Crowdfunding Links of the Week: Kaleidoscope (a Diverse YA Antho) & War Stories (a MilSF Antho)
If you haven’t backed these projects yet, you must do so right away. First, my good friend Julia Rios and Twefth Planet Press ninja Alisa Krasnostein (also of Galactic Suburbia fame) are putting together an anthology of YA fantasy stories with diverse perspectives. If you know me, I love me some diversity in SF/F, so I really want to see this project get funded. It’s called Kaleidoscope, which is a pretty nifty name if you ask me. There are only three days left (as of this posting), and several thousand bucks left to go, so please spread the word and throw down some cash! Here’s what the Pozible page says about the project: Kaleidoscope is an anthology of diverse contemporary YA fantasy & science fiction stories, which will be edited by Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein, and published by Twelfth Planet Press. Too often popular culture and media defaults to a very narrow cross section of the world’s populace. We believe that people of all kinds want to see themselves reflected in stories. We also believe that readers actively enjoy reading stories about people who aren’t exactly like them. We want see more stories featuring people who don’t always get the spotlight, so we’re gathering a wonderful variety of: YA fantasy stories [Update: As of 10/23 we are also open to science fiction] Set in the modern world Featuring teen protagonists from diverse backgrounds The main characters in Kaleidoscope stories will be part of the QUILTBAG, neuro-diverse, disabled, from non-Western cultures, people of color, or in some other way not the typical straight, white, cis-gendered, able-bodied characters we see all over the place. Oh, and submissions are currently OPEN! Next is a new military science fiction anthology called War Stories, edited by Jaym Gates and Andrew Liptak. Based on who is currently billed for the anthology, I suspect this is going to be one heck of a project. I mean, Joe Haldeman will contribute to this thing. That’s enough for me. Here’s what the Kickstarter page says about the project: An anthology of Military SF, exploring how warfare might affect the soldiers and civilians of tomorrow. War has been speculated about in science fiction literature from the earliest days of the genre. From George Tomkyns Chesney’s The Battle of Dorking and H.G. Well’s War of the Worlds & War In the Air to Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers to Karin Traviss’s Wess’har Wars series and Dan Abnett’s Embedded, science fiction literature has long had something to say about war. Now, it’s time to tell some new stories. War Stories is an anthology that looks to the modern state and the future of war through the words of some of the best short fiction authors writing today. Our cover art is by the fantastic, Hugo Award winning artist Galen Dara, who’s worked for such places as Fireside Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, Geek Love and Apex’s own Glitter and Mayhem anthology. She’ll also be contributing some additional, interior artwork.War Stories isn’t an anthology of bug hunts and unabashed jingoism. It’s a look at the people ordered into impossible situations, asked to do the unthinkable, and those unable to escape from hell. It’s stories of courage under fire, and about the difficulties in making decisions that we normally would never make. It’s about what happens when the shooting stops, and before any trigger is ever pulled. We’ve grown up reading stories from authors such as Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, Orson Scott Card, Timothy Zahn, C.J. Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold and others that have laid the foundations for ‘military science fiction’ as a distinct genre. We want to tell some different stories. Science Fiction, and military science fiction in particular, is a good look at the world today, where military actions are certainly relevant. We aim to tell some new stories that look at the future of warfare, and the people, robots and aliens involved. Submissions are also currently open for War Stories! I’ve already backed both projects, but since I’m kind of poor, I couldn’t give much. And that means you all need to get off your tooshes and back these things too. If 10,000,000 of us give $5, then…well, I guess all the aforementioned editors would be millionaires, which would allow them to raise their pay rates to $1.37 a word. That would be cool, no?
Link of the Week: Aliette de Bodard on #DiversityinSFF and Writing About Other Cultures
If you don’t already follow Aliette de Bodard’s excellent blog, I recommend you do so immediately. When she’s not talking about her amazing writing, she’s usually talking about something equally fascinating. And that’s what she’s been up to today! Over on her blog, she has a wonderful post about other cultures, diversity in SFF, and a few other interesting things. Go check it out!
Link of the Week: “Conventions and Authors” by Tobias S. Buckell
Over at his blog, author Tobias Buckell (Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, Sly Mongoose, Arctic Rising, The Apocalypse Ocean…and a lot more) talks about his experiences at Worldcon, his thoughts on how cons work for him as a professional writer, and so much more. It’s my favorite post-Worldcon post thus far this year, so anyone interested in a pro-writer’s perspective on the value of cons to writers should definitely read his post. And then you should go buy a whole bunch of his books. Basically, all of his stuff is amazing. I won’t pick for you. Just…start somewhere 😛 Anywhoodles!
Link of the Week: Speculative Friction
If you haven’t seen this already, then you have to look before the whole thing goes kaput. DMCA notices have been issued (expected really), and it’s unlikely the images will remain online in an easily accessible space for long (if I’m wrong about that, please let me know in the comments). So what is Speculative Friction? The owner of the page defines the project as a “disinfectant” for the SF/F community. The tumblr itself contains a number of screencaps from the SFF.net forums, featuring the sometimes sexist, but mostly confused, thoughts on the SFWA fiasco(s) from the last month (I discussed the second fiasco here) from several big-name and lesser-known SF/F authors. It’s quite illuminating, really. I definitely recommend reading it. Anywho!
Top 10 Blog Posts for June 2013
A half-and-half list. Half new stuff, and half retro stuff. It’s really kind of weird how this keeps happening. Oh well. Here’s the list: 10. Genre Books for Non-Genre People: Still Missing the Point, Folks! 9. Why I Hated Superman Returns 8. Amal El-Mohtar Calls for the Expulsion of Theodore Beale from the SFWA 7. Silly Reader Questions: Super Powers, Magic, Bathrooms, and Poetry 6. Top 10 Most Ridiculous Moments in Science Fiction and Fantasy Film in the 90s 5. Dear Regal Cinemas: Insane People and How Your Staff Responded 4. Ray Bradbury Predictions Fulfilled 3. Top 10 Cats in Science Fiction and Fantasy 2. Top 10 Overused Fantasy Cliches 1. SFWA, Sexism, and Progress (A Response to Jason Sanford)
Link of the Week: Amal El-Mohtar Calls for the Expulsion of Theodore Beale from SFWA
You’ve probably already seen it, but if you haven’t, here you go. If you scroll down to the comments section, you can see a lot of other responses to the situation. In short, Theodore Beale (a.k.a. Vox Day) is our resident loud-mouthed racist and misogynist. This is not a bit of name calling. This is just established fact. The things he’s written about women and people of color so clearly define him as among the most vile minds among us that I’m surprised it took until Amal’s post to spark serious discussion about expelling him from the SFWA. Then again, I suppose this is the first time he’s explicitly broken “the rules.” And that’s the crux of the matter: Beale/Day used an official SFWA space to increase his readership (as opposed to N.K. Jemisin who gave a speech at a non-SFWA function), and in doing so, he turned SFWA’s voice into a loudspeaker for racism. It’s like the guy comes straight out of a D.W. Griffith film… I may have more to say about this whole thing later, but if not, there’s plenty of interesting stuff to read in Amal’s post alone. The links at the bottom of that post add a whole lot more. Anywhoodles.