R.B. Lemberg's Blog, page 40

Writer's Block: Career paths

I already have a job that is very close to my dream job. I wanted to be a professor since I was about 15. If I could have any job in the world, I would have more or less my job but with some tweaks (tenure, teaching more graduate seminars, perhaps working at a different university/location). I also love editing poetry, and am doing that now; the only thing I would change about the current work situation is the number of hours in the day, spoons, and pay/funding available for my work.

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

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Magic4Terri

This is the last signal boost for my Magic4Terri auction. Originally I was offering a custom poem, and there'd been some absolutely wonderful and awe-inspiring bidding, and right now I will be making a limited edition artist's book - each one of the three copies unique - with linoleum block prints and three original poems. I am hoping to document the proceedings here (poetry under lock and at least some of the artist's book progress in public access entries). The auction closes tomorrow, so if you were still pondering bidding, now is the time!

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

What is on your holiday wish list this year?

One random answer will win a $50 Amazon gift card. [Details here]

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Hand-knit socks, homemade cookies, and a few small things from Etsy.

Two signal boosts

First, Shweta Narayan's genderqueer short-short "The River's Children" is up at Expanded Horizons.It is beautiful and important and very close to my heart. If you're at all interested in these issues, you should go read.

Second, Sonya Taaffe's ( sovay 's) new poetry collection, A Mayse-Bikhl (which is Yiddish for 'A little story-book'), is Jewish-themed and absolutely wonderful. It has love and death and queeritude and golems! yes, golems!, and I had some small part in ordering the poems; if you're looking for a poetic Hanukkah gift, look no further. You are also encouraged to grab this book for other occasions, such as Christmas, Festivus, and the ever-popular holiday of "I just felt like it". 

Stone Telling 6 status, + non-fiction

Originally posted in stonetellingmag  at Stone Telling 6 status, + non-fiction
Dear Friends of Stone Telling,

This is to say that we have responded to all submissions for Stone Telling 6. If you have sent work for consideration and haven't heard from us either with an acceptance, a rejection, or a rewrite request, please contact us ASAP at the editorial address of poetry at stonetelling dot com.

We will reopen to submissions on December 25th, when we will be reading for the Queer issue. 

Meanwhile, we are now also looking for non-fiction proposals. We're looking for two kinds of things: 1) non-fiction articles about (speculative*) poetry around the world, and 2) reviews. For non-fiction articles, please contact me (Rose) at the editorial address with your proposal. It doesn't have to be a formal proposal, but something between 100-200 words explaining your idea would be great. For reviews, just contact me at the editorial inbox to say you'd like to be 'in the pool'. Generally speaking, we know what zines/works we want reviewed, so if you have some spare time and desire, please let us know that we can contact you.
We are paying 15$ per non-fiction column.

*- please contact us with anything that you feel will be of interest to our readers, as long as it is directly connected to poetry.

PS. ST 6 is going to be great - we're very excited about this issue!

Update on the poetry and art on offer!

Update on my magick4terri poetry auction: wow. And I've raised the stakes. In fact, there'd been two updates; right now, I'll be working on two poems and two pieces of art, but potentially I'll be working on a limited edition of three unique artist's books with three poems and three pieces of art. So if you are so inclined, go bid! If the artist's book will happen, the process of its creation will be documented here.

Yes, it is possible to have a limited edition of completely unique books - the text and basic block print design will be the same, but the colors in the block prints will vary, and so will cover design. 

If it will happen, it will be epic. It really will. It will be totally epic already, but it will be even more epic in book form.

Poem for Terri?

By now, you are probably aware of magick4terri , a charity auction to help Terri Windling.

I am offering a poem, and maybe more. Starting bid is just 5$.

:-)

Two Stone Telling announcements

crossposted from stonetellingmag

1. Today is the last day to submit to Stone Telling's Science and Science Fiction issue. So please hurry up - we'd love to see your work.

2. We have nominated the following six pieces (five poems and one essay) from Stone Telling 3-5 for the Pushcart Prize:

Sonya Taaffe, Persephone in Hel
Catherynne M. Valente, The Secret of Being a Cowboy
Amal El-Mohtar, Pieces
Jaded, Sewing Souls with Blanks: Silences in Kamala Das's Poetry
Shira Lipkin, The Changeling's Lament
Eliza Victoria, Prayer

Congratulations to all involved!

(yes, I am tentatively back from LJ hiatus)

WFC

Home from WFC.

I don't have spoons for a full report, nor do I think one is needed. I saw only the edges of this con, as two of the three days were spent in a zombified state due to pain and sleeplessness. Thankfully, the magical shweta_narayan and elsmi supplied me with medications and a hot pad that actually significantly relieved the pain. I hang out with them a lot, and it was great. I met a lot of people I already knew from online, but only a few whom I did not already know.

The poetry reading was terrific. Claire Cooney (  csecooney ) delivered a stunning performance of "The Sea King's Second Bride", and the Rhysling award was presented to her by Sam Henderson ( samhenderson ) and Jessica Wick ( mer_moon ) of Goblin Fruit. After this, shweta_narayan  read "Nagapadam," "Epiphyte," and "How to Be a Model Minority," and mariness read "Snowmelt." Things started blurring for me after this, so I don't remember the exact order of people, but Na'amen Tilahun came and read three pieces. I love discovering new people, and was curious about Na'amen's poetry for a while, and he did not disappoint. Na'amen and Emily Jiang also delivered a lovely reading of "Monkey, Trapped." Rachel Manija Brown read "A River of Silk," and a poet called Ash, whom I do not know, read three poems. britmandelo read her upcoming Ideomancer poem, and I gave a reading of  "In the Third Cycle." Jess Wick performed her wonderfully creepy changeling poem from Jabberwocky and a new poem she wrote for one of time_shark 's prompts, and sevenravens read a lovely piece, but I am sadly blanking on the title. kirizal read her Mythic Delirium poem, "Machine Dancer," and Gwynne Garfinkle read three poems, among them one of my all-time favorites, "Dybbuk Song". Sharon Shinn was there and read two poems - I didn't know she wrote poetry!- and a gentleman whose name I misremember performed a rather lovely Greek translation poem. upstart_crow read from her upcoming collection, and samhenderson read a new science fiction poem as well as an old favorite, "Spell." Am I forgetting anyone?
It was wonderful.

Shweta looked beautiful. I wish we lived in the same general location, or at least could use a transporter.

Important: If you took pictures of me at WFC, please do not put them up online. Thanks.

Lomir zingen freylekh lider, oy, oy, oy

So I've been having a hard time lately, as some of you know. I took some time off for self-care, and this morning I felt better. Then the ever-productive thought occurred to me that I must check my email. 

Thereby I learned two important bits of Jewish-themed news.

First, sovay 's brilliant little A Mayse-Bikhl is alive! And yay, it is wonderful. I had some small role to play in it and have been dying to share it with you for a while. 

And the second bit of good news is, I just learned that I made my third SFWA-qualifying sale. My magic realist little story about the lives of Soviet Jews, Seven Losses of Na Re, has been picked up by Daily Science Fiction.

There's a Russian-language humorous ditty that pokes fun at anti-Semitism.  "An antisemite walks into a tram / oh no, there's a Jew on the right and a Jew on the left! / Jews, Jews, only Jews all around!" Not sure if it would be funny to a non-Russian Jew. But yes, it is quite amusing to me personally that all my pro sales (and the almost-pro Fantasy sale) have had something to do w. Jews.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this. Perhaps both.

Anyway, I'm gonna go download the SFWA forms now.