Shore Leave 41!

Once again, I will be traveling to Hunt Valley, MD to participate in Shore Leave 41.  Shore Leave is at the Delta Hotels Baltimore in Hunt Valley and will go on July 12th-14th.  Below is my schedule if you want to meet me and say hi!

Friday, July 12th:  

Other than Meet the Pros at 10 PM, I have nothing else going on.  Meet the Pros takes place in the Hunt/Valley corridor and goes until midnight.

Saturday, July 13th:

10 am-11 am: "The Worth of Workshops and Writing Classes" with Kelli Fitzpatrick, Jim Johnson, Derek Attico, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and Lorraine Anderson.  Derby Room.

11 am-noon: "Own Worst Critic or Greatest Fan?" with Aaron Rosenberg, Dayton Ward, and Dave Galanter.  Chase Room.

2 pm-3 pm: "Avengers: Endgame" with Rigel Ailur, Dave Galanter, Glenn Hauman, and Michael Jan Friedman.  Salon E.

3 pm-4pm: "Captain Marvel" with Rigel Ailur, Hildy Silverman, and Keith R. A. DeCandido.  Salon E.

Sunday, July 14th:

Unfortunately, I have to leave in the morning to catch my flight back home.  So I am not on any panels.  Will probably be busy saying goodbye to people.  :)

Hope to see some of you there!

Shore Leave!

Hey readers!  Letting you know I will be attending Shore Leave this upcoming weekend (July 6-8) in Maryland.  As a guest author (how cool is that?) I have a bio listed in the site here.  Below are the panels I'm a part of.  I hope I see you there!

Solo: A Star Wars Story (Fri. 7-8 pm, Salon F)
This prequel depicting Han Solo as a younger man hasn’t met expectations
at the box office. Why not?
Laura Ware (M), David Harten Watson, Susan Olesen

Meet the Pros (Fri. 10 pm - midnight, Hunt/Valley Hallway)

Avengers vs. The Justice League (Sat. 12-1 pm, Salon F)
It’s the end of the world. Whom do you trust to save it? The panel will cover comic books, cartoons and movies.
John Coffren (M), Peter David, Laura Ware, Derek Attico, Michael Jan Friedman, TA Chafin

Outside In by ATB Publishing (Sat. 2-3 pm Salon E)
Meet the contributors to these essay collections on the likes of Doctor Who, Star Trek, Buffy, and more.
Laura Ware (M), Bob Greenberger, Amy Imhoff, Derek Attico, Lorraine Anderson, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Joseph F. Berenato 

Heinlein's Five Rules of Publishing (Sat. 4-5 pm Salon E)
Robert Heinlein wrote five basic rules of writing that are easy to remember but hard to actually carry out. A discussion of said rules and their application.
Laura Ware (M), Phil Giunta, Jim Johnson, Lorraine Anderson, Dayton Ward

Indie Publishing 101 (Sun. 10-11 am Salon F)
The basics of indie publishing and why you should give it a go.
Jim Johnson (M), Laura Ware, TJ Perkins, Andrew Hiller, Valerie Mikles, Kim Headlee 

Remembering Princess Leia

I was very saddened to learn of Carrie Fisher's death at the too-young age of 60 today.

Her passing left me reflecting on the role I and many know her best at: Princess Leia, the determined and tough young woman in the Star Wars movies.  I learned today she was only 19 when she took on the role in the first film.

Leia was someone to admire.  She stood toe to toe with Vader himself and underwent torture rather than reveal the Rebel's base.  She suffered tremendous loss when her home planet was destroyed, yet it didn't stop her from delivering the Death Star plans to her people.  She could shoot a blaster with the best of them and instead of standing back and letting Luke and Han handle everything she took matters into her own hands and played a role in their rescue.

Throughout the films she continued to deal with hardship but stayed determined to bring the Empire down.  She was one of those in charge at Hoth, only leaving the base when there was no more to be done.  With her help, Luke was rescued in Cloud City and Han retrieved from Jabba's palace.  It was Leia that dealt the fatal blow to Jabba himself.  And it was Leia who first encountered and befriended the Ewoks who played a role in taking down the Empire in a massive battle.

The Leia we see in the movie The Force Awakens has been tempered with more sorrow, but even here she is busy making sure the hard-won Republic that's been created can endure.  She's a general now, and still very involved in things.  (I could say much more, but don't want to give spoilers)

Leia was not your typical princess, waiting around for someone to save her.  While she did get some help from time to time, she demonstrated an ability to be part of the solution, rather than being passive.  She was strong, capable, and able to hold her own - definitely a woman to hold up as an example.

Sadly, her story now has an endpoint with Carrie Fisher's death.  But I am grateful to the actress for bringing her to life for us.  Thank you, Carrie and all who played a part in Leia's creation.  She will be missed.

Monday Musings: Rey and the Naysayers

Warning: this blog post will include some spoilers for "Star Wars: the Force Awakens."  If you don't want to know, you might want to skip this post.

Spoiler space for those who are curious...

s
p
o
i
l
e
r
I'm not kidding, spoilers ahead!
s
p
a
c
e

Okay??  All right.  I've been reading about how some people find Rey too perfect.  The term "Mary Sue" has been bandied about.

Sexism charges have been laid against these people.  "It's because she's a girl!" these people say, dismissing the critics and going back to how awesome Rey is.

There is no question that Rey is a great character.  She's multi-talented.  She can hold her own and doesn't need to be rescued.  She's got the Force, for crying out loud!

But is she too good to be true?  Is she unrealistic as a character?

Please remember that we are talking about a character in a movie that includes faster-than-light space travel, Wookies, and the mystical Force, so it should be obvious that we aren't dealing in reality here.

Any hero (or heroine) in the Star Wars universe is going to be larger than life.  Luke Skywalker was a farm boy who could shoot a blaster as well as a Stormtrooper and a crack pilot off the bat.  No one complained that Luke was unrealistic in his abilities - at least not to the extent that people were rushing to defend him as I see many defending Rey.

I've heard the complaint that Rey is perfect.  I'm not sure I agree with that.  She has her own set of flaws and weaknesses.  When first confronted with her destiny, for example, she says "no way!" and runs off alone in the woods, WHEN THERE ARE BAD PEOPLE OUT THERE LOOKING FOR HER.  Finn had said they'd probably been tracked to the planet but she goes off by herself anyway, not telling anyone where she is going.  That certainly doesn't strike me as a perfect move.

And before Rey fans cream me, her having flaws is not a bad thing.  It makes her human.  It gives her room to grow as a character.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they explore her abilities and weaknesses in the next film.

Rey is a good fit for the Star Wars universe.  To deny that because she's a girl...well, that's silly.  And while feminists and I generally don't agree on much (which is another post for another time), this is one case I cheerfully side with them.

Rey is awesome.

Get over it.

Monday Musings: A spoiler-free look at "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

Okay, I am going to attempt a spoiler-free review on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."  With that in mind, I'm going to be keeping an eye on comments to make sure none of them contain spoilers (purists might want to play it safe and not look at the comments just in case one gets by me).

So I've seen this movie twice - once in a normal theater, once in IMAX.  Both times 3-D, because, it's 3-D.  The fact I've seen it twice should give you a clue about how I feel about this movie, but just in case it doesn't, read on...

If you liked the first film that came out (and if you didn't, why would you go see this one?) you are going to love this movie.  While it doesn't quite capture the initial "Oh, wow!" of the first film, TFA manages to put together a film that is enjoyable and hearkens back to the humor and drama of the first film.

J. J. Abrams is a fan of the franchise, and it shows.  From the first scene onward, you can tell he and the people working with him love this galaxy far, far away.

The new actors work well in their roles and our old friends are good to see.  Because I managed to stay (relatively) spoiler-free there were a couple of surprises waiting for me in the film.  I liked that.

The film holds up well to a second viewing and I would not object to a third.  It's not perfect - but it's wonderful entertainment.  You definitely get your money's worth.

So, why are you still reading this?  Go see this movie!  <grin>

Saw the new "Star Wars" trailer...

I am a Star Wars fan from way back when, meaning the very first film back in 1977.  I even kind of like the prequels though I grew to hate Jar-Jar Binks.  (I seem to have a lot of company in that)

So I was very interested in the trailer for the new movie, The Force Awakens.  I just viewed it again on my computer for the second time.  Haven't seen it on the big screen yet, though I bet it will look fantastic when I do.

And, so far, it looks...promising.

I'm not going to do a scene by scene blow here.  I admit I'm a geek, just not THAT big of one.  But it appears that we have some cool stuff to look forward to.  Stormtroopers?  Check.  Interesting-looking new lightsaber?  Check.  Millennium Falcon doing impressive maneuvers?  Check.  No Jar-Jar Binks?  So far, so good.

There was also no sign of Luke, Leia, or Han (though we might have gotten a glimpse of Han and Leia's daughter and who was piloting the Falcon, anyway?) but we know they're going to show up sooner or later.

The upshot is I'm looking forward to this next installment of Star Wars.  If that makes me a hopeless fangirl, all I have to say is "May the Force be with you!!"