Katherine Villyard's Blog, page 10

I’ll be reading in Wisconsin in May

Are you going to WisCon? Hopefully I’ll see you there! Meet me in May! I plan to bring chocolate!

Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading

Conference 2 • Readings • Sat 11:30 AM–12:45 PM

Meet the Broads of Broad Universe! The authors of Broad Universe will drop you into their fictional universes with short readings from multiple authors and works. Within the session you will hear a variety of writers in a variety of speculative fiction subgenres, like a variety box of chocolate! Broad Universe is an international organization dedicated to promoting women and traditionally underrepresented genders in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

Prospective participant information: Katherine Villyard, Larissa N. N. Davila, Cy Villyard and others as they arrive

I’ll be in two other panels as well–one on Murderbot (I LOVE MURDERBOT) and one on Broad Universe.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in SF/F

University B • Feminism and Other Social Change Movements • Sat 2:30 PM–3:45 PM

Let’s catch up with initiatives that are working to make sf/f more inclusive — Carl Brandon Society, Broad Universe, Con or Bust, the Otherwise Award, FIYAH, khōréō, Glittership, Speculatively Queer, and more. What are they doing, what can we celebrate, and what help do they need?

Prospective participant information: Candra Gill, Julia Rios, Keffy Kehrli

Mod: Sumana Harihareswara

Monk Murderbot & Posthumanism: Wells & Chambers

Conference 3 • Academic • Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM

Katherine Villyard, Cynthia Shin, Lauren Lacey

Tropes I Am Trash For

Hey, does every author have to do a trope trash post? 😀

Team as Family. Think Leverage, Six of Crows, Sense8, etc. Often seen in heist movies where the team bonds and becomes closer than family. Whatever your personal family history, the team is your family now and they have your back.Competence Porn. Think Leverage, Six of Crows, Mouse in Lyda Morehouse’s AngeLINK books, anything where we’ve recruited the best and we all get to sit back and marvel at how good they are at a thing. Often seen in heist movies as well. Learning to Human. Think Data on Star Trek: the Next Generation, Martha Wells’ Murderbot, Page in Lyda Morehouse’s Fallen Host and other AngeLINK books. Anything where a character has to learn how to be a sentient being in human society. Wizard School. Growing up is magic, and the rules of adulting are like magic and difficult to learn. The Loveable Geek. Often paired with competence porn. The person who is super competent in some areas of their life is less competent at others. Think Parker from Leverage, Mouse from Lyda Morehouse’s Messiah Node, Murderbot, Miles Vorkosigan from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books, the titular character in G. Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen, Wade in Ready Player One. Judging by my bookshelves, I also really enjoy witches and wizards, vampires, and werewolves.

I used to read a lot of utopia/dystopia novels, but I think I’m dystopianed out at the moment. However, I think the best example of this trope might be Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. <3 Maybe I’m wanting more utopias.

What are your favorite tropes?

Woe is me!

My neighbor’s tree decided to play an April Fools joke on me… and my roof.

I was sitting in my living room minding my own business when BOOM!!!!!! followed by cats racing around like lunatics, because, as you know, Bob, cats dislike loud noises and are easily startled. A couple of them ran to the closed bedroom door and asked me to open it, presumably so they could hide under the bed, so I let them. I went outside, where my neighbors were looking at the tree in alarm, as it rested not so gracefully across my brand new roof. Joy. I went back indoors and logged on to my homeowner’s insurance site.

About 20 minutes later, there was a second BOOM!!!!! followed by more skittering and clattering as cats hid once again. The noise was coming from the bedroom, so I opened the door, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a giant pile of ceiling and pink fiberglass insulation all over my bed.

I removed it all, and set about rescuing cats from under the bed. They’re all fine, but needed to be pried out from under the bed under protest. Further investigation showed that ceiling over the tub had similarly collapsed. I guess if there’s rain any leaks will conveniently go down the tub drain?

This would be a much different post if anyone had been injured, and I’m glad I’m not writing it! Instead, it’s just an epic annoyance and inconvenience. I’m still working on my novel every night.

OHAI GOODREADS!

Want a free ebook copy of Love Stories? I'm doing another giveaway here!

Book Club

No drabbles here, no,
I was sick and overworked.
Sorry about that.

“Vampire Nightclubs”? Back in my day, we didn’t go to nightclubs. There were pubs, and gentlemen’s clubs that were NOT what you think of when I say that phrase today, dances, the opera, the theater. I particularly enjoyed seances and demonstrations of mesmerism.

There were also a variety of sporting events that I couldn’t take part in, of course.

That said, I’ve always enjoyed live music. I have wide-ranging tastes that span centuries. I also enjoy reading and the new medium of film.

It does become harder to make new friends as one grows older. Hence my new book club.

Tongue in Cheek Novel Comps

I’m just joking… unless it makes you want to read my book. In that case, I’m DEATHLY SERIOUS. 😉

Interview with the Vampire as written by Faye KellermanA Discovery of Witches meets Interview with the Vampire with a hint of Spinning SilverOnly Lovers Left Alive but with a mortal wife and pets instead of a crazy sisterDracula, only Dracula is the hero and has a human wife and a probably gay vampire bestie (“It’s only romantic friendship, as was popular in the 19th century! you moderns make everything so vulgar!”) True Blood but in 19th century Europe and the modern New York area, and without the fake blood substitute or murder mysteryA modern-day “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (the movie), only Elisabeta was a Victorian Actress and Mina is a veterinarian. Adam from Only Lovers Left Alive is married to a redheaded vet version of Diana Bishop from A Discovery of Witches and is a crazy cat man. His bestie is a sweet and innocent, religious version of Lord Akeldama from The Parasol Protectorate. Together, they fight an ancient evil vampire and try to raise children.

Which one is your favorite?

Medical Advice

If you take a left turn off the subway platform, you’ll find a secret door. The door will open for a gift of silver. Once through, you’ll find that you’re outside in a magenta twilight, with lush, fragrant flowers and strange, beautiful animals. Leave them be.

Follow the path until you reach the sign, pointing you to summer and winter in opposite directions. Behind the sign, you’ll see a lake. Swim to the island at the center of the lake.

At the center of the island, there is a well. Drink from this well and call me in the morning.

College Roomies

My university roommate smells like a wet dog. I, on the other hand, rush to my classes under an umbrella and stay up all night studying, while she snores.

Our suitemate often shows up with dishes of food. We don’t know where she got them. I don’t eat, of course, but my roommate appreciates the food.

The last full moon, my roommate went on a bender and trashed the room. We fixed things together, and then I gave her a pep talk.

Someone called me a “goth freak” and my roommate threatened to fight them.

I think I like her.

The End

Their lives are so short.

Can you believe that at one point, this was illegal? Emily would have had to carry on with broken hips, trashed kidneys, a heart condition that makes surgical intervention impossible. Emily deserved more than this kind of suffering.

Which is why, even though it hurts, I’m choosing this for her.

When the nurse came in, I had them remove her dialysis tubes. I sat on her hospital bed, on the clean white sheets, and held her hand as they gave her the injection. I held her in my metal arms and wished I could cry.

Drabblemania

I’m trying to do daily drabbles, for fun.

The definition of drabble that I’m using here is that each one is a little microfiction of exactly 100 words. I enjoy the challenge of making it exactly 100 words, and it’s a fun exercise. So hey, if you want to see me practicing scales, go on over!

Hopefully I’ll… keep doing it? I don’t find daily wordcounts for the novel in progress helpful at all because I’m editing, so things are going to morph. It’s just the nature of editing.

If you have drabble prompts, go ahead and toss them in the comments! Or post your own drabbles in the comments! Either works.