No Man's Land Publishing Update

A quick update to the status of 'No Man's Land'.

This novella is now out of print with publisher Paper Road Press. 

The good news is that I will be republishing it very soon. Links will be made available soon once all the biz has been done.

SJV Nomination x3

 I'm pleased to share I have received three (3!) nominations in this year's Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

Voting is from May 1 to May 31, and open to members of SFFANZ. There is no local convention this year, so there will only be electronic voting. 

My nominations are:

- Best Novella/Novelette for "No Man's Land"

- Best Collection for "The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper"

- Best Fan Writing for the essay "Queer Speculative Aotearoa New Zealand", which was published at LGBTQ Reads.

In a related nomination, artist Laya Rose has been nominated in the Best Professional Artwork category for the eely good work she did on the "No Man's Land" cover. 

Thank you everyone for nominating, reading, shouting about, supporting, making fan art of, and sharing my work. 

It's A 2020 Eligible Works Post

It's the Exceedingly Awkward time of year again, which seems to spin around only moments after catching our breath from the last awards season!

So let's get into the Low Down quick smart.

Novella:

No Man's Land, Paper Road Press, June 2020. Historic fantasy about the land girls of World War 2 Aotearoa. Discovery of the self, magic, and queer love. 

Short Stories:

The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper on it's own will not be eligible for any collection award, but the non-reprint stories will be eligible individually. Lots of rodent pirate fun examining queer found family and collective action themes. 

"How To Build A Unicorn" is the short story I'm most proud of this year, tearing apart and rebuilding how patriarchy enacts violence on the gendered, transgender, and queer body. 

"Cascade" came out in The Future Fire in July. I like this one for it's multi-layered characters and different approach to time-travel course correction of LGBTQIA+ history. 

"Tāne Mahuta" is my love letter to the kauri forests of Aotearoa which came out in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine (not available to read online).

Cover Art:

Please nominate Laya Mutton-Rogers for the incredible cover art of No Man's Land, and Dian Huynh for purple sparkle of The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper cover.

What Is 2020 Even?

2020 is sucking my ability to multi-task, so I've been focusing on what I can control: the writing and the promotion. Through it all, these are going better than expected. The writing isn't on track to my original plan - I'm months behind, but I don't have a publisher's deadline this year - but it's flowing. Promotion has gone well. And conventions have been a mixed bag. 

Here's a quick run down from the last couple of months:

• My book launch event at Scorpio Books in Christchurch went brilliantly. Scorpios did a beautiful window display, supplied tasty catering, and were all round champions. Big thanks to Kit, Tamsin, and the crew. It was lovely to meet new readers, and I looked particularly dapper that day. Scorpios have copies of No Man's Land available for purchase for local peeps and will post out around the country. Here's my speech from the night, hosted on the Christchurch Libraries blog.
  
  
• Spotted in other locales, No Man's Land is available at Arty Bees in Wellington. It's also available at Christchurch Libraries and a variety of libraries around the country. The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper will also be available very soon through Christchurch Libraries. Thanks again to Donna at Turanga for being a champion for my books, and for Christchurch Libraries being an advocate for local authors. 
  
  
• CoNZealand...happened. After a ten year expectation and a two year build up, Worldcon in New Zealand wasn't all we needed it to be for the local speculative fiction community, beyond the pandemic turning it into an online event. 
  
  Part of my silence in July/August was the stress and exhaustion associated with Worldcon, and I was only on the peripheral. Many people put a huge effort into pivoting the event online in a short time, and CoNZealand should be applauded for doing the best they could under the circumstances. However, things that went seriously awry were unrelated to the pivot, like the lack of inclusive programming, accessibility problems, lack of uplift of Aotearoa creators, lack of respect for tikanga Māori, and lack of respect for marginalized creators and Hugo nominees. 
  
  The Hugo ceremony became a tedious racist paean to bygone days, with GRRM mispronouncing names and generally being dismissive about the SFF of today. And bitterly disappointing for our local crew, the SJV ceremony was scheduled after the Retro Hugos and against another major event, given an out-of-primetime time slot. Big ups for the actual in person event, filmed earlier in the week - attendees said it was lovely event and there was a lot of joy in the room. 
  
  So many local creators were excited about the opportunity CoNZealand presented - our work on the international stage, the eyes of the SFF publishing industry on us. Many of us took the chance to guide our careers over the last 18 months to 2 years towards this goal, producing work and planning releases to coincide, hoping to hype the SJVs, and preparing brilliant ideas for panels. 
  
  Somehow, most of these panel and presentation ideas were dismissed, the first drafts of the program barely included any local content at all, and those creators included were put on panels that had little to no connection to their expertise. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and swearing from others behind the scenes (not me) to get Aotearoa and marginalized creators back on the program and people into suitable roles.  Even with last minute pushes with the Inclusion Initiative a lot of people missed out or were given very little to do.
  
  Personally, I had expected to be doing a lot of work around LGBTQIA+ SFF, as I had proposed, but that didn't happen. I did one panel (NZ Authors on the International Stage), a reading (thanks to everyone who turned up!), and a book release (Year's Best Vol2). Did I want to do more? Absolutely, it was a chance I'd prepared for. I had been put on other panels, but they had nothing to do with my expertise, and once I stepped down from them I was offered no other opportunities. I've taken a long time considering whether to talk about this, because to some it would come across as ungrateful considering my privileges, especially since I wasn't involved with any planning or volunteering. This was for many reasons, including the amount of yelling into the wind I knew would happen, and certain early discussions (years ago) about major issues (security, safety for marginalized creators, careful use of local content) that made me worry. There were also Missing Stairs involved behind the scenes, which frankly is a big part of my security work at local cons; if they were in on the ground floor, where would my voice end up (nowhere, as I suspected).
  
  The local content that DID happen was excellent, especially the SFF and Te Ao Māori panel. I also especially enjoyed the Indigenous Futurism panel which included local creators. Big thanks to the many volunteers who worked in the Zoom rooms and behind the scenes.
  
  I wish CoNZealand could have been more. 
  
  
• In upcoming local festival news, I am absolutely delighted to be a part of Word Christchurch programming this year. I have been a volunteer with Word for some years now, and it's an honour to be on the other side of the table with work I can share with our local literature community. I will be taking part in Heritage: Historical Writing, Tell It Slant (supporting Qtopia), and the New Regent Street Pop Up Festival. 
  
  
• Even more local festival news: I'll be at Verb Wellington and Lit Crawl. The program will be announced very soon. Again, DELIGHTED.
  
  
• Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2 came out at CoNZealand. Big ups to Marie at Paper Road Press for pushing up the publishing time line so we could celebrate with a virtual release party at the con. The anthology includes my story Hearts Made Marble, Weapons Shaped From Bone.
  
  
• A couple of ephemeral things: I was featured in the Sunday Star Times lifestyle magazine's "Grill" on July 12. And I was on RNZ's Standing Room Only arts program. Kind of A Big Local Deal!

We've got a long way to go. Mask up, be kind, support Black Lives Matter, look out for your trans people, vote (NZ and US), keeping fighting fascism, and keep reading books of joy and hope. 

Update: Stories, Year's Best, Podcasts

Another round of Dispatches From the Strange Times. It feels like a heck of a lot of nothing is getting done, but I'm always busy. And tired. So very tired. Everyone is tired.

So have some stories.

The best story I've written (I believe) is finally graced upon the world. "How To Build A Unicorn" is now free to read over at Fireside Fiction. There's one paragraph of this story that when I wrote it, I sat back at said "I'll never be able to write something as good as that again." I'd like the Void to prove me wrong, but here it is, in this moment. Big ups to LD Lewis for editing, and Victor Ramos for the narration. Please welcome the second of the Unicorn Triptych into the world.

I haven't had a new story out in the world since this time last year, and I had TWO land within 24 hours. The second is "Cascade" over at The Future Fire. This is my fifth story at TFF, and they always put out quality indie content. This story is about a trans guy mourning the death of his best friend, and in a drunken state with his other friends manifesting a Goddess of Change into the world.

Cover for Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand
Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol2.
Orange and yellow. A Maori woman's face
surrounded by flowing hair.

My next story coming out is a reprint of "Hearts Made Marble, Weapons Shaped From Bone" in Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 2 from Paper Road Press. We'll be holding a virtual release party at ConZealand. Check out the beautiful cover art by Laya Mutton-Rogers, who did the artwork for No Man's Land.

Speaking of ConZealand, I'm getting ready to attend this virtual Worldcon at the end of the month. I understand I am on panels and doing a couple of readings. Gonna be great sharing our SFF with the world.

I've recently done some podcast interviews. Check out the WROTE Podcast (51 mins) where I talk about being completely not normal, expound on She-Ra, get into the gritty of writing myself into the world, and glitter-layzur empathy rays.

And here I am chatting with Queer Words podcast (19 mins) about Cinrak and the need for political joy in the Strange Times.

A big thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of Cinrak and/or No Man's Land  in the last few months. Your support means everything.

Hang in there.

Dear World, I Give My Word Baby Unto Thee

Come into this world on June the 8th, Year of Our Chaos 2020, fully formed of pen and tree, it is No Man's Land.

If you missed the release events we held yesterday, you can:

• Rewatch the Facebook Live event where I talk about the book, show off my office space, and read from No Man's Land
• Rewatch the Instagram Live event, where publisher Marie Hodgkinson and I chat about the book, then I do a reading (we really kick off about 8 minutes in, as we were shooting the breeze waiting for the audience to arrive)

I had fully planned to discuss "My Special Books" on the Instagram Live event, but we got so involved in the conversation (with wine), that it completely fell out of my head! I will instead blog about those books soon. 

No Man's Land is available on your favourite e-book platforms (Universal Link for all platforms), from Paper Road Press if you'd like a tree-book copy, or order it through your favourite independent book store and support local during the difficult pandemic times. 

Be tender with my baby. It's yours now. 

Cover art for No Man's Land. Two intertwined eels on a white background,
with a girl standing on the head of one.

No Man's Land Launch Events, Monday June 8

We're in the midst of hard times with the pandemic and state-sanctioned violence against black people in the US and against ongoing protest in Hong Kong. Strength, love, and support to my friends and all in the thick of it. Black Lives Matter. 

Life is difficult, but we must carry on, to carry the joy and resistance with us into a better future. 

Preparing for launch, round two. My New Zealand WW2 land girls fantasy novella No Man's Land drops this Monday, June 8, and we have launch day events planned across social media as in person events are still difficult.

• Join me and publisher Paper Road Press on Facebook live at 10am NZT for an office space tour and a reading from No Man's Land 
• We'll be doing a Twitter Q&A at 1pm NZT. Follow myself and Paper Road Press to join the conversation. 
• An Instagram Live event at 7pm NZT, talking about my special books and doing a reading. 

For those in various time zones, here are the conversions:

• Mon 10am NZT/Sun 3pm PDT/Sun 5pm CDT/Sun 6pm EDT/Sun 10pm UTC
• Mon 1pm NZT/Sun 6pm PDT/Sun 8pm CDT/Sun 9pm EDT/Mon 1am UTC
• Mon 7pm NZT/Mon Midnight PDT/Mon 2am CDT/Mon 3am EDT/Mon 7am UTC

Preorders are available from Paper Road Press and on major platforms. If you're in New Zealand, please consider ordering from your local independent bookshop to help support local.

No Man's Land Launch Event Details, including book cover of two intertwined eels on the background of the Southern Alps and river.