My White Friend by Leny M. Strobel

/ RCRuiz

My White Friend
(excerpt from A Book of Her Own, Words and Images to Honor the Babaylan by Leny M. Strobel)

He is often concerned that my work is too racialized; that it can’t help but dissolve into dualistic antagonisms — the very antagonisms I seek to transform. But why, I ask him, is it so difficult for him to listen to my story? What does it ask of him that he refuses to hear it? At some level we already agree on our vision of justice and peace, vision of spiritual awakening, vision of ecological justice. We already agree that there is racism still. Or that it is only now that white folks are beginning to acknowledge white privilege. . .  so why does he always resist this? 

(also posted at http://rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com)

Paul Harland Day, quick report

/ RCRuiz / 3 Comments

I was at the Paul Harland Day yesterday and it was good to finally meet people whom I’d only talked to and met online. I was very happy to meet Martijn Lindeboom who has been organizing this competition and the Paul Harland Day for a couple of years now. I know what a lot of work goes into putting together affairs like these, and that he managed to get a team of first readers as well as an end jury is a huge accomplishment in itself.

On the Paul Harland Site, there is a listing of winners (in Dutch).

Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s Vis in de Fles won first place

Linda Mulders took second with a time travel story Een Seconde Wijzer

Jurgen Snoeren’s Zoek Mij Tussen de Sterren took third place

Jurgen’s story also took the prize for best Science Fiction story.

A special prize called the W.J. Maryson award was given to Sander de Leuuw for his story, Corvus Ultimus

And another special prize called the Fenexprijs was given to a writer named Jen Minkman.

The W.J. Maryson award is given to authors younger than 30 years old and the Fenexprijs is given to authors who have pressed on and improved in comparison to the previous year.

All in all an interesting event that provides some insight into how people get published in the Netherlands and what the Dutch SFF scene looks like.

I believe it has to be said that it takes a lot of courage to send in your work and to open yourself up for judging. The ability to take criticism, to accept your imperfections and the drive to improve are part of what makes a writer grow from being just any writer to becoming The Writer. Write on.

The World SF Travel Fund and some sneak peeks

/ RCRuiz

The World SF Travel Fund is bringing Csilla Kleinheinz and myself to this year’s World Fantasy Convention. There’s a fundraiser going on now, but this is a fundraiser meant to cover expenses for next year’s candidates as well. In its first year, the World SF fund brought Charles Tan to World Fantasy in the US, and last year, it brought Karin Tidbeck and Nene Ormes to WFC in Toronto. 

The fund seeks to enable genre professionals to World Fantasy Conventions and as my good friend Siobhan pointed out: you can’t have an international convention without people. Do check out Lavie Tidhar’s post at the World SF Blog and donate or spread the word. 

I’ve also added a new section to this site which includes a sneak peek into works-in-progress, so do go check it out. 

Bloodchildren is now Available

/ RCRuiz

Bloodchildren: Stories by the Octavia Butler Scholars is now available from the Bookview Cafe. All proceeds from this anthology will go towards the Octavia Butler Scholarship fund. Please check out the anthology and support writers of color.

Contents of Bloodchildren: Stories by the Octavia E. Butler Scholars, edited by Nisi Shawl

Introduction by Nalo Hopkinson

Before Conception
“Speech Sounds” by Octavia E. Butler
“Octavia Estelle Butler” by Vonda N. McIntyre

2007
“My Love Will Never Die” by Christopher Caldwell
“Falling into the Earth” by Shweta Narayan

2008
“Free Bird” by Caren Gussoff
“Impulse” by Mary Burroughs

2009
“Dancing in the Shadow of the Once” by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz

2010
“Légendaire.” by Kai Ashante Wilson
“Steal the Sky” by Erik Owomoyela

2011
“/sit” by Jeremy Sim
“Re: Christmas, Bainbridge Island” by Dennis Y. Ginoza

2012
“The Runner of n-Vamana” by Indrapramit Das
“The Salt Water African” by Lisa Bolekaja

ToC’s and Movements

/ RCRuiz

My Movements column (Retrieving our Hidden Histories) was published last week and is still available to read at Strange Horizons.

Djibril and Fabio have announced the Table of Contents for the We See A Different Frontier Anthology. My story, What Really Happened in Ficandula, will be in it. I can’t wait to read all of the stories in this anthology.

We’re delighted to be able to announce the beautiful table of contents for the We See a Different Frontier anthology of colonialism-themed speculative fiction co-edited by Fabio Fernandes. We’re really looking forward this hitting the bookshelves at the beginning of July 2013.

Here’s the complete ToC:

  • Preface by Aliette de Bodard
  • Introduction by Fabio Fernandes
  • The Arrangement of Their Parts, Shweta Narayan
  • Pancho Villa’s Flying Circus, Ernest Hogan
  • Them Ships, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Old Domes, J.Y. Yang
  • A Bridge of Words, Dinesh Rao
  • The Gambiarra Effect, Fabio Fernandes *
  • Droplet, Rahul Kanakia
  • Lotus, Joyce Chng
  • Dark Continents, Lavie Tidhar
  • A Heap of Broken Images, Sunny Moraine
  • Fleet, Sandra McDonald
  • Remembering Turinam, Nalin A. Ratnayake
  • Vector, Benjanun Sriduangkaew
  • I Stole the D.C.’s Eyeglass, Sofia Samatar
  • Forests of the Night, Gabriel Murray
  • What Really Happened in Ficandula, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
  • Critical afterword by Ekaterina Sedia *

BSFA Shortlist has been announced

/ RCRuiz

My PGS story, Song of the Body Cartographer has made it to the BSFA shortlist. The complete shortlist is here. Winners will be announced at Eightsquaredcon which will be in Bradford, UK.

I will be at Bradford together with good friend and awesome author, Aliette de Bodard whose short story, Immersion, is also on the shortlist.

It’s an honor to be listed along with all the other shortlisted nominees. Thank you for nominating my story. It thrills me that a story published in a Philippine publication has received all this attention.

2013 is here

/ RCRuiz

2013 is here and it’s starting out really well on the writing front.

Nisi Shawl has announced the Table of Contents for Bloodchildren which is coming out next week. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the official announcement so I could finally squee about it.

On the publishing front, my fractured fiction, Distance, has been published on Our Own Voice as well as my essay titled, On First-worlders adopting children from third-world countries like mine.

Song of the Body Cartographer has been nominated for the BSFA short fiction awards.  It’s the only nominated work published by a Filipino publication and it’s making the Filipino publication visible that pleases me the most.

I’m also changing things here on the website, so updating it becomes easier. Have a nice cup of tea, pull a chair up and have a look around. My blog where I talk about stuff other than updates is at Talking to the Moon.

Happy 2013.