I came to Portland for OryCon 31 a week early. I'm cat sitting through the holiday. Last Thanksgiving I spent at the home of my most recent ex, getting dumped. So this year it's just me and the cat. Got to be an improvement.

My Official OryCon Schedule doesn't start till Saturday. Friday I will spend hanging out in the Green Room, heckling friends who have panels to participate in, and dancing like crazy. Not all at the same time.

Saturday we get down to business:

10 to 11 a.m.: "But I Thought You Wanted My Opinion;" a panel on critiquing with Jeff Who Has No Last Name, Laurel Anne Hill, Kamila Miller, and Bill Johnson. In the Roosevelt Room of the Portland Doubletree Hotel.

12:30 to 1 p.m.: "Reading;" and I will either read from "Little Horses," a story in Filter House, or from "Something More," a story no one has bought yet. In the Madison Room of the Portland Doubletree Hotel.

2 to 3 p.m.: "Writing the Other;" a panel focusing on issues of transracial/transcultural writing. I stupidly left the book of the same title, which I co-wrote, at home. If you are coming, please bring one. And let me know. My co-panelists will be David D. Levine, Rory Miller, and Lenora Rain-Lee Good. In the Washington Room of the Portland Doubletree Hotel.

4 to 4:30 p.m.: "Autographing;" I'll sign things with my giant pen. Autograph Table 2, which is in some room of the Portland Doubletree Hotel.

10 p.m.: More dancing!

Sunday I have one last panel:

Noon to 1 p.m.: "Gender & Writing;" more Writing the Other-type discussion, with the focus on sex and (if I have anything to say about it--and I do because I'm the moderator) sexuality. With John P. Alexander, Gra (that should have an accent mark I can't provide, alas) Linnaea, Sheila Simonson, and M.K. Hobson. In the Hawthorne Room of, you guessed her, Chester, the Portland Doubletree Hotel.

Will you be coming soon?

Tags: appearances, fantasy, science fiction

I borrowed Eileen's car, and in it I found a canvas bag, convenient for re-use. And in the bag I found two lists! I think they were put together on Excel.

The first list has a row of headers along the top:
"Priority," "To do," "Next thing to do," "What needs to happen for," "When," and "Category." All entries appear under the first three headers, making the others seem mysterious and gnomic.

The first 20 "To dos" listed have been given a priority of one. They begin thus:

Buy food
Lowes - City Peoples - Get sprayer
Dime store up the street - other lights?
Joe: Clean up area where contractor left cement
Deposit check at GHCU
Borrow folding chairs/tables

The next 12 lines look like this:

Food & supplies Crackers
Food & supplies Soft drinks
Food & supplies 4 big bottles Club soda
Food & supplies 35 - 50 Paper plates
Food & supplies Ice
Food & supplies 50 - 100 Napkins
Food & supplies salsa
Food & supplies Greek yoghurt
Food & supplies celery
Food & supplies dill
Food & supplies wine
Food & supplies beer

A small break ensues, with the word "asters" handwritten somewhat tentatively in the "Next thing to do" column. Then the printed "To do" column resumes beneath the indented subheading "Tonight:"

set up lights
sweep parking area
set up driveway lights

At last the priorities slack off a bit, with "Move rugs up from basement" and "test lights" coming in as twos. There are four entries rated as threes, all having to do with setting things up: "wooden table," "outdoor living room," "drinks station," and "dining room." Last on the list, a lowly priority four, is a reminder to undertake an activity I find quintessentially Eileen-like: "put out nice rocks."

The other list is probably supplementary to this one. It's completely handwritten. Many of the entries are interrogatory in nature: "more ice?" "More beer?" "Sodas?" "Coffee?" Some items are mere repetitions of the larger spreadsheet (celery and plates, for instance), while others, such as "forks, etc." and "spanakopita or something similar" have an air of deliberate vagueness.

Despite such obfuscations, I really think I'm on to something here. This is how Eileen does stuff. It was right in her car, right there. Now where am I going to find the list that she uses to help her write Nebula Award-winners?

Tags: lists

Joyousness is mine and so I want to share it with you. I applied for and received a scholarship to attend the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. ICFA is a small, academic kinda science fiction convention held annually in Orlando, FL. Next one is March 17 - 21, 2010, and the topic is "Race and the Fantastic." There will be papers and readings and luncheons. Nalo is one of the Guests of Honor, and the other two are Lawrence Yep and Takayuki Tatsumi. I was invited to attend, sans membership charge, and rashly said yes, though not possessed of airfare, hotel cost, or food dollars.

Then three friends in a row told me about a privately offered scholarship, and I asked for it. And I got it!

According to the people who made the offer (of their private funds), they said controversial things during Race Fail. I don't know what they said, because I went lalalalala during most of both recent RaceFails--not because I think racial issues are unimportant (they matter, and I really know that), but because I dreaded rehashing them in a format that can make even intelligent remarks look whacked out and clueless. So I don't know what the controversy was. I will find out when I meet the scholarship offerers in person. At ICFA.

(If you know what they said, don't try to tell me unless we're sitting down together face-to-face somewhere quiet for a while.)

I will read a story I've written and appear on a panel at ICFA and do my best to get everyone there to sing songs with me, and play guitar or piano or wine glasses or whatever else is handy. I'm betting I'll receive excellent cooperation.

Tags: appearances, fantasy, science fiction

Thanks to the CD Forum I will be reading at Seattle's orignal Elliott Bay Books at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 13. And when I say "reading" I mean singing and acting and stirring your soul. If you haven't come to one of my readings before you know you want to come to this one.

It is free.

Tags: appearances, fantasy, science fiction

I only had the flu for one week. But I was also at WFC before now. Other people blogged there. I didn't. I was busy getting a permanent seashell tiara from criada and not winning two WFAs.

Also I have been told I kicked major booty on the “Why Steampunk Now?” panel, talking about the reactionary trend in this subgenre and challenging participants to create more what Doselle calls “cottonginpunk.” Apparently I also committed to writing something along these lines myself, set in the Belgian Congo and featuring Colette and E. Nesbit. Okay.

And then there was that magic moment when Ellen Klages, Nalo Hopkinson, Madeleine Robins, marykaykare, and Jim Frenkel serenaded me in the hotel bar while waving blue drinks in front of their faces. I reclined joyfully on a bar table in my bathing suit and fluffy bathrobe, making swimming motions with my arms. This is A True and Accurate Account of Events. I was completely and utterly sober.

What next? To quote John Lennon, “You might well arsk.”

Tags: appearances, awards, fantasy, science fiction

October 18 I'll be part of a panel at the Anarchist Bookfair in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood. Me and Timmi Duchamp and I don't know who else will discuss sfnal anarchy--and we are specifically charged with mentioning books other than The Dispossessed. So which titles should we talk about?

My old favorite is Floating Worlds by Cecilia Holland, who normally writes historical fiction. I hope to have time to reread it before the panel. Here's my short list of other suggestions:

The Stone Canal by Ken MacLeod
The Marq'ssan Cycle by L. Timmel Duchamp
The Quiet War by Paul McAuley (I just turned in a review on this one to the Seattle Times--it came out in September 09)
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delany
Iron Council by China Mieville

I asked the Octavians for recommendations, but have misplaced the excellent list they assembled for me.

Help me, LJ; you're my only hope.

Tags: appearances, lists, science fiction

I'm in a book discussion group called the Octavians. We are coolness personified. Here's what we've read over the last three years, courtesy of Ted Chiang's bottomless database:

2006
THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Priest( missed this one)
COUNTING HEADS by David Marusek(!)
LIFE by Gwyneth Jones
SPIN by Robert Charles Wilson
KINDRED by Octavia Butler(!)
VIRICONIUM by M. John Harrison
THE HEARING TRUMPET by Leonora Carrington(!)

2007
WHITE DEVILS by Paul McAuley (!)
THE STONE CANAL by Ken Macleod (!)
KALPA IMPERIAL by Angelica Gorodischer(!)
ONE DAY THE ICE WILL REVEAL ALL ITS DEAD by Clare Dudman
THE OPHIUCHI HOTLINE by John Varley(!)
AIR by Geoff Ryman(!)
TIME'S CHILD by Rebecca Ore(!)
THE NEDDIAD by Daniel Pinkwater
THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy (which bit the flaming donkey weenie)
THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES IN SCIENCE FICTION by Justine Larbalestier(!)

2008
TALISMAN and DREAM SEQUENCE by Carl Speed McNeil(!)
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA by Mikhail Bulgakov
USE OF WEAPONS by Iain M. Banks(!)
ENGINE SUMMER by John Crowley(!)
STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SAND by Samuel Delany(!)
INDIAN KILLER by Sherman Alexie(!)
THIRTEEN by Richard Morgan(!)
THE YIDDISH POLICEMAN'S UNION by Michael Chabon(!)
THE BRIEF AND WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz (but I had to miss this one because the group met at a time I forewarned everyone I'd be unable to meet)
MISSION CHILD by Maureen McHugh(!)

2009
RIVER OF GODS by Ian McDonald(!)
LIBERATION by Brian Francis Slattery
OCTAVIAN NOTHING by M.T. Anderson(!)
THE HAWKLINE MONSTER by Richard Brautigan(!)
WATCHMEN by Alan Moore (but I didn't reread enough to remember how much I liked it twenty years ago)
THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY by G.K. Chesterton
THE CITY AND THE CITY by China Mieville(!)

And at our most recent meeting we discussed BLINDSIGHT by Peter Watts(!).

I've edited this post a few hours after publishing it. Now the books that I championed/nominated/campaigned for us to read are bolded. I marked those I had a favorable reaction to with a (!). I noted the two-and-a-half I missed out on reading.

Hope that helps. Makes the list listier, right?

Tags: lists, science fiction

I have not forgotten the importance of lists as an organizing principle in the universe. I hope you have not, either.

I spent last weekend creating a list for money. Logged 15 hours over three days prepping an index for "The Secret Feminist Cabal," a cultural history of feminist science fiction by Helen Merrick. Aqueduct Press will publish it later this year.

Kath Wilham, Aqueduct Managing Editor, has special index-making software. So what I did was find terms within the text and mark them for inclusion at one of three levels. This could quite easily get mincey and entangled. Some terms (Russ, Joanna or Delany, Samuel R.) were relatively straightforward. Others took a long, long time. The entry for "fan(s)" for instance, included subtopics such as "female fans," "femme fans," and "fen." At first it also included "fanzine(s)," but ultimately I awarded that its own primary level entry.

I enjoyed doing this. Really hard to tear myself away from it to crunch along the high tide beach searching for driftglass or visit the farmer's market and admire the glowing gourds and dahlias. Kath lives on the Agate Passage, in a beautiful cabin with huge windows and skylights. I would stand up and look out in her garden at towhees and stellar's jays and once, very high overhead, an eagle. Then back to "community and communities," a bear of a topic (academic community, black community, feminist community, science fiction community, etc.). To be continued yet again this coming weekend. With pleasure.

Tags: lists, science fiction

Okay, now it's your turn. Nominate works published in 2008 for the Carl Brandon Society awards at our website. You have over a month. Here's the press release with all pertinent info:

We have till November 1 to nominate works for the 2008 Carl Brandon Awards. Any of us can do it—including you. Suggest as many works of fiction as you want for either the Parallax Award, the Kindred Award, or both.

The Carl Brandon Parallax Award is given a year’s best work of speculative fiction created by a person of color. Nominees must provide a brief statement self-identifying as a person of color; creators unwilling to do so will not be considered for this award.

The Carl Brandon Kindred Award is given to a year’s best work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity; nominees may be of any racial or ethnic group.

Both awards include a $1000 cash prize. Novels, short stories, collections (one author), anthologies (multiple authors), graphic novels, and other literary forms are eligible.

Walter Mosley’s novel 47 won the first Parallax Award, and Susan Vaught’s novel Stormwitch won the first Kindred Award. Both works were published in 2005; the Awards were presented in 2006.

Juries are currently deliberating their selections of Parallax and Kindred Award winners for fiction published in 2006 and 2007. Announcements are coming soon.

Thanks for your help.

Tags: carl brandon society, fantasy, science fiction

It's been almost a month since the Carl Brandon Society gave one of the owl pendants Octavia Butler commissioned to the latest Butler Scholar, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz. So now here are some photos Dave Myers took at the ceremony, where I didn't cry, and the press release that goes along with them.



Here we see (sort of) Caren Gussoff, one of 2008's Octavia E. Butler Scholars, fastening the owl pendant on a chain around Rochita's neck while I look on, not crying.



And here Rochita smiles and acknowledges the applause of Eileen Gunn, noted author and a member of the Carl Brandon Society.



Here's a close-up, so you can get a good look at the pendant and how well it suits Rochita.

You can read the press release telling all about the pendant and the ceremony below:

A beautiful, handcast commemorative pendant in the shape of an owl has been awarded to the 2009 Octavia E. Butler Scholar. Rochita Loenen-Ruiz received her pendant on July 31, at the party celebrating the conclusion of this year's Clarion West Writers Workshop session, where she was a student. The pendant was cast from an exclusive design that SF author and MacArthur “Genius” Award-winner Octavia E. Butler commissioned from artist Laurie Edison. This is the fifth pendant Edison has generously donated to serve as a tangible reminder of a Butler Scholar's role in carrying on the legacy of Butler's powerful "change-the-world" science fiction.

Carl Brandon Society Treasurer Nisi Shawl and 2008 Butler Scholar Caren Gussoff presented the pendant to Loenen-Ruiz, a writer of Filipino extraction living in the Netherlands. "Without dreams, you're nothing," said Loenen-Ruiz. "I am so grateful to the Butler scholarship for giving my dreams wings." Shawl said, "Octavia touched many, many people during her life, sharing her courage and intelligence generously with her readers. The Butler scholarship continues this tradition of sharing by helping both the students who receive it and those of us who get to read their work."

The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund, created in 2006, provides full scholarships to Clarion and Clarion West students of color, covering tuition, room, and partial board for up to two students annually. The Carl Brandon Society, which administers the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund, was founded in 1999 to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.

Tax exempt donations to the Scholarship Fund and to the Carl Brandon Society may be made through our website, or by sending checks and money orders to: The Carl Brandon Society, P.O. Box 23336, Seattle, WA 98102. All checks must be made payable to the Carl Brandon Society; indicate those intended for the Scholarship Fund with a note or memo.

Tags: carl brandon society, science fiction