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Coming Out #2: Jennifer Pelland on Machine January 31, 2012

Posted by juliarios in : Coming Out, publications , 2comments

Welcome to Coming Out #2! Coming Out is a series of guest posts in which creators talk about specific newly available works. We based this loosely on John Scalzi’s The Big Idea series, except, since we’re The Outer Alliance, you can expect all the projects to involve QUILTBAG people and/or content. Our guest poster this time is Jennifer Pelland, author of Machine.

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Machine
-or-
why everyone should fall in with kinky genderqueer pagans in their early 20s
by Jennifer Pelland

Binaries suck.

Although I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.

I started getting my education in the fallacy of binaries when several biracial friends in the early- and mid-80s taught me that A + B did not equal AB, but rather that 1 + 1 equaled 1. (In other words, a human being cannot be two diametrically-opposed halves sutured down the middle — a human being
can only be a whole, indivisible person.) That education continued in college with my own burgeoning bisexuality, although I’ll admit that before I came to that realization about myself, I was one of those annoying people who thought that bisexuals should just pick a side and not be so damned indecisive.

Then, just as I was graduating from college, I fell in with the pagans, and in Boston at that time, the intersection of the pagan and bisexual circles was a queer pagan group called Q-Moon. In Q-Moon, I met several “gender-fuck” transsexuals, as they called the movement at the time, several of whom were into sacred sexuality and BDSM. And they blew the lid off of my brain in the best possible way.

Picture a 21-year-old recent women’s college graduate having lunch with one of these new friends, who asks her, “Have you ever questioned your gender identity?” No, I hadn’t. The new friend smiles and asks, “Why?”

Whoa.

Later on during that same lunch, picture the 21-year-old’s face as her new friend says, “I really want to have a cunt, but I have nothing against my cock. And that doesn’t make me any less a woman.”

Again, whoa.

Picture a ritual in someone’s basement for that same new friend, a dedication to a goddess, involving a nude postulant,chakra anointing, and the sacred consumption of estrogen pills. Picture one member of the circle being kept to the side throughout the proceedings because she’s currently undergoing a BDSM initiation of her own, involving bondage and a horse-tailed butt plug.

Picture the 21-year-old’s brain exploding like the Death Star.

Fast-forward fifteen years. There I am, coming up with the cast of characters for a novel about love, loss, and illegal body-hacking. Of course there’s going to be a character who wants both a cunt and a cock. Of course there are going to be characters with fluid sexuality. Of course there’s going to be a character who erases gender altogether. Of course there’s extreme BDSM. Of course my protagonist, a biracial lesbian, is going to get the lid blown off of her brain by all of this. And of course I’m going to feel like I didn’t go far enough.

So I would like to take a moment to thank the wonderful people of Q-Moon for giving this cisgendered, vanilla, bisexual feminist the education of a lifetime. I honestly think I’m a better person for having been forced to explain why I’ve never questioned my gender identity. Why should people outside the so-called “normal” paradigm be the only ones who routinely have to do that? And I honestly think I’m a better person for being exposed to such a bold group of people who went out of their way to make others uncomfortable with their gender nonconformity. I may not have emulated them, but I learned a lot from them. Most importantly, from them I learned that terms like “gender” and “sexuality” are far broader than their dictionary definitions would lead one to believe, and that we do the human species a disservice by pretending that those definitions are accurate and complete.

To conclude, I’d like to encourage all young people out there who aren’t already kinky genderqueer pagans to find a similar group to fall in with during your most impressionable years. You can’t reassemble a blown mind, and that’s a damned good thing.

________________________________________

Jennifer Pelland lives outside Boston with an Andy, three cats, an impractical amount of books, and an ever-growing collection of belly dance gear and radio theater scripts. She’s garnered two Nebula nominations, and many of her short stories were collected in Unwelcome Bodies, put out by Apex in 2008.

Machine is available in paperback and as an e-book from Apex Book Company.

The Galactic Suburbia Award and Honours List January 28, 2012

Posted by juliarios in : announcements, news , 1 comment so far

Yesterday, 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!

Outer Alliance Podcast #16: The “Queer SF&F” Panel at Arisia January 20, 2012

Posted by juliarios in : events, interviews, Outer Alliance Podcast , 7comments

It’s the first episode of 2012! I started the year off with a big convention weekend, and decided to share it with you. JoSelle Vanderhooft, Meredith Schwartz, and Don Sakers joined me on a panel about Queer SF&F at Arisia in Boston, Massachusetts. Raven Kaldera was unable to make the panel, but sent in some of his thoughts via e-mail, and I read those out after the panel recording finishes.

Thanks to everyone who came to be part of the conversation in person! We had a fantastic audience, especially for ten in the morning on the last day of a con. Below, as promised, are links to everything people recommended during that session. Comments and further recommendations are always welcome, and if you’d like to say anything to me directly, my e-mail address is julia@juliarios.com.

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.

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Notes:

JoSelle Vanderhooft’s Work
*Jo’s website.
*SteamPowered and SteamPowered II are the lesbian steampunk anthologies Jo edits with an eye toward diverse content and viewpoints. SteamPowered III will be accepting submissions in February.
*Sleeping Beauty Indeed is an anthology of lesbian fairy tales, which includes a story by Meredith.
*Heiresses of Russ is the best lesbian stories of 2010 Jo collected co-edited with Steve Berman. Jo says Steve’s contribution (a retelling of Swan Lake) is the best short story she’s ever read.
*Bitten By Moonlight is the lesbian werewolf anthology that came up during the horror and dark fantazy recommendations part of the panel.

Meredith Schwartz’s Work
*Alleys and Doorways is the anthology Meredith edited, which contains Jo’s butch werebunny story (why have I not read this yet?).
*Meredith is also running this year’s program for LunaCon.

Don Sakers’s Work
*Meerkat Meade is Don’s home page.
*Dance for the Ivory Madonna is Don’s all-inclusive “Meta Gay” book (though no one’s been able to explain what Meta Gay means without taking at least three pages, apparently). It was a finalist for the Spectrum Award, and almost made the final Hugo ballot as well.
*Curse of the Zwiling is Don’s dark fantasy, which came up during the horror and dark fantasy recommendations part of the panel.
*Don also has a regular column in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Raven Kaldera’s Work
*Raven’s website.
*Raven’s books (including Best Transgender Erotica, and Double-Edge: The Intersection of Transgender and BDSM).
*Raven’s list of Female to Male non-fiction and fiction books.

Other Recommended Works
*Everyone recommended Catherynne Valente (whose work was, at one point, described as “relentlessly queer”–there’s a quote for the next book cover). Jo particularly singled out Palimpsest and Silently and Very Fast.
*Don recommended Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins as examples of bestselling books with prominent and complex QUILTBAG characters.
*Meredith recommended Amanda Downum’s The Bone Palace, which she said she read first even though it is the second of a trilogy, and she believes it stands alone. This book was also on the Tiptree shortlist in 2011.
*When an audience member asked about Twilight‘s influence on YA, Jo mentioned Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely Things, and I mentioned Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan’s Team Human as books with protagonists who don’t think dating supernatural creatures is a very good idea.
*Jo recommended Steve Berman in general and Meredith recommended his YA novel, Vintage, in particular.
*Jo also recommended Erekos by A.M. Tuomolo.
*Don recommended Melissa Scott, particularly Trouble and Her Friends and Shadow Man. Meredith added that Trouble and Her Friends is a good example of cyberpunk that doesn’t feel dated.
*Don also recommended Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup.
*Simoun was Jo’s anime recommendation, which she says will appeal to fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and which features supernatural aircraft powered by lesbian kisses.
*Meredith recommended Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series and Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint (which is now also available as an audiobook with an exciting cast of voice actors as part of the Neil Gaiman Presents series).
*Melissa Scott and Jo both recommended the lesbian zombie novella, Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram. And this starts our run of dark fantasy and horror recommendations, which an audience member requested.
*Meredith and Jo recommended Ginn Hale’s Lord of the White Hell for dark fantasy fans.
*I recommended Lee Thomas in general for horror fans, and specifically mention The Dust of Wonderland, which won a Lambda Award.
*Meredith recommended A Companion to Wolves for fantasy fans, which led me to recommend The Bone Key for horror fans, and then all of us to recommend Sarah Monette’s work in general.
*Don recommended Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series for dark fantasy fans.
*An audience member recommended Joanna Russ.
*Adrienne Odasso recommended Clive Barker for horror fans.
*Another audience member recommended the television series Carnivàle for horror fans.
*And our final recommendation from the panel was Maureen McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang, which Meredith started and I jumped all over, and then Jo got in on it, too.
*Raven recommends Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series, particularly citing Bel Thorne and Lord Dono Vorrutyer as well drawn intersex and trans characters.
*Raven also recommends Steel Beach by John Varley.
*Raven also felt it worth mentioning Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series, and Mary Gentle’s Ilario series.

Finally, I noted on the podcast, and I’ll note again here that not all books work for all people, and that books might have problems, but still work for a lot of people, and be worth reading, considering and talking about. Opinions tend to vary greatly around books with trans and/or intersex content because every person experiences gender and orientation differently, and because there are so few of those books to begin with. All of these recommendations did work for the recommenders, but I do want to acknowledge that they may not work for everyone, and that people who disagree with these recommendations also have valid experiences and opinions. Individual experience is, after all, highly subjective. We’re open to discussion, and happy to collect more suggestions if you’ve got them.

Outer Alliance Spotlight #95: Workshops and Classes January 13, 2012

Posted by juliarios in : links, news , 4comments

Welcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #95. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating QUILTBAG speculative fiction. Today we’re taking a look at some QUILTBAG friendly writing classes.

Before we dive into the wide world of writerly education, there’s one bit of news I wanted to share. A lot of OA members have said they’re fans of Diane Duane, and cited her as an influence on their own work, so I thought I should pass on her call for help. Earlier this week someone fraudulently cleared out her bank account, and she’s scrambling to make ends meet while the bank sorts through fraud paperwork. A quick infusion of cash would be very welcome, so she’s offering a 20% discount on her personal e-book store. If you’d like to help her out and get some excellent books at a bargain price, just go over there and use the promotional code DDGOTSKIMMED.

Okay! Writing workshops!

The beginning of the calendar year is one of those times when a lot of people resolve to improve and grow. If you’re a writer, you might be drawing up plans to complete big projects, or making goals for submissions counts, or you might be trying to figure out how best to learn more about your craft. There are a lot of writing classes out there. Here are a few which are QUILTBAG friendly. All of these have either been recommended by OA members, or are taught by OA members.

I’m going to list these in order of pricing from high to low. I’m not valuing any workshop or class over another, though, just to be clear.

Clarion Workshops — These are six week intensive workshops. They’re competitive, and they’ll set you back a couple thousand dollars (though there are a few scholarships available). Several OA members have praised them for the diverse and knowledgeable instructors, and the residential setting, which focuses students on learning and making connections with their peers. Many Clarion students go on to sell a lot of work. If this sounds like your cup of tea, applications are open until the 1st of March for both Clarion and Clarion West. Both workshops this year feature instructors who have written stories with QUILTBAG content themselves, so it’s safe to assume they’ll be supportive of yours if you bring it.

Viable Paradise — Like Clarion, this is a residential intensive workshop with several instructors, and it’s also going to cost you a couple thousand dollars when all is said and done. Unlike Clarion, all the instructors are there together, and the whole experience lasts one week instead of six. It’s also competitive, and many Viable Paradise students go on to sell a lot of work. If the intensive residency idea appeals, but you have a job or family you can’t leave for long, this might be a good choice for you. Applications  for Viable Paradise are open until the 15th of June.  Again, the instructors here have written (or published) QUILTBAG material, so yours will be welcome.

Lambda Literary Writing Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices – If you want to spend time with other QUILTBAG writers, this might be a good choice for you. It’s another weeklong intensive residency program, which, again, will cost a couple thousand dollars after you’ve accounted for transportation and room and board on top of the tuition (though there are scholarships available).  Applications are open until mid-April. Lambda Literary has more information here.

Loft Classes — The Literary Loft is a Minneapolis area organization which offers lots of different classes for writers both in person and online. These are a good option for people who have less money to spend, and they’re not competitive–anyone may enroll. If you live in the area, you might consider taking Catherine Lundoff’s one day class on writing and selling QUILTBAG fiction on the 18th of February (a steal at $46.50). If you don’t live in the area, you might like Lyda Morehouse’s science fiction class, Mars Needs Writers ($425.00 for six weeks of online coursework starting on the 6th of February–video introduction here). Both of these instructors are most certainly open to QUILTBAG work. To find either class, visit the Loft site, and look them up under the teaching artists field in the search page.

Cat Rambo’s Online Classes — For the writer who wants to experience a workshop classroom environment without leaving home, this is a great choice. These classes run from $99 to $249, and Cat teaches over Google+ hangouts, which are video chats. I’m currently taking one, and can personally attest it’s been helpful. Again, this is a non-competitive open enrollment situation, so your class will likely contain people at different levels. I’ve found that perfectly agreeable, as Cat gives equal time and attention to everyone and is very good about tailoring classes to specific students’ needs. And Cat’s an OA member, so you know QUILTBAG content is welcome. You may find info on how to sign up at Cat’s blog.

That’s what I’ve got for now. If you have other QUILTBAG friendly writing education recommendations, please tell us about them in the comments!

Finally, there are still a few days left to enter the drawing for a signed copy of Natania Barron’s Pilgrim of the Sky. Just comment on this post to get your name into the hat!

Outer Alliance Spotlight #94: Stone Telling’s LGBTQ Issue January 6, 2012

Posted by juliarios in : interviews, queer-friendly publishers, submissions , 1 comment so far

Welcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #94. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating QUILTBAG speculative fiction. Our guest today is Rose Lemberg, who is currently reading for a QUILTBAG issue of Stone Telling. Unfortunately, health issues prevented Rose’s co-editor, Shweta Narayan from joining this discussion.

Rose and Shweta have both been guests here before, so if you want to find further information about their taste in poetry and vision for Stone Telling, please check out Outer Alliance Spotlight #39 with Rose, and Outer Alliance Spotlight #71 with Shweta (who was not yet co-editor, but was guest editing an issue at that time with J.C. Runolfson).

For up to the date insights to help you figure out what to submit for this current issue, read on!

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