December 2015 Supercat @AlinaMeridon

I’m away for a few days, so a slightly premature Happy New Year!

I’m not a great believer in resolutions, but this year there is an urgent need to both make and keep them, so please wish me luck in improving my health and fitness – just as I wish the world to become a healthier and fitter place.

No news on the publishing front, and it has been a quiet month over at Alina Meridon, apart from a couple more episodes of Supergirl and Mistress X. The new Supergirl TV series with Melissa Benoist is excellent, although not as tightly and tensely plotted and edited as, say, Smallville or Daredevil, but the relationship between Kara and her boss Cat (Calista Flockhart) has led to some very entertaining shipping on Tumblr under the tag Supercat. Here’s a little contribution from me:

said Cat to young Kara, “Take off your specs
and show me your naked face
Too long you have hidden, enough’s enough,
now give me the girl from space”

“Ms Grant, you’re mistaken,” poor Kara said
“I’m merely a girl from Earth
what little resemblance you may have glimpsed
is an accident of birth”

but Cat smiled her smile of deadly intent
“I will see your face, my dear
and whether or not my suspicions are proved
I’ll see a lot more, no fear”

her fingers instilled with confident strength
she teased the pink cotton apart
revealing a trembling superhero
with an ‘S’ protecting her heart

“Ms Grant,” whispered Kara – “It’s ‘Cat’” said Ms Grant
“though ‘Mistress’ will work just as well
your secret is safe, my beautiful girl
so trust me, I never will tell”

If you wish, you can add an Owl and the Pussycat chorus to each verse, e.g.:

but Cat smiled her smile of deadly intent
“I will see your face, my dear
and whether or not my suspicions are proved
I’ll see a lot more, no fear
no fear, no fear!
I’ll see a lot more, no fear”

In a way, it makes my saga of Supergirl and Mistress X seem rather irrelevant, but I still like the dynamic of hero-and-supervillain, and fan fiction’s a tricky thing. I have had brushes with it in the past, having written something about Xena: Warrior Princess once, and my novel Kings of Infinite Space was originally half-intended one day to be the third volume in a trilogy, where the second volume was set in the Star Trek universe. But the trouble with fan fiction is that you never have control over the universe in which your story is set. There’s always danger that the next episode of the series will invalidate your unofficial contribution.

So I don’t have any enthusiasm for shipping. Much as I love the idea of Supercat, I can’t really see a major TV network allowing a bisexual Supergirl to be anything more than a possibility. The romance of Supergirl and Mistress X is separate from all this – set in a parallel universe, perhaps.

Global Seesaw

Pharaoh’s Daughter by Freedom Stones: “This piece comes to you from Ghana where it was lovingly handmade by survivors of human trafficking.”

During an internet search for handmade paper for a Christmas present this year, I stumbled across Love Calcutta Arts (“Love Calcutta Arts has arisen out of a desire to break the cycle of prostitution by bringing freedom to young girls who are otherwise at risk of abuse.”) which took me to Global Seesaw (“All our manufacturing partners are social enterprises who reinvest their products and measure success in terms of human lives changed rather than pure profit.”).

beauty emergent
free the phoenix spirit soars
from a shattered life

I ordered a variety of soaps, notebooks, Christmas cards and the beautiful Pharaoh’s Daughter necklace shown here. Despite this being the 10th December, everything was dispatched the same day and delivery was very quick. All in all, a very satisfying way to do Christmas shopping…

Posts

• Dressing as a Man, Supergirl and Mistress X ☆ ☆ Christmas Special! ☆ ☆
• this femininity I do detest, a body-swap villanelle: Mistress X dislikes being Supergirl
• on the ramparts of beauty – dreams of bland perfection, round-up of December’s haiku