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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

10 Comments

  1. Nyq Only
    May 13, 2014 @ 1:57 am

    Have you drawn timelines or anything similar to help keep track of who is doing what when?

    Reply

  2. jane
    May 13, 2014 @ 4:27 am

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane! I just finished that one. Seems like a story that's been around forever.

    Reply

  3. Froborr
    May 13, 2014 @ 5:44 am

    In reality I suspect that this is Albion's last war in the same way that World War I ended all wars, but I think the eschatological lens sharpens everything in a useful way.

    Huh. I had always just assumed "last" meant "most recent," like "last Thursday," not "final," because obviously any war with survivors cannot possibly be the final one.

    And I hear you about structural games. I'm still playing them from time to time, but less often–only one in the entirety of The Very Soil, and one in my "Magical Mystery Cure" post that was apparently subtle enough that no one noticed. And in both cases it was more-or-less compelled by the episode in question playing structural games.

    I don't know that I'll ever completely abandon them–as I have said a few times on Twitter, I really enjoy playing jokes on my readers that no one but me finds funny–but I definitely do find myself going to that well less and less often. Especially because, while early on I would just go ahead with them, the last year or so I've been stopping first to think, "Has Phil done this one? If so, can I do something different with it?" And if the answer to the first question is "yes" and the second "no," I don't do it.

    I really need to get around to reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane at some point, I keep hearing good things about it.

    Reply

  4. Heath
    May 13, 2014 @ 6:04 am

    I'm glad you posted this. I read the other interview you linked to, and having been initially skeptical about the idea, I think I'm now sufficiently informed to get fully on board.

    Especially now that I recognize some of the works that were being created as I was coming of age in my comic reading career, I'm finding these posts quite enjoyable.

    Reply

  5. evilsoup
    May 13, 2014 @ 6:35 am

    But the white straight maleness of the protagonists is not going to be ignored, and is in fact going to be a major part of the next chapter, on Swamp Thing.

    Oh, good. I love Swamp Thing, really, and Alan Moore is definitely on the side of the angels, but… well. The Werewolf issue dealing with sexism is clearly meant well, but it's just so heavy-handed. Like he's read The Female Eunuch and decided 'OK, I'll do this in the comic', and it's good that he tried that but the whole thing just doesn't quite work. And similarly with the Zombie issue dealing with slavery (hurr hurr the liberal white guy is the real racist).

    I still liked those issues, mind, and his run overall. And, I mean, I suppose it's a little bit petty to go 'waah it's not absolutely perfect', when he was definitely trying to do the right thing — and mostly succeeding, actually.

    Of course, the most damning 'straight white man' thing to do with Moore isn't actually in Swamp Thing, as far as I remember. But I'm sure you'll deal with his rape/averted rape fixation, since it's the only major problem I have with his work.

    Reply

  6. Elizabeth Sandifer
    May 13, 2014 @ 8:17 am

    Fun fact (if you're me) – the werewolf issue came in for a lengthy critique by Mindy Newell, then-writer of Wonder Woman, who Karen Berger (who initially hired her, calling her back just four days after she sent in her portfolio) brought back again to co-write with George Perez. She had a short but impressive comics career before returning to her main job as a nurse. And is married to John Higgins.

    And a longer paragraph saying basically that will be appearing shortly after the discussion of the werewolf issue, also looking at her critique and Moore's response to it.

    Reply

  7. encyclops
    May 13, 2014 @ 10:26 am

    I know I say this every time it comes up, but if there's a situation in your life where reading audiobooks is feasible (I have a lengthy work commute), it would be worth your while to have Neil Gaiman read it to you. I probably would still have loved it regardless, but his voice doing that first-person narration, half-fooling me it might be a true story…incredible.

    Reply

  8. evilsoup
    May 13, 2014 @ 12:07 pm

    How are you going to deal with Swamp Thing? As a whole or arc-by-arc? I presume the latter, as you stated with Sandman. But yeah, there's definitely a lot of stuff to get your teeth into, 'issues'-wise (oh dear Alan Moore, no that's not what autism is).

    I've been loving The Last War in Albion so far, though I've only read a smattering of what you've covered (Alan Moore's Future Shocks… and that's it really). I'm really looking forward to you getting into the stuff that I have read (especially Halo Jones, just because that's one of my favourite stories evar!).

    Reply

  9. Froborr
    May 13, 2014 @ 2:23 pm

    I find audiobooks and radio dramas generally difficult to listen to, honestly. My attention wanders and I lose the thread. I have recently discovered, thanks to Mark Reads, that even just a face to focus on is enough to be able to pay attention, but without at least that, I am quickly lost.

    Reply

  10. encyclops
    May 13, 2014 @ 3:52 pm

    I said the same thing before I started listening to a lot of podcasts, and even then I didn't think I'd get into audiobooks until I tried this one. But I know what you mean; thanks to a childhood spent reading far too much, I'm far better with words on a page than words in my ears, as a general rule. By all means read it whichever way works for you; it's not to be missed if you like Gaiman at all.

    Reply

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