Craig Laurance Gidney's Blog, page 30
August 3, 2017
Fiction in the Summer issue of Glittership!
Glittership has reprinted a story of mine in the Summer 2017 issue. My piece appears alongside work by Matthew Bright, Bogi Takács, Aimee Ogden, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Morris Tanafon, Charles Payseur, Hester J. Rook, and Jes Rausch.
You can pick up a copy here!
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Filed under: Fiction, Publishing Tagged: glittership
August 1, 2017
New story, “Beneath the Briar Patch” out in Anathema Magazine!
“Beneath the Briar Patch” is my (dark and funny) retelling of an Uncle Remus folktale. It features a non-human cast.
You can check it out here!
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Filed under: Fiction, Publishing Tagged: anathema magazine, retellings, uncle remus
July 30, 2017
EVENTS: I’ll be at OutWrite next weekend!
I will be at Outwrite, the LGBT Book Festival in DC, next weekend. I’ll be reading/on panels with some really cool folks. My schedule is below.
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Saturday August 5
Of Love & Other Monsters – 12pm – 1pm
A Speculative Fiction Reading featuring Craig L. Gidney, Steve Berman, Rahul Kanakia & Ruthanna Emrys. Moderated by Michael Thomas Ford.
Saturday August 5
Beyond Binary – 4pm – 5pm
A panel on gender in speculative fiction moderated by Don Sakers. Featuring panelists Craig Gidney, Rahul Kanakia, Ruthanna Emrys and Michael M Jones.
Filed under: Uncategorized
July 28, 2017
New fiction for Patreon folks
I just put up Warped & Wefted, a cosmic horror story set in the drag ball scene. Think Paris is Burning meets the nameless void.
Check out my Patreon here. (I’m only asking a $1 for one level, $2 for the second level).
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Filed under: Patreon Tagged: cosmic horror, drag queens, Fiction
July 20, 2017
Carl Brandon goes to NecronomiCon
Thanks to Niels Hobbs/ the convention committee, I will be attending NecronomiCon next month in Providence, Rhode Island.
The title of this post refers to Carl Brandon, the mythical black person in fandom created by a couple of science fiction authors as a way of commenting on the lack of diversity in SF fandom.
Weird Fiction/ Lovecraft fandom has a race problem. Lovecraft fandom is full of apologists who downplay his virulent racism and excuse it. (A common argument–”He was a man of his time.” Lovecraft wrote and published fiction during the same time as the Harlem Renaissance). I find Lovecraft near unreadable due to both the overt and the subtextual racism present in his work. (His racism was of the “People of Color are subhumans” type).
However, there are Lovecraft fans and acolytes who not only excuse the author’s racism. They embrace it. (Check out the racist site Stormfront or any of the alt-right Reddits and online groups; have barf bag and brain bleach on hand).
That being said, people who play with the Mythos–particularly recent work by Victor LaValle and Kij Johnson (both will be at the con) have deepened my appreciation for H.P’s genius imagination. And the existential/cosmic horror is my second favorite kind of dark fiction. (The first being ghost stories).
Anyway, here is my schedule:
Sunday – 9-10:15am
FABULISM IN CONTEMPORARY WEIRD FICTION – Garden Room, Biltmore 2nd Floor
Before the short story, the novel, or even the play- there was the fable and fabulism has been a constant thread throughout the history of horror and weird fiction and, in recent years, many writers have been more openly showcasing fabulism in their work. This panel seeks to explore the phenomenon, it’s history, and it’s current use with several contemporary writers who have, themselves, embraced fabulism as a driving factor in their own work.
Panelists: Craig Gidney, J.T. Glover, Kij Johnson, Nnedi Okorafor, Simon Strantzas (Moderator), Peter Straub
Sunday – 10:30-11:45am
THE DREADED SURREAL: Landscapes in Weird Fiction – Omni 2
External landscapes have been something of a dark playground for weird fiction writers and artists throughout the history of the genre. Many bizarre and unsettling places have served as the settings for countless memorable works. Which of these fictional places have been most memorable in the minds of artists and writers working in horror, weird fiction, and science fiction today? What strange, terrifying places may yet be created? And how might they steer the genre in terms of narrative structure and content?
Panelists: Christopher Burke, Craig Gidney, Mike Griffin, Eric Schaller (Moderator), Farah R. Smith, Jeffrey Thomas
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Filed under: Events Tagged: necronomicon 2017
July 17, 2017
BOOK BIRTHDAY: Telling the Map by Christopher Rowe
I met Christopher Rowe over 20 years ago at Clarion West, where I read his uniquely Southern take on speculative fiction. His work combines SFnal tropes with the rich culture of the American South, creating something inexplicably weird and eerily familiar. If Eudora Welty wrote SF, it might look like this….
Anyway, check out his debut collection, TELLING THE MAP.
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Filed under: Book Birthdays Tagged: christopher rowe, small beer press
July 11, 2017
Happy Book Birthday: The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller
Today is the release day for The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller. I haven’t read it yet, but I met Sam last summer at a workshop and read the first draft of his 2018 novel BLACKFISH CITY and can vouch for his mad fictioneerin’ skillz.
The Art of Starving sounds intriguing: magic, queer identity, and eating disorders. It’s available at the usual suspects.
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Filed under: Book Birthdays Tagged: book birthday, queer speculative fiction, sam j miller, the art of starving
July 1, 2017
First Patreon post up!
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My first Patreon post is a draft of a weird story called HAIR-NEST. It’s about race, gender and the politics of black hair. Influences/inspiration: Kara Walker, Angela Carter. And one of the characters was inspired by a certain actress/wellness guru with initials GP.
https://www.patreon.com/craiglaurancegidney
Filed under: Fiction Tagged: Patreon, weird fiction
June 27, 2017
Cover Reveal for the ltd edition of LOOMING LOW Vol. 1 (Dim Shores Press)
There will be a limited run hardcover edition of LOOMING LOW, Dim Shores’ first anthology. The art is by Marcela Bolivar.
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Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: cover art, dim shores press, marcela bolivar
June 26, 2017
Patreon for Craig Laurance Gidney!
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I have set up a Patreon account to assist me with the admistrativa associated with the Writing Life (research, print-outs, conference fees etc).
I’m starting modestly.
$1 Gets you Unpublished fiction and Non Fiction (Book Reviews, Music Reviews)
$2 – Excerpts from my ghost novel-in-progress, Peculiar Hue.
The link for the Patreon is here.
Thanks for all of your support in advance!
Filed under: Patreon Tagged: Patreon
