Busy Week With Joss The Bird Whedon, The Conflagration, And A New Website

I can't believe another Wednesday is here already. During the past week, I finished rewrites to The Conflagration (Book 3 of 4 in The Awakening series) based on comments from beta readers. Yesterday I printed the full manuscript to review once again. I'm hoping I'll be satisfied enough to make minimal changes and send it off for final editing/proofreading early next month.

In the meantime, I've been working with Don Herion of The Sorcerer's Workshop on a redesign of my author website (and by "working with" I mean driving crazy with changes and questions that betray my lack of understanding of web design). Don created stunning book slides for the home page, as well as adapted and updated the previous site for Wordpress to make it easier for me to edit and for others to read on their phones. If you're reading this post on Blogger and would like to check out the new design for the site, click here. If you're already on the new site, hey, take a look around.

Last but not at all least, I've been keeping up with a new friend, Joss The Bird Whedon, Joss for short. He's pictured in the photo above perfecting his high wire (or is it side wire?) act. Yes, he is named for the creator of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, etc. Unfortunately, Joss has been under the weather for the past couple days, so I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow.

Why am I telling you all this, other than to have an excuse to post a photo of a cute baby parakeet? Well, that's reason enough, but it's also to explain why I'm writing such a short post this week. Hope you'll stop by again next Wednesday.

Stay tuned.

Stranger Danger, Comic Con and Girls Gone Gore

Last month I  presented a panel, Girls Gone Gore, at Comic Con Chicago with author Carrie Green. The first time we met, Carrie and I talked about how both of us have had people suggest that because we write horror/suspense/thrillers, we ought to consider using our initials or male pen names. The idea that readers believe male authors more likely to write good horror is nothing new. As I learned when I researched for the panel, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein originally was published with the author listed as Anonymous. Everyone assumed it was written by a man.

Why the bias toward men still survives is puzzling considering the success of Frankenstein, as well as of works by other women horror writers like Shirley Jackson (The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House). But something Carrie pointed out on our panel is that when women write horror, suspense or thrillers, it's often called something else. I read The Lottery in English class, and a lot of people read Frankenstein in school as well.  So these horror tales are called literature, not horror.  (I don't know why there needs to be distinction between the two, but that's a whole other post.)  Happily, when I asked the audience of about 40-50 for our panel what they thought, most did not seem to care if authors were male or female, they were just looking for good books.  One young woman said she hoped women would not use pen names or initials because she actively looks for women writers.  She believes they are more likely to develop the characters' interior lives than are men, and that's something she likes in fiction.

Another thing we talked about is the portrayal of women as victims. Based on a lot of popular movies, TV and fiction, one would think strangers are a great danger to women. Curious about how reality and fiction match, I checked the FBI website. It turns out over 75% of homicide victims are men, not women.  (There is one exception. Serial killers, who are rare in real life, are more apt to target women.)  Even more interesting to me was that men, not women, are more likely to be killed by strangers.  Women are more likely to be killed by people they know. Specifically, husbands, boyfriends, and relatives. Which led me to comment that despite what we see on TV, the most dangerous thing for a woman to do probably is not to walk down a dark alley, but to get married.

The Comic Con panel attendees, many of whom are Buffy fans (as am I), were great to talk with on this point. These readers want to see strong women characters. They love reading about and watching on film girls and women who are portrayed as three-dimensional characters in all type of roles, including as heroes.

And the more such books and films and TV shows sell, the more of them there will be.

________________

Lisa M. Lilly is the author of Amazon occult bestseller The Awakening.  A short film of the title story of her collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror was recently produced under the title Willis Tower.  Her poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and on-line magazines, including Parade of Phantoms, Strong Coffee, and Hair Trigger.  She is currently working on The Awakening, Book II: The Unbelievers.

The Awakening for Kindle: http://bit.ly/15bViBm

For Nook: http://amzn.to/pFCcN6

The Bionic Woman, Buffy, and the Man of Steel

I recently saw Man of Steel.  Superman was a bit too dark for me, and the special effects struck me as overkill.  All the same, retellings and new approaches to familiar tales fascinate me.  I'm intrigued by questions such as why the storyteller chose to modify the origin story, or the mentor character's advice, or the overall theme.  Was it to fill empty spaces?  To fit with modern beliefs?  Because the storyteller always believed the "new" backstory existed but was just unspoken before?  (Unfortunately, my date's only comment on the entire movie, despite my attempts to jump start a conversation, was, "That was a nice little story."  Probably no long-term relationship potential there.)

This Superman reboot caused me to check on another reboot, one I initially didn't feel excited about -- that of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  As most fans of the TV show -- and I am one -- know, the new movie version was to be written by a brand new screenwriter, with no input from creator Joss Whedon.  Those of us who love Joss' writing and directing had a hard time with that, and many vowed never to see the movie.  I almost felt I shouldn't see it, fearing it might take away from my love for the series.  Similarly, I was not a huge fan of the short-lived remake of The Bionic Woman series a few years back, though it was my favorite television show during childhood.  The new Jaime Sommers just didn't work for me.  By the way, did anyone else notice the similarity in names between Buffy Summers and Jaime Sommers?  I'm convinced Joss was a Bionic Woman fan, too.

Given my lack of initial enthusiasm, I was surprised to find myself feeling disappointed when I discovered the new Buffy movie is on ice.  Obviously, t's not because I expected to like the film.  Rather, after watching Man of Steel, I realized how wonderful it is that the film industry contemplated another Buffy reboot.  Buffy is my favorite woman hero, and she's already had a movie (a bit too campy for my taste, but it had some of the themes later developed in the show), a TV series, and a comic book series.  I love the idea that another reimagining of her myth is already being considered.

Think of how many times Superman has been remade.  Setting aside cartoons, in my lifetime, I saw the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Lois and Clark, Smallville, Superman Returns (forgettable), and Man of Steel.  And I'm not even a big Superman fan.  I also watched the campy TV series Batman with Adam West, the Batman films that started off with Michael Keaton, and the more recent series of Batman movies.  (I was in an extra for one of those -- look for me at a funeral in a gray trench coat.) 

But how many Wonder Womans have there been?  I remember just one in my lifetime  -- the TV series with Lynda Carter.  The recent reboot of Wonder Woman, to be written by none other than Joss Whedon, never got made.  Despite the success of the Terminator and Alien franchises, the movie studios still seem inclined to default to male heroes.  But we are seeing more girls and women as heroes in movies -- movies that are doing well at the box office.  Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Maya Lambert in Zero Dark Thirty, and Tris Prior in the upcoming Divergent (filmed right outside my door) give me hope that film producers realize there is a vast audience for good movies about female heroes.  Which is great news for me as a reader, author, and filmgoer, as those are the types of stories I most enjoy.

So would I have trouble loving a Buffy reboot?  Probably.  But would I go see it?  Yes, yes, and yes.  How about a double feature with Wonder Woman?

______________

Lisa M. Lilly is the author of Amazon occult bestseller The Awakening.  A short film of the title story of her collection The Tower Formerly Known as Sears and Two Other Tales of Urban Horror was recently produced under the title Willis Tower.  Her poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and on-line magazines, including Parade of Phantoms, Strong Coffee, and Hair Trigger.  She is currently working on The Awakening, Book II: The Unbelievers.

The Awakening for Kindle: http://bit.ly/15bViBm

For Nook: http://amzn.to/pFCcN6