The online and print ecologies of science fiction and fantasy fandom are evolving, becoming more progressive, more accepting of diversity and less problematic in their narratives (e.g., not using rape as a shorthand for character development). This is the impression that Kameron Hurley (God's War) creates in The Geek Feminist Revolution, a collection of blog posts, with a few essays written specially for this edition. But social progress is not without reactionaries: men often threaten women and minority authors and gamers with rape and death for participating in these areas. Several essays question the concept of privilege. Hurley writes, "I am tired of being asked, again and again, what women can do to save these men.... I want a new conversation around what men can do to be better." Creators and consumers, she believes, all have social and political responsibilities when approaching art.
Hurley rounds out the collection with pieces on what it takes to be a writer--persistence, specifically--and astute media criticism of movies such as Mad Max: Fury Road. Her writing is as deft and provoking as Roxane Gay's in Bad Feminist, and remains true to the theme of the struggle that individuals with fewer social advantages experience in cultural arenas.
There are some structural weaknesses: because these were blog posts, each is very brief, disjointing the whole; and more than a handful refer rather obliquely to issues that those outside the SFF community might find somewhat opaque. Better introductions or annotations would have ameliorated this flaw. Yet, even for outsiders, there is much here to enjoy and consider. --Evan M. Anderson, collection development librarian, Kirkendall Public Library, Ankeny, Iowa.