April 28 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 28] Shanna Germain and Janine Ashbless Bring Sexy Back

Let’s talk about sex, baby.
Let’s talk about genre and kink.

Not the best Salt-n-Pepa rewrite admittedly, but it serves as an appropriate introduction to these wonderful, wonderful editors. I’m breaking my rules (I’m a bad boy, deal with it), because each day should celebrate a single woman in genre, but both Germain and Ashbless are responsible as chief editors for Geek Love. Therefore, I don’t have the heart to separate them. Consider them an inexplicable dual-mind entity. Done? Good. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 28] Shanna Germain and Janine Ashbless Bring Sexy Back

April 27 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 27] Margo Lanagan and Thousand Other Voices

I don’t know whether it’s because Australia gives birth to nature’s deadliest being in creation or it’s a coincidence, but the strongest voices in genre fiction to leave in an intransient mark in big ways hail from spider central down under. Kaaron Warren started the trend, then Angela Slatter picked up the pace with Lisa L. Hannett and Felicity Dowker hot on her heels with the publisher and editor Alisa Krasnostein there to push excellent fiction forth. I’m thrilled to include the most hailed name in fiction when it comes to dark fiction – Margo Lanagan. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 27] Margo Lanagan and Thousand Other Voices

April 26 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 26] Galen Dara and Visions from Beyond

Genre escapes one unanimous definition as all big and rich things should and have. I often seek a definitive concept when it comes to genre, but that’s not really how it goes now, does it? Genre has the ultimate power to include, though it seems we devote time and resources to draw lines in the sand. When I set out to write Women in Genre, I considered whether or not to limit myself to fiction, because the initial discussion concerns the gender biases within publishing. A discussion locked between authors, reviewers and fans.

What about cover artists, though? Where do they fit in? Read More [Women in Genre, Day 26] Galen Dara and Visions from Beyond

April 25 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 25] Anne Lyle and Historical Sexuality

Once I mentioned how important Gemma Files became to me for her fearless inclusion of strong, gay characters as protagonists in a narrative, which prior to “A Book of Tongues” has featured a binary couple almost exclusively. I can’t speak about every book ever published, but it certainly felt like it was the only book willing to take Weird Western with its tough setting and tough men, definitive symbols of masculinity, and show raw masculinity didn’t suffer from homosexuality. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 25] Anne Lyle and Historical Sexuality

April 24 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 24] Ellen Datlow and Stories in Darkness

I honestly can’t speak about Ann VanderMeer and not continue the conversation with another of the most prolific editors in genre, Ellen Datlow. Datlow works in the shadows of genre and has a keen eye for twisted stories to terrify and delight the reader. I’m not saying anything new under the sun, because Datlow has been editing anthologies since before I’ve been born.* Read More [Women in Genre, Day 24] Ellen Datlow and Stories in Darkness

April 23 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 23] Ann VanderMeer and the Collector of Stories

Having completed several short story anthologies and collection and reading others, I have been thinking about short fiction more and more. There’s something to the brevity and the intensity of the narrative as a story rushes into fruition in a strict, clearly marked space. Even the silent ones, when written right, can leave just a distinct impression as a fully realized novel would. Writers have to see the magic, catch it in a single snippet and let it ripen for those with an ear to collect it for other’s enjoyment. Ann VanderMeer has gathered more succulent fruit than any other editor I have heard of and she has been doing in so in various projects, all of which beautiful and heavy with honey-juiced, creative fruit. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 23] Ann VanderMeer and the Collector of Stories

April 23 / / Uncategorized

Women in Genre: Schedule Update

As you may have noticed already, I have missed Monday in Women in Genre. I’m a stickler for schedule and it irks me I have come to this point in time and have skipped a day, but when your body plays a nasty trick on you, there’s little you can do to stay on schedule. I’ve been battling a set of muscle spasms for the past five days and the pain has kept from maintaining my backlog of posts for situations from these. Monday and today have been the worst in terms of pain and I have been suffering sleep deprivation on the account of the pain. My focus has become rather hazy and I don’t think I can deliver a coherent post. Read More Women in Genre: Schedule Update

April 22 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 22] Gemma Files and the Nature of Sexuality

Last I wrote about Amal El-Mohtar and her delicate aesthetic. Another author I highly value for her strong commitment to beauty in style is Gemma Files. Files hails from Canada and has a bit of a reputation as a creative risk-taker, something every writer should aspire to achieve in every single sentence he writes. Risks push form and genre, which Files accomplishes with aplomb in her wonderful “A Book of Tongues” – a book I consider dear and important. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 22] Gemma Files and the Nature of Sexuality

April 21 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 21] Amal El-Mohtar and Words of Beauty

Yesterday, I touched upon my preference for beautiful prose. Consider me shallow, but I find the better stylists among SFF authors to tell a superior story, because well-crafted prose creates more depth and nuances than straightforward prose in service of a plot or character development. Yes, the latter two matter in general, but superior writing starts with excellent prose. An author with a grasp on how to write with a magical ease is Amal El-Mohtar, which she displays in her fantastic but too short “The Honey Month”. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 21] Amal El-Mohtar and Words of Beauty

April 20 / / Musings & Rants

[Women in Genre, Day 20] Lauren Beukes – The Powerhouse from South Africa

I can’t celebrate Women in Genre without Lauren Beukes – a true powerhouse from South Africa with experience as a journalist in some of the most dangerous cities in the world. I first heard of Beukes through Angry Robot, who published Beukes’ “Moxyland” as one of their first titles and have since published her second novel “Zoo City”. In both novels Beukes proves her an insanely talented storyteller with edge and a gift to include social critique in her genre. Read More [Women in Genre, Day 20] Lauren Beukes – The Powerhouse from South Africa