Blakes7

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5511 discussions

Re: Women in the Federation
by Helen Krummenacker 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

> Off the top of my head, women in reasonably senior positions in Federation > Civil Admin or military And I certainly hope we won't forget Bartholomew! (snipped stuff about Servalan possibly preferring male subordinates and colleagues) It really wouldn't surprise me. In my personal life, men are more likely to take my ideas and work seriously, whereas women tend to see me as a sidebar to my husband. There are certainly exceptions to that, but there seems to be a subconscious bias for people to be inclined to pay more attention to an attractive person of the opposite sex regardless of how far removed the subject is from anything sexual.

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New zine announcement
by Steve Rogerson 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

Paula Robinson and I have published a zine called: Paula and Steve Go Down the Pub It contains 10 short stories; eight of them have previously appeared on the Freedom City or its predecessor Space City list, though one in a much shorter form, one exists on a web page and the other two are new to the zine. The stories are a mix of humour and horror and include some sexually explicit stuff. We appreciate that it is not everyone's cup of tea. The zine is 38 pages including illos and will sell for Pound1.50. The zine will be initially available at Redemption (during the bring and buy sale) and, depending on sales, it may be available by post later (if necessary we will do a reprint). P&P costs will be 50p within the UK (not worked out how much it'll cost to send overseas yet). -- cheers Steve Rogerson http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/steve.rogerson Redemption: The Blake's 7 and Babylon 5 convention 23-25 February 2001, Ashford, Kent http://www.smof.com/redemption

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Re: [B7L] earth mothers
by Ellynne G. 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

On Thu, 15 Feb 2001 09:45:25 EST Bizarro7(a)aol.com writes: > In a message dated 2/15/01 8:35:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, > > Your recollection is accurate. "Elohim", the Hebrew word for god, is > actually > plural, which for many anthropologists and historians is evidence of > the > multi-diety origin of Judaism/Christianity. Although the plural can also apparently be used in ancient Hebrew to imply qualities (my knowledge of Hebrew is pretty weak, but I've read a few commentaries that make this point). Hence, using the plural form with god can be intended to imply the vastness of his glory, etc. It should also be noted that this plural form was used for centuries by people who were native speakers and who still accepted this as a singular form in usage. Just one of the other sides of the argument. A lot of long-suppressed > evidence > is starting to surface in the Middle East that the Yawah of the > ancient Jews > had a female counterpart, without whom he could not function; > Ashera. Another tricky point of interpretation. That Ashera/Astoreth was worshipped in the Middle East is not open to question. Astoreth had a clear role in the Baal cult and worship of her is clearly shown as ongoing through much of the Old Testament, but that doesn't necessarily make her an associated cult. Consider parts of Latin America which are Catholic but where you can still find people who will sacrifice a chicken to an Aztec god, or descendents of Mayans have incorporated many of their traditional rituals into Christian ones, a future historian guessing at context could be mightily confused. The > later turn of the faith toward domination by the patriarchs > demonized and > eradicated her, A little fairness, here. There's clear evidence that many of the women taking part in the fertility rituals involved in Ashtoreth worship were underage and/or sold into their role as, essentially, sacred prostitutes. > > Patriarchal religion began to replace the almost universal Goddess > religions > when agriculture and city-states kicked in big time, about 3,000 > years ago. > In multi-god cultures like Greece and Rome, the 'chief' diety became > an > all-powerful male one. It's no coincidence that this was around > about the > time that it became general knowledge, for the first time, that the > male had > a part in the procreation process. I have nothing against goddess worship per se. It's not my own theology, but I can say that about a lot of things. However, there is evidence that points in an opposite direction. Widespread findings of fertility goddess statues is much more common to areas and times where agriculture had caught on. Also, although there actually have been cultures that questioned whether males had a significant role in where babies came from, my understanding id that it's not typical even among diehard hunter-gatherer-nomadic-nonfarming cultures. OTOH, since it's hard to find one of those cultures that existed in complete isolation from farming cultures, I can see room for a difference of opinion, especially since writing is usually an invention of agricultural societies needing record keeping, leaving significant parts of history untold or unclear. Ob. B7 - I won't go into Dawn of the Gods, and Deliverance seems to have been discussed out. Let's just say that, in Aftermath, it's possible the locals saw Dayna as a supernatural entity, bringing into question whether the probably patriarchal local culture had been waiting for a sign that fate would support their going after her (they were awfully quick to go into atttack mode) or whether it was only because she'd come in on the side of the enemy (given their knowledge that her sister was one of them and their treatment of her, 'field day on aliens' may not be all that was going on). Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

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earth mothers
by Alison Page 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

Fiona said - >>You're quite right here; offhand I can't think of a single society in which the Earth *isn't* seen as feminine Actually quite a few middle-eastern civilisations had a male earth god, and a female sky god. An example is the ancient Egyptians (where they were called Geb and Nut respectively).Both Saturn and Mars were originally male earth gods. And I have read some very persuasive stuff that one of the two or three tribal gods who were amalgamated to create Yahweh was an earth/fertility god. And remember the Israelites created the golden calf in honour of 'the queen of heaven' - i.e. a female sky god. While many of Yahweh's totemic symbols, such as pomegranates, lambs and doves, were originally mother earth symbols. It's a highly complex area, and I think masculinity and femininity of deities swapped about more than people imagine, and gods 'stole' from each other. It is also sometimes forgotten that in northern European religion the sun was a goddess and the moon a god, while in southern Europe it was of course the other way round. Alison ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **********************************************************************

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by Tavia Chalcraft 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

Neil wrote: >There are certainly writers I prefer, largely because they work in a >broadly similar vein to myself. Nickey Barnard has yet to disappoint me. >Alison Page has written what I still consider the best bit of fanfic I have >ever seen. Susan Barrett inevitably wrote well, Russ Massey likewise, >and many others. I should perhaps point out my three were inclusive not exclusive -- essentially the first three names that came into my head looking at TTBA proofs. I'd certainly agree with Nickey and Alison, Alison's YLHC is possibly my favourite ever bit of fanfic and certainly one of the most original. I'd also recommend Neil's stuff pretty highly, though it varies as to being plumb my taste (eg WWotD) or excellent example of something plumb not my taste (eg Hunter). Una should be persuaded to increase her B7 output by judicious praise. I loved 'The Quality of Mercy' in Star4 by Natasa, but I've not seen anything else of hers. And several others who mainly write slash spring to mind. Tavia

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by Natasa Tucev 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

Harriet Bazley wrote: >here's my attempt at a more plausible re-rendering, from Vila's point of >view. <snip> Bravo! Thank you, Harriet! This is exactly what I had in mind. The same premise, the same emotion, but much more subtlety, much better writing style. Needless to say, >"Avon has a remarkable talent for self-preservation." Blake's face was >as stubbornly shuttered now as Avon's own. > >"Yes -- when he wants." is now really poignant, unlike, >"Right now he's planning to go out and get caught--because he >knows they'll kill him and because that's easier than living with what you >did to him just now." which IMO was completely banal. >> Admittedly, it's very hard to please me when it comes to fanfic. My ideal >> fanfic would be a mixture of adventure and angst focusing on Blake. > >Oh yes! So I'm not alone after all... N.

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by B7Morrigan＠aol.com 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

> In a message dated 2/14/01 3:26:09 AM Eastern Standard Time, > pennydreadful(a)powersurfr.com writes: > > << .I speculate that perhaps > Annie means it would be very difficult to accurately transcribe "body > language", in comparison to speech, as a means of communication...how would > you go about writing out the Buster Keaton movie playing in your head (well > I know *I've* always got one rolling) to make it ROTFL amusing? Better off > converting into a more dialogue-oriented format. "'X,' said Y [Z-ly]" gets > the point across succinctly, if not always terrifically aesthetically; > where a list of Y's bodily contortions (which in real life or a Buster > Keaton movie *could* communicate "X, Z-ly" very efficiently) will have the > reader skimming ahead for the next period/paragraph break/dirty word. >> Yes, but in B7, particularly with certain characters, their behavior is certainly more communicative than any bit of dialogue. While I agree that there should be a happy medium, I personally like fiction (fanfic or other) that shows the behavior and lets the reader interpret. I find dialogue that explains everything, particularly motivation, to be implausible and it wrecks the story for me. Morrigan "When I get a little money I buy zines; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." (apologies to Erasmus)

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Re: [B7L] Re: Deliverance
by J MacQueen 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

>From: Helen Krummenacker <avona(a)jps.net> >I daresay Avon wouldn't blush if he was teleported out of his cabin onto >the flight deeck while wearing nothing but Speedos, My God, Helen, I don't know whether to be amused or horrified! Regards Joanne I tell you, there would be none of it, no hope for you at all were it not for the seven. --Terry Dowling, "Colouring the Captains" _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Re: fanfic; my zine, plus replies to comments on style
by Ashton7＠aol.com 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

In a message dated 2/14/01 3:44:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, N.Faulkner(a)tesco.net writes: << I'm afraid I'm not really sure what that statement's supposed to mean. You can certainly 'show not tell' without having the character say a single word. All you need is a description of what happens, sufficient to let the readers draw their own conclusions. Whether it's interesting to read or not depends largely on the skill of the writer. Whether the tense form used is active or passive is pretty irrelevant. I'd say that the narrative voice (1st person or 3rd person) is more important in deciding what can be shown (or told, for that matter) and how. >> The statement meant exactly what I said it did: bringing the element of "show don't tell" into this discussion isn't relevant. It's a whole different discussion, if you will. Someone (I forget who now), was trying to use "show don't tell" as an argument in favor of "non-verbal." Frankly, I don't see how that works out. Annie

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Re: [B7L] liking 'character'
by B7Morrigan＠aol.com 15 Feb '01

15 Feb '01

In a message dated 2/14/01 8:23:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, susanbeth33(a)mindspring.com writes about Patricia Cornwell's novels > She's also an ex-lawyer, and was top of the line at that, um, okay. She > used to work with the FBI and CIA as an expert on terrorist psychology. > hmm. She's an expert scuba diver and used to give lessons in it. She's a > pilot. She has super-refined taste on home decorating and cars and clothes > and possessions of all sorts. Despite the overwhelming hours she puts in > (leaving her with no time to devote to them) she is involved in a long term > relationship with a top FBI guy who is insane about her AND she has a > long-term would-be lover/friend in a local police chief. That's a pretty convincing MS. Probably why I prefer P.D. James' Adam Dalgleish. He comes with lots of annoying and human traits and doesn't have a social life. I can identify with that. Morrigan "When I get a little money I buy zines; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." (apologies to Erasmus)

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