Random Internet Inspirations

As this blog progresses, I'll periodically post links to websites and other things I find inspiring or interesting that I want to pass on. I'd commit to doing it weekly, but then I'd have to get on a schedule, and some of you know what a pain in the ass that is for me. So I'm sorry, but you'll just have to live with "periodic" rather than "on Saturdays," okay? Good.

Batgirl from this week's Batgirl #19.

• In case you are a luckier soul than I am and actually have a friend, enemy, or eight-year-old girl off the street willing to DM for a D&D campaign or six, you'll want to know about this amazing site that actually sells PDFs of EVERY EDITION of the old D&D games. Play it right. None of that swanky fifth edition bullshit here, no sirree! And if you're lucky enough to have snagged a few friends and a DM, are you looking for another? Please? I miss me some D&D.

• Something rather amazing is going down in the world of DC Comics right now. This week, in Batgirl #19, we learn that Barbara Gordon's roommate, Alisa Yeoh, is transgendered. This marks not only the first transgendered character for DC Comics, but also for mainstream comics as a whole. Writer Gail Simone explained her decision to Wired magazine in this great article. “I looked out into the audience, saw dozens of faces I knew well — LGBTQ folks, mostly — all avid comics readers and superhero fans and DC supporters,” said Simone. “And it just hit me: Why was this so impossible? Why in the world can we not do a better job of representation of not just humanity, but also our own loyal audience?” Right on, Gail, right on. I'd also point out that this isn't the first time DC has pushed the envelope by portraying underrepresented groups. In Alan Moore's Batman comic, The Killing Joke, Joker shoots Barbara Gordon and paralyzes her from the waist down. Which doesn't keep her from becoming a badasssuperhero for the next 20 years. So this sort of revolutionary attitude is hardly a new thing for DC. I can't wait to read this one.

• The Great Gatsby. As a video game. You're welcome. Sadly, it lacks an opportunity to mow down Tom Buchanan.   

• You also need to read Mental Floss's 11 Strange and Wonderful Shakespeare Adaptations. Because you haven't experienced Shakespeare until you've experienced it in Klingon. 

• There can be almost nothing better than a Tumblr called Fuck yeah, manuscripts!, because, first of all, who couldn't love that amazing name!? Second, as a writer, I tend to fetishize the handwritten  notes and manuscripts of my favorite writers, as if seeing or touching something they saw or touched brings me closer to them(I have a thing for pens and blank books, too...DON'T JUDGE ME!). So this website is , for me, pages and pages of fangirling of epic proportions. Seriously. Writers, you get this, right? I'm not alone in this, right? Right?

• And, because I'm feeling like an evil bitch today, get ready to have your childhood illusions completely shattered. I've gotta say, the Courage the Cowardly Dog theory makes complete sense. I can get behind that, partially because it makes the show that much more awesome. But Wall-E was a sweet and innocent robot. Screw you, theorists.

• In case you need a nice, retro cover for that great American (or European, or Indian) pulp novel you're working on, here you go. Prepare to lose hours of your life tweaking. Your writing will hate me, and for that I'm sorry. But SO MUCH COOL .