Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

In this month’s Wired Magazine is a very prescient feature on the top fashions to adorn Sci-Fi characters. Thankfully, it’s not just women, but alas, Linnea Sinclair’s heroines might still have these folks beat. The best of the top 10?

Queen Amidala’s royal gowns
STAR WARS: EPISODES I, II & III
Stitch together all the scenes in which Amidala wears vaguely Japanese haute couture and you get a new edit: Star Wars: Episode III.I Memoirs of a Padmé.

It is true - the costuming in the whole series was an exercise in how luminous they could make Natalie Portman appear.

Khan’s suede vest
START TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN
Mr. Roarke trades his white suit for a dingy suede wraparound number and brings Kirk’s worst nightmares to life. Nothing says wrath like man-cleavage. Well, that and a stellar mullet.

So true - Candy and I can personally attest to that! There is no wrath like man-titty with a mullet.

Feyd-Rautha’s winged Speedo
DUNE
When Sting’s character appears wearing nothing but a blue art deco-style Speedo barely big enough to cover his stinger, the Baron Harkonnen isn’t the only one mesmerized.

You know, the only other Speedo that stopped me hot and cold was the glimpse of Mulder in the infamous red Speedo scene. Man.

Zhora’s peekaboo raincoat
BLADE RUNNER
Every stripper knows that clear gets you noticed, so it’s no surprise Zhora’s see-through raincoat doesn’t help her flee Deckard. She gives a whole new meaning to the term fashion victim.

Barbarella’s white go-go boots
BARBARELLA
Before Jane taught us how to work out, she showed us how to work it in thigh-high boots. If only space were filled with randy go-gonauts, pointless sexual adventures, and erotic torture devices. Feel the burn.

You know, maybe Gillaine and Sinclair’s other cover-hoes are carrying on a fine Sci-Fi babealicious tradition, and we’re too narrow minded to see it? Nah.  I’ll bet you a whole crisp U.S. dollar bill that the next Sinclair cover features white go-go boots, a clear raincoat, or both. 

A few of your comments in the previous entry have mentioned the idea of characters becoming real, so real that they take up residence in the brain like other living people in the author’s life. So I want to ask: if you’re a writer, how real do your characters get? This overlaps a bit with the previous thread, but it’s something I’ve heard authors talk about in different venues and I’ve always wondered about it.

Many authors state that the characters they write become so real to them that these fictional creations take on wills of their own and, depending on the language used by the author, demand control of their own stories, and inform the author how those stories will end. One author said that she didn’t expect to write about certain events in her novel, but the characters made her do it, and in the end she thought their decisions were the right ones.

LKH steps beyond characters coming to life during the writing process, and writes:

My characters are real to me in a way that makes me miss them. For God’s sake, I’ll be in the mall and see something, and go, “Oh, it’s the perfect gift for (fill in the blank).” I’ve been in line with the present in my hand, before I go, “Wait, these are make believe people. I can’t buy them a Christmas present.” I guess I could, but there’s no way to give it to them. They aren’t THAT real. But they are real enough that I see things that make me think of them in the way you think of a boyfriend or a husband, or a best friend.

I know that every writer’s process is different, and there are some that don’t even look at the process analytically for fear it will curl up in a fetal position and run away from the scrutiny. I know some writing instructors posit that an author should be able to say without thinking about it what items are in a character’s pockets at any moment, even if those items are not germane to the story. The author should have such an intimate knowledge of his or her character creations that the contents of their underwear drawer are known and easily cataloged. And I don’t meant the knickers themselves. I mean the stuff hidden under the knickers.

As a writer, are your characters real? How real? Do they tell you what to do once you’ve created them? Is there a moment when they take control of the story and you follow them as they lead the way to the end? And what’s on their Amazon Wish List?

I meant to link to this several days ago but I done plumb forgot; better late than never, right? At any rate, please enjoy Livejournal user mightygodking’s reinterpretation of a comic that I’ve dubbed in my head as ”Putting the XXX in X-Men,” except it’s not just the X-Men, because it’s Marvel’s Ultimate Power, which is CROSSOVER ON CRACK.

Go look. It’s veddy, veddy funny.

We did it last year, and we’re doing it again: it’s time to look back fondly and with misty eyes and husky voices at the reading that was in 2006.

We’ll use some of the same questions, but we’re adding new ones, too.

Best author you discovered this year (Up to 3)

Best new book you read this year (again, top 3)

Book you wish you’d skipped over and spent that $9 on a pair of Payless shoes instead.

Book with the cover that made you want to punch the cover artist--in the crotch.

Most overrated book.

Most underrated book.

Favorite romance-related trainwreck, on-line or otherwise.

What book coming out in 2007 are you most looking forward to? (Feel free to -gasp!- pimp your own, but please don’t link as the HTML often wonks the comments)

Ok, so I’m about 25 days late on the announcement here, but can I tell you how happy I am that Gail Dayton’s Compass Rose trilogy’s third installment will be published by Juno books? And oh, joy, from the description, Kallista has to go to Obed’s homeland to kick some demon petard.

Hooray! That about makes my holiday season. Yay!