In the first grade (3rd grade? whatever), my best friend ran for some student office, a rather innocuous one, I believe, like Treasurer or something like that. Treasurer was – I knew, even then – a good bet. He was an exceptionally gifted kid: smart, funny, brilliant; played violin and piano, read chapter books to […]
On Writing the Good Fight: Hugo Roundup Read More »
Spoilers ahoy! When I was sixteen, I dated a guy a with a madonna/whore complex. I had no idea what that was, at the time, being a young woman from a rural town where belittling women as sluts and whores was pretty typical. You were either “the type of woman men married” or you
Some Men Are More Monstrous Than Others: On True Detective’s Men & Monsters Read More »
I’ll be in stealth mode throughout April this year. I’ve got edits due on THE MIRROR EMPIRE and a writing retreat later in the month exclusively dedicated to burning through pages on book 2, and the last thing I need to be doing when completing loads of work is chatting with other humans, even and
I’ll Sleep When It’s May: Stop. Drop. And Write. Read More »
Much to my surprise, at least, both Ann Leckie’s ANCILLARY JUSTICE and my book GOD’S WAR have been shortlisted for the BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke Awards this year. Women on the shortlists actually isn’t as newsworthy a thing as perhaps it’s been touted in the media, but having two books that explicitly tackle tricky
If you liked ANCILLARY JUSTICE and GOD’S WAR you’ll love… Read More »
I once stood at a bus stop in Durban while two young, drunk men murmured sexually explicit threats and promises to a young woman standing next to me. It was just the four of us – the woman being threatened, me, and the two perpetrators. South Africa is not the world’s safest place, though with
I had the questionable delight of hanging out with a 3 year old for the last week, and at some point, when I hauled off his pants so he could go “Pee-pee in the potty” he proceeded to sit on said toilet for a solid five minutes having an argument with me because I’d said
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: On Empathy and the Power of Privilege Read More »
In this irregular series of posts, I want to highlight some of my favorite fantasy epics – gritty and otherwise – of the last twenty years. I discovered Paula Volsky’s Illusion the traditional way – it was recommended by a friend in high school, who fairly forced it into my hands and said, “You need
Forgotten Fantasy Favorites: Illusion, by Paula Volsky Read More »
I watch Die Hard at least a couple of times a year; it’s one of the best written films out there. But there were always two moments in the film that confounded me from the very start, even when I watched it as a kid. There’s a moment when John McClane is upstairs in the
Die Hard, Hetaera, and Problematic Pin-Ups: A Rant Read More »
I was listening to a podcast about the Hugos yesterday, and then this morning I read a post from another author about how, you know, as an author – especially fifteen+ years ago – you weren’t expected to do a lot of self-promotion. In fact, one of the reasons I got into this, too, was because
Surprise! I Have No Idea Your Book is Coming Out Read More »
A lot of what people see of the writing life is actually the part that has nothing to do with writing actual novels. What you see are the blog posts, the tweets, the convention appearances, the book signing, the G+ hangout, the author D&D, the podcast, the workshop… all the stuff we do *around* the
Ain’t No Party Like a Novel Party Read More »