First, to introduce myself: I'm Cara King, a mild-mannered Regency Romance author who's switched to writing young adult novels about, um...well, about teens who have various interests and...that is, who are intelligent and non-stereotypical and...um...
Oh, heck, why don't I just admit it? I write nerd-girl books. And my nerd-girl heroines aren't just nerds, they're geeks too. (As the saying goes, write what you know!)
Speaking of what I know...here, for your immense delectation, are my ten most geektastic joys so far this year:
MOVIES
IRON MAN
Is this the best superhero movie ever? Maybe. It was certainly the most fun I had at the movies this year! I saw it three times, and I'm still quoting from it.
HEATH LEDGER'S JOKER
Wow. And again -- wow.
TELEVISION
PUSHING DAISIES
This is only the best show that you're not watching...with the sweetest hunk on TV.
It's bizarre and funny and totally original, and you KNOW you should be watching it. (Well, maybe you didn't...but you do now.)
SUPERNATURAL
There's a lot of good science fiction and fantasy TV nowadays (Lost, Heroes, Chuck, Stargate, etc), but this year I think the show that's been consistently excellent,
as well as consistently ignored, is probably Supernatural.And hey -- this show has not one, but two cute guys. Extra nice.
BOOKS
DIANA WYNNE JONES
She's my favorite author ever. I hit a low patch earlier this year and reread a whole bunch of her books...and I'm just floored by them every time. If you like fantasy, you need to read her! (Start with Charmed Life or Howl's Moving Castle.)
PROM DATES FROM HELL
One of my favorite book discoveries of the year was Rosemary Clement-Moore's Prom Dates From Hell. It's smart and it's funny -- what more can one ask for?
COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
ASTONISHING X-MEN
Joss Whedon and John Cassaday finished up their run of "Astonishing X-Men," and went out with a bang. I wasn't always keen on all the other-planet weirdness that went on, but Whedon's character relationships and dialogue were just brilliant. (Another thing I'm still quoting!)
EXPERIENCES
MEETING BUJOLD AT WORLDCON
I am a total fangirl of Lois McMaster Bujold's science fiction books. So this summer, when I got to meet her at the World Science Fiction Convention, I was over the moon. I alternated between sitting there tongue-tied, and babbling inane things.
JANE AUSTEN'S BATMAN
At the Risky Regencies blog, I semi-regularly do "Austen Trek: or, If Jane Austen Wrote Star Trek." (So far, no one's firebombed my computer, so I keep doing it.)
Then last month, I wrote "Jane Austen's Batman." And for some reason, this got noticed. It got talked about. A long-lost friend from high school saw it and contacted me. It got mentioned on John Scalzi's blog!!! (For those who don't know, Scalzi is one of the major new SF authors out there, and his hugely popular blog just won him a Hugo.)
The whole experience was thrilling and bizarre.
THE JANE AUSTEN BALL (AND PLAYFORD BALL)
If you've ever seen a Jane Austen movie, you've probably seen English Country Dance -- the graceful, intricate style of dance in which lines of men and women move forward and back, weave in and out, and have just enough time to say witty, Austenian things.This year I enjoyed English Country Dance at a Jane Austen Ball and a Playford Ball, complete with tea food and live music and the most amazing period clothes. Yep, I dressed up in a Regency gown (I made it myself!) and did Regency dances -- and I might just have murmured witty things, too.
So...how about you? Did you experience any of the above? What did you think?
And what your your most geektastic experiences this year?
Cara
Cara King, who thinks Tony Stark is kinda hot
YAYYYYYY--good geek moments! I would have geeked out for those, too. :D
ReplyDeleteps--thanks for guest blogging on The Fictionistas!!!
Awesome post. You're not the first one to recommend Diana Wynne Jones, so I really need to check her out. Thanks for guesting with us!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're not the first one to recommend Diana Wynne Jones, so I really need to check her out.
ReplyDeleteYay, Kristen! Glad my pushing worked. ;-)
And Rhonda, you're very welcome!
Cara
Welcome Cara!!
ReplyDeleteJust read your Batman adaptation--fabulous!
Thanks, Gwen!!!
ReplyDeleteCara
I wanted to get here yesterday to thank you for posting, Cara. YOU RAWK!! I just didn't coordinate it very well.
ReplyDeleteFantasticly fun post. I so wanna hang out with you at the mall.
Definitely, Chrissy! Especially one with a movie theater. :-)
ReplyDeleteCara
thanks for guest blogging with us, Cara. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI still haven't seen Ironman. I'm anxiously awaiting it in our Netflix mail!
Hey, Cara! Thanks for blogging! I do English country dancing, too. I've been to a Jane Austen Ball (Playford was this weekend in Baltimore, but I had a wedding instead) and Governor's Ball (1786) is coming up in November. I love it!
ReplyDeleteI still haven't seen Ironman. I'm anxiously awaiting it in our Netflix mail!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll love it, Mel!
I do English country dancing, too. I've been to a Jane Austen Ball
Oh, yeah, and I loved the pics in your post on it! (Though I had trouble finding it just now, because if there's a search facility on this blog, I haven't yet found it!)
BTW, I did ask you a question in the comments on that post that you never did answer... ;-)
Cara
It's so weird! I've done exactly those same ten geeky things this year, and I loved them all, too! It's like we're somehow two halves of the same person, or married, or something.
ReplyDeleteStill, maybe it's not surprising. After all, that's the way Dad did it; that's the way America does it; and it's worked out pretty well so far.
Todd-who-has-an-iron-constitution
Ha! I had exactly the same Bujold experience at Norwescon. The poor woman has all these intelligent, witty fans and yet when we are lucky enough to come within her orbit most of our IQ drains out on the floor.
ReplyDeleteHa! I had exactly the same Bujold experience at Norwescon. The poor woman has all these intelligent, witty fans and yet when we are lucky enough to come within her orbit most of our IQ drains out on the floor.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Carol!!! Though to my relief, in one of the sessions a fan actually asked her how to write a fan letter that sounded intelligent and not stupid and annoying...and she basically said that she loved all fan letters, and was always delighted when anyone liked her stuff at all.
So that took a little of the pressure off. ;-)
Cara
Great post! I saw that you think Lee Pace (from Pushing Daisies, which I have yet to see since I don't have TV sadly) is hunky (I agree)- have you seen him in the show Wonderfalls? It was only on for 4 episodes back in 2004, but he plays the main character's brother in it. If you haven't seen that show, you need to buy it on DVD. Presumably, since I haven't seen Pushing Daisies, it's got the same sort of off-beat, quirky style since it's produced by the same guy who did Wonderfalls.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, Book Chic, I agree! Actually, I saw the first few eps of Wonderfalls way back when...and then later a friend lent me the DVD, but I hadn't gotten around to watching it until Pushing Daisies came on...at which point I went and watched that whole Wonderfalls DVD! I admit I don't like that series concept (or its execution) as well as Pushing Daisies, but I definitely liked it, with its weird characters and sometimes dry humor...
ReplyDeleteAnd in the later Wonderfalls eps, when Lee Pace's character learned his sister's secret, it got extra fun for me. :-)
Cara