CoNZealand/WorldCon schedule

I've been meaning to write about what it's like to live in the wonderful yet weird zone of Level 1, a.k.a. total freedom from COVID. New Zealand achieved the holy grail that I hardly dared dream of back in lockdown: complete elimination of the virus within the borders. We're enjoying life as more-or-less normal, with schools and restaurants and ski areas and bars all open, no masks or distancing required, albeit with a lot fewer tourists and a lot more uncertainty over the future. But I know how fortunate we are here. It's a bizarre and almost guilty feeling to watch the news and see what troubles others are facing.

Who knows how long NZ's blessedly virus-free status will last? The borders remain closed to all but returning citizens and permanent residents, who must complete a 14-day mandatory quarantine under Ministry of Health supervision. Yet one slip-up in quarantine procedures could lead to a disastrous new outbreak like the one Australia is currently struggling to contain. I'm glad the NZ government has a plan for how they'll stamp out new flare-ups (hooray for competent leadership!), but as Kiwis get complacent and testing rates fall, I worry NZ won't be able to detect viral spread before it snowballs.

I can't control the future, but I can seize the day while it's here. We've been exploring and enjoying as much as we can. The first 3-day weekend after lockdown ended, we headed down to the Catlins, an area on NZ's wild and rugged southern coast full of gorgeous waterfalls and sea cliffs and wildlife.

Nugget Point

Purakaunui Falls

Then for my son's 2-week July holidays, we headed to the "north of the south": Abel Tasman National Park and the Marlborough Sounds, for some glorious winter sunshine and plenty of kayaking, boating, and trekking.

Abel Tasman NP (I can never get over the color of the water!)

Split Apple Rock

Kenepuru Sound

The fun's not over yet: next week, I head to Wellington, which is where the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, a.k.a. ConZealand, was originally supposed to take place. The convention is all virtual/online now, but since my Air NZ flights to Wellington weren't cancelled, I decided to still use them and turn the Wellington trip into a kind of writing retreat. (I'm so close to finally finishing the infamous Cara novella, The White Serpent!) Plus it'll be fun to get together with some of the Wellington-area SFF folks.

I'm interested to see how well ConZealand will work as a virtual convention. I know the conrunners have put a ton of work into making it happen, and I know from friends who attended the SFWA Nebula con that online cons can still be a really fun experience. So, I'm excited to try it out, and if you too are attending, I hope to see you there! Here's my schedule:

Panel: Can Living in a Small Space on Earth Prepare You for Living in Space? 
29 Jul 2020, Wednesday 16:00 - 16:50 New Zealand Time, Programme Room 3

Could you live in a self-contained space that must supply food, water, and protection from a hostile environment for days and weeks at a time?  Some people have done this on sea, others on land.  Can these experiences help us survive in space or on another planet?  How can off-earth living spaces be engineered based on what we learn from building and living in small spaces here?

Katrina Archer (M), M. Darusha Wehm, Courtney Schafer, David D. Levine

Panel: Juggling for Writers: Making Progress When You've Got a Million Responsibilities 
30 Jul 2020, Thursday 16:00 - 16:50 New Zealand Time, Programme Room 4

In addition to writing, many authors work a day job and/or have child or elder care responsibilities. Tips and tricks from people who have been there, and are there, on balancing multiple roles and finding your balance.

(Note: I'm moderating this one, and boy am I interested in hearing what the panelists have to say, since this is definitely something I've struggled with in the last years!)

Erin Wilcox, Jen Zink, Courtney Schafer (M), Holly Black, Sam Hawke

Panel: Access to Space 
31 Jul 2020, Friday 16:00 - 16:50 New Zealand Time, Programme Room 1

It's hard to go into space ... but it's getting easier. With reusable boosters, increasingly capable robots, better space suits and now the first steps toward asteroid mining, is the tomorrow of yesterday's sf finally just around the corner?

Courtney Schafer, Bill Higgins, Dr. L. Suzanne Casement (M), Dave Taylor, Dr Stephen Dedman

Meetup: SpecFicNZ Get to Know Us
31 Jul 2020, Friday 19:00-19:50 New Zealand Time

Are you a Kiwi or Pasifika writer interested in meeting other SFF writers from the region? SpecFicNZ is the association for creators, writers and editors of speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy and horror) in or from New Zealand. If you're not yet a member, come find out what resources and opportunities we have to offer. If you're already a member, come hang out with friends both old and new.

Reading: Courtney Schafer 
2 Aug 2020, Sunday 11:00 - 11:25 New Zealand Time, Reading Room 1

If you've been wondering what the heck I've been up to writing-wise these last few years, now's your chance to find out. I plan to read a short bit from The White Serpent (the Cara novella) and another short bit from my brand-new fantasy novel, The Dreaming Sea. 

Anyway, hope to see some of you next week at CoNZealand, and if you want to do some virtual travel by looking at more pics of our NZ adventures, I've been posting some on Twitter.

Under-read book recs, a fantasy sampler, and other assorted news

Upon returning from Worldcon I got about halfway through writing a post detailing all the fun I had and cool people I met, plus my thoughts on some of the less good things that happened at the con (such as the infamous short story panel trainwreck). Sadly, my task load is such right now that I fear that post will never be finished, since I'd far rather spend my scant moments of writing time on actual fiction.

Ah well! Suffice it to say I had an excellent time overall, and I was delighted to see N.K. Jemisin's Fifth Season win a Hugo, because I thought it was a damn good book. Oh yes, and at my reading I did not get to eat all those tasty cupcakes myself, since a good 20+ people showed up. (I let them vote on which story they'd rather hear. Lizaveta won over Cara--it seems people like blood mages.)

But as I've said, my time is short, so here's a quick round-up of news that I've been meaning to post:

1) I'm writing a four-part series on under-read SFF books for a new feature on the Lady Business blog they're calling "Readers of the Lost Arc" (how cute is their title?). I'm doing one post per decade, for the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. My 1980s post is now up and ready for your reading pleasure. I just turned in the 1990s one, so that one should be up sometime in the next few weeks.

2) On r/Fantasy somebody was asking what books we'd suggest as a beginner's guide to the fantasy genre. Here's a fantasy sampler list I put together to show off the range of the genre, just in case the Readers of the Lost Arc posts aren't offering enough book recommendations.

3) In other r/Fantasy news, they're about to start a group read of Sherwood Smith's excellent epic fantasy Inda. I highly recommend the Inda series, and the group read looks to be extremely well organized and should be a lot of fun, so if you enjoy epic fantasy, consider joining in! Oh yes, and for extra group read fun, in September the Goodreads r/Fantasy group will be reading the equally terrific standalone sword-and-sorcery novel To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts.

4) If you're a Colorado local, I'll be attending the RMFW Colorado Gold writers conference Sep 9-11, and participating in their group author signing at the Renaissance hotel on the evening of Friday the 9th. (I love this conference. I always come back newly energized and ready to work hard on whatever I'm writing.)

5) I will NOT be attending World Fantasy this year as I'd originally planned. Partially because I'm traveling a lot already this fall, and partially because I'm a bit frustrated with the con's inability to join the 21st century (in terms of ensuring disability access and protection against harassment, as well as the focus of their programming). I've donated my membership to a newer Colorado writer who can hopefully benefit from the networking opportunities, since WFC is terrific for that. While I personally have always had a wonderful time at WFC, I figure I can have just as much fun at a different con that's more responsive to member concerns. (Right now I'm thinking of giving ConFusion a go.)

6) Shattered Sigil short story update: progress continues on the Cara novella, albeit slowly due to family and day job needs. The Lizaveta story is headed off to the anthology editor this week, and the three other stories I promised you awesome Labyrinth of Flame kickstarter backers wait in the wings.

That's it for now! For those of you in the US, hope the upcoming holiday weekend is a good one. We're supposed to fly to Orlando on Thursday...right when a tropical storm is forecast to cross over Florida. That seems to be a metaphor for my entire week right now. All I can do is take things one day at a time.




 

Original sketches for Labyrinth of Flame cover, plus a chance to vote for your fav female-authored fantasy

I've got a bunch of cool stuff to share today. First up is this post by Labyrinth of Flame cover artist Dave Palumbo discussing his sketch process. It's a fascinating read for anyone who enjoys SFF art - and midway down, Dave shares the original three sketches for The Labyrinth of Flame. Each potential cover sketch is aimed at a different component of the story: the first one emphasizes the journey/landscape, the second is more about magic/mystery, and the third about the partnership between Dev and Kiran. I chose the 2nd sketch for reasons I can't discuss without spoilers...maybe I'll do a more detailed post about it after Labyrinth of Flame has been released!

I'm thinking of attending the Sirens conference for the first time this year, since it's right here in Denver and people say the quality of discussion is excellent. Sirens focuses on women in fantasy (both women and men are welcome to attend). One of the guests of honor this year is veteran fantasy author Kate Elliott, and Sirens has posted a wonderfully extensive interview with her that discusses how the genre has changed over the course of her career, her research process, her experience in both adult and YA markets, and includes her recommendations for five excellent epic fantasy series by women.

Speaking of awesome fantasy series by women, r/Fantasy is running a thread this week where you can vote for your top five favorite fantasy novels by women by listing your choices. (What were my choices? Go and look. It was really, really hard for me to choose just five!)

I know some people roll their eyes whenever women-authored fantasy is discussed separately from fantasy in general. Women authors should just be considered authors, they say. In an ideal world, I'd agree. But given the hurdles women authors of non-romantic fantasy face in getting the word out about their books (misleading covers and cover copy, assumptions that women only write romance, etc), I'm eager for any opportunity to highlight excellent books that don't get nearly enough readership. Also, anything that helps disprove the frustratingly stubborn misconception that "women don't write epic fantasy", or the related "women didn't write epic fantasy until recently."

On that note, check out the cover reveal for Helen Lowe's upcoming Daughter of Blood, third in her excellent Wall of Night series, which is epic fantasy with a cool sf-nal twist. I thought the first book, Heir of Night, was good, and the 2nd one, The Gathering of the Lost, absolutely terrific, so I'm really eager to see where Helen takes the story next.

Last but not least, if you enjoy adventure fantasy with a buddy duo as protagonists, check out Michael Sullivan's Kickstarter for the latest in his Riyria books, The Death of Dulgath. Michael and his wife Robin consistently bend over backward to help other authors, generously sharing experience and support - without their advice and help, The Labyrinth of Flame Kickstarter wouldn't have gone half so well! So if any Kickstarter deserves your attention, it's theirs. The KS only has a few hours left to go, so if you're interested, pledge soon.

Still busy, but far happier

After a solid month of horrible gray rainy days, I can't even tell you how happy I am that Colorado has finally stopped pretending it is the Pacific Northwest. We're still getting thunderstorms every day, but hey, at least the sun shows in between the storms now!

Sun on the Flatirons - at last!

Seriously, I would never survive in Seattle. It's truly amazing how much happier and energetic I am on sunny days compared to rainy ones. (Snow is okay. Snow means skiing and sledding and fun. Rain just means dampness, dreariness, and flooding. Also, my son's school constantly cancelling all their afterschool activities, because in Colorado people think children will melt if they get wet.)

So my life remains crazy busy, but now the sun has returned my stress levels have gone way down. I'm chunking along on my structural edits for Labyrinth of Flame - only a few weeks more work, and the book will be ready for line editing. One big step closer to publication, which is exciting and nervewracking all at once. But mostly exciting! My goodness, I've been working on this book for so long it's hard to imagine a day when it'll finally be finished and in readers' hands. But that day gets closer all the time.

In other news, registration for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold conference is now open. I'm teaming up with fellow fantasy author Kerry Schafer (no relation, believe it or not!) to present a workshop on our experience with Kickstarter, sharing lessons learned, tips, and advice. This is my first time presenting but my sixth time attending; I highly recommend the conference to any writers in the area if you have the cash. It's where I first met my agent and joined my critique group, both of which have been absolutely invaluable. The conference sold out last year, so if you're interested, don't wait.

And now, back to edits! I'm so close to the finish line. (Or one of them, anyway. But this one's a big one.) See you in June...