My new side-gig

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So, as those of you who follow me on Twitter and FB now know, I’ve been keeping busy in addition to working on book 3 of the Broken Earth trilogy. So, yep, my piecemeal gig from last year has just become a permanent thing. The new column is called “Otherworldly”, and the first one — which will come out in print on the first weekend of January — is already up online. (No, you don’t have to squint at the text in that image.) I’m an eclectic reader, so the new column will obviously feature science fiction, fantasy, horror, some […]

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Sharing — and contemplating — a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming

/ 6 Comments / Squeeage, The Industry, Thinkythoughts / By

I get a lot of really nice fanmail, and I try to respond to all of it (though I can be slow). But I got one last night that really made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Mentioned it on my FB earlier today, but the reader let me know it was OK to post her note, so I’m putting it here. True Story: So I ordered a half dozen white cotton handkerchiefs (men’s) from Amazon and when they finally arrived (took forever) they were in a box with two copies of The Fifth Season by a writer I’d

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Whew.

/ 15 Comments / Awards, Controversies / By

That’s a sigh of relief. One less thing to feel conflicted about. One more thing I can celebrate freely, easily, and without reservation. I’m talking about the World Fantasy Award, which will now no longer be represented by the head of H. P. Lovecraft. My feeling re the whole thing is a) ’bout time, and b) whew. Because while I have no idea if I’ll ever win a WFA myself — I’ve been nominated twice and that’s awesome — I have watched other anti-racist friends and fellow writers of color win the award. It’s impossible not to feel that visceral

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TFS Snippet

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So, I’m working on the revision of The Obelisk Gate, now that I’ve gotten my editors’ notes. And as I work on it, I’m reminded of changes that I made to The Fifth Season, in turn. Like this whole chapter that I removed, which would’ve been chapter 5. This was when I was playing with having Alabaster’s PoV included in the story — something I ultimately decided against, because I wanted TFS to thematically be Essun’s story. Note that all of this is non-canonical; I changed some names of places and concepts, some customs, etc., as I revised. So, spoilers,

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Time for a captain who’s a black woman, Star Trek.

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I saw this article suggesting, among other things, that it’s time for Star Trek to feature a non-human captain. It makes sense worldbuilding-wise; the Federation is supposed to be a multicultural and multi-species society. I’d love to see it eventually. Still… at its core, Star Trek has always been about us imagining ourselves amid a bigger universe, and understanding through contact with others what makes us human. An alien character could do that, with good-enough writing. But there’s one more step we should take before we go that route: A black woman. There hasn’t been one as a regular on

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On Family

/ 11 Comments / On Writing, The Broken Earth, The Fifth Season, Thinkythoughts / By

I’ve been dealing with an unpleasant family issue lately in my personal life. Not anything I intend to talk about here, and I’ve found a good therapist so don’t worry, but thinking about these things triggered some thoughts about family in The Fifth Season that I wanted to share. Now, As You Know Bob, I am not a perfect writer. It’s entirely possible that I did a poor job of trying to depict the relationships in this story, which are admittedly complex. But here’s what was in my head: the black family. Really, any families formed under oppressive conditions —

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Monday Crankiness

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I am cranky this morning. Which is probably why I’m more irked than usual about a couple of reviews I saw over the weekend which included lines like (paraphrasing) “I bet this author thinks…” and “This is obviously Jemisin’s kink…” and so on. Okay. The author is dead, right, yes, I have to take responsibility for my own part in dancing along the edges of readers’ expectations, and sometimes I screw up. Sometimes, when I try to play with a common trope, I don’t do as good a job as I think of subverting it. That said, how a reader

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Itchy fingers

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I took a break from writing this month, in part because I’m dealing with a lot of stress from some family issues, in part to recover from the breakneck pace I poured into the end of The Obelisk Gate and launching The Fifth Season, and in part to cleanse my mental “editing palate” for when the edit notes come back on TOG and I need to start revising. I’m working on another project right now — a mental palate-cleanser, just as I needed to write “The Awakened Kingdom” after finishing The Fifth Season — but I’m still at the brainstorming

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The Obelisk Gate cover reveal!

/ 5 Comments / The Broken Earth / By

If you haven’t seen it yet via Twitter or Facebook, the Mary Sue is today featuring an exclusive (well, except for here) reveal of Book 2 in The Broken Earth trilogy: The Obelisk Gate. Of which I just finished the raw “zeroeth” draft about two weeks ago. Should be turning in the first draft today or Monday. After that it’s anyone’s guess as to the release date, but considering I’m turning it in literally a year after the publication of the first book, my guess is roughly a year before Book 2 actually comes out. I’ll tell you when I

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Tricking readers into acceptance

/ 46 Comments / The Broken Earth / By

OK, to start this post off, I have to say that it is only for people who have already read The Fifth Season. Haven’t read it yet? This post is not for you. No, seriously. If you haven’t read TFS, scram. Oh, so you wanna be hard headed. OK. But I am not responsible for any damage done to your reading experience, if you continue. And if I may say, TFS is a lot more fun with its surprises unspoiled. But from here forth I’m going to assume you’ve read it.

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