Author: leah

I’ll be one of the horde of Strange Horizons writers, editors, and alumni appearing at authors and multitalented art-makers C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez’s Infernal Salon on Sunday, October 24 at 7:30pm EST.

It’s an evening of writing prompts, goofiness, and potential genius (who knows?) to benefit speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons as they run their annual fundraiser to support next year’s operations.

This is shaping up to be just a bucket of fun — a whole pile of talented people showing up to play — and if you’re short a bit of joy this week, come on out. It’s a good cause and guaranteed to refill your cup.

Looking for a professional critique?

I’m (happily!) going to be the resident Blue Pencil Sessions professional at CanWrite! 2021 — the annual Canadian Authors Association conference on craft and business.

The conference kicks off this weekend — Sept. 18-19 — and I’ll be contributing in-depth critiques and short one-on-one discussions on up to 6 pages of work for attendees the following Saturday, Sept. 25.

Sign up here, and I look forward to seeing your work!

Through the magic of distance conventions, I’ll be attending this year’s Readercon from August 13-15, 2021 — including one panel with an excellent crew of people.

Sunday August 15, 2021, 6:00pm
Darmok and Jalad and Merriam and Webster. At the “Decolonizing the Imagination” panel at Readercon 30, Cadwell Turnbull observed that linguistics as an academic field is restricted and distorted by underrepresentation of marginalized groups. How does that affect the ways languages, including constructed ones, are used in speculative fiction? What can authors do to overcome biased notions of what makes a language sound “magical” or “alien”?
Leah Bobet, John Chu (mod), Francesca Forrest, Greer Gilman, Sarah Smith.

Registration is open now, and the lineup of panels looks bluntly delicious. Hope to see you there!

Earlier this month I had the very real pleasure of talking with UK-based novelist Aliya Whiteley about her new collection From the Neck Up, and the edited interview is live in Publishers Weekly.

I am in the strongest possible way telling you: don’t let this book pass you by. It’s some of the most magnificent stuff I’ve read all year: smart, nuanced, layered, funny, observant, and intensely full of grace about bodies and how they rise and break.

The collection is out September; enjoy the interview now!

Another story ready to jump into the world!

“The Mysteries”, a story about caregiving, empire, the fallout of telling ourselves different social stories, and what things cost is up for preorder in this June’s issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

This is a magazine whose editorial taste I have loved from afar for many years, and it’s a privilege to get to throw something into the proverbial pot.

Single issues are about the price of a good coffee; subscriptions well worth it.

Editing poetry for this was one of the great gifts of 2020, because we asked “show us what you love, show us what’s worth fighting for”–and people *answered*. And then no matter what was happening in the world, there was this river of fierce, smart, generous, sometimes tired or sad, always massive love to dip into, and people to swim it with. What we had at the end was a catalogue of courage from every continent of the world.

You can get the ebook now for $7 USD; the pieces will also be posted, one per week at Reckoning Press until July when we hit the end and the print volume becomes available.

I’m very pleased to announce that “The Death of the Gods”, which ran in Uncanny Magazine last January, is a Prix Aurora Award nominee in the Best Poem/Song category.

It’s a really neat, wide ballot this year with a huge spread of *kinds* of work, and congrats to everyone on it. Voting opens in August, with the awards given out in October, and I think this is going to be fun.

Spring is bringing new fiction: “The Instructions”, an exoplanetary magical realist story about domestication, colonial exploitation, and wolves — aka what happens when Susannah Moodie/Ursula Le Guin/Margaret Atwood Raise a Murderbaby — has a publication date.

It’s one of the weirdest and best things I’ve ever worked on, and it’ll be available in the Spring 2021 issue of Neon: A Literary Magazine any day now.

The issue’s available for preorder now in print or ebook, and I’ll mention when it’s live.

I’ve had two poetry publications kick off the new year:

“Trojan Road”, a poem about prophecy and priorities, leads off the January issue of Plenitude Magazine. It’s my first non-speculative poetry publication and a little milestone, all by itself.

Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin is available now in ebook and for print preorder. My own “A Headful of Hair” joins work in there from a shocking competence of poets, including Stephanie Burt, Sonya Taaffe, Jo Walton, Sofia Samatar, Nisi Shawl, Reckoning teammate Hal Y. Zhang and Reckoning 5 contributors Jennifer Mace and Catherine Rockwood; Brandon O’Brien, Rachel Swirsky, Ada Hoffmann, Thoraiya Dyer, A.J. Odasso, Gwynne Garfinkle, Shweta Narayan, Lynne Sargent–and a whole stack of people whose work I haven’t met yet, and get to.

It’s a powerhouse of a book, and available both through your usual booksellers and direct from Aqueduct Press.

One last piece of news before the end of the year!

“Three Days and Nights in Lord Darkdrake’s Hall”, which originally appeared in Strange Horizons, is appearing in translation in the December issue of Romanian SFF magazine Galaxia42.

It’s my first Romanian translation, and in great company.