[ SECRET POST #3135 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3135 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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02.
[Supernatural]


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03.
[Floraverse]

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05.
[Star Trek: The Next Generation]


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08.
[Bryan Cranston: Breaking Bad vs. Malcolm in the Middle]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 045 secrets from Secret Submission Post #448.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0- too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[elialshadowpine]

I do the same thing, and part of it is that for the most part, a lot of men in SFF write about... men... and the women characters aren't as well-developed. This has gotten better in recent years, if you avoid the grimdark trend, but I've gotten burned enough times that unless I have reccs to go on, I don't usually bother. That said, I've also gotten burned by the trend in urban fantasy of the heroine failing in a ridiculously stupid way at something she's supposed to be Teh Bestest at so the hero has his chance to "shine" and "save" her that I don't read those unless recc'd, either.

It's usually not hard for me to find recc's, since I follow a number of SFF review blogs, and there are definitely some books by men where the women characters haven't been primary that I've loved (Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series come to mind), but for the most part, it's not what I'm interested in. Generally, my experience has been that women authors, even if their protagonist is male, have more well-rounded and developed women characters. I'm thinking of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books, which are primarily about Miles (who is literally the only male character I've ever personally identified with, because dear fuck but his brain works like mine), but have lots of strong women -- Cordelia, Taura, Ekaterin, Elli, I could go on.

I usually have more books to read than I have time, anyway *eyes the TBR bookcase she had at one point* so... I don't feel I'm missing out? If something's especially good, I'm going to hear about it, and I'll put it on my list (like I did when enough people told me to read Sanderson's Mistborn series, which is freaking awesome). *shrugs* It's a method that's worked well for me, and usually doesn't result in my blood pressure going through the roof (... it probably doesn't help that the few times I've diverged and picked up a book by an unknown male author, it's been really fucking sexist).

[(Anonymous)]

Not the OP, another anon in the thread, but thankyou, this is not dissimilar to my experience. I will gladly read a recced male author but when author is unknown, it's a risk, and I've been burnt quite a bit.

I can't possibly read all the books I want to read, so I need my heuristics to whittle down what to read.

[entpoot]

I've heard so many good things about the Vorkosigan books, but your commentary tipped the balance for me. They just became a priority.

[elialshadowpine]

:D

They're really, really awesome books. I'd suggest starting out with Shards of Honor and Barrayar as a set. Shards is weaker, which is not surprising as it was Bujold's first book, but it's very integral set-up for Barrayar. Those aren't about Miles, but his mother, Cordelia, who is made of awesome and full of win, and his dad, who is canonically bisexual and pretty awesome, too. They aren't necessary, but there's a lot about Miles that makes so much more sense in this context, plus, I promise you will appreciate their appearances and effect on the rest of the series a lot more if you do read them first.

Come to think, there's actually a sub-plot in A Civil Campaign, which is much later in the series, that calls back to Barrayar. It's not that it won't make any sense, but a certain scene that is already hilarious is about three times more so when you have the background.

I will seriously squee about these books forever. They're a really great mix of humor and very serious stuff. I have yet to find another book series that handles both physical disability and mental illness so well. I legit started bawling while reading the books because I'd never read somebody else who was so much like me in the way that he thought, the way his brain functioned, so on. With bipolar disorder, ADD, PTSD, anxiety, that's not really common to see; I don't think Miles has anxiety in disorder form but he does experience it due to what he's dealing with, and it is the first time I can ever remember reading a book with a character who thought like me. My ex asked me what was wrong; I made them read the books, because it was also very useful to be able to show a partner, hey, this is how my brain works!