Links! Awards! Books! April 11, 2012
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, links, news , add a commentThere’s lots of excellent stuff going on in the QUILTBAG spec fic world right now, and here are a few links to prove it.
Awards:
Over the weekend, several conventions around the world announced this year’s Hugo nominees. Voting is open until the 31st of July for anyone who is an attending or supporting member of this year’s WorldCon, Chicon 7. So many awesome people on that list, from Jim Hines to Rachel Swirsky and beyond. The Fancast section is especially strong, which is exciting, as this is the first year for that category. Congratulations to all the nominees, and special awesome congratulations to the OA members on the ballot this year!
This weekend also brought the Tin Duck Awards (for Western Australian spec fic). Big congratulations to all the winners, and especially to Sue Isle for writing Nightsiders, to Alisa Krasnostein for publishing it, and to Stephanie Gunn for her reviews on ASIF!
The Golden Crown Literary Awards finalists are also out! These awards are for lesbian writing, and it looks like a great year for lesbian spec fic. Congratulations to all the spec fic finalists, including JoSelle Vanderhooft, Catherine Lundoff, Steve Berman, and Dayna Ingram! And congratulations also to Sacchi Green, who’s a finalist in the erotica category!
YA Dystopian Stories:
Paolo Bacigalupi’s second Kirkus post is live. Following on our previous conversation, this post calls for inclusivity. Read Straight-laced Dystopias here.
Nora Olsen’s QUILTBAG dystopian YA novel, Swans & Klons will be published by Bold Strokes Books. More about that at Nora’s website. Hurray!
New Books and Fundraisers:
Chicks Dig Comics is officially out in all formats as of yesterday! If you haven’t already read Sigrid Ellis’s essay, now’s a great time to do that. Fair warning: it did make me cry, so you might want to have a tissue handy. Sigrid’s co-editor (and double Hugo nominee for 2012!), Lynne M. Thomas posted a Big Idea essay about the book on John Scalzi’s blog today, too. No crying over that one, just bouncy squeefulness.
The Future Fire is fundraising for a new anthology. Co-edited by Fabio Fernandes, this anthology will be all about colonialism-themed speculative fiction from outside the first-world viewpoint, and they aim to pay pro rates! If this sounds like a worthy venture to you, you can back it here.
Scheherazade’s Facade is fully funded! There are still 4 days to go on this kickstarter project, and the editors are thinking about doing a second volume. If you want to support that, or just lock in your copy of the first one, now is a great time to back this project. For a taste of what you will find inside, see David Sklar’s story excerpt here.
GoodReads Giveaway for Catherine Lundoff’s Silver Moon! This lesbian werewolf tale won’t be out until the end of May, but two copies are up for grabs early. Enter to win anytime before the 30th.
That’s it for now. If you have news to share, please let us know. We’d love to hear it!
Scheherazade’s Facade Excerpt by David Sklar April 3, 2012
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, publications , add a commentScheherazade’s Facade, an anthology of gender-bending fantasy stories, is in the last leg of a fundraising drive. It’s met its original Kickstarter goal and will be published! Hurray! Now they’re hoping to get up to $10,000 so they can produce a second volume of gender-bending science fiction stories. If you think this is a super idea, you can donate to the Kickstarter fund here until the 16th of April. At the $10 level, you’ll get an e-book copy of the first anthology. At the $25 level, you’ll get a trade paperback edition.
In case you’re curious about what sorts of things you can expect in the anthology, contributing author, David Sklar offers an excerpt of his story, “Lady Marmalade’s Special Place in Hell”. This is actually the second excerpt he’s offering. You can read the first excerpt on his LiveJournal, where he has also posted several entries about the story’s creation and long road to publication. And now for the OA exclusive second excerpt!
***
Lady Marmalade’s Special Place in Hell (excerpt)
by David Sklar
I had pictures of Princess Buttercup, as a girl and as a boy, that I developed from my memories. When there were no other tormentors around, I showed these pictures to the people I met in Hell, but mostly I had to rely on my own eyes. I visited bearers of false witness and bearers of false coin; dealers of drugs, dealers of blackjack, and people who could not deal with themselves. And at last I came to the place in Hell for those who cast out their own children, where a middle-aged man with an angry face looked at Buttercup’s picture and said, “That freak? You won’t find him here.”
“So you know her?”
“Not as well as I thought.” I swear, I was afraid that scowl would cut the laces on my corset.
“No,” I answered wistfully—and more honestly than I should have—”Me neither, now that I think of it.”
“Were you one of Jonah’s fruity friends?” There was a scathing accusation in his voice, and I realized suddenly who I was talking to.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m a regular piña colada. But it seems to me, if you’re in Hell and she isn’t, you might want to rethink your attitude.”
“I don’t know how that faggot cheated the Devil,” he snapped.
Then I snapped too.
Now understand: when I made my way across Hell, I had to whip some people who didn’t really want it. I was where I was and I did what I had to do. But Princess Buttercup’s father was the first person I truly delighted in torturing.
***
To read the rest of this story, plus stories by Sunny Moraine, Tanith Lee, Aliette de Bodard and others, make a Kickstarter pledge!
Submissions Call: Demeter’s Spicebox Issue Three March 17, 2012
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, queer-friendly publishers, submissions , 2commentsNin Harris of Demeter’s Spicebox wanted to let QUILTBAG writers know that Issue 3 is coming up!
Demeter’s Spicebox is a fairy tale retelling project in which the stories build on each other, and Nin says, “DS is definitely QUILTBAG (I love this term!)-friendly, and everything intersectional-friendly.”
Here is her official call for submissions:
Submissions Guidelines for Issue Three of Cabinet des Fees’s Demeter’s Spicebox are now up!
We have chosen the Aarne-Thompson type 2031C, “The Mouse Who Was To Marry The Sun” (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/
http://www.cabinetdesfees.com/
Reading Period: 5 APRIL 2012 onwards (until we get the perfect two stories for the next issue).
Do bear in mind that you will need to read the stories from Issue One and Issue Two, as this is a storytelling project and the prompts reflect this. DS runs in Volumes of four issues each, and each Volume will start with a fresh set of prompts.
If you have any questions or doubts, feel free to email us at demeterspice (gmail) in April!
The Galactic Suburbia Award and Honours List January 28, 2012
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, news , 1 comment so farYesterday, the Galactic Suburbia podcast team announced their Award and Honours List for activism and/or communication that advances the feminist conversation in the field of speculative fiction in 2011.
Galactic Suburbia is a bi-weekly (or, as they say in Australia, fortnightly) podcast, which exists to call attention to feminist issues in the speculative fiction world. In each episode, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Alex Pierce, and Alisa Krasnostein talk about news and noteworthy events, and then discuss the culture they’ve consumed. These conversations are open and fun, and often draw my attention to aspects of books and television shows that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. I’ve been a fan for a while now, and I’ve mentioned that on this blog, in my own podcast, and during panels at conventions.
Given that, I was absolutely delighted and a bit flummoxed to find OA Podcast #11 on their Honours List. They chose to recognize me along with Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, hosts of one of my other favorite podcasts, The Writer and the Critic. Since several people have told me that episode #11 was their favorite OA Podcast episode, I must give Ian and Kirstyn the bulk of the credit here. They were wonderful guests.
I also want to congratulate everyone else on the Honours List. Special congratulations to Michele Lee, who is an OA member, and the first person I ever interviewed for this blog; and to Cheryl Morgan, who has been an active OA member from the start, and whose thoughtful posts often give me a new perspective on things to do with gender and spec fic. Seriously, though, everyone on the Honours List has done wonderful things, and I admire all of them.
Most exciting of all, perhaps, is this year’s winner. Nicola Griffith (also an OA member!) gets to take home a hand painted Galactic Suburbia Deepings doll for her Russ Pledge idea. Nicola called for everyone to read and talk about women’s writing, and people listened! Several book challenges and blog posts and podcast discussions started because of Nicola’s idea, and the conversation seems to be gaining momentum even now.
Two weeks ago, I was on a “How Not to Suppress Women’s Writing” panel at Arisia, which existed because of the Russ Pledge conversation opener. Andrea Hairston, who is one of the Guests of Honor for WisCon this year, was our moderator, and we spent the session recommending books, talking about how to keep the conversation going, and exploring resources for news and other things like that (I actually recommended Galactic Suburbia there). It was a great panel, and lots of strangers stopped me later to tell me how much they’d gotten out of it. I’m so glad to see Nicola being recognized for her contribution.
Congratulations, Nicola! And congratulations to Carrie Goldman and Katie, Cheryl Morgan, Helen Merrick, Jim C. Hines, Kirstyn McDermott, Ian Mond, L. Timmel Duchamp, and Michele Lee! I think you’re all the bee’s knees, and I’m thrilled to be in your company.
You can hear the Galactic Suburbia team explaining their choices for this award in a special podcast episode. A written explanation is here.
They’re also looking for nominees for the 2012 award, so if you see someone doing something wonderful to advance the feminist conversation, be sure to let them know!
The 2011 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Have Been Announced! November 30, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, links, news , 3commentsThe Gaylactic Spectrum Awards for best novel (for works published in 2010) have just been announced! This year had a fantastic list of nominees, so I don’t envy the judges having to narrow it down to a short list and overall winner. The Outer Alliance would like to extend our heartiest congratulations to all the nominees!
This year’s Best Novel winner is Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja! You can read more about Kathe and this Spectrum winning novel in Outer Alliance Spotlight #53. It involves love, war, and puppets, plus it’s got a really interesting structure and voice. Kirstyn and Ian gave it a a rave review on episode #5 of The Writer and the Critic, and the Spectrum judges say, “… the
novel engages the reader from the start, provides a way to taste and smell the world through brilliantly-crafted prose, and presents a heart-wrenching romance.” You can buy Under the Poppy from Small Beer Press.
Recommended Short List:
Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts (Tor) — Urban Fantasy with dragons and adventure and a female protagonist, who has a girlfriend!
Bob the Book by David Pratt (Chelsea Street Editions) — A story about a gay book, who gets separated from his partner and interacts with other books and people as he tries to find him.
A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files (ChiZine Publications) — Weird Western with lots of action, magic, crime, and a gay couple at the center of it all.
Red Hood’s Revenge by Jim C. Hines (DAW) — The third in his Princess series, this book gives us tough, capable fairy tale heroines, some of whom are lesbians! Yay!
Stealing Fire by Jo Graham (Orbit) — Historical Fantasy set just after the death of Alexander the Great. This one features a bisexual hero, and is written by a bisexual author.
The White Road by Lynn Flewelling (Spectra) — The fifth book in Lynn’s Nightrunner series (which features a gay couple, and is often gushed about by OA members).
The Wolf at the Door by Jameson Currier (Chelsea Street Editions) — New Orleans, ghosts, and a gay hero blended into scary story with wit and sentiment.
Congratulations, all! You can read what the Spectrum Judges had to say about all of these books on this PDF handout. Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Feel free to share your favorites in the comments!
Outer Alliance Spotlight #92: Crossed Genres October 21, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, links, news, queer-friendly publishers, submissions , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #92. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. Today we’re celebrating Crossed Genres!
Crossed Genres has been actively involved in the Outer Alliance from the start. I interviewed owners Bart and Kay back in 2009 for OA Spotlight #8, and they’ve been industriously celebrating, promoting, and soliciting queer content for the duration of Crossed Genres Magazine‘s run.
Earlier this month, they announced that the magazine will be closing. This is sad news for those of us who have loved anticipating each new theme for the past three years, but it’s actually great news, too. The reason Bart and Kay are closing the magazine is so that they’ll have more time to concentrate on anthologies and novels, like Fat Girl in a Strange Land (whose table of contents just went live today!) and Broken Slate (which was the subject of OA Podcast #9).
With a solid track record of diverse content, we can certainly look forward to excellent things once the magazine closes, but first, Crossed Genres Magazine is having one last major hurrah. Issue 36, which will come out in December, has the theme: Different. Submissions are open until the 31st of this month, and they’re accepting all sorts of different things for this one.
For this issue, we are open to all types of media. Previously we haven’t accepted poetry, or podcasts, or photography; now we are. We’ll even consider longer or shorter pieces of writing. (maximum 10,000 words though!) This will make the final issue – well, different from anything we’ve published before.
And we’re looking for as diverse a body of submissions as possible to choose from! We want submissions with characters of color, quiltbag characters, disabled characters, elderly or child M/C’s. We want underrepresented perspectives!
Wouldn’t it be lovely to see a lot of OA members in that last issue? I think so! If you have something Different for Bart and Kay to look at, do send it in!
Lambda Guidelines Change Again August 30, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, links, news , 5commentsBack in 2009, the Lambda Literary Foundation changed their requirements for awards eligibility to include only authors who self-identified as LGBT. This was a pretty divisive decision. At the time, Nicola Griffith, who was on the LLF board, said, “Our explicit mission is to honour and reward openly LGBT writers.” Others voiced concerns that this policy might exclude people who were not comfortable being out publicly, or (worse) result in unwanted outings. Being a part of the LGBTQI spectrum is something which comes with a certain amount of safety concerns. Some of us are lucky enough to live in places where our orientations are acceptable, but others of us face discrimination and violence on a daily basis. Additionally, there were those who felt that this rule excluded a subset of high quality literature with LGBT content, which might be directly relevant to LGBT issues and lives, but written by straight people. Others felt that straight writers were not part of the community and should not be included in awards meant to promote and honor LGBT people.
These issues are still very much alive and kicking in the LGBTQI community, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that in the past couple of days, I have seen people express both excitement and discomfort at the LLF’s new awards guidelines. It seems that Lambda Literary is trying to appease everyone with their proposed change (most awards open to anyone regardless of orientation, some awards limited to particular groups), but their exclusive categories are too exclusive for many members of the LGBTQI community.
In particular there are categories meant for debut novel to be awarded to a lesbian and a gay man, and then mid-career awards for a female-identified person and a male-identified person. By these rules, I (an openly bi-identifed person, who is active in the LGBTQI community) would not be eligible in the debut category, and many of my friends would not be eligible in these special categories because their genders are fluid or non-binary. This is troubling because I’m pretty sure we’re all the sorts of people LLF would like to include, not exclude.
But don’t take my word for it! Have some links to ponder!
Rose Fox (a past Lambda judge) posted an open letter, in which she dissects the wording of the special categories and explains why she finds it troubling. Rose also includes the brief response she received from Dr. Judith Markowitz, which, alas, doesn’t clear matters up much.
Cheryl Morgan posted her thoughts on the matter, and received several interesting comments from previous Lambda winners and judges like Rick Bowes, Roz Kaveney, and Cecilia Tan as well. Do read the comments on that post!
Nicola Griffith (who is no longer a member of the LLF board, but still interested in the LLF’s work) posted a call for, “… a full and frank discussion of these issues. The Lambda Literary Foundation needs to address trans and bi visibility, equality, and accessibility. Or it should bill itself not as an LGBT organisation but LG(bt).” Nicola also points to an example of someone who disagrees with the removal of the self-identified LGBT authors only requirement, in case you’re curious to see what people have to say about that.
Shaun Duke also weighs in on the issue, and we’ll end with his last line: “ When an important award which is supposed to celebrate LGBT issues in literature doesn’t get how its policies discriminate against its own target demographic, then something is seriously wrong…”
Have you got thoughts about this issue? Please feel free to share them in the comments here, or on the OA google group. We do love lively and frank discussion.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #88: Hugos! August 19, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, events, links, news , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #88. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. This weekend is WorldCon, so we’re focusing on that!
The Hugo Awards ceremony is tomorrow! If, like me, you’re unable to make it to Reno, you can still watch a live video stream at 8pm Pacific Time. Jay Lake and Ken Scholes are hosting the ceremony, and lots of fine people and works are up for consideration. It’s too late to vote if you haven’t already, but it’s not too late to get some some last minute reading in.
Rachel Swirsky’s novella, The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window, may be of particular interest to the OA membership, as it explores gender roles and expectations, and has a queer protagonist.
In tangentially-related-if-we-stretch-pretty-hard news, Lynne M. Thomas (a nominee in the Best Related Work category for Chicks Dig Time Lords) is stepping up as editor of Apex Magazine. She’ll be taking over where Cat Valente left off, and will undoubtedly continue to welcome submissions with queer content. Hurray!
Do you want to talk about the Hugos on Twitter? The women of Galactic Suburbia will be live tweeting as they watch the stream with their @galacticsuburbs account, Mur Lafferty and Kevin Standlee will be doing official text coverage, incorporating Hugo-specific hashtags like #hugos and #hugoawards, and I’ll be around, too. Do say hello if you join the fun. I’m @omgjulia, and I love hearing from people.
Best of luck to OA members who’ve been nominated this year!
A few Friday tidbits June 24, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, events, links, news, publications , 1 comment so farFollowing up on the internet hoaxes discussion, here are two links sent in by JoSelle Vanderhooft:
A Gay (Straight) Girl (Man) in Damascus (Edinburgh) by Ali Abbas and Assia Boundaoui is an explanation of the damage the Amina hoax did from two “New York based writers and freelance-journalists that submitted a blood test and birth certificate to affirm that the above thoughts are their own analysis based on a lifetime of Arab and or queer and or American and or woman identification.”
White Privilege and the ‘Gay Girl in Damascus’ is an NPR segment in which Brian Spears (a white man) talks about white male privilege and why it’s not okay to co-opt the voices of marginalized people.
Sara Amis will be moderating a Feminist SF Twitter chat on Sunday at 2pm EST. The theme of this discussion is worldbuilding. If you want to participate, just follow the FeministSF hashtag.
And while we’re talking about #FeministSF, NPR is asking people to share their favorite SF/F books with the goal of ultimately making a top 100 books list. Nicola Griffith reminds everyone to consider including books by women on the list. I’ll add a bid for considering including books by queer people and people of color.
Finally, Ladies of Trade Town is available now at HarpHaven Publishing. I talked to Lee Martindale about this in the big Gaylaxicon podcast episode–it’s an anthology of stories about the oldest profession, with stories by Catherine Lundoff and Cecilia Tan.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #81: OA Podcast #8 June 22, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, interviews, links, news, Outer Alliance Podcast , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #81. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. This week we’ve got the eighth Outer Alliance Podcast episode for you!
This month we have tons of news and two interview guests. David Levine talks about a few of his many short stories, and Dennis Upkins talks about his debut YA novel, Hollowstone.
You can subscribe to the podcast RSS feed here or use this link to subscribe with iTunes. You can also hit play on the embedded player in this post and listen to the podcast on the web, or visit the individual episode page to download this episode as an MP3 without subscribing.
Notes
On the Amina Arraf and Paula Brooks Hoaxes:
*The OA post I made about this last week: Are All Gay Girls Secretly Men?
*Liz Henry at BlogHer: Warnings and Question about Paula Brooks.
*Ben Rosenbaumguest posting on Liz Henry’s personal blog about when it’s okay to pretend to be someone else, and why it’s not when it’s not.
*Liz Henry on her own blog: Notes on Sockpuppetry and Astroturfing (explaining some internet jargon related to hoaxes, and the mechanics of how people perpetrate hoaxes.
*Daniel Nassar at Gay Middle East: The Impact of Audacity: The Amina Story and its Effect on the LGBT People of Syria and (with Sami Hamwi) From Damascus With Love: Blogging in a Totalitarian State.
*Britta Froelicher at The Washington Post: Britta Froelicher, wife of ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus,’ caught in her husband’s ‘hurricane’.
And because it bears repeating in writing: Trans women are not pretending to be women. Trans and genderqueer/questioning people who do not feel safe revealing their identities and need a pseudonymous online identity in which to explore that are not the people who are doing damage here. There’s a giant difference between that sort of thing and the Amina and Paula hoaxes. I think Ben Rosenbaum’s post above does a good job of exploring when and why pretending to be someone you’re not is harmful, so that’s a great place to start if you aren’t sure.
On Feminism and Gender Bias in SF:
*The OA post from a couple of weeks ago: Outer Alliance Spotlight #80: Feminism.
*The SF Signal interview (and large comments thread): MIND MELD: What’s The Importance of ‘The Russ Pledge’ For Science Fiction Today?
*Athena Andreadis voices her frustration: Why I Won’t Be Taking the Joanna Russ Pledge. (Note the comments. I was glad to see Nicola stopping in, and I particularly liked what JGStewart had to say–I feel that’s one of the great reasons for promoting things like the Joanna Russ pledge. You just never know when a basic step like that will reach a particular person and lead to more openness and consideration.)
*Ann Leckie on editorial bias in seven parts! This is a really great in depth look at bias, building on the things she said at WisCon on the editorial bias panel: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Congratulations to Sacchi Green for winning a Goldie!
On The Writer & the Critic/OA Crossover Episode:
*The Writer & the Critic (in case you want to start listening to one of my favorite podcasts right away).
*I recommended Hal Duncan‘s Spectrum winning story, “The Behold of the Eye”. Read it for free online, buy it in Wilde Stories 2009, or listen to it for free at Podcastle.
*Kirstyn recommended Kim Westwood‘s story, “Nightship”. Buy it in Dreaming Again, or listen to it free at Terra Incognita.
*Ian Recommended Peter M. Ball‘s novellas, Horn and Bleed. Buy them in print or e-book format from Twlefth Planet Press, or get the instant dowload e-book versions from Smashwords.
Warning for anyone who has trigger issues with sexual violence: Horn does contain some graphic rape, which triggered me. I did like the story and find it worth reading, but I would have probably done a bit better if I had known going in that I was going to be reading about graphic rape. It’s not victim-blamey, and it is very much intrinsic to the plot, but you know, it’s still violent and awful because rape is violent and awful. “Nightship” also deals with sexual violence, but it maintains a distance that left me feeling okay. You may have different safe zones and boundaries than I do, though, so I thought I’d mention both. I still recommend these stories to anyone who feels up to reading them before our August episode. I just wanted to give any unsuspecting survivors a heads up about the potential triggers.
On David Levine:
*“At the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of Uncle Teco’s Homebrew Gravitics Club” — Subverting the sexy blonde stereotype character. Free online!
*”Second Chance” and many other free online stories are linked from David’s bibliography page.
*The 100th issue of Realms of Fantasy contains David’s lesbian plumber story, “Tides of the Heart”. Buy it in print or in digital format.
*David’s short story collection, Space Magic, is available through Wheatland Press.
*David’s Mars Journal chronicling his experience at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Available together with the journals of David’s other Mars research team members as a book, The Mars Diaries.
On Dennis Upkins:
*Denny’s website, where he blogs all about Hollowstone.
*Hollowstone as an e-book at Parker Publishing.
*Hollowstone in print at Amazon.
*Lee Thompson Young is Denny’s top pick for actors who might play Hollowstone’s main character, Noah, on the big screen.
*Denny is also on LiveJournal as Neo_Prodigy.
Okay, that wraps this monster episode up! If you have feedback, please leave a comment, or e-mail me at julia@juliarios.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts.