Podcast appearances and mentions of Nisi Shawl

It's episode 208 and time for us to talk about our Reading Resolutions for 2025! We discuss our love of spreadsheets, the churn of books in public libraries, literacy, unschooling, and more!  You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Are you a writer who struggles to write because of a chronic illness or a writer who desires to write a disabled character with integrity and authenticity? If so, this episode is for you. Certified Book Coach Sandra Postma and I discuss how chronic conditions can shape the creative process, tackling issues like fatigue and brain fog. Sandra, a chronically ill person, emphasizes the importance of empathy, self-compassion, and community, reminding us that acknowledging our limitations doesn't mean we should blame ourselves. Sandra shares practical tips on avoiding stereotypes in writing and highlights resources designed to support chronically ill writers. You'll be inspired as we talk about renowned authors who have faced similar challenges, and Sandra gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming workshop on creating authentic disabled characters—an effort to uplift disabled voices in the publishing landscape.Episode Highlights:01:23 – Meet Sandra Postma  03:06 – Sandra's Journey to Writing and Coaching  05:25 – Challenges of Writing with Chronic Illness  09:37 – Empathy, Connection, and Vulnerability  13:33 – Overcoming Internal Narratives  17:09 – Acceptance and Acknowledgement  18:37 – The Value of Your Voice  19:35 – Embracing Your Unique Voice Through Illness  21:28 – The Power of Community for Writers with Chronic Illness  24:08 – Resources and Workshops for Writing Authentic Disabled Characters  26:48 – The Emotional Load of Writing and Overcoming Bias  34:01 – Inspiration from Writers with Disabilities  35:47 – Final Thoughts and Wishes for Fellow Writers  Guest Bio and LinksLinks and books  mentioned in the show: How To Write An Authentic Disabled Character Workshop by Sandra PostmaThe Mighty Online NetworkWriting The Other: A Practical Approach by Nisi Shawl & Cynthia WardSandra Postma is a former journalist who switched from fact to fiction after discovering her own writing held the power for change. Founding Your Story Mentor in 2021, Sandra is now a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a certified book coach.In her work as a book coach, Sandra helps writers with a chronic illness, disability or mental struggles. She helps writers embrace their unique voice and develop their story ideas into novels.Connect with Sandra on her website or follow her on Instagram and threads  @yourstorymentor. Learn more about Small-Group Book Coaching for Fiction Writers with Write It Scared!Have a comment or idea about the show? Send me a direct text! Love to hear from you.Support the show To become a supporter of the show, click here!To get in touch with Stacy: Email: Stacy@writeitscared.co https://www.writeitscared.co/ https://www.instagram.com/writeitscared/ Take advantage of these Free Resources From Write It Scared: Download Your Free Novel Planning and Drafting Quick Start Guide Download Your Free Guide to Remove Creative Blocks and Work Through Fears

Lagrange Point by Alan Stroud published by Flame Tree Press 2023 Terra by Allen Stroud published by Flame Tree Press 2023 Hellweg's Keep by Justin Holley published by Flame Tree Press 2023 The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox by Nisi Shawl published by Rosarium Publishing October 2024 One Eye Opened in that Other Place by Christi Nogle published by Flame Tree Press 2024 Women of Horror and Speculative Fiction in Their Own Words: Conversations with Authors and Editors edited by Sebastien Doubinsky and Christina Kkona published 2024 by Bloomsbury Academic

Host Derek Coward talks about 2043… (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) by Nisi Shawl. The post Sci Fi Noise: 2043 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) first appeared on SciFi Noise.

This week we discussed Lost Ark Dreaming, written by Suyi Davies Okungbowa and narrated by Emeka Emecheta, Nneka Okoye, Ore Apampa-Araba, Délé Ogundiran, Nene Nwoko, Ike Amadi. We also shared some of our recent short fiction listens in our Short Fiction Spotlight. Lost Ark Dreaming [Audible] The Scourge Between Stars [Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible] The Deep [ Libro.fm] / [OverDrive/Libby] / [Audible]  The Space Between Worlds [Libro.fm] / [Overdrive/Libby] /  [Audible] Short Fiction Spotlight: “Over a Long Time Ago” written by Nisi Shawl, narrated by Alison Belle Bews [Lightspeed] - May 2024 (Issue 168) ”Old People's Folly” written by Nora Schinnerl, narrated by Tatiana Grey [Escape Pod 935] / [Escape Pod 936] ”Tell the King” written by Natalia Theodoridou, narrated by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko [Beneath Ceaseless Skies] - Issue 401, Feb 22, 2024 “The Three Thousand, Four Hundred Twenty-Third Law of Robotics” written by Adam-Troy Castro, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki [Lightspeed] - March 2024 (Issue 166) ”Doctor Souvenir” written by Elly Bangs, narrated by Summer Fletcher [Beneath Ceaseless Skies] - Issue 400, Feb 8, 2024 ”The Cat that Worked from Home” written by Dan Peacock & Rachel Peacock, narrated by Mike Boris [Cast of Wonders 583]

She should go back inside the watchpod. Maree and Blaise didn't have to be dead. | © 2024 by Nisi Shawl. Narrated by Alison Belle Bews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode from March of 2023, Steve and Tananarive talk to award-winning author Nisi Shawl (KINNING, EVERFAIR) about the anthology they published, NEW SUNS 2, featuring speculative fiction from marginalized writers - including a story, "Supptertime," from Tananarive! Nisi also talks about the journey from a fangirl to friend of the late Octavia E. Butler. Plus, that time Nisi rejected one of Tananarive's short stories.  LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL at https://www.speakpipe.com/LifewritingPodcast (We might play your message!)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode contains: All three hosts are here and ready to talk about sci-fi; no science, sorry. Devon tells us about a birthday party at a trampoline park and Steven played a bunch of Star Wars board games. Meanwhile Ben was recording his son's performances on his iPhone. Ben's also been playing digital pinball on a vertical monitor. Devon has finished the Three Body Problem on Netflix and was pleased that it included elements from the second and third book. He was worried they would only include the first book, which he feels is only the prologue to the real story. Steven gives us a rundown of Tales of The Empire on Disney Plus. This show provides backstory to characters in Ahsoka. Ben and Steven talk about X-Men '97. If you're not watching X-Men '97, you should be! It includes wacky and wild, heart stopping moments. X-Men '97 was written for us, but new viewers could still understand about 90% of the show.   Book Club: For this episode we read the short story “2043... a Merman I Should Turn to Be” by Nisi Shawl. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58647676-2043-a-merman-i-should-turn-to-be?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=UGvenc3N0K&rank=1 Devon made sure to read the short story for this episode and has read the story for the next episode. Devon thinks the story would be better as a digital short given the “off-the-wall” concept and action in the story. Ben reminds us that the story is connected to the Jimmy Hendrix song: 1983 A Merman I should Turn to Be. The story reminded Ben of Lovecraft Country. Ben liked the statement about enemies wanting the same things we do. Steven enjoyed the story but was confused on some of the elements. We have a discussion of who and how people would actually modify their bodies to live in different habitats. We note that adapting to new habitats is not easy and ponder what the first inhabitants of the Moon, Mars, etc. will face. We all give the story 3 out of 4 stars.   For the next episode we are reading The Jaunt by Stephen King. https://archive.org/details/the-jaunt-stephen-king Until next week, keep watching the skis! I mean skies.  

This episode contains: These three fools are back at it this week. Steven's had a rough go with little sleep, and he really enjoys the new videogame Manor Lords (are those two things related?). Ben's super excited to play the new Venice course in Walkabout Minigolf. All we can say is “Good Job, Mighty Coconut!” Devon's had a rough go of it too, what with dealing with extended family staying at his house. There's also been car troubles. TEST THE BATTERY! FIX THE GARAGE DOOR! GET IN THE CHOPPA! Steven had a different experience this week: he attended the DisneyLand Star Wars night “Season of the Force.” It was AWESOME: so many Star Wars nerds everywhere, and since it was after hours, there was a much smaller park population. Goes to show you gotta give the mouse his due to be around Steven's people: Star Wars people meets Disney people in a capitalist Venn diagram of scum and villainy. He also got to try out new food. The events were a little boring. I mean, the wrong era is represented in Galaxy's Edge: Steven wishes it was Vader and the 501st instead of the “March of the First Order.” And then they changed Space Mountain to… HYPERSPACE MOUNTAIN??!?! Star Tours premiered some new characters and scenarios from Mandalorian and Ahsoka. And… well, Ben's ready for May the Fourth with his Star Wars Day shirt: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1100663519/galaxy-far-away-sw-space-wars-inspired    Shock to the Heart: How Pluto got its heart. The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, attributing it to a giant and slow oblique-angle impact. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240415163720.htm  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombaugh_Regio    Big Cheese: A vegan cheese beat dairy in a big competition. Then the plot curdled. A vegan cheese called Climax Blue was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Good Food Awards, shocking traditional cheesemakers. However, the cheese was later disqualified by the awards foundation, leading to a controversy over the definition of "cheese" and the role of plant-based alternatives. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2024/04/27/vegan-cheese-good-food-awards-climax    Book Club: Void by Veronica Roth (from The Far Reaches Collection). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C4QLYVHG  TLDR, here are the ratings: Steven: 4/4 stars. The mystery allowed him to turn off his brain and just enjoy it. The characters were just right. Ben: 3/4 stars. This could have been a decent pilot for a tv show on the Redundancy. Devon: baseball analogies? Something about a bunt? Does that mean 1/4 stars? Devon compared it to other murder mysteries (Apples Never Fall, the works of Liane Moriarty) and this falls short. Next week: 2043…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) by Nisi Shawl, part of the Black Stars collection. Ben's excited because the Audible version is read by LeVar Burton. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098QPR7QG 

Empathic fungi, revolutionary politics, and dirigibles, oh my! Shaun Duke and Brandon O'Brien are joined by Nisi Shawl to talk about their new novel, Kinning, the sequel to the much-loved Everfair. Together, they discuss Shawl's approach to writing alternate history, anarchism across the sea, the moral complexities of hiveminds, and more. Thanks for listening. We […]

Ali Velshi is joined by Investigative Reporter with The New York Times Susanne Craig, Special Correspondent with Vanity Fair Molly Jong-Fast, former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Criminal Defense Attorney Danny Cevallos, Opinion Writer with Washington PostJennifer Rubin, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Award winning Science Fiction and fantasy author Nisi Shawl, Award-winning Fiction Writer, Poet, & Editor Sheree Renée Thomas

"A hermit in the middle of Los Angeles" is one way she described herself - born in 1947, Butler became a writer who wanted to "tell stories filled with facts. Make people touch and taste and know." Since her death in 2006, her writing has been widely taken up and praised for its foresight in suggesting developments such as big pharma and for its critique of American history. Shahidha Bari is joined by the author Irenosen Okojie and the scholar Gerry Canavan and Nisi Shawl, writer, editor, journalist – and long time friend of Octavia Butler.Irenosen Okojie's latest collection of short stories is called Nudibranch and she was winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for Fiction for her story Grace Jones. You can hear her discussing her own writing life alongside Nadifa Mohamed in a previous Free Thinking episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k8sz Gerry Canavan is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction. Nisi Shawl writes about books for The Seattle Times, and also contributes frequently to Ms. Magazine, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, The Washington Post.Producer: Luke MulhallYou might be interested in the Free Thinking episode Science fiction and ecological thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h6yw and on Ursula Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b6yb37 and a playlist exploring Landmarks of Culture including Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks and the writing of Audre Lorde, and of Wole Soyinka https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jwn44

With plans for are promised chat with Elizabeth Hand and Alix E. Harrow on temporary hold, Jonathan and Gary share some pleasant memories of the World Fantasy Convention, muse about whether the nature of conventions has changed in the wake of the pandemic, and speculate about next year's events in Glasgow, Niagara Falls, and elsewhere. They then touch upon some books they're looking forward to in 2024, including novels by Kelly Link, Nisi Shawl, Peter S. Beagle, and Paolo Bacigalupi, and some titles they'd recommend from 2023, including novels by Ian McDonald, Nina Allan, Geoff Ryman, Christopher Priest, Francis Spufford, Wole Talabi, and Nicola Griffith, as well as a few story collections, anthologies, and nonfiction books. By the end, it almost all comes into some sort of focus.

Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick is back with another in-depth, evergreen podcast episode conversation on making stuff (mostly writing), finding success as we each define it, and staying healthy and sane in the process. This time around, I speak with multi-genre pulp author R. Jean Mathieu. He provides a fascinating perspective on the creative writing life, owing to his intersecting influences of Taoist philosophy, karate, and his Quaker beliefs. We talk about the difference between writing and publishing, especially as they pertain to difficult topics and "trigger" issues, the hidden rituals in our creative process, the importance of balance in all aspects of our lives, personal, professional, and creative (even as we strive to grow and challenge ourselves) and the "hat trick" that keeps it all moving forward... The conversation with R. Jean Mathieu was recorded on May 29th, 2023. The rest of this episode was recorded on September 26, 2023. About R. Jean Mathieu R. Jean Mathieu is the fiction writer of all trades. From award-winning stories of the Peace Corps and meditators on Mars to time-traveling mysteries of a Mexican detective solving his own murder, Mathieu revels in different genres, different voices, and cultural chop suey. Under other noms de plume, he writes romances, thrillers, pulp adventures, Westerns, and mysteries. Mathieu grew up in Morro Bay, California. He enrolled in college at fifteen, where he would spend the next ten years. With an Associate's degree in International Studies and $100 in his pocket, Mathieu traveled to China, alternately working as a teahouse server, organic farmhand, Hong Kong movie extra, and English teacher. Despite being deported thrice, he won his degree in Sociology (minoring in Business) over his five years in China, refining his craft along the way. He lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife Melissa and daughter Lyra, where they keep a good table when not writing side-by-side or chasing trains to the next adventure. A convinced Quaker, he attends Central Coast Friends Meeting in between writing and publishing his fiction, learning new languages, and practicing Uechi-ryu karate. You can find all his stories at Amazon.com and his commentary at RJeanMathieu.com. Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode My day job? I'm a creative services provider helping authors, podcasters and other creators. How can I help you? Who are the Quakers? The Blade Runner soundtrack. Renaissance humanism. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his classic Flow make another appearance in a Sonitotum interview, just in case that's on your bingo card... The Big Chill. Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. How to Meditate: A Guide to Self Discovery by Lawrence LeShan. Writing the Other by Cynthia Ward and Nisi Shawl. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. My novel Light of the Outsider. The "fridging" literary trope. David Simon's famous (to me?) Believer interview. Another frequent mention, for those playing at home. Lester Dent's Doc Savage. The "Mary Sue" literary trope. Taoist philosophy. Jack London's No Mentor but Myself. Maybe you would like to be a future guest on Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick? Learn more! Big thanks to my Multiversalists patron community, including Amelia Bowen, Ted Leonhardt, Chuck Anderson, J. C. Hutchins, Jim Lewinson, and Pearl Zare! I'm incredibly grateful for the support of my patrons. If Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick brings you joy, become a patron! The Multiversalists patron member community receives the uncut, unedited version of every episode. For this episode, patrons get almost forty five minutes of additional content, almost all of it extra content with R. Jean Mathieu! Want in on that? Become a patron for at least $5.00 per month (start with a free seven-day trial / cancel any time) and get a bunch of other perks and special access, too. Every month the member community has at least twenty members, I will donate 10% of net patron revenue to 826 National in support of literacy and creative writing advocacy for children. Let's go! Love Sonitotum with Matthew Wayne Selznick and have the desire and means to make a one-time donation in support of the show? Donate via PayPal or leave a tip via Ko-Fi, with my grateful thanks.

The host of MRAH, Mary Anne Mohanraj, interviews African-American writer, editor, and journalist Nisi Shawl, best known for her 2016 novel, Everfair. Mohanraj and Shawl take a Deep Dive into the violent realities of history in relation to their work, the difficulties that writers of color face in the publishing world, the recent proliferation of Black speculative fiction, and more. This interview is a part of the Portolan Project, an initiative to provide a wealth of exceptional creative writing courses and resources. Episode show notes: www.speclit.org/ep-44-show-notes/

Many years after Neverland, Wendy Darling takes on Captain Hook. Written by Nisi Shawl and voiced by Antonia Beamish. Stories To Keep You Up At Night is a Realm production. Listen Away. For more shows like this, visit Realm.fm, and sign up for our newsletter while you're there! Listen to this episode ad-free by joining Realm Unlimited or Realm+ on Apple Podcasts. Subscribers also get early access and exclusive bonus content! Visit realm.fm/unlimited Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Want to chat about your favorite Realm shows? Join our Discord. Visit our merch store: realm.fm/merch Find and support our sponsors at: www.realm.fm/w/partners Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes the impact of our actions and interactions can be vaster and longer lasting than we can predict. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever ― and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world. But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name. This event will have CART transcription. Victoria “V. E.” Schwab is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the acclaimed Shades of Magic series, Villains series, Monster of Verity duology, Cassidy Blake series, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Her work has received critical acclaim and been featured in the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, and more translated into more than two dozen languages, and has been optioned for television and film. When she's not haunting Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is usually tucked in the corner of a coffee shop, dreaming up monsters. Nisi Shawl is the multiple award-winning author and editor of over a dozen books, including Nebula Award finalist Everfair, two volumes of the New Suns anthology series, and Filter House, co-winner of the 2009 Otherwise Award. Recent titles include the horror collection Our Fruiting Bodies and the middle-grade historical fantasy Speculation. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue The Elliott Bay Book Company

Greetings Glocal Citizens! For this two-part conversation, I catch up with Oakland-based serial cultural entrepreneur, Isis Asare. Born in Harlem, New York to Ghanaian parents Isis, a fellow Stanford University alum, has called New York, Houston, Ghana (as a Peace Corps volunteer), Seattle, and now Oakland, California home at various times in her life. She once described herself as using her over-priced education, love of technology, and acumen for experimentation to hack Hollywood. And this is where her first entrepreneurial enterprise—Sistah Sinema emerged. With Sistah Sinema her goal was to be a part of a movement to create a global market for independent film fostering deep, engaging discussions about the difficult issues of gender, sexuality, race, and class. In 2015 she successfully exited by selling the platform to community investors. With over a decade of finance and business development experience at Fortune 500 companies such as T-Mobile, Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Amazon, in 2019 she went on to launch Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy in the United States. Between 2019 and 2020, Sistah Scifi sales increased tenfold through expanding physical book selection; launching private label shirts, sweatshirts, and bags; and offering audiobooks and ebooks. Sistah Scifi has been featured in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/facebook-gbm/facebook-economic-impact/good-ideas-deserve-happy-customers.html), Oprah  Magazine (https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a33497812/black-owned-bookstores/), BookRiot (https://bookriot.com/black-bookstores-after-summer-protests/), Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ariannarebolini/black-bookstores-black-authors-books),  VentureBeat (https://venturebeat.com/2021/06/17/oakland-black-business-fund-finds-corporate-partners-and-issues-grants/), and Facebook's Boost My Business (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=334145808260989). Sistah Scifi has also hosted author interviews with John Jennings, NK Jemisin, LL McKinney, Jewelle Gomez, and Nisi Shawl to name a few. Sistah Scifi has developed strong collaborations with major international publishers such as Hachette/Orbit, Akashic, Abrams, Macmillan/Tor.com, and Simon and Schuster. Tune in to hear even more exciting now and nexts for Isis and the Sistah Scifi brand! Where to find Isis? www.sistahscifi.com (http://www.sistahscifi.com) On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/isisasare/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sistahscifi/?hl=en) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sistahscifi/) On Twitter (https://twitter.com/SistahScifi) On TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@sistahscifi) On YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSxlNWhm49onoIvCtm1ih8w) What's Isis reading? Skin Folk: Stories (https://a.co/d/iBE1syn) by Nalo Hopkinson The Fishermen (https://a.co/d/3zQXxDv) by Chigozie Obioma The Other Black Girl (https://a.co/d/inqiGFs) by Zakiya Dalila Harris What's Isis watching? Good Trouble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Trouble_(TV_series)) The Last of Us (https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us) What's Isis listening to? Therapy for Black Girls Podcast (https://therapyforblackgirls.com/podcast/) Float (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_h_9_cF9M) by Janelle Monáe Other topics of interest: Keta, Ghana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keta) Lovers and Friends Show (https://wolfeondemand.com/film/869/Lovers-Friends-Show-Season-1) Ujamaa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujamaa) and the theme House @ Stanford University (https://resed.stanford.edu/neighborhoods/neighborhoods/neighborhood-r/neighborhood-r-houses/lagunita-ujamaa) Bronze Restaurant - Washington, D.C. (https://dcist.com/story/23/01/27/first-look-bronze-h-street-dc-afrofuturism-african-caribbean-food/) African Folktales Reimagined (https://about.netflix.com/en/news/african-folktales-reimagined-short-films-launch-date-announced) Brave New World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World) by Aldous Huxley and on Television (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World_(2020_TV_series)) Logan's Run (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)) Octavia E. Butler (https://www.octaviabutler.com) An Unkindness of Ghosts (https://sistahscifi.com/products/signed-an-unkindness-of-ghosts-hardcover?_pos=1&_sid=01daeaacc&_ss=r) by Rivers Solomon Beauty in Truth Documentary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker:_Beauty_in_Truth) Pariah Film (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariah_(2011_film)) Uhura (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyota_Uhura) on Star Trek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek) Marcus Books, Oakland (https://www.marcusbooks.com/) American Writers Museum (https://americanwritersmuseum.org/) Northwest African American Museum (https://www.naamnw.org/) Special Guest: Isis Asare.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! For this two-part conversation, I catch up with Oakland-based serial cultural entrepreneur, Isis Asare. Born in Harlem, New York to Ghanaian parents Isis, a fellow Stanford University alum, has called New York, Houston, Ghana (as a Peace Corps volunteer), Seattle, and now Oakland, California home at various times in her life. She once described herself as using her over-priced education, love of technology, and acumen for experimentation to hack Hollywood. And this is where her first entrepreneurial enterprise—Sistah Sinema emerged. With Sistah Sinema her goal was to be a part of a movement to create a global market for independent film fostering deep, engaging discussions about the difficult issues of gender, sexuality, race, and class. In 2015 she successfully exited by selling the platform to community investors. With over a decade of finance and business development experience at Fortune 500 companies such as T-Mobile, Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Amazon, in 2019 she went on to launch Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy in the United States. Between 2019 and 2020, Sistah Scifi sales increased tenfold through expanding physical book selection; launching private label shirts, sweatshirts, and bags; and offering audiobooks and ebooks. Sistah Scifi has been featured in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/paidpost/facebook-gbm/facebook-economic-impact/good-ideas-deserve-happy-customers.html), Oprah  Magazine (https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a33497812/black-owned-bookstores/), BookRiot (https://bookriot.com/black-bookstores-after-summer-protests/), Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ariannarebolini/black-bookstores-black-authors-books),  VentureBeat (https://venturebeat.com/2021/06/17/oakland-black-business-fund-finds-corporate-partners-and-issues-grants/), and Facebook's Boost My Business (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=334145808260989). Sistah Scifi has also hosted author interviews with John Jennings, NK Jemisin, LL McKinney, Jewelle Gomez, and Nisi Shawl to name a few. Sistah Scifi has developed strong collaborations with major international publishers such as Hachette/Orbit, Akashic, Abrams, Macmillan/Tor.com, and Simon and Schuster. Tune in to hear even more exciting now and nexts for Isis and the Sistah Scifi brand! Where to find Isis? www.sistahscifi.com (http://www.sistahscifi.com) On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/isisasare/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sistahscifi/?hl=en) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sistahscifi/) On Twitter (https://twitter.com/SistahScifi) On TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@sistahscifi) On YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSxlNWhm49onoIvCtm1ih8w) What's Isis reading? Skin Folk: Stories (https://a.co/d/iBE1syn) by Nalo Hopkinson The Fishermen (https://a.co/d/3zQXxDv) by Chigozie Obioma The Other Black Girl (https://a.co/d/inqiGFs) by Zakiya Dalila Harris What's Isis watching? Good Trouble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Trouble_(TV_series)) The Last of Us (https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us) What's Isis listening to? Therapy for Black Girls Podcast (https://therapyforblackgirls.com/podcast/) Float (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_h_9_cF9M) by Janelle Monáe Other topics of interest: Keta, Ghana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keta) Lovers and Friends Show (https://wolfeondemand.com/film/869/Lovers-Friends-Show-Season-1) Ujamaa (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujamaa) and the theme House @ Stanford University (https://resed.stanford.edu/neighborhoods/neighborhoods/neighborhood-r/neighborhood-r-houses/lagunita-ujamaa) Bronze Restaurant - Washington, D.C. (https://dcist.com/story/23/01/27/first-look-bronze-h-street-dc-afrofuturism-african-caribbean-food/) African Folktales Reimagined (https://about.netflix.com/en/news/african-folktales-reimagined-short-films-launch-date-announced) Brave New World (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World) by Aldous Huxley and on Television (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World_(2020_TV_series)) Logan's Run (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)) Octavia E. Butler (https://www.octaviabutler.com) An Unkindness of Ghosts (https://sistahscifi.com/products/signed-an-unkindness-of-ghosts-hardcover?_pos=1&_sid=01daeaacc&_ss=r) by Rivers Solomon Beauty in Truth Documentary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker:_Beauty_in_Truth) Pariah Film (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariah_(2011_film)) Uhura (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyota_Uhura) on Star Trek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek) Marcus Books, Oakland (https://www.marcusbooks.com/) American Writers Museum (https://americanwritersmuseum.org/) Northwest African American Museum (https://www.naamnw.org/) Special Guest: Isis Asare.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann and Seattle Now producer Clare McGrane sit down with award winning author Nisi Shawl to talk about the power of Speculative Fiction!

In this episode, Steve and Tananarive talk to award-winning author Nisi Shawl about the new anthology she just published, NEW SUNS 2, featuring speculative fiction from marginalized writers - including a new story from Tananarive! She also talks about her journey from a fangirl to friend of the late Octavia E. Butler. Plus, that time Nisi rejected one of Tananarive's short stories.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy I was excited to interview author Nisi Shawl who not only writes award winning novels, but they are also co-founder of Carl Brandon Society to help give people of color greater visibility in the science fiction and fantasy world. Nisi Shawl also has a blog post A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction - and you'll be surprised at some of the authors on the list.First, we continue our series of interviews with Philadelphia Mayoral Candidates. This week I speak to Democratic candidate and former City Councilmember Derek Green. https://derekformayor.com/

Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories celebrating women who made history including a ground-breaking, African American science fiction writer and the first presidential hopeful in Mexico. Plus the UN's first ever all-female peacekeeping unit, a woman who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland and a child goddess in Nepal. Contributors: Dr Brenda Stevenson - Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women's History at St John's College, Oxford University. Nisi Shawl - friend of Octavia Butler. Rosario Piedra - daughter of Rosario Ibarra. Nick Caistor - journalist. Seema Dhundia - member of India's Central Reserve Police Force. Lesley Pruitt - author of The Women in Blue Helmets. Monica McWilliams - one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement. Chanira Bajrycharya - former child goddess in Nepal. (Photo: March for International Women's Day in Mexico City in 2023. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. She died aged 58 in 2006. Alex Collins speaks to her friend and fellow author Nisi Shawl. (Photo: Octavia E. Butler. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. She died aged 58 in 2006. Alex Collins speaks to her friend and fellow author Nisi Shawl. (Photo: Octavia E. Butler. Credit: Getty Images)

In this special episode of Critical Friends, the Strange Horizons SFF criticism podcast, reviews editors Aisha Subramanian and Dan Hartland introduce audio from a 2018 recording for Jonah Sutton-Morse's podcast Cabbages and Kings which included Maureen Kincaid Speller discussing with Aisha and Jonah three books: Everfair by Nisi Shawl, Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan, and The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Octavia Butler's birth. There have been commemorations nationwide, and I wanted to join in by replaying my 2016 episode, “The Legacy of Octavia Butler.” I produced that episode early in the history of my podcast, when I was still discovering the world of sci-fi literature. I became obsessed with Butler's writing – even though at times it can be disturbing. Nisi Shawl, Ayana Jamieson and Cauleen Smith explain how Butler came to tell stories about power imbalances between humans and other worldly beings, and what her work means to them. And we hear actress Aliza Pearl read a passage from Butler's 1987 novel “Dawn.” This episode is sponsored by Brilliant and D&Tea. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you're interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. To get started for free, visit brilliant.org/imaginaryworlds to get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After talking about the new FX series Kindred, author and editor Nisi Shawl, a friend of the late Octavia Butler, who in 1979 published the time travel sci-fi novel from which the series was adapted. Shawl discusses Butler's book, her broader body of work, and the themes and ideas that Butler explored.

The stories we tell about the past can determine the way we understand the present. But what happens when we combine tales of magic and fantasy with some of the most traumatic chapters in history? I talk with novelists P. Djeli Clark, Nisi Shawl, and Zen Cho about how speculative fiction can be a useful tool to reimagine the legacy of colonialism and imperialism. Plus, we hear readings from actress Nneka Okoye. Books mentioned in this episode: A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark Everfair by Nisi Shawl Sorcerer to The Crown by Zen Cho Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R. F. Kuang (author of The Poppy War series) A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine Nisi also recommends: A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar The Dominion of the Fallen series by Aliette de Bodard  The works of L Timmel Duchamp and Margaret Killjoy This episode is sponsored by Aspiration Zero credit card. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you're interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John invites writer/producer/actor Ashley Nicole Black (Ted Lasso, Black Lady Sketch Show) to discuss fandoms, cultural appropriation and boycotts over abortion access.   They also answer simpler listener questions: What do TV producer titles really mean? When should you attach a showrunner? And what happens when you disagree with your manager?   In our bonus segment for premium members, they talk parties! John and Ashley discuss the new norms for hosting people post-pandemic. Links: Our first post-pandemic live show on October 19 is sold out, but you can still get tickets to the livestream here! WGA West Elections Coalition Of 1,425 Showrunners & Directors Raises $2.5M To Help Women Gain Access To Abortions While Calling On Studios To Step Up on Deadline Scriptnotes Episode 533, We See and We Hear Transcript Find out more about Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward's Writing the Other book and workshops Hiromi Goto's 6 Questions on cultural appropriation Critics and Fans Have Never Disagreed More About Movies by Lucas Shaw for Bloomberg Mack's AquaBlock Swimming Earplugs Thigh Society Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Ashley Nicole Black on Twitter Craig Mazin on Twitter John August on Twitter John on Instagram Outro by Bryan C. Sanchez (send us yours!) Scriptnotes is produced by Megana Rao and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode here.

In this episode, we'll discuss the life and work of Octavia E. Butler. Butler was an acclaimed American writer who defied genre, though she is most often associated with the realm of science fiction. The recipient of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, she is the author of such classics as Kindred, Parable of the Sower, [...]

In this episode, we'll discuss the life and work of Octavia E. Butler. Butler was an acclaimed American writer who defied genre, though she is most often associated with the realm of science fiction. The recipient of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, she is the author of such classics as Kindred, Parable of the Sower, [...]

About Sistah Scifi: Started on February 2, 2019, Sistah Scifi is a strong niche scifi brand with over 11K engaged Instagram followers located throughout the US and Canada, 8K Facebook followers and an email list of over 3K. Sistah Scifi has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah  Magazine, BookRiot, Buzzfeed,  VentureBeat, and Facebook's Boost My Business. Sistah Scifi's number one product is the Sistah Scifi Author list shirt, and major clients include the Museum of Popular Culture (Seattle), Oakland Museum of California, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Sistah Scifi has hosted author interviews with John Jennings, NK Jemisin, LL McKinney, Jewelle Gomez, and Nisi Shawl to name a few. Sistah Scifi has developed strong collaborations with major international publishers such as Hachette/Orbit, Akashic, Abrams, Macmillan/Tor.com, and Simon and Schuster.  About the founder: Isis Asare is a serial cultural entrepreneur.  One of her earliest ventures was Sistah Sinema. Asare started Sistah Sinema in her living room and expanded it to 20 cities across the US and internationally and a streaming partnership with indieflix.com within five years while working full-time at companies such as Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Brightroll. She successfully exited Sistah Sinema by selling it to community investors in 2015.  Asare also has over a decade of finance and business development experience at Fortune 500 companies. Before starting Sistah Scifi, Isis Asare worked in Vendor Management and Business Development at Amazon, finance at Sears, T-Mobile, and Microsoft. She earned a joint MBA/MPP from Columbia Business School and Harvard University and a BA from Stanford University.  Asare resides in Oakland, CA and identifies as a queer, Ghanaian-American sapiophile. To find more amazing stories from the artist and entrepreneurial scenes in & around Baltimore, check out my episode directory.The Truth In This ArtThe Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture.Mentioned in this episodeSistah ScifiTo find more amazing stories from the artist and entrepreneurial scenes in & around Baltimore, check out my episode directory.Stay in TouchNewsletter sign-upSupport my podcastShareable link to episode★ Support this podcast ★

Amanda and Jenn discuss Amanda's new job (!), Murakami read-alikes, the perfect plane read, and more in this week's episode of Get Booked. Follow the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. FEEDBACK Molly Harper's Bluegrass Series (rec'd by another Amanda) Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell (rec'd by Tanelle) Books Discussed What's Left of Me is Yours by Stephanie Scott (tw: violence against women) Exit West by Mohsin Hamid The Change by Kirsten Miller (tw: childhood sex abuse, obvious references to the Epstein/Maxwell case) Light Years From Home by Mike Chen (cw: dementia, loss of a parent) Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark Everfair by Nisi Shawl (cw: graphic violence and war crimes, racism) Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward (tw: suicide) House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild Haldol and Hyacinths by Melody Moezzi (tw: suicide attempts) For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag Post: Books Like Heartstopper Fence by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente, and Jim Campbell For listener feedback and questions, as well as a complete list of books discussed in this episode, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You'll want to keep the lights on for these stories: Thoraiya Dyer's “Bahamut,” read by Chanté McComick; and Nisi Shawl's “Cruel Sistah,” read by Robin Ray Eller. For more shows like this, visit Realm.fm. Tales Beyond Time is a Realm production. Listen Away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—talk about the third common pitfall when representing diverse characters: tokenism.   More specifically, we talk about: what tokenism is and why it is problematic why characters such as JK Rowling's Cho Chang are the perfect example of tokenism the custom of turning diverse characters into token sidekicks or “bit-players” how Cassandra Clare avoids tokenism in her Shadowhunter series  strategies to prevent tokenism in your fiction writing   Some quotes from this week's episode: “Tokenism is inclusion for the sake of inclusion. It's not about making any actual changes but about appearances.”   “If we just merely add a few diverse characters to our stories just so our writing looks inclusive, chances are the story doesn't leave any room for these characters' lived experiences and realities to be fully investigated. If we only include them to make sure a particular minority is present within our writing so that we look like open-minded and progressive writers, we run the risk of reducing these characters to one-dimensional summaries of what we think their community is like and thinks like.”   “You can add a whole set of characters from the same community, but if they're all more or less the same and don't contribute to the plot beyond being their identity marker, if they get to contribute to the plot at all, it's still tokenism. It's really about the depth and complexity that a character is allowed to bring with them beyond whatever identity markers they might carry.”   “Proper research into our characters' cultural, historical and political backgrounds will go a long way in creating more well-rounded characters with a developed background.” “Even if you only have one character from a particular minority community in your work, allowing them space to be their own person beyond their identity markers will go a long way in making sure they don't become tokens and in showing the diversity that exists within each and every community.” And here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show:   The Oxford Dictionary definition of tokenism: https://www.lexico.com/definition/tokenism “To JK Rowling, from Cho Chang”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6xU3mYY3Cw   Please note that this is not the original video of Rachel Rostad performing the slam poem. At the time of uploading this episode, it was no longer available on YouTube.   Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward's Writing the Other: https://writingtheother.com/the-book/ Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunter series: https://shadowhunters.com Bethany's book Edit Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You from Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors   This week's bonus material can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2021/11/11/episode7   To be the first to know when our next episode drops, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r3p6g8    As always, we'd love for you to join the conversation by filling out our questionnaires.    Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Writer Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/UUEbeEvxsdwk1kuy5   Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Reader Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/gTAg4qrvaCPtqVJ36    Don't forget, you can find us at https://representationmatters.art/ and on https://www.facebook.com/doingdiversityinwriting 

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—talk about the fear of cultural appropriation. More specifically, we talk about:  How we define cultural appropriation The difference between cultural appropriation and cultural exchange Assassin's Creed III vs. Disney's Pocahontas, and why Assassin's Creed III does it better than Pocahontas did The “So sorry about colonialism” narrative Marvel's Black Panther, and why the museum scene made Mariëlle say “Fuck yes!” aloud in the theater Some quotes from this week's episode: “These days, cultural appropriation is understood to focus on those moments, those points of interaction and usage, where certain customs, practices, ideas, and so on, are being employed by usually a more dominant culture without any of the positives. There is no positive exchange going on that somehow benefits those whose culture is being used by that other, often more dominant, culture.” “I can understand why some acknowledgement might feel like worth having, especially when there's been almost none, but that doesn't take away the fact that the bigger, disturbing picture remains solidly rooted within our dominant culture and history. And Pocahontas the Disney film did only acknowledge a fraction of it, while erasing the absolute tragedy and evil enacted on Pocahontas herself in real history.”    And here are the (re)sources we mentioned on the show: Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward's Writing the Other: https://writingtheother.com/the-book/  “Appropriate cultural appropriation” by Nisi Shawl: https://writingtheother.com/appropriate-cultural-appropriation/  “Reservations about films: Disney's Pocahontas”: https://lakotachildren.org/2015/09/reservations-about-films-disneys-pocahontas/ “Disney updates content warning for racism in classic films”: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54566087   This week's bonus material can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2021/10/21/episode4/   To be the first to know when our next episode drops, subscribe to our newsletter here: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r3p6g8    As always, we'd love for you to join the conversation by filling out our questionnaires.    Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Writer Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/UUEbeEvxsdwk1kuy5   Our Doing Diversity in Writing – Reader Questionnaire can be filled in at https://forms.gle/gTAg4qrvaCPtqVJ36    Don't forget, you can find us at https://representationmatters.art/ and on https://www.facebook.com/doingdiversityinwriting 

In this week's episode, 2043… by Nisi Shawl. A future where the promised 40 acres and a mule is located underwater pending agreeing to an experiemental body modification to prepare you for your new home. Join us as we dive into this futuristic world. Join us on our website where you can join the conversation. https://bookshrinepodcast.com/ Don't forget to Subscribe, Rate, and Follow us on our social media pages. IG: @BookShrine Twitter: @TheBook_Shrine TikTok: @BookShrine --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bookshrine/support

We got a short story, with a long dialogue. We discuss “The Space Traders” by Civil Rights activist Derrick Bell. This small tale is more prescient now than its first publication in 1992. Tune in for a discussion of unhealthy patriotism, unwritten traditions and unfit congressmen in the sunken place.Georgia Voting Lawhttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/georgia-voting-rights-fiasco/618537/Dark Matter ed. by Sheree Renee ThomasObama and Bellhttps://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/the-sci-fi-story-that-offends-oversensitive-white-conservatives/254232/Nisi Shawl's Articlehttps://www.tor.com/2017/12/06/old-and-cold-the-space-traders-by-derrick-bell/

"A hermit in the middle of Los Angeles" is one way she described herself - born in 1947, Butler became a writer who wanted to "tell stories filled with facts. Make people touch and taste and know." Since her death in 2006, her writing has been widely taken up and praised for its foresight in suggesting developments such as big pharma and for its critique of American history. Shahidha Bari is joined by the author Irenosen Okojie and the scholar Gerry Canavan and Nisi Shawl, writer, editor, journalist – and long-time friend of Octavia Butler. Irenosen Okojie's latest collection of short stories is called Nudibranch and she was winner of the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for Fiction for her story Grace Jones. You can hear her discussing her own writing life alongside Nadifa Mohamed in a previous Free Thinking episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000k8sz Gerry Canavan is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction. Nisi Shawl writes about books for The Seattle Times, and also contributes frequently to Ms. Magazine, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, The Washington Post. Producer: Luke Mulhall You might be interested in the Free Thinking episode Science fiction and ecological thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h6yw and on Ursula Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b6yb37 and a playlist exploring Landmarks of Culture including Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks and the writing of Audre Lorde, and of Wole Soyinka https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jwn44

What will our next nice and normal be? Meg and I co-wrote a memoir about our relationship called The First Ten Year: Two Sides of the Same Love Story. It comes out May 11th, more info and pre-order here. I also wrote a novel for ages 10+ called The Halloween Moon that comes out on July 10th. More info and pre-order that one here.  Call and leave us a message at (805) 366-3085, and we may include it in a future episode. This show currently does not have any income, and it takes money and a good amount of hours every week to produce. If you find this show helpful, and you have the means, we’d definitely appreciate your support. It will allow us to make this show more sustainable. Thank you. Donation link here. Produced by Joseph Fink Essays by Nisi Shawl and Cory Doctorow  The song "This Too Shall Pass" by Danny Schmidt  All other music by Disparition Logo artwork by Jessica Hayworth A production of Night Vale Presents

We interview Tonya Liburd, author of “The Drunken Tree”, episode 403. Tonya Liburd shares a birthday with Ray Bradbury and Simeon Daniel, which may tell you a little something about her; and while she has an enviable collection of vintage dust bunnies to her credit, her passions are music (someday!) and of course, words. One day she hopes, when introducing herself as a writer, she won't feel all weird about it. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2017 & 2018 Rhysling Awards, and longlisted in the 2015 Carter V. Cooper(Vanderbilt)/Exile Short Fiction Competition. Her work is used in Nisi Shawl's workshops and Tananarive due's UCLA Horror course (the latter of which was crashed by Jordan Peele of Get Out Fame) as examples of code switching. Her fiction has been praised by Publisher's Weekly and at Barnes & Noble's SFF blog. She is the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council writer's grant in 2020. She is also the Senior Editor of Abyss & Apex Magazine. You can find her blogging at https://www.spiderlilly.com or on Twitter at @somesillywowzer. Links to items discussed: The Night Sun by Zin E Rocklyn Ace of Knives - Apex Magazine 10 Steps to a Whole New You - Fantasy Magazine Let's Play White by Chesya Burke Black Horror Anthology Announcement Black Panther: Sins of the King on Serial Box www.spiderlilly.com Twitter: @somesillywowzer Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TonyaLiburd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We interview Tonya Liburd, author of “The Drunken Tree”, episode 403. Tonya Liburd shares a birthday with Ray Bradbury and Simeon Daniel, which may tell you a little something about her; and while she has an enviable collection of vintage dust bunnies to her credit, her passions are music (someday!) and of course, words. One day she hopes, when introducing herself as a writer, she won't feel all weird about it. Her poetry has been nominated for the 2017 & 2018 Rhysling Awards, and longlisted in the 2015 Carter V. Cooper(Vanderbilt)/Exile Short Fiction Competition. Her work is used in Nisi Shawl's workshops and Tananarive due’s UCLA Horror course (the latter of which was crashed by Jordan Peele of Get Out Fame) as examples of code switching. Her fiction has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly and at Barnes & Noble’s SFF blog. She is the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council writer’s grant in 2020. She is also the Senior Editor of Abyss & Apex Magazine. You can find her blogging at https://www.spiderlilly.com or on Twitter at @somesillywowzer. Links to items discussed: The Night Sun by Zin E Rocklyn Ace of Knives - Apex Magazine 10 Steps to a Whole New You - Fantasy Magazine Let’s Play White by Chesya Burke Black Horror Anthology Announcement Black Panther: Sins of the King on Serial Box www.spiderlilly.com Twitter: @somesillywowzer Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TonyaLiburd

This week Amber and Ben sat down with Author Nisi Shawl to talk about their most recent book "Talk Like A Man," and their editing work for the 2020 World Fantasy award winning collection "New Suns". Nisi Shawl's essay "Crash Course in Science Fiction" has been a guide for this podcast, but Nisi has also won an Otherwise Award (formerly the Tiptree Award) for their short collection "Filter House" and has been a Nebula finalist and Otherwise Honoree for their novel "Everfair," an alternate history in which the Congo overthrows King Leopold II's genocidal regime. Finally, Nisi is an educator and they co-wrote "Writing the Other: A Practice Approach," now the standard text on diverse character representation in the imaginative genres.

Join us for a great chat with Liz Gorinsky, recorded for Multiverse Convention. We talk about the publishing business, trends in speculative fiction, the life of an editor, and the meaning of major awards with the Hugo-winning editor & Erewhon Books founder.BIO: Liz Gorinsky (she/they) is a speculative fiction editor. Liz began her publishing career at Tor Books, editing a list that included popular and acclaimed speculative fiction authors Felix Gilman, Mary Robinette Kowal, Liu Cixin, George Mann, Annalee Newitz, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Cherie Priest, Lev Rosen, Nisi Shawl, Brian Francis Slattery, Catherynne M. Valente, and Jeff VanderMeer; and anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow, David Hartwell, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Ken Liu, and Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. She won the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Long Form, and has received seven nominations in that category. She also won the 2016 Alfie Award, designed and presented by George R. R. Martin, in the same category. She was part of the team that founded Tor.com, and acquired and edited short fiction and comics for that site for many years, and also acted as the reprint editor of Queers Destroy Fantasy. In June 2018, she founded Erewhon Books, a new independent speculative fiction publishing company where she is the President, Publisher, and lead editor.EREWHON BOOKS: https://www.erewhonbooks.com/Subscribe to Glitchy Pancakes on your favorite podcast app, and please leave a review if you like what we're doing. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook @GlitchyPancakes. Email questions or comments to CakesPod@gmail.com, and thanks for listening!

Pushing Boundaries In Fantastical Fiction The Science Friday Book Club has spent all of October immersed in short stories by Indigenous, Black, Chicanx and South Asian authors. But at the end of the day, where do these stories fit in the bigger picture of fiction writing in 2020? In the final conversation of this fall’s speculative fiction focus, SciFri’s Book Club joins writer and ‘New Suns’ editor Nisi Shawl in a conversation about the expanding footprint of writers of color in science fiction and fantasy, and the ways both science and science fiction can be re-imagined and redefined when you look outside of the perspectives of white, Western authors who have dominated these genres in the past.  Shawl suggests broadening what stories we call science fiction. What happens when we think of writing, or even religion, as forms of technology?  SciFri producer Christie Taylor and Journal of Science Fiction editor Aisha Matthews join Nisi Shawl in front of a live Zoom audience for this conversation about the diverse and dynamic future of science fiction. Shipping Nuclear Power Out To Sea When the Green New Deal was proposed last year, it called for the United States to become fully energy independent, moving to 100% renewable energy sources within the next decade. It specifically mentions solar and wind power as two alternatives the country should invest in. And it conspicuously leaves out nuclear power.  But the nuclear industry is fighting to be part of the renewable conversation. While it’s been innovating at a slower pace, there is one old idea that engineers say still holds water: floating nuclear power plants.  Ira talks to Nick Touran, a nuclear engineer and reactor physicist from Seattle, Washington about the advantages of shipping nuclear out to sea, as well as some newer technology keeping nuclear power in the renewable energy conversation.

Your Hosts: Piper, Dan, and Tempest, with special guests Nisi Shawl and Silvia Moreno-Garcia Writing stories which feature people who are not like you is, in a word, difficult. In another word? Fraught. But good writers do difficult things, and in this episode Nisi Shawl and Silvia Moreno-Garcia join us to discuss how research can … Continue reading 15.40: Researching for Writing the Other →

The news hit us overnight: President Trump, the First Lady, and at least one member of the president’s staff tested positive for COVID-19. Just before 1 a.m. ET, the president tweeted that “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Sean Conley, the White House physician, confirmed the positive COVID test and said that, “The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence.” The president reportedly has mild symptoms of the virus. Joining Ira to talk about the medical ramifications and possibilities presented by the president’s infection with COVID-19 is Angela Rasmussen, an associate research scientist in the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, New York. Plus, this week, the U.S. had its first televised presidential debate of the election season. It was interesting, to say the least. During the debate, the President’s COVID-19 response came under question, prompting President Trump to allege the U.S. is just weeks away from a COVID-19 vaccine. This isn’t the first time Trump has claimed something along these lines. In fact, he’s repeatedly said he wants a vaccine before election day. But is rushing out a vaccine possible—or safe? Joining Ira for another round of Fact Check Your Feed—election edition, this time—is Angela Rasmussen, associate professor in the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in New York, New York. She also explains why New York City has not yet reached herd immunity, and fact checks Trump’s claims that the Obama administration botched its H1N1 response.   And, the Science Friday Book Club is back! Imagine: A planet inhabited by parasitic life forms that turn human settlers into demonic figures. An aging woman who just wants to live in peace in a “dumb house” with no technological upgrades. A woman who starts to experience the presence of otherworldly visitors. A taxi driver who takes tourists from other planets on rides far above the New York City skyline. And, in the case of Darcie Little Badger’s short story “Kelsey and the Burdened Breath,” a young woman helps the last breaths of the dying, literally their souls or “shimmers,” depart for the next adventure. That is, until she is asked to track down one that has committed the unthinkable: murder and cannibalism of other souls. All these are stories in the Nisi Shawl-edited collection, New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction By People Of Color, this fall’s Science Friday Book Club pick. Over the next five weeks, we’ll talk about stories from the book, starting with Little Badger’s story about burdens—literal, metaphorical, and metaphysical. SciFri Book Club captain Christie Taylor kicks off the first in of a series of conversations about short stories from New Suns with Aisha Matthews, managing editor of The Journal of Science Fiction, and Darcie Little Badger, a Lipan Apache writer and author of the New Suns story “Kelsey and the Burdened Breath.”   

Ako and Marci are personally enjoying quarantine-enriched, Hot Girl Summers alongside their Summer Short Stories and this week is NO different as they sink their teeth into the short story collection, New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color which was edited by Nisi Shawl.   There is much to get your life to in this collection and we will specifically be discussing; "Harvest" by Rebecca Roanhorse, "Give Me Your Black Wings Oh Sister" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, "Kelsey and the Burdened Breath" by Darcie Little Badger, "Three Variations on a Theme of Imperial Attire" by E. Lily Yu, and "The Shadow We Cast Through Time" by Indrapramit Das! We also did something a bit ~different~ this week for our discussion section that we hope you all will enjoy

Ever wondered how to write characters different from yourself respectfully & convincingly? We sat down with the folks who literally wrote the book on this topic. Nisi Shawl & Cynthia Ward created "Writing the Other," a book and series of excellent workshops taught by some of the best authors working in SF/F today. Their workshops teach techniques, practical exercises, and examples with the aim of both increasing writers’ skill and sensitivity in portraying differences (ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc.) in their fiction as well as allaying their anxieties about “getting it wrong.” Listen in & enjoy!Writing the Other (the workshops, resources, etc.): https://writingtheother.com/The Book: https://writingtheother.com/the-book/Nisi Shawl: http://nisishawl.com/Cynthia Ward: http://cynthiaward.com/

Check the book out here https://amzn.to/2CKiHVT Nisi Shawl has written and edited speculative fiction for years and recently won the 2020 Locus Award for best anthology for her edited work New Suns. We spoke about the book, winning the award, the difficulties non-white authors face in the publishing industry, and about writing and editing in … Continue reading Speculative Fiction anthology – “New Suns” (Solaris, 2019) – Nisi Shawl interview →

This week on the Handsell, Jenn recommends New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, edited by Nisi Shawl. This episode is sponsored by TBR, Book Riot’s subscription service offering Tailored Book Recommendations for readers of all stripes. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Octavia E. Butler published science fiction from the 1970s until her death in 2006. She studied at the Screenwriter's Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop, where she met other science fiction writers, like Harlan Ellison, and began publishing her stories, the first of which was 1971's “Crossover.” She influenced numerous women of color currently writing science fiction and fantasy such as Jewelle Gomez, N. K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Nisi Shawl, and Nalo Hopkinson, to name a few. She was the first science fiction writer to win a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, one among many awards and honors she received, including multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and a Locus Award. She is probably best known for her 1979 novel Kindred and her 1985 novella “Bloodchild,” both of which are often taught in literature classrooms. Her novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) are eerily prescient explorations of post-apocalyptic dystopia. Her final novel Fledgling (2005) was her take on vampires and the topic of today's discussion.   

Today Gary Wolfe spends ten minutes with Nisi Shawl, who is currently preparing her introduction to the Library of America edition of Octavia Butler's work. They briefly touch upon Cory Doctorow as well as Nisi's recent mini-collection from PM Press, Talk Like a Man, and the forthcoming sequel to her Nebula-nominated novel Everfair.   Books mentioned in this episode include: Fledgling by Octavia Butler Walkaway by Cory Doctorow Talk Like a Man by Nisi Shawl Everfair by Nisi Shawl

Introducing a new kind of current events podcast. An island in a storm of bad headlines. An experiment in public anxiety. Let's get through this year together. Call and leave us a message at (805) 366-3085, and we may include it in a future episode. This show currently does not have any income, and it takes money and a good amount of hours every week to produce. If you find this show helpful, and you have the means, we’d definitely appreciate your support. It will allow us to make this show more sustainable. Thank you. Donation link here. Written and produced by Joseph Fink "Don't Look for the Helpers" by Cory Doctorow "Social Distances" by Nisi Shawl  The song "This Too Shall Pass" by Danny Schmidt  All other music by Joseph Fink Logo artwork by Jessica Hayworth A production of Night Vale Presents

What does it mean to write a protagonist that is completely different from you? Are you a guest, a tourist, or an invader? How do you write correctly and thoughtfully? What happens when you get it wrong? Listen up as Polli and Kate share some dirt and some resources.  Show notes: https://lplks.org/blogs/post/052-dishing-the-american-dirt/ Two Book Minimum: How to Catch A Mole by Marc Hamer The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez Dishing the...American Dirt: If you're a book nerd in any way, or interested in #OwnVoices literature, you've probably heard about the American Dirt drama. If not, here's a blurb from Rachelle Hampton: American Dirt follows the journey of a mother and son fleeing Mexico for America after their entire family is murdered on the orders of a local cartel kingpin. Before the slaughter, Lydia Quixano Pérez is a bookseller in Acapulco, mother to Luca and wife to journalist Sebastián. It is Sebastián’s exposé on the kingpin, who also happens to be a frequent customer of Lydia’s bookstore, that serves as the linchpin for the violence that sets off the novel and Lydia’s journey through the desert to the border. In her afterword Cummins describes a four-year writing process that included extensive travel and interviews in Mexico. Cummins writes of her desire to humanize “the faceless brown mass” that she believes is so many people’s perception of immigrants. “I wish someone slightly browner than me would write it,” she continues. “But then I thought, if you’re the person who has the capacity to be a bridge, why not be a bridge.”  (Slate.com) So. While the book had been released quite a while ago, it came out this year (to rave reviews) and was picked for Oprah's Book Club, which then led to some deeper digging and scandalous responses. One of the first and most vocal opponents was Myriam Gurba, author of Mean, whose lyrical takedown was (in Kate's view)... spectacular. It's pretty brutal and covers multiple levels, including the unnatural-sounding use of Spanglish and the lack of Mexican sensibility. She argues against Cummins' right to write this book, especially given the number of Latinx authors who are remaining unpublished or undiscovered. The backlash against this line of criticism has been stronggggg. And not cute.  David Bowles' piece, American Dirt: Dignity & Equity, offers a nuanced view of what it means to write the "other," and what a responsibility it is -- "When you write about an underrepresented group, one whose own voices have been excluded from the world of publishing, not getting it right isn’t just disastrous: it’s harmful to people in that group." Bowles' article gives lots of stats and figures to back up his argument, as well as tips FOR writing characters different from you. One to check out is called Writing the Other, a series by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, which has tons of resources for current or prospective authors. Likewise, Alexander Chee addresses this issue often in workshops and lectures and says "Many writers are not really asking for advice — they are asking if it is okay to find a way to continue as they have." He asks a few questions that are very helpful to writers, creators, and consumers: 1. Why do you want to write from this character’s point of view? 2. Do you read writers from this community currently? 3. Why do you want to tell this story? -----------------

The owner of an unusual private museum picks up a hitchhiker sent to assassinate her. This story appears in Nisi Shawl's collection FILTER HOUSE. Content advisory: kidnapping and abduction

In which we struggle with responses, and Winter’s Tale is coming… WHAT’S NEW ON THE INTERNET: World Fantasy Finalists https://www.tor.com/2019/07/25/announcing-the-2019-world-fantasy-award-finalists/ CSFG Kickstarter -- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/csfg/unnatural-order Coming this week: the next Twelfth Planet Press Kickstarter! Winter’s Tale by Nike Sulway & Shauna O’Meara   JOANNA RUSS BOOK CLUB: How to Suppress Women’s Writing: Chapter 10 Responses:  CULTURE CONSUMED:  Alisa:  The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers Wayfarers series;  Geek Actually S1 (Serial Box) Alex: Machineries of Empire (inc Hexarchate Stories), Yoon Ha Lee; New Suns, ed. Nisi Shawl; Good Omens Tansy: This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone, Spider-Man,The Spy who Dumped Me, Good Omens Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon  - which now includes access to the ever so exclusive GS Slack - and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!  

When two swordsmen meet, no one knows what to expect. It's a cold night in a cold city. Cold stone under cold starlight. He walks down a deserted street, sure of himself, sure of the weapon he bears. He's not altogether surprised when the stranger steps out of the shadows. “Hey,” he says to the newcomer. “You hungry? I'm going to friends with a fire and a big pot always bubbling on it.” By which we see that it's not just his sword that defends him, whatever he may think. The other stands very still. “You're not what I thought you'd be,” he says flatly. “Why not?” the swordsman asks, curious. | Copyright 2015 by Ellen Kushner. Originally published in Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell. Reprinted by permission of the author. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki.

This episode is filled with SPOILERS, since we give specifics throughout our discussion. Teresa Jusino, of the Finding Felicity Podcast, and the Leather and Love Podcast, joins me to talk about Everfair by Nisi Shawl (who it, admittedly, one of my favorite authors). The bio of Nisi Shawl, as told in her own words (as I promised in the intro): http://www.nisishawl.com/Autobiography.html Follow Teresa on social media: Twitter and IG, @teresajusino @teampomonok Facebook: @teampomonok Podcasts: “Finding Felicity (on Fanbase Press)” and “Leather and Love” Our next story will be Love and Sex Among the Invertebrates by Pat Murphy. It is available on iBooks, Kindle, and in the fantastic collection, Sisters of the Revolution: a Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. It is also available here: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Sex-Among-Invertebrates-Murphy-ebook/dp/B009KZ0ZV0 Sisters of Sci-Fi is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and through the RSS Feed.

Using her work and research in the area of the Biology of Fear, Mary Poffenroth teaches people, especially scientific researchers, techniques to be able to communicate their findings to the public in an accessible way. Here is an infographic that shows her 3 steps for neutralizing fear: https://www.marypoffenroth.com/infographic Website:https://www.marypoffenroth.com Twitter: @marypoffenroth IG: @marypoffenroth Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marypoffenroth/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marypoffenroth Our next story will be Everfair by Nisi Shawl. It is more than likely available at your local library. It is also available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Sisters of Sci-Fi is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and through the RSS Feed.

This episode is filled with SPOILERS, since we give specifics throughout our discussion.   Sandra Escalante-Harder and I talk about The Blue Laboratory by L.T.Meade. You can find a copy of it in the  collection The Dreaming Sex, edited by Mike Ashley. It is more than likely available at your local library, or can be purchased on Amazon. Sandra on IG: @_____sandrita_____ We both loved this story, and how well it illustrated the creepy side of science, pairing the trope of tenacious governance with a bit of mad-scientist on the side. I realized too late that we never gave a synopsis: Madeleine, a young English woman, moves to St, Petersburg to become a nanny to the two children, Olga and Maroussa, of English scientist Dr. Chance and his wife. Once there she finds herself enlisted as secretary to Dr. Chance's science experiments, after expressing an interest in the subject to the two girls.  Olga and Maroussa warn Madeleine that one night they followed their father into the secret lab and hear someone calling for help. By ingratiating herself into his confidence, Madeleine soon discovers that Dr. Chance's previous secretary, another English man, has been held captive and experimented on in the name of Dr. Chance's desire to photograph thought. With the help of Olga and Maroussa, Madeleine is able to free the captive secretary and have Dr. Chance arrested. Our next story will be Everfair by Nisi Shawl. Sisters of Sci-Fi is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and through the RSS Feed.

As you may have heard, there's been a slight rearrangement of episode topics, due to the fact that the audio of our original recording of Episode 26 (witches!) was haunted. Therefore, this week we're talking about, well, exactly what it says on the tin. In other words, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat. Our tentpoles this week are The Shape of Water, "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hillside" by James Tiptree Jr, and "Bro: discover new talent." by Laylah (Homestuck fic). What We’ve Been Reading A Civil CampaignWarrior’s ApprenticeKomarrThe Priory of the Orange TreeThe Perfect Assassin“More Tomorrow”Band SinisterRuin of KingsInto the Spider-VerseNirvana in Fire Other Stuff We Mentioned Game of ThronesDragonriders of PernWorldCon (Dublin 2019) and eligibility for the Best Fancast category of the Hugo AwardsVenomZelda: Breath of the WildNaruto“I Belong Where the People Are: Disability and The Shape of Water”  by Elsa Sjunneson-HenryPan’s LabyrinthHomestuck“La Belle Dame sans Merci”“Hood and Glove” by Fahye, Yuri/Otabek fic"Writer Wednesday: A Guest Post by Daria Defore" (the monsterfucking article Freya quotes)Jupiter AscendingGuardians of the GalaxyMass EffectAvatarWriting the Other [book] by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia WardWriting the Other workshopsthe Greek myth of Galatea and PygmalionLeda and the SwanRon Weasley/Spider fanfictionThe Hobbit by J.R.R. TolkienOglaf by Trudy Cooper & Doug BayneTam LinTithe by Holly BlackSpinning Silver by Naomi NovikBe The Serpent drinking game by MagaliBeauty and the BeastEast of Sun, West of MoonThe Bastard’s Lying to You, a Be The Serpent episode on unreliable narrators“Women Men Don’t See” by James Tiptree Jr.Pacific RimEdge of TomorrowPacific Rim: Uprising   For Next TimeAnd I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry PratchettTranscript:The transcription of this episode can be found here. Three cheers for the scribes!!!  

Editors’ Intro: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Guest Editor Intro: Dominik Parisien Short Fiction: ""The Things I Miss the Most" by Nisi Shawl, as read by Stephanie Malia Morris Poetry: "Convalescence" by Alicia Cole, as read by Erika Ensign  Interview: Marieke Nijkamp interviewed by Haddayr Copley-Woods Want to join the Space Unicorn Ranger Corps? You can find new science fiction and fantasy stories, poetry, and nonfiction every month in Uncanny Magazine. Go to uncannymagazine.com or subscribe to the eBook version at weightlessbooks.com or amazon.com. This podcast was produced by Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky. Music created by Null Device and used with permission. Copyright © 2018 by Uncanny Magazine

Do we have a great episode for you today oh boy!  As a coda to our series on Binti and Afrofuturism, we invited Caribbean SF author Tobias Buckell to teach us about science fiction from the islands. Tobias has a patreon at patreon.com/tobiasbuckell, which you should check out if you enjoy this episode, and find him on twitter at @tobiasbuckell. We mention a lot of books, stories and more in this episode. Links are below or at our website, spectology.com, if they don't show up in your podcatcher. Three Stories Tobias had us read before the discussion:- Toy Planes by Tobias S. Buckell- The Glass Bottle Trick by Nalo Hopkinson- Redemption in Indigo (excerpt) by Karen Lord Two other stories of Tobias' that we discuss:- Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance - Shoggoths in Traffic Two reviews of his work that explain Tobias' caribbean themes well:- Space Rastas by Lisa Allen-Agostini (review of Raggamuffin)- The Shock of the New Normal by Nisi Shawl (review of Hurricane Fever) Other Caribbean authors & books:- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon- The Black God's Drums (pre-order) by P. Djèlí Clark- Karen Lord, including the anthology New Worlds, Old Ways- Brandon O'Brien's twitter and short stories- Lex Talionis by RAS Garcia- Nalo Hopkinson- Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter- Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus- And also check out CaribbeanSF.com for more of Tobias' recommendations. Finally, some non-fiction works that have influenced Tobias' work:- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report- US Navy Climate Change Roadmap- Women in Grenadian History, 1783-1983 by Nicole Laurine Phillip (as presented at the USVI Lit Fest) --- Finally, we announced our next book: The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Eliott. Stay tuned for our pre-read discussion on that next week. As always, we'd love to hear from you! Tweet us at @spectologypod, submit the episode at r/printSF, or email us at spectologypod@gmail.com with your thoughts about the book. Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art. And a big thanks again to Tobias for chatting with us, make sure to hit up his Patreon for original SF stories each month. 

Author Nisi Shawl's novel Everfair posits, what if Belgian forces had not succeeded in colonizing the Congo? And it's AWESOME!! In this interview, Nisi shares her definitions and ideas around steampunk as well as AfroRetroFuturism, cyberpunk, solarpunk, and hopepunk. She pays a beautiful tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin, and shares several resources and organizations for readers and writers. NisiShawl.com Storypunks.world

The story of Betty, and her struggle to be fully understood by her new family. Recorded on the LeVar Burton Reads LIVE! tour. With accompaniment by Gretchen Yanover, and featuring a conversation with author Nisi Shawl. This episode is brought to you by KiwiCo (www.kiwico.com/LEVAR) and Hungryroot (www.hungryroot.com code: LEVAR).

This episode features "Shiomah's Land" written by Nisi Shawl. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2001. Reprinted in the October 2017 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/shawl_10_17_reprint Support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/clarkesworld

This episode features "Shiomah's Land" written by Nisi Shawl. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2001. Reprinted in the October 2017 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/shawl_10_17_reprint Support us on Patreon at http://patreon.com/clarkesworld

or Not All Steampunk Is About Whitey Victoriana! - Nisi Shawl, Everfair

"“Princess Lily's Wedding” by Robert J. Santa (Originally published in Blood, Blade & Thruster.) "I love him, Daddy!" King Frederick breathed deeply. It had been a very long conversation with his youngest child, punctuated by much pouting and exasperated sighing and stomping of pretty feet. Frederick stood over her while she held her face in her hands and cried. He wanted to do nothing more than pout and sigh and stomp his feet. Of course, he couldn't, even in his daughter's bedroom with no one else to see. Kings had to uphold higher standards, especially with sixteen year-old daughters. Robert J. Santa has been writing speculative fiction for more than thirty years. His works have appeared in numerous online and print markets. Robert lives in Rhode Island, USA, with his beautiful wife and two, equally beautiful daughters, one of whom is named Lily. And while she is nothing like the Lily of this tale, she could be without stretching the imagination too much. “Shoe Man” by Tonya Liburd (Originally published in Expanded Horizons, July 2016.) Somewhere in downtown Toronto, a homeless black man had shoes whose soles were flapping. He refused to give them up, no matter what people said, no matter what people offered. They were the first things he ever bought in Canada, the shoes he wore to his wedding, so long ago. The wedding that was supposed to mark the beginning of a new life, a good life in Canada. A good life… they were pretty young, he had a wife, he had a daughter, he had a job… then the illness reared its head and took over. And everything spiraled out of control. No medications would make his mind whole again; the fear and confusion from his wife, the fights. The guilt over his daughter witnessing it all. When his wife died instantly from the car accident while he got barely a scratch – fortunately their daughter wasn’t with them – it was the last thing he could take, and he remembered just everything conspiring to force him out the door and leave everything behind. Well, almost. He still had his shoes. That was years ago. Tonya Liburd shares a birthday with Simeon Daniel and Ray Bradbury, which may tell you a little something about her; and while she has an enviable collection of vintage dust bunnies to her credit, her passions are music (someday!) and of course, words. Her poetry has been nominated for the Rhysling award, and her fiction has been long-listed in the 2015 Carter V. Cooper (Vanderbilt)/Exile Short Fiction Competition. Her story “The Ace of Knives” is in the anthology Postscripts to Darkness 6, and is used in Nisi Shawl’s workshops as an example of "code switching". She is the associate editor of Abyss & Apex magazine. You can find her blogging at spiderlilly.com or on Twitter as @somesillywowzer, and support her over at Patreon.com/TonyaLiburd. About the Narrators: Matt Dovey is very tall and very English and most likely drinking a cup of tea right now. He has a scar on his arm that he can't remember getting, but a terrible darkness floods his mind when he considers it. He now lives in a quiet market town in rural England with his wife and three children, and despite being a writer, he still hasn't found the right words to properly express the delight and joy he finds in this wonderful arrangement. His surname rhymes with "Dopey", but any other similarities to the dwarf are purely coincidental. He is the Golden Pen winner for Writers of the Future Volume 32 (2016), was shortlisted for the James White Award in 2016, and has fiction out and forthcoming all over the place; you can keep up with it at mattdovey.com, or follow along on Facebook and Twitter. Cris Maycock is a Bajan Yankee who has lived in Brooklyn most of her life, a beach lover, a food lover, and a sci-fi fan who likes to think that she is both scientific and creative. Cris loves storytelling and the performance medium of audio books." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Main Story: “Wallamelon” by Nisi Shawl (Originally published in Aeon #3.) The boys ran ahead of her as she walked, and circled back again like little dogs. Kevin urged her onto the path that cut across the vacant lot beside his house. Mercy was standing on a pile of rubble half the way through, her straight hair shining in the noonday sun like a long, black mirror. She was pointing down at something Oneida couldn’t see from the path, something small, something so wonderful it made sad Mercy smile. “Wallamelons,” Kevin explained as they left the path. “Grown all by they selves; ain’t nobody coulda put em there.” “Watermelons,” Oneida corrected him automatically. The plant grew out from under a concrete slab. At first all she could see was its broad leaves, like green hearts with scalloped edges. Mercy pushed these aside to reveal the real treasure: four fat globes, dark and light stripes swelling in their middles and vanishing into one another at either end. They were watermelons, all right. Each one... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week’s media topics: Star Wars: Rogue One, Everfair by Nisi Shawl, and Timekeeper by Tara Sim. We also talk a bit about the Hugo Awards and shout about some culture topics. 🐝 You can read a transcript of this episode. 🐝 Hugo Awards and Award Feelings; 00:52 Worldcon 75 Hugo Awards Special Category: Best […] The post Fangirl Happy Hour, Episode #71, “Everything is On Fire” appeared first on Fangirl Happy Hour.

CONTENT WARNINGS FOR R*PE AND SC*DE MENTIONS.** In episode 26, hosts Inda Lauryn (@indascorner) and Didi Jenning (@dustdaughter) squee about the Emmys and the latest casting news. Then they get into the Season 3 Premiere of HTGAWM (SPOILERS!). R*pe apologists catch the fade and Inda gives us another relevant womanist vocab word. Intro/Outro is N**gas by Kehlani. Nisi Shawl talks "Everfair" on Midnight in Karachi - http://www.tor.com/2016/09/22/midnight-in-karachi-episode-64-nisi-shawl/ Claudia Rankine, Kellie Jones and Joyce J. Scott Awarded MacArthur Genius Grants http://superselected.com/claudia-rankine-kellie-jones-and-joyce-j-scott-awarded-macarthur-genius-grants/ Kelela Shares Powerful Advice to Allies in the Wake of Tragedies http://saintheron.com/news/kelela-gives-advice-allies-wake-tragedies/ Gabrielle Union: ‘I Absolutely Understand If You Chose to Sit the Film Out’ - http://motto.time.com/4504052/gabrielle-union-birth-of-a-nation-sexual-assault/ Six Reasons Why Black Women Have Every Right to Be Angry - http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/09/6-reasons-why-black-women-have-every-right-to-be-angry/ Contact us at Twitter: @blackgirlsquee @indascorner @dustdaughter Tumblr: blackgirlsquee.tumblr.com Email: blackgirlsquee@gmail.com iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/black-girl-squees-podcast/id1029727623?mt=2 Simplecast: blackgirlsquee.simplecast.fm/ Black Girl Squee Listener Survey. Go to http://goo.gl/forms/bufVo6T0sy

Welcome back to Midnight in Karachi, a weekly podcast about writers, publishers, editors, illustrators, their books and the worlds they create, hosted by Mahvesh Murad. This week, Mahvesh talks with writer Nisi Shawl about the Samuel Delany tribute anthology Stories for Chip, and her new alternate history novel Everfair—available now from Tor Books, you can […]

In this episode I'm excited to announce the launch of the Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook, a project to gather the very best advice and insight from all of the podcasts into book form. Development of the book is being crowdfunded through Indiegogo, please check out 'The Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook' at indiegogo.com. The main part of the podcast is a wonderful conversation I had with the authors Becky Chambers and Nisi Shawl. We talk about physicality and writing, the difference between a romance scene and a sex scene, the nature of joy and compassion in their work, and then each of them reads a passage from their respective new novels.

In this episode I'm excited to announce the launch of the Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook, a project to gather the very best advice and insight from all of the podcasts into book form. Development of the book is being crowdfunded through Indiegogo, please check out 'The Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook' at indiegogo.com. The main part of the podcast is a wonderful conversation I had with the authors Becky Chambers and Nisi Shawl. We talk about physicality and writing, the difference between a romance scene and a sex scene, the nature of joy and compassion in their work, and then each of them reads a passage from their respective new novels.

2016 marks the ten-year anniversary of Octavia Butler's passing. Commemorative events are happening across Southern California, where she spent most of her life, from conferences to panels to walking tours. Recently, I've become obsessed with her writing -- which can be so powerfully disturbing it keeps me up at night, while at the same time, I can't get enough of it. Nisi Shawl, Ayana Jamieson and Cauleen Smith explain how Butler came to tell stories about power imbalances between humans and other worldly beings, and what her work means to them. ***This is the end of Season 2.***Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We nearly did it. We nearly stayed on topic… This week, we reminisce briefly about six years of the Coode Street Podcast (an anniversary we overlooked a few weeks ago), and then segue, after a few brief diversionary rambles, into a discussion of the books we are both looking forward to in the next six months or so, touching upon new books by Angela Slatter, John Crowley, Peter Beagle, Jeffrey Ford, Kameron Hurley, Alastair Reynolds, Ursula K. Le Guin, Christopher Priest, Yoon Ha Lee, Connie Willis, Ken MacLeod, Nisi Shawl, China Mieville, Michael Swanwick and others, along the way touching upon colonialism and culture, the role of the stand-alone novella, how contemporary writers are dealing with Lovecraft, and what anthologies to look out for. As always, we hope you enjoy the episode. Next week, a new episode of the Coode Street Roundtable and a new episode of the main show.

How should we present characters from a range of different backgrounds in our work? How can we portray these characters with integrity and respect, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation and ability? And how can we navigate this issue with confidence, especially if we come from a group that is perceived to be privileged? Most us will need to present characters in our work who are not like us in some which is socially determined as important. So for example differences in race, and gender, and sexual orientation are currently determined by society as important. Dealing with these differences is the critical cultural issue for writers today, and to help us tackle it, I've invited the writer and journalist Nisi Shawl (www.nisishawl.com), and the writer, composer and musician Daniel José Older (www.danieljoseolder.net), to join me on the Creative Writer's Toolbelt. This conversation is essential listening for anyone who is serious about dealing successfully with the challenge of 'writing the other'.

How should we present characters from a range of different backgrounds in our work? How can we portray these characters with integrity and respect, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation and ability? And how can we navigate this issue with confidence, especially if we come from a group that is perceived to be privileged? Most us will need to present characters in our work who are not like us in some which is socially determined as important. So for example differences in race, and gender, and sexual orientation are currently determined by society as important. Dealing with these differences is the critical cultural issue for writers today, and to help us tackle it, I've invited the writer and journalist Nisi Shawl (www.nisishawl.com), and the writer, composer and musician Daniel José Older (www.danieljoseolder.net), to join me on the Creative Writer's Toolbelt. This conversation is essential listening for anyone who is serious about dealing successfully with the challenge of 'writing the other'.

Another black. A mere illusion, Leopold knew, but he flinched out of the half-naked nigger's path anyway. Of course Marie Henriette noticed when he did so. The quick little taps of the queen's high-heeled slippers echoed faster off the polished floor as she hastened to draw even with him. “My dearest—Sire—” Leopold stopped, forcing his entire retinue to stop with him. “What do you wish, my wife?” | Copyright 2016 by Nisi Shawl. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the final episode of the Coode Street Podcast to be recorded for 2015. This week  Gary and Jonathan are joined by award-winning writers and critics Charlie Jane Anders and Nisi Shawl in the Gershwin Room to discuss more of the best science fiction and fantasy books of the year. As with last week, you'll need to listen to the episode to hear what's recommended, but there are a good handful of familiar books and few surprises that you may want to hunt down before the year is done. We would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to listen to the podcast, for the feedback you've sent in throughout the year, and for your support of Coode Street. We'd also like to thank Charlie Jane and Nisi for making the time to appear on the podcast this week. There will be some new episodes coming up that were recorded back in November, which we hope you enjoy too, but we're on holidays for a while, relaxing and enjoying the season. We wish all of you the happiest of holidays. See you in 2016 for another year of the Coode Street Podcast!

On this episode of The Writer and the Critic, your hosts, Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, begin by addressing listener feedback about high fantasy and narratives of power which followed on from the discussion at the end of the last episode recorded at Continuum 10. They would also like to draw your attention to some Links of Relevant Interest: Amberlin Kwaymullina's Guest of Honour speech from Continuum 10 Jim C. Hine's Guest of Honour speech from Continuum 10 An Indigenous Speculative Fiction Reading List provided by Amberlin Kwaymullina Ian then provides a brief but thoughtful (and spoiler-free) review of War Stories: Modern Military Science Fiction, a crowd-funded anthology edited by Jaym Gates and Andrew Liptak, which he highly recommends. The two books up for critique on this episode are We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology edited by Fabio Fernandes and Djibril al-Ayad (beginning around 22:05) and Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older (1:01:35). The reviews and articles mentioned during the discussion can be found via the following links: Review of Long Hidden by Katherine Farmer on Strange Horizons "Reviewing the Other: Like Dancing about Architecture" by Nisi Shawl on Strange Horizons "Inclusive Reviewing: A Discussion" on Strange Horizons "Escaping Ethnocentricity?" by Samuel R. Delany on Strange Horizons Response to "Literary Trick" comment by Troy L. Wiggins "MFA vs POC" by Junot Diaz on The New Yorker If you've skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:53:05 for final remarks. For the next episode, Kirstyn has chosen We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler while Ian is recommending Dust Devil on a Quiet Street by Richard Bowes. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

The Unheard Voices of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror panel from Arisia. Catherine Lundoff moderated this panel, with K. Tempest Bradford (standing in for Nisi Shawl), Julia Rios, Trisha Wooldridge, Andrea Hairston, and Victor Raymond. Listening to this doesn't give you the visual cues that people in the room had, so a note up front: Nisi was in the audience, but wasn't up for sitting on the panel. There was an ongoing joke about Tempest being Nisi, and about Nisi being Nalo Hopkinson, who was not at the convention. Awards season!*Lambda finalists include lots of OA members like Nicola Griffith, Sacchi Green, Mary Ann Mohanraj, Alex Jeffers, Alaya Dawn Johnson, The editors and contributors to Ghosts in Gaslight, Monsters in Steam Gay City: Volume 5, Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold, Richard Bowes, Lee Thomas, and more. Full list here: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/news/03/06/26th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-announced/*The Nebula nominee list is also out, and lots of OA types are there too, including Sofia Samatar, Nicola Griffith, Ellen Klages and Andy Duncan, Vylar Kaftan, Catherynne Valente, Christopher Barzak, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Sarah Pinsker, Rachel Swirsky, Karen Healey, and Nalo Hopkinson. Full nominee list here: http://www.sfwa.org/2014/02/2013-nebula-nominees-announced/The Galactic Suburbia Award and Honor List is out now, and the joint winners are N.K. Jemisin and Elise Matthesen. Full Honor List here: http://galactisuburbia.podbean.com/2014/03/23/episode-96-19-march-2014/*Carl Brandon Society is a group for fans and writers of color. They give out the Kindred and Parallax Awards for fiction by and/or about people of colors, and also administer scholarships for students of color to attend Clarion.*Broad Universe is a group for women who write and publish science fiction and fantasy. They have a website, a podcast, and many promotional and support networking opportunities for members, including organizing group readings and book sale tables at conventions. *WisCon is a feminist science fiction convention held each year at the end of May in Madison, Wisconsin. The Carl Brandon Society and Broad Universe both have strong presences there. *Con or Bust is an organization that raises money to send fans of color to conventions. The Carl Brandon Society administers the funds. *Gaylaxicon and Outlantacon are conventions specifically for the QUILTBAG SF fandom community. Gaylaxicon is a roving con (like WorldCon), and Outlantacon happens each year in May in Atlanta. This year's Gaylaxicon will be hosted by Outlantacon.Work by people on the panel:*Filter House is Nisi Shawl's Tiptree Award Winning short story collection (Tempest joked that her collection would be called Filter House 2).*Redwood and Wildfire is Andrea Hairston's Tiptree Award Winning novel (for which she had also just received a Carl Brandon Award on the day of this panel).*Silver Moon is Catherine Lundoff's novel about menopausal werewolves*Catherine writes a series about LGBT SFF for SF Signal.*Julia is an editor for Strange Horizons, which is always interested in publishing diverse voices.*Kaleidoscope is an anthology of diverse YA SF and Fantasy stories Julia is co-editing with Alisa Krasnostein, which is scheduled to launch in August of 2014.*In Other Words is an anthology of poetry and flash by writers of color Julia is co-editing with Saira Ali, which is scheduled to launch at WisCon in May, and which will benefit Con or Bust.Other things mentioned: *Lorraine Hansberry was an African American lesbian playwright, best known for Raisin in the Sun, but Andrea pointed out that she also wrote a lot of science fiction plays. *The SFWA Bulletin incited a lot of pushback in 2013. Here is a timeline: http://www.slhuang.com/blog/2013/07/02/a-timeline-of-the-2013-sfwa-controversies/. It has since changed editorial staff and has just put out the first of the new team's issues, which seems to be a lot more favorably received, as evidenced here: http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2014/03/the-new-sfwa-bulletin-is-blowing-my-mind.html.*"The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter" by Damien Angelica Walters was written partly in response to the SFWA bulletin's sexism. *A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar came up as an example of a novel by a person of color put out through an independent (not one of the big New York houses--Andrea argued for calling these sorts of publishers independent rather than small) publisher, Small Beer Press. Since the panel, A Stranger in Olondria has won the Crawford Award and been nominated for the Nebula. *Crossed Genres, Twelfth Planet Press, and Papaveria Press are independent presses that publish diverse voices.*Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and Apex are magazines Tempest sees publishing diverse stories. Tor.com is also publishing more diverse stories now, like "The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere" by John Chu. *The Tiptree Award celebrates work that expands our notions of gender.*Dark Matter is an anthology exploring a century of SF by black writers. *Blood Children was an anthology put out by the Carl Brandon Society in 213 to benefit the Octavia Butler Scholarship, which sends students of color to Clarion. *Bending the Landscape, Kindred Spirits, and Worlds Apart were brought up as examples of QUILTBAG anthologies from more than just a few years back. All of these were mentioned as early examples, but the panel agreed we need more. *Daughters of Earth is a collection of stories by women from the early 1900s to 2000 with accompanying critical essays. This collection is edited by Justine Larbalestier. Andrea wrote a critical essay about an Octavia Butler story in this book. *The Cascadia Subduction Zone has a feature where an established writer recommends and reviews an older work that might be obscure. Andrea and Nisi have both done this. *Lethe Press publishes best gay SF stories each year in Wilde Stories, and best lesbian SF stories each year in Heiresses of Russ. Nisi and Julia are both in Heiresses of Russ 2013.*From the audience, Saira Ali recommends Goblin Fruit and Stone Telling as diverse poetry magazines, and Aliens: Recent Encounters (edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane) as a good anthology.

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents part 2 of Nisi Shawl's "Red Matty" You can read the full text of the story, and more about Nisi, here. This podcast has been published as part of our 2013 fund drive bonus issue! Read more about Strange Horizons' funding model, or donate, here.

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents part 1 of Nisi Shawl's "Red Matty" You can read the full text of the story, and more about Nisi, here. Part two will be published when we reach $10,000. Help us get there! This podcast has been published as part of our 2013 fund drive bonus issue! Read more about Strange Horizons' funding model, or donate, here. Help us get to $7,000 to read our next piece of bonus content: "Full Metal Hanuman," a new poem by Bryan Thao Worra.