(You can also read this post on Buttondown.)
Let’s get to the good part first: here’s my schedule for Can*Con in Ottawa, less than two weeks from now.
And here are the panel descriptions:
Slow Fiction
In our fast-paced world, and our avid desire to consume books, let us not lose sight of the importance of a slow burn. How does a narrative that wanders and ponders strike different chords within us? When does meandering fiction hit as powerfully as something action-packed? In the creation of art, taking your time can also be similarly significant. Where can a slow approach to fiction lead you as a creative, and why is that important?
Navigating Social Communication
Communication can be difficult, especially when trying to navigate potentially high-stakes conversations with editors, agents, publishers, and even fans. For neurodivergent, shy, and otherwise socially awkward people, this can be even more challenging. What are the potential pitfalls that exist for authors, and how can they be circumvented, avoided, or otherwise dealt with? How do we remain true to ourselves and our needs, and keep our batteries up and our spoons in good supply, while also finding ways to positively connect with others and get our meaning across?
He’s Babygirl: Reclaiming the Queercoded Villain
There is a long history of villains being queercoded, either as a way to signify their villainy, or as a way to include queer characters without tripping the sensors. In recent years, we have seen more openly queer villains (or at least, morally-grey characters): Lestat in AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, Astarion in Baldur’s Gate III, even Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Jobu Tupaki. What does having “problematic” queer characters mean for the LGBTQIA+ community and for speculative fiction? How does the canonical queerness of these characters expand our understanding of these stories and the question of “good representation”?
Meanwhile!
You haven’t heard much from me lately. Looking back, I think I was even more tired of newsletters by the end of last year than I admitted to myself, and I needed the break.
But it’s been a fascinating busy year behind the scenes. People at my dayjob went on strike! (I walked off the job for a couple months in support of the grad students’ union, because there’s a sneaky clause in the faculty union contract that says we’re allowed to do that. No one had ever actually had to use that clause before.) I got a big promotion at work while I was on strike (lmao don’t ask.) I also got a pile of brand new service responsibilities, so now I’m getting a crash course, after having worked here for seven years, on things like what does an undergraduate committee even do. And I got tasked with creating and teaching a brand-new and extremely in-demand course on critical AI literacy. (I got to tell the students about chatbot psychosis yesterday. This sure is a time to be alive.)
There is a bit of a war going on in computer science departments right now over generative AI, which is completely different from the war going on in the arts except that it happens to be about the same technology. I’m not even going to go into that right now, but watch this space, because I’ve got something dark-academia-shaped on my mind lately and in a few years it might grow into a thing you can read.
But speaking of books you can read, I’ve been having meetings with the good folks at Tachyon Books about marketing and publicity for IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS, which I continue to be more excited about than I have been about any of my books in my life. (It’s a problem, actually. I’m like “what if I wrote 5 sequels!!!” and my agent is like “bro, slow down.”) I’m going to have more I can show you about it soon. In particular – I have seen the final cover, it’s totally adorable, and there may be a cover reveal coming to you sooner than you think.
(I’ve been drafting and revising some other, unrelated projects as well. Oh, and I’ve got a new official author photo. I crawled shamefacedly into the studio of a local queer photographer like “I have so much dysphoria I hate pictures but I need one for my new book, please help me” and she was great about it, 10/10 would recommend.)
More soon. I cannot wait to inundate you with promo material about this book.