Laura Anne Gilman's Blog, page 13
July 5, 2016
A very fine Endeavour, indeed.
So. This happened. :-)
Congrats to my fellow finalists!
2016 Endeavour Award Finalists and JudgesJuly 5, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact:
James W. Fiscus, Chairman
Phone: 503-239-7641
E-Mail: EndeavourAward@sff.net Web: www.osfci.org/endeavour
Portland - Five novels written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 18th annual Endeavour Award. The finalists were announced at Westercon over the Independence Day weekend. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00. The winner will be announced November 18, 2016, at OryCon, Oregon's primary science fiction convention.
The finalists are:
"Edge of Dark" by Kirkland, WA, writer Brenda Cooper, Pyr Books;
"Irona 700" by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Open Road Integrated Media;
"The Price of Valor" by Bothell, WA, writer Django Wexler, Roc Books;
"Silver on the Road" by Seattle, WA, writer Laura Anne Gilman, Saga Press;
"Tracker" by Spokane, WA, writer C.J. Cherryh, Daw Books.
The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.
JUDGES
The judges for the 2016 Award are Jack McDevitt, Michaela Roessner, and Gordon Van Gelder.
The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
Congrats to my fellow finalists!
2016 Endeavour Award Finalists and JudgesJuly 5, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For additional information contact:
James W. Fiscus, Chairman
Phone: 503-239-7641
E-Mail: EndeavourAward@sff.net Web: www.osfci.org/endeavour
Portland - Five novels written by writers from the Pacific Northwest are finalists for the 18th annual Endeavour Award. The finalists were announced at Westercon over the Independence Day weekend. The Award comes with an honorarium of $1,000.00. The winner will be announced November 18, 2016, at OryCon, Oregon's primary science fiction convention.
The finalists are:
"Edge of Dark" by Kirkland, WA, writer Brenda Cooper, Pyr Books;
"Irona 700" by Victoria, BC, writer Dave Duncan, Open Road Integrated Media;
"The Price of Valor" by Bothell, WA, writer Django Wexler, Roc Books;
"Silver on the Road" by Seattle, WA, writer Laura Anne Gilman, Saga Press;
"Tracker" by Spokane, WA, writer C.J. Cherryh, Daw Books.
The Endeavour Award honors a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book, either a novel or a single-author collection, created by a writer living in the Pacific Northwest. All entries are read and scored by seven readers randomly selected from a panel of preliminary readers. The five highest scoring books then go to three final judges, who are all professional writers or editors from outside of the Pacific Northwest.
JUDGES
The judges for the 2016 Award are Jack McDevitt, Michaela Roessner, and Gordon Van Gelder.
The Endeavour Award is sponsored by Oregon Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. (OSFCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
June 24, 2016
DYMK Editorial Services is reopening for late Summer/Autumn Clients!
I'm still finalizing the website updates, but this is a heads-up that I will be accepting clients again in late August/early September (developmental and line editing, as well as mentoring).
Drop me a line here, or at lag@lauraannegilman.net!
Drop me a line here, or at lag@lauraannegilman.net!
June 23, 2016
Thursday under the greylit sky...
It's a beautifully cool and slightly overcast morning here in lovely out-town Seattle, and I may have a slight political hangover. I regret nothing.
In more local news, Part 1 of Devil's West #3 is off to the first-look beta reader, may dog have mercy on her soul, and Part 2 awaits instruction. The Patreon story for this month is back from its beta-reader with a few suggestions. Well, I guess I have my marching orders for today, huh?
In more local news, Part 1 of Devil's West #3 is off to the first-look beta reader, may dog have mercy on her soul, and Part 2 awaits instruction. The Patreon story for this month is back from its beta-reader with a few suggestions. Well, I guess I have my marching orders for today, huh?
June 22, 2016
Being Jewish
Pretty much everyone here knows (or will figure out sooner rather than later) that I'm Jewish. What most people don't understand is that this isn't like being Christian-only-not.
I don't agree 100% with everything in this essay, but I endorse the hell out of it. And you should read it.
Originally posted by
vschanoes
at Being JewishI was reading a great piece about queer YA lit the other day about intersectionality, and the multiple ways that characters and people can embody differences from the normative “white, cisgender, heterosexual, abled, Christian (or similar morality structure) and more often than not, male.” While I really like this piece, I was brought up short by “or similar morality structure”—I couldn’t help read it as a reference to Jewishness: we’re different, but not quite different enough to count. I blame the right-wing use of “Judeo-Christian,” to be honest, but more on that later. I want to emphasize that I have no idea if Tristina Wright meant it that way—she may have meant something entirely different, and the anger in this essay is not meant to be directed at her. It is directed at what feels to me like an attempt in the US to erase the historical differences between Christians and Jews, an erasure being committed in order to exonerate Christians of their history of violent anti-semitism while demonizing Islam.
read more here
June 18, 2016
This city's going to the dogs....
A taste of what my Patreons will be getting in their in-boxes soon...
My partner Dickie was greying around the muzzle, but still stocky and strong, pure bulldog down to his claws. “Pup,” he’d started, and never mind I was full-grown, to him I was forever going to be working on my milk-teeth, “Pup, ya gotta learn how to leave the job on the job.”
“Yeah Dickie, I know.” I’d been getting that speech for a month straight now, ever since he decided I wasn’t going to wash out and might some day make a decent cop.
Join in here!
My partner Dickie was greying around the muzzle, but still stocky and strong, pure bulldog down to his claws. “Pup,” he’d started, and never mind I was full-grown, to him I was forever going to be working on my milk-teeth, “Pup, ya gotta learn how to leave the job on the job.”
“Yeah Dickie, I know.” I’d been getting that speech for a month straight now, ever since he decided I wasn’t going to wash out and might some day make a decent cop.
Join in here!
June 17, 2016
Danny and Ellen, all up!
Pleased to announce that all four SYLVAN INVESTIGATIONS urban fantasy novellas are now available on Amazon, as well as B&N, Kobo, and of course our preferred vendor, Book View Cafe.
Send congratulations to me, and thanks to The Amazing April. :-)
And, of course, if you've read and enjoyed them, leaving a note to that effect on your vendor of choice is the best way to send congrats and thanks....
Book View Cafe
Amazon US
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
(if buying outside the USA, I strongly encourage you to check out Book View Cafe. Direct from the writer, supporting the writer!)
Send congratulations to me, and thanks to The Amazing April. :-)
And, of course, if you've read and enjoyed them, leaving a note to that effect on your vendor of choice is the best way to send congrats and thanks....
Book View Cafe
Amazon US
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
(if buying outside the USA, I strongly encourage you to check out Book View Cafe. Direct from the writer, supporting the writer!)
June 15, 2016
There has been minor Interruption of Service...
Apparently, the Kitten of Thursday has been paying attention to Kelly McCollough's "cat vest" photos...
June 13, 2016
the fire that forged you
Inspired by recent events, and recent observed discussion about the use of the word queer. All thoughts my own; not a political manifesto.
Growing up a kid in central NJ in the 70′s and 80′s - being a sexually (in)active teenager when AIDS became a known thing - I heard pretty much every term there was for non-straights. I had friends who were gay, who were lesbian. I had friends who were ace, but didn’t have a term for it yet. I had friends who were bi, and felt brutally tossed around by their own bodies and brains in ways they didn’t have a handle on, didn’t have a baseline for yet.
I heard every slur that could be thrown at them, and saw them, over the decades, reject or own those terms. Find the ground under their feet, even when they could see the end coming closer (I’m still losing friends to AIDS, I am still not resigned).
And in all that time, in all those years, I heard friends call themselves queer.
Queer: unusual, odd, eerie. Peculiar.
“Queer” was a term that, to me, meant “strong.” A refusal to be shoved into a box, be it a closet or a coffin, without a fight. A refusal to sit down and accept someone else’s expectations or assumptions. A beautiful word. An encouraging word.
Personally, I hate the term ally. An alliance is a political construct, a temporary collision of mutual interests. You are my sisters, my brothers, my siblings. That is not temporary, that has nothing to do with me or my interests. You are, and that is enough. And while I hate the word and the world that has forced you to be so strong, I love the fire within you that forged that strength, and the word that was your anvil.
Growing up a kid in central NJ in the 70′s and 80′s - being a sexually (in)active teenager when AIDS became a known thing - I heard pretty much every term there was for non-straights. I had friends who were gay, who were lesbian. I had friends who were ace, but didn’t have a term for it yet. I had friends who were bi, and felt brutally tossed around by their own bodies and brains in ways they didn’t have a handle on, didn’t have a baseline for yet.
I heard every slur that could be thrown at them, and saw them, over the decades, reject or own those terms. Find the ground under their feet, even when they could see the end coming closer (I’m still losing friends to AIDS, I am still not resigned).
And in all that time, in all those years, I heard friends call themselves queer.
Queer: unusual, odd, eerie. Peculiar.
“Queer” was a term that, to me, meant “strong.” A refusal to be shoved into a box, be it a closet or a coffin, without a fight. A refusal to sit down and accept someone else’s expectations or assumptions. A beautiful word. An encouraging word.
Personally, I hate the term ally. An alliance is a political construct, a temporary collision of mutual interests. You are my sisters, my brothers, my siblings. That is not temporary, that has nothing to do with me or my interests. You are, and that is enough. And while I hate the word and the world that has forced you to be so strong, I love the fire within you that forged that strength, and the word that was your anvil.
June 10, 2016
slog slog slog....
Slogging through a headache and construction outside, but making progress...
It would be cruel to taunt you with something from book #3 when book #2 isn't out yet, right?
It would be cruel to taunt you with something from book #3 when book #2 isn't out yet, right?
Once True. Always True.
I posted this blog entry five years ago today. It was true then, it’s true now, it will forever be true.
Did you work today? Are you sure?
There is a trend among many writers, fostered by nifty word-count bars and graphics, to post metrics of daily word count. This is a useful tool. It forces accountability and many of us – lazy writers that we are – need that public accountability to get shit done.
However, the trend is also a dangerous one, because it leads to the feeling that unless you have nailed a certain word count you haven’t actually “done” anything.
We’re all guilty of it – “I did X and Y but I only wrote 500 words so the day’s a failure.”
Let me respond to that as pithily as I know how.
Bullshit.
A story isn’t words. Words are what convey the story. The stronger and more effective your conveyance, the better people respond. That’s the goal. But there is more to “writing” than the actual act of crafting sentences.
There is research, and planning, and thinking. Note-taking and chasing down facts, and considering about how it all connects. It may not feel like writing, and it’s not always as much fun as writing (except to the few, the proud, the research junkies), but it feeds the writing. It creates a deeper, more layered and thoughtful story. More, research triggers ideas, and the ideas trigger thoughts, and those thoughts move the story in ways we-the-writer might not have anticipated or planned.
So how can that process be any less “writing a story” than the actual choosing/typing of words?
Idea + Plotting + Research + Word choice + Editing/revising = Writing.
Post your word counts if it works for you. If it doesn’t, if it makes you feel stressed out or unhappy because it highlights the fact that you spent the day ears-deep in research or inputting editorial corrections rather than laying down new words? Don’t. Deep-six the word meter and wallow in the fact that you were doing some damned heavy lifting.
Don’t allow yourself –or anyone else – to discount everything that comes before (or after) the laying down of words as “not writing.” Because you ARE. From inspiration to perspiration to polish. And you should give yourself credit for the whole damned difficult process.
(to find the collection this ended up in, check out
http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/bvc-author/laura-anne-gilman/)
Did you work today? Are you sure?
There is a trend among many writers, fostered by nifty word-count bars and graphics, to post metrics of daily word count. This is a useful tool. It forces accountability and many of us – lazy writers that we are – need that public accountability to get shit done.
However, the trend is also a dangerous one, because it leads to the feeling that unless you have nailed a certain word count you haven’t actually “done” anything.
We’re all guilty of it – “I did X and Y but I only wrote 500 words so the day’s a failure.”
Let me respond to that as pithily as I know how.
Bullshit.
A story isn’t words. Words are what convey the story. The stronger and more effective your conveyance, the better people respond. That’s the goal. But there is more to “writing” than the actual act of crafting sentences.
There is research, and planning, and thinking. Note-taking and chasing down facts, and considering about how it all connects. It may not feel like writing, and it’s not always as much fun as writing (except to the few, the proud, the research junkies), but it feeds the writing. It creates a deeper, more layered and thoughtful story. More, research triggers ideas, and the ideas trigger thoughts, and those thoughts move the story in ways we-the-writer might not have anticipated or planned.
So how can that process be any less “writing a story” than the actual choosing/typing of words?
Idea + Plotting + Research + Word choice + Editing/revising = Writing.
Post your word counts if it works for you. If it doesn’t, if it makes you feel stressed out or unhappy because it highlights the fact that you spent the day ears-deep in research or inputting editorial corrections rather than laying down new words? Don’t. Deep-six the word meter and wallow in the fact that you were doing some damned heavy lifting.
Don’t allow yourself –or anyone else – to discount everything that comes before (or after) the laying down of words as “not writing.” Because you ARE. From inspiration to perspiration to polish. And you should give yourself credit for the whole damned difficult process.
(to find the collection this ended up in, check out
http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/bvc-author/laura-anne-gilman/)
