Book Blogging, Linkage and the Diversity in SFF conversations

/ RCRuiz / 2 Comments

It’s Friday and I just realized I haven’t posted yet about various things. Over at the Book Blog, I’ve posted a short book discussion that Weng and I had about Kiini Ibura Salaam’s Ancient, Ancient. That discussion went up on Monday and on Wednesday, we published our author interview with Kiini. Do go check out the book blog if you haven’t yet and let us know what you think.

Aliette de Bodard has posted a must-read blogpost on Other Cultures and Diversity in SFF. Do take the time to read it.

Talking about diversity and the danger of dominant voices drowning out minority narrative, read also Gracie Jin’s article on Policymic where she writes about the One Thing White Writers get away with but Authors of Color Don’t.  

My own thoughts on diversity in SFF are contained in last week’s Movements Column: On Escapist Literature and Being Dangerous.

On Black Gate, Foz Meadows’ Challenging the Classics: Questioning the Arbitrary Browsing Mechanism is another must-read.

On twitter, Lavie Tidhar tweeted: “It’s easy to make a hashtag about diversity, harder to actively encourage/support it.”

Speaking as a writer coming from a third-world nation, as a writer coming from a culture that has been so steeped in western influence, as a writer who knows what it’s like to have English valued above your native tongue, I can speak of the multiplicity of struggle.

We struggle against the impositions of language and we struggle against the impositions of western thought. We struggle to bring our stories into the world and we struggle to be heard. We have voices, but those voices are often drowned out by hegemony.

Our voices are often rendered suspect because “experts” have been there telling our histories and our stories in our place.

One of the things that sometimes disheartens me, is how in the discussions on diversity, the voices of those from the margins are often overlooked or erased. I wonder then, again, do we speak our words into the wind? When will the time come when our narratives/opinions will also be treated as equal and welcome? 

I don’t worry for myself. I am at this age where I think: if I get another twenty years, that’s a good thing. While I don’t worry for myself, I do worry for the next generation of writers and creators and I don’t want them to lose heart because the struggle seems to be all uphill. I want to believe that in the time I have, I can at least make a little bit of a difference so it will be less of a struggle. I want to make room so it will be easier to breathe and easier to create. 

You’re probably wondering what you can do. What else can we do? What more can we do to promote diversity in SFF? 

Here’s something concrete we all can do–promote a story, promote a book, promote a writer who is not one of your circle, but who is someone who you feel has a story that needs to be heard. As a challenge to yourself, let that writer be either a writer of color, a writer who is non-western, a QUILTBAG writer or a writer who is all or a combination of the above. 

You may not like all the stories you read, they may not all speak to you (God knows, not all stories speak to me), but they may speak to someone else and in promoting that story, you say this: “There’s this voice I heard. I want you to hear that voice too. I want us to listen and make space because that voice is saying things someone needs to hear.”

Paul Harland Prize, Midway report

/ RCRuiz / 1 Comment

Martijn Lindeboom, organizer of the Paul Harland Prize, has translated and posted my midway report on my reading for this year’s Paul Harland Prize. This is the second year that I’ve read for the prize, and it’s interesting to me to be able to make comparisons to last year’s reading. It also brings home the point that we are all in a constant state of change. And growth is always a good thing.

Paul Harland Reading, Midway report

I’ve been reading the Paul Harland entries in groups of five or ten stories at a time. Professional slush readers have said that it usually takes the first three paragraphs to determine whether a story is worth reading through to the end or not. Unlike slush readers, I do read all the stories to the end—and while I do see the value in the first three paragraphs rule, I also think reading the full story gives me a better understanding of where on the scale the writer sits when it comes to mastery of craft.

On a more personal level, I find it interesting to note how I have also matured as a reader and I think I may have become more demanding as a reader. Where last year, I might have excused sloppy writing, this year I’m less inclined to do so.

So, what insights have I gained in reading thus far?

When I think of last year’s entries, I get the impression that this year’s writers have worked harder and have progressed when it comes to craft. More stories work better and are better put together thematically as well as plotwise and so far most of the stories I’ve read seem to have broken away from the urge to be Martinesque or Tolkienesque. It’s true that there is still quite a bit of mimetic and gimmicky stuff, but this all relates to how new the writer is to genre. I do hope that in time, and as writers read more and look for more challenging work, this will improve. ( I keep telling people to read more and I’ll reiterate that again: read more and read outside of the work that’s translated or sold in the Netherlands. Read not only in genre but read outside of genre.)

What does frustrate me, and this is something that also frustrated me during last year’s reading, is when I come across a writer with an incredibly strong voice who relies on gimmicks and stereotypes to tell a story. It makes me feel frustrated because a strong authorial voice is a gift and if a writer doesn’t stretch themself, that voice becomes nothing more than a gimmick in itself.

As a writer, I don’t believe in being contented or self-satisfied. If you are a writer who feels self-satisfied in your work, if you’re resting on the laurels of past praise, you won’t grow as a writer. It’s not enough to write the same as you did yesterday, you must work to write something better than you did yesterday.

Finally, I’m not yet done with my reading, so I can’t write a conclusive note, but writers do yourselves a favor and pay attention to the 10% rule. Longer doesn’t always mean better and a lot of stories would benefit a lot from cutting at least 10% of its content.

This year showed us 206 entries which is a huge leap from last year. It is a positive sign and I hope it means that Dutch genre is finally reaching a point where something has to give. It will be interesting to see new voices emerging and becoming part of the greater field of World SF.

**with thanks to Martijn Lindeboom for the translation from English to Dutch.

***For context regarding the 10% rule, the cut-off for the Paul Harland is 10,000 words. Most writers come very close to that limit.

updates again

/ RCRuiz

On the Book Blog, we posted our Author Interview with Kari Sperring. If you have time, do drop by and read. 

I’m looking at the final proofs of my story for The End of the Road: an anthology of Original Fiction edited by Jonathan Oliver. It’s interesting how not looking at a story for a long time will change the way you look at it when you read it again. I’m hoping people will enjoy reading all the stories in this anthology. 

The anthology will be coming out in November, but I’ve heard that we’re doing a sneak preview of it at World Fantasy Convention. I may post more about that later. 

I’ll also be on this panel at WFC together with Cheryl Morgan: 

“The Next Generation” We’re All Bloggers Now (Cambridge)
 
Being a columnist or a critic used to be a skill, combining knowledge and the ability to write with insightful observations. These days it seems that everybody has an opinion and evolving technology has given us numerous platforms through which to make our views known. Have we degraded the true art of criticism to a point where it has lost all value?

I’m not sure exactly what the point of the panel is, but I do know what I’m going to be arguing for. It certainly promises to be interesting, and if not, we can always turn it into a drinking game or all stand up and migrate to the bar. Which, I’ve heard, is where you really want to be during a World Fantasy Con. 

This will be my first World Fantasy Convention, so I’m quite excited. I’m looking forward to seeing friends, I wouldn’t otherwise get to see, to catching up with women I’ve admired from a distance, and if any of my Clarion West instructors are there, I may grab up my courage and say hello. 

I’m rushing off again, but I hope everyone is having a good day. 

Recent Updates

/ RCRuiz

The latest Movements column has gone up on Strange Horizons and is titled: On Escapist Literature and Being Dangerous. Born out of one of the many discussions we had at Nine Worlds, I hope that it speaks to readers and sparks more conversation around the subjects of diversity and inclusivity. I also hope that it gives aspiring writers the courage to keep trying.

Over at the book blog, we’ve published a new review by my Big Sis Weng. Today’s review is of Kari Sperring’s The Grass King’s Concubine. This was one of the few paper books I was able to send my sister. Most of the other books are in ebook format. As usual, most of our reviews are from books purchased/owned by us. We may grab something from netgalley, if publishers let us, but we do like choosing our own books and I don’t dictate to my sister.

I’m working quite intensively on a longer piece of fiction. This will be even longer than Dancing in the Shadow of the Once from the Bloodchildren anthology. Dancing clocked in at a little bit over 8,000 words. This one is racing towards 15,000 and looks like it’ll be going past that. I’m excited, scared and happy. I don’t know what to call it except science fiction. 🙂

 

Process

/ RCRuiz

Over on Chie and Weng Read Books, we’ve introduced a new feature called Process. We still aren’t sure how regular this feature will be, but we do want to publish these kinds of discussions from time to time. Do drop by as today we have Dean Alfar and Joseph Nacino talking about process and the challenges of Filipino SFF. 

Talking about process, I also recognize how working towards increasing visibility and working towards better representations and diversity in SFF is a lot of work. It also isn’t a work that can be done by one person, but it is a collective work. If you’re a reader, expand your horizons and go read something that’s outside of your comfort zone. 

If you are a writer of color or a queer writer, right now it may feel like everything is a struggle. We are struggling to make space for ourselves and for our narratives. Change is slow. We are still in process. But we will get there. Just keep on writing and telling your stories the way you want to tell them. 

To you who encourage us and keep us going. Thank you. Peace, love and courage. 

Something fun to keep me going

/ RCRuiz

Every now and then I groan out loud on twitter about how long it’s taking me to finish the novel. Well, that and I have other work that I also want to finish. But my ultimate goal is to complete work on the Body Cartographer’s novel. 

One of my former students has been a great inspiration to me. I’ve been following his progress and I check in on him from time to time. ( His parents are my godparents, so even if we’re not blood-related, we are family.) Anyway, I’ve been pleased to see that he’s taken the encouragement to keep up with his art and to witness his growth as an artist. His determination in the face of obstacles inspires me and I asked him if he would make me some art to keep me going while I write the novel.

You can read EJ’s story and see some of his artwork here.

Anyway, I sent him some snippets and he sent me his interpretation of those snippets. Here’s one of the characters from the Cartographer’s world. A warrior woman of the gods, named Gunn.  🙂

Image

**I’m posting this picture as a thank you to my Clarion West Write-a-thon sponsors. I didn’t make my fundraising goal, but I did get more than halfway there, thanks for your support and encouragement.

reviews, publications and super-secret projects

/ RCRuiz

Over at Chie and Weng Read Books, I review Sabrina Vourvoulias’s excellent first novel, Ink. I didn’t have time to post about this when it went up, but last week we also reviewed J.M. Sidorova’s The Age of Ice. We also have an interview with the author on the blog, so do check it out if you feel so inclined.

We See a Different Frontier, published by The Future Fire and edited by Djibril Al-Ayad and Fabio Fernandes is now out. It’s been getting some interesting reviews, including this one where my story gets called the “most vengeful” story of the lot. I’m quite flattered by that description actually. I mean, heads go flying in this story, so if people called it tame, I would be really worried.

Right now, I am reading the print proofs for What Fates Impose. I’m quite blown away by the work of my toc-mates and it’s quite a blast to find myself in an anthology with people whose work I admire. I am also quite impressed by Alliteration Ink, our editor Nayad Monroe and our publisher, Steven Saus.

Over the course of this summer break, I’ve written tons of words. I’m very close to finishing draft on a super-secret project and will post more on that soon, including snippets. Yes, I’m superstitious like that so that’s as much as I’m going to say about it before it’s finished.

My Nine Worlds experience

/ RCRuiz

Nine Worlds was amazing. I was there as a guest and in this post, I want to thank Tori Truslow who invited me to the con, and also the Con Committee who made it possible for me to attend the con.

While Nine Worlds was a busy con for me (I had panels on Saturday and Sunday and a reading on the evening of Friday), I came away from it feeling very much recharged, energized and challenged ( I did sleep all day afterwards, but that’s normal, right? ).

I have great love for the Queer space. I wish all cons had a space like this. I loved that there was this safe space you could go to and just talk and connect with like-minded people. I felt like I could really be myself, and that’s always a good feeling to have when you’re talking about issues you’re passionate about.

I don’t have any other cons to compare Nine Worlds to, except for Eastercon. But Eastercon has a very different thrust and I don’t think there’s any way to compare the two. Nine Worlds is Nine Worlds and Eastercon is Eastercon.

Tori Truslow’s workshop on Writing our Own Stories proved to be very inspiring for me. I found myself challenged to write a story which would express the multiplicity and complexity of self. This was the story that woke me up at 5.30 on Saturday Morning–a voice that just refused to let me go back to sleep. I was rather grumpy about waking up too and having to turn on my netbook and write words when all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep.

The discussions and the conversations I had at the con were so thought-provoking and inspiring and I am even more determined to go on and keep writing about the things I’m writing. If we want to reach a place where we’re all finally conversing on equal terms, we need to create more space for diverse voices to be heard and paid attention to.

This is why I still value very strongly the voices of those coming from within a culture above the voices of those outside of the culture. What I mean is: I’d rather see more of us writing our own stories. And while I acknowledge the value in those who write about us, it’s just not the same.

We need more writers of color, we need more queer writers, we need more writing from the perspective of those with physical limitations, and we need more women writing. We need these stories because these stories are what make Science Fiction richer and better.

chiereading at nineworlds

Update and Monday’s content on the book blog

/ RCRuiz

It’s Monday morning and I’m all packed up and waiting in the hotel lobby. Nine Worlds has been amazing. I’ve been so inspired and I have many things I want to share, but I’ll save that for when I get home. 

In the meantime, I’ve quickly posted my big sister’s review of On a Red Station Drifting by Aliette de Bodard. I have yet to argue with my big sis over a book. But we do have plans to do a book discussion sometime soon. Watch out for that. We may yet come to loggerheads over something. 

Happy Monday all.