My mother tells me all the time that if you don’t trouble trouble, then trouble won’t trouble you. When I originally decided to start reviewing books from my childhood, I don’t think I was quite aware of how white my reading was. I mean, I did in an ephemeral sense, in the sense that publishing has long been dominated by white voices, but it wasn’t an immediate thing.
“Imagination,” says Cristina Jurado, editor of this fifth edition of The Apex Book of World SF, “recognizes any language while walking on the paths of all nations.” In no genre is this more evident than in science fiction, and in no anthology series is it so vividly realized as in this ongoing project, originally developed by Lavie Tidhar, showcasing short fiction from authors around the world.
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost45EskewLore/Sandf–SignalBoost45-EskewLore.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Shaun talks to Charlie J. Eskew, author of the debut novel, Tales of the Astonishing Black Spark! Charlie tells us all about his new book, Black superheroes, dealing with contemporary issues through the superhero genre, tokenism, why he decided not to set his book in Metropolis, and so much more! Then Jen talks to Danny Lore, a queer writer of color with multiple published short stories, an acquiring editor at FIYAH Literary Magazine, a comic book editor, and more! Danny talks about how they use werewolves to tell stories about transformation, anxiety, and the Black experience, their work to bring Black stories to light through FIYAH, and all about their work editing The Wilds, a comic by Vita Ayala & Emily Pearson! We hope you enjoy the episode!
I’ve been a fan of Aliette de Bodard since 2012, when I read her award-winning short story “Immersion” and the much-nominated novella “On a Red Station, Drifting,” Since those fascinating science fiction stories, she’s gone on to write books and stories ranging from what’s been called Aztec noir to the Dominion of the Fallen series, plus more science fiction/space opera. Her new novella, “In the Vanishers’ Palace,” is officially released today. At first glance it seems a less complex story than many of her other works, with fewer characters and far less intrigue, but it’s very much worth reading and offers a lot to think about, and I love it.
Since it’s Black Speculative Fiction Month, it seems only appropriate that this month I spotlight some awesome new work by Black writers. First up, we have “Every Good-Bye Ain’t Gone” by Eden Royce, which appears in Strange Horizons‘ recent Southeastern USA special issue. It’s a séance story about family and food with a couple delightful twists. I also enjoyed “The Unusual Customer” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo, which appears in Fireside Magazine Issue 58 (August). It’s another story about family and food, except this one has more to do with women fighting off magical bad guys rather than summoning spirits. For a powerful, genuinely disturbing story about toxic masculinity informing a patriarchy, check out “Maria’s Children” by Tobi Ogundiran, which appears in The Dark Issue 40 (September). Lastly, I recommend “Running” by Itoro Udofia, which came out in August from The Book Smugglers. It’s an insightful, immersive meditation on the experience of being first-generation Nigerian-American.
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFSignalBoost44PolkThompson/Sandf–SignalBoost44–PolkThompson.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS In today’s episode of Signal Boost, Jen talks to C.L. Polk, author of the debut novel Witchmark from Tor.Com Publishing. We learn what inspired C.L. to set the novel in an allegorical post-WWI England, how she developed a complex governmental and class system around a simple magic system, what compels the m/m romance that is central to the plot, what we can look forward to in book two of the series, and more! Then Jen sits down with her boss over at Nightlight Podcast, Tonia Thompson. They discuss how Tonia’s work in horror has taken on a multi-media life, what makes the form of Twitter horror so compelling, why she started Nightlight Pod, what you can expect to find over there during the month of October and all year long, and much more! Plus, Tonia shares her favorite form of torture. We hope you enjoy the episode!
