Tag: SFF convention

Channelling Rage in SFF

Sunshine in March, while in the novel, character arcs are grappling with some big emotions. It’s a topic I look forward to speaking on at this year’s Eastercon coming soon to Belfast, in particular, the ways in which we can deal with anger and rage in our plot lines. We’re familiar with anger leading to the dark side – Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith, Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, and Magneto in the 2000 movie X-Men – anger and rage rooted in fear that leads them down a path of no return. But is this end inevitable, and how else might we explore this powerful emotion?

My fantasy series, Blood Gift Chronicles, begins in a patriarchal world with wealth inequalities, environmental destruction, and gender based violence. The stories work to fight back against those power structures to work towards environmental and social justice. There are a number of protagonists and antagonists, with varied responses to their context, and various ways in which power and strength are defined. Among the protagonists, I subvert gender expectation, breaking the notion of traditional gender roles, and incorporate themes of identity, mental health, and being true to oneself. I have a female character who has been subjected to cruelty, and responds by becoming an assassin. I have another female character who has also been subjected to cruelty, and instead looks to community and connection, working together for peace and justice. I have a male character who expresses his rage inwardly, a path of self-destruction whereby he becomes his own antagonist for a while. And I have characters who express rage outwardly, in so far as a physical transformation with far-reaching consequences. The difference is around context, and explores the power of support and breaking social isolation, as well as the need for community, connectivity and shared values. If anger is rooted in fear, it’s interesting to consider what might be able to disrupt the fear to produce a different response. It’s also interesting to see what happens when this doesn’t work, if only as a warning of what can happen if we can’t fix things.

I recently read The Deep by Rivers Solomon, a stirring novella inspired by the real-life African slave trade. In the story there are water dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women, who were tragically thrown overboard into the ocean. The offspring of these descendants are called Wajinru, and were born breathing water as they did in the womb. Whales were their second mothers, who fed them, bonded with them, and took them to the deepest parts of the ocean where they could be safe. They made their home on the seabed, where the trauma faced by their ancestors is forgotten by everyone except for Yetu, the historian and keeper of memories. She’s forced to dull her own senses to save being overwhelmed by the traumas of history, and it’s only at the Remembrance where she can find peace. Because it’s at this ceremony where the whole gathering holds the memories, affording her some respite. But when the ceremony is over, memories are returned to her, since those memories are so intense and tragic, only the historian is able to shoulder the burden. But the burden is wearing her down, and so at the next Remembrance, Yetu runs away, abandoning her kin to save herself.

This character has got real ragged emotions, filled with rage, pain, guilt and frustration. The memories were killing her, yet there is also no peace for her having left her family and community behind. Themes of identity and belonging are explored, as well as personal and communal responsibility in tackling the big stuff.

Which leads me back to the world in my own work-in-progress, and a centuries long rage with far reaching consequences and seismic hope.

Meanwhile, on a different note, in the real world, a visit to the Valley of Rocks for some heady North Devon coastal heights.

The mountain goats were hiding though their reputation proceeds them, rebel goats known for head-butting sheep right off the slopes, and dividing the town with their rebel antics… I did meet a Pyrenees mountain dog, a gentle giant whose presence was reassuring at a place of dizzying heights. The door was intriguing and should come with the warning sticker, ‘Do Not Enter,’ because to do so involves falling off a cliff. It is a place of imagination and stories, abound with pixie folklore, a place of scattered rocks randomly strewn as though tossed by giant hands. And it was a wonderful breath of fresh air…

xxx

Worldcon 2024

At last, time to sit back and reflect on a very special trip in August, all the way to Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon for Our Futures. This was the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention brought to Scotland, and what an inspiring few days it was.

Worlds within worlds took shape in imaginative architecture nestled alongside the river Clyde, a wonderful place to take a break and reflect, with time enough for a stroll downstream and castaway on the Tall Ship, Glenlee, delving into the truly extraordinary stories of life on board sea voyages not for the faint-hearted. Research comes in many forms for writers, and immersed in the ship’s atmosphere, I let my imagination wander to an incredible journey one character of mine is forced to make. But my work-in-progress novel is another story.

 

 

Back to the convention and it was great to catch up with familiar faces, meet new people, and take part in panel discussions examining the length and breadth of these fascinating genres.

It was a pleasure exploring the connection between being an artist and a storyteller, discussing the process of being a visual writer and storytelling artist, and how the visual, and narrative, blend into a similar space, all through interwoven creative mediums. Surrounded by so much colour, there was a lot to inspire.

More on visual writing another time, but one very special guest of honour, a current favourite author of mine, Nnedi Okorafor, is a writer whose work I find particularly visual – colourful, striking and memorable. It was a wonderful opportunity to see her interviewed in person, to put a face to words I have poured over. A pioneer in many ways, her personal story is inspiring, as is all she continues to achieve through her work, a woman who stayed true to herself and her convictions, who defied genre (or at least white-centric, first world genre norms), and in doing so, we are treated with Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism. I find her work to be unapologetic, strong, colourful and pushing boundaries in exploring a vibrant world.

Another panel I had the pleasure of joining explored diversity of a different kind, from queer triumphs to utopias and everything in-between. It’s a wonderfully explorative theme to consider, stories where marginalised people are being framed as the hero, getting to the heart of identity through looking closely at a character’s intersections, glancing back at history to support understanding, as well as imagining anew. Considering the interplay between stories and the real world, how one influences the other and vice versa, we need those new imaginings, and as a writer I work alongside my characters to see their hopes realised. Themes of identity, self-determination and empowerment feature in my work, since I find that conceptualising hope stems from steps taken towards our own authentic standing in the world. From awareness of our identity, we invest in contributing to others being able to flourish, including the natural world since our futures are entwined; we are a part of nature. It’s a familiar journey for me, one that my characters walk, as they explore collaboration, connectivity and shared values.

The dealers room was a joy. It was great to see piles of the British Science Fiction Association’s Magazine, Focus, where a recent article of mine is published, entitled Breaking Binaries of Good versus Bad in SFF.

 

And of course it was a wonderful chance to catch up with my publishers, the lovely folks of Stairwell Books, as well as pick up a few titles to come home with for my ever-expanding to-read pile.

And so to end with a question: what are you reading?

Octavia Butler & the Freedom of SFF

It is just over a week ago that I returned from the International Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon 2024 in Glasgow, and what a magnificent few days it was. I have lots to catch up on and share, the sights and inspirations, but first I want to begin with a few thoughts on my latest read, a woman who kept me company for the convention, whose words have been ringing in my ears for many years, the wise and deeply human, Octavia Butler, whose ‘The Last Interview’ was a joy to read.

Octavia Butler was a survivor, a dreamer and a loner. She was painfully shy as an adolescent, dyslexic, and ‘probably’ gay was her literal answer to a direct question. Bloodchild was about male pregnancy. She enjoys working in SF for the freedom it offers, the ability to go into any technological or sociological problem and extrapolate from there. Her work is underpinned by concepts of power, told in worlds of different races, sexes and cultures, with interest in powerless people gaining power. A theme I very much identify with as a context for my own work.

I first read Octavia Butler when I was a young teen, starting with Kindred. Dana Frankin, a Black woman from an interracial marriage in LA in 1976, is mysteriously and repeatedly plucked back in time to 1824 Maryland and to a moral dilemma involving her white ancestor. The author describes how it was purposeful to give Dana a white husband, to complicate her life, and it was purposeful to make her lose her arm, to demonstrate that she could not come back whole from those experiences. The perspective is told from the viewpoint of not what it might have been like for her ancestors, but rather what it might be like for her, how slavery might reshape her emotionally, whether the compromises and capitulations she would have to make might destroy her, and if not, why not?

Octavia Butler speaks of striving to tell a good story, to take the reader to a world they haven’t seen before, one she has enjoyed creating. She subverts expectations about race, gender, and power, incorporating strong women, multiracial societies and aliens who challenge humanity’s penchant for destruction. In Bloodchild, she wanted to subvert expectation of the invasion story, often represented as humans colonising other planets and either facing aliens who resist, or who submit and become good servants. The author created another possibility in the Oankali, a centipede-like creature that you’re not supposed to regard as evil. It is a species that do not force or rush humans into mating but rather try to bring them in gradually. And in Adulthood Rites, the Oankali become convinced that they cannot destroy the humans who participate, and that humans deserve an untouched world of their own, even if it is Mars.

Octavia Butler advocated for write what you care about, rather than write what you know, (or what you think you know, which is often just regurgitating ideas you have been told, ideas you might tell yourself you believe, when in fact you don’t). Writing can push back against human laziness that is prone to stereotyping as a form of shorthand, that might be a way to deal more with the things we care about and less with the other, but it is reductive and can prevent us from discovering things we could want to know.

Last word:

“Feminism is freedom. It’s the freedom to be who you are and not who someone else wants you to be. And science fiction? Science fiction is wide open. You can go anywhere your imagination can go.”

xxx

A Season of SFF Conventions

Looking forward to the week ahead, because… it is WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION 2023, my third year there, and I will be tuning into New Orleans from the comfort of my writing room. Really excited for so many inspiring panels, and conversations with readers and writers alike. And of course, I’m looking forward to being a panelist again, programmed on Friday’s, Just Who is the Villain panel. Buzzing – but more on that later.

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WorldCon 2022 Non-Conforming Women Part 2

After a slight interlude, here is the promised Part Two, to follow my recent post entitled WorldCon 2022 Non-Conforming Women.

Whereas the first post looked at some favourite women on screen, there are some wonderfully inspiring books out there that go a long way to challenge the gender status quo and free all our characters up to be who they want to be. Representation matters and I’m all for subverting expectation to give unique stories and characterisation.

As for the question of how I explore gender in my own epic fantasy series, Blood Gift Chronicles …

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WorldCon 2022 Non-Conforming Women

Worldcon 2022, aka Chicon was a wonderfully busy long weekend with an inspiring, eclectic mix of subject matter to delve into, explore, get lost, and re-emerge with fresh eyes and thoughts revitalised. It was also genuinely tiring, despite attending virtually, being based in Chicago and the time difference that brings, so plenty of late nights. And now I’m still on catchup, cramming in viewing as many panels as possible before they disappear into the ether.

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Worldcon: Pre-Convention Dragons

Two days to go and I will be at Worldcon, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention which this year is being held in Chicago. Thanks to the wonders of technology, I’ll be tuning in from the comfort of my writing room. As well as being an avid spectator, I’m joining in with the programme, which involves taking the time to consider my work and perspectives.

And this Tuesday morning it’s all about dragons… which feature in my series Blood Gift Chronicles. Prior to the books, in the planning stages, I didn’t start out with the intention of writing dragons, although it’s possible that there was something happening in the sub-conscious. I mean who doesn’t love dragons? I remember the decision-making process, whether to go with something as familiar and perhaps obvious, or go for invention. Ultimately, I was drawn to dragons, or at least versions of them – as familiar as dragons are, I’m definitely going for a whole new angle.

I was thinking about the quote by Ursula Le Guin: “I do not care what comes after; I have seen dragons dancing on the morning winds.”

They are creatures that reveal an awe-inspiring feeling of other-worldly magic. They are the ultimate strength, the lesson in humility, the fact that there are things bigger than us, out of our control. But rather than the idea of going up against a dragon, trying to beat a dragon, the story develops into becoming a dragon, what that reflects in us, storylines analogous to loss, love, loyalty, grief and empowerment – the idea of ‘beyond this place, there be dragons’ – rather than an outer journey, thinking about an inner journey that someone might go through in transforming.

Back to Blood Gift Chronicles, and dragons don’t actually feature until the third book. Stories are told of them in the second book and the magic is alluded to, but it’s not until the third that we discover the big mystery of the dragons.

A final thought for now, the idea of dragons comes with a kind of melancholy, that idea of bordering on extinction – extinction of magic, and the fantastical, and creature extinction. That fits with some of the themes in the books, around wildlife and the environment. There are storylines around the interplay of capitalism and corruption and impacts on nature, and just generally, wildlife is a very visible backdrop throughout the books, almost with an identity of character in lots of ways. In fact, in book one it does take the form of a fantastical creature character.

Have you met the Mantra yet?