#EuropeanMonsters #WritingPrompt competition

Hello, everyone!

This could be your prize!

You may have noticed that Djibril of The Future Fire has been running some fantastically #EuropeanMonsters specific #WritingPrompts on Twitter that are now starting to overflow on to Facebook and the British Fantasy Society's forums. He's even been kind enough to keep an eye on the resulting work and keep a Storify of them.

Well, we - the editorial team and Fox Spirit Books - were persuaded to get in on the action. So, here's what we're going to do. We are offering one shiny paperback copy of European Monsters to the most appreciated response to Djibril's European Monsters writing prompts. To see what you could win, have a look at the book page on the Fox Spirit website.

And here's what you need to do:

1. Write a response to one of the daily #WritingPrompts starting with the "Am here to give my testimony of how I became a ..." Djibril supplies.
2. Submit it on Twitter (use the tags so he can find them), Facebook (in reply to the posts on The Future Fire account) or the BFS forum (use the forum thread linked above).
3. Get peope to vote for you on the survey, which will be opened once the writing prompts have closed (this post will be updated with a link when the form becomes available) is now open.

The writing prompts will continue until Sunday (28th), so all responses need to be submitted by midnight / end of Sunday (GMT).

Voting for the favourite entry closes by midnight / end of Wednesday 31st - better known as New Year's Eve - so don't forget to get your votes in.

Once we've had a chance to crawl out from under our hangovers (assuming alcohol is involved at New Year's), we'll compile the results and announce the winner on Twitter, Facebook and the BFS forum thread by the end of Thursday (1st).

Good luck and write well!

Jo Thomas

Call for Illustrations: Accessing the Future

THIS CALL IS NOW CLOSED.

WE HAVE MORE ILLUSTRATION PITCHES THAN WE KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH!

Accessing the Future will be an anthology of short stories and art on the theme of disability and science fiction. (See the original call for stories.) The editors are looking for single-page, black and white illustrations to include in the anthology. The illustrations will be free-standing (i.e. not depicting scenes from the stories). The editors want to include illustrations from as many and diverse people as possible. The editors especially encourage submissions from people with disabilities or chronic illness, and people who are neuroatypical.

Illustrations that the editors want:

The editors want illustrations that depict disability and people with disabilities in the future. The editors also want the illustrations to reflect diversity (in terms of race, nationality, gender, sexuality and class). Illustrations can be abstract or realistic and use any technique appropriate to creating high contrast, black and white images.

Here are some questions the editors want artists to think about when drafting their illustration:

• How will people with disabilities change the future world?
• What kinds of new spaces (on Earth and in outer space) will there be to explore and live in? Who will have access to these spaces? In what ways will people use these new spaces?
• What kinds of technology will people use in the future to make their lives easier?
• What does an accessible future look like?

If including technology in your illustration, the focus should be on the human user(s) and not on the technology. Please avoid proposing illustrations of cyborgs or any image that dehumanizes the user(s) of technology.

Submission Guidelines

In the first instance, please pitch the idea for an illustration to the editors. The editors will select the ideas that work best, and will work with artists to make sure the final images are a good fit for the anthology.

• Send the editors an email with a description of the planned illustration and an explanation of how it fits the theme. This may include a rough sketch. The pitch should also include a link to an online portfolio or previous examples of artwork.
• Email the editors at accessingfutureatgmailcom with your pitch as soon as possible. The call for illustrations will remain open until the editors have as many images as they need. Final versions of images will be needed by January 31, 2015.
• Final images will be approximately 11cm x 19cm (4.5" x 7.5") in portrait orientation. Images will be printed in black and white, on off-white book paper.
• The editors do not ask artists to identify themselves as a person with a disability. The editors respect anyone’s desire to self-identify.

Payment and Rights

The publisher will pay $75 (USD) for global English first publication rights in print and digital format. The artists retain ownership and copyright.

About the Editors and Publisher

Kathryn Allan is an independent scholar of feminist SF, cyberpunk, and disability studies. She is the first Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow (2013-14). She is editor of Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure (2013, Palgrave MacMillan). Kathryn is an Associate Editor and Reader of The Future Fire. She tweets and blogs as Bleeding Chrome.

Djibril al-Ayad is a historian and futurist. He is the owner of Futurefire.net Publishing. He co-edited both Outlaw Bodies (2012, co-edited by Lori Selke) and We See a Different Frontier (2013, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes). He has edited The Future Fire magazine since 2005.

New Issue 2014.31

“And you think they’ll let you,” said Machine. It was a flat, sad statement.
“No,” she said, “but nobody ever let me do anything in my life before and I never let that stop me.”

—Joanna Russ

Issue 2014.31

• ‘Seven Bridges’, Francesca Forrest, artwork by Carmen Moran
• ‘Tears of the Gods’, Sarah L. Byrne
• ‘Tanty Marlene’, E. Saxey, artwork by Miranda Jean
• ‘The Poisoned City’, Katrina S. Forest, artwork by Michael Csontos
• ‘Digital Ligatures’, Lauren C. Teffeau, including cover artwork by Martin Hanford

Editorial introduction by Regina de Búrca.

Download e-book version: PDF | EPUB | Mobi

Accessing the Future: plain language call for stories

(by Kathryn Allan)

Note new closing date: December 31, 2014.

Accessing the Future will be an anthology of speculative fiction short stories. The theme of the book is disability. Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad are the editors of Accessing the Future. The editors want to receive stories from as many people as possible. The editors encourage submissions from:

• people with disabilities (this includes physical and mental disabilities)
• people with chronic illness
• people with mental illness
• people who are neuroatypical
• people who understand disability politics
• the QUILTBAG community
• people of colour
• non-North American writers
• people who are sensitive to intersectional politics

Stories the editors want:

The editors want to read stories that depict disability and people with disabilities in the future. The editors also want the stories to be mindful of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class. Stories can take place in virtual spaces (like the internet). Stories can also be set in outer space or anywhere on earth. Stories can deal with prosthetic technology (like brain implants or artificial limbs). Stories can also be about medical technology (like gene therapy).

Here are some questions the editors want writers to think about:

• How will people change the future world?
• What kinds of new spaces will there be to explore and live in? Who will have access to these spaces? In what ways will people use these new spaces?
• What kinds of technology will people use to make their lives easier in the future?
• How will new technology change existing differences in ability, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and race?
• What does an accessible future look like?

Stories the editors will reject:

• Stories where people with disabilities are “cured,” or receive medical treatment without consent.
• Stories of people with disabilities as “extra special,” “magical,” or “inspirational” because of their disability.
• Any story that is racist, sexist, or homophobic.
• Any story that is insulting or harmful to any person or group of people.

Payment and Rights:

The editors will pay $0.06/word (six cents a word) for global English first publication rights in print and digital format. The authors retain copyright.

Submission Guidelines:

• Send stories to accessingfutureatgmailcom by midnight on December 31st, 2014.
• Story length is between 2500-7500 words.
• No reprints or simultaneous submissions.
• Attach the story as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file, with the author’s name, the story title, and the wordcount on the first page.
• The editors do not ask authors to identify themselves as a person with a disability. The editors respect anyone’s desire to self-identify.

About the Editors and Publisher:

Futurefire.net Publishing is the publisher of The Future Fire magazine. Futurefire.net Publishing also published Outlaw Bodies (2012, co-edited by Lori Selke) and We See a Different Frontier (2013, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes). Djibril al-Ayad is a historian and futurist. He co-edited both Outlaw Bodies and We See a Different Frontier. He has edited TFF since 2005.

Kathryn Allan is an independent scholar of feminist SF, cyberpunk, and disability studies. She is the first Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow (2013-14). She is editor of Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure (2013, Palgrave MacMillan). Kathryn is an Associate Editor and Reader of The Future Fire. She tweets and blogs as Bleeding Chrome.

«Fragments d’histoires», Espace Kairos, Fribourg

Cécile Matthey, exhibition « Fragments d’histoires » at the gallery Espace Kairos, Fribourg (Switzerland), 20 September–18 October 2014.

« Fragments d’histoires »

Q: Your work is of course well-known to readers of TFF. Could you tell us a bit about how you put your exhibition together, what the themes and focus are?

Cécile: My first idea was to show illustrations of fairy tales and legends. But along the way, I felt I wanted to work on other subjects too, from mythology, fables or novels. Besides, I thought this exhibition was a good opportunity to show some of the works I produced in the last few years, including TFF illustrations, and posters advertising theatre plays. The initial theme was thus broadened to illustrations in general, and the exhibition called « Fragments d’histoires » (« Fragments of stories »), because it shows images that open like windows in the big world of stories: Little Red Riding Hood, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, the Raven and the Fox, The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, Icarus, Richard III, …

Q: Espace Kairos is an independent gallery featuring the work of local talent. Tell us more about this gallery: how does it work? Which other local artists will be featured in coming months?

Cécile: Espace Kairos is a small gallery located in an old house close to the cathedral of Fribourg (Switzerland). It is run as a non-profit activity by Vincent, a man who wishes to promote local artists in a simple and convivial way. The exhibitions, usually lasting one month, are very varied: paintings, drawings, sculptures, puppets and so on, and can include cultural happenings such as concerts or readings. The gallery has been successful for a few years now. But Vincent has new plans for the future and unfortunately, Espace Kairos will close in December. After “Fragments d’histoires”, two more artists will show their works: André Stauffer, who makes drawings in “ligne claire” style, and the painter Pierrick Matthey (perhaps a distant cousin of mine?).

Now show us some of the art!

Little Red Riding Hood

This interpretation of the well-known fairy tale is inspired by an old-fashioned advertisement, originally showing an elegant pair leaning on either side of a street lamp. The technique used, involving Indian ink and gouache, makes it look like an etching. It requires a little courage, because the drawing must be completely soaked in water, and the result is not entirely predictable.

Treasure Island

Illustrating this classic novel is a long-range project of mine, and this exhibition was a good opportunity to get started on it. I tried to compose the illustration like an old-fashioned book cover. It shows Jim and Long John Silver on the Hispaniola, seen from the back, arriving in sight of the island. The parrot turns to the spectator screeching, as if knowing what will happen next…

Richard III

This piece was made as a poster advertising the theatre play by Shakespeare. It was all about showing the archetype of the villain in a simple but scary way. A shadow is a good way to achieve this, as I remembered from the old film “Nosferatu” by Murnau. To create the silhouette, I posed in the sun wearing a long thick winter coat, and added a menacing spiked crown inspired by John Howe’s version of Sauron and… the top of the cathedral of Fribourg!

Shadow Boy (for “Shadow Boy and the Little Match Girl” by C. Allegra Hawksmoor, 2013)

To give a sense of the melancholy and solitude of the protagonist, I drew him seen from the back, walking among the graves at dusk. The long white hair brings some strangeness and ambiguity to the character, and adds contrast. The cemetery is inspired by old English and American cemeteries, which always impress me with their gravestones all askew—you wouldn’t see that in Switzerland.

Josh and Paris (for “The Man Who Watched the Stars” by Carol Holland March, 2014)

This illustration is inspired by the souvenir photos made by the NASA before each mission, showing the astronauts posing in their suits, smiling. It seemed a simple and elegant way to evoke the first flight out of the solar system, on which the story is based, and the main protagonists. Josh is inspired by Claude Nicollier, a Swiss astronaut. As for Paris, I found it hard to draw an attractive alien with huge eyes, avoiding the Roswell cliché. In the end I used a tarsier's face as a reference, because it is strange but cute!

More information about the gallery:
http://www.espacekairos.ch

More information about the exhibition “Fragments d’histoires”:
http://www.cecilematthey.ch/fragments

Accessing the Future CFS

Inspired by the cyberpunk and feminist science fiction of yesterday and the DIY, open access, and hacktivist culture of today, Accessing the Future will be an anthology that explores the future potentials of technology to augment and challenge the physical environment and the human form—in all of its wonderful and complex diversity. We are particularly interested in stories that address issues of disability (invisible and visible, physical and mental), and the intersectionality of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class—in both physical and virtual spaces. Accessing the Future will be a collection of speculative fiction that places emphasis on the social, political, and material realms of being.

We want stories from as many diverse people as possible, especially from people with disabilities (visible and invisible, physical and mental), chronic illness or mental illness, who are neuroatypical, or people who have an understanding of the institutional and social construction of disability. We welcome stories from marginalized groups within the speculative fiction community (e.g., QUILTBAG, people of colour, non-North American writers), and from anyone with sensitivity to intersectional politics.

Submission Guidelines

We pay $0.06/word (six cents a word) for global English first publication rights in print and digital format. The authors retain copyright.

• Send your submissions to accessingfutureatgmailcom by midnight UTC on November 30th, 2014.
• Length 2500-7500 words (with a preference for 4000-6000 words).
• No reprints or simultaneous submissions.
• Attach your story as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file, with your name, the story title, and the wordcount on the first page.
• We do not require or request that submitting writers identify themselves as a person with a disability, but we respect anyone’s desire to self-identify.

We want stories that place emphasis on intersectional narratives (rejection of, undoing, and speaking against ableist, heteronormative, racist, cissexist, and classist constructions) and that are informed by an understanding of disability issues and politics at individual and institutional levels. We want to read stories from writers that think critically about how prosthetic technologies, new virtual and physical environments, and genetic modifications will impact human bodies, our communities, and planet.

For details, see the full CFS at futurefire.net/guidelines/accessingfuture.html.

AtF final round-up of blogs, interviews, guest posts

We're on the last day of the Accessing the Future fundraiser (igg.me/at/accessingfuture) with only nine hours to go and fast approaching our second stretch goal (which at $8000 will give us internal, black and white illustrations). I won't be awake when the final clock ticks over, so I'm leaving you with this final list of all the guest blog posts, interviews, plugs, and other words about the campaign and the anthology that have been posted in the last six weeks. Many thanks and much love to all of the people who have donated perks, blogged for us, spread the word in other ways, and contributed to the fundraiser itself. You (yes you!) have made it so this anthology will be excellent.

• We kicked off on August 2nd with the Indiegogo Fundraiser Pitch
• We also set up a Facebook Page in which all these and more news updates were posted (thanks to the wonderful Valeria for managing that!)
• At the start of the campaign, Fabio interviewed Kathryn over at Different Frontiers
• Also on Day 1, Jo Thomas kicked off a Blog Hop talking about power, bodies and work-in-progress
• The Blog Hop Home Post, which collects contributions by David, Allegra, Nick, Dylan, Ro, Jessica, Joseph, M.Fenn, Alyssa, Rachel and Rick
• We had a #DisabilitySF twitter chat, where people recommended good stories
• Cheryl Morgan blogged about the anthology and disability in science fiction (she very generously donated an e-book bundle from Wizard's Tower Press)
• Maureen Speller blogged about why the topic is important in her view (she donated a fantastic novella critique for the fundraiser too—I think there's still one left, if you're quick!)
• Margrét Helgadóttir interviewed us both about the anthology theme
• I wrote a guest post on intersectional SF and audiences for Denny Upkins blog
• Inspired by the blog hop, Jo Thomas carried out a disability-SF story audit, and blogged about her future action plan
• Cheryl Morgan also Podcast an interview with Kathryn at Salon Futura
• A.C. Buchanan wrote a post about Disability and SF scholarship
• Goldfish wrote about the campaign, and about "perfect" heroes in movies
• Interview on the Apex website
• I wrote a guest post over at Nicola Griffith's website (Nicola also kindly donated a Tuckerization)
• Tade Thompson wrote a guest post on Mental Illness in SF
• Kathryn gave some examples of good portrayals of disability in SF for Pornokitch's Friday Five
• I was interviewed by Christel Bodenbender
• Nick Wood blogged about disability, science fiction, and subtext
• Infamous Scribbler interviewed us both about the project
• Interview on Theaker's Quarterly
• Kathryn and I gave some examples of How Not To Do Disability-SF at Maureen's blog
• Cheryl blogged about the importance of paying authors after we hit our first target
• Recent Campbell-winning Sofia Samatar hosted a conversation about Intersectional Science Fiction
• The Long Hidden Kickstarter plugged us in a campaign update
• Kathryn had an interview at Visibility Fiction
• Kathryn had an interview at Twinja Book Reviews
• Kathryn's That Was Awesome post at Tor.com, about Misha's Red Spider White Web
• Kathryn ran an interview with me, that was posted in three parts by Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Margrét Helgadóttir and Aishwarya Subramanian
• SF Signal ran a Mind Meld about disability in SF
• Jared Shurin interviewed Kathryn for Pornokitsch
• Kathryn was interviewed on Space Crip
• I answered Tor.com's Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe
• Kathryn interviewed by Christel Bodenbender

That's it so far! Next up, the Call For Stories will open tomorrow. (Watch this space!) In the meantime, there are still a few hours to pre-order the anthology or claim the last few perks. Please stop by igg.me/at/accessingfuture and help any way you can!

Accessing the Future is pro-paying; stretch goals

Newsflash: Accessing the Future will be a full-length, pro-rate paying anthology of disability-themed science fiction! Thanks to all of our lovely supporters, the fundraiser reached $7000 this morning.

After paying fees and honoring all the rewards for the fundraiser, we will now have enough funds to produce an anthology of a little over 65,000 words of fiction, paid at 6¢/word, to pay our cover artist Robin E. Kaplan a fair artist fee, and to print off a few dozen review copies of the finished anthology next year.

But let's see how much further we can go! We still have over three days to raise more funds, and there are still story critiques, book bundles, and the opportunity to have a character named after you in a future short story by Lyda Morehouse, to be claimed. Or you can just pre-order the anthology itself. We have more stretch goals, which will be activated if we reach there further targets by September 16th:

• At $8000 we will commission internal, black and white illustrations for the anthology.
• At $9000 we will increase the wordcount to about 80,000 words (thus giving everyone who has pre-ordered even better value for money than they thought!)

Even if we don't quite make these goals, every penny we receive in this fundraising phase will go into making the anthology bigger and better.

The call for stories for Accessing the Future will open on Wednesday, September 17th, just after the end of the fundraiser.

You can claim one of the perks or pre-order the anthology at igg.me/at/accessingfuture

Accessing the Future: artist reveal; 2 new rewards

The campaign to fund Accessing the Future, a disability-themed science fiction anthology, reached its first funding goal yesterday! At $4000 the anthology is guaranteed to happen, and will pay at least $0.03/word (“semi-pro” rates) to authors. But we have two weeks left on the fundraiser, and support is still going strong, and we have a stretch goal of $7000 in sight. If we reach this goal, Accessing the Future will be a full-size anthology and all authors will be paid SFWA-defined “professional” rate of $0.06 per word!

On this occasion we have two announcements to make:

(1) We’re delighted to announce that Robin E. Kaplan will be producing the cover art for the Accessing the Future print anthology!

For those of you who don’t know Robin’s gorgeous work, she illustrated the cover of Outlaw Bodies, and front covers of several issues of The Future Fire magazine. Her website The Gorgonist (and her Etsy store) features more of her art, and we featured an interview at TFF News a few years ago. I think you’ll agree she’ll do a great job with the artwork.

(2) We’re adding two new reward levels to the fundraiser, so if you haven’t yet pre-ordered your copy of Accessing the Future and want to chip in for something a bit nicer, read on:

$65
Robin E. Kaplan signed art

You will receive a signed mini poster print of the cover artwork by illustrator Robin E. Kaplan, on archival photo paper. You will also receive the Accessing the Future anthology in trade paperback and DRM-free e-book.

$250
Nicola Griffith Tuckerization

Nicola Griffith (winner of Nebula, Tiptree, World Fantasy and Lambda awards, and author of Ammonite and Hild) will name a character after you or a person of your choice in a forthcoming fantasy novella. (Note this may take some time to appear.) You will also receive the Accessing the Future anthology in trade paperback and DRM-free e-book.

These and all other perks can be found at http://igg.me/at/accessingfuture

Flyers for Accessing the Future fundraiser

As we go into the second half of the Accessing the Future fundraiser, and the last few weeks of the summer convention season, we're calling on the army of TFF supporters and allies to help spread the word in the offline world. Are you going to a con in the next three weeks? Do you work or hang out in a library, a genre bookstore, a creative writing or literature department, a trendy café, or anywhere else where potential readers, writers or supporters might pick up a colorful flyer?

Would you be willing to print out a few copies of the flyer to the left, and put them on a leaflet table, hand them out to fellow con-goers, or airdrop them over a receptive crowd?

(Background artwork by the wonderful Carmen Moran, by the way; flyer design by Valeria Vitale.)

We've also uploaded a PDF with 4 copies to a page, which is how I prefer to print them and cut them out. I took a couple hundred of these to #NineWorlds and #LonCon3 this month and practically papered the halls with them!

Shout if you want another format, or if you're in London and would like me to give you a handful of paper copies in person to save you printing them. We'll be eternally grateful either way!

Let's make this happen!

Guest Post: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

By Tade Thompson

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes is a phrase better known to speculative fiction fans as 'Who watches the watchmen?', popularised by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's opus Watchmen. It holds other significance in psychiatry.

Louisa Lowe wrote Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? in 1872. She married Rev George Lowe in 1842 and moved out in 1870. When she would not return the good Reverend had her detained in an asylum. She languished there for eighteen months. Her documentation is one of the reasons we know about abuses in asylums.¹

Asylums ran wild with treatments such as isolation, blood-letting, turning, centrifuging, and water-dousing. None of these were evidence based, and many were cruel. Society let it happen because nobody cared about the mentally ill. It was a gender issue (approximately twice as many women were lobotomised as men); it was (and perhaps still is) a race issue (ethnic minorities are compulsorily detained more in the UK), it's a disability issue, yet still there is something about mental illness that triggers discrimination.

Maltreatment of the mentally unwell and stigma does not just affect the patients. Psychiatrists are not the most esteemed medical specialists. There appears to be a problem with parity. The disease burden is clear, but the funding is not proportional. WHO says “Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease.”² Yet we, as a society, do not appear to care enough about our mentally ill. There is a lot of rhetoric, but little action.

Speculative fiction in all its guises has always been a place for ideas to thrive. Weird, wacky ideas like, hey, how about a world in which mental illness is not a punchline? Where are the narratives where mental illness is not used as a ‘random’ factor to drive your plot in any direction you want? Mental illness isn’t random. Where are your nuanced characters? I love Douglas Adams, but Marvin the paranoid android wasn't paranoid, he was depressed. Even the Black Sabbath song ‘Paranoid’ has lyrics that suggest depression rather than paranoia. I feel people should do a little more research.

I wrote a 7-part primer on mental illness for writers of speculative fiction,³ because I believe the books people read and the films people watch and the music people listen to all play a part in forming a view of those who are mentally ill. If the depictions are non-sensational and well-informed, perhaps we can foster a better understanding.

¹ Lowe’s report (The bastilles of England; or, the lunacy laws at work):
https://archive.org/details/39002086343093.med.yale.edu
² WHO Factsheet on Depression:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/
³ Tade Thompson, Mental Illness Primer for Speculative Fiction Creators:
http://tadethompson.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/mental-illness-primer-for-speculative-fiction-creators-contents-page/

AtF two-week link round-up

Two weeks into the Accessing the Future fundraiser (igg.me/at/accessingfuture), and we're already a third of the way to our ultimate (stretch) goal which is $7,000 and a professional rate-paying anthology of disability-themed science fiction stories. Here's a quick round-up of some of the blog posts, interviews and other features, both here and elsewhere, that have helped us spread the word.

• The Pitch for the Accessing the Future anthology
• The fundraiser itself (go here!)
• The AtF Facebook page
• Interview with Kathryn Allan (by Fabio Fernandes)
• Jo Thomas's "Blog Hop"
• The "Blog Hop" home post—link here for all contributing posts
• Storify of a #disabilitySF Twitter chat—recommend some good stories
• Cheryl Morgan on the Accessing the Future campaign
• Maureen Kincaid Speller on Accessing the Future
• Accessing the Future from the Graveyard Shift (David Gillon's blog hop)
• Margrét Helgadóttir interviews Kathryn and Djibril
• Djibril writes about intersectional scifi at Denny Upkins's blog
• Jo Thomas's audit of disability coverage in her own writing
• Podcast: Cheryl Morgan interviews Kathryn Allan for Salon Futura
• A.C. Buchanan blogs about #disabilitySF and scholarship
• Babel: Allegra Hawksmoor's entry in the blog hop
• Journeymen: Dylan Fox's entry in the blog hop
• Accessing the Future and white male heroes (by Goldfish)
• Jo Thomas's personal action plan for #disabilitySF
• Interview with Kathryn and Djibril on Apex
• Disability in SF: a post at Nicola Griffith's blog

Thanks to all the excellent people who have blogged on this subject, loaned us their platforms, or taken the time to ask us interview questions about the anthology; please keep up the signal boosting! (And thanks to Kathryn for her earlier link round-up last week.)

Guest Post: Werewolves as Patriarchy

25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf

Guest post by Jo Thomas

As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, I consider werewolves one of the three fundamental monsters of horror fiction. In fact, I consider them the most used embodiment of the “monster within”, of what happens when one gives into one’s instincts and desires.

What we think of as werewolves is shaped by centuries of folklore and stories wrapping up together to form a totally mixed whole. There are plenty who lament the werewolf’s badass decay in paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I don’t especially wish sexy werewolves would disappear, but I wanted to show something of why we have werewolf mythology in the first place: lycanthropy is probably a twisted remembrance of warrior initiations.

There’s a fair chance that werewolves are the last remnants of rituals intended to make young men feel less human—more precisely, less subject to social mores—in order for them to commit some truly atrocious acts. The kind of acts that make certain Northern European tribes memorable to Romans like Tacitus, as it did for the Harii.

The Wikipedia article on the Harii only mentions the links between the warriors of that tribe and the warriors who serve Odin in Valhalla—and the later corruption into the Wild Hunt. There are also similarities with, and suggestions of carry-over into, the concept of the bear-shirts (berserkir) and wolf-coats (ulfhéðnar). Which, basically, may have spread the idea of shape-shifting into wolves around Europe, parts of Asia and possibly into the Americas. Depending on how far you think Viking influence spread.

In fact, if you check out some Germanic and Celtic hero stories and the chances are, you’ll fall over a warrior with a name that includes “hound” or “wolf” in fairly short order. If not, you’ll probably find a reference to someone who was turned into a wolf or dog for a somewhat confused reason that may have made sense before the story was written down by a Christian monk.

So, what have we got? Werewolf mythology comes from warrior rituals intended to make it easier to survive combat—or at least lessen the psychological damage of taking part in it. These warriors would have been the sports celebrities of their day (with added PTSD) and, just as today's celebrities, they would have been managed and controlled by higher status individuals who had either been through it themselves or could pay the warriors' salaries.

The warriors would be considered the best and the bravest of the youth, the most talented with their culture's preferred weapon(s) in hand. While there may have been women warriors, anyone who didn’t measure up—less strong or healthy, anyone who didn’t identify as the warrior ideal, anyone who didn't make the required number of kills—would have not been considered as good, as worthwhile. Generally, these people would have been men and, eventually, the outliers would be forgotten or given mythical status.

But, while they existed, these heroes would have been given or taken what they desired, regardless of what anyone unable to stand up to them wanted. Which is not to say that there wouldn’t have been genuinely nice guys (or girls). But… We are all aware of how difficult it is to resist, refuse, or otherwise turn down someone who has implied power, let alone physical ability.

What remains of bear-skin and wolf-coat references are all for male warriors, so it's possible to assume that all these wolf-warriors were male and so we could consider the seed of werewolves to be a result of male chauvinism, of a particular brand of male superiority. These are men who had gone beyond being human to being mystical animal-shape shifting warriors with special powers and were better than whatever other way of being was out there. If there were women bear-skins or wolf-coats, or even an equivalent, they are no longer described in the same terms.

Yes, I am apparently a card-carrying, man-hating feminist. I never set out to write 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf as a woman fighting against patriarchy but there must be a lick of that there when the origins of werewolves are considered. And the fact that the men who choose to become werewolves in the world I built are usually in it for the perceived power it gives them fits with that, as well.

The irony is, of course, that werewolves didn’t become a Bad Thing because of being poster children for macho men. The seed of the werewolf idea became a Bad Thing because the men who went through these rituals were pagans and heathens who enacted the rituals in the name of demon-gods, not something the growing Christian Church(es) appreciated. Theoretically the practices died out, although it’s likely that a memory of them continued, becoming more twisted as time went by.

Although there’s an element of settlement and civilisation in there. The more sedentary communities are likely to admire the warrior class less, because warriors spoiling for a fight tend to ruin the sedentary bit—and that may be why werewolves became superstars of horror in more recent history. As the whole un-Christian practices débâcle becomes less important to Western culture, we became more convinced of our own civility and the wild behaviour of werewolves became more of a thrill.

I guess that means that werewolves got declawed by paranormal romance because the thrill had to be brought within more acceptable cultural norms. Although, arguably, the role of the male romantic lead is one of the most “alpha male” stereotypes going as they are there to dominate and show the heroine what she really wants, achieving a happy ending by proving that she really is feminine despite the (plot inspired) need to kick ass and take names.

The paranormal romance werewolf, then, is simply an extension of this: a man who shows all the signs of being physically strong and powerful, able to control the situation, able to sense what the heroine needs before she realises it. Despite his power and strength, he means the heroine no harm so he becomes the best prospective mate in the book—unless there's a vampire around, of course.

Which comes to my objections. Sure, it's nice to read a romance and have a guaranteed happy ending as a given—for certain values of happy or expected outcomes. But what happens if the werewolf does mean harm? What happens if the heroine doesn't want to be dominated? Well, 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf happens, I guess.

Jo Thomas's 25 Ways to Kill a Werewolf is out from Fox Spirit Books in August 2014. For more information and to purchase the book, visit: http://www.foxspirit.co.uk/books/fantasy/25-ways-to-kill-a-werewolf/ or Amazon or Goodreads.

Blog hop: Accessing The Future Fiction

Guest post from Jo Thomas

The Future Fire are crowdfunding another science fiction anthology, this time focussing on the issues that come with disability—and the intersections with other issues such as race, gender, sexuality, class, etc, as our friendly socio-politcal SF magazine are wont to do. You may have noticed the blog about it here: http://igg.me/at/accessingfuture.

In order to help explain why such an SF discussion is necessary, the editors (Djibril al-Ayad and Kathryn Allan) brainstormed a bit of a blog hop with a bit of help from Jo Thomas (www.journeymouse.net) and Dylan Fox (www.dylanfox.net)

We've set up the questions so they can be asked of both writers and readers:

1. Tell us about your Work In Progress (WIP) / Current Read (CR) and the world it's set in.
2. Who are the most powerful people in this world?
3. Where does their power come from?
4. What physical and/or mental characteristics underpin their positions of power?
5. How does this affect the weakest people in the world?

Jo has launched the "Accessing The Future Fiction" blog hop at
http://journeymouse.net/wp/?p=3677

If you want to take part and you haven't been nominated, please do so. All that we ask is that you post a comment on this post so that others can find your part of the "Accessing The Future Fiction" blog hop and that you mention the Indiegogo fundraiser in your preamble! It would be nice if you could link in some other victims volunteers to carry on the blog hop, too.

And if reading this or taking part means you want to help fund some more inclusive fiction, follow this link here: http://igg.me/at/accessingfuture.

Edited to add: The anthology is now fully funded. As people are still showing an interest in the blog hop, would any future bloggers please link to the Call for Stories (http://futurefire.net/guidelines/accessingfuture.html) instead of the Indiegogo page?

Accessing the Future: anthology fundraiser

Quick Pitch

We are running a campaign via IndieGogo to fund an anthology of dis/ability-themed speculative fiction, Accessing the Future, co-edited by Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad, to be published by Futurefire.net Publishing.

Support the anthology here: http://igg.me/at/accessingfuture

This anthology will call for and publish speculative fiction stories that interrogate issues of dis/ability—along with the intersecting nodes of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class—in both the imagined physical and virtual spaces of the future. We want people of all abilities to see themselves, as they are now and as they want to be, in our collective human future. The call for stories will open as soon as the fundraising campaign ends in September.

Who We Are

Futurefire.net Publishing is the publisher of both The Future Fire magazine of social-political speculative fiction, and of two previous anthologies, Outlaw Bodies (2012, co-edited by Lori Selke) and We See a Different Frontier (2013, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes). Djibril al-Ayad, a historian and futurist, co-edited both volumes and has edited TFF since 2005.

Kathryn Allan is an independent scholar of feminist SF, cyberpunk, and disability studies, and is the inaugural Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow (2013-14). She is editor of Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure (2013, Palgrave MacMillan), an Associate Editor and Reader of The Future Fire, and her writing appears in both academic and popular venues. She tweets and blogs as Bleeding Chrome.

The Anthology Details

Inspired by the cyberpunk and feminist science fiction of yesterday and the DIY, open access, and hacktivist culture of today, Accessing the Future will be an anthology that explores the future potentials of technology to augment and challenge the physical environment and the human form—in all of its wonderful and complex diversity.

We are particularly interested in stories that interrogate issues of dis/ability—and the intersecting nodes of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class—in both physical and virtual spaces. Dis/ability is a social construct, and all bodies do not fit into or navigate the material environment in the same way(s). Personal and institutional bias against disability marginalizes and makes “deviant” people with certain differences, but it doesn't have to be that way.

We want to ask:

• How will humanity modify the future world?
• What kinds of new spaces will there be to explore and inhabit? Who will have access to these spaces and in what ways?
• Given that we all already rely on (technological) tools to make our lives easier, what kinds of assistive and adaptive technologies will we use in the future?
• How will augmentations (from the prosthetic to the genetic) erase or exacerbate existing differences in ability, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and race?
• What does an accessible future look like?

Accessing the Future will be a collection of speculative fiction that places emphasis on the social, political, and material realms of being. We aren’t looking for stories of “cure,” that depict people with disabilities (or with other in/visible differences) as “extra special,” as inspirations for the able bodied, or that generally reproduce today’s dominant reductionist viewpoints of dis/ability as a fixed identity and a problem to be solved. We want stories that place emphasis on intersectional narratives (rejection of, undoing, and speaking against ableist, heteronormative, racist, cissexist, and classist constructions) and that are informed by an understanding of dis/ability issues and politics at individual and institutional levels. We want to hear from writers that think critically about how prosthetic technologies, new virtual and physical environments, and genetic modifications will impact human bodies, our communities, and the planet.

Contribute to the Accessing the Future fundraiser, and reserve your copy of the anthology now! 
Save this URL: igg.me/at/accessingfuture

New Issue: 2014.30

“[Persistence] is a truth that applies to more than writing. It applies to anything that is important, but difficult, important but frightening. We're all capable of climbing so much higher than we usually permit ourselves to suppose. The word, again, is persist!”

—Octavia E. Butler

Issue 2014.30

• ‘The Man Who Watched the Stars’, Carol Holland March, artwork by Cécile Matthey
• ‘Phantom Hearts’, David Gallay, artwork by Lou Badillo
• ‘Passcodes’, Melinda Brasher, artwork by Laura-Anca Adascalitei
• ‘No Chimeras’, Ranylt Richildis, artwork by Lisa Grabenstetter
• ‘I m d 1 in 10’, Victor Fernando R. Ocampo, artwork by Eric Asaris

Download e-book version: PDF | EPUB | Mobi

Interview: Sandra McDonald

This week saw the publishing of Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection. Dozois's annual collections are among the oldest and foremost of the genre, and we're happy to have no less than two stories from We See a Different Frontier on it: Sunny Moraine's A Heap of Broken Images and Sandra McDonald's Fleet. A while ago, I interviewed Sandra about life in a different cultural environment, gender identity and colonialism. Here it is:



1. Where are you from originally? Did you live in other cities and/or countries? Where are you living now? Are you doing something now besides writing or are you a full-time writer? 

SANDRA MCDONALD - I’m a transplanted New Englander living in North Florida, and of Florida I’ve heard it said that the more north you go, the more South you get. Which is a roundabout way of saying there’s a large cultural gap between where I was and where I am now, and I got here through a similarly roundabout route of living in New York, England, Rhode Island, Virginia, Guam, Newfoundland, Key West, Connecticut, and California. Every new place is a discovery and delight. I don’t think I’d be a very good at living in the same house on the same hill in the same town for most of my life. Also, I’d probably be very bad at staying home and writing every day. I teach creative writing and other English classes at area colleges, write novels and short stories, publish some of my own work digitally, and feed every stray animal in my neighborhood. I’ve just passed my first decade of being a published author, and that includes 8 published novels and more than 70 published short stories. It’s all going very well.


2. You were a U.S. Navy commissioned officer working abroad. Where did you travel to and what did you see during your Navy time that might have inspired you to write Fleet?

SMD - What was fascinating to me about Guam in the 1990’s was how Japanese newlyweds would come to Guam to honeymoon “in America” but most Americans had no idea where or what Guam was, or its role in World War II. My apartment in the village of Yigo wasn’t far from the South Pacific Memorial Park, where Japanese soldiers killed themselves while American troops retook the island in 1944. For recreation, many of us would go “boonie-stomping” in the jungle and find abandoned tanks or other relics of war. Guam is lovely, rugged island stepped with a history of invasion and colonialism, and seemed like a natural fit when I saw that you were seeking out tales of post-colonialism.


3. Do you speak other languages than English? What was your experience in bridging the gap between your culture and a different one whenever you were abroad? What were the challenges? (Both in work and in
leisure)

SMD - Two years ago I was in Paris when a lovely old couple stopped to ask me, in French, how to get to the Eiffel Tower. To their amusement, the only sentence I could say in French was “I don’t speak French.” I know a smattering of helpful travel words in different languages but nowhere near enough for a long conversation in a pub. I’m actually sad to be monolingual, but traveling with English-only skills seems to be easier these days than it was when I was an exchange student based in London. Bridging a gap between cultures can be done through music, food, visual arts and other means, so I try not to let my lack of language keep me from interacting with locals and new places.


4. Gender identity and colonialism: two hard issues to tackle, and you managed to get them both very skillfully in your story. Why did you choose to tell the story of Magahet/Isa, and in such a setting?

SMD - She’s a transgender character following in the footsteps of Diana Comet, the titular heroine of my first collection of short stories that won a Lambda Literary award, was a Booklist Editor’s choice, and became an American Library Association “Over The Rainbow” book.  How we define, defend and debate gender in the U.S. is fascinating to me, and certainly there are clashes between cultures where gender is rigidly enforced vs where gender variety is protected.  For years now i’ve tried to explore those schisms and honor the men and women who live outside the boxes we try to stuff them in. First and foremost in Fleet, I wanted to write about how the post-apocalyptic residents of Guam, so cut off from the world, would prepare for the inevitable return of outsiders in a way opposite that of the Pacific cargo cults after World War II. That led me into an exploration of its tragic colonial past. Isa’s birth gender was a secondary consideration. The sexual harassment she suffers is a offshoot of what it’s like to be a woman in our own age, but I carefully set up that she has a loving husband, strong friendships, and the support of her community.


5. "Stories on the themes of colonialism and cultural imperialism focused on the viewpoints of the colonized," as it was written in the pitch for WE SEE A DIFFERENT FRONTIER. Do you think your story is about revenge? Stories written by the colonized are (or should be) always about revenge? Or there is a glimmer of hope for understanding in a postcolonial world?


SMD - I don’t see it as a story about revenge, but instead about the extraordinary measures one society takes to protect itself for as long as possible from the world that has always done it harm. In my own personal belief system, which is mostly Buddhist, revenge is pointless. We only harm ourselves when we harm others. But for civilizations that have been enslaved and destroyed by others, revenge fantasies can be normal or cathartic. My hope for the locals in Fleet is that they preserve their lifestyle as long as possible, given the scarcity of resources and lasting environmental damage, before change washes ashore again.

The Social Justice Network

It's still very surreal for me. 

I'm frequently asked by interviewers and friends alike how I've managed to create the network and amass the loyal following that I have.

I'm always flattered and grateful because people don't have to read my writing or support my endeavors. So the fact that they take time out of their schedule to read my thoughts and ideas is both honoring and humbling.

April 2003 seems like only last week when I was using the invite codes to start a new blog on this wicked cool sight known as Livejournal. At the time I only had 2 readers. 

Fast forward and after approximately 11 years, 5000+ blog posts, eight articles gone viral, 14 con appearances, 3 book signing events, 2 books, an audioshort, a PSA video and countless other endeavors, it feels like I'm only getting started and having a cult following (any following) is still a difficult concept for my brain to process.

The fact that my next book, West of Sunset, is coming out on April 30, is still kinda difficult for me to fathom. He says while currently working on line edits.

Some may believe it's luck, I'm sure that's a factor, but as a wise friend once stated, there's definitely a lot of hard work, and the meeting of preparation and opportunity.

While Lady Luck may have been a factor, I certainly made it a point to stack the deck, sacrificing nights, weekends, holidays, a social life, to hone my craft and to elevate my art and career to the next level.

The irony, I never set out to build a network or get involved with social justice/equal rights. In fact when I first began blogging, I rarely discussed those issues for the sake of my mental health. Sometimes Fate can lead us down the unlikeliest of rabbit holes.

So how did the 'network' come to be where I'm constantly the go to guy for signal boosting news, resources, cross-posting articles, and multitasking with a frenzy on my iPad, Macbook, and iPhone that I feel like the male equivalent of the Oracle?

Much like getting published, I don't believe there's one set path to making connections and building an audience. I will say however, the following techniques and advice have served me well over the years and hopefully they'll do the same for you.

New Issue: 2014.29

“Somos las nietas de todas las brujas que no pudistéis quemar.”

—International Women's Day chant, Barcelona

Issue 2014.29

• Made Light, Melissa Moorer (art by Eric Asaris)
• The Birdwatcher, Jocelyn Koehler (art by Cécile Matthey)
• Sophie and Zoe at the End of the World, Rebecca Buchanan (art by Robin E. Kaplan)
• The New Revolution, Dylan Fox (art by Erik Lasse)
• Always Left Behind, Jack Hollis Marr (art by Carmen Moran)

Download e-book version: PDF | EPUB | Mobi

A sentimental journey into copyediting

Guest post by Valeria Vitale

The reason I have chosen the word «journey» is not merely metaphorical. Actually, it is pretty accurate: I read the draft version of We See a Different Frontier seated on the upper deck of the number 59 bus from Brixton to Aldwych.

I had been asked to proofread it, looking for typos, mainly, but also little gaps in plot, inconsistencies or other things like that. I agreed because I was curious about the stories, and that’s how it started. Every morning, for a few weeks, I waited at my bus stop with the book in my hand and a quite serious look on my face. I would greet the driver with a little nod of solidarity (we were both on duty on that bus) and march up the stairs.

Then I sat on the first available seat and started reading, holding an imaginary red pen, happy to prove myself useful. But books and journeys often do not go in the way we expected. Other things happen. For example that you get carried away with the stories and completely forgot that you were supposed to spot mistakes. So, when I was reading Sofia Samatar’s “I stole the D.C.’s eyeglass” or Rochita Loenen-Ruiz’s “What really happened in Ficandula”, I suddenly realised that I had to start again.

Two times.

Three times…

Some other times it may happen that the writing is so good that you want to go a couple of pages back and read it again, just for pleasure. With Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “Them ships” or Benjaun Sriduangkaew’s “Vector”, I was really tempted to poke the person sitting next to me on the bus and telling them, «Do you want to hear something really awesome?!» Sadly, after a little hesitation, a sense of social appropriateness always prevailed.

You may also find that some of the stories contain such powerful images that you feel like you have to stop reading and close your eyes for a little while. I did it when I was reading J.Y. Yang’s “Old Domes” or Lavie Tidhar’s “Dark Continents”. I wanted to visualise what the words described, in my own imagination. In the eye of the people seating next to me, I must have looked pretty much like one of those commuters that take quick and not too comfortable naps on public transportation. But I wasn’t sleeping: I was observing an army of giant cockroaches taking over London, and I was meeting the anthropomorphic spirits of old buildings.

I didn’t just read WSaDF’s stories. I talked about them, discussed them, explained what I liked and disliked and why. So, they became more and more mine; the characters more and more real. They used to keep me company on my journey back home, on the same bus, 59, Aldwych to Brixton. Often very late, when I was usually too tired to read but not to get lost in my own thoughts. I could almost see them out of the corner of my eye: a long-necked mechanical bird lurking from the front window, a were-tiger purring just behind my neck, a barefoot girl running up and down the empty deck.

I’ve been seeing them less and less in the last months. But they haven’t left me. They live somewhere in my memory and conscience, shattered in images, ideas, words. And they are not inert. They have been growing and reproducing themselves, copulating with other images, ideas and words.

That’s why each time I know that the book got a good review or a nomination for a prize, I feel happy as for the success of a friend. As everyone, I had my favourites, according to very personal (sometimes slightly irrational) criteria. But all the stories in this anthology are worth reading, all the stories have left me something. And I am glad I had the opportunity to write this post, mainly because I can finally thank all the authors for bringing those stories to life. I can’t wait to read more.