Manga: Moteki - Love Strikes!

https://thatwritererinoriordan.tumblr.com/post/185662100390

Moteki, 1: Love Strikes! by Mitsurou Kubo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked the art but I didn't love the story. It's about a man who's about to turn 30 who still hasn't found the love of his life. Frankly, with his personality, I'm not surprised that he doesn't have a woman who wants to be with him. He doesn't really treat women very well. And without a likable protagonist, it was really hard to care about his romantic adventures.

I received this book as part of the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a fair, honest review.

Read Any Good Intersex Fiction Lately?

According to the Intersex Society of North America, there are varying definitions of intersexuality. People who don't fit neatly into the binary system of "male" and "female" gender assignment could include those with atypical chromosomes, those with atypical genital anatomy, and others with "subtler forms of sex anatomy variations." Depending on who you include, estimates of how common intersexuality is vary, but the Society gives a general estimate of "total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female" as 1 in 100 births.

It's not all that unusual to be intersexed. It's certainly not unnatural. (I know that it happens in other species besides humans, too. The frog I dissected in high school appeared to be anatomically male from the outside, yet turned out to have fully developed ovaries. My first intersex encounter.) Yet, for some reason, intersexuality is rarely portrayed in fiction.

Have I ever read a book of fiction with an intersex character before? I thought maybe I had, in Up For Grabs: Exploring the Worlds of Gender, an anthology from Circlet Press. When I look over the reviews, though, it looks like the five stories are about transgender, not intersexed, characters. I like transgendered fiction, too, but this blog post is not about that.

According to this post, a few works of fiction that feature intersex, or non-binary-gendered, characters include Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Robin Hobb's  Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, Chiyo Rokuhana's I.S.: Otoko demo Onna demo nai Sei manga (in Japanese) and Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness.

If you're looking for nonfiction about intersexuality, there are a few choices, including Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex by Elizabeth Reis, Fixing Sex by Katrina Karkazis and the memoir Intersex (for Lack of a Better Word) by Thea Hillman.

I have not read any of these books, but I did read a good intersex fan fiction short story last night. Its author is Tumblr user Kmmerc, who - does not have an "About" page, so I know very little. By now you are well familiar with my pop-cultural obsession with the U.S. television show Person of Interest, so it will not shock you when I say Kmmerc is a fellow Irrelevant and the fanfic is set in the POI universe (although, clearly, an alternative universe).

The story title is "A Cock and Ball Story" (your clue that the story will be about anatomical structures) and the parts (of the story!) are:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

So I really like this. Normally when you take a fictional world of some kind and genderbend it, you make the male characters female and/or the female characters male, but this is an approach to "genderbent" fiction I've never encountered before.

More, please. More genderbent fan fiction, and more original intersexed characters. The fluid and non-binary aspects of human gender are so fascinating to explore - let's go there. Let's go there in erotica and in general literary fiction as well.

Valentine's Romance Paperback Giveaway!

Greetings to all my fellow romance readers and writers who are joining me from the Reading-Romances.com Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Hop!

The Prize: Three delectable romances! First, my gently-used copy of More Than Words, three stand-alone romance novellas by Carly Phillips, Donna Hill and Jill Shalvis.

Secondly, for the erotic romance fans out there, I have a brand-new paperback of Sweet Confessions: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, edited by Violet Blue.

Thirdly, for a little something different, the TokyoPop graphic novel My Dead Girlfriend, Vol. 1 by Eric Wight. This little used book is not in perfect shape, but I think you will enjoy its sweetly paranormal, gleefully Gothic teen romance.

The mixed grab bag of romantica will go to one winner.

The contest is open to anyone in the U.S. To enter, simply leave a comment. Please make sure your e-mail address is accessible so I can notify you if you win. If you have a Google account, and I can click on your name and find your e-mail address on your profile, you're all set. If not, please leave your e-mail address in your comment. I suggest using this format: erinoriordan AT sbcglobal DOT net.

The winner will be chosen February 14th using Random.org.

"Observe Education on Japanese Children from Anime and Manga," a guest post by Kevin

Have you realized that Japanese have already learned how to be a winner from anime they watched and manga they read in the childhood? Japanese children are educated to be persevering, collaborative, respectful to teachers, think independently, never admit defeat and never afraid of loss. Think it over: you will find anime like Flash Kicker, Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, etc tell us stories of struggling for the desired target regardless of difficulty. Simply put, Japanese media consider children to be adults, rather than kids, and don't water down their stories.

Believe it or not, the best opportunities come when you are young, even a child. Education, neighbors, teachers, awards, interest in computers, knowledge of finance management, planning for life, independent thought, demands on yourself in the childhood directly decides your future.

Teachers will more love mature and sensible children. Intelligent and sedate classmates will be the most possible be the leaders. Kids in this kind will get much more opportunities in the growing path. So, have you found the king of children in a yard will gain more or faster approval from the society?

Japanese anime inspires us not to lose at the starting line. They are not only fictional stories, but also guides for people’s lives.

Author Bio : Kevin works for Miccostumes.com, a shop supplying cosplay items online, like Naruto Costumes. He's also busy with running his cosplay blog, where he shares something interesting in cosplay and anime.

My Two Cents (Erin O'Riordan) - I wanted to feature this post because, even though I'm not a manga reader (Twilight the Graphic Novel excluded, of course), I did grow up in the '80s. My first anime experience was Voltron. In the '90s it was Sailor Moon. Oh yes, and who did the English voice of Howl in Howl's Moving Castle? Someone I like, maybe?

Guest blogger Kevin makes the point that you are what you read, so read something interesting that's going to teach you a good lesson, but have fun doing it. Don't be afraid to explore. Personally, if I were going to explore any area of manga, I would probably start with yaoi/shonen ai. That's just me, though.

What are YOUR favorite anime or manga series?

Author/Translator Danica Davidson is in the house!

https://amzn.to/4deNd6K

Like many writers, I can’t imagine not writing. I’ve been a storyteller since a young age and have had dreams of being a professional writer for almost as long. A few years ago I started out as a freelancer.

I’ve also worked in the translation process, adapting Japanese books into English. I adapted the Japanese graphic novels Millennium Prime Minister and its sequel, Millennium Prime Minister 2, into English. You can see some samples here:

http://www.danicadavidson.com/English_Adaptation.php

You can also read about my process in adapting them at the VM Freelance Writers Connection:

http://www.thewmfreelanceconnection.com/2010/11/guest-post-finding-my-niche-translating.html

For about a year now I've had my own website. In it, I have links to articles, samples of my Japanese adaptation, and some descriptions of my novels. Please check it out!

To date, I’ve managed to sell a few hundred articles. To see the kinds of articles I've written, there are links to about 200 of them here:

http://www.danicadavidson.com/Published_Articles.html

Recently I was featured on the site Guide to Literary Agents where I wrote a guest column about what I’ve learned in my writing career. I hope what I wrote is helpful to writers wherever they are on their path.

Still, my favorite thing to do is write novels, and I’m actively seeking publication for a YA novel. I have a page on my novels here, though I admit I don't say too much, because I like to be careful:

http://www.danicadavidson.com/Novels.html

I was also recently interviewed by the literary magazine Writing It Real, where I talk in detail about my writing:

http://www.writingitreal.com/cgi-bin/get_article.pl?ID=566

I'm also trying (sometimes more or less successfully) to link my published work on my Twitter page. More followers are always welcome -- thank you!

~Danica Davidson~

Erin's Note: Pagan Spirits thanks you for stopping by, Danica! Good luck with your YA novel! Updated in 2024 to remove defunct links and add a link to Danica's more recent work.