? Don’t buy my books. Get your own fictional universe. Your cabbage-water vision of worldbuilding bores me to tears. 

As for the “man’s world” thing, religious sentiments and gender prejudices flow differently in this fictional world. Women are regarded as luckier, better sailors than men. It’s regarded as folly for a ship to put to sea without at least one female officer; there are several all-female naval military traditions dating back centuries, and Drakasha comes from one of them. As for claims to “realism,” your complaint is of a kind with those from bigoted hand-wringers who whine that women can’t possibly fly combat aircraft, command naval vessels, serve in infantry actions, work as firefighters, police officers, etc. despite the fact that they do all of those things— and are, for a certainty, doing them all somewhere at this very minute. Tell me that a fit fortyish woman with 25+ years of experience at sea and several decades of live bladefighting practice under her belt isn’t a threat when she runs across the deck toward you, and I’ll tell you something in return— you’re gonna die of stab wounds.

What you’re really complaining about isn’t the fact that my fiction violates some objective “reality,” but rather that it impinges upon your sad, dull little conception of how the world works. I’m not beholden to the confirmation of your prejudices; to be perfectly frank, the prospect of confining the female characters in my story to placid, helpless secondary places in the narrative is so goddamn boring that I would rather not write at all. I’m not writing history, I’m writing speculative fiction. Nobody’s going to force you to buy it. Conversely, you’re cracked if you think you can persuade me not to write about what amuses and excites me in deference to your vision, because your vision fucking sucks.

I do not expect to change your mind but i hope that you will at least consider that I and others will not be buying your work because of these issues. I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for years and i know that I speak for a great many people. I hope you might stop to think about the sales you will lose because you want to bring your political corectness and foul language into fantasy. if we wanted those things we could go to the movies. Think about this! 

Thank you for your sentiments. I offer you in exchange this engraved invitation to go piss up a hill, suitable for framing.

(Source: scott-lynch.livejournal.com)

18:29pm | 7,784 notes | Via - Source
#oh snap #now I'm interested in the book #books

Vice President Joe Biden schooling Lyin’ Ryan

(Source: markofthespiderman)

01:17am | 15,921 notes | Via - Source
#oh snap #joe biden #paul ryan

(Source: commie-pinko-liberal)

04:45am | 86,176 notes | Via - Source
#neil degrasse tyson #oh snap #ily

(Source: theyallfloat)

01:43am | 5 notes | Via - Source
#oh snap #flawless shade tbh
l-i-s-b-e-t-h:

lumos-maxima:

pagesofharrypotter:

Minerva is the best teacher everyone else can go home.



Automatic reblog every fucking time.

l-i-s-b-e-t-h:

lumos-maxima:

pagesofharrypotter:

Minerva is the best teacher everyone else can go home.

Automatic reblog every fucking time.

10:49am | 46,410 notes | Via - Source
#harry potter #oh snap #mcgonagall #throwing shade #like a boss
Spell your username with tags

bwenner:

abominablethings:

seelebrenntblog:

hardheadedme:

His nest is bare
Awesome moustaches
Rihythmically impaired
Dinosaurs
He is kind of big actually
Einstürzende Neubauten
A mime is a terrible thing to waste
Dead Blixa is my new mascot
Elizabeth Queen of Goths
Delicious pie
Mister Flibble is Very Cross
Epic hair

Silhouette
Eyelashes
Energie
Lady Stardust
Execution of Precious Memories
Badass
Risiko
English subs!
Nixa
No More Shall We Part
Ton Steine Scherben
Bring it On
Lydia loves Blixa’s smell
Okaaaaaaaaay
Gig posters

A big ass inflatable cat
Bears!
Oh you
My previous experience with Ryan Gossling consists of Young Hercules
I don’t know why I do these things
Not the Warren Ellis from the Bad Seeds
Apartment living
But fuuuuck am I ever bored
Landmark accomplishments
Except nobody cares
Things that make me drink
How can you be this good and only do one fucking song?
I miss winter
Nobody cares Dan
Glitter and Doom
Seriously it’s been bugging me for years


This is actually the coolest meme I’ve ever seen.

Blixa you slut

Why you no like my pie?

Emperor Mick of the Elevator Buttons

Nobody fucks with the Jesus

Note to self: clothes are not optional in the TV store

Evil Krycek

ROSSMCBITCHFACE

Ashes scattered in the wind

Reblogging everything from Neil Gaiman

I have it saved as terrible Nixa scribble

Scarf porn

This is his serious pose

Oh snap

This is his sexy pose

Look at his hair softly flowing in the breeze as he gazes dramatically into the horizon

Expressionless Blixa

(I have no tag beginning with x.)

(Source: perfectchichi)

07:04am | 33 notes | Via - Source
#ashes scattered in the wind #reblogging everything from neil gaiman #I have it saved as terrible nixa scribble #scarf porn #this is his serious pose #oh snap #this is his sexy pose #look at his hair softly flowing in the breeze as he gazes dramatically into the horizon #expressionless blixa
05:13am | 30,682 notes | Via - Source
#barack obama #throwing shade #OH SNAP

trevor-sinclair:

08:09am | 7 notes | Via - Source
#marc almond #soft cell #gif #oh snap #sassy marc