Conbust Schedule!

Three months into the year, and it’s a FOURTH convention schedule I’m posting! Woohoo!

(At some point my personal blog posts will be more than convention schedules; I promise! I have thoughts on a variety of things and some health updates, too...)

Anyway, I know it sounds redundant, but this is another beloved convention of mine! Conbust!

Conbust is a student-run feminist SF/F convention held at Smith College every spring.  I found out about Conbust through Broad Universe, not realizing that such a gem was basically in my back yard. 

(I grew up in Springfield, about 15-20 minutes from Northampton.)

I have a pretty ambitious schedule this year at Conbust, so if you’re looking to follow me to all my panels (and they are pretty awesome panels, so you might want to), make sure you are loaded up on your favorite coffee or energy product! I’m scheduled in the very first panel slot, the very last—with eight panels in between!

Also, I’ll be traveling to and from the convention with my friend and editing colleague, Suzanne Lahna, who has their first novella out.  They’ll be on a bunch of excellent panels, too. Find out more on their blog!

Since Conbust is on a college campus, I won’t be hosting a party here, and we don’t have either a Broad Universe or New England Horror Writers table here, so it’s all panels and catching up with some of the great people I only get to see at this convention. I’m excited!

Oh—quick note, these aren’t the official convention descriptions. They’re mine—and subject to change depending on the audience / panelists.  I’m also not listing the panelists here because there were some last minute changes that I don’t know got finalized... but just check the guest list!  I’m on panels with almost all of these spectacular people!

Without further ado, here’s where I’ll be:

Friday, March 23; 5:00 PM; Room 101 – Fandom and Criticism

Can you criticize what you love? Should you? Why is it important?

Friday, March 23; 6:00 PM; Room 201 – Hero, Protagonist

Discussing writing the protagonist hero, or analyzing them.

Saturday, March 24; 9:00 AM; Room TBA – Believable Fight Scenes

This was my favorite panel of last year’s Conbust. Actual reenactment fighters play out writer battle scenes! Of course, now I need to figure out which gods’ awful fight scene of mine needs the most work / will provide the most entertainment to the audience...

Saturday, March 24; 10:00 AM; Room 101 – Suspension of Disbelief

What throws a reader out of a story? How can writers avoid these pitfalls? What’s the term “Flying Snowman” (coined by John Scalzi) and what does it mean to writers and readers?

Saturday, March 24; 11:00 AM; Room 109 – Freelancing: More Ways to Make Money Writing

This panel will discuss the ways people can make a living working with words. No, it’s not easy, but it’s also not impossible. See if this career works for you or if you want to stick to the day job.

Saturday, March 24; 2:00 PM; Room 204 – Everything but the Writing

Note above panel on making money while writing? That’s Making Money Writing 101.  This is Making Money Writing 102 and talks about the business decisions you’ll have to make if you decide you want to make money while writing.

Saturday, March 24; 4:00 PM; Room 109 – Children’s Fairy Tales

Fairy tales is my jam. So is writing for kids. This is a thing that far predates my efforts, though, so I love studying and talking about it. Come discover all the nerdy, geeky goodness children’s fairy tales have to offer!

Saturday, March 24; 5:00 PM; Room 109 – Fairies

Rather apropos that this is in the same room immediately following Children’s Fairy Tales. Except the fey are NOT just for children. In fact, they can be kind of predatory on children—or humans in general. And they go waaaay beyond “fairy tales.”

Sunday, March 25; 9:00 AM; Room 106 – Female Protagonists / Female Villains

Because, yes, we still really need to talk about women characters, how they’re included in stories, and how authentic they are.

Sunday, March 25; 1:00 PM; Room 102 – A Monster Manual Beyond Dragons

There’s already a panel about how awesome dragons are, but other fantastical creatures need and deserve our love, too! Find out about other magical beasts and their proper care and feeding.

Sunday, March 25; 2:00 PM; Room 204 – Tarot and Writing

Two great tastes that taste great together! I love giving this workshop at convention. Come learn a little about the Tarot and how you can use it in your life and writing.

There it is! It is SUPER crazy, and I am SUPER excited because it’s my last convention until probably July. I am so excited to return, and SUPER excited to catch up with a lot of amazing people.

Meet Jennifer Brozek!

A long time ago (I don't actually remember when), in a galaxy… well, still this galaxy, I had asked the excellent Jennifer Brozek for an interview, and I received it sometime in May… and it sat in my inbox until now!  (Because I'm a dork like that.)

Now, finally, it's getting the sunlight it deserves.  Not only is Jennifer another Broad (yay!), but I especially got interested in her work because she freelances for role-playing games, particularly ones which shaped my life, including DragonLance and White Wolf worlds.  In 2010, she even won the Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game Supplement.

More recently, she's featured with several Broads and Friends of Mine in the collection of women-only written hard science-fiction stories, No Man's Land, available from DarkQuest Books.

And to give credit where credit is due, I borrowed Jennifer's photo from her webpage.  :)

Now, I'm happy to introduce: Jennifer Brozek.

1. You've got an amazing body of work to your credit. What are you working on right now? What are you most proud of working on?

Thank you. I've always got an iron in the fire. I like to keep busy. Right now, I am finishing up a new anthology for Flying Pen Press called Space Tramps: Full Throttle Space Tales #5. It's about the lost people of a space faring society. I'm also working on a novella for Dark Quest Games' Shadeside RPG. The novella is called The Lady of Seeking in the City of Waiting. I've got a couple other things also but those are the two most immediate projects.

As for what I'm most proud of, that's a tough one. I think it has to be either my finance book, The Little Finance Book That Could or my horror collection, In a Gilded Light. The first one talks about how I became debt free and have remained so for over a decade—something that is close to my heart. The second one was a personal project that I never intended to have published. Then, once it was done, a couple of publishers became interested.

2. Your most recent release is a short story in the anthology No Man's Land called "M.O.V.E." Can you tell me what it's about?

"M.O.V.E." is about what happens to two female military cadets on a Military Observation Visit Experience. They are unexpectedly on the front line of an attack on a military space station. It is by their quick thinking that they save the space station from sabotage.

3. What inspired you to write this story?

I was asked to write a story about females in the military for the anthology No Man's Land. It was natural for me to look to my past for inspiration. I took an experience I had as an Air Force cadet—a base visit—and extrapolated what that sort of thing would be like in a space faring military.

4. This story is part of your Kember Empire series. For those of my readers who have never read any of your work, tell us a little about the Kember Empire. 

The Kember Empire is the setting for a vast imperium that spans two colliding galaxies. I've written several stories and a novel in this setting. Most of the stories revolve around the Guardsmen (military), the Explorers (scientists/archeologists), the Counsel of Primes and the Counsel of Luminaries (politics). Obviously, "M.O.V.E." is based around the military and its culture.

5. What was the most exciting part of contributing to the No Man's Land anthology for you?

I've never been invited to an all female anthology before. I'm really looking forward to seeing the different points of view. Also, I am pleased to see that more and more women are taking an active role in writing military based fiction.

6. You've worked on both gaming literature and in speculative fiction. How do the two differ?

The short answer is that for gaming literature, you are playing in someone else's sandbox. In general speculative fiction, you are playing in your own sandbox. There are benefits and drawbacks to both. In gaming, you must get the continuity exact or someone will most definitely notice while in your own world, you can fudge things if you need to. In game writing, the heavy lifting of world building is already done for you while in your own writing, you need to do all that work of world building yourself. I enjoy both kinds of writing.

7. How did you break into the world of gaming?

I started out reviewing games for Black Gate magazine. Then, a friend of mine I gamed with online found out and asked if I would start reviewing games for his magazine, Campaign magazine. I did. So, when I pitched a fiction column to Campaign, that got picked up. A year later, my friend became an editor for Margaret Weis Productions and immediately hired me on as a writer for him. It was both a case of who I knew along with proving that I could work to a word count and a deadline.

8. Any future appearances you would like to mention?

I will be at GenCon and WorldCon/RenovationSF for certain this year. All other conventions are up in the air.

9. Where can we find you on the web?

I live on the web. I have a personal website at www.jenniferbrozek.com and a blog at jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com. I'm on Facebook (jennifer.brozek) and I'm on Twitter (@jenniferbrozek).

10. Anything that I've missed that you would like to mention?

I would be remiss in my editorial duties if I didn't mention the anthologies I edited. I have five of them coming out this year—two that are already out and three that are on their way.

·         Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books, Feb 2011

·         Human Tales, Dark Quest Books, Apr 2011

·         Beast Within 2, Graveside Tales, Jul 2011

·         Space Tramps, Flying Pen Press, Sep 2011

·         Human for a Day, DAW, Dec 2011

Anthologies are some of my favorite editing jobs because I get to craft the product from start to finish while working with some of the best authors in the business.

10 Benefits of Broad Universe Membership

As some of you noticed, I took a brief hiatus from blogging. I had a lot of overtime at work… and there was a lot of awesome things happening with Broad Universe! As no one has yet hooked me up with a personal time machine (or a personal David Tennant, but that's a different story…), I had to give things besides the blog priority.

But I'm back! And as it's still Writerly Wednesday, I want to share with you the biggest thing that's helped in my fiction writing career:

Broad Universe

As part of the community, I've made some amazing friends and business contacts, learned a lot, and had a place where I felt celebrated and supported. As an organization, we offer this to any woman writing or publishing in the many speculative genres through our discussion list, the Broadsheet publication, and the community we build online and at conventions. As a member, I'm supporting fellow women through our mission… and getting these benefits:

Spiffy Broad Universe Pins!

Show the world you're proud to be a Broad, unafraid to display your awesome feminine power, willing to help your writing sisters!

Ooh, shiny!

Post to the Broad Universe Discussion List

Anyone can join the discussion list on a read-only basis. That's pretty cool in and of itself because there's open calls, news about signings, releases, contests, and lots of great information about the publishing industry from brick and mortar stores to epublishing. Members get to be in the thick of it: asking questions, adding opinions, sharing news, networking with Broad editor, authors, and professionals.

Bad-ass faeries need my writing and reviews? To the laptop!

Promotion through Advertising

With our 10th Anniversary, one of the things Broad Universe has started doing is advertising. We've taken out ads in Locus, Ralan.com, Realms of Fantasy, and many convention booklets for the organization and to honor member achievements.

Conventions support our writers… we support conventions with ad $ = Win-Win!

Print Catalog Listing

Every year, Broad Universe puts out a New Releases catalog that we send out to convention faring Broads or Broads running local events. This catalog informs hungry readers of available books by members so they can sate their voracious appetite.

So… Many… Booooks… ~drool~

Online Catalog Listing

Broad Universe also offers an online catalog, and as we develop our brand new website, the listings will come up in regular search engines, helping more readers find books by their favorite authors, on their favorite topics, and in their favorite genres.

Gay, angel-ghost pairing… AND steampunk? w00t!

Broad Universe sponsored Local Events

From local libraries and coffee shops to the Library of Congress, members of Broad Universe have been able to meet readers and audiences beyond their genre and with the support of other members as they read, talk, and sign their books.

Enjoy an afternoon of intergalactic travel, dragons, and lattes…

Promotion via our Social Networks

Broad Universe has accounts on Facebook and LiveJournal, as well as an online newsletter dedicated to member happenings. Members can use all of these avenues to promote their work, their achievements, and any events they are running.

I can haz Broad Universe?

Rapid Fire Readings

Hearing an author read can inspire a reader to become a fan. Reading aloud effectively comes with practice… and not everyone is a big enough name to land her own reading (or draw enough of a crowd) by herself. RFRs give writers a chance to practice reading in short bits and among supportive colleagues. Not only that, the more readers, the bigger the audience, the more potential fans for everyone!

It's just 5 minutes. You can wow people in 5 minutes, trust me!

The Broad Pod

Taking the RFR and broadening (take or leave the pun) the audience beyond a physical location at a convention or other venue and into the infinity of the Internet - because, you know, orbiting aliens might be pirating our broadcasts - is the idea of the Broad Pod podcast. Give fiction-hungry listeners a taste of several pieces so they may seek out more.

Wait! They know we're listening?

Book Tables

At conventions where there's enough Broads willing to help, Broad Universe may purchase a dealer's table and cover the taxes - taking no cut of the authors' profits - so that members may have an extra venue to sell their books. Even for members who cannot make it to conventions, many of us will step up and let them mail us books to sell on their behalf.

So, we got your vampires here, your androids there… your dystopic future over here… What's your pleasure? All of them? Great!

xx

In any case, being a member of Broad Universe has become an important part of my writing career, and I was happy to be able to renew this year with an extra donation to help women who want to join but cannot afford.

Please take a minute to find out more about Broad Universe, or share some of your stories about BU or your favorite organization that helped you in the comments!

Feminism Friday Fun

I know I promised a Wiscon report, but it's almost 5PM and I'm STILL catching up - especially after my Detroit SNAFU.

Glimpses:

Every panel I was on or attended was AMAZING and full of wonderful, intelligent conversation and new information for everyone to learn. My favorite panel was the Future of Food, where we discussed everything from nifty molecular gastronomy to sustainable agriculture to smart packaging in produce.

The Broad Universe table was bustling as usual, and I got to pick some brains (not in zombie kinda of way) of comic writers and artists along with some excellent novelists.

And our party was FABULOUS! The De-Con-press seemed to really work and I heard lots of compliments on our tea sandwiches - but especially loved was our chocolate and strawberries. Wine and beer moved well, as did the fresh-brewed tea and coffee.

I have not yet down-loaded pictures, and I will give a more thorough report on Monday where I name some wonderful names of people who made the Party happen.

In the meantime, Mary Robinette Kowal - an author you should be following and who I only caught for a brief elevator chat - posted a great blog about women writers here.

And in that blog, there was a meme - a fine meme, a feminist meme. And here I am posting my version of it:

Bold the women by whom you own books
Italicize those by whom you’ve read something of (short stories count)
*Star those you don’t recognize

Andre Norton
C. L. Moore
Evangeline Walton
Leigh Brackett*
Judith Merril*
Joanna Russ
Margaret St. Clair
Katherine MacLean*
Carol Emshwiller
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Zenna Henderson*
Madeline L’Engle
Angela Carter
Ursula LeGuin
Anne McCaffrey
Diana Wynne Jones
Kit Reed
James Tiptree, Jr.
Rachel Pollack
Jane Yolen
Marta Randall*
Eleanor Arnason
Ellen Asher
Patricia A. McKillip
Suzy McKee Charnas
Lisa Tuttle
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Tanith Lee
Pamela Sargent
Jayge Carr
Vonda McIntyre
Octavia E. Butler
Kate Wilhelm
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Sheila Finch*
Mary Gentle
Jessica Amanda Salmonson*
C. J. Cherryh
Joan D. Vinge
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Ellen Kushner
Ellen Datlow
Nancy Kress
Pat Murphy
Lisa Goldstein
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Mary Turzillo
Connie Willis
Barbara Hambly*
Nancy Holder*
Sheri S. Tepper*
Melissa Scott*
Margaret Atwood
Lois McMaster Bujold
Jeanne Cavelos
Karen Joy Fowler
Leigh Kennedy
Judith Moffett
Rebecca Ore
Emma Bull
Pat Cadigan
Kathyrn Cramer
Laura Mixon
Eileen Gunn
Elizabeth Hand
Kij Johnson*
Delia Sherman
Elizabeth Moon
Michaela Roessner
Terri Windling
Sharon Lee
Sherwood Smith
Katherine Kurtz
Margo Lanagan
Laura Resnick
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Sheila Williams
Farah Mendlesohn
Gwyneth Jones
Ardath Mayhar*
Esther Friesner
Debra Doyle
Nicola Griffith
Amy Thomson*
Martha Wells*
Catherine Asaro
Kate Elliott
Kathleen Ann Goonan*
Shawna McCarthy
Caitlin Kiernan
Maureen McHugh*
Cheryl Morgan
Nisi Shawl
Mary Doria Russell
Kage Baker
Kelly Link
Nancy Springer
J. K. Rowling
Nalo Hopkinson
Ellen Klages
Tanarive Due*
M. Rickert
Theodora Goss
Mary Anne Mohanraj
S. L. Viehl
Jo Walton
Kristine Smith
Deborah Layne*
Cherie Priest
Wen Spencer*
K. J. Bishop
Catherynne M. Valente
Elizabeth Bear
Ekaterina Sedia*
Naomi Novik*
Mary Robinette Kowal
Ann VanderMeer

Marge Piercy

Mary Shelley

Mary Robinette also wrote:

I’m willing to bet that I’ve read fiction by several of the people that I’ve starred. It’s hard to track short fiction down sometimes - and I would have to concur.

How about you?

Feel free to post a link to your answers - or your answers - in the comments.