A gentle reminder that the Diaspora of the Fantastic reading is this Thursday. I’ll be reading alongside N. K. Jemisin, Alaya Dawn Johnson and Linda D. Addison at Bluestockings. Details here.
I am going to read from my Electric Velocipede story, Enmity, because I’m not sure if I’ll ever get the chance to read it for an EV thing. Plus, it was the first mythpunk story I ever wrote and I have longed to show off my mythpunkiness.
I’ll be attending Readercon in a couple of weekends and this time I’m on a bit of programming. If you’d like to find/stalk me, here’s the deets:
Friday, 3PM — VT: Interfictions 2 Group Reading
Delia Sherman (host) with Amelia Beamer, K. Tempest Bradford, Matthew Cheney, F. Brett Cox, Michael DeLuca, Jeffrey Ford, Theodora Goss, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Shira Lipkin, Rachel Pollack, Catherynne M. Valente, Genevieve Valentine
Readings from Interfictions 2: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing, edited by host Sherman and Christopher Barzak and forthcoming in the fall from Small Beer Press under the auspices of the Interstitial Arts Foundation.
Friday, 5PM — Salon E: Off Color
K. Tempest Bradford, David Anthony Durham (L), Eileen Gunn, Anil Menon, Cecilia Tan
At various sf conventions, we’ve been to more than one panel during which the panelists try to figure out why there seem to be so few writers of color in the field. As an alternative, we have invited several panelists to discuss what an sf field more enticing to writers of color might look like.
Friday, 8PM — ME/ CT: Annual Interstitial Arts (IAF) Town Meeting
Ellen Kushner with discussion by Liz Gorinsky, Theodora Goss, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Shira Lipkin, Delia Sherman, John Shirley, Sarah Smith, Catherynne M. Valente
Note: I’m not officially on this but will be there talking about the auction and salons and such.
Interstitial Art falls in the interstices of recognized genres. The Interstitial Arts Foundation is a group of “Artists Without Borders” fighting the Balkanization of art. They celebrate work that crosses or straddles the borders between media, the borders between genres, the borders between “high art” and popular culture. They are not opposed to mainstream fiction or genre fiction, nor are they seeking to create a new category. They are just particularly excited by border-crossing fiction (and music and art), and want to support the creation of such works and to establish better ways of engaging with them. The IAF has had a presence at Readercon from its beginning. In 2007, in cooperation with Small Beer Press, the IAF published Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing edited by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss, and in fall 2009 they will present Interfictions 2, edited by Delia Sherman and Christopher Barzak. They are also doing a lot with visual arts. Interstitial Arts is an idea, a conversation, not a hard-and-fast definition-and it’s a conversation you are invited to join.
Saturday, Noon — VT: Federations Group Reading
John Joseph Adams (host) with K. Tempest Bradford, Robert J. Sawyer, Allen Steele, Catherynne M. Valente,
Genevieve Valentine
Sunday, 11AM, Maine/Connecticut: The Future of Magazines, Part 2 (Online) — (part 1 is at 10AM)
K. Tempest Bradford, Neil Clarke, Robert Killheffer, Mary Robinette Kowal (L), Matthew Kressel, Sean Wallace
Are print magazines doomed? (Heck, if newspapers can’t make it …) Or will they survive in their tiny niches? Are there ways to make them more viable? Is that even worth the bother? After all, online magazines are now easy and relatively inexpensive to start — are they the answer?
Continuing in the tradition of wild unicorn-ness, I’m doing a reading and discussion in NYC at Bluestockings bookstore with Linda Addision, N. K. Jemisin, and Alaya Dawn Johnson all about POC and SFF. In case you’re not aware, all of us are some fabulous black women who write spec fic. The reading will last an hour, the discussion will last as long as there’s something to discuss, and then those of us who don’t have jobs will go out and eat afterwards. There will also be books and zines with our writing for sale, if you enjoy such things. If you’re in the area, please join us! Deets:
What: Diaspora of the Fantastic: Black Women Writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror – Reading & Discussion
When: July 30th, 7PM
Where: Bluestockings Books, 172 Allen Street (1 block south of Houston), NYC
Exciting news! We’re doing a Federations reading next month! It’ll be a special NYRSF reading — slightly outside of their usual season. Jim Freund likes us like that.
I’m reading along with Genevieve Valentine and Allen Steele (I know! So Fancy.) and our editor, John Joseph Adams, is curating. Here are some more deets:
When: Tuesday, July 7th — Doors open 6:30 PM
Where: South Street Seaport Museum, 12 Fulton Street, 4th Floor
How… much does it cost?: $5 suggested donation
Even more detailed deets can be found here.
If you’re in NYC I hope you can come. I’ll be fresh off of a train from Virginia!
You’ve seen me posting about the Clarion West Write-a-thon for a couple of weeks, but now my quest for sponsors begins in earnest! I have a nifty (and detailed) sponsorship page, a sponsorship form you can fill out, and a page that explains the who, what, why and how. Now all I need is you.
Yes, you!
I need sponsors. People who will pledge money to Clarion West and the Butler Scholarship should I meet my weekly writing goals. Any amount is appreciated — don’t think that just because you can only afford a little it won’t count. In fact, it counts a lot1.
I need people to spread the word. Post about this on your blog, FaceBook feed, Twitter account, etc. and ask other people to sponsor me. Ask at work about any matching donation programs they have. Clarion West is a 501(c) organization, so it’s tax-deductable.
I need people to write with me! You can do the Write-a-thon, too, ya know. Go here, sign up, then ask your friends and family to sponsor you. Set a goal and we’ll egg each other on!
That’s it. My needs are very simple :) I plan to reach my pledge goal again this year and to meet all of my writing goals. The Write-a-thon is really a win-win event for me. I not only get to raise money for two wonderful organizations, I also get motivation to get 6 stories out into the world and, hopefully, sold to awesome markets.
But I’ll only be motivated to do so if you sponsor ;)
My WisCon report will come later this week. I have a day off Thursday. But before that happens I need help!
So the Not Another F-ing Race Panel was da bomb diggity and so many awesome things came out of it. One of them was my answer to the question about what kind of companion animal I would want: a white pony with blue eyes and long, flowy hair to prance around behind me as I went through my day.
On Monday (and please forgive my fuzzy brain) someone showed me a drawing they did of this very thing! yes, a prancing pony following me around! OMG. I have completely forgotten who that was (fuzzy brain!) but I’m hoping they read my blog because I adore that picture to death and would love an electronic copy. From it I will make my new default icon: I am the Mary Sue of this Journal. (Another line from the panel, kinda.)
At WisCon I was able to quietly sneak away with a copy of the latest Electric Velocipede (issue 17/18!). I was super excited to see it because my story Enmity is contained within. There are also stories by many friends of mine, including two other Altered Fluidians: Mercurio D. Rivera and Matthew Kressel.
I saw John Klima during his brief appearance and got to hug him a lot. Then on Sunday I wore The Shirt. You know, this shirt:
I have it on good authority that The Shirt moved many copies of the zine. (Also, if you are a fan of EV or of shirts or of me, you can get The Shirt on Zazzle and support the zine in the process.)
This May has been especially awesome for me because I had stories in a book and two zines come out this month. Federations, Sybil’s Garage 6, and Electric Velocipede 17/18 — and all of them were available in the dealer’s room. There were also many copies of the Interfictions anthology and all three WisCon Chronicles! I’m in each, and the newest one is especially spiffy with a fantastic cover. Liz Herny is a goddess.
I was feeling very fancy having so many things in the room with my stories and essays in, so I took pictures:
So I encourage you to order your copy of Sybil’s Garage if I didn’t force it ony ou at WisCon, to buy Federations and WisCon Chronicles vol. 3, to check the Electric Velocipede blog to see when the latest issue will be available for ordering (the copies at WisCon were special advance ones — contributors and subscribers should get theirs soon), and to read, read, read, not just my stories, but all the fabulous stuff in these offerings. May 2009 is a month of awesomeness.
First one is something a lot of people asked for since it was pretty awesome last year. Second one is something I’ve been wanting to do for months and months, especially since I didn’t follow up with the great ideas from last year. Third most of you know about already.
Come hang out with POC WisCon attendees Friday evening — at 5:30 (the dinner break) we’ll gather in the lobby of the Concourse and at 6:05 we’ll depart for a place to hang and talk or a place to eat and hang and talk. All POC are welcome to attend, whether this is your first WisCon (especially if so!) or your 30th or anywhere in-between.
An informal POC discussion group. It’s no surprise to any person of color paying attention that there are plenty of us who love SF/F/H despite the problematic elements in both the community and the media. But not all of us are connected, even tangentially, to the larger/mainstream community or the satellite POC-specific groups that have formed online and off. How do we better facilitate the dialogue between SF-loving POC who aren’t on LiveJournal (or its clones) or Ning, or Facebook or online at all?
During this gathering I’d like to brainstorm ways to better connect with each other (jumping off of the excellent ideas put forward during last year’s discussion) and put the ideas into action before we quit the room. All POC attending WisCon are invited to attend. Bring your lunch and your laptop (if you’ve got one).
Time: Saturday, 11:30AM – 1PM
Place: Room 634
All three contributors to TheAngryBlackWoman.com will be at WisCon 33. Together for the first time!: K. Tempest Bradford, Nojojojo, and Karnythia. If you’ve ever wanted to meet one or all of us, talk about angry blackness, blogging, or anything else, then come have lunch with us.
When: Sunday, 11:30AM – 1PM
Where: Noodles & Company (short walk from the Concourse) — very top level. Lots of options for vegetarians and meat-eaters
Who: We’d like to keep this part of the unofficial POC-only gig at WisCon. If you identify as POC, bring yourself on over.
What: We’ll just be talkin’ about angry black stuff. Also about guest blogging opportunities in the future and our own personal projects which include new books, new publishing ventures, and new shoes.
Please pass this along to any POC WisCon-goers who may be interested. You can also post to various interested communities or your own blog. There will be flyers at the con.
Later with this than anyone else, but there were some changes to my panel lineups and I was waiting to make sure everything else was settled. As I emailed everyone on the panel I’m moderating on Sunday, I figure I can be public about it all now.
NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL — Fri 9:00 – 10:15PM — Senate A
Nora Jemisin (M), K. Tempest Bradford, Moondancer Drake, Nnedi Nkemdili Okorafor, Naamen Gobert Tilahun
Writers of color working in F/SF face unique challenges, it’s true. But, at the end of the day, being a ‘person of color’ is only one aspect of what makes up our identities as writers and, while it’s very flattering to asked to be on panels, most of these panels never crack the ceiling of Race 101. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be nice for multiple writers of color to sit on a panel that isn’t about race at all? Here’s our chance to do just that. So, what are we gonna talk about, instead? Practically anything! Presented in game show format, NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL brings together writers of color to get their geek on about any number of pop culture topics (perhaps chosen from a spinning wheel of fortune)—none of them race related.
Was It Good for You? — Sat 10:30 – 11:45PM — Conference 4
Nora Jemisin (M) , K. Tempest Bradford, Sumana Harihareswara, Rachel Kronick, Betsy Lundsten
A common response to requests for increased representation of women/PoC in science fiction seems to be—we are just looking for good stories. Writers are concerned that, even absent overt discrimination, the themes they want to write about and the stories they want to tell will be dismissed as irrelevant to the white male audience. This doesn’t really have anything to do with quality. What stories do readers wish they could see more of and what stories do they wish they never had to read again? How many technically proficient stories about nothing, and stories that are metaphorical for male orgasm, do we have to read, anyway? Why is it so hard to find stories about my experience?
Judging the Tiptree — Sun 8:30 – 9:45AM — Senate B
K. Tempest Bradford, Gavin J. Grant, Catherynne M. Valente
I think maybe Gavin might not be there after all, so it coudl end up being the Tempest and Cat show. At 8:30am on Sunday we may have to promise people major shenanigans to get a crowd.
Authorial Intent vs. Reader Response — Sun 4:00 – 5:15PM — Capitol A
Vito Excalibur (M), K. Tempest Bradford, Ellen Kushner, Debbie Notkin, Delia Sherman
Umberto Eco said once that a novel was “a machine for generating interpretations….” Once a book has been released into the cruel world, does it matter what the author intended for people to get out of the book? If it does, does it matter more than what the readers see in the book?
Netbook Show and Tell — Sun 10:00 – 11:15PM — Conference 5
K. Tempest Bradford (M), Shaun Kelly, Rowan, Genevieve Valentine
Asus EEE, Acer Aspire One, HP Mininote … do those names sound familiar? What are those wee laptops around the size of a hardback book? Bring your netbook and show it off! Discuss the pros and cons. Q&A for those looking to purchase their very own netbook.
Additionally I will be participating in the following POC-only events:
POC Meet & Greet — Fri 5:30 – 7:30PM — Madison Concourse Lobby
We’ll head somewhere to eat or chat at 6:00PM.
Meet the Angry Black Women — Sun Lunch — Noodles & Company
K. Tempest Bradford, Nojojojo, Karnythia
Have lunch with the three contributors to the Angry Black Woman blog.
I think I am most excited about the netbook panel! Not just because I am mod, but because after 3 days of RACE GENDER LITERARY THEORY and TIPTREE I feel I will enjoy being able to just geek out about computers for an hour. The Not A Race Panel panel should be a good time, too. Also, I am on a panel with Ellen and Delia and Debbie and Vito? *swoon*
There will be other additions to this schedule once the final, full-length one comes out.
