The Geek Feminist Revolution - Kameron Hurley

The Geek Feminist Revolution - Kameron Hurley - 272 pages

This book is a collection of essays and blog posts by the author about a wide variety of topics, most of which carry a common theme of inclusivity, feminism, and geekdom.  Specifically, she discusses the representation of women, various sexual orientations, races, and economic statuses in the realm of gaming, sci-fi/fantasy, and fandoms.

This collection is a clarion call to awareness and responsibility for members of all communities, not just the geeks.  Because she is so stylistically strident, I had to pace myself more than I usually would as I was reading my way through this book for a couple of reasons; first, after reading two or three chapters, the essay presentation started to feel formulaic and that lessened the impact of her otherwise pointed observations, but also just because there's a lot to absorb here.  At times, it also seemed a little like an advertisement for her other fictional works and herself (near the end of the book is an entire chapter about how it feels for her to be "the man," or the accomplished author that's made it, and her tone of humility seemed too strained to be convincing to me), but she also gets very personal about events in her personal life that brought her to this most recent presentation of how she feels about the modern feminist movement.  And that is kind of the overall point here: marginalized persons moving to de-marginalize themselves by ripping the veil of complicity off of the words and attitudes we exhibit as a society every day.  This book is going to open your metaphorical peepers, whether you agree with every point or not.

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) - Felicia Day

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) - Felicia Day - 261 pages

I hate to refute a title statement right off, but I think at least a few of us have been on the internet enough to realize that yes, pretty much everyone is weird out there.  The real point is: THAT IS TOTALLY OKAY.  Unless it's ethically repulsive, it's really just awesome to be yourself and share it out there in the vast wikispace of the interwebs with all the other weirdos.  You can overshare pictures of rolly poly pugs, hack up imaginary crab monsters with a bunch of French dudes, post questions about how realistic-looking that USB drive shaped like a watermelon slice really is, and google search cosplay blog posts about how to make realistic pokeballs, and that's all totally awesome because the internet community has room for everyone.* 

It's a fantastic message that this book carries throughout.  Ms. Day relates her stories of finding acceptance, addiction, depression, and redemption on the 'net, and for anyone who grew up as this incredible phenomenon of online community and connection was exploding over the last fifteen years or so, you're totally going to get it.  What's not here is any talk about her career, so if (like me) you were curious about her Dr. Horrible or Supernatural experiences and wanted to read some fun anecdotal stories about hammers and Rocky and Bullwinkle references, look elsewhere, my friend.  Basically, this book boils down to a reaction piece about some very icky geek community splitting, hacking, and stalking, told from the perspective of someone whose experiences online were positive and self-affirming up until that point.  It's the story of a good thing gone unfortunately bad, and the ways that kind of disappointment changes a person.  But Ms. Day, a little older and wiser, still manages to maintain a positive, constructive perspective about it, and that's pretty cool.



*Yep, that's how I spent my weekend.  Not sorry.