Samantha Henderson's Blog

HERE, WE CROSS

samanthahenderson — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:57:35 +0000

From Stone Telling Press, Here, We Cross, a collection of queer and genderfluid poems from issues 1 to 7 of the online speculative poetry magazine Stone Telling is now available. The chapbook looks just gorgeous, with a cover by Čiurlionis. Congratulations and kudos to Jennifer Smith and Rose Lemberg for putting it together!

Here, We Cross will premiere at Wiscon next week, along with feminist spec-poetry chapbook The Moment of Change. I really really really wish I could be there!

HOW TO FLIRT IN FAIRYLAND and THE MOMENT OF CHANGE

samanthahenderson — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:57:07 +0000

News of two exciting speculative poetry publications!

FIT THE FIRST

Claire Cooney’s first collection, How to Flirt in Fairyland, is out from Papaveria Press and available at Amazon.com.

As well as being an outstanding poet of the fantastic, Claire Cooney is a performer of the first order. I saw her recite the Goblin Fruit-published “Sedna” at World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs, and the Rhysling-winning “The Sea King’s Second Bride” in San Diego – well, “recite” is a poor, pale word for what she does; she occupies a poem in the telling of it. She’s a balladeer, a raconteur, an irresistible liar in the best sense. Since we live in the future, I don’t see why every copy shouldn’t have a little holographic Claire Cooney included with it, ready to read it to you. BUT buy it anyway, because these poems sing in the mind in a very wicked way. She has the rare and old-fashion gift of weaving rhymes so that they enhance the story rather than making it something to untangle, and they haunt, precious, they haunt.

FIT THE SECOND

The Moment of Change, the first collection of feminist speculation poetry, collected and edited by Rose Lemberg and published by Aqueduct Press is now available.

“In these pages you will find works in a variety of genres—works that can be labeled mythic, fantastic, science fictional, historical, surreal, magic realist, and unclassifiable; poems by people of color and white folks; by poets based in the US, Canada, Britain, India, Spain, and the Philippines; by first- and second-generation immigrants; by the able-bodied and the disabled; by straight and queer poets who may identify as women, men, trans, and genderqueer.” – from the Introduction

Ursula K. Le Guin, Werewomen
Nicole Kornher-Stace, Harvest Season
Eliza Victoria, Prayer
Shweta Narayan, Cave-smell
Theodora Goss, The Witch
Amal El-Mohtar, On the Division of Labour
J.C. Runolfson, The Birth of Science Fiction
Kristine Ong Muslim, Resurrection of a Pin Doll
Lawrence Schimel, Kristallnacht
Cassandra Phillips-Sears, The Last Yangtze River Dolphin
Peg Duthie, The Stepsister
Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl with Two Skins
Theodora Goss, Binnorie
Nandini Dhar, Learning to Locate Colors in Grey: Kiran Talks About Her Brothers
Rachel Manija Brown, River of Silk
JoSelle Vanderhooft, The King’s Daughters
Lisa Bradley, The Haunted Girl
Mary Alexandra Agner, Tertiary
Sara Amis, Owling
Athena Andreadis, Spacetime Geodesics
Lisa Bradley, In Defiance Of Sleek-Armed androids
Sofía Rhei, Cinderella
Alex Dally MacFarlane, Beautifully Mutilated, Instantly Antiquated
Shweta Narayan, Epiphyte
Elizabeth R. McClellan, Down Cycles
H.E.L Gurney, She Was
Kelly Pflug-Back, My Bones’ Cracked Abacus
Kat Dixon, Nucleometry
N. A’Yara Stein, It’s All In The Translation
Sally Rosen Kindred, Sabrina, Borne
Adrienne J. Odasso, The Hyacinth Girl
Delia Sherman, Snow White to the Prince
Phyllis Gotlieb, The Robot’s Daughter
Vandana Singh, Syllables of Old Lore
Greer Gilman, She Undoes
Emily Jiang, Self-Portrait
Ki Russel, The Antlered Woman Responds
Catherynne M. Valente, The Oracle at Miami
Athena Andreadis, Night Patrol
Koel Mukherjee, Sita Reflects
Lorraine Schoen, Hypatia/Divided
Sharon Mock, Machine Dancer
C.W. Johnson, Towards a Feminist Algebra
Jo Walton, Blood Poem IV
Meena Kandasamy, Six Hours of Chastity
Samantha Henderson, Berry Cobbler
Sofía Rhei, Bluebeard Possibilities
Sheree Renee Thomas, Old Scratch poem featuring River
Elizabeth R. McClellan, The Sea Witch Talks Show Business
Ranjani Murali, Chants for Type: Skull-Cap Donner at Center-One Mall
Sonya Taaffe, Madonna of the Cave
Jeannelle Ferreira, Anniversaries
Rebecca Korvo, Handwork
Patricia Monaghan, Journey To The Mountains Of The Hag
Ari Berk, Pazerik Burial on the Ukok Plateau
Neile Graham, Dsonoqua Daughters
Sonya Taaffe, Matlacihuatl’s Gift
Ellen Wehle, Once I No Longer Lived Here
Yoon Ha Lee, Art Lessons
JT Stewart, Say My Name
Amal El-Mohtar, Pieces
Sofia Samatar, The Year of Disasters
C. S. E. Cooney, The Last Crone on the Moon
Minal Hajratwala, Archaeology of the Present
Jennifer McGowan, Mara Speaks
JT Stewart, Ceremony
April Grant, Trenchcoat
Tara Barnett, Star Reservation
Mary Alexandra Agner, Old Enough
Nisi Shawl, Transbluency: An Antiprojection Chant

And if THAT TOC isn’t enough, I will tell you that my poem comprises my mother-in-law’s very excellent cobbler recipe, in case you have extra berries about.

“Beside Calais” at Strange Horizons

samanthahenderson — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:46:55 +0000

My flying beast story, “Beside Calais,” is up at Strange Horizons.

The inspiration for “Beside Calais” came a few years ago when during a visit to Oregon my cousin took us to the wonderful Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, which along with a lovingly-cared for Spruce Goose and an impressive collection of aircraft had a working reproduction of a Blériot, the monoplane in which Louis Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel. In researching Heaven’s Bones I’d come across Clément Ader’s wonderfully goofy, bat-winged, steampunky Éole and Avion. Given a prompt from prompt-mistress Vylar Kaftan during a Codex Writer’s contest, the idea of early aircraft as living beasts crystallized.

“Beside Calais” is also going to be appearing in the Ann VanderMeer-edited anthology, Steampunk Revolution, a follow-up to the

Huge thanks to Joseph Haines and my wonderful crit group (especially follow-up from Kendall Evans) for their help with “Beside Calais,” and also to Aliette de Bodard for fixing my French.

samanthahenderson — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:36:30 +0000

The Feathered Edge, a collection of romantic fantasy with a heavy dose of swashbuckle (or – swashbuckling fantasy with a heavy does of romance) edited by Deborah J. Ross and published by Sky Warrior Books is now available as an e-book on Amazon. I’ve got a story* in there, along with Sheila Finch and Sherwood Smith, and just look at this TOC:

FEATHERWEIGHT by Kari Sperring
THE ART OF MASKS by Sherwood Smith
CULVERELLE by Sean McMullen
FORTUNE’S STEPCHILD by Sheila Finch
THE WOMAN WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH THE HORNED KING by Judith Tarr
A WREATH OF LUCK by Madeline E. Robbins
EMBERS by Shannon Page and Jay Lake
QUESTION A STONE by Tanith Lee
A SWAIN OF KNEADED MOONLIGHT by Dave Smeds
FIRE AND FROST AND BURNING ROSE by Rosemary Hawley Jarman
THE GARDEN OF SWORDS by K.D.Wentworth
BLUE VELVET by Diana E. Paxson
OUTLANDER by Samantha Henderson

Deborah Ross is discussing the stories in the anthology on her blog – why feathers? and the Australian connection.
*NOT GRUESOME for once, I promise.

Interview at Fantastique Unfettered

samanthahenderson — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:21:19 +0000

Alexandra Seidel has interviewed me for Fantastique Unfettered about the rebirth of inkscrawl. inkscrawl submissions for issue #3 will be open at least through the end of February – send me your amazing short speculative poetry!

inkscrawl

samanthahenderson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:17:33 +0000

In 2011 Mitchell Hart started inkscrawl, a magazine of short fantastical poetry, which closed after two issues. I’m happy to announce that Rose Lemberg, publisher of Stone Telling, has now acquired inkscrawl and will be publishing it as part or her newly-launched micropress: Stone Bird Press!

I’m privileged to be editing inkscrawl for Stone Bird. The guidelines are here; please send us your poetry of 10 lines or shorter for the third issue. Payment is to $3/poem, and we are open to all kinds of speculative poetry, including science fiction.

Thanks to Mitchell for starting this market for short speculative poetry, and to Rose for continuing it!

Podcasts and Plays from Tina Connolly

Jon Stout — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:52:20 +0000

Tina Connolly, a very talented writer and narrator, has begun a “year project” called “Toasted Cake” wherein she is podcasting a flash piece every week. Her first offering is Caroline Yoachim’s “Pageant Girls,” and Tina’s interpretation is dead on (I say, having been forced to watch “Toddlers and Tiaras” by my sadistic children.

This week’s ”Toasted Cake” podcast is “The Ballad of Delphinium Blue,” a story of mine first published in Sybil’s Garage. And there is a ballad in it, and Tina sings it! SINGS IT!

Speaking of Tina goodness, both of us have short plays in The Pulp Sampler, which is The Pulp Stage’s offering for Fertile Ground, a festival of new plays in Portland, Oregon (mine is a short story adapted by director Brian Allard). This year Pulp Sampler premiered this past Saturday and has one more performance this Saturday, January 28 at 10:30 pm.