So it turns out that I do have something for an awards eligibility post! My short story “Who We Are” is in the Weird Little Worlds Humans Are The Problem anthology.
Just a little story about the Goatman and science going wrong. Please consider nominating it (and the anthology too) for all the things. Wooo!
It’s that time of the year! Here are my works eligible for the 2020 awards season:
Let’s start with “Roots On Ya” (FIYAH Issue #13, Winter 2020) about a rootworker in rural Virginia in the early 1900s. It is being reprinted in Apex Magazine in January 2021. Reviewer Charles Payseur said “If this were the pilot for a TV show, I’d be sold.”
Next is “Rule of Thirds” (Fireside Quarterly: Winter 2020; Magazine: Issue 77, March 2020) about a scientist who finds out more than she bargained for in unexplored underwater tunnels deep beneath the earth.
And then there’s “A Clink of Crystal Glasses Heard” in the SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire anthology, ed. by Nicole Givens Kurtz (Mocha Memoirs Press). A lighthearted coming of age story about legacy and learning about yourself. This story would also be eligible for MG or YA short story awards.
I’m also going to include my nonfiction essay “On Vision and Audacity” and poem “Hidden” that appeared in Chosen Realities (vol. 1), the literary journal of the Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction (DWASF).
I hope you’ll consider nominating these! This has been a tough year for us all and here’s to the next year of more stories, more creativity and more writing accomplishments!
So I logged over 8000 words this week. For some of you, that’s a drop in a big bucket of them, but for me? That was the most I’ve written in quite some time. If anything, NaNoWriMo is going to get me back into a writing habit. I want to finish my novel/la length works already. I have been primarily a short story writer, but I think it’s time.
I’ve also been participating in FIYAH Magazine’s #VoicesOnFiyah activity, holding it down for Team Horror. I plan on making it to the end this year, even if I don’t hit a 50K goal, I’ll still feel like a winner.
Hey there everyone. I thought I’d keep on telling you about the stories I’ve been enjoying by specfic writers of color. This week, let’s talk about Rebecca Roanhorse’s debut novel Trail of Lightning! I, like so many others, loved her Hugo, Nebula and Campbell Award-winning short story “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™.” After I finished it, I simply said “Goddamn!” So when she came out with Trail of Lightning, I knew I had to read it.
When writers of color tell the stories of our own worlds, of our own cultures and experiences, readers are treated to something different and new because the well the author is drawing from is deep with unheard stories. The world that Rebecca Roanhorse, who identifies as Black and Pueblo, draws from for her Sixth World series is an Indigenous one filled with Diné mythology, tradition and every day life.
Protagonist Maggie Hoskie is pretty much a loner–or has preferred to be. A no-nonsense monster hunter, she is called upon to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, setting things in motion. Maggie tucks in the ends of her moccasin wraps, puts on her leather jacket, grabs her Boker knife and gets things done. She is not alone, joined by the handsome, smooth-talking, healer-in-training Kai (okay, can we talk about how damn fine Kai is supposed to be??) who, like Maggie, has clan powers that they use to their advantage.
Together, they travel through a Dinétah nation protected from the outside world by a wall constructed with help from the gods. The rest of the U.S. has been devastated by an apocalyptic flood. Who is creating the monstrosities that are running rampant? What the hell is the trickster Coyote/Ma’ii up to now? Where is Neizghání, with whom Maggie had shared so much? What is going on? There are gods and monsters, and she has to deal with them both as they figure it out.
The second book in her Sixth World series, Storm of Locusts, is coming out this April and is now available for pre-order. If you haven’t gotten into them yet, get on it!
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse, 2018. Simon & Schuster.
Find out how to get your copy HERE.
***Getting that To Be Read List down one book at a time!***
What do I know about doing reviews? Nada, as this is my first one, but I can tell you about specfic books and short stories I’ve read lately–especially ones by writers of color like me. My colleagues are putting out some great stuff that you should know about if you don’t already, so I thought I’d start something new for the new year on my blog.
Let’s get this party started with L.D. Lewis’ novella A Ruin of Shadows, which gives new meaning to the lament “I’m too old for this shit.”
Gen. Daynja Édo has been whooping ass and taking names left and right for a long time, doing what has to be done and doing it very well. She has a magical mask that adds to her fame as well as the Shadows, her team of assassins that she personally trained. With folks eyeing her position and questioning if she’s still capable, she is given an official order. Gen. Édo rejects it like “Nope!” and the hunt is on, with the Shadows and a whole army at her heels.
I love that Gen. Édo is an older protagonist. Her bones pop and creak. She runs a hand through gray hair. But the most important thing is that she knows exactly who she is, what she can do, and has the wisdom to see through BS. No wondering and angst. We don’t often get a chance to see older women being as badass as possible in specfic and she definitely is. That whole chase and ending was like “Goddamn!” and had me cheering. Pick it up for yourself and you’ll see what I mean.
Hey L., when/if you come out with its sequel…I. Am. So. THERE.
A Ruin of Shadows by L.D. Lewis, 2018. Dancing Star Press.
Find it on Amazon, B&N, or an independent bookseller near you.
***Getting that To Be Read List down one book at a time***
To start, Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to the Thunderdome…I mean, 2019!
News on my end is that my story “With These Hands: An Account of Uncommon Labour” has been reprinted in the January 2019 issue of Apex Magazine! You’ll be able to read it online on January 24, but you can get a copy of the issue at any time. You know you wanna. I mean, look at this beautiful cover by artist Tangmo Cecchini…
You can also find stories by Beth Dawkins, Lavie Tidhar, Marian Coman, Aja McCullough and an essay by Daniel M. Bensen. Check them out!
It’s that time of the year and I have works that are eligible for 2018 science fiction, fantasy and horror awards (such as the Nebula, Hugo, and Stoker) this year. Oooo! Ahhhh! I am hyped. I really do hope that you’ll consider them and add them to some lists!
Short Story: “With These Hands: An Account of Uncommon Labour”
FIYAH Magazine, Winter 2018 (Issue #5: “Ahistorical Blackness”)
As the symbol of a new country is constructed, all is not what it seems.
Inspired by a painting and informed by history itself, this story is currently on the Nebula Suggested Reading List and was chosen by Jason Sanford as one of the “Best SF/F Short Fiction, January through June 2018.” Here are some more reviews about it: “Weekly Fiction Rec Roundup 6” by Jeff Xilon and “Quick Sips: FIYAH #5 (Ahistorical Blackness)” by Charles Payseur. (And psst…”Labour” with a “U” in the title is intentional. It was also published like that as well as it is set in the 1790s.)
Novelette: “Peregrination” (co-written with Chesya Burke)
Chiral Mad 4 (Written Backwards), October 2018
Editors: Michael Bailey and Lucy A. Snyder
What makes us special. What we will do to protect the ones we love.
There’s dimensional plane-jumping and spending a little time in the void. Not to mention a twist on what constitutes family (especially when they aren’t quite…human) and the lengths to which they will go. All set during the Red Summer of 1919. Check it out!
And please consider Chiral Mad 4, the groundbreaking anthology that it is a part of, too: four short stories, four novelettes, four novellas and four graphic adaptations–all collaborations. It is seriously something!! More info about Chiral Mad 4 can be found at https://blog.nettirw.com/2018/10/19/chir4l-mad/ or by contacting editor Michael Bailey.
Short Story: “Here, Kitty!”
Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters (Amazon)
(Mocha Memoirs Press)
Editor: Sumiko Saulson
What’s lost should probably not be found.
Wrong place. Wrong time. Or was it? I always enjoyed those “Take a hint, run!”-type stories and had a blast writing one myself. I hope that you will enjoy and consider it too.
The Black Magic Women anthology is also eligible for awards as well. If you are a juror and would like a free eBook of it please email editor Sumiko Saulson at sumikoska@yahoo.com. For a hard copy, contact publisher Mocha Memoirs at mochamemoirspress@gmail.com.
Thank you for considering my work!
At some point I’ll talk more about the fact that I’m a historian, but for right now I’ll talk about how being one brought my story “With These Hands: An Account of Uncommon Labour” into being.
A few years ago, I worked at the White House Historical Association and they had a small exhibit of paintings by artist Peter Waddell, who specializes in historically accurate works about historic architecture and events. One of those paintings, “A Vision Takes Form,” is about the construction of the White House. In the lower part of the painting were two Black laborers. I thought “There is a story there…”
…so I wrote one.
It was published in FIYAH Magazine’s “Ahistorical Blackness” issue and recently, author Jason Sanford including it in his list of what he thought was the “Best SF/F Short Fiction, January through June 2018.” I’m in some seriously good company! Please read and consider “With These Hands” in the future if you get a chance.
Then I found out it made the Nebula Awards Suggested Reading List! What?! For all of you jaded folks out there, it’s my first time so I’m pretty damn hyped. HYPED, I tell ya. Even if it doesn’t make it any further (although I sure do hope that it does), it just makes me feel good and like I’m not toiling in absolute obscurity.
I’m just going to leave you with this document. It is a 1795 work for hire document from the National Archives for a laborer (and yes, the “U” in my full story title is intentional) at the White House. George was for hire, but was actually enslaved. All I could think of while writing my story were dreams of freedom and what it meant to be free…
I enjoy going to Capclave, hosted by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA), as it tends to be more literary-inclined and about writers and readers. I was busy all day as I was on four panels. *gasp* What?! No, really…I had a blast.
My first panel was about “How We Imagine the Future and What It Says About Us” about scifi’s visionaries since its inception (such as Verne and Wells) and others such as Gernsback, Heinlein and Asimov. I take a historian’s long view on things, such as their writing being a reflection of the concerns, morals and challenges of their times. We talked about technology and governments, dystopic futures and utopias. It was a great panel. My next was about “Overcoming Assumptions” and how we as writers deal with challenges related to gender, LGBTQ identity, disability and race.
Kenesha Williams and Sherin Nicole of Geek Girl Riot joined the DWASF crew for “Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Fiction.” We were kind of goofing off in this photo. I was doing my poses like Jet magazine*…
We then had a DWASF Meet and Greet. Lots of fun and good conversations. We showed Chad’s films and had book giveaways. I had to dip out for a moment to go to my last panel of the day about “Writing for Anthologies.” We had a nice discussion with the audience with tips for submitting to and writing for anthologies. Afterwards, I ran back for the rest of our meet and greet. I really enjoy talking to the public. I mean, scifi and speculative fiction…what’s not to like?
Oh and if, you didn’t get my Jet magazine reference, look no further than this clip from Eddie Murphy’s “Boomerang” around 0:42.
I had a really nice time at BlerdCon again this year. I spoke on the “The Future of Afrofuturism” panel with my DWASF colleague Chad Eric Smith, author V.R. McCoy and moderator William Jones of the Afrofuturism Network.
Our room was full and the audience asked great questions about the genre, movement, and the writing/publishing process. I was at Blerdcon’s first one last year. Seeing the turnout and feeling the excitement was fantastic. It is a personal, inclusive-feeling con and I encourage you all to come to next year’s. I’m already looking forward to it!
histories, images, ideas, opinions, and what inspired them.
Musings at Tonya Liburd's quirky corner of the web.
WRITER Of SPECULATIVE FICTION & OTHER STUFF
SFF Writer and Worldbuilder
Romance Author
The Musings of a Disgruntled Haradrim . . .
Mommy. Wife. Author. Teacher.
FURIOUSLY REASONABLE
The Worlds of Nicole Givens Kurtz
The man your librarian warned you about...
Proud descendant of Hex Throwing Goons
LH Moore 