Martha Wells's Blog, page 53
April 16, 2019
Yesterday
Yesterday was a particularly rough day, all around.
Three things:
* The rebuilding of Notre Dame will be funded, but here's a fundraiser for the three historical African-American churches in Lousiana that were burned in a racist arson attack:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/church-fires-st-landry-parishmacedonia-ministry
* Sandstone has a free post on her Patreon about Tanith Lee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/22363913
I can't recommend Sandstone's Patreon enough. She says:
I am a queer science fiction and fantasy fan in St. Louis, Missouri. I grew up reading my mom's fantasy paperbacks and wandering through used bookstores and book sales in the late 90s and 00s, slowly expanding my little hoard of books from then or a little earlier with a special focus on space opera and secondary world fantasy by women and queer authors.
The period from 1980 through 2000 was one of increasing diversity in SFF, with an increasing number of women, queer authors, and authors of color in the genre, but it's one we don't talk about too much today and I've been curious why. Your support through Patreon will help me raise awareness of backlist titles from this era and explore the history of the genre as I read and share what I learn from nonfiction about the genre!
These are the books I grew up reading, the ones so many people nowadays want to say never existed.
* Author Gene Wolfe passed away on Sunday. I only met Gene Wolfe a few times, but he was always really nice to me. I was on a panel with him at the Texas Book Festival sometime around 98-2000. I told the story about the copyeditor who tried to rewrite The Death of the Necromancer and take out Reynard, and he and Neal Barrett Jr. became so angry on my behalf that they pounded on the table and yelled. Neither one of them had read the book, it was just the principle of it.
comments
Three things:
* The rebuilding of Notre Dame will be funded, but here's a fundraiser for the three historical African-American churches in Lousiana that were burned in a racist arson attack:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/church-fires-st-landry-parishmacedonia-ministry
* Sandstone has a free post on her Patreon about Tanith Lee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/22363913
I can't recommend Sandstone's Patreon enough. She says:
I am a queer science fiction and fantasy fan in St. Louis, Missouri. I grew up reading my mom's fantasy paperbacks and wandering through used bookstores and book sales in the late 90s and 00s, slowly expanding my little hoard of books from then or a little earlier with a special focus on space opera and secondary world fantasy by women and queer authors.
The period from 1980 through 2000 was one of increasing diversity in SFF, with an increasing number of women, queer authors, and authors of color in the genre, but it's one we don't talk about too much today and I've been curious why. Your support through Patreon will help me raise awareness of backlist titles from this era and explore the history of the genre as I read and share what I learn from nonfiction about the genre!
These are the books I grew up reading, the ones so many people nowadays want to say never existed.
* Author Gene Wolfe passed away on Sunday. I only met Gene Wolfe a few times, but he was always really nice to me. I was on a panel with him at the Texas Book Festival sometime around 98-2000. I told the story about the copyeditor who tried to rewrite The Death of the Necromancer and take out Reynard, and he and Neal Barrett Jr. became so angry on my behalf that they pounded on the table and yelled. Neither one of them had read the book, it was just the principle of it.
comments
April 7, 2019
Sometimes People Just Want You to Stop
This topic came up again lately, with regard to award nomination season, and I posted a link to this essay:
Sometimes People Just Want You to Stop
https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/375043.html
It's not so much about trying to make time for writing, but about the people in your life who try to stop you from writing, and why. Not that I have any real answers to those questions but I think it helps to know it's incredibly common. And of course it's much worse for writers who are people of color, or LGBTQIA, who have disabilities, etc.
(I should probably write a sequel about people who really don't want you to be nominated for awards.)
comments
Sometimes People Just Want You to Stop
https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/375043.html
It's not so much about trying to make time for writing, but about the people in your life who try to stop you from writing, and why. Not that I have any real answers to those questions but I think it helps to know it's incredibly common. And of course it's much worse for writers who are people of color, or LGBTQIA, who have disabilities, etc.
(I should probably write a sequel about people who really don't want you to be nominated for awards.)
comments
April 5, 2019
Appearances
While I'm thinking of it, here's my appearance schedule for this year:
May 10-12, 2019.
Panelist at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas.
2:00 pm, June 15, 2019.
Speaking at the Clara B. Mounce Public Library, in Bryan, Texas.
June 20-25, 2019.
Appearing at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
August 2-4, 2019.
Panelist at the ArmadilloCon in Austin, TX.
August 15-19, 2019.
Panelist at WorldCon Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.
October 4-5, 2019.
Guest at the Brown County Library ComicCon at Central Library in Green Bay, WI.
October 18-20, 2019.
Guest of Honor at Capclave in Rockville, MD.
comments
May 10-12, 2019.
Panelist at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas.
2:00 pm, June 15, 2019.
Speaking at the Clara B. Mounce Public Library, in Bryan, Texas.
June 20-25, 2019.
Appearing at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.
August 2-4, 2019.
Panelist at the ArmadilloCon in Austin, TX.
August 15-19, 2019.
Panelist at WorldCon Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.
October 4-5, 2019.
Guest at the Brown County Library ComicCon at Central Library in Green Bay, WI.
October 18-20, 2019.
Guest of Honor at Capclave in Rockville, MD.
comments
April 2, 2019
Hugo Awards Finalist Yay!
The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition is a Hugo finalist in the Best Novella category!!
This is pretty awesome news and I'm extremely happy to be nominated.
Thanks to my agent, Jennifer Jackson, Michael Curry, and my editor Lee Harris, publisher Irene Gallo and everyone else at Tor.com, awesome audiobook narrator Kevin R. Free and everyone at Recorded Books, cover artist Jaime Jones and cover designer Christine Foltzer.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/the-nominees-for-the-2019-hugo-awards/#WorldCon77
Best Novel
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Best Novella
Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com publishing)
Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com publishing)
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com publishing)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson (Tor.com publishing)
The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / JABberwocky Literary Agency)
Best Novelette
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 July 2018)
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018)
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing)
“The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
“When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018)
Best Short Story
“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018)
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018)
“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018)
“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
( rest of the ballot behind the cut )
There are two other Awards administered by Worldcon 76 that are not Hugo Awards:
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform / Gollancz)
Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black (Little, Brown / Hot Key Books)
Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
The Invasion, by Peadar O’Guilin (David Fickling Books / Scholastic)
Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman (Random House / Penguin Teen)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Katherine Arden*
S.A. Chakraborty*
R.F. Kuang
Jeannette Ng*
Vina Jie-Min Prasad*
Rivers Solomon*
*Finalist in their 2nd year of eligibility
comments
This is pretty awesome news and I'm extremely happy to be nominated.
Thanks to my agent, Jennifer Jackson, Michael Curry, and my editor Lee Harris, publisher Irene Gallo and everyone else at Tor.com, awesome audiobook narrator Kevin R. Free and everyone at Recorded Books, cover artist Jaime Jones and cover designer Christine Foltzer.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/the-nominees-for-the-2019-hugo-awards/#WorldCon77
Best Novel
The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Best Novella
Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com publishing)
Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com publishing)
The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com publishing)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson (Tor.com publishing)
The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / JABberwocky Literary Agency)
Best Novelette
“If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections,” by Tina Connolly (Tor.com, 11 July 2018)
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth,” by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19 September 2018)
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing)
“The Thing About Ghost Stories,” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
“When We Were Starless,” by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld 145, October 2018)
Best Short Story
“The Court Magician,” by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, January 2018)
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society,” by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine 25, November-December 2018)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington,” by P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Magazine, February 2018)
“STET,” by Sarah Gailey (Fireside Magazine, October 2018)
“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
( rest of the ballot behind the cut )
There are two other Awards administered by Worldcon 76 that are not Hugo Awards:
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform / Gollancz)
Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black (Little, Brown / Hot Key Books)
Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
The Invasion, by Peadar O’Guilin (David Fickling Books / Scholastic)
Tess of the Road, by Rachel Hartman (Random House / Penguin Teen)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Katherine Arden*
S.A. Chakraborty*
R.F. Kuang
Jeannette Ng*
Vina Jie-Min Prasad*
Rivers Solomon*
*Finalist in their 2nd year of eligibility
comments
Vonda N. McIntyre
Writer Vonda N. McIntyre has passed away. She was the third woman to win a Hugo Award (for the novel DreamsnakeThe Entropy Effect, the first original Star Trek novel in the Pocket Books line, where she created first names for Sulu and Uhura (Hikaru and Nyota) which became an official part of the canon.
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2019/04/rip-vonda-n-mcintyre.html
Her whole bibliography is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vonda_N._McIntyre
***
The Spectrum 26 Art Awards have been chosen and you can see the list of winners here: http://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2019/03/31/spectrum-26-awards-recipients/
and images of all the nominated works here:
http://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2019/02/18/spectrum-26-awards-nominations/
comments
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2019/04/rip-vonda-n-mcintyre.html
Her whole bibliography is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vonda_N._McIntyre
***
The Spectrum 26 Art Awards have been chosen and you can see the list of winners here: http://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2019/03/31/spectrum-26-awards-recipients/
and images of all the nominated works here:
http://spectrumfantasticart.com/blog/2019/02/18/spectrum-26-awards-nominations/
comments
April 1, 2019
WorldCon Dublin Announcement
The Hugo Awards ballot announcement will be at 9:00 am est tomorrow (4/2) on the Dublin WorldCon YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq_-NbL6R167vzh_jqI1CBg/
comments
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq_-NbL6R167vzh_jqI1CBg/
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The Stars Are Ours
Friday night I got to attend the opening of the exhibit The Stars Are Ours at Cushing Memorial Library and Archives at TAMU.
The new exhibition “The Stars Are Ours”: Infinite Diversities in Science Fiction and Fantasy runs from March 29 through September 20, 2019, at the Cushing Memorial Library & Archives. Items from the Library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection provide a window into the diversities of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture that have always been a part of science fiction and fantasy.
And I got to see Tananarive Due again, who was there to do the first lecture of the year in the Hal Hall Lecture Series, and she spoke on The Rise of Afrofuturism and Black Horror. It was an excellent lecture, with a book signing afterward.
The exhibit is awesome, combining the books on display with movie posters and photos on the walls, and a series of quotes from various authors displayed on a rotating screen. The catalog is gorgeous and lists all the books with descriptions, so it's a great to-read list.
Here's some photos from Twitter. I was overexcited so some are duplicates:
https://twitter.com/TananariveDue/status/1112112455965200384
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111746744558211072
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111747976400158720
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111746744558211072
I think this is Cushing's fourth SF/F exhibit. The previous one was The Maps of Imaginary Places exhibit which you can see on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TkCoYZc4oc&feature=youtu.be
comments
The new exhibition “The Stars Are Ours”: Infinite Diversities in Science Fiction and Fantasy runs from March 29 through September 20, 2019, at the Cushing Memorial Library & Archives. Items from the Library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection provide a window into the diversities of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and culture that have always been a part of science fiction and fantasy.
And I got to see Tananarive Due again, who was there to do the first lecture of the year in the Hal Hall Lecture Series, and she spoke on The Rise of Afrofuturism and Black Horror. It was an excellent lecture, with a book signing afterward.
The exhibit is awesome, combining the books on display with movie posters and photos on the walls, and a series of quotes from various authors displayed on a rotating screen. The catalog is gorgeous and lists all the books with descriptions, so it's a great to-read list.
Here's some photos from Twitter. I was overexcited so some are duplicates:
https://twitter.com/TananariveDue/status/1112112455965200384
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111746744558211072
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111747976400158720
https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1111746744558211072
I think this is Cushing's fourth SF/F exhibit. The previous one was The Maps of Imaginary Places exhibit which you can see on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TkCoYZc4oc&feature=youtu.be
comments
March 26, 2019
Quick Book Rec
I'm real short on time and mental resources for doing anything other than writing right now, but I wanted to do a quick rec for two books out today:
* Novella Miranda in Milan by Katherine Duckett
With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.
* Novel A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I got to read this one in ARC form last year and it blew me away. Reminded me a lot of both Yoon Ha Lee and Ann Leckie. And the description doesn't mention it, but it also features a queer relationship.
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
If you're new here, my new book recs and lists are all on this tag: https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/tag/book+rec
comments
* Novella Miranda in Milan by Katherine Duckett
With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.
* Novel A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I got to read this one in ARC form last year and it blew me away. Reminded me a lot of both Yoon Ha Lee and Ann Leckie. And the description doesn't mention it, but it also features a queer relationship.
Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.
Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.
If you're new here, my new book recs and lists are all on this tag: https://marthawells.dreamwidth.org/tag/book+rec
comments
March 19, 2019
Reddit r/fantasy Award
This is a super cool award trophy, everybody: https://twitter.com/marthawells1/status/1108019522781351942
It's the Stabby, the Reddit r/fantasy award for The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition for Best Short Fiction!
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It's the Stabby, the Reddit r/fantasy award for The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition for Best Short Fiction!
comments
Locus Awards
Anybody can vote for the Locus Awards!
As in previous years, voting rules count subscriber votes double. (Subscribe!) All votes, from subscribers and non-subscribers alike, will be counted as long as you include your name, e-mail, and survey information (Locus does not sell e-mail lists), and do not violate voting rules.
In other news, I'm a little worried that I'm getting sick, but hopefully it's just a little cold.
That's about it.
comments
As in previous years, voting rules count subscriber votes double. (Subscribe!) All votes, from subscribers and non-subscribers alike, will be counted as long as you include your name, e-mail, and survey information (Locus does not sell e-mail lists), and do not violate voting rules.
In other news, I'm a little worried that I'm getting sick, but hopefully it's just a little cold.
That's about it.
comments
