Causes

Things I think people should do for the good of the world, society, etc.

Yonkers News

/ Appearances, Causes / By

(Somehow that doesn’t sound quite as exotic as “German News” from my last post. Oh, well.) Folks in the New York area: I’ll be appearing at a fundraising event at the Yonkers Public Library on Sunday! (Download the ad poster here.) Basically, the YPL brings in a slew of authors each year for its Book Fair, which is partly sponsored by Barnes and Noble, and is a fundraising event. I’ll be reading from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and also doing a signing, starting at 2 p.m. The event is at Barnes & Noble, 2614 Central Park Avenue, in Yonkers. So […]

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Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.

/ 72 Comments / Causes, The Industry, WTF World? / By

Very few things could lure me out of the fugue-state of finishing a novel, but a note that I received yesterday from a reader sent me into full-on rant mode: I just finished reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and I enjoyed it a lot. I was confused, though, to see that my library had chosen to shelve it under “African-American Fiction,” a separate section of the library. If this were standard policy for how the library handles African-American authors, I wouldn’t blink, but Butler, Delany, Hopkinson, and Durham are all shelved under “General Fiction” with the rest of the library’s

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Godhood for sale (for a good cause)

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A friend involved with the Virginia Avenue Project let me know about an auction that they’re doing to try and raise $15,000 before mid-March. The VAP is an afterschool arts program of the sort that all kids should have, but which these days is usually offered only to kids in school districts that can afford “enrichment activities”. Anyway, these kids are going to lose theirs, if something isn’t done. I’m offering one of my author copies of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I received just today, autographed to whoever offers the highest donation to the VAP. I’m also offering something

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A Story for Haiti: “The Effluent Engine”

/ 39 Comments / Causes, Shorts / By

A day late in posting this; I only heard about it in the wee hours of Monday morning, and wanted to put up the MLK post first. And ordinarily I would prefer to let that post stay topmost for a few days, but time is critical here. So… I heard through Cheryl Morgan’s blog about A Story for Haiti, a fundraising effort on behalf of the victims of the Port-au-Prince quake. Basically, a bunch of authors are posting free short stories online, some set in Haiti and some not, and asking people to decide how much those stories are worth.

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So much to say

/ Causes / By

…about Book 3 and the writing process and so on, but that’ll have to wait because I’m writing like a madwoman right now. But resting my carpal tunnels by reading other people’s blogs, so saw this incident mentioned in several places, and all over every mailing list I’m on. Basically, SF author Peter Watts got the crap kicked out of him crossing the border back into (his home) Canada, essentially because the Customs officers felt like a bit of the old ultraviolence and authority abuse. Folks are taking up a collection to help him out. Please do. (And yes, there

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Another $%^ing one, what are they, breeding?

/ 6 Comments / Causes, The Industry, WTF World? / By

I posted last week in solidarity with the Outer Alliance, a spanking-new group of GLBTQI writers and straight/cisgendered allies. Lo and behold, within a week of its formation the OA has encountered its first incidence of homophobic discrimination. More on this there. It’s hard, sometimes, being a writer with a conscience. I mean, how much do you let conscience dictate business? As a writer, I’m engaged in the act of selling my creativity and dreams — little bits of my soul, quite frankly — for approbation and money. If that kind of spiritual prostitution doesn’t bother me (and sometimes it

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Supporting the Outer Alliance; Pride Day 9/1/09

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The Outer Alliance is a new org started (I think) by author Hal Duncan, in partial response to author John C. Wright’s inane and bigoted diatribe against “homosex”, and partly just because it’s necessary. They’ve asked that, as of September 1, people show their support by posting their mission statement and logo, and then linking to a piece of fiction which is supportive of GLBTQI issues. So here’s the statement: As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make

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Strange Horizons Saved Me a Bunch of Money on Car Insurance and Cured My Astigmatism!

/ 1 Comment / Causes, The Industry / By

Okay, no, it didn’t. I don’t even have a car. I just wanted to get your attention. It might seem odd that in the wake of the Clarkesworld sale, I’m talking about Strange Horizons. Both magazines need donations, actually. But SH is nearer and dearer to my heart in many ways, because a) my first pro-level sales were to SH, and b) I made two of them. (When I sell two stories to Clarkesworld, I’ll like them more too.) Although this is SH’s fundraising drive season, they’ve asked people not to simply beg for money, but to talk about what

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Maps, Comedy, and Politics

/ 4 Comments / Causes, Magic District, WTF World? / By

Or, why I should update my blog more often. (Sorry!) Maps: I’ve got a new post over at the Magic District, talking about the map thing in epic fantasy. Triggered by something dumb on Fox News (is there ever anything else?), and an odd interaction I had at Worldcon last weekend, wherein I handed a copy of my ARC to someone and they protested (good-naturedly, but still protested) it wasn’t epic fantasy because it didn’t have a map. Comedy: The other creative, activist black sheep in my mother’s side of the family, cousin W. Kamau Bell, is coming to NYC

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Good reads of many kinds

/ Causes, Natter, Pimping / By

Over on LJ, author Cat Valente is going through some hard times, and is offering a novel literary experiment to make ends meet. Basically, she’ll post her latest chapters of her latest work for people to read and pay for as she goes along. I can’t donate at the moment because I’m kind of struggling myself, but I’m spreading the word. I loved Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales stuff, so I suspect anyone who can participate will get something beautiful for their money. Speaking of something beautiful, have recently discovered Goodreads. Where have you been all my life?? I like it,

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