VA: "Lunar Voices on the Solar Wind" by Nick Wood at Redstone Science Fiction

My latest narration for Redstone Science Fiction is now available. I read Nick Wood's "Lunar Voices on the Solar Wind".

Click here for direct download.

What I've Been Reading Lately

My latest chewy booklist, with images after the jump.

"The City of Sand and Knives" The Future Fire, issue 22, February 2012

Wow, what a big week it is in my writerly life!

After being on a year long hiatus, The Future Fire ezine has returned. Issue 22 is now available and includes my story "The City of Sand and Knives".

Furthermore, this is my first story to be illustrated. Check out those gorgeous watercolours by Laura-Anca Adascalitei. I'm honoured to have such beautiful paintings illustrating my work.

Thank you to editor Djibril Alayad who has made the experience working with The Future Fire such a pleasant and rewarding experience.

Cover Art for The Future Fire, Issue 22, February 2012

"Fat Girl In A Strange Land": Five Questions With Author AJ Fitzwater

Pickled Think is delighted to snatch a few moments with "Fat Girl In A Strange Land" (out now in ebook and paperback) author AJ Fitzwater. She's stopped by to answer five quick questions about the motivation behind her story "Cartography, and the Death of Shoes". Hi AJ, thanks for joining us! Or is it Amanda? What does the 'J' stand for?

Amanda: You can call me Amanda, just don't call me late for dinner. And the 'J'? Just wouldn't you like to know. Hey, does that count as a question?

PT: Just a little warm up, to see if you're awake. Let's get into it. So, "Cartography, and the Death of Shoes". What came first, the title or the story?

Release Day: "Fat Girl in a Strange Land" and Fat Activism

Today is a proud day for me, as I am celebrating the release of the "Fat Girl In a Strange Land"  anthology  (Crossed Genres Publications, available in ebook and paperback form), which includes my story "Cartography, and the Death of Shoes". The theme of FGIASL is a very simple one, but at the same time a very difficult concept for some people to grasp: positive depictions of fat women.

FGIASL is a science fiction and fantasy anthology, but it would be wonderful if respect for fat people wasn't a fantasy. There are many people in this world who would like to turn my pride for my accomplishment and belief in the autonomy of fat people around into something insidious, but I refuse to let them.

It's a very simple question: why hate someone and deny them their rights because of a physical attribute? 

Some Days It Feels Like All I Can Say Is...

Baby's First Live Reading! "Flights of Fancy", March 18

Come to: "Flights of Fancy", a New Zealand Book Month Event, in association with SpecFicNZ.
When: Sunday, March 18, 2012. 1pm - 3pm
Where: Air Force Museum, Harvard Ave, Wigram, Christchurch, New Zealand
Who: Local based speculative fiction authors including yours truly will be doing readings, and introducing you to the local specfic scene.
What: I intend to be reading my story "Cartography, and the Death of Shoes", from "Fat Girl in a Strange Land" (Crossed Genres Publications), and I hope to have copies available for sale! That is, of course, if you haven't already purchased your copy as it goes on sale next Saturday, February 18th (New Zealand time).

Anthologies Relevant To My Interests

I got into a discussion with a Twitter friend today about short story anthologies relevant to SF&F and our interests (feminism, activism, queer issues etc), and I thought I would expand on those here.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy of "Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year's Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction", published by Lethe Press, and edited by Joselle Vanderhooft and Steve Berman. It contains stories by NK Jemisin (squee!) and Rachel Swirsky (yay!), and I loved Swirsky's "The Women Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window", so I'll be glad to have a hard copy of this story.

The 2012 edition of this anthology is already being planned, with recommendations now open until March 15.

"Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction", published by Lethe Press and edited by Brit Mandelo will be released on May 5, 2012.

Mandelo, the author of the 'Queering SFF' at Tor.com, recently wrote about the background of the anthology, and why genderqueer voices are important to be heard in SFF:

There’s such a big world out there when it comes to expressions of gender, sexuality, and identity — race, class, culture, time-period, age; all of these things come into play with performance and the ways in which we label ourselves (or don’t). “Genderqueer” can be a label, but it’s also an umbrella term that contains a multiplicity of other identities which slip, subvert, or explode restrictive, binary ideas about selves and bodies. The potential for experimentation, change, fluidity and non-normative construction of self is huge — whether it’s today, or in the Renaissance, or in the future, or on a whole other world.

One more from Lethe Press, "Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic", edited by Joselle Vanderhooft and Catherine Lundoff. This anthology has been out since May, 2011, but it has only just come on to my radar. I'm still trying to track down a closer to home edition (damn you international shipping costs! *fistshake*), but I'm very keen to get my hands on it.

#FeministSF Chat

Every week Djibril Alayad, editor of The Future Fire ezine, runs #FeministSF chat on Twitter.

This week I am humbled and delighted that Djibril has put up for a topic of discussion my lesbian fantasy short "Trois" (Khimairal Ink, June 2011).

#FeministSF chat takes place each Sunday at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, which is 8am Monday New Zealand time.

Feel free to join us in the chat through the #FeministSF hashtag. The chat will also be archived for future reading.

VA: "Memorial at Copernicus" by Gray Rinehart at Redstone Science Fiction

My latest narration for Redstone Science Fiction is "Memorial at Copernicus" by Gray Rinehart.

Click here for Redstone's audio page, which includes this latest story and archived narrations I've done for them previously.

Click here for a direct link to the download.