Outer Alliance Spotlight #44: Debra Killeen August 6, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : events, interviews , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #44. Each week the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Debra Killeen, author of the Myrridian Cycle series.
Debra Killeen turned to writing only as an adult. In her non-writing life she works in the pharmceutical industry, but her fiction remains firmly in high fantasy territory, not science fiction. The first book in her Myrridian Cycle, An Unlikely Duke, came out in 2007, and was followed by three more volumes: A Prince in Need, Legacy of the Archbishop, and Priestess Awakening. The fifth and final volume is scheduled to come out in 2011.
Debra is a straight ally, who believes that people should take love where they find it. She counts among her friends and relatives people from all across the spectrum of sexual and gender identity, and supports LGBTQI acceptance in her life and in her fiction.
If you are in Raleigh this weekend, you can find Debra at NASFiC, where she will be reading this evening at 8:00 with the Broad Universe group, as well as sitting on a few panels, and signing autographs. If you’re not near Raleigh, you might be able to catch Debra later this year or next at Darkover, OutlantaCon, StellarCon, RavenCon, or ConCarolinas.
Debra lives in North Carolina with her sister, who is also a writer. They share their home with several cats, who are all very helpful with the writing. In addition to her personal site, Debra maintains a Twitter feed.
Outer Alliance Meetup at Readercon July 9, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : announcements, events , add a commentNo Spotlight this week as I am busy attending Readercon in Burlington, MA. Please say hello if you see me! I’m a short white woman with long purple hair.
And the exciting thing: we’re having an Outer Alliance meetup on Sunday at 12:30. Come to the Marriott lobby and meet some of your fellow allies!
Help Celebrate Pride Month With The Outer Alliance! June 28, 2010
Posted by Natania in : Outer Alliance Pride Day, The Outer Alliance, announcements, events, news , 1 comment so farPride Month may be drawing to a close, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to make a statement! The Outer Alliance is hoping you will join us in celebrating Pride Month via your personal or organization’s blog. We’ve come up with a few suggestions for ways you can show your pride.
Press Pride – Do you have a favorite press that consistently wows you with queer content? Highlight the presses that have made a difference in your life, and link to some of the books that have been particularly inspiring. Don’t forget to let your readers know how to support the press and purchase those publications. You can do a review, an interview, or just a note of thanks.
Personal Pride – Have you experienced something amazing during the process of writing or reading? Did a particular character teach you a lesson? Have you come to any personal realizations through characterization or in the process of writing a novel? Tell us about your experiences with queer fiction; provide an excerpt or a personal story.
Pride in the Process – Write a few lines of queer flash fiction. Post it on your blog as a living acknowledgment of your pride in the genre.
Whatever you choose to do, when you post, let us know by tracking back here or linking on our Google Group. At the end of the week we’ll link back to all the posts!
Keep in mind the Mission Statement of the Outer Alliance, too:
As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.
Happy Pride Month, everyone!
Announcing the Science in My Fiction short story contest! March 22, 2010
Posted by bartleib in : announcements, events, publications , add a commentOuter Alliance members Bart Leib and Kay Holt, founders of Crossed Genres and Science in My Fiction, have announced the Science in My Fiction short story contest!
“Here’s how it works: Authors write a science fiction or fantasy short story which is inspired by a scientific discovery or innovation made or announced within the past year. It can’t be peripherally added: the science must be integral to the story. Writers must include a link to a relevant article or study of the applied science when they submit their stories.”
A panel of 6 amazing judges will vote on the finalists. Two of the six judges (Nicola Griffith and Cat Rambo) are members of Outer Alliance.
There’s $400 of cash prizes to be won, plus subscriptions, books, etc.
Please visit the contest page, read the entry guidelines, see who the judges are, and read about our Kickstarter drive to put the winning stories in print!
Then, enter your story! The contest will be open for entries from April 1 through June 30. Winners will be announced on July 21.
Show us there’s still room for real Science in fiction! Huge thanks to everyone who helped us make the contest happen!
Outer Alliance Spotlight #18: Kyell Gold January 22, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : events, interviews, queer-friendly publishers , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #18. Each Friday, the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is furry author, Kyell Gold.
Kyell has won several Ursa Major Awards for his work, and recently won two Rainbow Awards for his novel, Out of Position. His latest book, Shadow of the Father, is being released this weekend at Further ConFusion in San Jose, California. Another novella, Bridges, will be released next month at Furry Fiesta in Dallas, Texas, where Kyell will appear as the Writing Guest of Honor. Bridges is part of a new project called Cupcakes, which Kyell is launching along with some other furry authors.
Kyell has been active in furry fandom and queer speculative fiction for ten years. In addition to his fiction, he also co-produces (with K.M. Hirosaki) a furry podcast called Unsheathed. When he’s not writing and podcasting, you might find him at cons, or campaigning for gay rights in his current home state of California. He lives in the San Francisco bay are with his partner, Kit Silver.
Kyell blogs on LiveJournal as kyellgold, and maintains a personal website at www.kyellgold.com.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #17: Queer Friendly Conventions January 15, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : events , 6commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #17. Usually the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction, but this week we’re going to do something a little bit different. It’s the beginning of the year, so we’re going to take a look at some of the queer friendly conventions going on in 2010.
January
*First, a convention that’s happening right now: Arisia. This Boston, Massachusetts area con is queer, pagan, poly, and kink friendly, and has a few Outer Alliance members on the guest list. If you show up, you might run into Rose Fox, Jennifer Pelland, and Cecilia Tan. Arisia’s Fan Guests of Honor this year are a queer couple, Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley, and there is even a Queer SF&F panel on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
*Coming up next weekend (22-24 January) in San Jose, California, you can catch OA member Kyell Gold at Further ConFusion, a Furry convention.
February
*In Boston, Boskone 47 is happening on 12-14 February.
*If you can’t make it to Further ConFusion, you’ll have another chance to see Kyell Gold in Dallas, Texas over the weekend of 19-21 February. He’ll be appearing at Furry Fiesta as the Writing Guest of Honor.
*On 26-28 February, Gallifrey One is happening in Los Angeles, California. This convention is devoted to Dr. Who fandom. (Thanks to LJC for the tip!)
March
*OA member Catherine Lundoff will appear at MarsCon 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the weekend of 5-7 March.
*Last week’s Spotlight subject, Angelia Sparrow will be a guest at MidSouthCon during the weekend of 12-14 March.
May
*OutLantaCon is an LGBTQ SF convention in Atlanta, Georgia happening on 1-3 May. Nicola Griffith and Cecilia Tan will both be guests there. (Thanks to Catherine Lundoff for the tip!)
*WisCon is a feminist SF convention that takes place in Madison, Wisconsin. This year it will happen on the weekend of 27-31 May.
*That same weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, Tanya Huff (whose books have been recommended by multiple OA members in Spotlights past) will be the Guest of Honor at Balticon.
*Imaginales is a book and original illustration fair in Epinal, France, which will also take place on 27-30 May. The chair, Stéphanie Nicot, is one of France’s leading trans rights campaigners. (Thanks to Cheryl Morgan for this tip!)
June
*Angelia Sparrow will be appearing at Hypericon in Nashville Tennessee on the weekend of 4-6 June.
*That same weekend in Dallas, Texas, Catherine Lundoff will be a guest at A-Kon.
July
*CONvergence is happening on 1-4 July in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Catherine Lundoff will be there, too!
*ReaderCon is yet another Boston Area convention, but this one eschews media other than books. Jennifer Pelland usually turns up at this one, and Cecilia Tan has in the past as well.
*Finncon is happening 16-18 July in Finnland, and will feature Ellen Kushner and Pat Cadigan. (Thanks again to Cheryl Morgan for the tip!)
August
*Diversicon hasn’t put up its 2010 dates yet, but this Minneapolis, Minnesota convention exists to celebrate diversity in SF fandom.
*Au Contraire is the New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention for 2010. It’s happening the weekend before this year’s WorldCon, so that people can go to both in one trip. 27-29 August in Wellington, New Zealand. (Thanks to Anna for the tip!)
September
*Memphit Fur Meet 2010 will be happening on the weekend of 3-5 September in Memphis, Tennessee. This is another small, Furry convention, and Angelia Sparrow may attend it if she isn’t traveling to Atlanta, Georgia.
*Dragon*Con (3-5 September in Atlanta, Georgia) is one of the larger convention in the US, and full of elaborate costumes.
*That same weekend, but on another continent, the 68th WorldCon, AussieCon 4 is happening in Melbourne, Australia.
October
*Gaylaxicon, a con devoted entirely to queer speculative fiction, will take place in October in Montreal, Canada.
November
*OA member Elizabeth Bear will be the Guest of Honor at Darkover XXXIII in Timonium, Maryland on the weekend of 26-28 November.
This is just the tip of the convention iceberg, so please tell us about your favorite queer friendly conventions in the comments, and about which ones you plan to attend (I’m personally planning to attend Boskone and ReaderCon). I’ll be sure to update this page with more convention links if you tell me about them. With any luck, maybe we can all meet some of our fellow allies in person this calendar year!
Outer Alliance Spotlight #5: Nicola Griffith October 16, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : events, interviews, publications , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #5. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is author, editor, and Lambda Literary Foundation board member, Nicola Griffith.
Nicola’s first novel, Ammonite, won the Premio Italia, Lambda, and Tiptree awards. She went on to win the Nebula, Spectrum, World Fantasy Award and 5 more Lambdas before joining the Lambda Literary Foundation Board of Trustees in June of 2009. In addition to writing 5 novels, a memoir, and several shorter works, she also co-edited (with Stephen Pagel) the Bending the Landscape series of LGBTQ science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies. She keeps a blog at http://asknicola.blogspot.com/.
Originally from the UK, Nicola now lives in Seattle with her partner, Kelley Eskridge, with whom she recently started Sterling Editing (an editing, mentoring, and coaching service for writers). Both Nicola and Kelley will be appearing alongside futuristic heavy metal band, BloodHag, on October 24th at Olympia Washington’s first SciFiFest. (more…)
OCTOBER 11 is COMING OUT DAY! October 5, 2009
Posted by mbranesf in : announcements, events , 2commentsOctober 11 is Coming Out Day. To mark this occasion, we are encouraging members of the Outer Alliance to write and post on their sites some short coming-out stories. These can be personal or fictional, told from your own perspective or through that of a character. Another possibility would be to talk about what it’s like coming out in the speculative fiction community or what kinds of challenges or experiences have resulted from it. Also, it would great for members to link to this site and encourage new people to join the group.
We probably should have been promoting this idea a bit earlier than now, but we managed to come up with the 9/1 Pride Day and its stunning collection of blog posts pretty quickly…so we should be able to do something comparable again. Members who have a post on this day can share the link to it in the Forum (I will add a topic for them) or by way of the Google Group list, and we will gather the links together in a blog post as well, like we did on the Pride Day.
Outer Alliance Pride Day Success – A Huge Thanks to All! September 2, 2009
Posted by Natania in : Outer Alliance Pride Day, The Outer Alliance, events , 2commentsOver 80 posts.
Over 200 members.
Over 3,000 pageviews.
What can I say? Gosh, I’m a bit speechless. I still haven’t completely caught up on the posts, but at last check we were at 81. Traffic to the site has exploded; we saw our numbers soar! Twitter was abuzz.
I don’t think I anticipated such an impressive response with our first event, figuring… well, it was a first event. But I like to be surprised!
All the success is due to the remarkable people that make up the Outer Alliance. Reading the posts from yesterday, I definitely got a little teary-eyed. Straight advocates posting thoughtful reflections, queer writers talking about the state of publication and their struggles, and, of course, some truly remarkable writing. Thanks to everyone who posted, to those who read, to those who spread the word, to those who happy danced along with me.
If you didn’t have a chance to post, it’s not too late. Just link to the post from yesterday here. There are over eighty voices that can speak for you. Or with you. I suppose “with you” is really more of the idea.
At any rate, there are more things to come! Look for more announcements in the weeks to follow. We’ve done a mighty thing, friends. Instead of sowing discord, we’ve raised our hands in celebration of what we are, who we support, and what we believe.
Bravo!
Lambda Literary Foundation and Giovanni's Room Team Up for Read-a-Thon September 2, 2009
Posted by Natania in : announcements, events , add a commentOuter Alliance member Nicola Griffith says:
Just got this. It looks like a great opportunity for queer writers of all stripes and persuasions to meet, drink some free wine, eat some fab free food, chat–and even sell books. Think of it as a mini-festival. I wish I could be there.
Dear LGBT authors:
The Board of Directors of the Lambda Literary Foundation and Ed Hermance, owner of Giovanni’s Room, would like to invite you to read at our first “Read-a-thon”. The event, to be held at 7:30pm on Saturday November 21, 2009, at Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia, will be a benefit for both the Foundation and the bookstore. We’d like to invite LGBT authors to read from a recent or classic book and answer questions for approximately 15 minutes each. 100% of the proceeds from the event will go to the two beneficiaries. We will be serving donated wine and snacks during the marathon reading. While the foundation and the bookstore can’t offset any expenses authors might incur participating in this benefit, we can possibly arrange housing in local homes. Both the Foundation and Giovanni’s Room will be very grateful for your help in these trying economic times. While this is a fundraising event, we’re hoping it will be a lot of fun for a community of people who treasure our words and writers.
The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives. The Foundation sponsors the annual Lambda Literary Awards and held its first Writer’s Retreat in 2007.
Giovanni’s Room, located at 12th & Pine in Center City Philadelphia, is the oldest LGBT bookstore in the USA. The store is faced with a financial challenge as their front wall of their historic structure is being replaced. The queer community of Philadelphia, rather than lose their cherished bookstore, is organizing fund-raising events through the fall to ensure the store’s survival.
We hope that we’ve enticed you to participate at this, sure to be wonderful, event. If you would like to read, or have any questions/comments/suggestions, please contact Scott Cranin at scranin@tlavideo.com or 267-765-9840.