Apex Rides the Hurt

Earlier this week, the 57th issue of Apex Magazine featuring my poem, Sleep Lives Inside the Bed, dropped.  The "top billing," if you can call it that (and I wouldn't), is due to nothing but the luck of having a last name starting with a letter early in the alphabet.  Mine is the shortest piece in there.

I love Karla Oritz's cover art.  Wonderfully creepy but beautiful.  Looking at her blog, a number of her pieces fit that to a T.  I definitely recommend checking her site out.

And the magazine, if you haven't already.  It's rad.

Strange Horizons and Apex Magazine

Promotional poster for Josephine Baker
(circa 1930) Zig [Louis Gaudin]

"The Liar's Charm," a poem of mine, is on the January 2014 acceptance list for Strange Horizons.

And also? Another of my poems is appearing this year in Apex Magazine.

I'm very happy. Thank you, everyone, for your support and kindness.

EDIT: OH HEY! My poem, Sleep Lives Inside the Bed, is now available for your viewing pleasure!

Boskone 2014 Schedule

Doriane (1926) Charles Gesmar

As promised, here's my finalized panel schedule for Boskone 2014 (February 14th-16th)!  I'm moderating three out of the five panels I'll be on, a prospect which I'm finding full of more terror than I probably should.

But if you want to drop by and say hello at the convention, here's where I'll be:

Exploring the Whedonverse

Friday 21:00 - 21:50
From "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to the new "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," Joss Whedon has had a hand in some of the most significant genre television programming ever. How have Joss and his Whedonverse shaped TV (including shows he didn't actually develop) and affected the wider genre community? What is the Whedon Effect? What would primetime television be like if Buffy never came to Sunnydale, or _Serenity_ never lifted off? What was _Dollhouse_ all about?
Stephen P. Kelner (M), Dana Cameron, Nancy Holder, Gillian Daniels, Erin Underwood

Cinematic Landscapes

Saturday 14:00 - 14:50
How do art and cinema interact? What would _Lord of the Rings_ have been without its artistic landscapes? Would the film _28 Days Later_ have been so unsettling without its cinematic beauty? The panelists will discuss how art and landscapes interact to help convey the story of the film as well as to build tension, increase emotion, and leave a lasting image of the place in the minds of viewers.
Gillian Daniels (M) , Bob Eggleton, Greg Manchess, Frank Wu

Fun With Seriously Silly Poses

Saturday 19:00 - 19:50
Expect to emit great giggles at our group reenactments of scenes from SF/fantasy/horror cover art. Warning: high probability of awkward audience participation and pretty pathetic props.
Gillian Daniels (M), John Chu, Mur Lafferty, Jennifer Pelland, E. C. Ambrose

Against a Dark Background: Looking Back at Iain M. Banks

Sunday 12:00 - 12:50
Scottish novelist Iain M. Banks (1954-2013) wrote brilliantly for both SF and mainstream fans, and was named one of the top 50 authors in postwar Britain by _The Times_ of London. What do we make of his troubled viewpoint characters? His fondness for set pieces, rants, bleak smiles, and nasty shocks? His portrayals of sex, tech, morality, art, violence, and death? What sets his Jeeves-like Minds and drones apart from other writers' robots? Aren't his ship names just the coolest thing?
Bob Devney (M), Mark L. Olson, Vincent Docherty, Gillian Daniels, Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Who's in the Attic, What's in the Basement, and I Don't Know Is Under the Bed

Sunday 13:00 - 13:50
A panel discussion of the things that give us goose bumps, send chills down our spines, or otherwise scare the daylights out of us.
Gillian Daniels (M), Darrell Schweitzer, F. Brett Cox, Paul G. Tremblay, Max Gladstone

Arisia 2014

Allegory with a Boy Lighting a Candle
in the Company of an Ape and a Fool (1577-9) El Greco

I've finally gotten over my exhaustion from Arisia and it's now the following weekend.

Yeah.  

 Worth it, though.  I had a blast.

It also looks like I'll be a part of Boskone 2014 in some capacity (details to come) so I'll be revving up once more for February!

But for now, some snippets from Arisia 2014!  I went to many panels, mostly on the Literature and Writing track.

Some panels I attended (but was not on):

Writing the Other. Saturday 10am. This panel was about writing a culture, race, or group that wasn't your own. So much insight! Nisi Shawl is awesome and Mikki Kendall is hilarious.  I thought a lot about the otherness categorization system Don Sakers suggested.

Write What You Know All Too Well. Saturday 4pm. Lots of discussion on confessional writing and personal truth vs. fact.  I believe Shira Lipkin referenced Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, an excellent how-to-write book I read in undergrad.

The Unheard Voices of SF/F/H. Saturday 8:30pm; Representation, Race, and Reconciliation. Sunday 2:30pm. Both different panels, but both about authors of different backgrounds in the predominantly white, straight science fiction and fantasy community. Catherine Lundoff gathered a list of resources referenced from The Unheard Voices panel, if you're interested in checking that out. K. Tempest Bradford was on both panels in place of Nisi Shawl because Shawl had too many panels, I gather, but the latter sat in the audience.  Hilarity ensued and it was wonderful.

Queering Up Canon. Sunday 7pm. Activist Kate Nepveu is an excellent moderator and A.J. Odasso, Cassandra Lease, and Julia Pilowsky wonderful panelists.  There was a good balance of "fangirling" and analytical discussion interrogating fandom. Maybe it's because the panel was about fan fiction and being a fan of integrating shows with LGBT content, but there was a warm, excited energy in the room.

Looking Forward to Last Thursday. Monday 10am. A time travel panel moderated by John Chu. I was still a bit foggy when I walked in but the ban on discussing paradoxes made me chuckle.

Stick With It! Complex, Rewarding Literature. Monday 11:30am. Among others, Greer Gilman, Max Gladstone, and Lila Garrott gave book recommendations and discussed the rewards of tackling difficult books. Not a lot about strategies to finish said complex books, but they kept what could have been a dry panel very lively on the last day of the convention.

Gothic: Women in Houses. Monday 1pm. This one was at the tail end of the con and the last thing I went to before I called it a day.  It was fairly easy to get off topic, as there are tons of books and stories that potentially fit the "gothic literature about women" category, but moderator April Grant kept this one fun.

Annnd I guess I should talk about my own panels!

Reading: Altabef, Daniels, and Kimmel Hale Fri 7:00 PM
Authors Ken Altabef, Gillian Daniels, and Daniel M. Kimmel will be reading selections from their works.

An excellent reading.  I had a lot of nerves going in because it was the first time I'd read my work at Arisia, but the environment was ultimately comfortable and the people in the audience welcoming.  I volunteered to go first as the handful of things I wanted to read (two poems, two flash pieces, please see previous entry on stuff I've published this year for which ones) didn't take very long to get through! Ken Altabef and Dan Kimmel then read from their respective novels, the former of which was about Inuit culture and the latter an unpublished but enormously funny work.

The Future Is Now: Online Short Fiction Faneuil Fri 8:30 PM
Shira Lipkin, Julia Rios, Ken Schneyer, Gillian Daniels
I was unsure what to expect from this panel and, in preparation, put together as many notes as I could.  It started with a discussion of the best place to find short stories online and became advice to audience members on how to submit your work.  We discussed the future of print vs. online publications and the increased presence of places like Lightspeed Magazine and Clarkesworld Magazine at the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

QUILTBAG Representation in YA Faneuil Sat 11:30 AM

Julia Rios [mod], Victor Raymond, Adam Lipkin, Emily Wagner, Gillian Daniels

Julia Rios made a recording available on Outeralliance and I strongly recommend a listen. This isn't the first time my voice has appeared on her podcast, either! I say the word "um" a lot, here, and I'm pretty sure the click of ice cubes is me continuously drinking water.  Then Emily Wagner and I bond over Sailor Moon fan fiction.  I very much wish this panel could have been longer. Arisia's panels have a pretty long run time to begin with, too.  By the end, we really started to get into the lack of asexuality in YA lit.

Welcome to Night Vale: And Now, the Weather. Paine Sat 1:00 PM
Gillian Daniels [mod], Lila Garrott, Melissa Honig, Adrianne Brennan, Kate Nepveu

Agh, now this was just too much fun!  To start with, I read a small, Cecil-like intro I scratched out beforehand in order to set the mood for discussing the series.  The audience responded wonderfully.  We just had a lot of good vibes running through the entire block of time, whether we were discussing the overarching plots or the diversity within the cast.  The positivity was also tempered with criticism, keeping the panel interesting and thoughtful.

Gravity Falls Paine Sun 11:30 AM

Gillian Daniels [mod], Dan Morris, J. S. Hailer, Jennifer Pelland, Sonya Taaffe

Another fun panel!  Lots of discussion on the well executed, surprisingly sincere Disney cartoon series and why it feels more in-depth and interesting than most of the channel's live action content.  We talked a lot about the theories behind the show and where it may be headed.  At the end, the audience and panel finally talked about the multiple secret codes and puzzles the show gives its fans.

When Poets Write Prose and Vice Versa Faneuil Sun 8:30 PM
Erik Amundsen [mod], Adrienne J. Odasso, Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein, Sonya Taaffe, Gillian Daniels

Okay, this panel was pretty loose.  I loved it, but considering the attendance was light (it was the same time as the Masquerade) and the panel itself was punchy, we got off-topic pretty fast.  I was on the panel with Sonya Taaffe again, who has an amazing voice and the ability to just delve into subjects so beautifully.  First, there was some discussion on craft and how the writers on the panel develop and write poetry vs. prose.  Then it somehow became a discussion on creepy stories on the Internet and how much fun scary things can be. Yup. I'm a little unsure how we started on that subject in the first place, but I have no complaints and we were all pretty into it.

Whew.  Writing all that up took longer than expected!  I'm not sure I'll have such an in-depth summary of conventions I attend in the future.  Suffice to say, this was pretty awesome and I'm looking forward to next year.

2013 in Review

A Forest Pool (1595-1600) Paul Bril

Though visible in the side bar, I figure I'd recap the things I published in 2013.  It appears to be The Thing to Do if you're a writer with a blog.  

Also, I'm proud of the way this past year has gone and genuinely surprised it's ended up so fruitful in the publications realm!  I was really discouraged in the first few months of 2013.  The acceptances below mean a great deal to me.

Poems:

"Eat the Children" (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, April 2013)

"The Tiger is Herself" (Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry, Aug 2013)

"Cloth Leaves and Wire Vines" (Electric Velocipede, Dec 2013)

Fiction:

Quiet Death Machines (Podcastle, Sept 2013)

His Brother's Bite (Flash Fiction Online, Oct 2013)

Of course, a world of thanks  to the editors who plucked my work out of the slush pile, smoothed it out, and placed it in their fine publications.  I remain honored.  John Klima, Shira Lipkin, Suzanne Vincent, Anna Yeatts, Michael Damian Thomas, Dave Thompson, Lucy Zinkiewicz, and all others involved in the process, thank you.

Blog Updates

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-6) John Singer Sargent

1. I added a list of publications in the sidebar.

2. The blogs I contribute to regularly have been linked.

3. I've added a list of my teachers and fellow students from the 2011 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop, who continue to impress and inspire me.

4. This place is beginning to look halfway decent.

5. John Singer Sargent painting because of the lovely watercolor exhibit over at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.

Welcome to 2014: And Now, the Weather.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) Caspar David Friedrich

Days after the New Year, I received an official acceptance from Strange Horizons.

One of my poems will be featured in an issue in the coming months. I'm deeply, happily excited. I've admired the work they've put out there for a long time. They're a prime example of an online publication. I'm very honored to be a part of it.

Speaking of publications that are an honor to be a part of, the last issue of Electric Velocipede is now online in its entirety. I think it's been given a wonderful send off. 

Go give it a look if you haven't already.

***

Next weekend, I'll be at Arisia 2014! I went last year and ended up on a panel about theater. The year before that, I was still new to Boston and was happy to be on no panels at all.

This year, I'm on five.  

Yup.

If you want to say hi, here's my schedule:

Reading: Altabef, Daniels, and Kimmel Hale Fri 7:00 PM
Authors Ken Altabef, Gillian Daniels, and Daniel M. Kimmel will be reading selections from their works.

The Future Is Now: Online Short Fiction Faneuil Fri 8:30 PM
Once considered a place too ephemeral and difficult for readers and writers, online fiction magazines and markets are now as prestigious as their print counterparts. Stories from Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, Tor.com, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and many others regularly make year’s best lists and receive award nominations. The panel will discuss the different markets and some of their favorite stories from the past few years.

Michael Damian Thomas [mod], Shira Lipkin, Julia Rios, Ken Schneyer, Gillian Daniels



QUILTBAG Representation in YA Faneuil Sat 11:30 AM
QUILTBAG refers to people who are queer or questioning, unidentified, intersex, lesbian, trans*, bisexual, asexual, gay, and/or genderqueer. Many teenagers identify somewhere along this spectrum, but not many YA books feature QUILTBAG characters. This has begun to change for the better in recent years! Let's talk about books with QUILTBAG characters and how authors have done well - or poorly - in portraying them, and about what we'd like to see in the future.

Julia Rios [mod], Victor Raymond, Adam Lipkin, Emily Wagner, Gillian Daniels

Welcome to Night Vale: And Now, the Weather. Paine Sat 1:00 PM
"Welcome to Night Vale" has become the most popular podcast on iTunes over the last year. A creepy take on small-town life in the Southwest, replete with conspiracy theories, bizarre humor, and a dog park in which neither dogs nor humans are allowed, it's both entertaining and scary, and has generated a huge fan community. Come if you're interested in learning about what makes the show so popular, to discuss favorite moments, or to speculate on where the story is headed.

Gillian Daniels [mod], Lila Garrott, Melissa Honig, Adrianne Brennan, Kate Nepveu

Gravity Falls Paine Sun 11:30 AM
What appeared to be yet another Disney Channel cartoon has instead turned into a huge hit, with the most entertaining spooky small town since Twin Peaks. We'll talk about everything that makes the show great -- from the wacky cast of characters to the rare genuinely-loving sibling relationship between Dipper and Mabel to the ongoing conspiracies. Be prepared to discuss your favorite characters and jokes, and whether we'll ever see the return of Wax Coolio.

Gillian Daniels [mod], Dan Morris, J. S. Hailer, Jennifer Pelland, Sonya Taaffe

When Poets Write Prose and Vice Versa Faneuil Sun 8:30 PM
Writers often define themselves by their predominant mode of expression. Venturing beyond these favored boundaries is, for some of us, a rare occurrence; when a poet writes the occasional short story or a prose-writer the occasional poem, they may feel somewhat out of their depth when presenting the piece or preparing it for submission. In this panel, we'd like to discuss the experience of writing outside our comfort zones and how it serves to shape our experiences, development, and perception.

Erik Amundsen [mod], Adrienne J. Odasso, Catt Kingsgrave-Ernstein, Sonya Taaffe, Gillian Daniels

I'll be moderating two of these panels and I'm terrified extremely excited. It's going to be a good weekend.