I Have Not Even Begun To Be Angry

I’m at the airport now and can’t make a proper post about the shenannigans on Something Awful surrounding WisCon but this post may help.  I checked out this fucking thread of ignorance and can’t believe some of the bullshit.  On about page 2 or 3 they start pulling images from the WisCon Flickr feed and making fun of the people (mostly women) for being fat, ugly, stupid, and more.  They even make fun of people’s kids.

Oh, fuck that.

I have a lot of words to say and some actions to do, but I want to say this one thing.  I was scrolling through the thread and looking at the pictures and, instead of being ashamed that I associate myself with such people (horrors!), I couldn’t help but think of how beautiful all those images are.  They are pictures of beautiful women of all sizes smiling, having fun, loving where they are and what they’re doing.  These are the poeple I go to WisCon to be around.  And nothing those half-brained monkeys on that forum say can make me feel any different.  You wanna call me out as a fat loser?  You go right ahead.  But it’s plainly evident that I not only have more class than you, I also have a better life and better friends.  All the evidence I need to support that statement is my lack of time spent on the internet trolling for pictures of people I don’t know in order to make fun of them for arbitrary reasons.

Get a life, you losers.  And coming from a Star Trek fan, that’s fucking sad.

(p.s. Rachel Moss just better be glad I am not still in Madison right now.)

I Am Not Dead

The evil stomach sickness of doom did indeed get me, but did not get me hard.  I had some fastpoops and some pain, but nothing very serious and it was gone in about 18 hours.  Unfortunately those 18 hours encompassed most of my panels.  Pepto did me well.  Others were not so lucky :(

More con report to come!

WisCon Days 1 and 2, the short report

I have taken many pictures and one video.

You are so not allowed to see the video.

…

Online.

I have a video MP3 player.

Just sayin’.

Five Things Make A Post (at wiscon)

1. Due to my Internet troubles some IAFAuctions did not go up on schedule!  Luckily one did.  Cris did a beautiful necklace for Prester John and I got to poke it for the first time yesterday.  It stood up to poking!  The other auction was JoSelle’s piece based on Black Feather, which is so awesome I can’t believe it.  It makes me feel so shivery inside to see these beautiful things that were inspired by some story I wrote.  I need to give JoSelle a big hug when I see her this weekend.  I’m in the midst of running around now, but I will have a blog badge for all the new auctions soon so that people can promote.  In the meantime, take note: Cris’s is the last Prester John piece going up for this auction, so if you want to get a bit of Valente’s magic as interpreted by amazing artists, you should bid on that or JoSelle’s Prester John piece (at $75 now!).  The Black Feather necklace is also the last chance to get something by JoSelle.

2. I finished redesigning my web design portfolio.  It’s a work in progress, as I may want to do something flashier with the header.  But it has all the information organized the way I want, and that was the main thing.  I need to add links to it, yes, but I am trying to decide how I will do so.  Go see in the meantime.

3. Did you know that my writing group the Black Beans has a website now?  You should go look at it and maybe keep an eye on the news section, because some big ass news is going up there soon.  (Not anything concerning me, mind, but something I am very excited about.)

4. I arrived in Madison a few hours ago and am very tired, and yet I’ll be up late tonight just as I will be up late every night. Ah well, tomorrow I can sleep in.

5. WisCon is finally here.  It will be over too soon.  Better savor every second!

WisCon and POC - Spread the Word!

Here are the details we’ve worked out for the unofficial POC-only events @ WisCon:

Friday:

Meet & Greet

After the opening ceremonies (approx 8:30PM) there will be an informal gathering of POC so that we can meet each other, plan how we’re going to deal with certain aspects of the POC space during the con, and squee over the # of us all in one place. At around 8:50 we’re going to depart for somewhere other than the lobby–perhaps someone’s room, a corner of the bar, a restaurant, wherever we decide. So be sure to be in the lobby before then!

Saturday:

11:45 - 1:00 PM - Intra-POC Relationships & Coalition Building Kaffeeklatsch
one of the overflow rooms on the 6th floor.

Participants of this kaffeeklatsch will be limited. (I’ll let you guess what the limitations are.) In order to avoid certain unpleasantness, there will be folks at the con with sign-up lists for this event. You’ll be able to recognize them by the buttons they wear, which will say “People Against We-Sha-Sha“. If you want to be one of the people with a sign-up list, please let me know.

(The lunch time begins at 11:15, which gives people time to hop over to the cafe to get some food if there’s nothing in the con suite they can eat. But I believe this year they are making sure there are vegetarian and vegan options.)

Monday:

8:00 - 9:45AM - POC Breakfast & Con Roundup
Concourse Hotel Restaurant

Some have suggested we have a last get-together on the last day to go over our con experiences and sketch out a plan for how we’re going to deal with some of the POC-only spaces next year. I blocked out the entire early morning programming block so that people could drop in as they wake up, pop out to attend a panel, etc.

Also, now that the programming schedule is up, is anyone willing to take shifts (during one programming block, say) so we can have a POC-only lounge space?

Now that we have a day/time, is anyone able to print out a bunch of copies of the info flier so we can hand them out?

And last, I would like to have a reading with all POC participants (though the audience can be mixed, maybe?), maybe on Saturday. Is anyone interested in reading?

Spread the word, everyone! I want as many people to know about this before the con as possible, as it will facilitate getting people in the right place at the right time.

Speaking of WisCon

I finally have parts for my button machine again and so I am willing to take orders/suggestions for buttons.  I’m even going to buy some color paper today to make the buttons stand out!  Exciting.

If you would like a button or some buttons, all you have to do is tell me what you’d like it/them to say in the comments.  Leave a real email so I can send you proofs.  You can pay me for them at WisCon.  ($1.50 each, a steal!)

I’m already making buttons that say “Get Punk Or Go Home” and also some of the phrases from this discussion.  I would do t-shirts, too, since I have a Zazzle account.  But the problem is that I am not so awesome with the t-shirt design skills.  I can do some text and all, but really making it POP?  I’m not so good at that.  But if anyone wants to design some shirts, too, I’m willing to put them on Zazzle and stuff.  As long as it’s by the middle of next week, WisCon is soon!

WisCon and POC Space

I just got my final programming schedule and all of my panels are on Sunday! And now that the process is complete, it’s time to discuss the POC-only panel “Intra-POC Relationships & Coalition Building” that was first suggested in this thread. As discussed there and elsewhere, there are issues surrounding creating a POC-only space officially at WisCon. However, if we decide to hold this panel/conversation unofficially (which is what we’re doing–genius!) then that does not impact on the WisCon organization and bring up icky legal issues.

There was also an interest in having a POC-only space for folks to retire to throughout the con. Again, such a space can’t be an official WisCon thing, but, again, we’ve found a way to work it out.

The only thing left to do now is organize and set dates and times. For the panel discussion, I thought it would be a good idea to do it during the lunch break on Saturday and have people eat while it’s going on. A lunch meeting! The room will be on the 6th floor, right down the hall from the con suite, so people can pop down there, grab something to eat, and join in. However, this might not work for everyone, so I created this poll:

Next issue, the POC-only space. Again, this will happen in one of the rooms on the 6th floor during the day (i.e. before the dinner break). But in order for it to work we’ll need to have one person in the room during the times it’s available to be a doorkeeper, as it were. We don’t need to have the room available all day, certainly, because all of us want to enjoy the con. So it will, essentially, be open when there is someone there to take a shift. You probably won’t know for certain when you’d want to do a shift until the programming schedule is posted and you see which panels you want to attend, but if you’re at all interested in taking a shift, please say so in comments (and leave an email address where I can contact you!).

Other tasks that need doing:

• Designing a flier to tell people about the panel and the POC-only space
• Blogging about it so that people know what’s up before getting there
• Deciding who the “panelists” (or, as I like to think of them, moderators of the group conversation) will be
• Scoping out if people want to have other POC related conversations/panels in the space as well — maybe people from deadbro?
• Scoping out if we want to do a POC author reading

I’m excited!

ETA: Some folks indicated Friday afternoon so in order to prepare themselves for the con ahead.  I think this is a good idea, but we should also remember some folks won’t hear about this until the con, and we don’t want to leave them out.  But if we get together for dinner Friday or have a general meet & greet, that would work, too, and have the major discussion on Saturday once we’ve had a chance to spread the word about it.

My WisCon Schedule

Remember last year when I was on 7 panels and did two readings plus organized a party? Yeah, I’m not doing that again this year. I am determined to enjoy myself by actually talking to people one on one and in small groups. I plan to attend parties and hang out with cool people. I intend to attend panels and listen instead of always thinking I should be saying sensible and intelligent things.

So this year I told them I only wanted to be on 3 panels and they graciously did just that.

Can Internet Drama Change The World? - Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M.

Impassioned blog debates have initiated many into feminist praxis, queer critique, and antiracist ideology. But they also generate frustration, disillusionment, and flamewars. Participants in online political discussions are frequently derided for wasting energy that would be better expended in ‘real’ political work than in online drama, but many can also attest to the importance of online participation to developing understandings of power and privilege. This roundtable will raise questions of the validity and importance of online micro-political interventions, and their relationship to social justice activism on a larger scale.

M: Alexis Lothian, Julia Starkey, K Tempest Bradford, Woodrow Hill, K. Joyce Tsai

Publishing, Profit, Agendas, and Ideals: The Eclipse One Cover Debate - Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M.

Last year when Night Shade Books released the cover for their anthology, Eclipse One, a debate broke out over the names represented on the front. Namely, in an anthology that had 50/50 male and female authors, only male names appeared on the cover. The ensuing argument centered around two main points — the publishers felt that, of the authors in the anthology, the names they’d put on the cover were likely to attract the attention of more casual buyers. And because they were in the business of making money, they could not afford to put an ‘agenda’ ahead of anything else. Readers felt that, because no women were given a slot on the cover, the publishers were reinforcing patriarchal assumptions about who sells books, and who doesn’t. Some expressed the opinion that the lack of women on the cover was actually likely to deter them from buying the book. In this panel, which will be a debate, let’s explore both sides in depth. Does indulging agendas and ideals hinder profit? Or can adhering to an ideal lead to different and/or better ways of creating more profit?

M: K Tempest Bradford, Micole Sudberg, Eileen Gunn, Jeremy Lassen

(okay, two notes about this panel. I am extremely glad that the extremely sensible Eileen Gunn is going to be on the Editor/Publisher side of the debate, because I know that she will say things that are practical and yet not crazy. There’s always the risk of crazy in discussions such as these. I’m not particularly worried about Jeremy, either ;) But at least we won’t have people pounding on the table shouting WELCOME TO THE CLUB! The other note is that we are lacking one person on the fan/reader side. Cuz I’m the neutral party in all this–stop laughing!–and I would like to have two perspectives on each side to provide proper balance. Just putting that out there.)

Martha Jones: Made of Awesome or Disappointing Stereotype? Sunday, 10:00-11:15 P.M.

The third series of the new Doctor Who heralded the addition of Martha Jones as the main companion. Fans of color cheered the news and many loved her first the first episode. But as the series went on, some fans found a lot wanting in Martha’s character and put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the writers and producers. Now that Martha’s Series Three character arc is complete and her guest episodes on Torchwood are also complete, we can examine her role in the Whoniverse.

(We’ll of course mention her season 4 appearances as well. I’m very pleased this panel got on the schedule. Not just because I suggested it, but because I have been longing to have a discussion about my conflicting feelings regarding Martha and how fans of color perceive her. Plus, I am going to bring in clips! Yes, clips, people. Hear me roar!

I am sad that it’s taking place so late on Sunday evening, but something’s got to happen at these times! Plus, it will mean a smaller crowd and more chance at a real group discussion, which I was hoping for when I proposed it.)

So there’s my schedule, for those who wish to stalk me.

World Fantasy Convention Report

I am a little late with this, sorry. Also, I don’t do much in the way of detailed con reports. Not only because I’m lazy, but I’m convinced people don’t really experience the con vicariously through them. Overall, the con was really great for me. Got to see many people I haven’t seen in a long time, met some fabulous folks, was able to get things done, and I came away feeling like I have some of the most wonderful friends in the universe.

The one thing I did not do was go to any panels. I only attended two readings, and I only did that because I wanted to support those friends and didn’t happen to have something already scheduled or those times. I’m not a particular fan of readings. I think this is because I can rarely sink into fiction being read to me the way I can if I’m reading it myself. Also, not everyone is a terrific reader. Further, one of the points of going to readings for some is to meet the author in question. More often then not I find other ways to meet authors I really like.

Still, the readings I attended were good. Not like some others I heard about… goodness.

I spent a little time in the dealer’s room behind the Prime Books table, but only a little. During the day I tried to get things done, like writing or freelance work, and in the evenings I partied! There were several memorable dinners with the Prime Books crew and assorted special guests. I also got to eat with fabulous award winning and nominated Catherynne Valente and her entourage of sexy, sexy men. There was lunch with Scott from LaunchPad, whom I did not see enough of, and much running around with Alaya Dawn Johnson, Carol Burrell, Nina (Nivair H. Gabriel), and Evonne Tsang.

I met David Anthony Durham in the flesh for the first time. He’s an incredibly nice guy and I made sure to gush about his book to everyone. Mike Kabongo and I had to break the sad, sad news to him that there were, indeed, only about 8 black people at the con. I think he eventually met all of them.

I met a lot of other people for the first time, but at the risk of leaving someone out, I won’t go into a long list of names. Let’s just say that there were plenty of cool people running around and I got the chance to touch them, which is all I really want.

There were almost 1200 people there this year, which meant I kept missing people or sometimes saw them exactly once before they had to go. I’m particularly sad I didn’t get to spend more time with Karin Lowachee, whom I haven’t seen in years and years, and Steve Perry, same years and years deal. There were many OWW people there whom I haven’t seen in a while. Charlie Finley snubbed me! Is that any way to treat a cousin? Humph.

All the people I saw most I saw at parties. And there were some great ones.

The Paper Cities/Secret History of Moscow party was really, really great. I know we stayed up far too late at that one talking about all kinds of crazy stuff. If you do not have a copy of Ekaterina Sedia’s book, go to your local indie bookstore and buy it right this instant. It is seriously fabulous. She is a great person to hang around with and I couldn’t be happier for all her success so far. I’m also most pleased that Matt Kressel’s first foray into anthology publishing is shaping up. The book looks great, there’s a great roster of authors in it, and I think it will do well.

That night Nina and I decided to start writing at 3am. Somehow, words did not flow freely as we thought they would. We resisted Liz Gorinsky’s siren call to “breakfast” at the diner opening up at 3am, though.

Other memorable parties - the Abyss & Apex party, the Electric Velocipede High Tea, the Tor Party, after it calmed down a bit, the Aussie party, where Garth Nix served me wine, the Weird Tales party, which I could only be at for a little while, and other, secret soirées.

I brought many wonderful shirts with me to cons, as I am determined to be known for having awesome shirts. But none of the shirts I brought could top the one John Klima had waiting for me:

It reads: tempest says read electric velocipede or she’ll come to your house and smack you around.

And, you know, I totally will. Because that zine is pretty damn great. I had the pleasure of seeing that t-shirt on several people over the weekend. And I know David Anthony Durham, Matt Kressel and Nina all have one. I hope they wear them to the next con.

There was a very interesting progression of shirts over those first few days. They got more and more threatening. Day 1 I was in a posse, Day 2 I was going to smack you around, and Day 3 I was tired of slitting throats. I felt the need to buy a shirt with a fist coming out of it for Day 4.

What else… several editors said, “Send me a story!” which I love to hear. (And I did send two of them, just two more to go.) An agent said, “Hey, when am I going to see a submission from you?” which also makes me happy. I pitched a non-fiction book to a publisher and, when I told others about said book, several people encouraged me to put the proposal together and try to get it in front of a major press. I shall not ignore such advice.

And just to round out the business dealings, I asked some people about doing interviews and artist profiles for Fantasy magazine, and all said yes. A productive weekend to be sure.

Sunday night, when most folks were gone and things were winding down, I had a nice (slightly drunken) conversation with Jetse de Vries about being cool, asked Jim Minz his opinion on some agents, and talked with Holly Black about “beavage”. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what that word means. Apparently the conversation that gave birth to that unholy (but incredibly awesome) word was about the subject discussed in this post. When I told Holly that I had written said post, she exclaimed, “That was you? Oh my god, that post is legendary!” which I was not aware of. Nice! At least I do not have cause to write another one like it this year.

I’m glad I got a chance to see so many people and sad that I missed so many others. But it was a good con, I had many great conversations, things got done, and I came away feeling like an awesome person for knowing so many awesome people. I’m not suffering too much post-con depression, but I’m chalking that up to the fact that I am surrounded by a sizable chunk of those very awesome people here in my regular life. I don’t have to go far to be with my people. If only everyone was so lucky!

More of my pictures here. Pictures by Stephen and Nina here. Pictures by Sean Wallace here. Ellen Datlow’s here. WFC Flickr Pool here.

Other places to find me

A couple of newish projects to announce. Firstly, I’ll be writing reviews for The Fix online, the revival of TTA Press’ short fiction review magazine. I am only one of many, though, and if you’re looking for some insightful reviews across the scope of short speculative fiction, The Fix is the place to go.

Also this week, Fantasy magazine relaunches online (I sense a theme) with yours truly as the non-fiction editor. Right now there’s an interview up with the fabulous Catherynne Valente and soon there will be a spotlight on a young artist who bowled me over with her talent. There will be new fiction, non-fiction and reviews up every week.

Hopefully when this goes live the November issue of Cerise will be up. It contains my review of the game Wedding Dash, which I object to on feminist principles.

Finally, by the time you see this I will be at the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY and probably having a fabulous time. No readings or panels scheduled, thank goodness. I’m spending the day working and the evenings partying.