Postcolonial SF/F Twit-fiction writing contest

If you haven't yet read the postcolonial speculative fiction anthology edited by Fabio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad, We See a Different Frontier, here is a chance to win a copy, and a great bunch of other goodies, simply by writing a <140-character microstory.

The rules of the contest are simple:

1. Write your colonialism-themed SFF microstory from the perspective of the colonized (full story guidelines as per the original CFS) in 124 characters or less.
2. Tweet your microstory with the hashtags #twitfic #WSaDF by midnight UTC, November 6th, 2013.
3. Multiple entries per author are allowed.
4. Stories will be judged by Amal El-Mohtar, Fabio Fernandes and Nisi Shawl.
5. One winning microstory will receive a paperback copy of the We See a Different Frontier anthology sent in the mail (an alternative prize of a pb of Outlaw Bodies may be offered if you already own a copy), plus a signed copy of Ernest Hogan's Smoking Mirror Blues, the new Crossed Genres superhero anthology Oomph, and the steampunk anthology Journeys in the Winterlands.
6. Runners-up prizes will include e-books of WSaDF or Outlaw Bodies, and Oomph.
7. The winning microstories may be reproduced by Futurefire.net Publishing in promotion for the anthology, but beyond that they belong to the authors.

Guest post: Come For the Science Fiction, Stay For the Romance

Guest post by Heather Massey

Chances are high you know about a genre called "science fiction." Chances are even higher you're familiar with a genre that goes by the name of "romance." And chances are astronomically high that you've heard of—wait for it—women!

Now put romance, science fiction, and women into a blender (umm, not for realz!), and then pour out the contents. What's the result? A genre called science fiction romance (SFR).

What is SFR? Basically, it's a type of story that focuses on the intersection of romance and science and has an upbeat ending (a.k.a. the "Happily Ever After," another ubiquitous story element I'm betting you've encountered a time or two thousand). There's a whole bunch of women (and a few men) who write SFR. It's a genre for everybody, but is currently often written by women and frequently harnesses the female gaze. So it tends to be a female-centric genre.

Now, if you'll kindly recall, half of the global population is female. Let's just sit and chew on that for a minute. Okay, go ahead and swallow.

WSaDF blog carnival

As announced the other day, we're running a Blog Carnival to promote the We See a Different Frontier anthology of colonialism-themed speculative fiction, and other authors and works in the area of underrepresented and postcolonial SF/F. (Get in touch if you'd like to take part.) We'll be listing most of the entries herebelow, as well as announcing them using the #WSaDF hashtag on Twitter. Stay tuned for interviews, guest blog posts, reviews, party games, giveaways, and any other goodies we can think of.

(The anthology can be bought in print from Amazon, or in the main e-book formats from Wizard's Tower. Other venues listed at the press page: We See a Different Frontier.)

The Carnival:

• Guest post: A sentimental journey into copyediting by Valeria Vitale
• Fabio has set up a new Different Frontiers blog
• Two WSaDF stories in Dozois's Year's Best!
• Taking Over English (by Benjanun Sriduangkaew at Strange Horizons)
• Twitter-chat on language and the postcolonial (on #WSaDF hashtag)
• Different Frontier now has a FB page!
• Round Robin interview
• Twitter-chat on alien contact and postcolonial SFF (on #WSaDF again)
• Looking into the Heart of Light, the Silence by Sunny Moraine
• Diversity is the New Normal (Only it isn't) by Fabio Fernandes at Kaleidoscope
• WSaDF themed twitfic wiriting contest
• Review of WSADF in Theaker's Quarterly Fiction
• A Twitter-chat on colonialism and worldbuilding in SFF (on the #WSaDF hashtag)
• Barbara Krasnoff's review
• Come for the Science Fiction, Stay for the Romance (Heather Massey)
• Why I wrote 'Lotus' - Land and Lotus Flowers (Joyce Chng)
• Interview with Rochita Loenen-Ruiz (by Seán Wright)
• Pancho Villa Wants You to Drink Responsibly on a Different Frontier, Ernest Hogan
• A sequel to "Lotus" by Joyce Chng
• Interview with Benjanun Sriduangkaew (by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz)
• Seán Wright's review on Adventures of a Bookonaut
• Interview with N.A. Ratnayake by Margrét Helgadóttir.
• Comments by Aliette de Bodard (who wrote the preface)

Call for participation: WSaDF blog carnival

photo by Ryan Uhrich on Flickr

Futurefire.net Publishing are running a Blog Carnival over this month and next, to help promote the We See a Different Frontier anthology of speculative fiction from the perspective of the colonized, and encourage and celebrate diversity in science fiction and fantasy in all its forms (and especially the intersection of marginalizations). We shall be featuring interviews with and guest posts by many of the authors and editors, contests and giveaways, and we'll welcome guest posts by other in or with an interest in the underrepresented vertices of the speculative fiction world.

We're calling here for guest bloggers, interviewers, reviewers, bloggers who would like to host guest posts by any of us, and anyone else who'd like to take part in the Carnival in any way. If you'd like to write a short post on any aspect of colonialism or diversity in SF/F for this or another blog taking part in the Carnival; or if you'd like to host a guest post or an interview on your blog; or if you have any other ideas for livening up the party, please do get in touch. (Leave a comment here, or email me, or tweet, etc.) We'd really like this Carnival to help plug other people and projects as well as WSaDF.

We'll keep a list of all relevant posts and other events in a follow-up to this blog post, and announce everything on Twitter using the #WSaDF hashtag.

I'll bring the writers and the beer. What music would you like to put on?