Lissa Bilyk

Atlantis: The Lost Princess

There’s a reason Princess Kidagakash from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney’s 41st animated feature film, was never recognised as an official Disney Princess. Her film falls just outside of the Renaissance. Fantasia, Dinosaur, and The Emperor’s New Groove came before it, and all four films performed less than expected at the box office. Kida misses out on being a Disney Princess, despite being a Disney princess, because her film isn’t a musical and didn’t gross enough at the box office (despite bringing in $186M). I have several theories why it didn’t fare as well as Disney hoped, despite mixed critic reviews and becoming a cult favourite: it was Disney’s first sci-fi, it had a beta male lead (not alpha like Aladdin, Tarzan or Hercules), it looks at first glance at a re-hash of Pocahontas (explorers travel to a ‘new world’ and meet a primitive yet harmonious society), kids who attended the Renaissance films were growing up (I was 14 and not interested in ‘kids’ films’ anymore, interestingly enough: I was too busy going to see films like Moulin Rouge!, and A Knight’s Tale,) but most importantly, it was up against a number of very high-grossing films through the year. The top ten highest-grossing films of 2001 in the US were: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Monsters, Inc.; Shrek; Ocean’s Eleven; Pearl Harbour; The Mummy Returns; Jurassic Park III; Planet of the Apes; and Hannibal. Atlantis never even stood a chance.

It's really hard to find good screenshots of Kida.

So, poor Atlantis. Poor Princess Kida. Sure, she’s in the very first part of the film, when Atlantis sinks (a mere 8500 years before the film proper takes place: don’t even get me ranting on that longevity thing). She re-appears sometime later as a ancient yet youthful-looking woman whom, apparently, her father thinks she will magically learn some lesson once he dies and she takes the throne. I mean, she’s eight thousand, five hundred years old, right? What is she going to learn that hasn’t already been learned? And then she spends most of her time in some kind of crystal-induced trance…

kidalevitate — I thought I would be nice and give you an animation because it's AWESOME!

Kida gets to spend some time developing a relationship with beta male linguistics professor Milo Thatch (awesomely voiced by Michael J Fox). For some reason, the ability to read their own language was lost when Atlantis sunk, and now Kida is totes dependant on Milo to teach her about her own history, the knowledge of which she sadly, also lacks. So: an advanced civilisation has effectively been rendered primitive and therefore unthreatening. LOL – they can’t even read!

I wouldn't read this, anyway, it's got sparkly vampires.

Ahem.

Kida is curious, intelligent, and strong-willed, but she also has a softened heart and is willing to change the dying ways of her people. She is also depicted as a warrior princess, which I think is totally cool. When she and Milo rediscover the hidden crystal that powers Atlantis and gives the Atlanteans their longevity, and are betrayed by the dick leading the expedition for profit, not scientific discovery, she fights back. A bit. She gets in a good kick before she is overpowered, and then with Milo threatened, she obliges her captors.

Because by now it's established they care for each other, and evil people like to use that emotion against them.

It’s then that the crystal decides to take charge of her or possess her or something, and she’s pretty much rendered as a glorious glowy crystal being but unfortunately also totally helpless and easily kidnapped… because we all know all powerful beings are easily trapped in small boxes. She’s got nothing to do but sit there and look pretty and be in danger and be rescued by the mercenaries and Milo until… a volcano explodes. Then she snaps into actions and saves everyone’s lives.

Look, I like Kida, for the most part. I hate the time she spends passive and helpless, but I recognise it’s so that Milo can have a chance at being a hero by rescuing her, thus proving he’s not actually a beta male and is worthy of her love. Yeah, ‘cause that’s how the real world works #sarcasm. Kida can’t save herself from being kidnapped because she needs to be rescued, even though she’s totally kick-ass and powerful, but she can save the city once she’s been rescued from a fate she could totally have saved herself from if the writers weren’t so keen on writing Milo rescuing her. (Does anyone else’s head hurt?)

Oh, by the way, did I mention there is a serious lack of face nomming in this film? Disappointing. Here’s a piece of artwork I found especially for my readers who have come to expect face nomming at the end of every Disney post.

Free Tina Storm Urban Fantasy Short Story Exclusive on Smashwords (1)

Hi lovelies.

As promised, the first Tina Storm short story, The Calm Before The Storm (see what I did there? LOL) is available for the rest of October exclusively on Smashwords.

Also, look at the PRETTY PRETTY cover!

I’m toying with releasing all five short stories as exclusives on Smashwords for a limited time instead of the first four as originally planned. Then I can at some point put all five into the short story collection with the four other paranormal/urban fantasy short stories I’ve got ready. Once I get some feedback I’ll make a decision. You can help in making the decision by providing feedback! See? It’s a win-win situation.

Go and read the story now. It’s only 1500 words. It won’t be a waste of your time. And if it is, it’s not much of your time.

Can you tell I’m a little giddy about this?

Tina Storm: Demon Hunter gets her own novel (lissawrites.wordpress.com)
NaNoWriMo 2011 and changing the blog schedule (lissawrites.wordpress.com)

Foreign Cover Friday: One Foot In The Grave (Night Huntress 2) by Jeaniene Frost

Foreign Cover Friday is a weekly meme hosted by The Reading Fever, where foreign covers of the books we know and love are spotlighted and discussed. To join, either pick your favourite foreign cover, or pick many foreign covers, and start discussing!

A few weeks ago I did the Foreign Cover Friday of the first book in the Night Huntress series, Halfway To The Grave. This week we have its sequel, One Foot In The Grave.

You can run from the grave, but you can’t hide . . .

Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She’s still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind.

Being around him awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline kick of slaying vamps side by side to the reckless passion that consumed them. But a price on her head—wanted: dead or half-alive—means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard she tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever . . . and that Bones won’t let her get away again.

This is the standard English-language cover. I love it. Cat’s showing plenty of leg as she sits astride a motorbike that might be badass-looking but I don’t know because I know nothing about motorcycles. I like the addition of the bat before the full moon. And the orange text fits very well with the colour scheme. It’s nice.

These are the covers for the French, Turkish and Polish editions. They’ve generally stuck with the orange theme. I like the French cover because it’s got who I assume to be Bones standing there with a naked chest. Rawr. The composition of the Turkish edition is nice as well, the Cat in front of the text. And the Polish version is gorgeous with its blood-red letters and its darker tone.

Translation
French: One foot in the grave (Huntress of the night, # 2)
Turkish: A single foot in the grave
Polish: One foot in the grave (Night Huntress, # 2)

This is the German cover. Isn’t it lovely? If you’ll recall, the German cover of Book 1 had a red wash: this one has a blue wash. The model, however, is incorrect. Cat has red hair. I like how the city works together with the text – it reminds you it’s an urban fantasy.

Translation: Kiss of the Night

This is the Indonesian cover. It’s very… green. It shows some gravestones, a glimpse of Cat in the upper corner, but not much else to comment on its genre. The Indonesian cover of Book 1 was very orange. I guess they’re after a complete contrast.

Translation: Google translates this to something along the lines of ‘Meeting Back’ or ‘A Meeting Returns’. I’m not really sure what it says.

This is the Italian version. it has a very Gothic feel to it, all shades of grey with a non-committal model standing in for whom I guess must be a Cat with black hair. The translation is also pretty kick ass, but I’m not sure I’d pick this up in a bookstore, even if I had read Book 1.

Translation: The Queen of the Night

This is the English audiobook cover but I’m including it because it’s GORGEOUS. I mean… wow. Also, there’s a REALLY naughty chapter in this book (the infamous Chapter 32) so I wonder how the reader delivers that part… let’s just say STEAMING.

What are your thoughts?

Which covers do you like? Which do you hate?

Check back at The Reading Fever for her Foreign Cover Friday!

Me Tarzan, You Jane

Disney’s Tarzan is their thirty-seventh animated feature film and the last film of the Disney Renaissance. It is based on the novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Borroughs. It was a box office success, opening at a #1 spot which hadn’t been seen since Pocahontas, and it was also more successful than its predecessors Hercules and Mulan. That’s not surprising because its budget was $150 million, which makes it the second most expensive Disney animated feature film ever made, second only to Tangled which was released in 2010 to a budget of $260 million.

Once again, this post is somewhat difficult to write, because Jane isn’t the focus of this film. She’s not even considered a traditional Disney Princess by any stretch of the imagination, and her character is a rather accurate portrayal of a 19th century woman – from her completely overbearing costume to her sensibilities. So do I find her interesting?

Of course. but I’ll explain why at the end.

Jane is first introduced wearing way too much clothing for a trip into the West African jungle. Her curiosity overcomes her and she is separated from her father and guide, before being chased by a pack of baboons. Tarzan comes to her rescue, as any 19th century distressed damsel can expect.

I didn't exactly find Jane boring, but she's not as interesting as her contemporaries.

The two then bond, because Tarzan’s never seen another human before, and Jane’s never seen a half-naked man before. Presumably. She’s excited to share the ape-man with her father in the name of progressing science. Against the gorilla leader’s wishes, Tarzan returns to Jane’s encampment over and over, so that Jane can teach him English and educate him in other matters. They fall in love.

"See Jane run. Run Jane, run." Jane not running. JANE NOT RUNNING! RAWR!

The time comes when Jane has to leave Africa for England. She’s completely torn between her love for Tarzan and her need to be among civilisation. Tarzan thinks if he leads Jane to the gorillas, she’ll stay with him. You can educate a man on all matters of the world except the heart, apparently. After siding with the humans when the alpha male finds out about Tarzan’s betrayal, he decides to leave Africa to be with Jane in England.

But the genteel English zoologists have been betrayed by their guide, Clayton. He wants to trap the gorillas and sell them for 300 pound a head in England. Jane is captured and the allies are locked up. They escape with the help of Tarzan’s elephant friend. Rushing to save the gorillas, Jane bravely fights alongside the men, even though she totally didn’t have to because what use are women in the 19th century besides to look pretty and be useless? Jane personally saves a number of the gorillas. Yay!

The thing that sucks about Jane is that she’s in the process of leaving Tarzan behind as the new leader of the gorillas, even though she’s totally bonded with him through adventures and life-threatening situations. She even goes so far as to actually leave the beach on a little rowboat. I mean, like, what? Jane! Do you love this man? Why do you have to leave? STUPID GIRL. And the only reason she jumps overboard to go back to Tarzan and live as his jungle wife is because her daddy tells her to. Come on, Jane! No wonder you’re not a Disney Princess, you even put Snow White to shame!

Well, except for the fact that you’re the one to kiss Tarzan. But he doesn’t even know what kissing is, so that doesn’t get you bonus points!

NaNoWriMo 2011 and changing the blog schedule

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It’s held every November and the aim is to write a 50K words novel is 30 days. My first attempt was last year, where I wrote The Edge of Darkness. This year I’m going to do Tina Storm’s first full-length novel, which as yet doesn’t have a title. In fact, I can’t even settle on one. You’ll have to help me out closer to November to help me think of a title so I can make a banner and mock book cover.

I spent this weekend planning and outlining the novel. It’s a young adult urban fantasy about Tina and her family of hereditary demon hunters that have to infiltrate a witch’s coven that is reportedly using blood magic for personal gain and to hurt innocent bystanders.

The plot totally kicks ass. I get excited just reading the outline. I’m really looking forward to writing Tina’s first full-length novel.

In celebration of this momentous event, I’m going to release a Tina Storm short story every Friday in October. That means the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th. There are five stories all up, but I’ll only be releasing four. However, they will be completely free and available exclusively on Smashwords for the month of October. Come November when I start writing the novel, I’ll take them down and release the five short stories plus four bonus urban fantasies for sale on Smashwords and Kindle in one collection. I’m not looking to do a paperback version of the short story collection because it’s only small and I doubt it would be worth my time.

So here’s the schedule for the next couple of months on the blog:

October-wise we’re wrapping up the weekly Disney Dissection. It’s sad, I know, but we’re literally running out of Disney heroines to talk about. Foreign Cover Friday will still be in effect and Mondays will be whatever I feel like posting.
November will be devoted to whatever rambling I get out writing my NaNo novel. I will attempt to blog daily but considering I mostly write at night time it might be sporadic hours after I’ve done my word count for the day.
Then in December, I want to tackle the 30 Day Disney Challenge (with a few tweaks of my own because I’ve never been to Disneyland or World or whatever). I know there are 31 days in December but do you really want me to post something on Christmas Day?
Come January I will start looking at representations of female characters in Pixar films, because Disney owns Pixar. Sounds good to me. Currently there’s 12 Pixar films.
If I don’t have a complete meltdown during that time because my fiancée and I are hoping to move to Australia ASAP, everything will be peachy!

Of course through all this I’ll be writing and publishing a few new e-books.

Thanks for sticking around!

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