| Wiscon 36 Con Report - Travel Edition |
[May. 24th, 2012|08:23 am] |
Nearly an hour after I left my house, 35.50$ poorer, I am now a 5 minute car ride away from my house. But, hey, free wifi. Anyway, it turns out an airport shuttle is cheaper and while it wouldn't pick me up directly at my house for that price, it would pick me up at the hotel across the street. This bus is more crowded than I'm used to seeing it.
So because I procrastinated and because airlines go under and restructure and whatnot, I couldn't get a reasonably-priced plane ticket straight to Madison. This year I'll be flying into Chicago and taking a bus from there. It's not ideal, but I couldn't justify the ~300$ otherwise. Maybe when I'm rich and famous. Or at least rich. Although if you're famous, it's easy to be rich. Funny how that works.
Have now run out of things to do to take advantage of this free wifi and am contemplating turning the comp off and reading a book on the ereader.
Plan tonight is to get to the hotel by 6ish *fingers crossed*, check in, get some food, and see if Access or any other con department needs some help tonight.
Still don't know what I'm reading at the OA reading, but I printed out two Clarion stories if I fail to write a new story in the next 48 hours or so. Turns out I really gayed it up at Clarion. :)
In other news, I submitted two things to markets yesterday. Should hear back in a few weeks.
While I have your attention, I'll be doing the Clarion write-a-thon again this year. So be ready to support a great writing workshop! |
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| AC Crispin |
[May. 22nd, 2012|05:09 pm] |
Pointing you to Jim Hines's post on AC Crispin. I don't have time to tell you how awesome the Starbridge novels are, but they are and you should go buy them. If you like Star Trek, you'll like them. And a couple of them have a Deaf main character who is _also_ a woman and _also_ Native American (I regret I can't remember the tribe). So yea, intersectionality and a great read.
Buy them, buy them all. |
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| Wiscon Thingees! |
[May. 10th, 2012|01:43 pm] |
Do you want a livejournal or dreamwidth userpic sticker at the Livejournal party? Say so here.
Also, Wiscon will have ASL interpretation this year! A few more details here. If you have questions, do contact the access email address! Please let any ASL users who are sf/f fans/writers know. Wiscon will also have CART captioning at the Guest of Honor Speeches/Tiptree Award ceremony for the second year in a row.
I've also seen people posting trying to give up and/or share a governor's club room, so if you're looking for a room, there's probably one available. Governor's Club is more expensive, but you do get some free food.
Oh yea, and the schedule is up! I'm afraid of looking to see what I'll be missing Monday as I board a bus for Chicago. :( |
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| Beyond Binary |
[Apr. 27th, 2012|02:33 pm] |
Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction by Brit Mandelo
Loving this book! I haven't finished it yet, but I probably will over the weekend.
Stories by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) keyan_bowes, kehrli, ellen_kushner, deliasherman and other cool people!
Wanted to point people to Nicola Griffith's interview with Brit Mandelo: part 1, part 2, and part 3.
And another interview over here if you just can't get enough.
On a related note, Julia Rios talks with Tansy Rayner Roberts on the latest Outer Alliance podcast. |
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| Wiscon Schedule |
[Apr. 19th, 2012|08:53 am] |
Because all the cool kids are doing it, here's my Wiscon schedule:
Friday 9pm - 10:15pm
YA Love Triangles - Cultural Advance or Retreat?
A common theme in popular YA novels, spec fic and otherwise, is the ongoing love triangle—usually one girl who is in love with two boys. So far, she always chooses just one of them. Why is this so popular right now? Does it support at least thoughts of polyamory, or does the average reader refuse to consider that option? Is the love triangle meant to demonstrate conclusively that only heteronormative couples are acceptable? Have any YA writers been specifically working against this trend?
Saturday 10am-11:15
Introduction to Broad Universe
Broad Universe is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres. Come meet some of our members and learn more about this amazing organization.
Saturday 10:30pm-11:45
Outer Alliance: New Writings in LGBTQ SF/F/H
We'll be reading from recent work featuring LGBTQ protagonists and themes. Outer Alliance is an organization created to combat homophobia in sf/f and provide greater visibility for positive portrayals of LGBTQ/Quiltbag-themed work.
There are people more awesome than me on all of these things, so come check 'em out!
I'm not much of a party person, but I plan to stop in at the Outer Alliance one and the Beyond Binary one. And probably the video one, because watching videos is more my speed party-wise. And if there's a Buffy sing-a-long, I've practiced this year! I know the words!
I have a dessert salon ticket. I don't ever want to miss the Tiptree auction. And I'll probably swing by the BU Rapidfire Reading.
I have some ideas on the YA love triangles panel. Obviously, or I wouldn't have volunteered for that one. But I'm taking recs! I have about a month to read some more. |
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| Grr, yea |
[Apr. 18th, 2012|01:41 pm] |
So I went to check my Yahoo Mail and saw this article. Yahoo loves to blast you with news headlines to get you to read them. And sometimes it works.
Reporter Megan Carpentier undergoes ‘unnecessary’ transvaginal ultrasound to frame abortion debate
I'll put the rest under a cut, because it's potentially triggering, though the quote I use and I myself don't go into any details.
"It was not, however, like being raped, despite all the furor-generating headlines and "Doonesbury" cartoons that were printed. It was uncomfortable to the point of being painful, emotionally triggering (and undoubtedly is more so for victims of rape or incest or any woman in the midst of an already-emotional experience) and something that no government should force its citizens to undergo to make a political point. But it wasn't like being raped--"
Yea, you know why it wasn't like being raped? Because you UNDERWENT THE PROCEDURE VOLUNTARILY.
So, yea, grr. |
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| On Podcasts |
[Apr. 13th, 2012|09:39 am] |
I've only recently gotten into listening to podcasts. Yea, I could totally do it on my mp3 player or, even more easily, on my iphone. But maybe I'm old-school or something. I just listen on the computer.
I've sampled a few, but here's the three I'll be coming back to regularly:
Outer Alliance Podcast - Julia Rios interviews cool people, or presents recordings of panels. I like this for its focus on quiltbag characters/authors in sf/f.
Broad Universe Broadly Speaking - Broad Universe is about women writing sf/f. This podcast is women who write sf/f talking about sf/f! BU also has a Broadpod, which is authors doing readings. A bit like the Rapid Fire Readings if you've ever been to one of those at a con.
Galactic Suburbia - You're most likely to have heard of this one. I've only listened to a couple so far, but they all have interesting and funny things to say about sf/f and feminist things that interest me. They're also 'down under', so they talk about what's going on in the Australian and New Zealand sf/f world that otherwise I likely wouldn't hear about. They're also Hugo-nominated!
The other Hugo-nominated podcasts in this year's new category 'best fancast' are:
The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz, produced by Patrick Hester
SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith
Of those, I'd probably recommend the SF Squeecast first. But I'll let you hunt down the links yourself.
Any good podcasts I'm missing out on? |
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| Some thoughts on "The Invisible Dystopia" |
[Mar. 26th, 2012|10:09 am] |
Saw a link to this last Friday, but didn't get around to read it until today. Paolo Bacigalupi on why no quiltbag people in dystopias.
I'd actually been thinking about this myself, in that weird hivemind/thoughts-in-the-ether way, last week. I'm currently reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver. This is at least the fourth dystopian YA I've read about a female protagonist and her love life. This ramps it up even a bit more though, by declaring love a disease that you're cured of at 18 with damaging brain surgery. So far she only has one boy she's interested in though -- that breaks the pattern of having two (potential) love interests.
While some of these dystopias mention the possibility of two people of the same sex loving each other, actual quiltbag characters are noticeably absent.
I started pondering how I could subvert the trope -- or mess with this new subgenre. And my thoughts really did go towards.. well, what if you made a dystopia that was pretty much what life is already like for queer people. My thoughts didn't get too much further than that, since I have school, work, and other things crowding out my brain.
Which is to say, I agree with Bacigalupi to the point that the dystopia is already here. And to make it worse, you'd really only have to go to certain parts of the country (US) or other parts of the world, or just a few decades back in time. You can't get more dystopic for gay people than Nazi Germany, really, can you?
But subverting it by showing heterosexuality as deviant? It's been done. He even notes it's been done. I could probably come up with a few more examples with enough thought. (Forever War by Haldeman is one example I just read.) I dunno. You'd have to do it differently, or do it really well. It could be useful to have one of those in a bright, shiny YA cover and suck in all the Hunger Games and YA romance fans, but.. The story would still have a straight person as the main character now wouldn't it?
Look, we need more quiltbag characters in YA science fiction and fantasy PERIOD. Full stop.
So go forth and write a dystopia where heterosexuality is forbidden. But, also, or instead of, write a dystopia where the main character isn't straight. Write a dystopia where one of the love interests is bi. Write a dystopia where they mess with your gender. Write a dystopia where orientation doesn't matter and it's a dystopia for other reasons. And write a story with rocket ships piloted by lesbians. Write a fantasy full of boy dragons raising eggs together. Write all the things!!
We need it all.
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Related note: Stone Telling's queer issue is out -- Haven't read it yet, but it's sure to be full of super-awesome things, since they didn't accept my awesome things. ;) |
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| Signal Boost: Scheherazade's Facade Kickstarter |
[Mar. 19th, 2012|09:56 am] |
I backed my first Kickstarter project this weekend, so I'd like to see it succeed!
Scheherazade's Facade
Man, that's a hard name to type.
"History, literature and mythology are replete with stories of those who, for one reason or another, disguise themselves as the opposite gender, or are transformed into that which they are not. Whether it's for love, ambition, or self-preservation, whether it's to challenge the status quo or simply to embrace their true nature, whether it's done willingly or thrust upon them, there will always be those who cross-dress and blur the lines between genders. Scheherazade's Facade takes its inspiration from those themes. From Bugs Bunny's dress-wearing shenanigans, to Mulan's impersonation of her father, from Tamora Pierce's Alanna of Trebond, to M*A*S*H's Klinger, this collection's antecedents are everywhere."
TOC:
" * Alma Alexander-- "The Secret Name of the Prince"
* C.S. MacCath -- "The Daemons of Tairdean Town"
* Paolo Chikiamco -- "Kambal Kulam"
* Tiffany Trent -- "Driftwood"
* Melissa Mead -- "Pride"
* Tanith Lee-- "Keeping the World on Course"
* Aliette de Bodard -- "A Bitter Taste"
* Lyn C.A. Gardner -- "Going Dark"
* Sunny Moraine -- "The Cloak of Isis"
* Shanna Germain -- "How to Dance While Drowning"
* Sarah Rees Brennan -- "Treasure and Maidens"
* David Sklar -- "Lady Marmalade's Special Place In Hell"
"
If you think this sounds pretty darned cool, head on over to read the full write-up. |
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