I’m back from a quick trip to Spain — look for exciting news about the results of that trip at the end of the month! And while I was away, I was also wrestling with the new class calendar, which I’ve included in this newsletter so you can see everything coming up through the end of May.
It’s nice to be back from the road and sticking around for a while. If you’re looking for events I’ll be at, my current plants are GenCon this summer, and possibly an Atlanta con in the early fall.
I’ve committed to turning in two manuscripts this year — luckily both are partially written so that’s not quite as ambitious as it might seem. Look for the sequel to You Sexy Thing, Devil’s Gun, to appear this August, and the third book, Rumor Has It, the following year, while the final book of the Tabat Quarter, Gods of Tabat, should come out in December of this year. If you’re a reviewer or book blogger who wants to make sure you get an advance copy of these and/or the anthology The Reinvented Detective, please let me know.
Along the same lines, if you’re nominating for Hugos, Dragon Awards, or the like right now, I’d like to point out some things I have eligible:
- My short story, “The Woman Who Wanted to Be Trees,” appeared in Slate Magazine and is one of the best stories I’ve ever written.
- The podcast I work with, If This Goes On (Don’t Panic), has been around for three years now and has done amazing interviews including recent ones with Ryka Aoki, Zig Zag Claybourne, and Cory Doctorow. Please consider it when thinking about the Hugo.
- Jennifer Brozek and I are eligible for Hugo — Short Form editor as the team behind The Reinvented Heart and The Reinvented Detective.
If you have an eligibility post or write-up, please add it in the comments here!
Here’s the complete list of classes through the end of May, 2023. To register, mail me with the class name(s), whether you qualify for any discounts, and how you’d prefer to pay (PayPal, Venmo, check, or other means.)
- 50 ccs of Plot, Stat!: Making Things Happen in Your Story with Michael R. Underwood, Saturday, March 11, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Wearing Your Character in Meditation with Henry Lien and Jerry Lee Davis, Saturday, March 18, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Make Yourself More Discoverable Online: SEO Basics for Creative People with Cat Rambo, Saturday, March 18, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time (free to Patreon supporters).
- No More Lone Wolves: Writing Characters in Community with Catherine Lundoff, Sunday, March 19, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Different Kinds of Love: Writing Relationships that Aren’t Romantic with Cat Rambo, Sunday, March 19, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Fearless Writing: Learning to Not Hold Back with Evan J. Peterson, Saturday, March 25, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Upping Your Game with Titles and Names with Cat Rambo, Saturday, March 25, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Body Language and Description as Genre with Jennifer Brozek, Sunday, March 26, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Replying to Other Stories with Cat Rambo, Sunday, March 26, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Epistolary Fiction: Stories in Letter with Jamie Lackey, Saturday, April 8, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Stories That Change Our World: Writing Hopepunk with Cat Rambo, Saturday, April 8, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Saving the Saviour Baby While Throwing Out the Rancid Bathwater with Minister Faust, Sunday, April 9, 2023 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Worldbuilding With Science: Creating Planets, Societies and Creatures That Work with Sarah Buhrman, Sunday, April 9, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Improve Your Writing with Creative Nonfiction (and get paid for it!) with Sylvia Spruck Wrigley, Saturday, April 22, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- All the Punks: Kinds of -Punk Fiction and How to Write Them with Cat Rambo, Saturday, April 22, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Head Hopping and Head Hunting: Deep Point of View with Tracy Townsend, Sunday, April 23, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Beginnings and Endings with Cat Rambo, Sunday, April 23, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Hooray for Evil: Writing Fearsome Monsters and Effective Villains with Evan J. Peterson, Sunday, April 23, 2023, 4–6 PM Pacific time.
- Book Promotion on a Budget with Catherine Lundoff, Saturday, May 6, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- How to Write and Sell Flash Fiction with Cat Rambo, Saturday, May 6, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Writing Historical Fantasy with Kate Heartfield, Sunday, May 7, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- The Long Tail of Publishing with Jennifer Brozek, Sunday, May 7, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Save the Mouse! Plotting Beyond Save the Cat to Create Dynamic Relationships and Plot Drivers with Minister Faust, Sunday, May 7, 2023, 4–6 PM Pacific time.
- Make Mine Moody: Creating Atmosphere and Mood in Your Fiction with Cat Rambo, Saturday, May 20, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- It’s Coming From Inside the House: Writing Domestic Horror with Evan J. Peterson, Saturday, May 20, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Toning It Up: Creating and Amplifying Tone in Fiction with Cat Rambo, Sunday, May 21, 2023, 9:30–11:30 AM Pacific time.
- Good Giveaways: Making Freebies Work for You with Sarah Buhrman, Sunday, May 21, 2023, 1–3 PM Pacific time.
- Principles for Pantsers with Cat Rambo, Sunday, May 21, 2023, 4–6 PM Pacific time.
Cat-Related Links
- Creative AI vs. Creative Humanity: Guest Post by Laurence Raphael Brothers
- Here’s the Hopepunk and Optimistic Futures panel I was recently on.
- Alan Bailey and Cat interview Ryka Aoki about AI (in writing and other art forms), doughnuts, the importance of diversity, martial arts, and her book Light from Uncommon Stars.
- Nice review of You Sexy Thing
- SFWA Members Weigh in on AI & Machine Learning Applications & Considerations
Community Links
- From Wednesday Writing Games
- Jennifer Brozek provides some thoughts on venting, listening, and empathy.
- Check out this blurb for James L. Sutter’s new book!
- Priya Sridhar writes about How To Steal Right From Squid Game, Beyond Magenta Grounds Coming-Of-Age Stories In Heart And Pathos, Do I Believe in True Love? — Priya J Sridhar,
- Ziv Witles has a new YouTube video on Glass Onion’s Four Crucial Mirrors
- Priya Sridhar writes City of Day Demonstrates Human Connection Among The Dead in the Dark, Twenty Years Of How To Train Your Dragon Books, Also check out her new book, UNDERSTUDIES!
- Lauren Ring presents a special SFF issue with their favorites from 2022!!
- Sarah Jackson’s story appears in Electric Spec — “The Willingham Bay Witches”
- Check out Malda Marlys’ new story — A Princess With a Nose Three Ells Long — Fantasy Magazine
- Ziv Witles’ special themed issue at Diabolical Plots is up: four stories of telepathy, weird or wondrous or both together!
- K. W. Colyard produced Can You Guess The Sci-Fi Book Based On Its 1-Star Review?
- Louise Hughes has a new story out in Clarkesworld Magazine
- Ru has a story in Apex’s Strange Libations anthology.
- Kathy L. Brown writes An Author’s Journal: A Year of Joy — Kathy L. Brown Writes
- Rebecca A. Demarest has written a story for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) that is being used as a fundraiser for the organization. It’s a 30 day storytelling journey, where you receive an update about what you, a crew member on a journey to explore an exoplanet, have been up to.
- (Want your links here? Put them in the #promotethis channel of the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers Discord server.)
Market and Industry News
- A new sci-fi/Fantasy workshop with 100% scholarships. (from Miri)
- Utopia SF are trying to kickstarter to support another year of publishing. Here’s the link. (from Ray Daley)
- A concerning trend from Neil Clarke (from Miri)
- Zooscape is seeking flash fiction (from D.A. Straith)
- Cloaked Press have a new anthology call for Sidekicks (from Ray Daley)
- I really liked this piece from Charlie Jane Anders about Hogwarts Legacy and the idea of separating the art from the artist.
- Love this flash fiction episode from PseduoPod!
- Writing the Other resources for writers who want to include disabled characters in their work. Learn about common stereotypes and appropriate language, and find research sources.
- Apex Magazines new anthology has launched on Kickstarter tomorrow. It’s called Robotic Ambitions and features stories about AI and technology in the future of humanity. Here’s the link. (from Will)
- New SFWA Market Report for March
- Great interview with Stephen Graham Jones
- March 1–14 Solarpunk Magazine is accepting submissions from BIPOC authors! (via Léon)
- Mythic Magazine is officially closed. (via Ray Daley)
- GigaNotoSaurus is looking for slush readers particularly from the trans, queer, and POC communities. If interested, please email editor@giganotosaurus.org and we’ll get a questionnaire to you. (via Edgard)
- News from Shoreline Of Infinity on their subs periods this year (via Ray Daley).
- Wilted Pages, an anthology of dark academia, is reading short stories (1–4K words) from March 8–24! Extended reading period is open March 1–31 for people of color, LGBTQ2S+ people, neurodiverse people, people with disabilities, and those of marginalized genders (via Lois Mei Kwa).
- Lightspeed has posted their submission windows for the next few months (via A.B. Crisp)
- 36 Themed Submission Calls for March 2023 (via Priya Sridhar)
- New SFWA Market Report for March
Informative Links
- What if we all were empowered to use our voices & perspectives to imagine a better world in which we all thrive while creating & using tech as we choose?
- Useful thread about taking selfies.
- If you’re trying to navigate the fragmented landscape of social media, it’s a good idea to have all of your platforms in a single place. Here’s how I do that
- I have never actually been tempted by Lego…until now.
- Good thread on how to implement 2 factor authentication that isn’t reliant on paying for Twitter Blue.
- Very good article surveying how bad the Times is on trans issues.
- Love this teacher.
- SFWA’s Sunday’s Weekly Writing Date is with graphic novelist and illustrator Wendy Xu aboard the Airship Nebula!
- Right-wing extremists committed every ideologically driven mass killing identified in the U.S. in 2022, with an “unusually high” proportion perpetrated by white supremacists.
- For a Student Who Used AI to Write a Paper
- Good thread about the narrative being pushed by American media.
- So delightfully intent.
- Every American president, but they’re all cool and they all sport a mullet
Daily Life
- Apocalypse Keys night and time for the monster dice.
- And then she purred and purred. #tacocat
- Baking for tonight’s D&D game. Browned butter chocolate chip cookies with three kinds of chocolate chips because why not.
- Lurking
- Good hair day
- Skedaddlesaurus bag
- Sad to be heading home!
- Happy dog!
- Barcelona, Gothic Quarter
