Snowflake Challenge Post #1 - Introduce Yourself

[orangerful]

In an effort to use this blog more, I'm going to participate in the annual 'Snowflake Challenge' so I post on a regular basis. Hopefully, eventually, I will just make some time for blogging and enjoy the process of getting some of the thoughts constantly rolling around in my head committed to the digital page.

Enter, the Snowflake Challenge (details here)

Challenge #1 In your own space, introduce yourself!



I'm orangerful aka Sam. Librarian by day, nerd 24/7.

If I listed every fandom/obsession I have, we would be here all day, so let's just hit the big ones that will probably give you a pretty well rounded view of who I am:



I was born a Star Wars fan and while I don't love every single thing Star Wars, I have a soft spot for the original films. I tend to pick and choose from the new stuff, since there is SO MUCH of it, but the galaxy far far away is still a happy place for me when I need to escape this planet.

I have also watched 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. A lot. I discovered it at just the right time in my life, Buffy's first year of college was the same year as mine, and that was when I finally gave the series a chance. It clicked with me on a level of no other show and, despite its flaws, I still go back to it and quote it often.

I'm currently watching 'The Expanse' on Amazon Prime. It is one of THE best sci-fi shows on right now (and maybe the best ever? Only time will tell). I have only read the first book in the series, but I do plan on picking them up at some point (I mean, I work in a library, they are right there) but right now I am enjoying not knowing what is going to happen next.

I just finished a rewatch of 'Bob's Burgers' which still holds up really well and I adore that show. It makes me laugh and it somehow manages to be edgy and wholesome. Maybe because we are all a little bit Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene and Louise every day.

I read a LOT of young adult and middle grade chapter books along with all ages of graphic novels. It's not required by my job, I just prefer them at this point. I find that YA books are just so much more fun and uplifting than "Adult" books. In YA books, the teens start out struggling with who they are and then experience life to learn and grow and be a better person by the end. In adult books, they start out struggling...continue to struggled...and tend to be struggling/miserable at the end.

That being said, the one adult book series I do enjoy is 'Murderbot' by Martha Wells. I need to read the newest one (2020 gave me terrible readers block) but they are the kind of sci-fi snark I need in my life.

My current obsession is all things tabletop games. You will see many posts from the previous year talking about the excellent YouTube channel Dicebreaker and how I have followed all their guidance to amass a large collection of games this year.

I'm also a HUGE fan of OutsideXbox and OutsideXtra. I have been playing video games all my life and their fun and positive and very British approach to talking about games keeps me coming back. These channels reignited my love of gaming. They are just nice people and they love games. Oxtra host Luke Westaway did a few streams on his personal channel during 2020, first composing chill beats and then reading ghost stories (and recently LEGOS!) and the community that formed around those live streams include some of my new favorite people on the planet.

As for fannish things that I do, I'm in the category of thinking-too-much-about-that-silly-thing-you-love and picking it apart until no one will talk to me (so I post them here). It is why I am a fan of Pop Culture Detective and (recently) Cinema Therapy. I have an entire bookshelf of media studies books, mostly about BtVS but a few more general ones too. My undergrad is in American Studies which is all about looking at American culture and ideas and how they shape us as a society.

I was once called a "brand evangelist" so I am also the kind of fan that will talk about one show or game that you absolutely must watch and explain to you why it is awesome until you ask me how I found you and to please back away slowly.

I hope that gives you a good picture of who I am through the lens of all the media I consume. Hopefully over the course of this month, we will all get to know each other a little better!



Happy New Year! It's 2021 - let's do better this year!

Comments

[silverusagi]

In adult books, they start out struggling...continue to struggled...and tend to be struggling/miserable at the end.

Yup. I call it 'tragedy porn.' Of course, it's a generalization to say that all adult literature is doom and gloom, but it seems like so many of the books that have been recommended to me lately, or that are on all the top lists are some variation of "a dysfunctional family struggles with..." or "after a tragedy, a family is left..." And I'm just like NO.

[orangerful]

Well, the books that tend to be called "literary fiction" and get all the acclaim (because all reviewers can agree on what misery looks like vs comedy) so those are the ones I am giving the side-eye too any time they are recommended LOL.

Plus, if I want doom and gloom, I read non-fiction now. There are some amazing YA NF titles about American history, racial equality, LGBTQIA+ issues that are HEAVY but at least I'm learning something. :P

[silverusagi]

Re: "literary fiction": I've joked before that the best way to write a best seller is to think of the saddest thing I possibly can, and then mix in some unexpected tragedy as well.

CANCER, but then INFIDELITY!! And SECRETS FROM THE PAST! Maybe a CAR CRASH as well, in which Important Players die!!

[orangerful]

You are NOT wrong LOL.

I remember when I first started as a librarian and I was trying to help this young girl find a book to read and I asked her what kind of stories she liked and she straight up said "Books where people are dying of cancer" and I was like "uuuuuuh" because it's just not my genre. (I'm going to blame that request on 'fault in our stars' lol. I wonder if that was what she was looking for but I was too new to YA land to know?)

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It might have been tragedy pr0n, but it might also have been "I want to read stories about how characters deal with shit that has happened in my family because I have no freaking clue and neither do my relatives."

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Yup. I call it 'tragedy porn.' <<

That is a good term.

>> Of course, it's a generalization to say that all adult literature is doom and gloom, but it seems like so many of the books that have been recommended to me lately, or that are on all the top lists are some variation of "a dysfunctional family struggles with..." or "after a tragedy, a family is left..." And I'm just like NO. <<

It's not so much "all adult literature" as "a majority of modern entertainment." Sure there's other stuff. All bright gods bless the Internet for breaking the publication bottleneck. Now we can all create and share whatever we damn please. And what sells to my audience? Comfort reading and hardcore hurt/comfort in which people struggle and make progress against great opposition. I do have a couple of doom-and-gloom series. They exist for variety, but they are not popular, and I am okay with that. Most modern entertainment is just, well, not entertaining to me. Someone else asked about dysfunctional families today, and I reached for an example ... and realized that I don't tend to write characters IN dysfunctional families. I write characters FROM dysfunctional families who are trying to clean up the mess, which is much more interesting and useful.

Much the same is true for other writers I read. If you want something that isn't tragedy pr0n, check out dialecticdreamer whose Feathering the Nest (mid-month) always calls for prompts about "nonsexual intimacies." It's adult, usually, but it is neither tragedy nor pr0n.