I've been doing themed weeks over on my website where I review recent SF stories (LJ feed at prezzey_public). IY"H, this week we'll focus on authors who belong to ethnic minorities... and the week after that, I'll pick a theme of your choice. Now it's your turn to vote!

This is a forced-choice poll with only four possible answers because I can only offer themes with enough stories published this year. For example, I'd love to do a week of queer authors, but I don't have enough stories at present, especially since some queer authors will be featured this week because they also belong to ethnic minorities.

Feel free to recommend further themes in the comments though, I might be able to use them at a later point! Also, what do you think of very broad themes like "fantasy week"? (I don't think there is enough material for a "steampunk week" at this point, but I can save up the steampunk-ish stories...) Though I wonder which is broader, "fantasy week" or "women authors week"... and we've already had a women authors week!

Poll #1834351 Next week's theme!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 8

What should I pick for next week's theme?

A final note: I know I'm focusing on reviewing current SF related to underrepresented groups in particular, but I thought it'd be interesting to dedicate a week to straight white American men for a change, if not next week, then maybe some time later - there are lots of stories like that out there and I wonder if some themes might emerge. Someone told me in private that this would be like baiting the blogosphere and making myself a target of harassment, but I never said those stories would be bad and I would proceed to pour epic hate on them. I have reviewed stories by straight white American men favorably and some were even on my Hugo ballot last year. (With that being said, I expect some of the stories will be bad, and many will be meh.)

I got the idea when Tor.com launched the Palencar project - five authors wrote stories based on a painting by John Jude Palencar. Now, the thing is that I love the painting in question (I have that exact skirt and the girl looks totally frum! :D ), I totally want to read and review the stories, but they do not really fit my usual theme. Three short stories and two novelettes were part of the project, at my usual pace that's 3.5 days at least... I might as well find a few more stories and call it a themed week.

Hello everyone,

I'm prezzey - I'm a Hungarian Jewish woman currently living in Hungary. I help run Expanded Horizons, the magazine focusing on underrepresented groups in SF, so some of you might know me from there. I have a separate project that's thematically related, and I'd really appreciate it if you all helped me spread the word. :]

I'm reviewing recent English-language SF stories on my website (there is also a LJ feed of recent entries: prezzey_public). I finally got my act together and organized the content somewhat, so there is now a way to browse stories by topic and by relative ranking (the best first!).

There are two focus points:

* fiction available for free online - I live in the Second World, so this is always a plus ;]
* fiction related to underrepresented groups - ethnic, sexual, cognitive minorities, people of color, women, authors from outside the Anglosphere, disabled people, etc.

If you visit the tags page, you are able to find, say, stories by Chinese-American authors, or stories featuring Russian characters with one click - all free and pre-sorted by me!

This is not one of those "donate to my dog" posts. I'm not asking for money, I'm asking for the following:

* let your friends know - crosspost this post with the button below and I'll be very happy! If you only do this, that's more than enough. I just want to make sure I reach the people who would be interested

* recommend me stories to review, especially stories by underrepresented authors which might go under the radar otherwise (I'm currently reviewing stuff eligible for the 2012 Hugos)

* add my RSS or LJ feed (prezzey_public) and follow the updates!

Have fun and may we all have a year filled with great SF :]

I did not expect to be making not one, but TWO public entries today.

My hosting is down - so no email, no website. Yes, I know about it. Send me LJ messages in the meanwhile (or you can use Facebook, etc). This will take a day or so to get fixed, at least.

(We had a bill overdue, it's probably no one's fault, it got lost in the pre-holidays crunch... yes, this is the worst possible time, in case you were wondering >_< )

I celebrate Chanukah, and Christmas is also foisted on me regardless of whether I like it or not. But the reason I'm posting this is the following example of LOL culturefail:

Tis' the season, as it is often said, to embrace our companions and reflect as another year comes to pass. Considering the LiveJournal family spans geographic and cultural borders the world over, recognizing all the subtleties and diversity of December celebrations can be a daunting task.

To that end, we here at LiveJournal U.S. invite you to join us in our celebration of December holidays at LJ's very first B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Beliefs) Gift-Away!

[...]

BOTH CONTESTS OPEN to U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY

Um. I read that as "We love other countries! Really! We do! Believe us! ...No, you're not eligible. What do you mean we just said this was an event specifically for-- we didn't SAY that-- no, we REALLY didn't! Go back and check! ...well, we didn't really mean it..."

I understand that due to legal reasons, these online events usually have geographic limitations - though Librarything somehow manages to run a Secret Santa where I can participate, so I'm inclined to say anyone can do it, no excuses (LJ has a lot more employees than Librarything!).

But it gets really ridiculous when the intro text goes on and on about the LJ family spanning geographic and cultural borders. Suuuuuuure. It spans borders and I get swamped by serial adders every time there's some important political event in Russia (это просто смешно!). I also get Yay Let's Celebrate the Holidays Тogether event announcements restricted to Americans even on LJ.ru:


Ну что?

If you are here via shweta_narayan, be sure to add prezzey_public, the LJ feed for the public posts on my website. It takes a bit to update, but it should work. Alternately, here is my original RSS feed.

Feel free to add my personal LJ too, but note that that one's basically just my personal sufferingz0rness and the target audience is people I know from elsewhere...

For everyone else who has no clue what this post is about, I explain on my website. Thank you for your patience~

For the past weeks I've been receiving a steady stream of LJ spam, which did not abate even after I set comments to registered users only, so now I'm setting comments to friends only. Since most of my entries are friends only anyway, this should only affect people who are interested in becoming friends and want to leave a message saying hello. Send me a private message instead, or leave a comment at my main website if you think your messages are not getting through for some reason.

Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience~

I'm unfriending a bunch of people due to inactivity, if you want back on, comment here.

I'm just not comfortable with lurkers is all. ;]

When did this happen and how did I miss the announcement?

Report Suspected Bot

And now I'm off for Shabbes!

Apparently other people are experiencing this too. Here is the solution (thanks nympholept!)

Since the past week has seen a bunch of more or less random-generated serial adders adding my LJ, I'd like to point out that I only friend you back if you send me a more or less coherent message describing why you added me, and it helps if we already know each other from somewhere else. (And even then I reserve the right not to, etc. etc. you know the drill.)

Also, I can tell if your journal contents have been copypasted even if they are in Russian. It's magic! ;]