Outer Alliance Spotlight #45: Retro Spec August 27, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications, queer-friendly publishers , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #45. Each week the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guests this week are Karen Romanko, CD Covington, and Leonard Richardson, the editor and two of the contributors to Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia from the 20th Century.
Karen Romanko is a poet and fantasy writer, who loves the sun of Los Angeles and Malibu. She edited the speculative fiction webzine, Raven Electrick for several years, and has edited two previous anthologies, Sporty Spec and Cinema Spec. Her poetry and fiction and have appeared in many places including Strange Horizons and Ideomancer.
CD Covington is a fantasy and science fiction writer who also enjoys tai chi, crochet, and European football (she is particularly interested in the German Bundesliga). She maintains a twitter feed in addition to her blog. “U* Alexanderplatz (1989)” is her first publication.
Leonard Richardson is a writer and computer programmer. His programming books, RESTful Web Services and The Ruby Cookbook were published by O’Reilly, and his story, “Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs” appeared in Strange Horizons. Together with his wife, Sumana Harihareswara, he edited the anthology Thoughtcrime Experiments in 2009.
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 Spotlight #42: Sandra McDonald July 23, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #42. 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 Sandra McDonald, author of Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories.
Sandra McDonald has written several short stories and novels, including “The Ghost Girls of Rumney Mill”, which was shortlisted for the Tiptree award in 2003, and the science fiction series, The Outback Stars, The Stars Down Under, and The Stars Blue Yonder. Her latest book, Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories follows the coverging paths of three people including an openly gay character and a genderqueer character.
Sandra has an MFA from the University of Southern Maine, and spent 8 years traveling the world as a Naval Officer. In addition to her personal site, she keeps a LiveJournal where she posts about writing.
Outer Aliance Spotlight #41: John Coulthart July 3, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #41. 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 artist John Coulthart.
John is a gay artist and writer based in Manchester, UK. He designs and illustrates books and comics as well as creating CD and DVD cover art, and original visual art. His Psychedelic Wonderland 2010 calendar was featured on Boing Boing, and inspired his cover art for Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic #4. He has work on display as part of the A Love Craft exhibition at Observatory in Brooklyn, New York, which will be open until the 23rd of this month.
Though he doesn’t read as much science fiction as he used to, John feels indebted to the genre for giving him queer characters he could identinfy with as a teen. He’s an Outer Alliance member because of that, and because he believes LGBTQI visibility is important. John maintains a Twitter feed and blogs on his personal site.
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!
Outer Alliance Spotlight #40: Sacchi Green June 25, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #40. 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 Lambda Award winning author and editor, Sacchi Green (AKA Connie Wilkins).
Sacchi Green is the erotica writing pseudonym for Connie Wilkins, and she’s got a list of publishing credits that’s about a mile long. She identifies as a lifetime bisexual person with strong lesbian leanings, and a definitely lesbian writing muse. Most recently, she won the 2010 Lambda Award in the Lesbian Erotica category for co-editing Lesbian Cowboys with Rakelle Valencia. She also edited Girl Crazy, and the forthcoming Lesbian Lust (due out in August), and is currently taking submissions for Lesbian Cops.
As Connie Wilkins, she edited Time Well Bent, an anthology of queer alternate history stories. Her personal fiction contribution to that volume is reprinted in Bedazzled Ink’s Year’s Best Lesbian Fiction 2009 and (with slightly more erotic content) Circlet Press’s Best Fantastic Erotica. She also has a story coming out in Hellebore and Rue, an anthology of stories about lesbian magic users due otu from Drollerie Press later this year.
Sacchi blogs on LiveJournal, maintains a Facebook profile, and is active on the Lesbian Fiction Forum. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, and will be reading in various East Coast cities this fall.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #37: Lauren P. Burka June 4, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #37. 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 Lauren P. Burka, writer and assistant editor at Circlet Press.
Lauren’s fiction debuted in 1992 with the collection, Mate: And More Stories from the Erotic Edge of SF/Fantasy. Since then she’s written several more pieces, both long and short. Most recently Torquere Books released her m/m romance, Wishbone, and her short story, “Double Edged Bomb” appeared in the collection of erotic superhero stories, Like a Mask Removed. As an editor, she works on single author projects and anthologies such as the transgendered themed Up For Grabs, the BDSM themed Kneel to Me, and the M/M SFF erotica collection, Wired Hard 4. She is currently editing the sequel to Up For Grabs, and writing a cookbook for people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Lauren lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the Circlet Press headquarters. If you’d like to catch up with her in person, she’ll be attending Readercon in July.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #35: tycho garen May 21, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #35. 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 tycho garen, writer and creator of the Outer Alliance wiki.
tycho garen (also known as Sam Kleinman) is a young, queer science fiction and tech writer living in the Philadelphia area. His interest in communities and the work people can do in groups comes through in most of his pursuits. From dancing and shape note singing to science fiction writing and open source software theory and development, tycho actively engages in group discourse and creation.
His projects include The Cyborg Institute (think tank exploring the intersections of communities and technology), Knowing Mars (a science fiction novella), and the Outer Alliance wiki. In addition to his personal site, he also maintains a twitter feed.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #34: Sara M. Harvey May 14, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #34. 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 writer and costumer, Sara M. Harvey.
When Sara ten years old, a teacher gave her some notebooks to fill with stories, and the storytelling habit stuck. Sara’s first novel, A Year and a Day, was published in 2006. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies including Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Kerlak Press’s Dragons Composed. Apex Books published the first volume of her Penemue trilogy (steampunk horror novellas starring a lesbian half-angel with mad fighting skills), The Convent of the Pure, in 2009. The second volume, The Labyrinth of the Dead is available for pre-order now, and the third volume, The Tower of the Forgotten is scheduled for a 2011 release.
One of Sara’s other passions is costuming. She teaches, constructs, and frequently speaks about costumes on panels at conventions. She’s also contributed chapters to several costuming textbooks including The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History. Her essay on the Juni-hito styles of Heian Japan is available free online at Clothesline Journal of Costume and Dress.
Sara lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Matt and their three dogs. She is acttive on LiveJournal, Twitter, and Facebook in addition to her personal site. She will be attending Hypericon in June and Pi-Con in August.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #33: Cesar Torres May 7, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #33. 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 Cesar Torres, one of the Outer Alliance’s founding members, and author of The 12 Burning Wheels.
Cesar was born and raised in Mexico City, but has lived in Chicago for the past 23 years. An advocate of both art and science, Cesar has been involved with performance arts groups like Barrel of Monkeys and The Neofuturists, and is currently working towards an MS in Human-Computer Interaction at DePaul University. His diverse interests inform his writing, which he describes as weird and wondrous.
Cesar maintains a Twitter feed in addition to his blog. He will be reading from The 12 Burning Wheels on the first of June at Hopleaf as part of their Gothic Funk reading series.