Showing posts with label X-Files. Show all posts
Showing posts with label X-Files. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2018

"TALK NERDY TO ME!" - Celebrate Nerd Pride Day with Here Be Magic

Posted by: Dani Harper, Author
Since 2006, May 25 has been designated as Nerd Pride Day. In honor of this auspicious occasion, we asked everyone at Here Be Magic: "Tell us something nerdy about you..." 

Read on as our authors reveal their innermost geek!



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"Being a nerd is about feeling an intense adoration of a topic that inspires you to gather knowledge or paraphernalia far beyond the extent of the average fan. To wit, I have a billion pieces of vintage clothing that don’t even fit, all because I love vintage clothing. If that’s not nerdy in its own way…what is? 

Note: I am not a hoarder otherwise, only with regards to my nerdly hobbies. 

Also note: cats don’t count in the “not a hoarder” category. I have six." 
~ Jody Wallace, www.jodywallace.com 

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"Do I have to do "just one", asked the giant nerd? I mean, c’mon, I’m a software tester in my day job, a general technophile, and a lifelong fan of multiple SF/F authors and media properties. I can yammer on for hours about Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, the MCU, Mac vs. PC, iOS vs. Android, and the minutae of worldbuilding in the Tolkien legendarium. 

Especially Tolkien.

Come to think of it, that may be my answer right there. ;D" 
~ Angela Korra'ti, www.angelahighland.com

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Nicole Luiken is an avid reader AKA a bookworm. Instead of bringing a towel with her wherever she goes à la Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, she brings a book to read, usually of the SF/Fantasy variety. The best way to lure her away from her books is with a Board Game Night.


~ Nicole Luiken, www.nicoleluiken.com

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"I took a minor voice-acting role in a not-for-profit fan-made Doctor Who audio play. (I won an audition against pros and everything!)"

~ Shawna Reppert
www.shawna-reppert.com






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"My personal nerdiness is on full display in my writing office. There's a figurine of Cerberus, the 3-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld, with various faeries and dragons to keep him company. My collection of Ray Bradbury sci-fi novels has a place of honor among rows of books on myths and legends and the paranormal. You'll see a signed photo from a Klingon cosplayer, a poster of demon-hunter detective Constantine, plus my vendor's booth banner and a couple of ID cards from the last comicon I attended. Not to mention the fully articulated wolf head that my hubs wore at said comicon...

Why yes, those ARE Marvel action figures standing around my keyboard. I use them to act out scenes in my stories – honest!" 
~ Dani Harper, www.daniharper.com


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"I love to dress up in Victorian/steampunk clothes and go to museums, festivals, and anywhere I can, with as many like-minded friends as possible."

~ Cindy Spencer Pape







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"I'm sure there I have multiple nerdy habits in addition to my lifelong bookworm obsession. I'm sharing my latest obsession—the Supernatural television show. Last year I binged the seasons with my daughters (their second time through) and we've been to the convention twice. 

I impatiently wait for my Thursday night fix with, "The Boys", plus I have several Supernatural t-shirts that I wear with pride as if I am a Hunter waiting for Sam and Dean." 
~ Maureen L Bonatch, www.maureenbonatch.com

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"I’m in my 60s, and a grandmother. But that doesn’t stop me from flaunting my SUPERNATURAL t-shirt, my DR. WHO wallet, or whatever else I want to show off. My office is my nerdy paradise, with everything from a Superman doll, Phantom of the Opera artwork, X-Files paraphernalia, and my beloved bobblehead Groot. 


"When people comment on my stuff, I proudly tell them, “You’re never too old to be a nerd!”
~ Linda Mooney, www.lindamooney.com


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Our very own Veronica Scott in the soundbooth
during the creation of a Star Trek audiobook. 
https://www.amazon.com/City-Edge-Forever/dp/B01H47NKNU/
"I grew up watching the original Star Trek every week with my younger brother. There are no words for how cool we thought the show was. So I think my proudest nerd/geek moment might be the fact that I am now an actual  “Star Trek” Red Shirt Security Officer – I got to play one in the 2016 official audiobook of the Harlan Ellison original script for ‘The City on the Edge of Forever.’ That was one of my very favorite episodes back in the day, although there are quite a few major differences between the show that was broadcast at the time and the original Ellison script. My character for one thing LOL.  

"I only had seven words of dialogue in the audiobook BUT I said them to Kirk, with Spock standing next to us (in the teleplay script – sadly audiobooks are not usually recorded with a full cast all at one time, so I did my seven words alone in a booth but still….). I got to sign the title page of the script next to all the famous real actors, which was a thrill and I will forever be an official member of the Enterprise crew. And the best part is that my Red Shirt character doesn’t die!"

~ Veronica Scott, www.veronicascott.wordpress.com

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Now it's YOUR turn! Tell us one of your nerdy secrets! And on June 2, three lucky commenters will be drawn at random by the Rafflecopter. Two will win an adorable mini Millennium Falcon BOOK LIGHT! And one will win this Doctor Who travel bag!



(Must be a legal resident of the US and over 18 to enter. Winners will be announced in the comments on this post, in the Rafflecopter box, and in the Here Be Magic  Here Be News feature of the blog. Email addresses will NOT be disclosed.)

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Saturday, March 12, 2016

Do I Still Want to Believe?

Posted by: Angela Korra'ti
Let me tell y'all about my relationship with The X-Files.

I was already an SF/F fangirl by the time Mulder and Scully first showed up on our screens in 1993, so I can't exactly say that it was the first show I ever fangirled. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, MacGyver, and Remington Steele all beat The X-Files to that particular punch. But that said, it was arguably the first show I fangirled as an adult out of college, doing double duty with Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman to seize our household's attention that year.

And boy howdy, did our household, the Murkworks, love us some X-Files. We'd happily sing the lyrics we discovered to the theme song ("the X-Files is a show / with music by Mark Snow"), and my housemate Mimi and I in particular totally swooned for Mulder. The first two seasons in particular were amazing, and to this day, a particular plot reveal in second season holds the record (along with a later plot reveal in Babylon 5) for how long a plot point on TV has ever reduced me to amazed, babbling incoherence.

(Season closer of season 2, "Anasazi". When the Smoking Man shows up on a certain doorstep. I boggled for twenty straight minutes over that. It was awesome.)

As we got further into the show, though, it became apparent that no matter how much we wanted there to be an overall plot arc, there wasn't really. The mytharc episodes kept dropping so many tantalizing hints that nevertheless failed to pull together into a cohesive narrative--particularly after the first movie, Fight the Future, which showed up between seasons 5 and 6. Once that movie happened, my household all felt as if the stakes had been upped considerably, and we looked anxiously forward to seeing what would happen next.

Problem was, the show fell back upon the "Monster of the Week" format that had seized its fanbase's attention in the first place. And once David Duchovny started phoning in his role (in some cases, literally, in episodes where Mulder's presence in the plot was only via phone calls to Scully), the show had to scramble again to figure out what the hell it was doing. Mimi and I in particular were very disappointed that Mulder stopped being a main character, and we were particularly annoyed that a major progression in Mulder and Scully's relationship happened off-camera.

Even though we tried to valiantly hang in there during season 8, we finally reluctantly stopped watching. For me, it just wasn't the same without Mulder and Scully as the leads. I don't think we saw any of season 9 at all, aside from coming back to give the finale a look out of a sense of obligation and of wanting closure.

When the second movie came out, Mimi and I went to go see it despite profound misgivings. We were still cranky at the handling of how Mulder and Scully's relationship had progressed, yet we were curious despite ourselves as to how the second movie would pick up with that--not to mention how it'd pick up from what had happened in the season 9 finale.

Suffice to say, that movie was a disappointment.

All of which brings me around to the new season 10 miniseries, which I finally finished watching as of last night. I came into that with much the same sense I approached the second movie: i.e., that I really wanted it to not suck, yet was deeply afraid that it would.

I've been following the recap/review posts put up by both The Mary Sue and Tor.com. And I've gotta say that I'm pretty much on board with what both of these sites have had to say about the miniseries: i.e., that there are moments in it that I've really liked, and that Scully should indeed be Queen of Everything. My favorite moments in these episodes have been followups to Mulder and Scully's established relationship. The scene in which Mulder acts out both sides of many a conversation the two of them have had over the years, while Scully doesn't get a word in and winds up just smiling wryly at him, was delightful.

Taken as a set, though, I have to find the season 10 episodes an incoherent mess. I don't feel like six episodes was enough to progress the mytharc properly. And the Monster of the Week episodes in between the mytharc bookends had too many hamfisted missteps in them for me to enjoy them, for the most part. Worst of all, and I'll say this right out for anyone who hasn't watched the miniseries yet and might want to: the last episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Seriously, Chris Carter? Seriously?

We don't even know whether there's going to be more X-Files at this point. So leaving viewers hanging like that can play as nothing but a cheap ploy to stoke interest and see if FOX can be pressured into letting there be more of the show.

Thing is, I'm not even sure I want more at this point.

In season 10, I've found myself appreciating how Scully has matured as a character. But Mulder has become almost a ridiculous parody of himself, and while this doesn't quite get into "trashing my childhood hero" territory, it does get pretty close. Couple this with season 10's terrible treatment of the transgender character in episode 3 and the Muslim characters in episode 5, and I'm having a hard time mustering any enthusiasm for finding out where this mytharc might go next.

Part of me still wants to believe. But the rest of me isn't sure it can.

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Angela writes as both Angela Korra'ti and Angela Highland, and even references The X-Files in Bone Walker, Book 2 of The Free Court of Seattle. Tell her your opinion of the show in the comments! Or come say hi to her at angelahighland.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Magic of Switching Gears

Posted by: Seleste deLaney/Julie Particka
No, I'm not talking about driving. Anyone's who's paid much attention to my backlist knows that I've done some bouncing around the speculative fiction world. I like to do that. It helps keep my brain fresh so I don't get bored in any one world.

But you see...I also like other people's worlds. I'm a bit of what is politely (or not so politely) termed "a geek." So when a call went out last year for novellas for a "geek collection," my heart grew ten sizes that day. (I know it isn't Christmas, but it was the reference I had handy.) I wanted to do it. Wanted to do it badly, but...all my ideas were "real world." I mean, I'd sort of made the jump to contemporary once, but did I really want to do it again?

I debated for a long time, but the answer kept coming back a resounding "YES!" So I eventually listened. Gaming for Keeps got picked up last summer and I'm beyond excited about its release into the wilds of the internet.

A funny thing happened on the way to contemporary though. I kind of found this subtle little mishmash of genres. It's mostly contemporary with a little romantic suspense and a little twist of something quirky (not quite sci-fi, but... let's just say my editor refers to it as "The Big Bang Theory meets The X-Files" with more romance.) I love this book with all my geeky little heart, and the odd part is...it did eventually lead to me writing some straight contemporary (coming soon to an e-tailer near you!)

So yeah. I'll be getting back to the world of the Badlands soon (and Blood Kissed shortly after), but right now I'm hanging out in something a little closer to reality. It's a little odd to be here, but I kind of like it. I hope you will too.



Pen Holloway’s done with men—in real life. Guys in game are so much less drama. But when her partner from Heroes of Fallen Gods invites her to the convention of the year, she panics. What if he’s another jerk? What if he’s not?

Cal Burrows is living his dream of being a spy. One of TRAIT’s misfit spies, but still a spy. It’s the perfect job… until an arms dealer with a taste for blood invades his not-so-secret geek haven. All Cal wanted from ConDamned was to meet his on-line girl. Now, with the threat of mass murder looming, he’s forced to choose between keeping his mission a secret and protecting the girl of his dreams

Despite their attraction, Pen can’t help but suspect Cal’s hiding something. She also can’t shake the feeling he’s not as much of a stranger as he seems.

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