Mothers Day – in gratitude and in my thoughts

Mothers Day – in gratitude and in my thoughts

To all my friends and loved ones who have children in their lives. So many amazing women I know have chosen to have children in the last few years and it is wonderful and amazing. In the buildup to mothers day I have been thinking about how much I am grateful for.

Smart, active, brilliant women have chosen to have children and:

  • They are all alive. I am most grateful for this. They are all alive to live and rock on and change the world and I am in a better position to live in this world because I am not grieving for sisters I lost along the way. They are all alive and none of them are horribly maimed by giving birth either. This is wonderful and amazing when you look at statistics throughout the world and history. There may be complications, but I am so grateful not to fear for my friends lives whenever I hear that they are pregnant – fear born from this kind of tragedy is not part of my lived reality.
  • Wonderful children are engaging to the world who 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago simply would not be alive. That’s an amazing kind of diversity to now have in the world. Premature babies are living and living stronger and better with human contact much sooner than in past times. I have never had to loose a child, but I know of women of older generations who carried the guilt and pain of loosing a child, still-born or “failed to thrive” or brain damaged by birth or early fever or fracking measels. I love that friends that I love do not have to carry this kind of loss. I love that if a child has problems it’s less blame invisible forces and the eve-like mother and more “hmmm this child has a hole in their heart” or kids are delicate and SIDS happens sometimes, this is how to reduce the chances. I am so glad many burdens of sadness have been reduced or at least made comprehensible.
  • I think of the psychic impact of these two things alone. The impact of reduced mother and child mortality is clearly shown in numbers in developing countries especially, and I think we often think of physical impact. Communities and women especially have so much more potential when there isn’t as much grieving business to do.

And beyond death:

  • All of the women I know chose to have children. Some by luck and making a choice in the moment, some by planning, some by years of determination, medical intervention and more grit than I have. Some have had abortions in the past to allow them to make this choice now. Some have had miscarriages along the way (I’m sure many/most have, though it’s not something spoken of that much, though more than it used to be)… because that is the way of things and building a child is a fricken complicated thing – most of us take a few practice runs to do something that complicated. Some women I know have chosen not to, not now not ever and they have not been forced to bear children.
  • All of them chose to have children and many had help. And no one I know has been forcibly sterilized because they were a lesbian or an angry feminist or suffered from depression or were teen mothers or rebels or were of the wrong caste/class/ethnicity. Women’s reproductive rights are still forcibly taken away in some places (not too far from where I am in fact), but not as much as it used to be and it’s slightly less of a dirty little secret.

And now to happier stuff of community

  • I love the diversity of communities of support my wonderful friends are getting. In meatspace, on-line, through the fracking postal service and telephone wires. Communities of choice, of blood, of association, of need. I love my friends who are not silenced by their pregnancies and children. They write of the joys and complexities and sleep deprivation. There’s a lot of blogging about the freaking weirdness of breastfeeding and lactation consultants and getting the little bugger to feed isn’t always as easy as the stories say. This depth of knowledge hasn’t always been there, or gets lost or was only passed down in certain ways. I think of some of the terrifying isolation and fear that existed for some women only a few decades ago who had broken away from traditional spheres of womanhood and didn’t have support there – and before support for women who chose professional lives had started in any form. While support for women to have children and professional lives is still developing at least it is in development and at least there are more women who have dealt with the challenges of profession and children.
  • I love that men are doing more in the domestic sphere. I think this is good for mothers, for culture, for children, for the men themselves and for their relationship with their partner. Different people are good at different things and a burden shared is more than a burden halved… making more space and energy for the joys that are in parenting.

This week I have been thinking a lot about the wonderful women I know who are having children who are being raised in all sorts of different globules of community.

So many are far away, I wish I could be part of their village in a more physical way. It is good to be part of a small person’s village. I am thinking of you my dear friends, as individuals with so much to you as well as rearers of small interesting people who will live and do in this world when I am gone. I don’t know if having kids will ever be a choice Mike and I make, but I never want my village to be without those small and marvelous people that mothers bring into the world.

To the women and tribes I know and don’t know who do their darndest to raise children of marvelous capacity – I salute you and think of you and am proud of you.

Love and hugs and happy mother’s day

L

Norwescon – Further reading and little L’esprit de l’escalier

Norwescon – Further reading and little L’esprit de l’escalier

Norwescon was lovely, and many of the highlights come from conversations during or because of panels. Fellow speakers and audiences were pretty rawking. During my panels I mentioned further resources and references. Here are just a few resources I mentioned (or wish I had mentioned).

Fantastic Fantasy Females with Jean Johnson, Kim Ritchie, J A Pitts and Julie McGalliard

Not particularly insane, but notable female scientist Sofia Kovalevskaya (I can't find a photo of Dr Robinovitch)

A wide ranging and robust conversation it was a terrific way to start the convention.

During the conversation I mentioned Jess Nevin’s fantastic article “A short history of the female mad scientist.” I also forgot Thomas Edison’s name and the name of his unknown opposite was Dr. Louise G. Robinovitch who experimented with electricity and anesthesia.

Can’t -Put-it-Down Pacing with G. David Nordley and Joshua Palmatier (aka Benjamin Tate)

Joshua and I discovered we both describe pacing in terms of sexual metaphors – I talked about not wrecking the foreplay and Joshua has an article up on Apex called “Premature Plot Ejaculation“.

The Fiction of Patricia K. McKillip

It was a lovely self contained thingey and didn’t draw the audience’s attention to further material. We spoke about many things and Patricia spoke admiringly of all the interesting things new writers are doing. She mentioned The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi as an example of a current writer who was doing interesting things that she could never do.

Writers Workshops from Local to national with Eileen Gunn, K.C. Ball, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Patrick Swenson and Leslie Howle

Another broad ranging discussion about all the different kinds of workshops available to writers.

Critters has some good resources on how to give good critiques so that you can be a better workshop participant.

The Psychology of Urban Fantasy with Mark Teppo, Kat Richardson and Kurt Cagle

Fallen angels and the fey clash against the backdrop of Irish/English conflicts of the 1970s

This was a broad ranging conversation at the end of the convention and the panel I wish I had done a better job at. I don’t think I was on top form as a panelist and felt I could have grounded things a bit better, providing more value for the audience. But there were some interesting things touched upon and some interesting conversations afterwards as well.

On the power of Urban fantasy to tell forgotten stories, stories of working people, urban environments and social change I have in my to-read pile Stina Leicht’s “Of Blood and Honey” which draws on Irish Fae traditions and makes new audiences aware of the Bloody Sunday massacre in Ireland.

In conversation after the panel, building on the ways Urban Fantasy can listen better and represent fab diversity we mentioned many many things and gushed about Nalo Hopkinson’s Caribbean mermaids and recommended Nisi Shawl’s Writing the Other. Urban Fantasy often finds different ways of playing with otherness and it is good to do so in an aware way.

 

Love Letters to Inanimate Objects – Clarion Writeathon

Love Letters to Inanimate Objects – Clarion Writeathon

Get in on the 2011 action!

Define a love letter for $20

Head on over to Objects of Love to see new work emerge. It’s not too late to sponsor an object!

Clarion Writers Workshop Write-a-Thon runs concurrently with the workshop (June 26 to August 6, 2011) and raises money to help the workshop exist and enable scholarships for new writers. Scholarships helped me attend the workshop in 2009. I will be participating and you can make a donations over on my profile page.

You can sponsor me a random amount, no strings attached. You can sponsor me for a certain amount per word (you can cap this amount if you wish).

Or for $20 you get to determine the object of affection of one love letter.

You, the donor, will be e-mailed a copy of the love letter ahead of everyone else. The love letter will then be made available on my website and available to share under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Think of something inanimate, as mundane or strange as you wish and help me raise money to support the development of wonderful new emerging writers. I have a few challenging objects bubbling and boiling. I look forward to seeing what else gets thrown at me (you can tell me early, but I think it’s even better if you wait until we launch into it on June 26)

So please sponsor me, we’ll have a lot of fun!

… also, if you do sponsor me you are automatically entered into a raffle to win sweet prizes!

Maia Blue and Anywhere But Earth Update

Maia Blue and Anywhere But Earth Update


I’m excited to to see the lineup for Coer De Lion’s anthology Anywhere But Earth. “Maia Blue is Going Home” is a story I’m very fond of and seeing her in the company of good people I know and good people I would like to know makes me very happy indeed. You can see a full listing here (starting with Margo Lanagan).

Anywhere But Earth “Coming in late 2011, 27 original stories of humanity’s adventures out there, anywhere but Earth.” – You’ll be shocked, shocked and surprised to discover that I follow an alien perspective.

Clarion Archive update

Clarion Archive update

The archive now contains:

NEW Excerpts from Story Teller at Small Beer Press

NEW John Schoffstall (Clarion West 2004)

UPDATED Philip Brewer – Clarion 2001

See the full list here.

Tides of Hope

Tides of Hope

Doesn’t the cover look pretty?
Supanova just announced further details of their Queensland Flood Appeal anthology “Tides of Hope.” On sale for $10 at Melbourne and Brisbane Supanova.

It’s always great to have a story in the anthology that looks gorgeous (and I’m extra pleased to have worked with Chew Chan, who was one of the first friendly faces I met in comics and we haven’t had a chance to hang out since)

More info on the Supanova website.

Rachel Funari – in Memoriam

Rachel Funari – in Memoriam

Rachel, April 2009. Photo by Michelle Lovi

Rachel Funari went missing while backpacking in Tasmania and was last seen on March 3 2011. Given the rugged wilderness area she was in and the searches conducted she is, in all likelihood, dead. More information here. Most recent police update. But she is more than one event, stuff Rachel did.

I first met Rachel at the Banana (Canberra, Australia). The Banana was at S&E’s place and was a large, yellow corner couch that could envelop a dozen people with ease. The Banana was an institution, after a pleasant night out with friends someone would say “Banana?” to which the reply was invariably Banana. Towards the end of my degree the Banana was often where I would be, for tea, coffee, comics and politics. E introduced me to great indy comics like Dykes to Watch Out For, Joe Sacco’s Palestine and what felt like half the back catalogue of Fantagraphics.

And it was on the Banana that I met Rachel Funari. She had a prophet-like glow to her eyes and E was so excited to finally introduce us. Rachel had the insane passion to start a magazine. I was bowled over by Rachel’s determination, passion and how she was going to make it happen come hell or high water. Her own lip magazine.

Read More Read More

Campbell Awards

Campbell Awards

Hugo Award nominations and Campbell Award nominations are due at the end of the week. I haven’t done much spruiking in this regard, other than keeping my writertopia bio page up to date.

But Mary Robinette Kowal wrote about me here, amongst other worthy candidates.

And the Ferret (also eligible for the Campbell) wrote this lovely stuff here.

Thank you both. I am happy to be in such excellent company.

Edit:

And Emily Jiang wrote Haiku for the Campbell nominees she knows, including one about me.

Norwescon Panels – craft, feminism, the urban fantastic & Patricia McKillip

Norwescon Panels – craft, feminism, the urban fantastic & Patricia McKillip

I’ll be on a range of panels at Norwescon. This will be my first time on the other side of the table since coming to America! If you have any questions for Patricia McKillip or stuff you would love to see covered/mentioned in the other panels please let me know. My brain is hungrily exploring what would be the most interesting questions & discussions for panelists and audiences.

My Norwescon Schedule

Thursday 9pm Cascade 8 Fantastic Fantasy Females

Is fantasy the new vanguard of feminist politics? Fantasy authors discuss the role of gender issues in their work.
Jean Johnson, Liz Argall, Kim Ritchie, J A Pitts, Julie McGalliard

Friday 9am Cascade 5&6 Can’t -Put-it-Down Pacing
What distinguishes the book you can’t put down from an interesting character story or a stylistic triumph? How do they do that?

Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Liz Argall, G. David Nordley

Friday 1pm Evergreen 1&2 The Fiction of Patricia K. McKillip
Patricia McKillip is approaching the fortieth anniversary of her first novel, and she just keeps getting better. Often cited as one of the best living writers of fantasy, her work is complex, lyrical, and enchanting. We’ll discuss Pat’s legacy (well over 30 books and counting) and take this opportunity to ask her questions about her work. Pat’s awards include the Mythopoeic Award in 1995, the World Fantasy Award in 1975 and 2003, and the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2008.

Patricia K. McKillip, Leslie Howle, Kris Millering, Liz Argall

Saturday 2pm Evergreen 3&4 Writers Workshops from Local to national
Writers who have participated in both local and national workshops like Clarion West, Writers of the Future, Fantastic Fiction, and more will share their experience and answer your questions.

Eileen Gunn, K.C. Ball, Liz Argall, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Patrick Swenson, Leslie Howle

Sunday 3pm Cascade 10 The Psychology of Urban Fantasy
If Dracula and Frankenstein were commentaries on the fears and desires of the time when they were written, how does Urban Fantasy reflect the modern world? Is Urban Fantasy a worldview that frightens us or is it one that we wish were
true? Should you write your story with this in mind?

Mark Teppo, Kat Richardson, Kurt Cagle, Liz Argall