WisCon Book Haul

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time at WisCon 37, socializing and doing my best to make sure other writers don't starve (also known as buying books, my favorite strategy). I feel the need to tell you what I selected.

Before and Afterlives, by Christopher Barzak. From the back cover: "These are tales of relationships with unearthly domesticity and eeriness: a woman falls in love with a haunted house; a beached mermaid is substituted for a lost missing daughter; the imaginary friend of a murdered young mother stalks the streets of her small town; a teenage boy is afflicted with a disease that causes him to vanish; a father exploits his daughter's talent for calling ghosts to her; and a wife leaves her husband and children to fulfill her obligations to a world from which she escaped." In case you were wondering what kinds of things I like to read about in short stories, now you know. It sounds like a great collection, and I have already enjoyed reading the first story in the book, "What We Know About the Lost Families of – House."

Seeing Things, by Kater Cheek. Description: "Coffee shop barista (and part-time treemaker) Kit Melbourne’s life turns upside down when her tea-leaf reading brother predicts that someone will rob her, break her heart and oh yeah, murder her. Kit suspects it has something to do with the priceless jewel she inherited from their infamous witch uncle. As the jewel’s powers begin to reveal the secret, supernatural side of the town of Seabingen, Kit realizes she has to uncover the mysteries of her uncle’s past, to find out which of his many enemies wants the jewel badly enough to kill for it." I've read enough of Kater's short stories to know that I enjoy her writing style, and I'm always psyched up to read about the secret, supernatural side of anything.

Trampoline: An Anthology, edited by Kelly Link. This book is not new—it came out about ten years ago—but I had been meaning to get this for a long time. It is a matter of public record that I'm a huge fan of Kelly Link's stories, so I'm certain that other stories she chose to put together will also make me very happy.

Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, by Annalee Newitz. From the book jacket: "In its 4.5 billion–year history, life on Earth has been almost erased at least half a dozen times: shattered by asteroid impacts, entombed in ice, smothered by methane, and torn apart by unfathomably powerful megavolcanoes. And we know that another global disaster is eventually headed our way. Can we survive it? How?" You might not know this about me, but this topic is something I fret about. A lot. I'm also curious about what other people have to say about it. Given the fact that Annalee Newitz is a particularly interesting person (and also fun to chat with!), I can only believe that this book will be just right for me, especially since it seems to be angled toward fascinating science and optimism.

Which books have you picked up lately?

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Disclosure of Material Connection: None! I have not gotten and will not get any financial compensation for mentioning these books. I don't do affiliate links.

What Fates Impose Progress, Plus WisCon this Weekend

Today's exciting news is that I have seen and declared my approval of the cover art for What Fates Impose, which I commissioned my own self because MY PUBLISHER IS AWESOME. I'm not ready to post the image yet, but I love it and you'll see it soon. I can tell you that the artist is Steven C. Gilberts, who, by the way, is great to work with.

I've accepted the stories that will appear in What Fates Impose. I am so looking forward to revealing the table of contents for this book! I'm still considering the order of the stories, but no matter the order, the authors are amazing and they've written fiction that I'll be proud to send out into the world. At this point, we're working on story edits, and then I'll go into more detail with line edits, but the prose was already at a high standard when it came in.

We're also polishing up the details of our funding drive through Kickstarter, which will begin very soon. Reward levels will include digital and print versions of the book, as well as selected other titles from Alliteration Ink, and there's talk of offering cover art prints and other goodies as well. I'll post the link here when it's ready, of course, and I hope you'll consider checking it out.

As you may have gathered from the title, this weekend I'm going to WisCon, the World's Leading Feminist Science Fiction Convention, which is located in Madison, Wisconsin. The convention goes from Friday through Monday, May 24th through the 27th, but I will only be there during the day on Saturday and Sunday, since I'm commuting instead of staying at the hotel. I'm looking forward to the people, discussions, books, art, and probably jewelry I'm likely to engage with there. I don't think I've ever gone to a WisCon without buying jewelry from either the art show or the dealers' room. But the main thing is the people—it will be great to see friends there and have the chance to meet new ones.

And for my next trick(s)...

I'll have a new story out in March: "Quintuple-A," in an anthology called Sidekicks!, edited by Sarah Hans. Click the link to see the full table of contents.

Aside from the coolness of the theme, I'm extra-happy to have a story of mine in a book with six people I've already met--I think that's my record! I'm also looking forward to meeting everybody else on the list if we find ourselves at the same conventions. Being in the same anthology is a fun thing to have in common. :)

What's next? In April I plan to attend Odyssey Con, which will be in Madison, Wisconsin from April 12th through the 14th. I'm also scheduled to participate in a group reading of stories from Sidekicks! on Wednesday, April 24th at 6:30 pm at A Room of One's Own, a lovely independent bookstore in Madison.

Is that not enough for you? Well, how about this? I'll be at Mo*Con in Indianapolis May 3-5, and I plan to go to WisCon in Madison during the weekend of May 24-27 (most likely I'll be there by day only). So I will be in public places, getting social, several times in the next few months.

Oh, and have I mentioned the anthology I'm editing? Oh, yes. Watch this blog for details about my original fantasy anthology and the Kickstarter drive to make it happen. There will be news by the end of April, latest.