Brendan Podger

Over on File770 thanks to a link to an article by Simon Owens where Kameron Hurley is interviewed, people got talking about Patreon and how it worked for different people. The conversation reminded me of some back-of-the-envelope calcs I did back when Kickstarter was the latest thing.

There were a number of reasons why the idea never got off the envelope, the two main being, the cash amount in total that would need to be stumped up(in advance based in the Kickstarter model), and my complete ignorance if what would be expected of the authors would be A - Too much work, and B - Worth it(a third reason being none of my ideas go anywhere 'cause I like to dream but don't like to work).

With a new model available for group funding projects now here, I thought I would redo the calcs and see how the situation has changed.

The first(and biggest) assumption is that 1 novel and 4 shorter pieces is not too much to ask of an author in a year. {Pause, waiting for manic laughter at the prospect to cease}Still with me? Okay;
Assumption 2: The twelve authors of the collective can persuade a bit over 300 of their fans each to sign up(the goal is 4000+ patrons).

One of the models with Patreon is that people who sign up to an artist pay per item produced, and the artist can recommend a minimum(although patrons can pay more if they want and greater perks may be available based on levels of donation). With this model I'm proposing $3.50 per item(it was $3 but then I checked the fees associated with Patreon...).

So let's do some maths!

12 writers producing 5 works = 60 items.
60*3.5 = $210 minimum per patron over a year.
4000 patrons * 210 = $840,000.
840 thou / 14(the authors + an admin/project manager/editor + a collective share to cover artwork) - Patreon cut(this figure is wibbly-wobbly)= $54,000 gross per person.

If this seems reasonable for the collective what does the patron get?

- One short story per week for a year(well 48 weeks anyway).
- One novel length work a month.
- Other special rewards like the ability to vote on the top stories written over the year with an anthology(e-book, limited edition physical edition available to patrons at a higher donation tier) being produced of the top 20(actual number of stories open to negotiation)

The author collective would run on the basis that all works will be exclusive to the patrons for at least 3-6 months after which time they can be sold to publishers, magazines and anthologies as the author desires. The reality is authors would be able to shop works around pretty much straight away given the lead times normally needed for most publications anyway.

So that is my Patreon pipe-dream. There some big IFs but what do you think? And no, I won't be upset by vile language being thrown my way by any author/editor/artist who considers my assumptions insulting.

1    The Day the World Turned Upside Down - Thomas Olde Heuvelt

This is a story about a guy who seems a bit of a no-hoper and has just broken up with his girlfriend. Then one day while he is still reeling the world literally turns upside down and everyone and everything starts falling into the sky.  Since he is still fixated on his ex, the protag makes his way to her house having weird encounters on his way.

This story was quirky and weird enough that I was still able to enjoy this story of a man so obsessed with his own pain he really doesn't see the world outside except in the ways it meshes with his own needs.

2    No Award

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Hugo Best Novella

1    No Award: Everything else was crap

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Hugo Best Novel nominees

1 Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu

I may be showing my sinophilic biases here, but I liked this enough to place it first. I loved the historical elements. The story of living through the Cultural Revolution was fascinating and I really got the motivations of characters who lived though this time. While modern life in China is not as well fleshed out, the modern mystery made up for that.

2 The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison

I got to The Goblin Emporer after reading most of the other works in the Hugo ballot. This book was such a breath of fresh air after that onerous task. I breezed through TGE, with only one minor spot of bad phrasing, taking me out of the experience. A pure joy to read.

3 Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie

This is the second book in Ann Leckie's Ancillary series and while it is a good book, it does suffer from middle book syndrome. One of the things that I liked about the first book was Breq remembering being The Justice of Torren and this harking-back no longer happens in Sword. Breq is instead working from the inside of the system and has been given Flag rank to facillitate mission. She uses her unique perspective from being a ship and the connection with her new ship to good effect, staying on top of things as no one else could.

I would not be surprised if the Puppies don't like this as it deals with issues of slavery and equal rights for minorities, something the Pups(many from the US South) seem to have a problem with.

4 No Award

The Dark Between the Stars - Kevin J. Anderson

Hero sees calamity when no one else does.
A wife doesn't support him and he regrets marrying her against the wishes of his father.
Cretinous boss ignores his warnings even though he was employed to check on the issue he warns about.
Kid is involved, since the hero and the wife are feuding.
Not being listened to, Hero and son go on the run
Intersolar interests are hunting him down
Escape from a doomed planet
Don't care. Bored now.

Skin Game - Jim Butcher

I own all the Harry Dresden books but this one I didn't finish. I got to a point where Butcher was slotting in action for action sake and my brain rebelled. The writing of to where I read was mediocre at best and the scene I stopped at was just plain stupid.

This is a contentious year for the Hugo awards so all sorts of arm-chair statititions are wanting to see the votes for as many people as they can to plug into their Will-The-Puppies-Screw-Up-O-Metres. As of tomorrow I am going to be working 21 of the next 23 days so a in-depth review of the stories may be a while, so behind the cut are the bare numbers for those who want them.

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I did my Hugo voting last night and was going to start talking about what I voted for(and perhaps more often didn't vote for) and why but got chatting with a Protective Service Officer stationed at work about policing in Aus as opposed to the way we see it reported in the US.

A couple of weeks ago we had an incident at work where an autistic kid(I estimated 17-18) blew a fuse and the police spent about an hour calming him down and looking after him. They were still doing their best to treat him well when he tried kicking one of my co-workers(who wasn't hurt) and only decided to cuff him when he started tossing his collector cards at his health worker when the man arrived.

I told the PSO how much I appreciated their effort even when it did inconvenience me and my staff since I am used to seeing footage from the US where tasers and guns seem to inevitably come into play. ANd that was when I learned another reason to appreciate the training our police get in de-escalating bad situations.

The kid wasn't 17-18, he was 13.

I was gob-smacked when I found out. I had sat close to the kid up close(within 5 ft) for about 10 minutes, and there was no way I would have guessed he was so young. The childishness he displayed with his cards and super hero toys I chalked up to his disability. When I was told I immediately thought of Tamir Rice, who police claimed looked older than the 12 he was.

Since the boy was white I don't fit the profile the American Phycological Association reported on where White officers in the US see Black kids as being around 4 years older than they are but this is another reason Police, PSOs and security need to be trained in de-escalating a bad situation. Sometimes the 6ft youth you are confronting is a lot younger than you think.

Since talking about the Puppies can get kind of boring, the visitors to File 770 talk about all thier favourite(Mostly SFFinal) reading and viewing. In one particular thread the anime suggestions came thick and fast. Way down at the bottom of this post are the items that came up in the thread, but I thought people might like a bit more details with a recommendation. So less far below is a list what I think are good anime that people may be intrested in.

Enjoy!

Steins;Gate(Series - 24 Eps)
A self proffessed Mad Scientist accidently creates a time travelling microwave oven.

Baccano(Series - 16 eps)
A mix of weird and intresting characters converge on prohabition Manhatten, many via the transcontinental train - the Flying Pussyfoot.

Spice and Wolf(series x 2 - 13, 12 eps)
A minor merchant picks up a load of wheat that comes with an unusual extra. The wolf harvest deity Holo. A story of medieval merchantilism and apples.

Soul Eater(Series - 51 eps) Death makes a school to train Meisters and Weapons in an ongoing fight agaist witches. A well paced shonen with the just balance of fun, deep, dark, and exciting. Oh... and an ending!

Full Metal Alchemist/Brotherhood(2 seperate series - 51, 64 eps)
A world where achemy is real and works. Two brothers become State Alchemists(a military position in an expansionist nation) hoping to fix a mistake they made. Manga purists like Brotherhood, story purists like FMA. Both are great. Brotherhood as the later iteration has the better visuals

The Melacholy of Haruhi Suzumiya(Series - 28 eps, Movie)
A school slice of life with the pitch: What if people tell you a girl in your class is God and it's important she doesn't get bored? A massively adored but contntious series(especially one storyline that created the flamiest wars ever).

Log Horizon(Series x 2 - Ongoing)
People log into their favourite MMORPG only to find the world has become real. And they are stuck in it. The main protag is Shiroe - the Villain in Glasses, a master strategist. Good so far.

Genshiken(Series x 3, 12, 12, 13 eps)
A slice of life series set in a University club The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture. Packed with varying Okaku types, this is a bit of a love letter to the nerdy.

Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann(Series - 27 eps)
Who can describe the over-the-topness of Gurren Lagann? Imagine one of those endless Shonen series(One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Dragon Ball), cut out all the boring stuff, smoosh the rest into 27 eps, and make it good. Must see!

Kill la Kill(Series - 24 eps)
By the creaters of TTGL. More of the insanity, more of the action, plus Female Empowerment?

Eden of the East(Series - 11 eps, 2 films)
Saki is being questioned by police in front of the White House when she is helped by a naked young man. After they escape and she is back in japan she asks her friends who run a social networking site to help track him down. Mayhem ensues.

Chobits(Series - 26 eps)
Comedy SF series by Clamp. This one's central premise dates this a bit. Personacoms are android walking talking personal assistants doing basically what our phones do now. The hapless hero finds one in the trash and comedy ensues. With a SFical deepish ending.

Azumanga Daioh(Series - 26 eps)
Comedy School slice of life show that defined the genre. Great easy to watch series.

Princess Jellyfish(Series - 11 eps)
A female otaku living in a hotel/guest house befriends a girl when she tries to save a jellyfish. She takes her back to her women only apartment full of other otaku only to find she is the transvestite nephew of a politician.

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions(Series x 2 - 12, 12, OVA)
Chunibyo is a condition where a teen's imaginary world takes over their life. The protag goes to a different high school than his friends to start fresh but finds himself enmeshed in the fantasy world of a classmate. Watch first season only + season 2 ep 5 anytime before 3rd last episode and then the OVA.

Norigami(Series - 12 eps)
Yato is a poor jobbing God, fixing peoples' problems for 10 yen between killing evil spirits. With a new weapon spirit Yukine he offers to fix a mystical problem a girl Hiyori has so she is pulled into his world.

Bodacious Space Pirates(Series - 26 eps)
A 2nd yr high school girl inherits the licence to a pirate ship and tries to juggle learning to be a pirate and keeping up with her school and friends. This is a great fun series!

Excel Saga(Series - 26 eps)
This series has to be seen to be believed. It takes the piss on various genres of TV, makes no sense and has an episode that was designed to be A: One minute too long air commercially, and B: Rejected by the censors by being too violent and obscene.

The Devil is a Part-Timer(Series - 14 eps)
The devil from an alternate dimension comes to Tokyo and decides to make his way back to the top from the bottom and gets a job at a McDonalds.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha/Maoyu - Archenemy & Hero(Series, 12 eps)
The hero of a fantasy world comes to confront the Demon King who turns out to be a pretty young looking woman. She offers to help rebuild the world and make it better for people and demons and so they disappear together and the Crimson Scholar and her protector appear in a backwater region.

Trigun(Series - 26 eps)
A fun action-packed series starring Vash the Stampede who has a bounty on his head so large that others bounty-hunters are always after him. An expert marksman who refuses to kill most of the damage he is credited with is due to others attacking him and mayhem invariably ensues.

Black Lagoon(Series x 2 & OVA - 12, 12, 5)
A dark action packed series about the world of crime as it gathers around the Far East city of Roanapur.

Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World(Series - 13 eps + 2 films)
A slowish paced episodic show where Kino and the talking Motorcycle Hermes visit different countries for a max of 3 days. Every land is different and the series is atmospheric as heck.

From the New World -Shinsekai Yori(Series - 25 eps)
This is set 1000 years after civilisation is destroyed by people who develop psychic powers they can't control. The story follows Saki at different parts of her life as she and her friends learn to cope with their powers and the reality of the world around them.

AnoHana - The Flower We Saw that Day(Series - 11 eps)
Ten years after a friend Menma dies Jinta finds himself haunted by her ghost. He reconnects with their old friends in attempt to help her pass on.

Ame and Yuki - Wolf Children(Film)
By the same director as Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, this is a beautiful film that everyone should watch just so they can appreciate their Mums more.

Habine Renmei(Series - 13 eps)
While passing a vacant room in the building she lives, Reki finds a new egg. Together with her fellow angels(?) she shows the newly hatched Rakka through the town they live in and about the rules that they live under. A beautiful atmospheric piece. A complete 180 on Serial Experiments Lain by the same studio.

Sound of the Sky(Series - 12 eps)
A girl joins the military so she can learn the trumpet. She is stationed at an out of the way posting with 4 other recruits and a broken tank.

Michiko & Hatchin(Series - 22 eps)
Mitchiko escapes from prison and heads off to find her boyfriend. She picks up his daughter who is being fostered and dives into the world of crime that she left bumping against old friends and enemies in the gangs and the police. The anime has an amazing latin feel. Produced by the director of Cowboy Beebop.

A Remider of the Anime Mentioned Previously(Green = Movie, Blue = Series)

Psycho-Pass	Gatchaman Crowds	Paprika
Summer Wars	Serial Experiments Lain	Ōoku: The Inner Chambers(Live action)
Mushishi	Star Driver	12 Kingdoms
The Wings of Honnêamise	The Place Promised in Our Early Days	Angel Beats
Princess Tutu	Yōsōgiga	Otogi Zoshi
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit	The Eccentric Family	The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Last Exile	Summer Wars	Patema Inverted
Eureka Seven & E7 AO	Noein	Assassination Classroom
Read Or Die	Ergo Proxy	Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade	Wolf’s Rain	Planetes
Cowboy Bebop	FLCL	Outlaw Star
Hellsing Ultimate	.Hack//Sign	Revolutionary Girl Utena
Bubblegum Crisis	Martian Successor Nadesico	Crest of the Stars
Banner of the Stars	Boogiepop Phantom	Gantz
Geneshaft

{as posted to the video's comment section}:

This video ties nicely into what I have been thinking about what I think of as "the clash of feminisms".

I note a few of the commenters have talked about the superficiality of makeup, something that I think a lot of second wave(60s-70s) feminists would agree with. For that generation, the message was about empowerment by breaking away from what was seen as the societal norms for women, of which an extensive beauty regime was a part of. The message was: I shouldn't need all these "aids" and trapping for me to be considered valued and worthwhile. The flip side to this (since most messages seem to come with one of those) was to denigrate the use of said aids as being primarily for the purpose of attention seeking and acceptance from "the patriarchy" thus is not a choice but an imposition upon women.

The modern feminist(fourth wave?) movement as exemplified like events like Slutwalks etc, seems to be saying: However I choose to present myself(even when I buy into the patriarchy), I deserve the same level of respect, regardless of what your personal or society's values/hangups think of me(and that means you 60s hippy-chicks!).

This allows for the makeup wearers, the women in burkas, the pole dancing Harry Potter lovers, and everyone else in the spectrum to own their choices and demand the understanding from others that value judgements are A: most likely wrong, and B: Inconsequential, since ALL people should be treated with equal respect and consideration.{FULL STOP!}

All in all, I believe this is a more basic and important message than that of earlier gens of feminism put forward. While I don't deny the worth of those messages(they were the ones I grew up with), the current feminism is more inclusive and shies away from US against THEM messaging that seemed implicit earlier. And hey, once we have got this super-basic message of equality sorted out perhaps we can go back and revisit earlier ideas(although you have zero chance of ever taking my sister's ruby red heels away from her).