Fantasycon 2015: Where's Jen?

Wheee! Fantasycon approacheth, and I’m on a panel!  And a rather fabulously titled one at that.  Behold the glory of the Hack ‘n’ Slash panel!

On the Saturday, 11am, in Suite 2:
Hack ‘n’ Slash: Editing Dreams and Editor Nightmares
Editing is a form of surgery: we may not want to go through with it, but we are almost certainly better off for it. But how do you learn this vital skill, and work collaboratively with others in the editing process? A panel of editors, writers, agents & publishers share their experiences.

• what to look for: how to polish a manuscript
• working with editors
• the editing process for self-publishing writers
• the value of copy-editing

Moderator: James Barclay
Panellists: Jenny Barber, Nicola Budd, Peter Crowther, John Houlihan, Simon Marshall-Jones

Soooo, yes, I’m on a panel with professional type people then! Not at all nervous. Ohhhh no.

Elsewhen, I’ll be lurking at the Alchemy/Shadow Publishing joint launch thingy – 10am on the Saturday – Alchemy’s launching Marion Pitman’s collection Music in the Bone; Shadow’s launching Allen Ashley’s latest anthology Creeping Crawlers.  It’ll be awesome, y’all should pop along.

Other than that, I’ll be fervently wishing I could manage some sort of hive mind clone thing as there’s So! Many! Things! I want to go see. All at the same time! Also, karaoke!

Oh, and, also, not forgetting that Alchemy Press and Fox Spirit Books are up for allll the awards this year.  Well, most of them.  Which they will win because my publishers are amazeballs.

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*Clip art image by Cliparts.co

Cool Kickstarters: Holdfast, Accessing the Future, Clarkesworld Chinese

For those who love excellent fiction, there's some more funky fundraiser projects you should take a look at!  May I direct your attention to the Accessing the Future anthology, the Holdfast Magazine anthology and the Chinese translation campaign for Clarkesworld...

Accessing the Future - a SF anthology exploring disability & the intersectionality of race, class, gender & sexuality.

The Pitch:
"We are raising funds to publish a special anthology of disability-themed speculative fiction, Accessing the Future, co-edited by Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad, to be published by Futurefire.net Publishing.

"Futurefire.net Publishing is the publisher of both The Future Fire magazine of social-political speculative fiction, and of two previous anthologies, Outlaw Bodies (2012, co-edited by Lori Selke) and We See a Different Frontier (2013, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes). Djibril al-Ayad, a historian and futurist, co-edited both volumes and has edited TFF since 2005.

"Kathryn Allan is an independent scholar of feminist SF, cyberpunk, and disability studies, and is the inaugural Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellow (2013-14). She is editor of Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure (2013, Palgrave MacMillan), an Associate Editor and Reader of The Future Fire, and her writing appears in both academic and popular venues. She tweets and blogs as Bleeding Chrome.

"This anthology will call for and publish speculative fiction stories that interrogate issues of disability—along with the intersecting nodes of race, nationality, gender, sexuality, and class—in both the imagined physical and virtual spaces of the future. We want people of all abilities to see themselves, as they are now and as they want to be, in our collective human future. The call for stories will open immediately after this fundraising campaign ends."

Why It's Cool: 
Dude, seriously, how is it not? As per Future Fire's previous and very excellent anthologies, this is an opportunity for seriously underrepresented voices to be heard, with stories that will cover disabilities in way that doesn't marginalize people's experiences by making their disability a cheap plot point.

The Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/accessing-the-future

And speaking of underrepresented voices -

Clarkesworld: Chinese Science Fiction Translation Project - Clarkesworld magazine wants to translate and publish a Chinese science fiction story in each issue, funding is for the first year.

The Pitch:
"China has one of the largest science fiction reading populations in the world and has produced a significant body of work that has remained relatively unseen by English-speaking audiences. In recent years, a few stories and novels have made their way to English language publication, but we are unaware of any project to regularly feature Chinese works in a science fiction magazine.

"Clarkesworld Magazine has always aspired to publish stories from a global pool. It's our opinion that different perspectives make the genre stronger. We've published authors from all over the world, but quality translations have been few and far between. In recent years, thanks to the efforts of writer/translators Ken Liu and John Chu, it's been our privilege to publish five. These stories include:

• "The Fish of Lijiang" by Chen Qiufan (2013 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards Winner)

• "A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight" by Xia Jia (2013 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards Honorable Mention, 2012 Locus Recommended Reading List selection, and reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2013 Edition, Rich Horton ed.)

• "Grave of the Fireflies" by Cheng Jingbo

• "Pepe" by Tang Fei

• "Spring Festival: Happiness, Anger, Love, Sorrow, Joy" by Xia Jia

"and we'd like to bring you even more.

"I've recently signed an agreement with Weixiang (Storycom International Culture Communication Co., Ltd.) to add a translated Chinese science fiction story to each issue of Clarkesworld. Each month, Storycom's team of experts will send us a list of stories they think would work well for us—much like we use our slush pile to choose our current fiction offerings. I'll select one from that pile and then work with the author and translator to get the story ready for publication. Every story will appear in all editions of Clarkesworld—our free online edition, podcast (audio fiction), ebook and digital subscriptions, print issues, and annual anthologies—and provide these authors with significant English language exposure. (They'll be paid too.)

"We believe that providing markets that actively publish translated fiction is good for readers, authors, translators, and the genre as a whole. Our past experience tells us this is something we are qualified to and should do."

Why It's Cool:
Because there needs to be way more translated fiction out there. And if Clarkesworld make their stretch goals, there'll be translated fiction from other regions of the world too which will be all the awesome.

The Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clarkesworld/clarkesworld-chinese-science-fiction-translation-p

And for more awesome, check out -

The Holdfast Magazine Anthology - the first print anthology of Holdfast Magazine

The Pitch: "Holdfast is a free, online speculative fiction magazine (that means science fiction, fantasy, horror and all the stuff that falls between),that celebrates and examines these amazing genres. Check it out at www.holdfastmagazine.com

"The Holdfast anthology will be a beautiful artefact, comprised of new unpublished fiction, and some of the best articles from our online magazine, all in one, gorgeous good-quality paperback volume, including fantastic original artwork like this papercut piece from Issue 2 by Zoe Lee, as well as original cover artwork by artist Faye McNulty, who designed the Issue#2 header above.

"Read about a time-travelling law enforcer making a difficult choice, a cursed cycling tour that goes hopelessly and hilariously wrong, and what happens when the drugs don’t work on Sleeping Beauty in our fiction section. Discover what shark brains look like (spoiler: a human uterus), find out about the underrepresentation of Black women in science fiction, read a thank you letter to Margaret Atwood, and witness our attempts to convert a literary snob over to SFF in our non-fiction section."

Why It's Cool:
Because it's Holdfast Magazine, and Holdfast is fab. And there'll be some shiny new stories in it. Also there are not that many UK based online mags so supporting the ones we do have is always a good thing.

The Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/holdfast-magazine-anthology

Nine Worlds Geekfest 2014

Short version: OMG!OMG!OMG! That! Was! Awesome!

Longer version:
Well gosh, that was fun. And if ever there was a convention that needs a lot of photos taking during it, it's Geekfest.  Alas, I took none. So you'll just have to take my word for the fact that there were so many cool costumes!  Harley Quinn, Dr Who and Ace, baby in a flying saucer pram, Judge Dredd, assorted manga type people, Daenerys, a Sharknado...! 

And panels.  Good lord, were there panels.  About a million of them, with a handy digital programme thing to make it easier to sort personal scheduling out.  Missed a load I wanted to go to because they clashed with other ones I wanted go to a bit more.  I need a Time Turner for next year, I think, so I can see all the things.

But what I did see - well, there was the Urban Fantasy panel, of course, which I live tweeted due to the perplexingly small amount of women being mentioned as having written urban fantasy and/or city based fantasy.  There'll be a blog forthcoming on that shortly, I think, as there's a lot of thinky thoughts bubbling in my head about urban fantasy, cities and visibility of women.  Though, apart from the issue with forgetting women authors, it was a good panel with some intriguing points made and the panellists were excellent. 

I also made it to the Time Travel panel; the Mythology and Fairy Tales panel; the Writing LGBTQ+ Characters in SFF talk by Laura Lam; the Rule 63: Gender and subversion in History, Popular Culture and Fandom panel; the 'It's A Man's World...': Where Are The Women In The Creative Industry? panel; the Looking Backwards panel, which was a cool history thing; and the podfic vs podcasts thing - which I somehow managed to not realise would be about fan fic, despite the fact it was in the fanfic track! But it was a fun one, and very interesting.

And I may have gone a bit mad shopping in the dealer room. And that's before the post-con book binge of buying up stuff recommended on panels and mentioned by lovely random people. And talking of people, I saw many, in that ships that pass in the night kind of way, and big hugs to Alasdair and Marguerite and Adrian and Adele and Ian who were particularly lovely and made the con just that bit better!

Definitely need to book up for next year. 

The Cool Reads (and other shiny stuff) of 2013 Post

And lo, there were many funky stories read in 2013....

Though I didn't read nearly as much online fiction as in previous years, recommended shorts from the year-that-was include:
Abyssus Abyssum Invocat by Genevieve Valentine - Lightspeed (February 2013)
As Large as Alone by Alena McNamara - Crossed Genres (July 2013)
The Crimson Kestrel by Leslianne Wilder - Beneath Ceaseless Skies (February 2013)
Death Comes Sideways to the Mall by William Alexander - Apex Magazine #46
Dreams of Peace by Dana Beehr - Beneath Ceaseless Skies (May 2013)
The Drowned Man by Laura E. Price - Beneath Ceasless Skies (May 2013)
A Family for Drakes by Margaret Ronald - Beneath Ceaseless Skies (March 2013)
Forgiving Dead by Jeff Stehman - Daily Science Fiction (May 2013)
From the Book of Names My Mother Did Not Give Me by Christine V. Lao - Expanded Horizons (April 2013)
In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind (part 1) (part 2) by Sarah Pinsker - Strange Horizons (July 2013)  
In Metal, In Bone by An Owomoyela - Eclipse Online (March 2013)
A Little Sleep by Melissa Mead - Daily Science Fiction (May 2013)
Mermaid's Hook by Liz Argall - Apex Magazine #46
Of Ash and Old Dreams by Sarah Grey - Daily Science Fiction (June 2013)
The Princess and Her Tale by Mari Ness - Daily Science Fiction (May 2013)
Pythian Games by Tom Doyle - Daily Science Fiction (March 2013)
Singing Like a Hundred Dug-up Bones by Alex Dally MacFarlane - Beneath Ceaseless Skies (May 2013)
Swan Song by Melissa Mead - Daily Science Fiction (April 2013)
With Tales in Their Teeth, From the Mountain They Came by A.C. Wise- Lightspeed (January 2013)
Town's End by Yukimi Ogawa - Strange Horizons (March 2013)

Anthologies:
There were some cracking anthologies published in 2013, if you haven't already picked them up, go check out:
Glitter and Mayhem, John Klima & Michael Damian Thomas (eds) (Apex Book Company)       
Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond, Bill Campbell, Edward Austin & Edward Hall (eds) (Rosarium Publishing)       
Noir Carnival, K. A Laity (ed.) (Fox Spirit Books)       
Tales of Eve, Mhairi Simpson (ed.) (Fox Spirit Books)       
Terra Nova: An Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Science Fiction, Mariano Villarreal (Editor), Sue Burke (Translator), Lawrence Schimel (Translator) (Sportula) (First English translation edition in 2013)       
The Book of the Dead, Jared Shurin (ed.) (Jurassic London)       
The Other Half of the Sky, Athena Andreadis & Kay T Holt (Candlemark & Gleam)       
We See a Different Frontier: A postcolonial speculative fiction anthology, Djibril Al-Ayad and Fabio Fernandes (Futurefire.net Publishing)       
What Fates Impose, Nayad Monroe (ed.) (Alliteration Ink)       
Winter Well: Speculative Novellas About Older Women, Kay T. Holt (ed.) (Crossed Genres)       

Collections! (Because you can never have enough short stories!)
Across the Event Horizon, Mercurio D. Rivera (Newcon Press)
Conservation of Shadows, Yoon Ha Lee (Prime Books)       
How the World Became Quiet, Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Press)       
Kabu Kabu, Nnedi Okorafor (Prime Books)
This Strange Way of Dying, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions)

Artists who did beautiful beautiful art! 
Alexandra Knickel (Assorted covers, including this Lightspeed one)       
Amy Mebberson (Pocket Princesses web comics)   
Edvige Faini (assorted covers, including this Lightspeed one)
Halil Ural (this Lightspeed cover)
Julie Dillon (assorted covers - I am an unashamed fangirl of her work!)       
Mats Minnhagen (assorted covers)       
Renee Nault (assorted illustrations and web comics)       
Sarah Anne Langton (assorted covers)       
Sara K. Diesel (cover of This Strange Way of Dying)       
Sutthiwat Dechakamphu (assorted covers, including this Lightspeed one)       
Tina Marie Lane (assorted covers)       
Zack Fowler (assorted covers)       
Zsófia Tuska (assorted covers, including this Beneath Ceaseless Skies one) 

Telly Squee!

Have recently been catching up with the mountains of programmes lurking on the Sky planner thingy, so here’s the most squeeful of the bunch:
(Warning! There will be spoilers!)

Orphan Black



Seriously though, what is not to love about Orphan Black? It’s smart, fast paced and has some fantastic characters.  Most of whom are played by Tatiana Maslany, because, clones!  Look, there is no way you can’t mention the clones, as they’re a thing from the first episode when Sarah Manning sees someone who looks just like her jump in front of a train. And then she discovers there’s more women who look just like her.  Shenanigans inevitably ensue.

And each clone has very distinct personalities (science-girl clone is definitely my favourite!) with the added fun of the odd clone having to pretend to be another of the clones as and when plot-reasons rear their heads.  And, of course, there’s conspiracies, and shocking plot twists all over the place and with exception of a couple of draggy bits involving Paul the boring boyfriend, the storytelling is fantastic with never a dull moment.  Also any scene with foster brother Felix in is a delight.

But even better than all of that, it’s a female led sci-fi thing! A bloody brilliant female led sci-fi thing.

Elementary



In my ever so humble one, Elementary has blown Sherlock away and left it lounging bitter and twisted in the dust.  Joan Watson, people! Joan Watson is so many kinds of awesome. And this version of Holmes is definitely a fun one. And their working partnership is fabulous. Oh, and the Moriarty reveal!  While it would have been nice to have Irene Adler as a seperate entity, maybe even being team villain with a Mrs Moriarty, Moriarty being Irene Adler was a rather neat twist.  And I’m loving the brotherly rivalry between Sherlock and Mycroft.  And the relationships Holmes has with the local cops is pretty good too. 

But mainly: Joan Watson, people!

Dracula



I freely admit to being sceptical about this one.  I’d seen a trailer with Meyers doing the terrible southern accent and immediately thought the worst.  Except, it turns out there’s a plot related reason for the dodgy accent and he switches it off given the company.  Oh, and Mina is now studying to be a doctor. And Renfield! Best version of Renfield ever! (Jonathan Harker remains a boring sod, which is a thing that is constant in every adaption I’ve ever seen.)

Am currently only 4 episodes into the series but so far it’s both deliciously bizarre (epic battle for coolant and the overthrowing of the evil fossil fuel magnates, who also hunt vampires!) and gorgeously presented. 

Then, or course, there must be squeeing about Doctor Who, but what with the Night of the Doctor, Day of the Doctor and Five Doctors(ish) Rebooted, that’s going to have to be another post!

Pics:
Cosima/Orphan Black from http://www.bbcamerica.com
Elementary from www.digitalspy.com
Dracula from www.radiotimes.com

More funky kickstarters!

If you're in the kickstarter mood, look no further than the following two cool projects -

What Fates Impose: Tales of Divination - an anthology of original fiction about the complications of predicting the future.

The Pitch:
"Edited by Nayad A. Monroe, this anthology brings together stories from a diverse group of speculative fiction writers who show the possibilities of what can go right or very wrong when people get predictions of their future. The book also includes cover artwork by Steven C. Gilberts, and an introduction by Alasdair Stuart."

At present, the contributors are:Introduction by Alasdair Stuart: "Singing from the Book of Holy Jagger"
David Boop: "Dipping into the Pocket of Destiny"
Maurice Broaddus: "Read Me Up"
Jennifer Brozek: "A Card Given"
Amanda C. Davis: "The Scry Mirror"
Damien Walters Grintalis: "When the Lady Speaks"
Sarah Hans: "Charms"
Erika Holt: "Murder of Crows"
Keffy R.M. Kehrli: "Gazing into the Carnauba Wax Eyes of the Future"
Jamie Lackey: "Another Will Open"
Rochita Loenen-Ruiz: "Body of Truth"
Remy Nakamura: "Pick a Card"
Cat Rambo: "To Read the Sea"
Andrew Penn Romine: "Ain't Much Different'n Rabbits"
Ken Scholes: "All Our Tangled Dreams in Disarray"
Lucy A. Snyder: "Abandonment Option"
Ferrett Steinmetz: "Black Swan Oracle"
Eric James Stone: "A Crash Course in Fate" (new) and "A Great Destiny" (reprint)
Tim Waggoner: "The Goggen"
Wendy N. Wagner: "Power Steering"
LaShawn M. Wanak: "There Are No Wrong Answers"
Beth Wodzinski: "One Tiny Misstep (In Bed)"

Why It's Cool: 
Dude, look at the contributors!  That's why it's cool.

The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/what-fates-impose-tales-of-divination

Also check out...

Upgraded: A Cyborg Anthology - an original science fiction anthology for the cyborg age. Stronger... better... faster... We will rebuild you.

The Pitch:

"Hi. My name is Neil Clarke and I'm the editor of Clarkesworld Magazine and a current Hugo Nominee for Best Editor Short Form. Last July, I suffered a "widow-maker" heart attack that nearly killed me. The damage to my heart was very significant and that led to my doctors installing a defibrillator in my chest. That day, I became a cyborg.I've been working on Clarkesworld for almost seven years, but I've never edited an anthology that wasn't Clarkesworld-related. I just didn't come across anything that inspired me. Trust almost dying to provide you with inspiration.

"As I began looking into the possibility of a cyborg anthology, I quickly noticed that the cyborgs most people think of are villains (Cybermen, Darth Vader, the Borg, etc.). My people make excellent villains, but that only represents the tip of the iceberg. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that this was the anthology project I had been looking for...  a cyborg-edited cyborg anthology. I don't think that's been done before. Besides, cyborgs are cool.

"It seems only appropriate that this campaign will end on the first anniversary of my heart attack."

The following authors have already agreed to have a story in Upgraded:

• Elizabeth Bear
• Tobias S. Buckell
• Yoon Ha Lee
• Ken Liu
• Genevieve Valentine
• E. Lily Yu

And Julie Dillon has agreed to create an original piece for the cover of this anthology.
Plus there will be an open submissions period for some of the content.

Why It's Cool:
Again I say, dude! Look at them authors! Also Julie Dillon is a fantastic artist. 

The Link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clarkesworld/upgraded-a-cyborg-anthology-edited-by-neil-clarke

Getting Your Fix #1 – Online Magazines

From time to time it is said that short fiction is a dying form and that publishers just aren’t publishing it any more. To that I say: bollocks! Short fiction has never been healthier and more available than it is now. There are more anthologies than you can shake a stick at, e-book shorts are sold for the device of your choice via assorted retailers, authors post free online fiction on their websites and then there’s the crown jewel of the short fiction world – online magazines.

To the surprise of no-one who knows me, I love online magazines. (Check out the Shiny Stuff section for links to my favourite stories!) And really, what’s not to love. So long as you have an internet connection and some kind of tech to read on, you have easy access to a vast quantity of free fiction. If you don’t like reading on a computer screen, then you can throw a few quid the magazine’s way and subscribe to get the e-book versions delivered to your preferred reading device, and many magazines do podcast versions of their stories and dead-tree versions as either individual issues or end of year anthologies.

But me, I read on screens. (Laptops, unlimited broadband and wifi – the three best inventions in the universe, I tell you true. Kindles and iPads come a close second.) I slush for Lightspeed, so would, of course, highly recommend anyone taking a shuftie at it. They publish some awesome fantasy and science fiction, along with author interviews (and they’re reopening for subs on 20th June, if you’re that way inclined!) Lightspeed also has a sister magazine – Nightmare - for the horror aficionados, though I’ll confess to not having read much of that as yet. (Bad Jen, no cookie.)

Strange Horizons is another firm favourite and has my highest stories-I-like hit rate of all the magazines I read, and always gives fascinating non-fiction. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is another top one, and is great for thoughtful secondary world fiction, as well as some gorgeous cover artwork. Clarkesworld completes the top tier online magazine roster, and another one with gorgeous cover artwork, however I find them a little bit highbrow at times so can be something of an acquired taste. Always worth a read though.

Crossed Genres can always be counted on for fiction that pushes at the traditional boundaries and has a specific interest for stories about under-represented people. (They also do some cracking anthologies, but anthologies are for another post!) Expanded Horizons is another great magazine pushing for more diversity in the field and publishes some truly breathtaking stuff.

In the department of ‘does what it says on the tin’, there’s Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Alt Hist, which, no surprise, do heroic fantasy and historical/alternate historical stories, so if that’s your thing, that’s where you want to go. If you like longer short fiction, then may I point you at GigaNotoSaurus for all your novella pleasures. If you prefer much shorter short fiction, than Daily Science Fiction does flash fiction five days a week (and free subscription if you want the stories delivered via email.)

Other fab free online mags include Abyss & Apex, Indian SF, Subterranean Magazine, Apex Magazine, Philippine Genre Stories and Ideomancer, and if you get a taste for any of them, don’t forget to donate a couple of quid to show your appreciation and generally keep them going.

Lastly we have the hybrid online magazines – those that exist in both dead-tree and electronic formats and include, but are not limited to, things like: Albedo One, who sell PDF versions of their magazines, Something Wicked has moved to an annual anthology but back issues are still free on their site, Shimmer has some of their content free online while selling the full issues in print and multiple digital formats, and fans of the TTA Press range of mags can easily buy DRM-free digital copies of Crimewave, Interzone and Black Static from Smashwords.

So, yeah, no-one’s publishing short fiction at all. ;-)

Long Hidden

Another rather funky kickstarter project that's just appeared on the radar is the rather excellent looking Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History by Bart Leib.  The anthology is to be published by Crossed Genres, which on its own should be enough to sell you on it, and already has a whole stack of fabulous authors attached (with bonus room for open subs should they make the funding target!)

The Pitch:
"Most written chronicles of history, and most speculative stories, put rulers, conquerors, and invaders front and center. People with less power, money, or status—enslaved people, indigenous people, people of color, queer people, laborers, women, people with disabilities, the very young and very old, and religious minorities, among others—are relegated to the margins. Today, mainstream history continues to perpetuate one-sided versions of the past while mistelling or erasing the stories of the rest of the world.

"There is a long and honorable legacy of literary resistance to erasure. This anthology partakes of that legacy. It will feature stories from the margins of speculative history, each taking place between 1400 and the early 1900s and putting a speculative twist—an element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or the unclassifiably strange—on real past events."

Why It's Cool:
The subject! I'm currently studying history-from-below and subaltern sources as part of my undergrad degree so this isn't just hitting my buttons, it's slamming into them with the force of a truck. The stories of the colonised get far too easily lost under the dominant voices of the colonisers and what historical accounts that are recovered get filtered through a privileged lens and often distorted to reflect specific agendas so straight up accounts from people in the margins are a rarity.  So a whole anthology of stories from this perspective is very shiny.

The authors! They've got: Linda Addison, Jennifer Marie Brissett, Chesya Burke, Aliette de Bodard, Tananarive Due, Amal El-Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Beverly Jenkins, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Kima Jones, Victor LaValle, Ken Liu, Sarah McCarry, Neesha Meminger, Nnedi Okorafor, An Owomoyela, Kiini Ibura Salaam, Veronica Schanoes, Rion Amilcar Scott, Nisi Shawl and Troy Wiggins.  Some of whom I'm huge fans of, some of whom I've not yet read things from.

The Rewards!  There's ebooks and dead-tree books, t-shirts and critiques, a Ken Liu Emoji translation of the short blurb of your choice, custom stories and artwork, dinner with the editors and a writer workshop, and if you're really rich you can get a private performance from a soul quartet!

Seriously, how can you not back it?!
The link again!

Kickstart your peerback

Out in the world there are two funding deadlines coming up for awesome projects that just absolutely, positively have to meet their goals so if you haven't donated to them yet, you might want to take a wander over and do that!

Project #1
The World SF Travel Fund
Set up by a group of international genre professionals and fans in 2011, the aim of the Fund is to enable two international people involved in SF/fantasy/horror to get over to a major genre event.  The WSFTF is looking for funding to cover two years worth of travel and while next years travel candidates have yet to be chosen, this year the lucky candidates are Csilla Kleinheincz and Rochita Loenen-Ruiz.  ::happydance::  (Must try not to fangirl RL-R at WFC this year...)

The excellent thing about this project is that it opens up genre events to people that wouldn't be able to get to them otherwise, which can only be a good thing.   And there's ebooks as funding rewards, which is always nice too!

More info and the Peerbacker page can be found here!


Project #2
Glitter & Madness
Seriously, did you need any more than that? Glitter! And! Madness!
Coming from Apex Publications, G&M is "a fiction anthology filled with Roller Derby, nightclubs, glam aliens, (literal) party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, debauchery, etc." and to be launched at the San Antonio Worldcon in August 2013, possibly with a glow-in-the-dark roller skating party! 

Not only will G&M features work from Alan DeNiro, Amal El-Mohtar, Daryl Gregory, Damien Walters Grintalis, Maria Dahvana Headley, Kat Howard, Jennifer Pelland, Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Diana Rowland, Sofia Samatar, David J. Schwartz, and William Shunn, but! It will also include a standalone InCryptid novella from Seanan McGuire.  (Sold!)  And! There will be an open reading period for submissions as well!

Does this, or does this not, sound like a purely fabulous anthology!  And the donation rewards are pretty funky too, ranging from ebooks & print books, to assorted Apex & G&M merchandise, editorial critiques, lunch with the editors, tuckerisations... 

Check it all out on their kickstarter page here.