Quick Sips 05/27/2022

Hi everyone! I think we’ve hit a point where I’m just a mess, somehow animate from momentum and the will to not look down and realize that there is no ground beneath me. Meaning, of course, that I’m trying to get ready for WisCon, my first in-person anything since COVID began, plus all the work going on with my non-profit work getting ready for our biggest time of the year, and all that while trying to hit deadlines, help my overworked husband survive having worked in a hospital for the last three years while management continues to suck at approving PTO or hiring new people, and… it’s a lot.

On the plus side, I did indeed manage to turn in my sixth column for Locus, and it’s actually shorter than the month previous, which is a first for me. And as said above, I’m getting ready to attend WisCon this year. It will be my…fifth? Sixth? Anyway, definitely the convention I’ve been to the most, and I’m always excited to attend and get to bask in the creative energies. Very much looking forward to it. Which means I should probably share my schedule. So here is my full WisCon schedule, which makes for a very busy Sunday.

The Very Model of a Modern Mutant Metaphor? Capitol B • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sat 10:00 AM–11:15 AM

Let's dig deep into the mutant metaphor - where comics' mutant identity serves as a stand in for real world marginalizations like race, sexuality and disability. When does it work, when does it fail, and why?

You Must Be "This Bi" To Enter Capitol A • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sun 10:00 AM–11:15 AM

A pervasive anxiety for many bi and pan people is that we aren't bi "enough." Maybe we've mostly or only dated people of one gender. Or we're monogamously married and people tell us we've "chosen a side." Or we feel romantic attraction for all genders but sexual attraction for only one or two/or vice versa. Let's honestly confront these anxieties, together! What does your bi or pan identity look like? How have you felt the not-bi-enough pressure, and what have you done to push back against it?

Finding Queer Joy Amongst the Chaos Wisconsin • Power, Privilege, and Oppression • Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM

Queer people have unique coping mechanisms through community, creativity, and activism to negotiate everyday problems, and political and environmental challenges. How do we find, celebrate, nurture, and sustain queer joy? What could previous queer generations teach us about prevailing? What creative systems need to be created, uplifted, fixed, or destroyed to allow queer joy to thrive? And what current creative endeavors speak directly to queer joy in our chaotic political climate?

How Dead Is the Author? University B • Reading, Viewing, and Critiquing Science Fiction • Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM

In the age of social media, the boundaries between creators and fans have never been so porous. How do fans navigate this real or perceived closeness, and how does it influence our response to the work? Are we living in a new cult of author personality, and how does that affect what we choose to read? Does swapping fic recs and dog pics with our faves make us more generous readers, or is it really true that you should never tweet your heroes?

The SignOut Capitol/Wisconsin • Special Events • Mon 11:30 AM–12:45 PM

Come sign your works, get things signed, chat with authors, hang out, and wind down as WisCon ends.

Not too much else to report for now. Busy busy so I will cut myself off here. Cheers!

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Quick Sips 05/20/2022

Well there’s some good news to share—We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 made it into the top 10 of Locus Finalists! Thanks to everyone who voted for our fantastically queer anthology! Alas, The Burning Day did not make the top 10, but it was still wonderful to see it on the recommended reading list. Super happy that We’re Here is not a Locus and Ignyte finalist! It’s a huge honor, especially as a debut editor. And We’re Here 2021 is marching closer to completion as well, and I can’t wait to share that with the world as well. Just a lot of joy here.

Quick Sips 05/13/2022

Hey, a Friday the 13th. Spooky. There’s not a huge amount to report at the moment, though. I do have some good news I cannot yet share with you all, but rest assured it is good, and news, and…uh…that’s about all I can say. I’m otherwise just mostly trying to stay on top of my various projects and such. A week to go until I turn in my sixth Locus column, which means I’ve been doing this for six months already, which is just wild. I…think I’m settling into things. I think. Maybe. Yes? We’ll go with that. It’s definitely more manageable than last year was.

Quick Sips 05/06/2022

So the news has been rather front and center lately, and though I probably won’t say much on social media about it in order to amplify and center voices most impacted by what’s going on, and in order to keep my own sanity as I work with my local non-profit and allies to push for change there, I do want to offer whatever hopes I can for justice and comfort both to people as a new round of fighting gears up for human rights. I support everyone’s access to abortion and medical care that’s appropriate and right for them. This is bullshit. We will fight.

Quick Sips 04/29/2022

Well everything is speeding right along this year, isn't it? At least it seems like there's a bit of a relentless tide of things to do and deadlines to hit these days. I did turn in my latest Locus column (what's that, my fifth already?), and I'm working on finalizing my We're Here intro/editorial. I've got some award jury things to start poking at (for the Eugie Foster) and there's convention programming surveys galore! I'm definitely on programming at this year's WisCon (I'll try to share my schedule sometime soon) and hopefully will be on programming at ChiCon 8 (I have filled out the long questionnaire thing). Meanwhile I booked the hotel for WisCon and need to get on that for ChiCon.

Quick Sips 04/22/2022

Well the good news keeps on coming this awards season—it went public on Monday that I am an Ignyte Award finalist! This is technically my third time being up for an Ignyte, which are probably my favorite awards around at the moment, organized as they are by the incredible Fiyah Literary Magazine. Though it’s the third time, it’s also a first for me—the first time that I’m up for an award as a fiction editor. Because rather than the Critic Award, I’m a finalist as part of the editorial team (with the fantastic C. L. Clark) of We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 in the Best Anthology/Collection category. This is a huge honor, and I am humbled to be in some very very great company. Not only to be up with C. L., who is amazing (and also up in the novel category for The Unbroken), but amongst some wonderful other short SFF projects.

Quick Sips 04/15/2022

So I’m a 2022 Hugo Award Finalist!!! More specifically, Quick Sip Reviews is a finalist in the Best Fanzine category, but as I am the editor and sole contributor, that means for the seventh time (and fifth year in a row) I am up for the rocket. I am incredibly honored to be recognized like this and grateful to everyone who nominated me. Thank you!!! That does mean I’ll have to figure out what to do about a Hugo Voter Packet, which will probably be even more difficult than usual, because the structural changes made last year mean that most of my posts were quite similar. I’ll just have to pick some good ones!