Blogosphere reading roundup, July 2011 edition

This month’s roundup of new-to-me interesting bits from around the blogoverse. Subjects may or may not touch on speculative fiction, authors, the art of writing, and general geekery.

Forces of Geek: Geek Girl Bill of Rights. “With the surge of superhero movies, non-geek girls who are dragged to the movies by their boyfriends are slowly starting to discover the awesomeness that is nerdy obsession and peek behind the pop culture curtain…If they want to play on our grid, they need to play by our rules.”

N.K. Jemison on The Limitations of Womanhood in Fantasy (and everywhere else, but for now, fantasy). “These are things that most women in patriarchal societies wrestle with, frankly, across ages and cultures: superficial, externally-imposed conceptions of womanhood versus internalized, personally-defined conceptions of womanhood.”

4 ways Writing Reminds Us We’re Alive, from A. Victoria Moxin. “So let’s talk about four ways writing—because we are all writers here—reminds us we’re alive.”

Succeeding – From the Bottom Up, from Big H By the Lake. “The idea, the story, exists in the writers mind, and that in and of itself is a study in isolation.  No matter what we as a creator do, it will never be as vivid in our mind until we get it down on paper, be it virtual or literal.”

Rinda Elliot talks about Taking Advantage of the Good Writing Days and Anathema over at Deadline Dames. “…but if there is one thing I have learned after all these years, ENJOY THE GOOD DAYS. Take advantage of the word flow when it’s really there.”

Jeff VanderMeer shares some reader art for The Journals of Doctor Mormeck.

Over at Fan to Pro blog there is the question: Is there a Geek Age Gap? “When I attend various conventions, I keep becoming aware of various odd age gaps among fans, geeks, and otaku.  Since I’m used to moving among various cultures, age groups, and fandoms, these things become apparent quickly.”

The Pen and Muse has Ten Reasons You Should Drop Everything Right Now and Read Steampunk. (found via Grasping for the Wind). “These days, it seems as though you can’t go two clicks on the Web without running into someone blogging about steampunk this, steampunk that, blah blah steampunk blah blah. I mean, honestly—who does that? Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s a darn good reason for that kind of obsessive-compulsive behavior.”

Jim C. Hines: The Death of Print, part whatever. I’ll be the first to admit there’s been some bad news for bookstores lately. Borders is facing liquidation. Barnes & Noble is doing better, but they’ve had a few speed bumps as well. So what does this all mean?

LM Preston talks about Promotional Burnout. “With the face of publishing changing, many authors are finding themselves having to hustle to get their own promotions for their books on the roll.”