Clarion West Alumni News for September 2018
Greetings, Clarion West family!
September is a month for refocusing. The bustle and heat of summer have cooled a little, and it’s time to check the weather reports, dig those sweaters out of your closets, and maybe even start gearing up for a new school year.
One-Day Workshops
Our Fall One-Day Workshops are in full swing. The next three include:
- Worldbuilding for Disabled Characters, led by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry on October 7
- Building Characters, led by Tina Connolly and Caroline M. Yoachim on October 21
- Original Story Content, led by Henry Lien on November 18
Please help us spread the word about these terrific opportunities!
We are also pleased to invite you to join us at the Wing Luke Museum on Saturday, November 17 from 10:30am–11am for a special presentation with Henry Lien and his father, internationally recognized photographer Fong-Chi Lien. Fong-Chi Lien’s work appears in Worlds Beyond Here: The Expanding Universe of APA Science Fiction, a new exhibition at the museum. Each will share personal immigration stories and talk about how these experiences are woven into their photography and prose.
Finally, I’d like to end this issue of the Alumni News on a more somber note.
This month, we were was saddened to learn of the passing of K.C. Ball, of the Clarion West class of 2010. She was a part of our Pacific Northwest community and a prolific writer, with over 60 stories published in Analog, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, Escape Pod, Flash Fiction Online, Lightspeed, PodCastle, and Murky Depths, among others.
On a personal level, K.C. was the first person I met when I arrived in Seattle to attend Clarion West in 2011. I had read some of her stories in Analog, and to meet her at the airport in person was a bit of a shock. But she was warm and funny, friendly and humble, reflecting that casual gregariousness that permeates our Seattle community. I’m sure most of our graduates had experiences like this when they first came to Seattle. K.C. was my welcome into the world of Clarion West, and I’m very sad that she is no longer with us.
To all her classmates, friends, readers, and loved ones, we extend our deepest condolences.
Alumni News
Chris Willrich (CW ’88) has an upcoming story, “Shadowdrop,” in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Karen Allendoerfer (CW ’87) has an essay coming out in Alcott’s Imaginary Heroes, an anthology commemorating the 150th anniversary of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The anthology will be launched on September 30 at Orchard House, Alcott’s home in Concord, MA.
Patrick Lofgren (CW ’17) has a story in the anthology The True History of the Strange Brigade. His story is titled “The Island of Nightmares,” and it’s his first fiction publication.
Thersa Matsuura (CW ’15) has a story, “The Wife Who Didn’t Eat,” in A World of Horror, an upcoming anthology edited by Eric Guignard. Another short story, “The Very Hungry Grandpa,” was published in the Japanese English-language newspaper Asahi Weekly.
Adele Gardner (CW ’04) has had two speculative poems published: “Live, Laugh, Love, Loop” in Silver Blade, and “Threads of Gold” in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. In addition, her poem “Grip” appeared in the print publication Blue Collar Review: Journal of Progressive Working Class Literature. Two of her poems placed in the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2018 awards: “Purloined Princes” won first place in the Bess Gresham Memorial category, and “Risibility” took third in the Don Frew and John Newcomb Memorial Award competition. Finally, she had two poems reprinted in the Rhysling Anthology: The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Poetry of 2017: “Pre-Raphaelite Girls” and “Song of a Changeling.”
Workshop Director Neile Graham (CW ’96) and Rachel Simmons (CW ’18) were interviewed by Frank Catalano at Geekwire for the article “How this workshop creates some of the world’s top sci-fi and fantasy writers, inside a Seattle house.”
Craig L. Gidney (CW ’96) appeared on the Geeks of the Galaxy podcast alongside Tananarive Due and Evan Narcisse to discuss the new movie “Sorry To Bother You.”
Lightspeed Magazine’s current issue, issue 99, contains a new story, “Treesong,” by Sheree Renée Thomas (CW ’99), a reprint story, “Project Extropy,” by Dominica Phetteplace (CW ’07), and an interview of Sarah Grey conducted by Gordon B. White (CW ’17). The next issue, issue 100, will contain stories by Vylar Kaftan (CW ’04), Cadwell Turnbull (CW ’16), Caroline M. Yoachim (CW ’06), and An Owomoyela (CW ’08).
Elly Bangs (CW ’17) has a new story in Clarkesworld, “Dandelion.”
Sandra Odell (CW ’10) has a story, “Godfall,” now up at PodCastle.
Worlds Seen In Passing, an anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror from Tor.com’s first ten years, includes stories by alumni David D. Levine (CW ’00), JY Yang (CW ’13), Kameron Hurley (CW ’00), Helen Marshall (CW ’12), Rachel Swirsky (CW ’05), Kij Johnson (CW ’87), Tina Connolly (CW ’06), Indrapramit Das (CW ’12), Laurie Penny (CW ’15), Alyx Dellamonica (CW ’95), and Kathleen Ann Goonan (CW ’88).