Drop by and check out A Process Conversation with Anil Menon and Vandana Singh. I’m so pleased we’re able to feature this interview on the blog and I readers enjoy it too.
“I think we’re going to be seeing a major breakout of some truly radical SFF from the rest of the world, including Indian writers. But attitude and high expectations are key.”
I’ve updated the book blog with An Interview with Karin Tidbeck. Do drop by and check it out.
For those interested in reading more of Karin’s work, there are links to her fiction from her website.
Cristina Jurado interviewed me for El Fantascopio and the interview has gone live. You can read it in Spanish here and in English here. It’s heartwarming to find out that readers in Spain have also read some of my work and I want to thank Cristina and El Fantascopio for thinking of me and for taking the time to interview me.
The latest installment of my Movements column, Brown Woman at Work, was published on Strange Horizons. I write about navigating the waters of being a writing mother in a conservative Dutch community and how important it is to write truthfully.
I was thinking about process and how I write and why I am unable to bring myself to write to a formula. I tweeted about how writing these columns feels like going naked and Kate Elliott tweeted back and reminded me that all writing that matters is a little bit naked.
I want to always approach my work in a mindful way–writing what I believe in and writing truthfully. Some truths are very hard to write about and there are some truths that I still struggle with, but I am getting there.
I’ve updated the book blog with the long-delayed publication of Wesley Chu’s interview. I’m missing the collaboration that I had with my big sister and I’m really sorry that she’s had to bow out of reviewing. I have a few more interviews on file and after I post those, I think the book blog will change into a reading blog where I talk about books and short fiction that I’ve read.
There’s been little time to update this blog and so I’m sharing a clump of news in this one post. For one, I’m finally able to announce that my Bloodchildren story, Dancing in the Shadow of the Once, will be appearing in the Mammoth Book of SF by Women edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane. Dancing in the Shadow of the Once is one of the stories that I’m proudest of. When the email came in, I jumped up and down with joy and that happiness has kept me going throughout the dark months.
The Hugo shortlist for 2014 has been announced and I’m tickled pink to see that Speculative Fiction 2012: The Best Online Reviews, Essays and Commentary edited by Justin Landon and Jared Shurin is a finalist for Best Related Work. My essay, Decolonizing as an SF Writer, is in this volume. You can read the essay here, but you can also purchase a copy of the book and read all the goodness inside. All proceeds from sales go to Room to Read.
The shortlist for the Shirley Jackson Awards has also been announced and Jonathan Oliver’s The End of the Road anthology has been shortlisted for best Anthology. Jonathan Oliver put a lot of work into making this an anthology that’s inclusive and diverse and I’m very pleased to see the anthology receiving recognition from his peers. Also, secretly tickled because Dagiti Timayap Garda is in this anthology and in a way, I feel like Ifugao has now been put on the genre map.
There’s still quite a bit to post, but I’ll keep that for another time. In the meantime, I wanted to share this piece of art created by James Ng. I’m completely blown away by how this image that he’s created for my short story, The Construct Also Dreams of Flight which is in the upcoming Steampunk World anthology edited by Sarah Hans.
Do check out the hashtag #SteamPunkWorld or check out https://twitter.com/jamesngart for more SteamPunk World interior art.
Head over and check out this interview with Kaaron Warren over at the book blog.
Walking the Tree is a much different novel from Slights. I really liked this difference and I loved the world of the Tree as well as your beautifully drawn characters. Would you like to share a bit about the inspiration for the world of the Tree?
The original idea came from a number of different sources. Most directly, I was watching a documentary about ancient objects and was struck with the thought that these things sit there, well beyond human understanding, interpretation and memory. That they exist long after their original meaning is lost. In the end, there is a disconnect between the object and its origin.
I blogged about some stories I read recently. Go to the Chie and Weng blog to see the entry. 🙂
The book blog has been fallow for quite sometime. First we had Typhoon Haiyan and then we had a family emergency and then my sister told me the spotty internet has sort of drained her of any energy to really come and keep at it.
I thought about it for a while and considered whether I had the energy to do reviews as well as interviews. The beauty of my sister and I doing the blog was that she could bring in her perspective as a reader who reads anything and I could do the interviews (which I’ve always enjoyed doing).
I do want to continue doing the book blog and I have some interviews on stock with writers whose work I’ve enjoyed and so I think I’ll just go ahead and post those interviews and maybe write my own thoughts–not proper reviews then…but just my thoughts and impressions of the work.
In the coming weeks, I’m going to publish interviews from Kaaron Warren, Wesley Chu, Vandana Singh and Anil Menon, and from Karin Tidbeck. My schedule may be erratic, but it’s something we started for fun and because we love books.
2014 is turning out to be quite a busy period. Aside from familial things (including my eldest son breaking his leg and needing lots of support), I’ve been busily working on the En novel. Sometimes, I look at this work and worry about it being too different. When those moments arise, I remember Audre Lorde talking about the work being greater than the fear and I push on and persevere. This is a story I must write and so I’ll write it to the best of my abilities.
Via my good friend, Aliette de Bodard, I found out about this lovely review of “Of Alternate Adventures and Memory”. I’m quite blown away to have my story mentioned alongside Sofia Samatar’s “Selkie Stories are for Losers”. I loved Sofia’s story, so it’s an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as her. Thank you, Ana Grilo.
I want to keep on writing stories that will move readers. Stories that will make readers think and look differently at the world around them. Stories that will challenge readers to step outside the box and move beyond their comfort zones. I also want to continue to encourage other writers to keep on being courageous. No one else can tell your stories the way you do.
I won’t be at many conventions this year, but I’ve been invited and agreed to be one of the guests at Fantasticon 2014. My thanks to Jesper Rugard for inviting me and to Trish Sullivan who kindly put my name forward. I’ve heard that it’s a great con and I’m looking forward to meeting new people and making new friends.
While I was offline, the second part of A Poetics of Struggle was published on Strange Horizons. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s here. There’s still a lot more to say about struggle and the field of sf, but I’ll leave it there for the moment as the next column will be about something completely different.
For today’s final bit of news, the ToC for Steampunk World edited by Sarah Hans has been announced. I think Sarah Hans has done a wonderful job of putting together an anthology which is true to the word “World”. I look forward to reading the stories and hope that readers enjoy reading them too.
It seems like a long time ago that I wrote the hay(na)ku verse that led to the birth of Alternate Girl and Alternate Girl’s Expatriate Life. Of Alternate Adventures and Memory is a story set in the same universe as Alternate Girl’s Expatriate Life and it’s been published at Clarkesworld Magazine. Clarkesworld Magazine is one of the best publications in the SFF field today. It’s one of those publications that’s kept me hopeful and trusting about the future of science fiction and I’m honored to be in this issue.
The December issue includes stories by E. Lily Yu, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, James Patrick Kelly and my Clarion West instructor, John Kessel. Do go and check it out when you have time.
Aftermath
By Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
After the storm, there is only silence.
It makes sense, Celia thinks. Here, within the confines of her home, it is always silent.
Her heels make a dull clicking sound on the linoleum floor as she walks from the living room to the kitchen. All morning, she has been watching footage, her ears bombarded by the sound of high wind and rain and the unbelievable image that is her country under siege.
Storm.
She looks out at clear blue skies. It is quiet outdoors. All her neighbours have gone off to work. Her children are at school. All is quiet in her head.
#
“How terrible,” the woman standing next to her at the school plain says. “And do you know anything yet about your family?”
Celia doesn’t know what to say.
In her head, the family home is an invulnerable place. That old house with its foundation of stone, was it still standing?
She offers a tentative smile.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone yet,” she says. “But I’m sure they’re fine.”
That home is beside the sea, she thinks. When her grandmother was newly married, there was a tsunami. They survived by tying themselves to the stone posts of the house. Afterwards, the villagers discovered porcelain jars beneath the house. Some of them were from the Ming Dynasty—that was what her grandmother said.
“We managed to get some for ourselves,” Grandmother said. “Like that one. You see that one, Celia? Do you see that jar with the blue dragons?”
Celia remembers the dragons and the wonder of that jar which was taller than her seven year old self. Will that jar still be there? Will it still be standing in that hallway?
The woman moves away and another takes her place.
On usual days the women hardly ever take notice of her. They stand around in a cluster and talk to each other. They laugh and speak in what Celia calls their secret code. Somehow, they know about each others’ mishaps—dental appointments, divorces, funerals. They exchange information on mundane things, like who is going to whose birthday and what they plan to eat for dinner.
Celia has tried, but she’s never managed to break that code. She still hasn’t deciphered the secret of the magic circle that is them.
Now, they move in degrees towards her, their eyes inquiring.
Celia is relieved when the bell rings and the children emerge from their classes.
She smiles at the woman who offers her a glance that is probably meant to convey sympathy.
#
“Mama,” her youngest son says. “At school they said that all of Philippines has been destroyed. Did it go boom?”
“It was a storm,” Celia says. “And not all of it is destroyed, just parts of it.”
“And Lolo and Lola?” her son asks.
“They’re fine,” Celia says. “We’ll hear from them any day now.”
“I’m afraid,” her son says. “Ï’m afraid of the blood.”
“When we go home, the blood won’t be there anymore,” Celia says.
She gazes out at this view of neatly ordered houses. In her mind’s eye, she sees bodies on a distant shore—a landscape shattered by the hand of nature.
The future seems bleak. There is still no word and she is losing hope.
#
Grandmother putters through the debris of Celia’s efforts at housecleaning.
“Well,” she says. “Well, it can’t be helped. Who would have known that the cupboard would topple over?”
She makes a clicking sound.
“There’s broken glass too. Oh well. . . “
“Lola,” Celia says.
“Don’t move,” Grandmother says. “Stay where you are. There’s glass everywhere.”
“I’m sorry,” Celia says.
“Ah child,” Grandmother says. “it’s an old thing. And it’s not like it was an antique. Uncle Berto will make a new one. This time, he’ll make it from narra wood.”
#
“Ma,” finally they have a connection. “Are you all right?”
“We’re fine,” her mother says. “Your father’s off again. He just came back, but he’s off again. I think he forgets that he’s already old. But there are so many wounded and there aren’t enough doctors. It can’t be helped.”
“And the house?” Celia asks.
“Your Lola is fine,” her mother says. “Shaken, but fine. Your uncle found her. We were also worried for a while. Celia, don’t cry. It’s fine. We’re all fine. But so many died. So many. . .”
Inside her head, the silence breaks.
She can hear the wind. She can see the trees. Winter rain washes across the glass pane of her window.
“I’ll do what I can,” she says. “I will also do what I can.”
<<end>>
A.N. A lot has happened since my last post. Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines. Many Filipinos lost homes and loved ones. Because of the extent of the devastation, it took a week for aid to arrive in affected areas. The world’s response to the fate of Filipinos is overwhelming. This small offering is a thank you for the continued support and for the overwhelming response to the plea for help from the Philippines. Please continue to keep us in mind as we work to rebuild what can be rebuilt.
From the Beloved Country 
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