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EVENT: Sci-Fi Alien(ation): Diversity and Bigotry in Sci-Fi/Fantasy–April 8, 2016

SciFi Event

I will be in a panelist for this event in NYC, on April 8. Dr. Philip Kadish will be moderating, and fellow panelists include Jennifer Marie Brissett (author of Elysium), and Dr. Andre Carrington (author of Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction). It will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center at 6pm.

A panel discussion with science fiction scholar Dr. André Carrington (Drexel Univ.) and science fiction/ fantasy authors Jennifer Marie Brissett and Craig Laurance Gidney, moderated by Dr. Philip Kadish (Hunter College) to celebrate diversity and dissect racism, homophobia, and sexism in the world of sci-fi publishing and fandom.  Special attention will be paid to  the highly-publicized hate campaign at the 2015 Hugo Awards. A group calling itself the “Sad Puppies” gamed the voting system to assure that most award nominees were white, male, and straight, voicing public statements about gay, black, and women’s themes and authors ruining the genre. This episode mirrors “gamer-gate,” where rape and death threats were made against women in the video game industry who have complained about sexism.

More information and free tickets are here.

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2015 Roundup — Of Nectar and Awards

2015 was very productive year
Ups include:

–SKIN DEEP MAGIC was on a couple of college syllabi, and I got to do two author visits with college students, and it was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.
–BEREFT, my YA novel about bullying, racism and homophobia, won a Bronze Moonbeam and a Silver IPPY Award

–I got to assist with editors choosing the fiction in QUEERS DESTROY HORROR.
–I got to go to WORLD HORROR in Atlanta, which led to several professional friendships.
–My novelette THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES was published and illustrated got good reviews
–My first collection, SEA, SWALLOW ME & OTHER STORIES was turned into an audiobook.
All are bucket list accomplishments.

Downs include:
The death of Tanith Lee. We used to exchange emails and she was very supportive of all of my work. I only met her once. We had planned a visit before her illness. I dedicated THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES to her.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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“The Nectar of Nightmares” in Weird Fiction Reviews End of Year booklist

Weird Fiction Review did its annual End of Year Booklist, and one of the reviewers, Christoper Burke, said some lovely things about NoN. Tis an honor to have my work listed alongside Kelly Link, Angela Carter, Thomas Ligotti and Sofia Samatar.

The management reminds you that The Nectar of Nightmares is a limited edition illustrated chapbook. Over half of them have been sold. Copies are still available.

The Nectar of Nightmares

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Book Birthday: Welcome THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES to the world

What’s it about: A short story about a different type of monster. A kaleidoscopic story, full of dream logic.

It’s also illustrated with Orion Zangara’s beautiful and eerie drawings, and beautiful designed by Dim Shores publisher Sam Cowan.

It’s a limited edition–only 150 copies will be produced.

Where you can get it: Dim Shores Press Webstore

The box of books and prints!
The box of books and prints!
The Nectar of Nightmares is dedicated to Tanith Lee.
The Nectar of Nightmares is dedicated to the late Tanith Lee.
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Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast episode 173: Queers Destroy Horror Panel Discussion.

I’m on this week’s Wired’s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast(link), along with Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy and Nebula Award finalist author Alyssa Wong and author/editor Wendy N. Wagner, discussing the special Queers Destroy Horror of Nightmare Magazine. Thanks to the host, David Barr Kirtley and producer John Joseph Adams for the opportunity!

 

Screen Shot 2015-10-24 at 9.11.00 AM

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Short Fiction Sunday: “The Litigation Master & the Monkey King” by Ken Liu

I started a new Sunday morning ritual of reading and/or listening to podcasted short fiction.

Last week, I listened to When Your Child Strays from God by Sam J Miller on Clarkesworld. A slipstream story about family drama and homophobia and motherhood. The fantastic elements of the story were closer in spirit to Kelly Link’s work and amplify the psychological journey of the first person narrative. Clever, funny, dark.

This week was The Litigation Master & the Monkey King by Ken Liu on Lightspeed. This historical tale, threaded through with Chinese folklore, starts out light and whimsical, then gets progressively dark. A nimble bit of mood whiplash.

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Listen to me speak about writing on The Outer Dark podcast! And “The Nectar of Nightmares” is up for preorder!

Scott Nicolay interviewed me for The Outer Dark, a podcast about weird, dark and horror fiction. Thanks to Scott for having me on–the conversation was wide ranging and touched on the Negritude movement, surrealism and Rihanna!

Craig Laurance Gidney: Writing the Beautiful Mess

Also, The Nectar of Nightmares is up for preorder!