Outer Alliance Podcast #14: Steampunk December (part 1) December 10, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, links, news, Outer Alliance Podcast , 1 comment so farThis month on the Outer Alliance Podcast, we’re celebrating Steampunk! The subject is big enough that we’re splitting it into two episodes. This first one is all about SteamPowered II: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories. Zen Cho, Shveta Thakrar, and Patty Templeton join me to discuss their stories and read short excerpts.
Although this episode has an explicit tag, most of it is fine for everyone to consume. If you are concerned about exposing your delicate ears to a bit of salty language, however, you should avoid listening to the very last excerpt (from Patty Templeton’s story).
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:
Awards!
*The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards writeup is here. The OA sends hearty congratulations to all!
*Elisa Rolle’s Rainbow Awards list is here. So many OA members to congratulate! Excellent job all around! Particular congratulations to JoSelle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff, Cecilia Tan, Lauren Burka, Lee Thomas, Lee Benoit, and Kyell Gold!
Zen Cho’s Links
*Zen’s blog, which has links to all her stories.
*Eileen Chang‘s stories were part of the inspiration for Zen’s story in SteamPowered II.
*Malaysian and Singaporean writers: Jaymee Goh, Stephanie Lai, Fadzlishah Johanabas, Ika Koeck, Alfian Sa’at, Eeleen Lee, Joyce Chng.
*Ken Liu and Aliette de Bodard are not Malaysian or Singaporean, but Zen recommends their work, too.
Shveta Thakrar’s Links
*Shveta’s blog.
*“Lavanya and Deepika” is Shveta’s retelling of “The Beautiful Twin and the Ugly Twin” in Demeter’s Spicebox.
*Shveta recommends the Hindu myth comic books from Amar Chitra Katha.
Patty Templeton’s Links
*Patty Templeton’s blog.
*The Foxfire Books seek to preserve and celebrate the culture of Southern Appalachia.
*Naked Girls Reading is a group of women who like to read in the nude (yes, this page does contain pictures of naked women). They also give out a Literary Honors Award, which Patty won in 2010.
More About SteamPowered II
*Jaymee Goh interviewed every contributor for this volume on her blog. See the collected interviews here.
*The Skiffy and Fanty Show (a podcast co-hosted by OA member, Shaun Duke) had an LGBTQ themed episode with SteamPowered editor, JoSelle Vanderhooft this month.
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 #13: Shaun Duke December 11, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, queer-friendly publishers , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #13. 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 reviewer and editor, Shaun Duke.
Shaun is a straight ally with a gay mom, who believes that people of all orientations should be able to tell the stories they want to tell. He reviews and discusses speculative fiction on his blog, The World in the Satin Bag, and he is the co-owner of the Young Writers Online forum and workshop website. He recently released the first issue of Survival By Storytelling, an online magazine that publishes young writers.
Though originally from the West Coast of the United States, Shaun currently lives in Gainesville, Florida with nine leopard geckos. He is working towards an MA in English at the University of Florida, specializing in science fiction, post-colonialism, and fantasy.