Book review: Sisters of the Revolution

Sometimes I forget how fulfilling it can be to read explicitly feminist writing.

So I have been enjoying the heck out of Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer.

Speculative fiction is a catch-all phrase for science fiction, fantasy, and other harder-to-classify writing with a fabulist "what-if" slant. What if employees were encouraged to conform to corporate culture through biological additions, as in Eileen Gunn's "Stable Strategies for Middle Management"? What if there was "The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet" as in Vandana Singh's story?

This book encompasses an excellent selection of stories from the 1960s to now by a diverse group of writers, both well-known--Angela Carter, Octavia Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin, James Tiptree, Jr. (really Alice Bradley Sheldon)--and up-and-coming--Nnedi Okorafor, Rachel Swirsky.

Although this collection is definitely for adults, I was excited to see a couple of my favorite kidlit authors, Catherynne Valente and Kelly Barnhill, represented. I was also thrilled to discover writers like Nalo Hopkinson and Hiromi Goto.

Some of the stories are familiar, like "The Screwfly Solution" and "The Evening and the Morning and the Night," but these are woven artfully among others arranged so that stories "speak" to one another across time and space. I loved the combination of styles: a journalist's "report" ("The Forbidden Words of Margaret A." by L. Timmel Duchamp) horror, surrealism, sci-fi (Elisabeth Vonarburg's great reimagining of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), sword-and-sorcery, fairy tales, and more.

The strains of feminism are diverse too, with varying degrees of satire, uplifting hear-me-roar grrl power, and horror-filled dystopian warnings. These stories represent women of different cultures, ages, sexual orientations--even species. Each selection is delightful reading and a thoughtful commentary on women's roles in society. These are stick-to-you stories. I know that Susan Palwick's "Gestella," about a werewolf in love, will haunt me.

Highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to dig further into the oeuvre of many of these writers.

Special shout-out to publisher PM Press, an amazing, socially conscious publishing organization out of Oakland. Looking forward to exploring their collection further, too!

Speculative YA fiction and poetry? Yes please!

I'm happy to announce my first poems for kids are available in the new issue of Stinkwaves Magazine!

I was really excited to find a YA magazine devoted to speculative fiction, poetry, and art. They're also engaged in building a community of writers and artists, including young and up-and-coming creators, through the magazine and their parent publisher Handersen Publishing's books for kids. Exciting to be part of this new endeavor!

My two poems in this issue, "The Threshold Machine" and "American Inferno," were once described as "Dr. Seuss meets Kafka." Check out the latest issue for some fun, strange, creative work--and don't forget to subscribe!

Upcoming Bar Poems anthology

Yay yay yay!

My poem "Valencia Street, Sunday Morning" has been selected for an upcoming Bar Poems anthology from Main Street Rag!

Besides a quarterly print mag that features poetry, fiction, art, interviews, and reviews, Main Street Rag publishes books of poetry, and (under other imprints) fiction, nonfiction and anthologies.

This one is expected to publish in Fall 2017. Just imagine, a whole book full of poems about bars. Here's the description that lured me to submit:

Most of us have been in a bar or two sometime in our lives. Some of us frequent them often. Maybe you have a corner in the neighborhood pub where the bartender knows you by name and what you drink. Life happens in these places. People gather here, talk shop, make deals, have a good time, sometimes not such a good time. Sometimes things happen at a bar we wish we could forget. Other times we wish we could remember. Each has its own flavor and patrons, expectations and surprises. They have been the muse for a multitude of writers of the centuries. Tell us about yours in the form of a poem, a story, a colorful anecdote. As long as a bar is part of it, we want to see it.

I wrote about the corner bar down the street from our apartment in San Francisco. Not the cool one across the street where the hipsters hung out, but the grimy one that was serving patrons as I rushed past on my way to catch the train to work in the mornings. Every so often a certain whiff of stale booze and corned hash brings me right to that corner...

I'll share more info as I know it. Excited to be included and can't wait to read the whole thing!

Birth Writes cover reveal

Hollering from the rooftops:

My Katrina birth experience essay is in here, along with birth stories from a bunch of talented writers. It's going to be great!

The anthology is being finalized, and last I heard it would be ready to buy sometime in December...I will DEFINITELY let you know!

Anthology ahoy!

So excited! An essay I submitted some time ago will be published in an anthology!



via GIPHY

The anthology is a collection of birth stories, and mine is about giving birth five days after evacuating from Hurricane Katrina. The editor said the book should be available sometime before December. I will definitely share the word when it is!

YAYYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!