News and Links

If you missed it yesterday, I had great news: I sold two new YA fantasies to Strange Chemistry Books.

Last night there was much celebrating involving chocolate cake.

Also, The Siren Depths is now up for preorder at Barnes and Noble and Amazon US, and they both have the preorder price now.

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Links I have been meaning to post and got way behind on:

* N.K. Jemisin: Why There's No Tipjar
For as long as I’m traditionally published, I’m not planning to do a tipjar. I really appreciate the thought, but thing is — you are contributing by checking out books from the library. The more lends and reservations a library gets for a particular book, the more books that library will purchase. And if it gets checked out a lot, they might prominently display it somewhere, which will (hopefully) earn me more long-term readers.

You can also fill out a request card for your local public library, and ask that they get books they don't have yet.

* Black Gate: C.S.E. Cooney’s How to Flirt in Faerieland & Other Wild Rhymes On Sale

* Sense of Wonder: Interview with Verbena C.W., editor of Liu Cixin in English

* XOJane: CeCe McDonald, the Girl Who Lived (And Why There is No Justice for Transgender Women of Color)

* Cynthia Leitich Smith: Video: "Bookloose" by Dowell Middle School (McKinney, Texas) in support of continued funding for their school library. This was really cute.

* Salon: Whitewashing, a history From "Tiffany's" to "Khan," we look at Hollywood's illustrious tradition of casting white actors in non-white roles by Aasif Mandvi

* Air & Space Smithsonian: The Weird World of Folk Aviators With his whimsical sculptures, Gregory Bryant celebrates early ideas about winged flight.

* Kate Elliott: Guest Post: Decolonizing as an SF Writer By Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
As I write this, I am thinking of a young writer somewhere in the world who comes from a country just like mine. I write reflecting on the process of decolonization that I am going through as I consider history. This look back may be painful and I may have to face unhappy truths, but still it is important. I need to understand the source of the pain, to accept it, embrace it and find healing so I can reclaim what is mine and become the writer that I want to be.