I started this con with several rejection letters, a headache and a cold sense of failure–and I ended it in a state of exaltation and elation. Once again, spending time with about a thousand brilliant and fascinating people, talking about the thing that matters most to all of us, has had the desired effect–and so this post is a long, and highly incomplete, thank you note. Thank you to the friends I saw as soon as I walked in the door–Jennifer Brinn, Scott Andrews and Mike DeLuca–who swept me up and into a bar conversation that continued for the whole weekend, and ended spectactularly with Jennifer handing me the solution to my problem novel. Thank you to Elwin Cotman, who agreed with me about the superiority of metaphor in fantasy and also ran a fucking fantastic panel. Thank you to Gemma Files, who was awesome in Elwin’s panel and later showed me the most beautiful fan art–someone had given her careful and lovely ink drawings of all of the major characters in her Hexslinger series. Thank you to Stephen Geigen-Miller, who put up with my caffeinated ramblings for ages, and said wise and hilarious and kind things in return. Thank […]
World Fantasy
I’m not doing anything official at this con–I plan to attend panels, hang out with friends old and new, and basically go where my whimsy takes me. That said, there are a couple of things I will absolutely not miss, so if you’re looking to meet up with me, here’s where I will be: Friday, 11 a.m.: York B&C Room, panel on Defining Urban Fantasy. This panel features Tim Powers, among others. And maybe it will help me define what the hell I write. Friday, 1 p.m.: Vaughan Room, panel on Gothic Fantasy Noir. Saturday, 11 a.m.: York B&C Room, panel on The Road to Urban Fantasy. (Are you sensing a theme yet?) Saturday Night: CZP Fall Launch Party. I’ve had a couple of months of feeling off my game where writing is concerned: I’ve sent out some stuff that probably wasn’t up to my usual standard, and therefore banked a high number of rejections; I haven’t managed to put in my desired word counts; and I have a backlog of stuff that needs to be re-drafted before it goes out. I am reminded that this work is not easy work, and that I’m trying to do it on top […]
Literary Community Bulletins
First: Ideomancer, where I have been on staff for several years now, is looking for new junior fiction editors. Deadline for applications is this Wednesday. If you’ve been thinking about joining us, now is the time to apply! Next: Strange Horizons, where I have been published several times, is having their annual fund drive. If you’re wondering why you should donate, take a look through their archive for a selection of stellar, diverse, compelling fiction. And finally: I am looking forward to World Fantasy at the beginning of November! If you’re attending and want to hang out, drop me a line! […]
More great moments in the life of Clairification, Professional Writer
Yesterday I went to Chapters and bought Imaginarium 2012. Yes: I walked into one of my bookstores and bought a book with my story in it. Somehow it feels bigger than seeing my name in a book in the first place–which was cool and all, but this book was living in the wild. There are more copies there, if you want one! The last few weeks have been rather scattered, from a writing perspective, but I have been immeasurably cheered by an awesome review from Bogi Takács, a blogger I have been reading for a few months, who writes wonderful and cogent reviews on a laudably regular basis, and also a shout-out from Liz Bourke on Tor.com. Let this post serve as an inadequate but heartfelt thanks to everyone who reads my work, whether you respond in public or think about it in private. I’m so glad that some of what I am doing works for you… and I’m so grateful that in turn, you are seeing me, and through your observation, making me real. […]
This is my brother Ted. He passed away suddenly on Saturday. He had been struggling with cancer for the last couple of years but had recently had good news; we are still not sure exactly what happened. This isn’t exactly a post about Ted. (I don’t write about real people in my life here, or anywhere–you might guess where they turn up in my fiction but you won’t likely be correct.) It’s a post about death, about what happens when it comes near. This is the second time in recent years that I’ve lost an immediate family member, and the same thing has happened to me both times: a sense of grace, of awe, of something that is almost elation. Death is miraculous, in the same way that birth is miraculous. It is outside of our control. When it strikes this close, like lightning, it raises all the hairs on my arms with this electric sense of a near-miss. He is gone. I am still here. There are a million cliches about this, of course. I’m posting it here because I want you, whoever you might be, to receive a little of that awe, to drop a bit of that […]
In which there’s a new issue of Ideomancer
Our September issue features stories, poetry and reviews–this time focused on the theme of identity, real or false, inherent or constructed, assigned, assumed, evaded. I love working on this magazine–hope you’ll love reading it too! […]
In which there are Historic Moments in the Life of Clairification, Professional Writer
I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve been out of town: four trips in six weeks, making for a very dense and colourful summer. Most of my writing time has been in airports. Why have I been travelling, you ask? Mostly family stuff, but some important writing stuff: Readercon. I flew down with Leah Bobet and Gemma Files–a veritable convoy of Canadian talent. This was my third time attending, and some things have begun to feel like traditions (the Viable Paradise Saturday night dinner at Redbones, the greasy spoon breakfast with Chang and Marko). Other things were shiny and new, particularly the Outer Alliance meetup, at which I experienced a spontaneous and utterly thrilling occurrence–I got to sign people’s copies of Beyond Binary. Photo by Julia Rios: Expect to see me on panels this coming year, assuming the con programming committee wants me–I think I am ready to start speaking as well as listening. The other recent writing benchmark was not so positive: for the first time, I reached double-digit rejections on a single story, which at the time of this post has still not been sold. For comparison, one of my most successful stories has two sales and […]
My People
The reading last night went off without a hitch. I got to go first, thank God Sandra actually, so there was no time to sit around getting breathless. I remembered not to rush, I think. And I had my personal cheering section in the back row to tell me that the volume was good (the venue is a bit difficult that way, as often happens with readings–industrial fans for background noise plus a mike that wasn’t very loud). I was fully prepared to pretend the audience was made up of cats, but I didn’t have to–instead it was made up of members of all my various tribes. Friends, colleagues, fellow writers, readers and editors. I forget, sometimes, that all of these people want me to succeed–and I’m so grateful to have days like this one to help me remember. Now: off to Readercon! […]
Public Appearances!
I’ll be reading next week with the winners and other finalists of the Friends of the Merril contest! It’s at Augusta House, 8pm, July 11, as part of the Chiaroscuro Reading Series. Full details are here. My first hometown reading! I may have to get drunk employ responsible coping strategies to deal with my nerves. I shall pretend the audience is made up of cats. Someone told me that at Readercon before my first reading there, and I wish I could remember who it was, because it was grand advice. Speaking of Readercon: I shall be there too! I am participating in the Ideomancer reading of Kenneth Schneyer’s hypertext story “Neural Net”. From the program: “Group Reading: Ideomancer Speculative Fiction. Mike Allen, Leah Bobet, C.S.E. Cooney, Amanda Downum, George Galuschak, Claire Humphrey, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Kenneth Schneyer, Sonya Taaffe. Authors and poets read work from Ideomancer Speculative Fiction, one of the longest-running speculative fiction webzines still publishing.” 3pm on Saturday June 14th, folks–see you there. That’s my only programmed appearance at Readercon, as I am not important enough to be a panelist yet–I will spend the rest of my time there attending other people’s panels and readings, meeting people from Outer […]
Best Canadian Speculative Writing
Imaginarium 2012 is coming to bookstores in July! I’m pretty excited about this–I’ve never been in a Year’s Best Anything before, and holy mackerel, look at the other names on that table of contents. David Nickle! Amal El-Mohtar! Gemma Files! Cory Doctorow! Peter Watts! A great day for Ideomancer all round: honourable mentions also went to Ian Donald Keeling’s Ideomancer story, “Broken”, and to publisher Leah Bobet’s “Stay”. I also find it strange and hilarious that both of the anthologies I’ve been in this year have cover images featuring a face with an eye full of binary code: […]