Creativity Coach, Jocelyn Paige Kelly, has posted an interview with me over at Realizing You. Jocelyn is a Clarion West graduate and her questions were stimulating and thought-provoking.
Among other things, I talk about three of my most recent stories. One of which is in the Bloodchildren Anthology and the other which is coming out in the We See A Different Frontier Anthology.
The Bloodchildren Anthology is a limited edition e-book which will be available only until the 22nd of June when we celebrate Octavia Butler’s sixty-sixth birthday.
We See a Different Frontier is slotted to be released around June this year.
From the Beloved Country 
Thank you for writing and for supporting others in their writing. I am so happy and excited about this anthology! Wow. “Dancing in the Shadow of the Once” was amazing. The question of “am I preserving my culture and helping others to see it” or “am I putting my heritage on display” is a powerful and difficult question. That the colonial power is called “the Compassionate” is so very eerie.
Thank you for your kind words.
The question of “am I preserving my culture and helping others to see it” or “am I putting my heritage on display” is a powerful and difficult question.
It is a difficult question and sometimes it’s hard to discern where to draw the line. Even in real life, where I am sometimes asked to present dances or talk about where I came from, I struggle with this question. I prefer to share a dance or a ritual as a way of connecting with community which is how dances and rituals are used where I grew up.
Regarding the Compassionate: Our colonizers liked to present themselves as being compassionate or benevolent. They were rendering a kindness to the “natives” who were lost in darkness. There is also this place where I am currently situated where society and people pride themselves on their compassion, but there are strings attached to their brand of compassion. Naming the colonial power as “the Compassionate” is my way of casting a critical eye at the way in which colonial powers like to see themselves. Are they really compassionate? Are they truly benevolent?
Exactly! which is why it’s all the more creepy… and important to acknowledge. I didn’t feel like any of the characters or institutions or cultures were monolithic, or that any one could be pointed to as “bad” or “good” and I feel that that is appropriate though difficult or problematic to portray. Caricatures and archetypes are shorthand, and they can’t tell a deeply compelling or emotionally real story. “Dancing in the Shadow of the Once” is compelling and emotionally honest and does not shy away from problematic (cultural) relationships – it’s really good.
Sorry if I rambled – “Bloodchildren” is an excellent collection and your story is great. And then I realized I’d read a column you wrote on Strange Horizons (and even more wow). So thanks!
– Kathrin