To the list of awards nominations I posted awhile back, I now have a new addition: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. That’s ten. Ten awards nominations. Ten. ::feels a little lightheaded::
One of my favorite manga is a shoujo (girls’) comedy serial called Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge (YNS), sold in the US as The Wallflower. Now, the Japanese title has a more complex meaning than a phrase like “the wallflower” can encompass, in part because it’s referencing a phrase that’s fairly esoteric to Japanese culture — the idea of quintessential Japanese womanhood, or the yamato nadeshiko spirit. But the story itself is fairly simple: four hot guys are offered the chance by an eccentric millionaire to live in a stunning mansion, rent-free — but in exchange, they have to transform her ugly-duckling
The Limitations of Womanhood in Fantasy (and everywhere else, but for now, fantasy) KEEP READING
Just recovering from a whirlwind weekend in Chicago for Think Galacticon 3, a self-described radical leftist science fiction con, for which I was one of this year’s Notable Guests. (The other was community organizer, activist, and all-around cool chica Adrienne Maree Brown. Y’know how you get that instant “friend” vibe from someone? Yeah, that was us.) This was my first time doing the guest of honor thing, and it was a nice way to cut my teeth on it — and fascinating, to get exposed to concepts I haven’t before, like anarchist organizational development. (Yes, anarchists can organize — quite
Stuff happening in Noraland lately: -The Thackery T Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is almost out! This unusual anthology furthers the mythos of the good professor, which some may recall having visited before. There’s work in this one by China Mieville, Minister Faust, Charles Yu, and many, many more — and of course, Yours Truly. Preorder today! -Another forthcoming: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, for which the ToC has just been released. My story The Effluent Engine will be in it as a reprint. And there’s lots more cool work therein, by many cool authors. Woot! -And this weekend, I am
Curious Cabinets, Steampunk Mammoths, and Galactic Thinking KEEP READING