I thought that's what I was doing?

Maybe the other one doesn't have all that icky line marraige shit.

I can't remember, are you putting the line marraiges in there? If so, how are you going to soften the squick?

You were one of them, so apparently, according to my new phone, you are dead to me.

An interesting turn around, that. "The 4th victim of my new phone was a man named Tim Minear."

I want to kick kittenish women in the teeth. It's a thing.

On further consideration, when I divorce "kittenish" from the rest of those adjectives you used, I kind of feel the same way. That whole "assertive" and "competent" part made me forget what "kittenish" actually means when referring to a person. I think I was thinking of "kitteny."

...Tim knows how I feel about AYNOHYEB. I don't think I've said it a lot, beyond, "It is very emotionally resonant for me." Maybe once. Commencing story (I'm gonna try and keep it short) -

My freshman year of college, I was diagnosed with clinical depression. WebMD was all, "If you have 2 or more of these symptoms for 2 weeks or longer, see your doctor," and I waited until I'd had 15 of them for 3 months before I did anything about it. By this time I was convinced that I was incapable of caring for myself - didn't really brush my hair, didn't do much besides homework, including eating. The most prominent symptom of the depression was an eternally criticizing voice in my head. AYNOHYEB aired about 9 months after I started taking anti-depressants, and it was like a message just for me - the Thesulac demon being physically embodied, after hearing it say all those horrible things. It made me sit up and take notice and say to myself, "This thing, it is NOT ME." And that was a revelation. Hence my love for the episode, which totally clouds my judgement about it on a structural/artistic level. (Though I might argue that the best art produces exactly that kind of emotion in people.)

The line marriages are in. I wasn't squicked by the idea. It's probably my favorite thing in the book. Endlessly interesting.

Ge, Kiba, I don't think your judgement sounds clouded at all!

(Though I might argue that the best art produces exactly that kind of emotion in people.)

Yup. The best art resonates in ways the creator would never have predicted. Art can change people's lives. t /soapbox

I'm still holding out for A Princess of Mars. Sulk.

Yeah!

I thought that's what I was doing?

Well, as long as you crazy it up.

The other one I wanted to sink my fangs into was Bester's "The Stars My Destination."

Fuck yeah! Tattoo his face!

It's probably my favorite thing in the book.

Please explain more. Whenever I think about grampa getting the first bite of the apple, I shudder.

(Though I might argue that the best art produces exactly that kind of emotion in people.)

Kiba, that's similar to my feelings on "Karma Chameleon." In that on the second viewing, I suddenly realized I was identifying with Jaye so entirely that I was taking any criticism of the episode as a criticism of me. This was during the beginnings of my grad school crisis, as I was really wrestling with whether to stay or go on, what to do with my life, who I was supposed to be, what I was supposed to do with my potential, and that episode just hit all my buttons. All the metaphors, all the themes, all the ideas. I actually don't remember whether the episode was pushing for me to stay in grad school or quit. I think I was still trying to stay back then.

Except that doesn't actually happen, Allyson. Maybe that's why I don't get squicked.

I like Moon better than Stranger. Moon I think stays good all the way through. I think it is the perfect Heinlein in the sense that he maintained some self-discipline as a writer (as in not spending too much of the book on personal fantasies he was not quite good enough to persuade the audience to share) - while otherwise being Heinlein at his best (convincing world building, snappy dialog, playing with interesting ideas (even if I don't agree with many of them)). And it is well plotted which is not something you can say of everything Heinlein wrote. And if the characters don't really hold up to close examination, he managed to maintain a good illusion of characterization to me. I always though Stranger needed someone to crack the whip and tell him to do one more rewrite. Instead of which they went and published an anniversary edition with all the crap the editor (wisely imo) cut out.