Have you ever found yourself suddenly noticing articles on a topic you were thinking about anyway, as though the internet had noticed your preoccupation and started coughing them up into your lap? Er, nice image there – you can see why I’m a writer. Anyway, it just so happened that yesterday I stumbled upon an article about racism, sexism, and imperialism in Jay Lake’s novel, Green (apropos of nothing: I keep wanting to say “Greg Lake“, because apparently prog rock pervades my entire being).

Then this morning a Facebook friend linked to an article about sexism, racism, and Orientalism in Craig Thompson’s graphic novel, Habibi.

A quick scratch of the internets soon brought me to Appropriate Cultural Appropriation, and beyond to RaceFail ’09.

It’s enough to make a white woman who’s writing about a fantasy culture of dark-skinned people pause and say, “Hmmm.”

I still have things to digest, but I hope to have some thoughts on this tomorrow. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in these topics, happy reading! There’s enough thought-provoking material here to keep your brain busy for a good long time.