Epiphany 2.0

The Fix reviewed “Red Riding-Hood’s Child”, and had good things to say:

Retelling the tale of Red Riding-Hood as a direct parallel to traditional vampire stories makes “Red Riding-Hood’s Child” a rewarding listen. Though it contains explicit sexual references, these are skilfully handled to avoid jarring or crassness. In essence, this is a simple tale with a large dose of fantasy, well written by N. K. Jemisin and given a smooth reading by Rajan Khanna. The ending, though a little abrupt, is suitably conclusive.

Hee! This one’s a keeper. =)

24 hours after my lament that I hadn’t been doing so hot on the short story front yesterday, I got a heads-up from alankria about using the “Search Inside” feature on Amazon to see whether my name popped up in the forthcoming (tomorrow) The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008. Alankria’s did — congrats! And mine did too, for “The You Train”. That just made my month.

Also props to Rajan Khanna of my current writing group, Altered Fluid, who also got an HM, and Veronica Schanoes of my old writing group Black Beans, who got pub’d outright (not an HM, an actual YB) in this year’s volume.

So much coolness, all around.

I have to admit, the past year has been a good one. I’m loving NYC, I’ve got great friends and my family’s well, the book deal was a lifelong dream come true, and now here I am living another dream: I’m a full-time writer! There are, of course, the usual snafus that come with these kinds of major lifestyle changes. Had one yesterday that I’m too embarassed to relate in public, but I’m past the freakout stage now. It helps to remember that these things are minor in the grand scheme of life.

There are a few more things I want for myself in the future, and I’m going to work hard to try and get them. But for the most part, I hope year 36 turns out as good as year 35 did.

Anyway, back to srs bzns. I’m not doing anything exciting or partyesque for my birthday tonight because tomorrow morning at 5 a.m., my writing group Altered Fluid will be on WBAI’s Hour of the Wolf. Being on the air at 5 a.m. means getting there at 4 a.m., which means leaving the house at 3 a.m., which means going to bed early tonight. (In fact, I think I’ll take a nap this afternoon, too.) We’re critiquing fellow group member Alaya Dawn Johnson’s short story, so if you’d like to hear how a kickass SF writing group functions, tune in! (Or if you don’t want to get up that early, download it later.) Better yet, if you like the show, call in; WBAI is a public radio station, and it’s pledge season. The host, Jim Freund, has hosted us before, and we’d love to repay the favor by earning his show some money.

And in 100K news, I’m working on a couple of possible appendices for the end of the book, since that may be the best way to clarify some of the worldbuilding. Thus far I’ve finished a kind of profile of the four most magical characters and their abilities/limitations; am thinking about adding an “historical” account of a pivotal event in the world’s history, and a glossary. Actually, I’m definitely going to add the glossary; it’ll be helpful for starting a wiki later, which I think I might need in order to keep track of all the historical tidbits, language oddities, events, etc., that will exist through the three books.

Just call me N. K. (K.?) Tolkien. Kidding!! (Seriously, though, no song lyrics. I draw the line at those.)

Belated writing report! I’m up to 14,000 words on BrightGod, the tentatively-named sequel to 100K. (For the confused, “BrightGod” is Bright God’s Bane, and “100K” is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Pay attention. I might spring a quiz.) Have also finally resumed regular submissions to short story markets. Got a rejection already from Apex Digest on my “aliens want our women” story, “Commission Report on the Establishment of Extrasolar Trade: Evaluation”. But I am undeterred! I made a special effort to write more science fiction this year past, and by gum I’m going to sell some of it. Eventually.

Reviewing! Spent this week’s train-commutes reading Kay Kenyon’s Maximum Ice, which I never heard of and only happened upon because the Brooklyn Public Library was doing a book giveaway as a promotion. I’ve never read Kenyon’s work before, but I really liked this tale, which was hard SF that had by far some of the best characterization I’ve ever read. The story was about a generation ship which comes back to Earth after 10,000 years to find it covered in “Ice”, a crystalline substance that has almost devoured the entire planet. The ship’s crew then has to navigate its own politics and those of the remaining Earth people in order to solve the mystery of Ice and figure out whether it can be — or should be — destroyed. Cool plot points (er, and spoilers): a) Ice turns out to be a massive crystalline computer, initially designed for its incredible information-storage properties because during the interim 10K years, Earth got hit by a cloud of dark matter which nearly killed all life on earth by stripping it of information (computers, of course, but also DNA). b) The generation ship is populated by the Rom/Gypsies/People of the Road, who fled Earth because there was a global epidemic and the gypsies got blamed for it (because they were immune), with the predictable result being concentration camps and genocide. c) The central conflict in the story comes down to two women — “Ship Mother”, a gypsy woman who serves as the living repository of memory for the generation ship, and “Mother Superior”, the leader of the Sisters of Clarity — an order of atheist nuns who rule the new Ice-covered earth. Mother vs Mother is a theme of the whole story.

It’s breathtaking stuff, and marks only the second hard-SF novel I’ve truly enjoyed in a very long time. (The other was Brenda Cooper’s The Silver Ship and the Sea, which has a sequel out that I need to get my hands on.) I can’t believe I never read Kenyon’s work before. Must check out more of it now.

Pimping! Fellow Altered Fluid member Alaya Dawn Johnson’s short story “Down the Well” came up at Strange Horizons well over a week ago, and shamefully I have only just now read it. But I love it — she’s so damn good at characterization and lyrical language, even in the midst of a grim tale about corrupt governments and playing God. Go read!

ETA: And a work colleague showed me this, which may quite possibly be the world’s most impractical Swiss Army knife. (It’s real, before you ask.) Just thought I would share.

From the latest Orbit press release:

THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, by N.K. Jemisin, is a brilliantly original debut fantasy. A young woman vies to become the heir to the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and must bargain with the gods themselves to save her life – and her people.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get enough of seeing this in print. =)
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