Happy Friday, team! The best news from this week is that the NPR Code Switch podcast has finally dropped. You can read an interview with pilot hosts Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji about their Process here.
Why your brain is not a computer, and calling it one is messing up brain science.
Women in sci-fi are reaching new heights (including some discussion of the Hugos and that whole mess).
Including a mango (or not) in a novel about Pakistan.
In defense of YA love triangles, which represent possible identity choices for the (mostly) heroines. Plus some bonus nose-wrinkling at the near-exclusive heteronormativity of the way these love triangles tend to play out.
People think you’ve stolen their lives for your writing even if you actually haven’t. (I secretly think that the moral of this is steal whatever you want and screw ’em, cause they’re going to be mad at you no matter what you do.) My favorite part of this is what she says about other writers stealing from her life and getting her utterly wrong. FASCINATING.
In case you missed that mess of an essay at the Antioch Review, here’s an excellent response to it over at The Millions.
Oh, and in case you messed that mess of a CAPTAIN AMERICA BEING A NAZI (I ranted about it on Twitter), Jess Plummer over at Panels has some thoughts on it for you, as does teaberryblue on Tumblr.
Plus, some sighing as regards complaints of fan entitlement, from Bibliodaze and Megan Purdy. And a particularly superb piece from the always-superb J. A. Micheline addressing the question of who benefits from this kind of rhetoric (spoiler alert: it’s the dominant power structure!).
“I think ‘Frog and Toad’ was really the beginning of him coming out.” Queering the narrative of Frog and Toad. You’re welcome.