upon finding myself neck deep in chickens, poetry & other messy things: a recommendations list
I've been positively neck deep in chickens this weekend, but I have also spent some time gathering up a few things to share with the new people. (HI, NEW PEOPLE. I'm the Pope, this is my Livejournal in which I do things, and you'll figure out what goes on around here as time goes on if you hang around.) Cut for length: some incredibly good fiction and poetry, a brief digression on RaceFail past, a call for submissions, stray resources that needed a home, and other edibles.
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Have you joined verb_noire yet? karnythia and thewayoftheid are starting a small POC-focused genre press. Calls for submission will come soon: currently they're working on fundraising and could use your help. (EDIT NOTE: They raised 200% of their goal over the weekend, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give them your ducats - I mean, really, can a small genre press have too much money?)
If you have books you need to get rid of for whatever reason, consider taking the suggestion proposed by Avalon's Willow and donating whatever you get for them at the used bookstore to this effort. They're talking about using their overage for writer's workshops.
kate_nepveu started fight_derailing apparently by accident, but it's coming together. Among the other things that are going to be happening there, there's a suggestion of an initiative to facilitate wiscon memberships/attendance for interested POC. Check out her original post on the concept to see what's already been proposed: not just financial contributions but offers of safe floor-space or transport are also apparently potential needs.
Quietly and beautifully, the dancers behind This By Us have continued to fill their dance center with photographs and quotations. They choose not to put too many words on the why, so I won't either. What they have created is very beautiful, and you should go look at it.
Because I love shadoequin and because I know there are a few (shit, more than a few) writers on my flist: Welter is calling for submissions through Tuesday, March 10. Got a piece sitting around you haven't previously submitted? Check the guidelines and send it on in. (Note to self: get your poems in.)
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I have made a promise to continue to read and recommend SF/F by POC, and I will, but when I made that statement I should have said "the creative endeavors of POC", because I'm certainly not going to limit myself. :D I'm also un-f-locking my 50books_poc book list and reviews tag. Coming soon: more Nikki Giovanni, bell hooks (at last, Feminism is for Everybody appeared again last night after an extremely pesky absence: while on the subject of bell hooks, delux_vivens has posted an excerpt from killing rage just yesterday), and a Virginia Hamilton threefer. (I'm still taking suggestions over there and there are suggestions in the comments that haven't made it into the list yet.) On to poetry.
My current poet crush, Amal el-Mohtar, is one of the authors of possibly my favorite poem ever. She also co-edits Goblin Fruit, an "online quarterly dedicated to poetry of the fantastic". Mmmm-yes.
I have, along the road of the ugliness, been turned on to a few poets of color I had never read before. And so, I share them with you. Unfortunately, the post where most of these, if not all of them, were recommended is now locked, but I do know that sparkymonster deserves at least some of the credit, as she does for a good portion of my reading list for 50books_poc, because she is made of awesome sauce.
Further, remember that poets almost never get rich, if you find something you love.
* As reposted by Angry Black-White Girl, Pat Parker's For the White Person Who Wants to Know How to Be My Friend.
* As reposted at Bibliosity, Sherman Alexie's Sasquatch Poems. Also new to me and staggering in a number of respects, On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City.
* From ChickenBones, which describes itself as a "journal for literary and artistic African-American themes", a profile of June Jordan which contains her poem I Must Become a Menace to my Enemies.
* More prose than poetry, but belongs in this list anyhow: Little Light's "on the seam of skin and scales". More in the same vein: "on cartography & dissection".
* Hosted by groundworknetwork.org, Chrystos' Those Tears. I haven't yet explored their site - I read the poem as hosted somewhere else and had to go a'Googling - but although I've found some dead links there I think there are things worth Googling further. I also like the look of this list of resources over at Challenging White Supremacy Workshop.
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I'm going to assume that most of the folks who didn't know about RaceFail '09 at all didn't know also about last year's Luke Jackson And William Sanders Are Racist Fucks idiocy either, so allow me to grossly sum up something you can, again, find archived over at rydra_wong. Transcriptase, of which we will speak more in a moment, has the story here. Spoilers: William Sanders, editor of science fiction magazine Helix, sent Luke Jackson (yes, that Luke Jackson) a rejection slip on a story which boiled down to God, I Hate Those Touchy Terrarist Muslins. (Text of the letter and other documents at the link above; Tempest's post clarifies Jackson's asshattery in the whole debacle.)
Yoon Ha Lee (yhlee) whose blog I somehow came across before I knew she was a science fiction writer, asked for her work to be removed and took quite a bit of Batshit Insane RaceFail from Sanders, including the always-classy "Your story was a nod to diversity, not chosen for its merit"-style kiss-off he threw into his reply to her request for removal.
Some of the authors who removed their work from Helix, as well as some who were unable to remove their work, started Transcriptase, which is a place of joy for all that it grew out of a big pile of shit. Transcriptase definitely has more to recommend it than the below, but here are some tidbits:
* Yoon Ha Lee...y'all, I love her stuff so hard. Go read The Shadow Postulates. You won't regret it.
* N.K. Jemesin, yes please. The Narcomancer. It's what's good for you.
* Sara Genge has a choose your own adventure, Clapping for the Fairies up at Transcriptase that I like. In a pleasing bit of circularity, she turns out to be a founder of Daily Cabal, where jlundberg, who rocks socks, also contributes. Hooray!
Not at Transcriptase, but definitely belongs here: K. Tempest Bradford, who needs no introduction. Her Until Forgiveness Comes is unadulterated goodness.
Also in news of SF/F and POC, her post announcing verb_noire, coffeeandink also linked to an interview with Indian science-fiction writer Vandana Singh and one with editor of the much-praised Dark Matter anthology, Sheree Renée Thomas.
**
A couple of resources thrown in here for preservation, I love The Unapologetic Mexican's list of derailing devices, or "wite magik attax". TUAM have renamed the Tone Argument the "Drowning Maestro". I like it. Further, I never stop loving deconcentrate's post "This is about tone".
delux_vivens is again brilliant in her recent a suggestion. If you haven't read Letter from a Birmingham Jail lately or ever, take her suggestion and read it. There's your counter to mis-quoted MLK where you find it.
**
Know of good things to read and savor? Tell me about good things. I have spent all weekend packing away and preparing to give away quite a few of my books, and I want new things to read that are pixelated and will not have to be packed.
**
Have you joined verb_noire yet? karnythia and thewayoftheid are starting a small POC-focused genre press. Calls for submission will come soon: currently they're working on fundraising and could use your help. (EDIT NOTE: They raised 200% of their goal over the weekend, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give them your ducats - I mean, really, can a small genre press have too much money?)
If you have books you need to get rid of for whatever reason, consider taking the suggestion proposed by Avalon's Willow and donating whatever you get for them at the used bookstore to this effort. They're talking about using their overage for writer's workshops.
kate_nepveu started fight_derailing apparently by accident, but it's coming together. Among the other things that are going to be happening there, there's a suggestion of an initiative to facilitate wiscon memberships/attendance for interested POC. Check out her original post on the concept to see what's already been proposed: not just financial contributions but offers of safe floor-space or transport are also apparently potential needs.
Quietly and beautifully, the dancers behind This By Us have continued to fill their dance center with photographs and quotations. They choose not to put too many words on the why, so I won't either. What they have created is very beautiful, and you should go look at it.
Because I love shadoequin and because I know there are a few (shit, more than a few) writers on my flist: Welter is calling for submissions through Tuesday, March 10. Got a piece sitting around you haven't previously submitted? Check the guidelines and send it on in. (Note to self: get your poems in.)
**
I have made a promise to continue to read and recommend SF/F by POC, and I will, but when I made that statement I should have said "the creative endeavors of POC", because I'm certainly not going to limit myself. :D I'm also un-f-locking my 50books_poc book list and reviews tag. Coming soon: more Nikki Giovanni, bell hooks (at last, Feminism is for Everybody appeared again last night after an extremely pesky absence: while on the subject of bell hooks, delux_vivens has posted an excerpt from killing rage just yesterday), and a Virginia Hamilton threefer. (I'm still taking suggestions over there and there are suggestions in the comments that haven't made it into the list yet.) On to poetry.
My current poet crush, Amal el-Mohtar, is one of the authors of possibly my favorite poem ever. She also co-edits Goblin Fruit, an "online quarterly dedicated to poetry of the fantastic". Mmmm-yes.
I have, along the road of the ugliness, been turned on to a few poets of color I had never read before. And so, I share them with you. Unfortunately, the post where most of these, if not all of them, were recommended is now locked, but I do know that sparkymonster deserves at least some of the credit, as she does for a good portion of my reading list for 50books_poc, because she is made of awesome sauce.
Further, remember that poets almost never get rich, if you find something you love.
* As reposted by Angry Black-White Girl, Pat Parker's For the White Person Who Wants to Know How to Be My Friend.
* As reposted at Bibliosity, Sherman Alexie's Sasquatch Poems. Also new to me and staggering in a number of respects, On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City.
* From ChickenBones, which describes itself as a "journal for literary and artistic African-American themes", a profile of June Jordan which contains her poem I Must Become a Menace to my Enemies.
* More prose than poetry, but belongs in this list anyhow: Little Light's "on the seam of skin and scales". More in the same vein: "on cartography & dissection".
* Hosted by groundworknetwork.org, Chrystos' Those Tears. I haven't yet explored their site - I read the poem as hosted somewhere else and had to go a'Googling - but although I've found some dead links there I think there are things worth Googling further. I also like the look of this list of resources over at Challenging White Supremacy Workshop.
**
I'm going to assume that most of the folks who didn't know about RaceFail '09 at all didn't know also about last year's Luke Jackson And William Sanders Are Racist Fucks idiocy either, so allow me to grossly sum up something you can, again, find archived over at rydra_wong. Transcriptase, of which we will speak more in a moment, has the story here. Spoilers: William Sanders, editor of science fiction magazine Helix, sent Luke Jackson (yes, that Luke Jackson) a rejection slip on a story which boiled down to God, I Hate Those Touchy Terrarist Muslins. (Text of the letter and other documents at the link above; Tempest's post clarifies Jackson's asshattery in the whole debacle.)
Yoon Ha Lee (yhlee) whose blog I somehow came across before I knew she was a science fiction writer, asked for her work to be removed and took quite a bit of Batshit Insane RaceFail from Sanders, including the always-classy "Your story was a nod to diversity, not chosen for its merit"-style kiss-off he threw into his reply to her request for removal.
Some of the authors who removed their work from Helix, as well as some who were unable to remove their work, started Transcriptase, which is a place of joy for all that it grew out of a big pile of shit. Transcriptase definitely has more to recommend it than the below, but here are some tidbits:
* Yoon Ha Lee...y'all, I love her stuff so hard. Go read The Shadow Postulates. You won't regret it.
* N.K. Jemesin, yes please. The Narcomancer. It's what's good for you.
* Sara Genge has a choose your own adventure, Clapping for the Fairies up at Transcriptase that I like. In a pleasing bit of circularity, she turns out to be a founder of Daily Cabal, where jlundberg, who rocks socks, also contributes. Hooray!
Not at Transcriptase, but definitely belongs here: K. Tempest Bradford, who needs no introduction. Her Until Forgiveness Comes is unadulterated goodness.
Also in news of SF/F and POC, her post announcing verb_noire, coffeeandink also linked to an interview with Indian science-fiction writer Vandana Singh and one with editor of the much-praised Dark Matter anthology, Sheree Renée Thomas.
**
A couple of resources thrown in here for preservation, I love The Unapologetic Mexican's list of derailing devices, or "wite magik attax". TUAM have renamed the Tone Argument the "Drowning Maestro". I like it. Further, I never stop loving deconcentrate's post "This is about tone".
delux_vivens is again brilliant in her recent a suggestion. If you haven't read Letter from a Birmingham Jail lately or ever, take her suggestion and read it. There's your counter to mis-quoted MLK where you find it.
**
Know of good things to read and savor? Tell me about good things. I have spent all weekend packing away and preparing to give away quite a few of my books, and I want new things to read that are pixelated and will not have to be packed.