This has not been the year anyone planned it to be. Nearly every annual event that writers look forward to have been cancelled or transmogrified. For some writers, this means missing out on a career milestone, like accepting a Hugo Award in person, or going to a workshop that’s no longer happening. There’s a great sense of loss as we miss out on these traditions, but at the same time people are stepping the fuck up and offering so much of their time, expertise and resources to each other. Everything sucks, but we’re not in this alone.
There are a lot of great things going on out there if you are a speculative fiction writer. So many great things that I don’t have the time or energy to recap them all, so in this post I wanted to focus on 1. Reading and discussion groups. One of the things that help writers grow is reading a shit ton and thinking about what goes into each story 2. Stuff happening this week 3. Things I am personally interested in.
That narrows it down to three events this week I want to highlight:
Monday, April 20th – Us in Flux: Conversations with Kij Johnson and Jessie Rack
Kij Johnson is amazing writer and a great teacher (I was lucky enough to have her as an instructor at Clarion West). If you haven’t read her short stories, google “Ponies”, “Mantis Wives”, and “Spar,” and get ready to be hollowed out. On Monday Kij and ecologist Jessie Rack will be discussing a new story of Kij’s that was published on Thursday. The event is free.
Tuesday, April 21st – Short Story Club: Live Q&A with Ted Chiang
The short story book club is less a discussion group and more of an author Q&A (at least, based on the previous event with Cory Doctorow) and I am A-okay with that. Ted Chiang is one of the most acclaimed shot-spec writers working right now, and I can’t wait to get a chance to listen to him talk. Tickets are free but can be purchased with the money going to Covid-19 relief charities.
Friday, April 24th- Vox’s Online Book Club Discuss the final part of “The City We Became”
Even during a shutdown, my local library is still coming through- just recently my hold on a digital copy of N.K. Jemisin’s newest novel “The City We Became” came through. I’m pumped to read it, in part so I can take part in all the book clubs that are discussing it.