Outer Alliance Spotlight #64: Mark Allan Gunnells January 28, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 4commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #64. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Mark Allan Gunnells, author of Asylum.
Mark is a gay horror writer who enjoys putting incidentally queer characters into stories which aren’t about sexuality and orientation. His novellas, Whisonant, and Creatures of the Light, are collected in one volume by Sideshow Press, and his short story collection, Tales from the Midnight Shift, Vol. I is forthcoming from Sideshow as well. His newest book, Asylum, is the first product of Apex Book Company’s new zombie imprint, The Zombie Feed. Asylum departs form Mark’s usual style to take issues of sexual identity head-on–in the context of a zombie attack on a gay dance club.
Mark lives in South Carolina with his partner, Joel. If you’d like to learn more about him, check out his Facebook page or his LiveJournal.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #63: OA Podcast #3 January 21, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, Outer Alliance Podcast, publications, submissions , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #63. 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 third Outer Alliance Podcast episode for you!
In this episode, JoSelle Vanderhooft, Amal El-Mohtar, and Mike Allen join me to talk about Steam Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories. Mike and Amal also read excerpts of their stories after the interview. This podcast episode does contain a bit of profanity as well as some mentions of a certain part of male anatomy (yes, in an excerpt of a story about lesbians–the irony has not escaped us), so if that kind of thing puts you off, be forewarned. I hope you’ll decide to listen, though, as these three have a lot of really interesting things to say about editing, what they like to see in reviews, encouraging diversity, and how to pronounce Amal’s name, among other things.
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:
JoSelle is co-editing Hellebore and Rue with Catherine Lundoff. This anthology about lesbian magic users is forthcoming from Drollerie Press. JoSelle also edited Sleeping Beauty Indeed, an anthology of lesbian fairy tales available through Lethe Press.
Mike Allen is the former president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, editor of the poetry magazine, Mythic Delirium, and of the Clockwork Phoenix anthologies.
Amal El-Mohtar co-edits Goblin Fruit with Jessica Wick. She’s also a Rhysling winning poet. Amal and Jess officially own Mike since they bestowed a fabulous poetry hat (seen below) upon him. The woman peeking over Mike’s shoulder is his wife, Anita, who added embellishments to the hat.
Photo by Anjeli Stewart
The critically objective review of Steam Powered, which we referred to twice during the interview is by Rush-That-Speaks, and can be found here.
Art inspired by Steam Powered includes work by Tooth-And-Claw, these teasers by Shweta Narayan, and jewelry by JoSelle.
Amal’s story, “To Follow the Waves” is available in full on Podcastle #139, read by Marguerite Croft.
Guidelines for Steam Powered 2 are available here
Thanks for listening, and please do feel free to leave feedback here, on the google group, or by e-mailing me at julia@juliarios.com. I’d love to hear from you.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #62: 2011 Conventions January 7, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : events , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #62. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. This week we’re discussing which conventions we’ll be attending in 2011.
Several OA members on the Google group say they’re planning to attend Arisia and FogCon this year.
Arisia is next weekend, the 14th-17th, in Boston, MA. Cecilia Tan will be hosting a party for Circlet Press on Friday, night, Jennifer Pelland will be reading from her forthcoming novel (with a bisexual protagonist) on Saturday night, and Steve Berman and Connie Wilkins (AKA Sacchi Green, winner of 2010 Lesbian Erotica Lambda) will be hosting an afternoon tea for Lethe Press on Sunday. Catherynne Valente (winner of 2010 Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Lambda) will also be attending.
FogCon is the 11th-13th of March in San Francisco, CA. The schedule isn’t set yet, but potential attending members include Chaz Brenchley, Madeleine Robins, Malinda Lo, Cliff Winnig, and Kyell Gold.
There are a lot of other cons in 2011. Which ones are you planning to attend? Let us know in the comments or on the Google group!