Clarion West Alumni News for January 2015
At Clarion West, January means one thing—application season for the Summer Six-Week Workshop is in full swing! Our staff is busy working behind the scenes to make sure 2015 is a fantastic year for the Clarion West Workshop. Not only are we preparing for the Six-Week Workshop, but we also have some great One-Day Workshops coming up. L. Timmel Duchamp’s workshop on How to Read As a Writer is especially recommended if you want to develop your critiquing muscles.
Alumni, we want to hear all about your adventures in the new year! Send personal and publication news to alumni@clarionwest.org. Publications, new books, personal milestones—let your classmates and community know what you’re up to. We love pictures, too. Traveling somewhere in 2015? Take a picture of yourself holding a book you had a part in and send it in.
Community Announcements
Potlatch 24
February 6, 7, and 8, 2015 — Hotel Deca — Seattle, WA
Potlatch is a small, literary speculative fiction convention with close ties to Clarion West. We feature a Clarion West Benefit Auction (with books, art, and unique hand-made items) on Saturday evening, as well as readings, a half-day Writers Workshop, and book sellers. All Clarion West alumni and friends are encouraged to attend.
Their single track of programming encourages lively discussion that continues from one program to the next and goes on into the evening. Potlatch has some of the most interesting conversations—and people—in the science fiction community.
The 2015 Book of Honor is the June 2014 issue of Lightspeed magazine, the special “Women Destroy Science Fiction!” issue. The issue is available online, and special edition copies will also be on sale at a reduced price at the con.
Visit Potlatch’s website for registration details and contact information. Please register and reserve your room today!
Publications
Omenana, a new magazine that highlights fiction by authors from Africa and the African diaspora, launched in December. Chinelo Onwualu (CW ’14) has an essay in this issue called “The Unbearable Solitude of Being an African Fan Girl” that is very much worth the read.
Shannon Fay (CW ’14) had her flash piece “M-STEM” published on T.Gene Davis’s Speculative Blog.
Henry Lien’s (CW ’12) novelette “The Great Leap of Shin” is in the current issue of Analog, with an illustration by Kurt Huggins. This story was Henry’s Week 3 Clarion West story, workshopped under George R. R. Martin, and is set in the same world as his Nebula-nominated Week 6 Clarion West story that appeared in Asimov’s, “Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters.”
Carol Ryles (CW ’08) has a story in The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror: Volume 4 , edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene. “The Silence of Clockwork” originally appeared in the 2013 Conflux Convention Programme.
Marlee Jane Ward’s (CW ’14) piece “The Structure” came second in the 2014 Katharine Susannah Prichard Speculative Fiction awards.
Lawrence Schimel (CW ’91) has been busy with translations. He’s recently translated Aleíx Salò’s graphic novel Euronightmare for Penguin Random House. Words without Borders published his translation of an excerpt from Ricardo Chávez Castañeda’s The Book of Denial in their December special issue on international YA literature. He has also recently published a Spanish-language children’s book: ¿Cómo Se Dice?, illustrated by Romina Pernigotte, from Guatemalan publisher Amanuense. It’s a playful and fantasy-filled look at good manners and a love of reading.
Jenni Moody (CW ’11) had a story appear in Gingerbread House in December: “The Standing Part.”
Alison Wilgus (CW ’14) has a new story in the third Sockdolager anthology, You Gotta Wear Shades, edited by Paul Tuttle Starr. The theme of the anthology is “bright future problems”—the kinds of difficulties we might have in a post-scarcity world. “Authenticity Soup” is about a poorly-planned camping trip to Mars.
The National Film Board of Canada has green-lit the short stop-motion animated film based on Maura McHugh’s (CW ’06) short story “Bone Mother.” It will be adapted and directed by Sylvie Trouvé and Dale Hayward of See Creature. Maura says, “‘Bone Mother’ was written during my stint at Clarion West, and I’m exceedingly grateful for all the support I received from my mentor that week, Ian R. MacLeod, and my classmates in 2006.”
E. Lily Yu’s (CW ’13) story “Local Stop on the Floating Train” appeared in Motherboard in December.
Helen Marshall (CW ’12) and Vince Haig (CW ’13) both have stories in Aickman’s Heirs, an anthology showcasing some of the best in dark fiction from Undertow Publishing. Vince also created the cover art for the anthology, which will be published in spring 2015.
“The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family” by Usman Tanveer Malik (CW ’13) has been picked up by Jonathan Strahan for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Vol.9.
Nik Houser (CW ’12) has a story in the December issue of Lightspeed. “The Drawstring Detective” is about an old-timey tin toy who befriends a woman who’s lost her wedding ring.
Mark Pantoja’s (CW ’11) short story “Reset” has been produced as a radio drama by Wisconsin Public Radio. “Reset” is about a man who has his teenage daughter’s online presence rendered after her death so he can “talk” with her forever.
Appearances
Steve Miller (CW ‘73) and Sharon Lee’s Guest of Honor Speech at Philcon can be read in its entirety at the Clan Korval website.