Last Chance for Christmas 2018: signed Maddie Adventures

Plus Chapters Kamloops on November 3rd, starting at 1 p.m.

Laksa Media Group takes home the BPA Award for Speculative Fiction

 

My guest this weekend is Lucas K. Law of Laksa Media Group, producers of excellent and extremely relevant anthologies, the third of which, Where the Stars Rise, has just won the 2018 Alberta Book Publishing Award for Speculative Fiction.  Congratulations to Lucas, S.M. Beiko, and Tim Feist as well as all the contributing authors!

Now, to the questions I asked Lucas last week. You'll soon realize, as I did, that this is no ordinary publisher, and no ordinary vision for Speculative Fiction. 

Jayne: Laksa Media has the most comprehensive Mission Statement I’ve ever seen from a publisher, starting with “To listen, understand, learn, and connect: and finishing with, “to make a difference in social good.” Tell me what inspired it. And does one part or another mean something extra-special to you personally?

LUCAS: I would term those statements as "guiding principles" for Laksa Media. It is our "True North" compass, our directional guide to keep us grounded, to get us back to our core values if we are led astray by "new and shiny things" or when we are in “own bubbles” too long.

Before setting up Laksa Media, I kept asking myself numerous whys. Why do you want to be a publisher?  Why not continue on as an editor, which you have been doing for years? Why do you want to take on the extra work? Why is it so important to have Laksa Media now? Why do you need to curate more books when there are already so many in the world?

The answers point to a need to finding projects that share social issues that are dear to my heart, together with a charitable component to make it a holistic experience.

The people in my life—grandparents, parents, partner, relatives, friends, and work colleagues—have or had taught me the lessons of sharing, gratitude, humanity, and humility through their words and actions many times over.

I incorporate a number of those lessons into the guiding principles and tag lines for Laksa Media. We have three taglines we use at different times: “Read for a Cause, Write for a Cause, Help a Cause”, “Help Us Change the World, One Book at a Time”, and “Using Social Media for Social Good”.

Jayne: How did you end up working with S.M. Beiko and Tim Feist?

LUCAS:  I spent several months going through the book covers and interior book layout of numerous mid-sized and small publishers. And I kept circling back to ChiZine's books, and the trail led me to S.M. Beiko. One email after another and here we are—we are so lucky to have Samantha to brainstorm ideas with and guide us through the publishing landscape.

Tim is an easy find—I looked across the dinner table and said something along the line that I needed help and without hesitation, he suggested the name "Laksa." He has over 35 years of experience in media, communications, and editorial services, so that helps to steer me in the right direction.

Jayne: Laksa Media’s first anthology came out – out of the blue – only two years ago, yet already you’re making waves across the Speculative Fiction landscape, with a presence at many major conventions internationally and a stack of awards and nominations coming your way. How did this upstart media company come so far, so fast?

LUCAS:  I'm afraid that I don't have an overnight success story to share here. That would have been more interesting. Laksa Media was incorporated in 2012 but did not publish its first title, Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts, until four years later. I wish I know the secret ingredients for each book. We can only do our best. But, if there is one secret, it is the kindness and generosity of the people who have touched Laksa Media and me in the past six years. Along the journey, authors, other publishers, editors, colleagues from other publishing houses, media professionals, and even strangers contribute their time, share their stories, and offer to assist (and often go out their way to help without me knowing it); they continue to provide their words of wisdom and encouragement. I am grateful and thankful every day for the opportunity to know these people and work with some of them in our projects.

Another secret probably lies in the old-fashioned values handed down by my parents and grandparents: work hard, do things the right way, stay real, and treat people with respect, and treat them the way you want to be treated by them.  

I have to be careful in defining the term "success." Success to me is when Laksa Media follows its guiding principles and the people in each project feel proud by their involvement and association with us. The rest is bonus, a beautiful gift to remind us to do our best and stay in the moment. However, I have to mention that I am so excited for our authors, Samantha, and my co-editors; they deserve all the accolades that come their way because they have put so much of themselves in our projects. The true recipe to Laksa Media’s success is them.

Jayne: I started counting this myself but got dazzled by the glow of the Sunburst Award. Tell me how many awards Laksa Media and its various anthologies have been nominated for, and won, so far in 2018.

LUCAS:  Listing the information feels like bragging, but if I don't do it, then it is not fair for those who have been involved with our three titles: Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts, The Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound and Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy. They made Laksa Media and I look good. So, here are the stats:

 

For the anthologies—[Lucas got back to me this morning to update this bit officially in light of the win last night.] 
 
For the anthologies—two award nominations, two award finalists, THREE award winners.

For the short stories—seven award nominations (shortlisted), two award nominations (longlisted), one award winner, four award finalists, four selected for the year's best anthologies, nine listed in recommended annual reading list, twenty honorable mentions in the year's best anthologies

Jayne: *several moments of speechless admiration*

Jayne: One of the more popular panels at When Words Collide in Calgary this past August was on Writing to a Theme. What one concept would you most like people to take away from all that complexity of discussion?

LUCAS:  Theme is the relevance of your story to life: how does it relate to reality as seen through your characters and experienced through your storyline. We don't have to be authors or life coaches to tell a story with a theme. We are all artists—we have the abilities within us—be it writing, cooking, painting, photographing, journaling, gardening, etc. We often get into a situation of second-guessing ourselves—that we are not good enough, or we don't have the right tools and skill sets, or no one is interested—and we make it more complicated than it should be, and then we end up in a state of paralysis and not moving forward. So, when the time is right for you, be not afraid to share your story in whatever medium you are comfortable with.  

Jayne: Your next anthology, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, came out September 8, 2018. The theme is most timely given the outflow of refugees from Syria – both across/around the Mediterranean and via direct flight to safe countries where a refugee claim can be made on the ground – and the increasingly hostile anti-immigration rhetoric in both Canada and the USA. Did you have those issues in mind when you first decided on this theme? Did you get the type of stories you expected from your submission call? What do you hope readers take from the experience of these stories?

LUCAS:  I didn't have those issues in mind when this theme was conceived five years ago, along with the other anthology themes. It was part of the five year-plan for Laksa Media. Who knew back then, in 2013, it would be such a global issue now? Each of our anthologies comes from within—a part of who we are—the best and the worst in us and everything-in-between.

The concept for Shades Within Us came from my own upbringing and family history in migrations. I wanted to explore the human spirit that comes from individual and societal displacement—physical, psychological, spiritual—by choice or by force, for good or ill, for better or worse, to leave behind all that is familiar and to face the unknown.

The invited authors surprised Susan and me with their diverse voice and style, their varieties of approaches—literally or metaphorically—to the theme of migrations and fractured borders. They use science fiction, fantasy, and horror, sometimes cross-genres, sometimes genres that don't even have category fitting, to examine the power of culture, politics, religion, health, economics, exploration, magic, war, or death, a myriad of reasons to drive the individuals to cope with displacement and change.

We want the readers to know that these are not stories of despair, anger, and revenge; these are stories of facing those adversities and challenges with equal determination, resiliency, and humility. We move or relocate for many reasons: economic challenges, employment, new opportunities, failing health, and much more. The human spirit will triumph in the end. And, in addition, "migration" should not be a negative connotation or associated with just refugees and illegal immigrants.  It is who we are and what we become when we relocate.

I think Kend M., a librarian, said it best about Shades Within Us in her Goodreads review: "Intersectionality may not be the primary guiding principle of this anthology, but it is present in nearly every story contained herein; importantly for me, this awareness extends to the LGBTQIA+ community as well as communities traditionally othered for reasons of skin color, country of origin, gender, religion, and neuro-divergence. The stories are not always winsome or whimsical; they delve into the dark and the twisted as often as they do into the empowering and uplifting. Agency is always at stake, and self-awareness lurking just below. This anthology splits the difference between rambunctious new collections like Robots vs. Fairies and serious commentaries on the immigrant experience, such as Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing.”

For those who are interested in reading a sample, find excerpts from Shades Within Us at Tor.com. For Susan and my thoughts on migrations, read our Big Idea blog on John Scalzi’s Whatever website.

Jayne: I see you’re closed to non-fiction submissions for the next couple of years. Do you care to tell us what you’ve got in that particular publishing stream at present?

LUCAS:  Publishing non-fiction is always part of our long-term plan. Even though we have several non-fiction concepts in the pipeline, we probably wouldn't release our first title until 2022. We are considering a series of anthologies consisting of essays on social, cultural and identity intersections. We haven't nailed down the concept completely so I can't share any detail at this time.

Its publication date continues to be shifted because Laksa Media is working hard on an epic fantasy adventure series of seven books—a multi-generational family saga of betrayal, deception, survival, revenge, love, and redemption caused by a chain of addictions and discriminations.

The first title is scheduled for a late summer release next year. It is not only a tale of rollicking adventure but an opportunity for the author and Laksa Media to examine the complex world of addictions, knowing that there is no family today that has not been touched by the heartache, stigma, struggles—and the often-unrecognized courage and hope—that underpin the illness of addiction. We are currently evaluating several non-profit organizations that we want to work with. More information to come soon.

And thank you for the opportunity to discuss my thoughts with you. 

Jayne:  And thank you, Lucas, for sharing your guiding principles and so much more with us. As always when speaking with you, I am left thinking of more and yet more follow-up questions. As I too love tales of rollicking adventure that address real social and personal issues along the way, perhaps you'll come back next year, when this first novel of the epic saga is released, and tell me about that.

Links

Laksa Media

Tor.com

Big Idea Blog

Moments you never dreamed of...

Alberta Children & Young Adult 

Book of the Year! 

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

A full list is available at the 

Book Publishers of Alberta Association 

The thrilling moment of the announcement:

Photo thanks to Kristin Morrell, who sent it to me right after the announcement

Aurora Interview #7: Suzy Vadori

My guest today is Suzy Vadori, nominated in the Best Novel, Young Adult category for the 2018 Prix Aurora, the fan award for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Suzy is the Award Winning, Calgary Bestselling Author of The Fountain Series (The Fountain, The West Woods), published by Evil Alter Ego Press. This fantastical Young Adult Series has been awarded a bronze medal from Readers’ Favorite, two Aurora Nominations for Best Young Adult Novel, and Five Stars from the San Francisco Review of Books.

Suzy lives in Calgary, Canada with her husband and three children. She is an involved member in the writing community, serving as Program Manager, Young Adult/Children’s Programming for When Words Collide (WWC), a literary festival held in Calgary each August. Suzy is also the founder of WriteIt! creative writing programs in schools, building young writers.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

The Fountain was my debut novel, published in 2015. This series is magical realism. Everything I write has an element of magic, with a healthy dose of romantic story line. The next series I’m working is an upper YA, set in a completely fantastical world.

Is this your first nomination? If not, what other title/category have you been nominated for (past or present)?

Book 1 in The Fountain Series, The Fountain, was also nominated for an Aurora - Best Novel, Young Adult, in 2016. I’m thrilled to have The West Woods up for the same award this year. Fingers crossed second time is the charm.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

I just love writing in The Fountain Series’ world. A boarding school, with a magical twist. The world grows by leaps and bounds in books two and three (Wall of Wishes will be released 2019). I loved expanding the world, but it surprised me how much it grew as I wrote. 

The Fountain took me four years to write, edit and find a publisher. The West Woods was written in a year.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

The three books in this series are written out of order, from different points of view, which kept the story fresh and challenging to write. 

The West Woods is Courtney’s story, and it needed to be told. I love Courtney as a character. She’s the most asked about by readers of The Fountain. Usually readers ask – “what is with her?” She has a very complex reason she is who she is (hint: it’s magical). It was fun to share her story with readers.  

After reading The West Woods, I can’t guarantee you’ll like her, but you’ll be rooting for her, which is all any protagonist can ever ask for.

For those who are waiting for the conclusion of the series, don’t worry. It’s coming, and it will answer all. 

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

 As I work on my next series, I’ve immersed myself in reading upper YA fantasy. Two authors who do a marvelous job of painting fantastical worlds are Calgary author Danielle L. Jensen (who also happens to be an amazing mentor and friend), and Sarah J. Maas. I’m drawn into their worlds with their fantastic imagery. It’s easy to see why their books are wildly popular.

Book blurb:  The West Woods

Courtney Wallis wants nothing more than to escape St. Augustus boarding school. After uncovering a well-kept secret about the school’s founder, Isaac Young, Courtney turns to the school’s magic to convince her dad to let her leave. Things take a turn when she meets Cole, who lives in the nearby town of Evergreen. He gives her hope that things might not be so bad. However, the school's fountain has other ideas, and binds Courtney to her ambition, no matter the cost.

As Courtney struggles to keep the magic from taking over, she and her friends get drawn into the mystery woven into the school’s fabric. Everything seems to lead back to the forbidden West Woods. Together, she and her friends seek out the spirits of the past to ask for help, and find themselves in much deeper than they’d bargained for. If they succeed, Courtney could be free of the magic. If they fail, she may never be the same.

Suzy's website

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 For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

Prix Aurora Interview #6: Calvin D. Jim

 My guest today is Calvin D. Jim, nominated in the Best Short Fiction category for the 2018 Prix Aurora Award.

Calvin is a Calgary lawyer-turned-author whose Asian-inspired stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and publications.
A self-proclaimed geek, he managed to wrangle his wife and two sons into board games and Karate (not necessarily in that order, and not without injury). His latest stories can be found in the anthologies Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy and Enigma Front: Onward.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

Thirteen years. That’s how old my eldest son is, and also how long I’ve been writing seriously. Before that, I took a long and winding route to get there. I started where a lot of geeky kids started in the 1970s: role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. I game-mastered a lot, which meant I made up stories, scenarios, and characters and hoped my players would enjoy them. Many long years and a half-dozen career changes later, I decided writing was what I wanted to do. By then, I had a family and responsibilities and couldn’t just toss them aside in favour of “this writing thing.” So its been a slow climb since then, but a satisfying one, one that I am glad to have my family beside me for the journey. They keep me grounded.

Is this your first nomination? If not, what other title/category have you been nominated for (past or present)?


 I was previously nominated in 2012 for Best Related Work as co-editor for Shanghai Steam, the steampunk-wuxia (martial arts) anthology.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

This story had a long journey of a thousand li.* It began unexpectedly with the passing of my Aunt Mae in Vancouver. I spent a lot of time with her and my extended family when I was young. So when she passed, I knew immediately that I wanted to attend her funeral. A week after her passing, I had heard nothing about funeral plans. A week or two later, I heard that there would be no funeral. My uncle took her death very hard. I heard he kept her ashes on a dresser in his (their) bedroom. That image stuck in my head.  

Several months later, I was in the middle of revisions on my first novel and having a tough time with it when another story idea occurred to me. I read about Japantown in Vancouver – an area my mother grew up in. I was fascinated with the area and wondered what kind of story I could set in it. A couple of ideas popped in my head and I threw the novel revisions aside and banged out a first draft. Rose as a character came to me almost fully formed. Her father took time and morphed from an uncaring father to one still dealing with the death of his wife. Sound familiar? I unconsciously dealt with my aunt’s passing and this story was the result.

Of course, the plot didn’t come fully formed. The basic concept was there, but the scenes took time and a few re-writes – especially the later scenes. I think I even sent it out once and they returned it with comments that said what I already knew – the first half was great, the second half, not so much. I am so happy I took the time to sharpen it into the tale that got accepted by Laksa Media. Best place it could have ended up.

But even if the story took time to form, its emotional heart remained throughout. It was me saying goodbye. I am sure my aunt would be have been happy with the result.

 * a li is a Chinese length measurement now standardized at a half-kilometer (500 meters or 1,640 feet)

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

As you might guess, my favourite thing about Rose’s Arm is Japantown. My mother was born in 1929 in Vancouver and lived in Japantown until the internment in 1942. She received a few books about Japantown and the internment which I borrowed to read. That spurred on some internet research and some conversations with my mother about her early life. Inevitably, I would write something set there and am doing so again. Incidentally, my mother lived behind the family grocery store, Hori-zen (named after her father, Zenya Hori). I included it as an Easter Egg.

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

As a fantasy writer, J.R.R. Tolkien inspires me because of the expansive world building he did for Middle Earth. I can only be so lucky to build a world as detailed and awe-inspiring as his. Haruki Murakami inspires me because of his ability to say so much with so little. His stories remind me a bit of Hemingway - sparse in prose, deep in meaning and imagery. But for me, Lian Hearn’s two book series, The Tales of the Otori and the Tale of Shikonoko, is what I aspire to as a writer. Her stories about mythical Japan are written in English and the only Japanese words she uses are names. She evokes Japan through exacting prose. It‘s like reading poetry.

The differences and similarities between Asian and North American SFF are too vast a topic for this interview but perhaps mention the main ones you try to address in your work?

As a cross-cultural writer (China and Japan are in my blood, but I am thoroughly Canadian), I look at identity and the commonalities between ethnicities. We all love, we all get angry, we all grieve. The cultural specifics might be different, and the thought processes and philosophies between east and west are very different, but the human experience is the same. How we deal with life and death is the most human question of all, no matter what culture you come from.

Website: www.calvindjimauthor.ca

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For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

Aurora Interview #5: Westbrook-Trenholm

Liz is nominated for her story, Gone Flying, in the Short Fiction category for the 2018 Prix Aurora, the fan award for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Gone Flying was published in The Sumof Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound (Laksa Media).

Liz Westbrook-Trenholm has published or aired mainstream and speculative short fiction, most recently in Neo-Opsis, Prix Aurora-winning anthology Second Contacts (Bundoran Press), and the Prix Aurora nominated anthologies, The Sum of Us, (Laksa Media) and 49^th Parallels (Bundoran Press). More stories are coming in fall: Critical Mass in Laksa Media’s Shades Within Us, and Fallen Angels, in Wild Musette. More stories are on the way once contracts are signed. She also writes comedic murder mysteries for Calgary entertainment company, Pegasus Performances, with over 80 scripts produced. She’s a founding member of Imaginative Fiction Writers Association and a member of the critique group, East Block Irregulars. A retired public servant, Liz lives in Ottawa with her husband, writer and publisher, Hayden Trenholm.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

I’ve been writing SFF since the 90’s at least, when I had my first publications in On Spec, as well as some mainstream stories on CBC Radio, in the late, lamented days when the CBC One still offered drama and fiction. I tried writing a YA novel once, and it’s safely in a drawer where it belongs. I’ve also published book reviews and the above-mentioned comedic murder mystery scripts. However, the short story form is my greatest love – worlds distilled to the crucial core.   

Is this your first nomination?

Yes! First nomination! So honoured and excited to be among such great company!

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

Ah, well, the way I write stories is a bit circular and iterative – lots of second guessing. My husband Hayden says that I’d be one of those artists who sneak into the Louvre to touch up a painting.

The startup process was typical of how I create a piece. It began with a bit of scribble I did while watching a sunset on Rob Sawyer’s balcony, back in June 2014 or maybe 2015 at a write-off where my writing was getting nowhere. I imagined flying out into space, rising above the land, above cares, above frustrations, out into the vacuum. That simmered away on my laptop while I was still fitting writing into the corners of a demanding career (a set of speed bumps all on its own). 

At the same time, my 89-year-old mother, after a life of action and contribution, was losing her vigor and grieving over it. I felt empathetic indignation over the way our society, with the best intentions, shunts the elderly aside. Yet I also felt how weary a mind and body must get after more than 80 years on earth. So, two notions collided: escaping naked into the cosmos versus having to live out a tough life on earth when you’re old and tired. 

Summer of 2015, when I got a little writing time, I began spinning thoughts around the core idea. It's messy but it's how a story starts for me. I write scenes that may or may not end up in the story, conversations with my characters and musings on who, what, where, why and how, plus heaps of notes from research. Like planets forming in the disc of matter swirling around a new sun, the characters and scenes form.

The idea of raising children came up as I’d bumped off a significant part of the human race in the post-apocalyptic world I chose for the setting, so it made sense that the race had to restore itself as quickly as possible. I also imagined a world where everything had seemed in order, very technically advanced, and then wondered how it would cope in the face of a virulent, complex disease, as even the most advanced society is vulnerable to nature’s blows. I also thought how, if 80-year-old Sarah survived, it meant she might have a genetically based resistance, so clones made sense, since they’d have the same genetics. Then again, genetics isn’t deterministic, it’s probabilistic and affected by external factors we often don’t understand. So not all the children would survive. 

The same theme also offered opportunities to examine the complexities of Sarah’s character through the ways her identical selves turned out and became unique individuals in their own right.

While these thoughts wheeled around in my head, I’d stop off to do research and fact check. I always do that. It not only gives rise to additional story layers as I make discoveries, but it’s a great way to avoid buckling down to writing. Research is my kryptonite. But, finally, I had to back off all the dumpster-diving into epidemiology and genetics, weather patterns, nuclear power plant automation or whatever. Time to write. 

The world was established in my mind; I could see it, smell it, hear it, feel its wind on my skin and, most importantly, take it for granted, just as those living in it would. That way, I wouldn’t fall into that familiar sci-fi trap of wandering off into info-dump land. In my stories, I try really hard to evoke the world by having the characters move through and react to it the way people do, making toast, but not wondering at length how toasters work.

Anyhow, I zeroed in on what coalesced as the emotional essence of the story, which is senior Sarah’s growing love for the clone Sarahs despite her attempts not to be drawn into caring only to be hurt yet again. And she rediscovers her resilience in the face of adversity, just getting the job of survival done.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

Oh, now, I’ve always loved my children equally, even when they’re in the throes of temper tantrums. Seriously, though, I think I captured the emotional intensity I felt the story deserved, and I liked celebrating how strong ordinary people are in the face of adversity as they get on with the tough act of survival. I like my characters very much.

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

Only a couple? Two who leap to mind aren’t even genre writers:

Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall and Bring Out Your Dead) fictionally evokes the mercurial time of Henry VIII’s reign through the very personalized eyes of Thomas Cromwell. Great events seen from a personal viewpoint.

Bryn Greenwood bowled me over with(All the Ugly, Wonderful Things, which boldly examines a tough, tough subject in a fresh and controversial manner with a skill that makes me want to write and write so I might just start to be a fraction that good.

Genre: I have so many friends who write so well and I struggle to imagine who I’d mention. So, here’s someone I’ve never met, and read about 4 or 5 years ago, (it won the 2013 World Fantasy Award); it’s G. Willow Wilson, Alif the Unseen. Wilson bursts open the fantasy genre in this colorful book and has gone on to work on Marvel comics, working, among other things, on the Ms. Marvel series.

And another is Lauren Beukes. Anything she writes.

Oh-oh, the floodgates are opening. I’ve read and listened to so many amazing stories. One that ambushed me big time this spring was Logistics by A.J. Fitzwater as read by Kate Baker 

(Clarkesworld, Issue 139)(I mean, where does a gal get a tampon at the end of the world?). 

And read just about any story by Rich Larson, raised in Africa and Alberta and based in Ottawa for now. Haven’t met any story of his I don’t love. There are more, many more, but I’ll make myself stop.

About the nominated story, Gone Flying:

I don’t have a book blurb, but here’s an excerpt from a review that really got what I was doing: … a story so full of love, even woven inextricably with sorrow, and in the end, joy at the weary old persistence of life… 

[Jayne's note:  I'm trying to be really impartial with these interviews but this story is an epic saga of love and hope and mourning, beautifully condensed to a few vignettes that convey so much more than the words on the page. I wept, and weep again remembering]

Social media:

Liz Westbrook-Trenholm at https://www.facebook.com/liz.westbrooktrenholm

Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy at https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianSF/

Laksa Media: http://laksamedia.com/

Bundoran Press: http://www.bundoranpress.com/

Wild Musette: a quirky lit press with a charming (and free!) e-zine at https://wildmusette.com/

For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

World Parasol Dueling Championships coming up!

With the Autumn comes the annual World Parasol Dueling Championships in Calgary. Many past champions will be competing. Details below.

Aurora Interview #4: Julie Czerneda

(Photo credit Roger Czerneda Photography)

My guest today is Julie E. Czerneda, nominated in the Best Long-form (Novel) category for the 2018 Prix Aurora, the fan award for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy.

For over twenty years, Canadian author/ former biologist Julie E. Czerneda has shared her curiosity about living things through her science fiction, published by DAW Books, NY. Julie’s written fantasy too, the first installments of her Night’s Edge series (DAW) A Turn of Light and A Play of Shadow, winning consecutive Aurora Awards (Canada’s Hugo) for Best English Novel. Julie’s edited/co-edited numerous  award-winning anthologies of SF/F, most recently SFWA’s 2017 Nebula Award Showcase. Out this fall is an all-original anthology written by fans of her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis. 

(Cover art by Matthew Stawicki.)

 Her finale to that series, To Guard Against the Dark, was released in 2017 (up for Best Novel this year). 

Julie is an internationally renowned panelist and speaker on genre, writing, and scientific literacy. She was Master of Ceremonies for the 2009 Worldcon and has done writers workshops for the New Zealand and Australia National Conventions as well as Ottawa Comic Con and Anime North. She’ll be GOH at ConStellation in 2019. This October, Esen--Julie’s most beloved character--returns in Search Image, Book #1 of her new SF series, The Web Shifter’s Library. Meanwhile, Julie is hard at work on a new fantasy standalone, The Gossamer Mage.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

 

Forever? My first publication in SFF was in 1997. I’ve written fantasy as well as SF, some horror, short fiction and long. I’ve edited numerous anthologies as well.

What other titles/categories have you been nominated for (past or present)?

My work has been nominated many times, to my delight, if not any of the Clan Chronicles until now. That makes this one very special. I’ve won in all the professional English categories, other than art, for science fiction and fantasy.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

To Guard Against the Dark is the culmination of a series I began decades ago. I wrote the nine books as three trilogies, leaving the story to tell others periodically. There weren’t speed bumps but I did need to keep careful notes as well as relearn the “voice” for each trilogy. Plus, this final one, Reunification, was going to be darker and quite intense. I elected to write two fantasy novels first.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

That it’s the kind of ending I love—the one I wanted for this story and the characters of Sira and Morgan. I hope readers will feel the same. I’ve answered the underlying “What if?” which was vital. At the same time, I’m satisfied there’s a good taste to how it ends, and a sense of wonder too.

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

C.J. Cherryh, because her imagination is only exceeded by the work she puts into every detail. Anne Bishop, another amazing writer with a tremendous work ethic and talent.

Book blurb courtesy of DAW Books

The final book in the hard science fiction Reunification trilogy, the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning Clan Chronicles

Jason Morgan is a troubling mystery to friends and enemies alike: once a starship captain and trader, then Joined to the most powerful member of the Clan, Sira di Sarc, following her and her kind out of known space.

Only to return, alone and silent. 

But he's returned to a Trade Pact under siege and desperate. The Assemblers continue to be a threat. Other species have sensed opportunity and threaten what stability remains, including those who dwell in the M'hir. What Morgan knows could save them all, or doom them. 

For not all of the Clan followed Sira. And peace isn't what they seek.

For more about Julie and her many works of stellar Science Fiction, visit   www.czerneda.com

For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

Aurora Interview #3: Gerald Brandt

My guest today is Gerald Brandt, nominated in the Best Novel category for the 2018 Prix Aurora Award for Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy published in 2017.

Gerald Brandt is an International Bestselling Author of Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His current novel is The Rebel – A San Angeles Novel, published by DAW Books. His first novel, The Courier, also in the San Angeles series was listed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as one of the 10 Canadian science fiction books you need to read and was a finalist for the prestigious  Aurora Award. Both The Courier and its sequel, The Operative, appeared on the Locus Bestsellers List. By day, Gerald is an IT professional. In his limited spare time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle, rock climbing, camping, and spending time with his family. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife Marnie, and their two sons Jared and Ryan.

How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

Like most writers, I started when I was young by copying what I was reading. I still have a notebook somewhere with a carefully drawn map and pages of awful prose. Unfortunately, I stopped writing in high school and concentrated on a career in computers.

Besides my novels, I have a couple of short stories out there. My first sale was in the Aurora Award winning anthology Blood & Water from Bundoran Press. It was quite a few years after that before I sold my first novel.

Is this your first nomination? If not, what other title/category have you been nominated for (past or present)?

The Courier, the first book in the San Angeles series was released in 2016 by DAW Books, and was up for best novel last year. The second book in that series also made the long list, but not the final ballot.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

I made a few mistakes writing the second novel in the series, The Operative – all of them my fault – which ended in a brutally short timeline of four months to write it. That resulted in burnout, and I had to push back the release date of The Rebel twice. DAW was very accommodating, and the novel was released six months late, one year after The Operative.

The process I used has been the same for most of my books, starting with colour coded post-it notes (one color per point of view character), and a large 4x8 foot whiteboard. Each post-it gets a one line description of a scene. I rearrange the post-its until I’m happy with what I have, and then I move the information to a spreadsheet, also colour coded, and add detail. Then I write the novel sequentially. Once I hit the halfway point, I usually go back and redo the outline for the final half of the novel. Things always change when drafting, and those changes need to be reflected in the spreadsheet.

I also tend to write fairly short. First drafts can be anywhere between 70,000 to 80,000 thousand words, and the final novel over 100,000. My main goal is to get the novel finished, and flesh it out later.

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

Besides finishing the series and closing all the various plot threads in an almost neat fashion?

Honestly, it’s a difficult question. It’s like asking which of your children is your favourite. Let’s call it an impossible question. Even though I finished writing the novel in 2016, I still feel too close to work to stand back and look at it that way.

I guess… without giving away too much of the plot… I’m really happy that I was able to bring back some people from Kris’ (my main character) past and create sense of family at the end of the novel. It’s an important step for Kris, and completes her journey.

That, and I really like blowing things up in space!

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

Another tough question! There are so many authors I enjoy reading across multiple genres, that it’s tough to pick just a couple. I’ll give it a try though.

I have to start with Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash is a phenomenal read, and I’ve been told you can see echos of it through my San Angeles series. That book came out when personal computers were still new(ish), and the sky was the limit, and that really grabbed at me – not only back when it was released, but now as well.

The next one is more difficult, do I choose David Eddings, Jaqueline Carey, Lee Child… The list goes on and on. If I think about it, I think it’s their ability to just suck me into their worlds and their stories and their characters lives that makes reading them so enjoyable. As a writer, it’s difficult to turn off my internal editor when reading, and when an author can make me do that, I’m hooked.

Book blurb

Kris Merrill has lost everything. Her family when she was thirteen, her identity when she joined the anti-corporate movement, and now the man she loved. Living in a small room the resistance gave her, she feels alone. Abandoned.

A year ago, Kris’s life was torn apart when a delivery went wrong. The last year spent training with the anti-corporate movement had been the closest she’d ever gotten to normal.

Now, war has broken out between the corporations, and the lower levels of San Angeles are paying the price. Water and food are rationed. People are being ripped from their families in massive sweeps, drafted to fight. Those remaining live in a wasteland. The insurgents are trying to help, but Kris is being left out, given menial tasks instead of doing what she was trained for.

She is torn between working with the insurgents as they become more like the corporations they are fighting, and helping the people of the lower levels.

Caught in one of SoCal’s draft sweeps and being hunted by an enemy who will stop at nothing to have revenge are just the tip of the iceberg. Kris is pregnant, and she might have to choose between bringing down the corporations that destroyed her family or saving the life of her unborn son.

  

http://geraldbrandt.com

Facebook: Gerald Brandt – Author

Twitter: @geraldbrandt

 For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site

Aurora Interview #2: Elizabeth Whitton

 My guest today is Elizabeth Whitton, nominated in the YA Fiction category for the 2018 Prix Aurora,the fan award for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Elizabeth Whitton writes YA, SF, fantasy and horror. Her YA novel HOUSES OF THE OLD BLOOD published by Kettlescon Press, and her short story THE CALLING, written under Elizabeth Grotkowski, and published by Analemma Books in the Enigma Front: The Monster Within” anthology; are finalists for the 2018 Prix Aurora awards. Three of her short stories have appeared in the Enigma Front anthologies. She lives with her husband and daughter in Calgary, Alberta, an hour’s drive away from the magnificent Canadian Rockies.

 How long have you been writing SFF, and what forms have you explored besides the one you’re nominated for?

I’ve been writing SFF since I read my father’s book “ISLANDS IN THE SKY” by Arthur C Clarke when I stayed home from school one day with a bad cold. My first published SFF story, THE DEMON OF P-CITY, appeared in The Enigma Front: Burnt anthology in 2016.

Other forms I’ve explored include flash fiction, which is a blast to pump out, poetry which I compose very badly, and the odd haiku which has taught me to “cut out the crap”!

But it is story telling that is the foundation of all my writing forms.  Every night for years when I was young, washing dishes with my little sister, I’d tell her stories to pass the time.  I’ve told them to my parents, teachers, schoolmates, friends, nieces and nephews, my own children—pretty much anyone who’d listen to me.

 Now I write them.

Is this your first nomination? If not, what other title/category have you been nominated for (past or present)?

This is the first time I’ve been nominated for a Prix Aurora Award. In fact, I’m thrilled to be nominated for two this year.  One for HOUSES OF THE OLD BLOOD,  the best YA Fiction category and the other for my short story,“THE CALLING,” written under my married name, Elizabeth Grotkowski, in the Short Fiction category.

Tell me about your process of creating this work: how long did it take to write? Speed bumps along the way?

HOUSES OF THE OLD BLOOD took about two years to write.  I wrote the book when I was housebound because of a car accident injury. I’d written for personal pleasure all my life, but this story obsessed me like no other, and I spent every waking moment pounding on my keyboard until I finished the bloated 135 K first draft.  I spent the next two years honing it and I’m glad I did, because I’m very happy with the final result. 

What’s your favourite thing about this nominated work: a character, a scene, a setting/world?

Oh my goodness, that’s an impossible question to answer because I could list so many! One favorite thing is my main character Addie. I love her journey from a reluctant, shy girl to ass kicking heroine, as she does what it takes to protect her human family, no matter what it costs her. Another thing I love is the juxtaposition between two very different societies, hidden within the broader human civilization.  One is a paramilitary meritocracy where Addie thrives, and the other is a powerful, ruthless hierarchy based on the dictates of a blood purity caste system. I love the message of empowerment that I’ve threaded throughout the novel as strong female role models abound everywhere. They show Addie how to stand up for herself, fight for what she believes, and realize the power of women united in a common cause. And, of course, there is Eris, the boy she loves, who will do the right thing by Addie no matter how much it hurts either of them.

Name a couple of authors you find inspiring, and tell me what calls to you about their works.

Countless writers inspire me—they are my mentors, instructors, and, at times, my accusers.  More than once, I’ve read a book, then buried my head in my hands and wondered how I can possibly delude myself into thinking I can write? One such novel is the NIGHT CIRCUS, by Erin Morgenstern.  Her prose is breathtaking; every paragraph, every sentence, every phrase a delectable treasure the reader can ponder and savor. Erin Morgenstern definitely challenged me to step up my writing game. 

I also adore Holly Black, the contemporary fantasy writer of THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLD TOWN and THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST.  Her settings of fantastical worlds that reside right beside ours are places I love to linger. She has inspired me to emulate them in my own writing.  And Maggie Stiefvater, who wrote the Raven cycle series and THE SCORPIO RACES, is the mistress of character development and luscious exposition.  Reading her work prods me to delve more deeply into my characters.

 Book blurb 

Sixteen-year-old Addie Stevens is a dedicated underachiever with a serious allergy to attention. When an enigmatic boy with piercing gold eyes stalks her, she can’t shake him. And when she’s attacked by other-worldly hunters called the Denagali, it’s her stalker, Eris, who saves her.

But the Denagali smell blood in the water. Addie’s blood. They’re hunting her, and the one person who knows why is golden-eyed Eris. He can’t stop talking about secret bloodlines, old blood dynasties, and the Kharis, a hidden race of powerful beings. Addie doesn’t want to believe him, but she doesn’t have a choice. Every passing moment she stays with her family thrusts them deeper into Denagali danger.

To save them, Addie escapes with Eris to the sanctuary Kettlescon. Once there, Addie is far from safe. Secrets swirl around her like Kharis battle blades, rumors whisper of a dark transformation, while Addie’s unique “talents” suggest that her blood might be the oldest of them all…

  

www.elizabethwhitton.com

Facebook.com/EAGWhitton

Instagram/elizabeth_whitton

@EAGWhitton

For the complete ballot (including 'Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge' in the YA section) see the CSFFA Prix Aurora site