Paper Fruit

Fantasy Magazine has officially re-launched! Over on the site you can see the first issue of our new publication model, which kicks off with a Genevieve Valentine story, “The Sandal-Bride.” You can read about Genevieve’s inspiration for the piece in Jennifer Konieczny’s Author Spotlight, and learn about real-world adventurers in Graeme McMillan’s “Three Real Historical Figures who Embarked Upon the Hero’s Journey.” You can also read my interview with our cover artist, Scott Grimando!

Lots of work goes into making a magazine like Fantasy, and since we’ve added some people during the re-launch, I thought it would be fun to give folks the opportunity to meet the staff. Our “About” page will tell you the basics, but if you’d like to get to know who’s bringing you great short fiction every week, read on!

I know what I love about working for Fantasy (and, incidentally, for our sister magazine, Lightspeed): I get to read amazing, rich, creative genre fiction from an incredibly diverse group of writers on almost a daily basis. That’s pretty much what is best in life. But I wanted to ask the same question of everyone who works here, as well as a few other questions about their specific roles. . . so let’s let everybody else speak!

Sean Wallace, Publisher

What drew you to publishing fantasy fiction?

I’ve read a lot of fantasy since I was little, and it’s always been a dream of mine to publish it some day, something that I’ve always wanted to do since about middle-school. I even put together several stapled chapbooks around that time period, and then I graduated to helping out with high-school literary magazines. And then from there I went straight into genre publishing, as if it was natural.

What do you love most about Fantasy Magazine?

Knowing that other people are enjoying the same short fiction that I’ve picked, or that my editorial team has picked, is a real joy, and that’s what excites me the most about publishing Fantasy Magazine, that there’s a real broad selection of material to choose from, and that there’s something for everyone. (I hope!)

John Joseph Adams, Editor

What first made you want to be an editor?

As most editors probably do, I got interested in editing through an interest in writing. My interest in writing grew out of reading, of course, but also out of playing Dungeons & Dragons, and finding that running the game (i.e., “DMing”) didn’t quite satisfy my urge to create, largely because the damn players always ruined my elaborate plans by deciding to do things I didn’t anticipate. In any case, my interest in writing lead me to major in creative writing in college, and while there I naturally took a few fiction writing classes and fiction workshops. It was in those workshops that I discovered that I might like to be an editor—I seemed to take very naturally to working with the stories of others, and both my fellow students and my professors seemed to think that my commentary was valuable and on point, so I started to think that going into editing might be a viable career path for me.

Of course, back then I didn’t really know much about what an editor’s job would be like, and so when I got my first editorial job at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. But I loved the work right from the start, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that editing—and specifically short fiction editing—was a career I could see myself doing for the rest of my life.

What’s the first work of fantasy fiction you remember reading?

If you count anthropomorphic animals as fantasy, then my first work of fantasy would almost certainly have been one of the Ralph S. Mouse books by Beverly Cleary—probably The Mouse and the Motorcycle. And I guess that should count since, you know, mice can’t talk and generally don’t go around riding toy motorcycles. Otherwise, I remember reading A Wrinkle in Time at a very young age and being captivated by the animated film based on The Last Unicorn (which I guess is kind of cheating to mention since you asked about reading not viewing, but it feels like it should count since it was kind of a gateway to reading on account of it being based on a book).

What do you love most about fantasy fiction?

I love that in fantasy, you can take nothing for granted. Pretty much anything can happen in a fantasy story, which is something you can’t say about any other genre, really. Science fiction is capable of that kind of openness to some degree, but by definition sf stories have certain boundaries that restrict their scope, whereas fantasy can really go anywhere the author wants it to. Fantasy is like pure unfettered imagination at work.

What are you most excited about for the future of Fantasy Magazine?

Oh, just ALL OF IT. Having grown up first with fantasy, before discovering science fiction, and having worked as my first editorial job at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, fantasy has always been near and dear to my heart, but until now I never had the chance to play with fantasy fiction the way I get to play with science fiction at Lightspeed. I’ve done anthologies that included fantasy fiction of course, most notably by The Way of the Wizard anthology just last year, but there’s a certain freedom to editing a magazine with the broad title of Fantasy that leaves the editorial doors open to a wide range of possibilities.

Esther Inglis-Arkell, Nonfiction Editor

What are you looking forward to the most about editing nonfiction for Fantasy?

One of the wonderful things about working in nonfiction is the opportunity to get paid to go to school. It’s your job to think of new things to learn, to figure out how things work, to try to find out what’s coming next, and to generally follow your own curiosity. Most websites or magazines have themes that guide non-fiction pieces to certain specific areas. Fantasy, as a subject, frees the non-fiction writer as much as the fiction writer. The ideas that come from fantasy can be based in any time period, any nation, and any subject. They can be about exploration, music, art, science, politics, or they can look inward at the fantasy genre itself. As an editor, that gives me the freedom to pick any idea that I’d like to hear more about, give it to a talented writer, and have them give me back an informative essay catered exactly to my interest. It’s a luxury.

Stefan Rudnicki, Audio Editor

What are you looking forward to most about working with Fantasy Magazine?

It’s common knowledge among publishers that short stories don’t sell, and that they’re basically not good for much. That’s an attitude I’ve been fighting for years. Short fiction is where writers grow, where they get to try out new ideas and new voices and see if they’ll fly and sing. In no genre is this more true than in fantasy (and science fiction, naturally). And, of course, exactly the same thing applies to audiobook performers. (I like to think of us as more than mere narrators.) Short stories are an opportunity to don characters, attitudes and, yes, voices, so extreme that we might not be able to sustain them for a full book.

What I love most about the opportunity to work with both Fantasy Magazine and Lightspeed is the chance to match terrific writers with wonderful readers. Often the results are right out there on the edge of narrative style; sometimes epic, sometimes breathlessly creepy, sometimes astonishing in their simplicity. And it’s a chance for me, personally, as a performer, to encounter some of my favorite writers (as well as the new talent the Fantasy and Lightspeed editors are so good at discovering) in a kind of one on one joust where nobody loses, and the big winner is the listener.

Pablo Defendini, Art Director

What are you most excited about in terms of being the Art Director for Fantasy?

I’m excited about working with artists again—illustration was my first love—and I’m excited about exploring the possibilities of designing pleasurable reading experiences on the web—be it on the desktop, mobile devices, or ebook reading systems.

Jeremiah Tolbert, Webmaster

What do you enjoy most about working for Fantasy?

I like working on Fantasy because Sean is willing to consider any and all ideas to improve. The organization is small and nimble and can react quickly when it needs to change!

Wendy N. Wagner, Assistant Editor

What brought you to Fantasy?

Before this, I’d helped Mr. Adams as an editorial assistant on a couple of anthology projects. When he asked me if I was interested in helping at Fantasy, I HAD to say yes! I knew he would be working with truly amazing literature and that I would learn an incredible amount about the genre. It’s like an MFA I don’t have to pay for!

What is your favorite aspect of working for the magazine?

Getting to know all the staff is terrific! We have the best crew, and we’re working very tightly with our sister magazine, Lightspeed, which is staffed by some amazing folks.

But of all my duties, I’d have to say I love reading for reprints. It’s a great excuse to sit around reading amazing short stories whenever I want!

What do you love most about interviewing?

I always get very scared about interviewing people, so right up until I get their responses, I’m totally freaked out and panicky. But when I get the answers and I’m laying everything out for the article, it feels great, as if I’ve gotten to sneak away with this writer and have a private glimpse into their thoughts. It’s very exciting and empowering.

What about the Author Spotlight feature do you find most compelling? Why would you encourage people to read them?

I love getting extra insight into the world the writer’s created. The worldbuilding we see is usually just the tip of the iceberg, and it’s so fun to be able to get a peek at what we haven’t seen. It really makes the story’s time in our publication special.

T.J. McIntyre, Editorial Assistant

What brought you to Fantasy?

I have been a fan of the magazine for a long time. My friend, Rae Bryant, who used to be on the staff, asked if I wanted to help out by putting together a few interviews as a favor, and I was more than happy to help out. I’ve been having fun interviewing authors ever since.

What is your favorite aspect of working for the magazine?

We publish such a diverse pool of authors who come to their writing from some very unique life experiences. I sincerely relish having the opportunity to talk shop with such talented and interesting people.

What do you love most about interviewing?

I guess the opportunity to meet other authors. I’ve made some great friends and had some really interesting conversations that I’ve truly enjoyed. Besides, who doesn’t enjoy talking about stories? That’s what makes some literature classes and book clubs so popular, after all. And getting to talk to the authors themselves? It’s simply awesome fun for this book nerd.

What about the Author Spotlight feature do you find most compelling? Why would you encourage people to read them?

I really enjoy it when an author’s personality is revealed through their answers. Some of our authors are funny, others are cerebral, and it seems that all of them are kind. I also enjoy delving into world-building and into light literary theory from a genre fan’s perspective. I’d recommend them to gain insight into the stories behind the stories. I like to delve into an author’s process, their inspiration, and perspective. As a writer myself, I find these things fascinating.

Jennifer Konieczny, Editorial Assistant

What brought you to Fantasy?

I began reading Fantasy Magazine while I was on an extended research trip in January 2009. There was a finite number of books I could afford to carry with me, and I didn’t (and still don’t) own an e-reader. But I craved new speculative fiction, so my boyfriend recommended Fantasy, Strange Horizons, and Ideomancer. Their stories hit the spot exactly: well-written, quickly read, and easily accessible. Soon I wanted to know how I could be a part of producing quality work. When Cat Rambo posted that Fantasy was looking for slush readers in September 2009, I jumped at the chance.

What is your favorite aspect of working for the magazine?

There’s so much to do at the magazine. I love the opportunities that arise to try something new, but if I had to narrow it down I think interviewing—getting to hear how authors’ think about their works—is my favorite aspect.

What do you love most about interviewing?

After several years in drama club stage crew, I like to pay attention to the person behind the curtain. Interviewing an author gives me the chance to hear the voice behind the scenes, distinct from the story’s narrator or other characters. It’s fun to learn about which characters were most difficult to work with and what methods an author used to bring the story to life.

What about the Author Spotlight feature do you find most compelling? Why would you encourage people to read them?

The author-reader interaction, for me, is the most compelling part of the Author Spotlight features. Authors have invested so much into the work, and readers bring their own interpretations. I love to listen to the conversation that ensues when authors and readers start comparing notes. Q&As are always my favorite part of author readings, and the Author Spotlights capture that spirit. They’re like DVD commentary tracks. Authors get to lead us through the process: what they intended, what their favorite parts are, what they incorporated from their own lives. They can answer fans’ questions about the story, they can offer advice, and they can recommend other works. It’s wonderfully informative.

Raechel Dumas, Proofreader

What do you think is your favorite aspect of working for the magazine?

Definitely getting to read such a diverse array authors, many of whom I would never have become acquainted with otherwise. I’m one of those literature grad students who’s always complaining that she doesn’t have time to read. Working for FM forces me to step away from my translation work, thesis, or whatever else I’m doing for school, and spend some time with new (to me) writers.

Our awesome slush team is, well, awesome! We’re lucky to have Lisa Andrews, Jenny Barber, Mark Bukovec, Paolo Chikiamco, Bob Cooper, Michael Curry, Jennifer Konieczny, Nick Matthews, Suzanne Myers, Wendy N. Wagner, and LaShawn Wanak all slushing for us; when I asked them about what they loved about working for Fantasy and what’s fun about slushing, here’s what they had to say:

Jenny Barber: I love finding that one shining story that absolutely has to be published, then seeing it published. I came to Fantasy as part of my eternal search for fabulous online fiction to appease my poor junkie soul.

Mark Bukovec: I enjoy watching writers get better over time. It’s satisfying when we buy a story from a writer who previously submitted a story that was close-but-not-quite. When your rejection says we’d like to see another story sometime soon, we mean it! I write, too, and reading slush serves as a reality check. You can’t take rejection personally–we get hundreds of stories a month. Submitting stories is like boxing–you gotta keep throwing punches. If you dwell on failure, you’ll get smacked in the face. Keep moving and punching!

Paolo Chikiamco: While some slush stories have already been through multiple rewrites or passed through a workshop, I always feel that there’s something more raw about an unpublished story, and whether that story is good or bad, by the time I’ve taken a position on the story I’ve already learned something new about what works for me and what doesn’t. Reading slush also makes me feel more connected with the general community of writers. It’s no secret that writing is a solitary task, especially for someone like me who doesn’t have access to a writing group, so just being able to see other authors (published and unpublished alike) engaged in the writing-submitting process makes me feel like a part of something greater than myself. I may never meet these people in person, but they’re struggling with the same things I am, and being constantly exposed to people who have the dedication to finish a story and the courage to submit that story, well, it’s an inspiration.

Michael Curry: My favorite aspect of working for Fantasy is likely the almost inexhaustible supply of great stories. There’s also the chance to contribute to the spec fic short fiction community that’s brought me so much pleasure over the years. I always enjoy the chance to read a variety of work from both some my current favorite short fiction writers and from talented new writers who may become favorites.

Nick Matthews: Slushing is a great way to read new fiction. I get a deeper understanding of the mechanics of story writing, as I get to see what makes a story idea work. I’ve focused some of my academic studies on science fiction, I get the chance to read fantasy without a theoretical lens, but rather the critical lens of story mechanics.

Suzanne Myers: I love reading stories, and this gives me an opportunity to read a LOT of amazing stories. It’s also an inspiring and educational experience. As an aspiring writer myself,  it’s an incredible opportunity to see a side of the business that new writers are rarely exposed to. I have the opportunity to learn what kind of stories sell, based on the editors’ tastes, the magazine structure, and the quality of the story itself. For many, writing is a very personal process, and I think it’s very important to understand how it’s handled from the business side. I think a term of “slushing” should be a requirement for every author!

LaShawn Wanak: For me, slushing is an crash course in learning what make a story works and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t pull me in, it won’t pull in our readers either.  It also forces me to think why the story bored more, or conversely, why I loved it. And I can apply those principles to my own writing to make it stronger. I also love finding out a story I really liked from the slushpile made it to being published on the site! It fills me with gooey happy pride.

Melissa Gross: Reading the many interpretations of “fantasy” is fascinating. Short stories lend themselves so well to experimentation, to pushing and re-drawing the boundaries of storytelling. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that hardly matters. The process in action is a thrill. When I came across an online call for slush readers I applied before I could talk myself out of it. The chance to read others’ work and learn to evaluate writing (and hopefully strengthen my own writing in the process) was so strong I couldn’t resist.

I (me, Molly) also thought it would be interesting to query the slushers on what they’d love to see more of! Here are some of their general thoughts:

• I enjoy character-driven stories which are framed by a familiar myth, as in a myth retold. I like to see attention given to the mechanics of good writing, with a good, quick hook that develops into the story. I want to read a story which plays with nuanced characters, in which true character development occurs.

• More comic fantasy, that’s always good!

• I would love to see more stories set in non-Western locations (particularly those set in various versions of Africa), and stories that veer hard away from what some might define as standard fantasy tropes.

• Adventure stories that can manage well done action with riveting story and extra bonus deep emotional notes.

• I love wordplay. Stories with strong plots are great, but when they’re paired with poetic imagery and lyrical prose, those submissions have me tearing at my hair yelling, “How did they do that? HOW DID THEY DO THAT?!” Well, actually, no, I don’t tear my hair, but that’s the gist of it.

• Stories that show historical or mythological characters from a different angle.

• Anything with really strong worldbuilding. I’m a total sucker for exciting new vistas, especially if they contain cool creatures.

• Anything with a dynamic female protagonist!

• The best stories keep me wondering what’s going to happen next. It’s all about skilled writing!

• I love to see all the different ways writers integrate magic into a scientific-based world view, playing with mythology and mythological creatures, bringing them into modern times, and making them interact with technology.

Well, that’s about all! I sincerely hope you’ll take the time to see what’s new and what’s familiar about Fantasy—I have a feeling you’ll like it!

It’s been waaaay too long since I’ve blogged. Holy crap. I need get in here more often and post stuff like I always vow I will (seriously, I’m going to write about Victorian pornography any day now), so my blogs aren’t all just “hey look at this stuff I did.” But I’ve left it too long, so whatevs. Here’s some stuff I did:

My very last Fantasy Magazine-hosted Films of High Adventure went up this morning! Sniff! Jesse and I decided to do Beetle Juice, because we both loved that film (still love it!), and we wanted to go out with a triumphant, fist-jabbing YES! Thanks for all the support, folks–we’ll get back into doing the column on our blogs once we both conquer a few deadlines.

The Crossed Genres Quarterly #1 is now available! It contains stories by Ken Liu, Christie Yant, Therese Arkenberg and myself, among others. I’m thrilled my work appears in such hallowed company. Yay!

I’ve had some recent good news, as well, in the form of hearing that I’ll have a few nonfiction pieces appearing soon around the interwebs. For Fantasy, I had the privilege to interview Edward Packard and Ellen Kushner about their experiences writing the Choose Your Own Adventure series, and talked to a lot of my friends about how much they enjoyed reading those books as a kid (as did I!). I’ll post a note when that goes up in April—I’m really happy about it, and many thanks to everyone who helped that piece along.

For Strange Horizons, I interviewed Jonathan L. Howard, and that will be going up in April, too. Howard is one of those authors who is just genuinely nice, pleasant to work with, and interesting. It was such fun to speak with him about things like role playing, horror cinema, and what the new Cabal novel will be about. Serious yay! In other  Cabal-related news, “The House of Gears,” a Cabal short, will be appearing in Fantasy in April, and since I was already interviewing him for SH, I conducted his Author Spotlight. Whew!

I think that’s about it! I’m mostly excited about the Fantasy relaunch, though–it’s going to be beautiful and chock-full of amazing fiction. While you wait for that, however, you should check out Fantasy‘s February issue. It’s been one of our most amazing months, with fiction by An Owomoyela, a co-authored Gio Clairval/Jeff VanderMeer piece, and a delicious bit of weirdness from Tamsyn Muir. Next Monday we’re publishing an outstanding story by Megan Arkenberg, so make sure to mark your calendars to save some time for “The Celebrated Carousel of the Margravine of Blois” because woahmifreakingod. It’s the jam.

cross-posted to my LJ

This month’s Films of High Adventure is up. Have you ever heard of the cinematic masterpiece Yor: The Hunter From the Future? Well, neither had I until Jesse made me watch it a few years ago, and then we re-watched it for the purposes of journalism. Enjoy!

Nick Mamatas is a smart dude, and he has written a book called Starve Better. From the Apex page: “Starve Better is a no-nonsense survival guide by a professional writer who knows how to use small press publications and writing for everyone from corporate clients to friends and neighbors to keep himself out of the soup kitchen line.” Good stuff, and needed—I’ll be picking up a copy! You can read the thoughtful introduction here.

Last night I made some awesome food, and I wanted to share the recipe! It’s Ethiopian-inspired, and was totally rad. It tastes really rich, but this is a low-fat, high-nutrient meal. You could definitely hit up your local Ethiopian place to get some injera to scoop, but I was too lazy for that last night, and this meal is perfectly good without! Also, this is good for busy people because it’s a crock pot dish, and the only active cooking when you get home is cubing the sweet potatoes and roasting them for half an hour. Plus, your house will smell insanely delicious when you come home in the evenings. WIN!

Ethiopian Yellow Split Pea Stew with Roasted Sweet Potatoes (serves 4 hungry people)

Put the following in a crock pot (except spinach), stir well, and let cook on low all day:

• 1 c. yellow split peas
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 tsp berebere
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. fenugreek
• 1/8 tsp. black cumin
• 1 “chicken” bullion cube
• 2 cups water
• 8 oz fresh baby spinach

45 minutes before you want to eat, prepare the sweet potatoes:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel 3 lbs sweet potatoes (I used garnet yams), then cube into 3/4 inch cubes and throw in a bowl. Toss sweet potatoes with the following:

• 1 1/2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. berebere

Roast for 35 minutes, tossing after 15. They will get all caramel-y and delicious. When the taters have about 8 minutes left to roast, dump the spinach into the crock pot and stir in. Let cook until it is wilted and tender.

To serve, put sweet potatoes in the bottom of a shallow bowl, and ladle the lentils and spinach over top. Eat like crazy!

x-posted to my LJ

Jesse’s latest, The Enterprise of Death, is available for reviewers to check out! You can get an ebook arc here, or you can enter his contest to try to win one of three bound galleys! It’s a really fucking good book, and I’m not just saying that because my cat is a (minor) character.

Jeff VanderMeer’s short story collection, The Third Bear, was recently featured over at Largehearted Boy, for their Book Notes series. If you’re interested in such things as authors discussing how music and words interact and (potentially) enhance one another, you should check it out! It’s interesting stuff. There’s also  a free PDF of “The Quickening,” which was the only new story in the collection! Fun times–and if you like the story, consider buying the anthology. All royalties will go to funding the translation aspect of VanderMeer’s forthcoming Leviathan 5 anthology, which seems like an amazing, worthy undertaking.

The Innsmouth crew is doing a lot of cool stuff recently! They just posted the cover for their Historical Lovecraft anthology, which I have every confidence will be completely awesome (and it features an absolutely filthy novelette by yours truly). Currently they’re accepting submissions for their Candle in the Attic Window anthology, which will be Gothic fiction, and I hear they’re eager for shorter stuff, non-repulsive people, and mummies.

Also, I’ll be at World Horror this year, so that’s awesome! I’ve never been, and I’m looking forward to meeting new folks and seeing old friends. It should be a lot of fun! Thanks in advance to the con committee for all their hard work!

x-posted to my LJ

I’m sitting here eating Unfried Fried Rice from Appetite for Reduction, the low-fat cookbook I tested for last year, and it occurs to me that I should do one o’them end-of-year thingies I’ve been seeing all about the webz. It’s been a crazy year in general for me—as a writer, as an editor, as a daughter, and as a consumer of media, as well, so yeah. Some documentation seems in order:

As a writer:

2010 saw my first fiction sale ever, and then three others. In January I sold “In Sheep’s Clothing” to Running with the Pack, and the anthology—and my story in particular—got a bunch of really nice reviews and shout-outs. Then about midyear I heard “The Devil’s Bride” would be picked up by Palimpsest, and in October “The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins” was selected to be part of Innsmouth Free Press‘s forthcoming Historical Lovecraft anthology. Finally, Crossed Genres accepted “The Red Terror of Rose Hall” to be part of their subscriber’s content. I’m very proud of all of these!

As for non-fiction (or is it?!?!) my interview with zombie polka band The Widow’s Bane went up at Strange Horizons. That was a hoot, and I’m so pleased it found such a great home. Also this year, Jesse Bullington and I embarked on a quest to re-watch old movies from our childhood and blog about them. Right now “Films of High Adventure” is on hiatus due to both of us being busy (though our review of Dungeons & Dragons went up on Fantasy last week and I failed to make a note of it here—it was such fun), but throughout the year it’s been an interesting project to say the least. A hoot and a holler, yes indeed.

Since this is a rare writerly update from me, I’ll also talk about what’s up with my novel. Last year I typed THE END on the MS, edited it, and sent it on its merry way to an agent. That agent contacted me, and we talked on the phone about the book. While she didn’t wish to represent it at the time, she did say that if I wanted to rewrite portions of the MS, and do some other stuff with it, she’d be willing to give it a second looksee. All her suggestions made sense—total sense, actually—and so that’s where I’m at right now with my big project. It’s been difficult, but I’m starting to see a new book emerge that’s, I think, a better book, and so even if a revised manuscript is all that comes out of this, I sense it will be a net gain.

As an editor:

Last year I was already on board with Fantasy Magazine at the year’s dawn, but toward the end of the year, things started to get wild. It began with some changes for Fantasy: the editor and fiction editor announced they’d both be stepping down, and that John Joseph Adams would be taking over full editorship in March of 2011. In the wake of this, I was asked to take on managerial duties for John’s (now) two magazines—Lightspeed and Fantasy.

So far, this has been a total pleasure. Working with John is a lot of fun, and the Lightspeed team as a whole are awesome folks! I anticipate good things for Fantasy as 2011 progresses and we remodel a bit.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t note a few of my favorite short stories this year, so in no particular order, my highlights for Fantasy (and a few from Lightspeed after I started) are:

At Fantasy:

• “The City of Lobster, or, The Dancers on Anchorage St.” by Alex Dally MacFarlane
• “Above it All” by Carol Emshwiller
• “The Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String” by Lavie Tidhar
• “The Seal of Sulaymaan” by Tracy Canfield
• “Abandonware” by An Owomoyela
• “The Interior of Mister Bumblethorn’s Coat” by Willow Fagan
• “Over the end, and over again. . .” by Toiya Kristen Finley
• “The Gold Silkworm” by Toni Pi
• “Mortis Persona” by Barbara A. Barnett

And at Lightspeed:

• “Jenny’s Sick” by David Tallerman
• “In-Fall” by Ted Kosmatka
• “Faces in Revolving Souls” by Caitlin R. Kiernan

As a daughter:

In the early months of 2010 my family found out that my dad was battling pancreatic cancer. This came as a shock to us all, as my dad is one seriously healthy dude. We had no idea just how much time we would have with him, but 2011 opens with my dad being healthier than he was this time last year, according to the doctors (I mean, as far as I understand it). His tumors, as of his last scan, were not particularly bioactive, meaning the hard-core chemo he was on did some damage to the cancer. He is working out, walking at least 10k steps every day, and eating healthy. It seems like he is baffling his oncologist and various other doctors with how well he is doing, so that’s awesome. I’m hoping 2011 holds even more remarkable health improvements for him. Big thanks to all who sent happy thoughts his way, in the form of prayer, well-wishes, emails, or anything else!

As a reader/movie-watcher/listener/video game player:

2010’s movie watching was largely “Films of High Adventure”-related, but there were a few others that rocked out and deserve a note. This year I actually saw a few movies that came out in 2010: Kick-Ass, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and, um. . . Splice, but since that movie caused my first-ever film walkout, I dunno if it counts. The others were good! I also watched Hero, which was awesome, A Town Called Panic, which I liked far more than I thought I would, Moon Warriors, Mr. Vampire 2 AKA Crazy Safari, and the two late-in-the-year standouts, The Draughtsman’s Contract and The Prestige. Good stuff. I’m certainly leaving out a few, but those are what I can recall off the top of my head.

As for books, I think my Best Book of 2010 (that, shockingly enough, came out in 2010) would absolutely be Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard. I also read the first in the series in 2010, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, which was great—but I think Detective blows it out of the water. I actually participated in an inquisition of Herr Cabal around the time the book came out, which was a lot of fun, but the book stands on its own. It’s tremendous.

Also of note, I read Imaro by Charles Saunders in 2010, and that rocked my world, as did Elric of Melnibone and its sequel Sailor on the Seas of Fate. I also read Flora Segunda, which I loved, and a bunch of other stuff but I rearranged my books (read: put them on top of the bookshelf because I ran out of space) and now I can’t remember what I read this year. I’ll keep better notes in 2011.

I don’t ever listen to albums as they come out (I suck at keeping up with music) but omfg, Cee Lo Green’s The Ladykiller has been making doing the dishes actually fun.

And to round this out, as a gamer, motherfucking Cataclysm, nerds!

So that’s a year in review. I’m certainly neglecting things, like awesome new friendships made at World Fantasy and elsewhere, novels beta-read for my friends, things of note I’ll probably edit in later, and other stuff I’ve done/thought about/enjoyed/whatever (like, say, the fact that I actually typed THE END at the end of two manuscripts this year, but one will never-ever see the light of day), but I have to go to the bank to get quarters. It’s the first laundry day of 2011! Woo!

I’m working on a project involving Atlas Shrugged. This means I am re-reading Atlas Shrugged. I shan’t be saying a lot about this project here, it’s still in its infancy. I will, however, post a quote from the book that I read today, a quote that filled me with the sort of dread and horror the characters in this book supposedly feel when faced with the moral outrage of, say, charity:

The boy had no inkling of any concept of morality; it had been bred out of him by his college; this had left him an odd frankness, naive and cynical at once, like the innocence of a savage. (AS 342)

I know that’s what college did for me! And it’s certainly what I tried to do when teaching college! Woooooo! Let’s all hear it for savage innocence!

Actually, let’s talk about “savages” for a moment. Who’s a “savage,” according to Rand? Well, Native Americans, for one (all quotes from a lecture at West Point Academy in 1974):

[Native Americans] had no right to a country merely because they were born here and then acted like savages.

Oh?

What were they fighting for, in opposing the white man on this continent? For their wish to continue a primitive existence; for their “right” to keep part of the earth untouched–to keep everybody out so they could live like animals or cavemen. Any European who brought with him an element of civilization had the right to take over this continent, and it’s great that some of them did. The racist Indians today–those who condemn America–do not respect individual rights.

Uh? So what did the whites do, when dealing with these savages living “like animals or cavemen” all over the place?

The white man did not conquer this country. And you’re a racist if you object, because it means you believe that certain men are entitled to something because of their race. You believe that if someone is born in a magnificent country and doesn’t know what to do with it, he still has a property right to it. He does not. Since the Indians did not have the concept of property or property rights–they didn’t have a settled society, they had predominantly nomadic tribal “cultures”–they didn’t have rights to the land, and there was no reason for anyone to grant them rights that they had not conceived of and were not using. It’s wrong to attack a country that respects (or even tries to respect) individual rights. If you do, you’re an aggressor and are morally wrong. But if a “country” does not protect rights–if a group of tribesmen are the slaves of their tribal chief–why should you respect the “rights” that they don’t have or respect?

Holy mother of fuck.

So the question “who is John Galt?” is asked repeatedly in Atlas Shrugged for various reasons; I think a better question is “who is Ayn Rand?” Well, friends, these quotes do a lot to answer that question. This is Ayn Rand.

My review of Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy has been delayed due to a surge of productivity on The Book, but I would be remiss if I did not link S.J. Chamber’s “Stay Tombed: Is Monster Lit Worth Unearthing,” up over at BookSlut. Go read it! Intelligent and thorough, S.J.’s review is awesome.

The other day I was feeling like watching a costume drama set during the era I’m currently writing about in the novel, so I rented the 2007 version of Fanny Hill. I knew a little bit about it but never got around to reading it during my Master’s (moft likely becaufe I was focufing on Moral Novels written earneftly by Moral Women, about fuch ferious topics as Slavery, and not common fmut).

The movie was good, though despite the absolutely gorgeous, lavish costumes (see the image left, one of the prettiest dresses I’ve seen in a costume drama, ever) and good acting it had a rather, ah, Skinemax feel to it. I enjoyed it. Even better, oh joy of joys, certain things about the film intrigued me in terms of my ongoing 18th century research, so I immediately purchased  the Oxford World’s Classics unexpurgated edition and read it with extreme quickness on my trip down to Tampa. Rarely have plane trips been so enjoyable.

First, a few issues regarding the actual text itself. For a while now, OWC has been updating their look: matte covers rather than glossy, sometimes cropping cover images to look more modern, adding a white bar with the title at the bottom rather than the old school red banner at the top, etc. Unfortunately, they have not upgraded their absurdly-easy-to-smear print, which I feel would be a nice thing to do for customers who care more about the durability than the appearance of their books. This issue of quality, and the fact that I find OWC’s system of endnotes to be distracting while trying to enjoy a text, has made me more likely to purchase from Broadview if I want a critical edition of an older novel, but unfortunately, Broadview has yet to release a Fanny Hill. On an infinitely more superficial level, I am freaking tired of seeing Boucher’s “Resting Girl” every time I pick up pornography from days of yore. There are plenty of other risque images from the 18th century if one looks a little– and if OWC wasn’t going to use something from Hogarth’s Harlot’s Progress, which would seem a natural choice, I can’t imagine why they didn’t pick something from, oh, one of the countless illustrated editions of Fanny Hill which aren’t exactly difficult to find (a quick Google search immediately yielded one NSFW site full of dirty pictures, another half-second’s worth of looking on wikipedia gives up a lone image from a collection by Edouard-Henri Avril). Many of those could be cropped down to something acceptable for a book cover– maybe not that particular Avril image, but there are others. So, just sayin’. On to more substantial matters!

The book is a good read. More and less filthy than I expected, Fanny Hill is not exactly one-handed reading, it’s instead one of those cultural oddities like Lost Girls, e.g. erotica for people who like to think in general and who also enjoy thinking specifically about the nature of arousal, what is and is not considered erotic throughout time, who like to occasionally be confronted with the discomfort that can arise from fantasy stemming from things that would be unacceptable in reality. So, yeah, I just wrote that ridiculously highbrow explanation for consuming vintage smut.

Certainly there are passages that read as pure pornography, including Fanny’s lesbian experiences, her voyeuristic observation of a prostitute servicing her lover, her later affair with the well-endowed manservant of her gentleman keeper Mr. H–, the bacchanal where Fanny yet again sells her virginity, the interlude where Fanny and a lusty sailor fuck in an inn. But there are doses of reality that interfere with pure enjoyment, especially for a modern individual, but that would likely have given most readers some degree of pause when it was published in 1748-1749 and then surreptitiously re-published and circulated before the Lady Chatterly’s Lover obscenity trial that made it widely available in the 20th century. For example, Fanny’s defloration is pretty grisly (like all other deflorations in the book, the pain the women experience is not glossed over, nor does it disappear after their first time), and then Fanny is raped by a gentleman while she is very depressed over miscarrying due to the shock of her true love being sent to the South Seas. In Volume Two, a fellow whore in a “cluck” of prostitutes Fanny becomes a part of tells of losing her virginity to a rapist, and another whore seduces a mentally handicapped young man, to name just a few things that made me say “huh.”

I haven’t read a lot of the academic criticism of Fanny Hill, though there have been many treatments of the book, including one by my personal academic heroine, Janet Todd. For myself, on both a critical and an uncritical level, I enjoyed it. I was personally unsettled by the casual way rape is discussed, and how women who are raped generally come to admire, if not love, their assailants, but given that Fanny Hill makes several references to Pamela, that sort of nonsense was not entirely surprising. I was also unhappy about the section toward the end of Volume Two that heaps vitriol upon male homosexuals, but it seems that John Cleland’s stint in debtors’ prison, where he wrote Fanny Hill, was due to a debt to Thomas Canon, who wrote a book called Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified, so there might have been an ulterior motivation to discrediting practitioners of the art of buttfucking.

That said, lesbianism is at least given some page-time, as is female masturbation, and some sexual fetishes are also explored without excessive jokes at those men with “peculiar humours,” such as the gentleman with a love of hair-brushing. There is also a simply delightful encounter with a birching enthusiast named Mr. Barvile. Also, throughout it all Cleland loves nothing more than describing with notable enthusiasm the male “machine,” resulting in several descriptions such as the following:

. . . behold it now! crest-fall’n, reclining its half-capt vermillion head over one of his thighs, quiet, pliant, and to all appearance incapable of the mischiefs and cruelty it had committed. Then the beautiful growth of the hair, in short and soft curls around the root, its whiteness, branch’d veins, the supple softness of the shaft, as it lay forshorten’d, roll’d and shrunk up into a squob thickness, languid, and born up from between the thighs, by its globular appendage, that wondrous treasure-bag of nature’s sweets, which rivell’d round, and purs’d up in the only wrinkles that are known to please, perfected the prospect; and all together form’d the most interesting moving picture in nature. . .

or

I saw with wonder and surprize, what? not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a may-pole of so enormous a standard, that had proportions been observ’d, it must have belong’d to a young giant: its prodigious size made me shrink again: yet! I could not without pleasure behold, and even venture’d to feel, such a length! such a breadth of animated ivory, perfectly well turn’d and fashion’d, the proud stiffness of which distended its skin, whose smooth polish, and velvet-softness, might vye with that of the most delicate of our sex, and whose exquisite whiteness was not a little set off by a sprout of black curling hair round the root, through the jetty sprigs of which, the fair skin shew’d as, in a fine evening, you may have remark’d the clear light aether, through the branch-work of distant trees, over the topping the summit of a hill: then the broad and bluish-casted incarnate of the head, and blue serpentines of its veins, altogether compos’d the most striking assemblage of figure and colours in nature; in short, it stood an object of terror and delight.

Jesus Christ. Yes, the whole book is like that.

Overall, I am pleased that I took the time to read Fanny Hill. I think it is remarkable that, though obviously written by a man (and wholly man of his era in a number of ways), this work is presented first-person from the point of view of a woman, and treats frankly her delight in sex and sexuality, as well as her ability to separate sexual enjoyment from feelings of love. This is problematic at times, especially given the uncomfortable moments with rape and sexual abuse, but overall Fanny Hill really does present a stirring and somewhat innocently bawdy picture of 18th century sexuality. The text also does much to contradict notions that sexual enthusiasm outside of reproduction is something people discovered in the 20th century, and that women’s sexual enjoyment was neglected previous to the sexual revolution. Though Fanny’s (and the other women’s) carnal appetites are presented for the titillation of a male audience, it is interesting to note that the notion of old-timey British sexuality being somewhat repressed (“close your eyes and think of England”) is really a misinterpretation of Victorian propaganda. 18th century notions of female sexuality recognized that women masturbate, that women can be active participants in the sexual act, and can (and should) orgasm during sexual encounters. Those same notions often presented problems for women– for example, though the female orgasm was considered important, it was considered such because doctors thought women must orgasm to conceive, which in turn was used to discount women’s complaints of rape if they conceived, since if they conceived, they must have orgasmed, etc.– but they also created a world in which female sexuality was at least talked about, if often inaccurately.

So, all in all, time well spent.

Huzzah! The contest is now over, the entries published, and I can now get back to my regularly scheduled nothing-much around here.

Things have been good around my neck of the woods, but as usual, once I felt like “yeah! I’m truckin with the novel!” I got seriously, unhappily stuck. Thems the breaks. I really want to get back on track, it sucks. Oh well. Something will trigger me sooner or later!

I did however bang out a short story earlier this week. I’m not sure if I like it. It is kind of gross and kind of weird and kind of about morally bankrupt people and. . . well, that’s not usually my thing. I can’t decide if I’m going to submit it to the venue I wrote it specifically for. We’ll see.

I’m thinking about applying to go to Clarion.

I’ve been making kimchi at home. Somewhere along the line I stopped doing homemaker-ish things and I kind of miss it. I’m trying to do more stuff like that, and kimchi is fun and delicious. Mine is too salty, I need to do something about that in the future. The past two days I’ve also been making awesome smellywater to humidify my home, as my husband’s yoga guru (I’m really not sure what the heck she is, he goes to her for yoga and massage and also apparently for little bottles of nose-oil and recipes for a turmeric-based sinus tea that has now stained my pots, my cutting board, and my mugs) suggested some of his sinus troubles might be related to a dry home. The smellywater (it’s not really potpourri since it’s not dry, I guess?) is just water in my crockpot, into which I throw lemon peels, cloves, rose petals, rosemary, and some essential oils, mostly rosemary and eucalyptus. So my house now smells like that, when it doesn’t smell like catfood (though yesterday Jesse came over when the cat-food smell was strong and asked me what the “tasty smell” was. This is not slander, this happened).

Other than that, meh. Stuck on the novel! It’s making me mad.

I’ve heard back from everyone and thus I am happy to announce the winners of the Paper Fruit Bloggiversary Flash Fiction Contest!

S.J. Chambers earned herself an Honorable Mention with her tale “How a Blog Was Born,” a tale of a girl and her (I guess) spirit guide. Longtime readers will likely get a kick out of it. S.J.’s story will be published on Monday, January 11th.

Drew Rhys White‘s “Beth/slash/Nathan” grabbed the runner-up spot, earning himself a signed copy of the The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart. His story is slotted to go up on Tuesday, January 12th.

First place was snatched by one J. T. Glover with his stellar entry, “Waning Moon.” For his efforts J.T. will get to kick back with some Philip K. Dick, courtesy of Prime Books. Check back to find it up on Wednesday the 13th!

So here is the thing: anyone who stumbles across this, please tweet/FB/blog/email your friends. I’d love for the winners to get some well-deserved attention for their stories, which rule. I am super-stoked to be able to publish them on my blog, and you should be super-stoked to read them!