#HistoricalPoochesZine

I met Lauren Chaikin in middle school. I was in seventh grade and she was in eighth. We bonded over mutual friends, the library teen anime club, Monty Python jokes, and a love of drawing. We even worked on some comics together in lined notebooks! She's hilarious and smart as hell.

As the years went on, I began to focus more on writing with drawing in the background. Lauren, meanwhile, has become an accomplished graphic artist and illustrator.

Historical Pooches Zine is her newest project. She rounded up a bunch of artists to draw famous dogs and famous people as dogs. IT IS SO COOL AND CUTE.

And all the proceeds? Yeah, they go to benefit the American Civil Liberties Union.

Seriously. Awesome.

Also, it's gorgeous. In fact, I really can't get over how polished and charming it is. My only contribution was proofreading!

Print copies will be $20, but the digital edition is $5. Another print run is anticipated in the near future, but for now, please support the digital book, the ACLU, and the fantastic awesomeness that is Lauren!

Readercon 2017 Schedule!

Are you coming to Readercon this weekend? If so, see you there! I have one event a day, it turns out. 

NOTE: For the Friday, 6pm reading, the other BSPEC members and I have agreed to bring candy to share with our wonderful, possibly hungry audience.

Thursday, July 13
8pm Secretly About Writing: Books That Are Not Obviously About Writing Books
Erik Amundsen, Gillian Daniels (moderator), Chandler Klang Smith, Cecilia Tan, Ann Tonsor Zeddies

In a 2013 Twitter conversation, James Francis Flynn wrote, "Lots of great movies are secretly about what it's like making movies. Trick is to hide it well." Books about writing books are usually pretty unsubtle—we're looking at you, Stephen King—but presumably some more subtly metaphorical novels are out there, including certain books in our genres. Is Dune really about the arid publishing landscape? Did Lovecraft's eldritch horrors begin as rejection letters? Our panelists will discuss works that they know (or guess) to be about writing, or possibly attempt to portray every single book as being secretly about writing.

Friday, July 14
6pm Boston Speculative Writing Group Reading
Gillian Daniels

The Boston Speculative Writing Group began in 2010. Its members write and critique fantasy, science fiction, and various YA works. Members include published novelists such as Kat Black, Natalie C. Anderson, and Lyndsay Ely and published short fiction writers such as Gillian Daniels, Andrea Corbin, and Victoria Sandbrook Flynn.

Saturday, July 15
1pm Round Robin Reading
Michael Blumlein, Gillian Daniels, Daryl Gregory, Ilana Myer, Cecilia Tan

We've gathered authors for a group reading, but rather than the traditional reading where each reads their own work, each will read the work of one of the other participating authors! A fun twist on traditional readings, inspired by Malka Older and Max Gladstone.

Sunday, July 16
1pm Filing Off the Serial Numbers
Gillian Daniels, Randee Dawn (leader), Catt Kingsgrave, Naomi Novik, Kenneth Schneyer

Many traditionally published works started life as fan fiction. Sometimes tales grow in the telling and veer away from fanfic; sometimes an author is deliberately modifying a completed fic to render it suitable for publication; and sometimes it's more complicated. What are the benefits and pitfalls of filing off the serial numbers, with regard to creativity, logistics, and reader reaction?

Persephone Kidnaps a Superhero

"Mariana in the South" 
by John William Waterhouse (1897)

Thanks so much, Heath Miller, for hopping on the Patreon train! If you, too, want to get on board, I'd appreciate it. 

Recently, I've managed to sell a couple poems! "Persephone Kidnaps Him" will appear in Liminality: A Magazine of Speculative Poetry later this year. It's my second sale to this fine magazine after last year's "The Pacific is Wine Pink."  

Then my poem, "Superheroes," will be out in Dreams and Nightmares next year. My first sale to this market! Many thanks to the editor, David.

In other news, I plan on participating in this year's Clarion Write-a-Thon. Clarion is a creative writing program that means a lot to me. It's a special program with a long history. Everyone accepted should be able to afford to go.