Sci-Fi Week: Battle of the Franchises? No thanks, I'll pass!

Unless you’re living under a very, VERY big rock, you’re aware that we’ve now got the first Star Wars movie we’ve had in decades in the theaters. To all initial reports, it even appears to be good. My wife and I are pretty amused at the number of early reviews we’ve seen along the lines of “everybody relax, it doesn’t suck!”

This post, however, is not going to be about the new movie, although it IS still going to be about Star Wars!

Because I’ve also seen quite a few posts and videos and such going around the net this past week, all along the theme of “this is why Star Wars is the best franchise ever”. In particular, I’ve seen a post that put Star Wars up against Lord of the Rings, and I’ve seen a video that puts it up against Star Trek. Both faceoffs are certainly clashes of titans, and the kind of post fodder guaranteed to get geeks defending the honor of whichever franchise is their favorite.

“What’s your take, then?” I might hear you asking.

Easy. I embrace the power of and. I love Star Wars and Star Trek and Lord of the Rings.

Oh, sure, I have often different reasons for loving all of them. Those reasons may even be different on different days for the same franchise, because people are allowed to be complicated creatures and full of contradictions!

Allow me to elucidate with a small sampling of why I love all three of these franchises.

Why I love Star Wars:

1. Two words: Harrison. Ford.
2. John Williams’ soundtrack.
3. To this day, I remember eight-year-old-ish me laying eyes on that gigantic Star Destroyer at the beginning of A New Hope. Formative movie influence on me, like so many other geeks my age.
4. Han’s love for the Millennium Falcon led me right into instant affection for Mal’s love of Serenity in Firefly! Because I mean honestly, Mal really is Han 2.0, isn’t he?
5. And did I mention Harrison Ford? Because he warrants mentioning twice. :D

Why I love Star Trek:

1. Three words: James. Tiberius. Kirk.
2. The way my heart lifts every time I hear “Space: the final frontier” and the horns kicking in under those iconic words.
3. I adore the whole core concept of Trek, which for me is “space is AMAZING, let’s go look at it and discover new life forms and civilizations and make friends with them”. I love the inherent optimism of that, and I frequently feel that we could use more of that optimism in all of our lives.
4. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, at least in the original series (the reboot movies aren’t doing it for me, not yet), are the threefold heart and soul of the cast. I regularly go back and rewatch that series, and the best parts for me are the parts that emphasize how these three characters all love and respect one another.
5. Uhura! Our lady of communications! Who is also a musician! How can I not love her?

Why I love Lord of the Rings:

1. Tolkien’s masterful works, as I’ve posted before, are a huge influence on me as both a reader and a writer.
2. I can rewatch the Lord of the Rings movies yearly and feel like I’m coming home.
3. Howard Shore’s masterful score.
4. Every single time I hear Annie Lennox sing “Into the West”, tears start streaming down my face.
5. Four words: Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

At the end of the day, though, what all of these franchises have in common for me is that they’ve all delivered me excellent storytelling, compelling characters, music that lifts my spirit, and worlds I believe in every time I visit them. To ask me to say that one is better than the other is like asking me to choose a one true flavor of ice cream. Dude, it’s ice cream. It’s all delicious!

All that said? That eight-year-old kid in me who went all wide-eyed in awe at the first sight of a Star Destroyer is now totally shrieking OMG OMG NEW STAR WARS OMG OMG OMG CAN WE GO SEE IT YET?

Hang in there, eight-year-old me. We’ll be going to see that movie soon enough. And Trek and Lord of the Rings will keep being there for us too!

So talk to me, everybody, and tell me what your favorite movie franchise is and why you love it so! (And if you’ve already seen The Force Awakens, this is a SPOILER-FREE ZONE, so please, no spoilers in the comments! I won’t be seeing the movie until Christmas Day! You wouldn't want to make Han cranky, would you?)

--
Angela is a hybrid author who writes as both Angela Korra'ti and Angela Highland, and she is also a gigantic geek. You can find her and everything you'd like to know about her books on angelahighland.com, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Accidental Gender Swapping in Fantasy

One of the very best parts of having a book release is that the story is finally, finally, finally, out in the world. Which means people talk to you about it. It's a funny thing, because when you're writing a book, it's just you and the story for such a very long time. Then gradually more people start participating, in graduating circles - critique partners, beta readers, agent, editor, production people, reviewers - and then it explodes into the entire readerverse.

This is what's happened since THE MARK OF THE TALA released a few weeks ago.

Each expanding circle brings new ideas. My CPs tend to think a lot like I do. My agent IS my agent because she gets me. My editor bought the book because he gets me. By the time I hit the larger readerverse, the story is read by people who are not already on my team, so the feedback gets really interesting.

One of the most interesting so far is from a guy, who is also an internet friend/acquaintance. He really liked the book (yay!) and then he asked: Will there be any men in positions of power besides Rayfe (the hero of this book) who are not corrupt and basically complete shits.

The question took me aback. I'd never looked at the book - or the series - from that lens.

And I cast over the characters and events in my head, because I've been through edits on book 2, THE TEARS OF THE ROSE, and just finished book 3, THE TALON OF THE HAWK, and.... well, pretty much no. Really no other admirable men in positions of power. Plenty of wonderful men, just not in charge.

Totally not planned.

I half found it funny. Was also half chagrined.

So I mentioned it to my production editor at my publisher. She's one of those who came in on a later, larger circle. She first read the book after it came to her for copy edits. And she took the time to email me (this does not happen often) to say how much she loved THE MARK OF THE TALA. She's one of those fantasy readers who ritually rereads Tolkein's THE LORD OF THE RINGS every year. She's smart, insightful and has a major love of fantasy. So, we were emailing about her edits on THE TEARS OF THE ROSE, and how she loved it Even More (yay!), and I told her about this guy's question and how I felt slightly chagrined about it.

This is what she said: I think it’s just freaking great that there’s no uh, male power in these books. There’s plenty of that in the real world. And in the rest of fiction. And movies and all other art forms. 

And I thought, you know, she's right. I didn't plan it that way, but this emerged from my world view, a story about three princesses, daughters of the High King, and how THEY deal with power.

It is just freaking great.

Paranormal/fantasy heroes: A list of some characters who inspire my muse

A friend and fellow author did a similar post to this recently, and feeling inspired (I mean, who doesn’t want to write about hunks, er, I mean heroes?), I blatantly stole her idea, which I’m sure she stole from someone else, so all’s fair, right? Plus, I really couldn't come up with a better topic to blog about today. What are you gonna do?

Anywho. She did a list of her favorite heroes, from TV, film, and books, and gave an explanation of why they were hero-worthy to her. I’ll dive right in and offer up six of my own favorite paranormal and fantasy heroes. I really could have done a list of 100 of my favorite heroes, but I randomly picked these six. Can I please note that I also came thisclose to including some of the heroes created by Here Be Magic contributors, but since I haven't read everyone's books yet, I didn't think it was exactly fair to single anyone out. But it was tempting. Jax Garren, I'm looking at you. And you too, Veronica Scott. Points finger at Eleri Stone. And...I'll stop embarrassing myself now.

Feel free to leave your own favorites in the comments section. I adore being introduced to new characters!

Damon Salvatore. To be fair, I haven’t read The Vampire Diaries books, but I watch the TV show every week. Ian Somerhalder is just…wow. Love him. He took a character I thought was only eh in the first few episodes of this show and developed him into a complex bad boy who’s constantly torn between his own gratification and his love for his brother and friends. He’s relentlessly unpredictable as a result. And yes, I watch The Vampire Diaries and I’m not a teenage girl. Back off.

Bones, from the Night Huntress series. I love, love, love Jeaniene Frost’s series of books and fell in love with Bones just as the book’s heroine Cat did throughout this series. Gotta admire a man who joins a secret agency devoted to killing his kind simply to be near the woman he loves.

Dean Winchester. Supernatural is my favorite TV show for a reason, and Dean is that reason. He is THE alpha demon hunter on television. Jensen Ackles, who portrays Dean, rocks socks. And I wouldn't want to mess with him if I were a demon. Just sayin.'

Mouse Guard. Please tell me you didn’t just ask yourself, “What the heck is Mouse Guard?” OK, given my utter weirdness, it’s a fair question. Mouse Guard is a comic book written and illustrated by David Petersen. It’s set in a world of sentient mice who live in medieval times paralleling the same period in human history. The Mouse Guard are essentially guards/soldiers who help the other mice survive attacks and the such. I don’t even know how else to describe it, or one character to single out as the best hero, but if you’re open to comic books, this one is awesome. Plus, they're mice with swords!

Legolas Greenleaf from The Lord of the Rings. Confession time. I suffered through the books (please don't pelt me with rocks), but I enjoyed the movies, mostly. There was one character who stuck with me, and it was Legolas. The reason? I was drawn to his kindness and gentle nature, and he had some mad skills with that bow and arrow. Plus, he was kinda cute and all.

The Doctor. I’m a recent convert to this SF/F show from Britain thanks to Netflix, but I’m totally hooked on Doctor Who. What can I say? I’m a sucker for quirky, smart, and witty heroes who brandish nothing more than a sonic screwdriver when slaying aliens, monsters and the such. Plus, bowties are cool.

There’s my list. What’s yours?