Outer Alliance

Outer Alliance Podcast #50

Keffy Kehrli joins me to talk about his new LGBTQ SF/F fiction podcast, GlitterShip, which is Kickstarting now!



After you've finished backing the GlitterShip Kickstarter, you can find Keffy online at his website and on Twitter as @keffy.

He's also going to be at Norwescon from the 2nd-5th of April, and he has a story forthcoming in Uncanny. Yay!

I also wanted to congratulate all the Lambda Literary Award finalists. Great list, this year, and you can find all the details on the Lambda site.

And finally, there are still a few days left to back Brimstone Rhine, the music project C.S.E. Cooney is doing. That campaign is just a few hundred dollars shy of having a music video to go along with the two EPs.

Outer Alliance Podcast #49

Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith talk to me about their YA novels (Stranger and Hostage), and C.S.E. Cooney talks to me about her music project, Brimstone Rhine.



First, a congratulatory note to all the Nebula nominees this year! Many OA members on that list, which is full of awesome people and awesome stories! Special congratulations to Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette), Ann Leckie, Ken Liu, Richard Bowes, Rachel Swirsky, Sarah Pinsker, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Aliette de Bodard, Alyssa Wong, Sam J. Miller, Usman T. Malik, Carmen Maria Machado, Ursula Vernon, and Eugie Foster (who passed just after her last story was published).

Hugo nominations are open until the 10th of March. If you are an attending or supporting member of Sasquan, or if you attended or supported LonCon last year, you should be eligible to nominate! I (Julia Rios) personally am eligible in Best Editor Short Form for my work with Strange Horizons, and on Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories. I'm also eligible in Best Fancast for this very podcast as well as for The Skiffy and Fanty Show, and Strange Horizons is eligible in Best Semiprozine. There are a bunch of other super worthy OA member projects, but I wanted to give another special shoutout to Catherine Lundoff's series on LGBT SF History over at SF Signal. I believe she's eligible for best fan writer for that series.



Stranger and Hostage are the first two books in the Change quartet, set in a post apocalyptic LA. Rebel and Traitor (books 3 and 4) should be out later this year and early next year respectively.



Prisoner, Partner, and Laura's Wolf are Rachel's three books featuring werewolf marines, hot sex, and PTSD. You can download Prisoner for free.



Angel in the Attic is Rachel's lesbian werewolf romantic comedy.



Brimstone Rhine is C.S.E. Cooney's made up rockstar alter ego, who is crowdfunding two EPs right now on indiegogo. Rewards include things like Claire's books (in addition to the music of course). For a free taste of Claire's Witch's Garden world, you can read "Witch, Beast, Saint" in Strange Horizons. The books that are part of the Brimstone Rhine campaign rewards include The Witch In the Almond Tree, The Breaker Queen, The Two Paupers, and Bone Swans.

The Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadors are one of C.S.E. Cooney's other music  and storytelling projects, which, if Brimstone Rhine ends up hitting far beyond the initial funding goal, might also produce an album of Distant Star Ballads.

Outer Alliance Podcast #48

SFWA Vice President Cat Rambo joins me to talk about SFWA, her work, and more.



SFWA is the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Cat is currently Vice President, and is running for President. Her presidential platform statement is here. SFWA members can nominate and vote for the Nebula Awards, which are presented at the Nebula Awards Weekend each year. 2015 is the 50th year!

Cat talked a bit about her forthcoming novel, The Beasts of Tabat, and her forthcoming collection, Neither Here Nor There. You can find out more about those and all her other work on the fiction section of her website.

If you'd like a free taste with some QUILTBAG content, Cat Recommends starting with "Miss Liberty Gets a Haircut" in Strange Horizons. A good starter collection to purchase is Near + Far, which contains her Nebula-nominated story, "Five Ways to Fall in Love on the Planet Porcelain".

Cat Also recommended Catherine Lundoff’s SF Signal series on LGBT SF.

Outer Alliance Podcast #47

Susan Jane Bigelow joins me to talk about The Seeker Star, all her other awesome work, and the rambly stuff I ramble on about.



You can buy The Seeker Star (and all of Susan's other novels) at Candlemark and Gleam.

Susan is on Twitter as @whateversusan, and she blogs about her fiction at http://susanjanebigelow.wordpress.com/ and writes a political column for CT News Junkie.

You can read her story, "Sarah's Child" for free at Strange Horizons.

And finally, here's the article I mentioned about a black man whose brother is a white cop who shot a black man.

 If you have feedback, feel free to send it to julia@juliarios.com, or tweet @outeralliance.

Outer Alliance Podcast #46

It’s the Butt Panel from Readercon! Moderated by Amal El-Mohtar with Mikki Kendall, Julia Sparkymonster, Emily Wagner, and Vinnie Tesla. Here’s the official description:

The Booty Don’t Lie: A Cheeky Discussion of Butts in Literature.

This panel is about butts. Fundamentally divisive, throughout history the humble buttocks has often found itself at the intersection of concerns about gender, sexuality, race, and truly terrible puns. This gameshow-style discussion of butts in literature and popular culture promises to be deep, probing, and entertaining in equal measure; join us in reasoning a posteriori.


Picture of the panelists twerking


Things mentioned in the panel:

Saartjie Baartman,the “Hottentot Venus”

“Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix A Lot (“She’s so … black.” and “LA face with Oakland Booty” and "An itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face.") 

“Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child  (“I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly. My body’s too bootylicious for ya babe.”)

“Q.U.E.E.N.” by Janelle Monae, featuring Erykah Badu (“The booty don’t lie.”)

“Poison” by Bell Biv Devoe (“Never trust a big butt and a smile.”)

Insults of note:
Bundle of ass twigs (Amal’s gift to the world)
Ass bucket
Ass hat (as a gateway to ass haberdashery — “What is this ass haberdashery?”)

Fashion:
Alexander McQueen’s Bumster trousers
Chaps (Should they be worn with or without trousers? The panelists say yes.)
Prince’s buttless pants at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards

Visual Art:
Vegetable art by Guiseppe Arcimboldo
Amal passed around a similar piece of art depicting a face made of butts. Possible it was by André Martins de Barros?
Avengers Booty Ass-emble by Kevin Bolk
The Hieronymus Bosch butt song

Misc pop culture:
Hellboy: The Soul of Venice (about Cloacina, the Etruscan sewer goddess)
Le Pétomane

Literature:
“The Miller’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Finally a note that the Queers Destroy Science Fiction special issue of Lightspeed is now open to submissions!

Outer Alliance Podcast #45

Dennis R. Upkins joins me to talk about his new book, West of Sunset, and about Black Speculative Fiction Month.



Denny also Blogs for Nashville Geek Life and is on Twitter as @drupkins.

I also took a moment to remember Eugie Foster, who passed away in late September. She was a big part of the Atlanta fandom community, the science fiction writing community in general, and the QUILTBAG community in particular. She will be greatly missed. Her Nebula winning novelette, "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest, Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" is available to read online at Apex, to listen to at Escape Pod, or to buy as an ebook.

Black Speculative Fiction Month is October! You can find out all about that over on the Black Speculative Fiction Month website. That's got quite a few links to explore. Denny particularly recommends Chronicles of Harriet.

Denny also recommends Amaya Radjani, and Clementine by Cherie Priest.

Outer Alliance Podcast #44

Gemma Files joins me to talk about her new collection of linked stories, We Will All Go Down Together.



We Will All Go Down Together releases on the 19th of August from ChiZine Publications.

Find out more about Gemma by visiting her website, following her on Twitter, or reading her LiveJournal.

Outer Alliance Podcast #43

Shirley Jackson Award Winner, Sam J. Miller joins me to talk about “57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides”.


Sam J. Miller with his Shirley Jackson Award

The Shirley Jackson Awards

“57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides" is Sam's Shirley Jackson Award winning story.

Lisa Bolekaja was Sam's Clarion roommate, and the first person he told about his Shirley Jackson Award nomination.

Sam mentioned Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler

“Allosaurus Burgers” is Sam's latest story, which appeared in Shimmer. He also has two forthcoming stories, "Boy on the Rocks" will be in September's Lightspeed, and "Kenneth: A User's Manual" will appear in Strange Horizons on the 1st of December for World AIDS Day.

Maria Dahvana Headley was nominated for "The Traditional"



Maria Dahvana Headley and Sam J. Miller being nervous together.

Outer Alliance Podcast #42

Lynne and Michael Thomas join me to talk about Uncanny Magazine!

Uncanny Year One is Kickstarting right now. Lots of great stories, poems, essays and art on the horizon. You've got until the 28th of this month (August, 2014) to become a backer and get one of the fabulous rewards.

There is also an official Uncanny website.

I'm keeping these show notes short and sweet, but feel free to send feedback to julia@juliarios.com!

Outer Alliance Podcast #41

Deborah Ross AKA Deborah Wheeler and Connie Wilkins AKA Sacchi Green join me to discuss the Lambda Awards ceremony.

Deborah was nominated for Collaborators. The Lambda Literary review is here.

Connie won for Wild Girls, Wild Nights: True Lesbian Sex Stories. The Lamba Literary review is here.

The interview is very pleasant, but it does mention Marion Zimmer Bradley. In the interim between recording the interview and today, there has been a lot of online discussion of Bradley and her role in enabling abuse and abusing children herself. This is a very fraught emotional topic for many people in the SF, SCA, and QUILTBAG communities because many people looked at her as a role model and influence, and loved her books and/or or made their first sales to her. Here are some links collecting responses to the whole thing.

Please note that the materials about MZB and her ex-husband, Walter Breen, are extremely disturbing. Proceed with caution, especially if rape and abuse are trigger topics for you.

*Rape, Abuse, and Marion Zimmer Bradley is a links roundup and response by Jim C. Hines, who is a rape crisis counselor.
*Silence Is Complicity is another links roundup and response by Natalie Luhrs, who has been actively calling out bad things in the SF community for quite some time.
*On Doing a Thing I Had to Do is a post by Janni Lee Simner, an author who made her fist sale to MZB, and who has decided to donate her proceeds to RAINN.
*Rachel Manija Brown's post is a personal response from someone who has been abused about the importance of making this visible.
*Regarding the Marion Zimmer Bradley Abuse Story is Deborah's personal response, apologizing for an earlier tweet.

While I do think it's important to acknowledge all of this, the podcast episode itself is only a tiny bit about MZB, and mostly about The Lambda Awards, and other awards and projects. Here are the episode specific links:

*Here's the picture of Connie winning her Lambda Award.
*Here's a picture of Cecilia Tan and Mary Anne Mohanraj (in the red sari Connie and Deborah both admired) at the Lambdas.
*The Nebula Award winners list. Congratulations to Ann Leckie, Vylar Kaftan, Aliette de Bodard, Rachel Swirsky, Nalo Hopkinson, and Samuel R. Delaney!
*Congratulations to Sarah Pinsker for winning the Sturgeon Award!
*The Bisexual Book Awards winners are here. Congratulations all, especially Cecilia Tan, Laura Lam, Malida Lo, and Zan Christensen!
*The Ditmar Awards were announced at Continuum in Melbourne. Congratulations all, especially Kirstyn McDermott, Sean Wright, Tehani Wessely, David McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and all of the Galactic Suburbia and Galactic Chat crews!
*Jim C. Hines's Continuum GoH speech.
*Congratulations to Cecilia Tan and Mary Robinette Kowal for winning RT awards!

And finally, two currently active IndieGoGo campaigns you might like to contribute to:

*Gears for Queers is the San Francisco Steampunk community's fundraiser to support the GLBT National Help Center. There are 12 more days to order awesome steampunk items and support a good cause.
*Interfictions Online is fundraising to bring us all more excellent interstitial content. They have 19 days left in their campaign, and are working towards some exciting stretch goals.