tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72964252686616431952024-02-19T03:35:38.021-08:00A Bee WritesBenjanun Sriduangkaew is a beeChrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-73984611330364748072016-05-01T03:33:00.000-07:002014-05-11T04:37:56.512-07:00Latest stories<u>Forthcoming</u><br />
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'Ningyo' in <a href="http://www.haikasoru.com/uncategorized/phantasm-japan-table-of-contents-revealed/">Phantasm Japan</a>, edited by Nick Mamatas (Haikasoru).<br />
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'The Governess and We' in <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/steampunk-world-a-multicultural-steampunk-fiction">Steampunk World</a>, edited by Sarah Hans.<br />
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'Sixty Years in the Women's Province' in <a href="http://www.giganotosaurus.org/">GigaNotoSaurus</a>.<br />
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'When We Harvested the Nacre-Rice' in <a href="http://www.solarisbooks.com/titles/title_details/solaris_rising_3">Solaris Rising 3</a>, edited by Ian Whates (Solaris Books).<br />
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'Five Hundred and Ninety-Nine' in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-Book-Steampunk-Adventures/dp/0762454644">The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures</a>, edited by Sean Wallace. 'Elision' in La Femme, edited by Ian Whates (NewCon Press). <span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;">2014</span><br />
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<strong>‘Elision’</strong> in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/La-Femme-Storm-Constantine/dp/1907069666">La Femme</a>, edited by Ian Whates (NewCon Press). A private detective is engaged to investigate mysterious footage. 3,800 words.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/golden-daughter-stone-wife/">'Golden Daughter, Stone Wife'</a></b> in <a href="http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/">Beneath Ceaseless Skies</a> (April 2014). An immigrant sorcerer, her lost golem, and a compromise of winter. <a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/audio/bcs-124-golden-daughter-stone-wife/">Podcast</a> read by Folly Blaine. 7,500 words. <a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/support-bcs/">Subscriptions</a>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_04_14/">'Autodidact'</a></b> in <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/">Clarkesworld Magazine</a> (April 2014). A sentient starship, a psychologist, a soldier and the battlefield they make of one another. <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_04_14b/">Podcast</a> read by Kate Baker. 5,800 words. <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/">Subscriptions</a> | <a href="http://www.patreon.com/clarkesworld">Patreon</a>. <b> </b><br />
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<b><a href="http://thedarkmagazine.com/zeraquesh-in-absentia/">'Zeraquesh in Absentia'</a> </b>in <a href="http://www.thedarkmagazine.com/">The Dark</a> (Feb 2014). <a href="http://weightlessbooks.com/format/the-dark-issue-3/">Weightless Books</a>. A police officer and a private eye seek a missing person in the haunted city. 2,800 words. <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2014/02/lois-tilton-reviews-short-fiction-early-february-4/#dark201402">Recommended by Lois Tilton</a> at Locus Online.</li>
</ul>
Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-26227603175699052772014-05-11T04:38:00.002-07:002014-05-11T04:38:50.085-07:00Makeup for beginners! Eyes, face, lips, tools.On twitter I absolutely deluged @Daniel_Libris in makeup recommendations, so I thought that I might as well put all the things in one post. Makeup looks scary, but there are actually a *lot* of products that are foolproof, easy to wear, and almost universally flattering. C:<br />
<br />
Don't be afraid! Makeup should be fun and you can absolutely wear *whatever* at all you want, but if you're just starting out you may want to consider understated things and eventually get to bolder colors (if you want to!). I'll go with products I've tried and which I felt acquitted themselves well.<br />
<br />
<b>Eyes</b><br />
<br />
I think this might be the scariest area for people - eye makeup is the place where you can use just about any color you like (there are blue and green lipsticks, but most people find that unwearable whereas blue or green eyeshadow shades are considered a bit more 'everyday'). To start out, I would recommend an eyeshadow palette with both neutral (brown, gold, taupe) and brighter colors (blue, green, pink). Neutral eyes tend to look like these.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://beekian.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/neutraleyes.jpg"><img alt="neutraleyes" class="alignnone wp-image-1457" src="http://beekian.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/neutraleyes.jpg?w=800" height="238" width="541" /></a><br />
<br />
At the drugstore level, I'm afraid most eyeshadow is dreadful, but there are some exceptions! At the mid-end, I'm unimpressed with MAC and NARS while very impressed with Urban Decay and Illamasqua. I avoid Korean and Japanese eyeshadow at any price point other than Shu Uemura (which is amazing), since they tend to be pigment-free glitter bombs. I don't think it's necessary to splurge high-end here, as the quality isn't too removed from the mid-end, but a lot of people swear by Tom Ford and Burberry eyeshadow palettes.<br />
<ul>
<li>Drugstore! Sleek i-Divine in Storm or Au Naturel; Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded, Inked in Pink, Bold Gold, Bad to the Bronze; NYX Love in Rio palettes.</li>
<li>Mid-end! Illamasqua palettes in Empower, Complement, or Neutral; Urban Decay Naked Basics; bareMinerals READY Eyeshadow 4.0 in The Truth, The Rare Find, or The Happy Place.</li>
<li>High-end! Le Metier de Beaute Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Bauhaus or Carnaby Street.</li>
</ul>
For eyeliner, I think gel is the least intimidating to use; it tends to stay on better than pencil liners, in my experience, for those with oilier eyelids. If your eyelids are dry, go for pencil though, they're probably the most fuss-free though they do need sharpening. (I have no experience with high-end eyeliners here, but if anyone wants to chime in what the YSL gel liners are like....) Brown or black eyeliner is the best for defining your eyes.<br />
<ul>
<li>Drugstore!<br />
<ul>
<li>Gel: Catrice, Maybelline, L'Oreal, Kanebo KATE.</li>
<li>Pencil: Revlon Colorstay Eyeliner.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Mid-end!<br />
<ul>
<li>Gel: Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack or Blitz and Glitz, Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner, Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner.</li>
<li>Pencil: MAC Pearlglide Intense in Lord it Up or Black Line, Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner in Perversion or Zero.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://adorebeauty.onsugar.com/Step--Step-EveryDAY-Neutrals-beginners-18459986">Adore Beauty</a> has a tutorial for neutral eyes, but you can find plenty more googling for them. I'd make sure to check for your eye shape. <a href="http://bunbunmakeuptips.com/tag/eyeshadow-for-monolids/">Bunbun Makeup</a> has an entire series on monolids. If you have oily eyelids, try eye primers to keep eyeshadow from sliding off or liner from giving you the coveted panda eyes. I'm a believer in NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. Brightest Bulb in the Box has a <a href="http://www.brightestbulbinthebox.com/2013/02/mega-comparison-eyeshadow-primers.html">mega comparison</a>!<br />
<br />
<b>Lips</b><br />
<br />
The first thing I recommend almost anyone is Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, since it's moisturizing *and* the color's just about <a href="http://thebeautyjunkee.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-clinique-almost-lipstick-in.html">universally flattering</a>. You might want a second lipstick for a brighter color, and you will *definitely* want to have a lip balm around if your lips are prone to chapping, or you want to wear matte lipsticks (which are, very sadly, almost universally drying....).<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.sephora.com/productimages/sku/s1484880-main-hero.jpg" /><br />
<ul>
<li>Drugstore! Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait or Cherry Tart, Maybelline Color Whisper.</li>
<li>Mid-end! Too Faced La Creme, MAC Mineralize Rich, Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, Clinique Chubby Moisturizing Lip Color Balm in Mega Melon.</li>
<li>High-end! YSL Rouge Volupte Shine (I can't recommend this enough, it's perfect - pigmented *and* moisturizing *and* long-lasting, just the best and honestly worth the price) in Corail Incandescent or Pink in Devotion.</li>
</ul>
<b>Face</b><br />
<br />
This one's a bit complicated because people have different kinds of skin. If your complexion is darker - like mine - you'll have to gravitate toward the more expensive end of things, as mid- to high-end brands tend to have greater shade selections, and getting a shade match can be tricky. The basics is that you want to moisturize first before putting anything on your face.<br />
<br />
I can't stand heavy-coverage liquid foundation for long and so I tend to go with sheerer formulas, or just wear powder with tinted moisturizers underneath. It depends on how much coverage you want! For drugstore, Bourjois and Revlon are quite good; for the high-end, Guerlain Lingerie de Peau is brilliant. I've heard good things about the Chanel Aqualumiere for those with dryer skin. If you want a foundation powder and want to go high-end, absolutely *nothing* beats Chantecaille Compact Makeup.<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://www.sephora.com/productimages/sku/s1579051-main-hero.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Blush is easier though! As far as that goes my recommendations come down to two things: for drugstore, Sleek Blush by 3 palettes. For mid-end, Clinique Cheek Pop Blush.<br />
<br />
<b>Tools!</b><br />
<br />
Please don't try applying your eyeshadow with your fingers or flimsy sponge-tip applicators that come in palettes! They are simply the most dreadful and the easiest way to get frustrated with eye makeup and give up forever. Invest in eye brushes! The choices are very simple here. If you want higher end, you pick up a MAC 239 and a MAC 217. If not, pick up a <a href="http://realtechniques.com/shop-collection/your-eyes-enhanced/starter-set">Real Techniques starter set</a>. The basics is you use a flat brush (like MAC 239) to deposit eyeshadow, then a soft fluffy brush (like MAC 217) to blend it.<br />
<br />
Face brushes I find fairly optional. Sponges like Beauty Blender are the most beginner-friendly for liquid or cream foundation, but for powder products applicators included in the compact or tin tend to do just fine.<br />
<br />
In summary, broadly I'd say you want these things.<br />
<ol>
<li>Eye stuff. Eye primer, eyeliner, and one eyeshadow palette.</li>
<li>Lip stuff. Two lipsticks - one a 'nude' or understated color, one a louder, bolder color. Have a lip balm around.</li>
<li>Face stuff. One liquid foundation, one finishing powder, a blush palette.</li>
<li>Tools. Eye brushes - one for depositing color, one for blending. Face brush - I think broadly you can just get one that can multi-purpose; face powder things tend to come with their own applicators (sponge or puff), liquid foundation you can use your hand.</li>
</ol>
That's it! Exactly 12 products, at varying price points. Have fun and be sparkly! (ノ´ヮ´)ノ*:・゚✧Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-29421136647535646492014-04-21T22:33:00.000-07:002014-04-21T22:33:54.340-07:00Campbell Award for best new writerLast week e-mails went out to nominees for all things Hugo and the (affectionately known as) not-Hugo, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Which is not a Hugo, but it's part of the same nomination and voting process. My letter came in and, as you do, I just stared at it for a few hours, sure that they had the wrong person and that they'd sent it to the wrong address. Somehow! I'm actually certain this isn't a thing that happens - they're too efficient and competent for that. But the mind isn't always a rational thing....<br />
<br />
The Campbell ballot this year comprises<br />
<ul>
<li>Ramez Naam </li>
<li>Sofia Samatar </li>
<li>Wesley Chu</li>
<li>Max Gladstone</li>
<li>Benjanun Sriduangkaew <b><br /></b></li>
</ul>
This is very humbling company! Please imagine my face as a row of exclamation marks. Like so -> <span style="color: magenta;">!!!!!!!!!!!!</span> The eyes will have to be stars. Ramez Naam and Max Gladstone were exceptionally lovely - I'd just twitter-met them and they were already offering to drink to me at Worldcon. (I believe I'll get to pick the drink, the more lethal the better; please send suggestions!) Huge congratulations for all of them, and also to Ann Leckie, Aliette de Bodard, Rachel Swirsky, Foz Meadows, Kameron Hurley. Two of my favorite editors are up for short form editor - Jonathan Strahan and Neil Clarke - so that's a yay! Beneath Ceaseless Skies up for semiprozine again, most deservingly!<br />
<br />
My only expectations with the Campbell was only a concern I might be a disappointment to people who did nominate me for the Campbell. As it turns out, I don't have to disappoint! To say I'm humbled by this support for my writing would be an absolute, inadequate statement. It was an honor just to see my name on people's ballots - that was delightsome enough on its own - but to be an actual finalist...! It's beyond an honor, and it overwhelms me more than I have words to express. Thank you everyone who nominated me, and I'd especially like to thank writers who've lent me unending courage - to write, to be: Ann Leckie, Kameron Hurley, Aliette de Bodard, Seth J. Dickinson, Lavie Tidhar. Editors who have been incandescently kind and shown me a world of possibilities: Neil Clarke, Scott H. Andrews, Sean Wallace, Jonathan Oliver, Jonathan Strahan, and more.<br />
<br />
And finally: innumerable thanks for a very dear one for incredible patience, support, and being there. (And also all the nieces who cheered me on when writing, and burst into huge rounds of applause when I told them all this, even if they aren't too sure what it is about. Erm, that and my writing's still not age-appropriate for them, now that I think...). Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-43637255016500081442014-04-20T04:09:00.000-07:002014-04-20T04:09:19.165-07:00April stories! Clarkesworld and Beneath Ceaseless Skies<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.6667px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Story month! ゜゚・*\(^O^)/*・゜゚</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1396465862l/21839762.jpg" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="200" /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.6667px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_04_14/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Autodidact’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on Clarkesworld Magazine (<a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Subscriptions</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>|<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.patreon.com/clarkesworld" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Patreon</a>). A sentient starship, a psychologist, and a soldier: the battlefield they make of each other.</span></span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(230, 237, 206); border-width: 0px 0px 0px 5px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On Srisunthorn Station, the corpses of conquered stars are nurtured into ships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">They may become shelters from solar winds, orbitals giving company to lonely planets, mausoleums for the sainted. But long ago an admiral came, bringing a toll of dead and trailing carcasses of worlds. Her armor was hammered out of battle formations and broken alliances, welded by secret plans and sudden annihilation. She cast it down before the engineers, piece by piece making known to them the essentials of war.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px none; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“That is what you must make them for,” she said as her trappings shuddered with the pressure of lethal feints and shattered pacts. “War is a pustule that must be lanced for the laws of the universe to continue, and I am in need of a scalpel.”</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1396710359l/21848027.jpg" style="clear: both; display: block; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.5em auto; max-width: 100%;" width="200" /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.6667px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/golden-daughter-stone-wife/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Golden Daughter, Stone Wife’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on Beneath Ceaseless Skies (<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/support-bcs/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Subscriptions)</a>. An immigrant sorcerer, her lost golem, and a compromise of winter.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/audio/bcs-124-golden-daughter-stone-wife/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Podcast</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>read by Folly Blaine.</span></span></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left: 5px solid rgb(230, 237, 206); border-width: 0px 0px 0px 5px; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.5em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="border: 0px none; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I watch her through the bright, clear eyes of a fox. You see the world differently this way, closer to the ground, sight plaited from smells, nose to soil and snow. A fox’s mind is so wide, made of simple geometry and immediate needs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fox sniffs and tosses its head. She comes.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.6667px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Golden Daughter’ shares the issue with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/at-the-edge-of-the-sea/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘At the Edge of the Sea’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Raphael Ordonez, which I found lovely, evocative and wonderfully unsettling.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.6667px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m extra pleased in that – though these two stories were written months apart – their publication dates tidily coincide: both being stories with immigrant main characters, artificial life, a desire for parenthood, *and* they both take place in a small, contained setting (a space station and a house respectively). Apart from those common details though, they end up being very different stories, with hugely unlike conclusions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve been *incredibly* happy with the reception for ‘Autodidact’! The first day this was up my mentions didn’t completely explode but definitely filled up a lot, which I didn’t think was a thing that happens when you’re a little baby writer. Carl V. Anderson<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/04/short-fiction-friday-clarkesworld-issue-91-april-2014/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">liked it</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at SFSignal, and Lois Tilton<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2014/04/lois-tilton-reviews-short-fiction-early-april-4/#clarke201404" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">called the final moment subtle and effective</a>, Charlotte Ashby reviewing for Apex Magazine<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.apex-magazine.com/clavis-aurea-3-dean-wells-benjanun-srisuangkaew-lashawn-m-wanak-and-yoon-ha-lee/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">had kind things</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to say about it, and a reader of Clarkesworld<a href="http://antoniourias.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/magazine-review-clarkesworld-issue-91-april-2014/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">kindly said</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>it was one of the standout stories. Not to be outdone, ‘Golden Daughter, Stone Wife’ has already been selected for a reprint in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Mammoth-Book-Warriors-Wizardry/dp/1472110625" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>edited by Sean Wallace, out late this year. I think that’s the fastest reprint I’ve ever had!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">While I’m proud of and believe in my stories, it’s still a surprise when people let me know they liked my writing; I couldn’t have asked for more. I took a few risks with ‘Autodidact’ (one of them being to use three different pronouns for a single character), but they seem to have worked out all right. I wrote this story with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Ancillary Justice</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>on my brain (because of course!), as I otherwise never thought of writing sentient AIs before, though my approach to it is probably very different from Ann’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you want to read more stories with sentient spaceships in them, I loved Aliette de Bodard’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-breath-of-war/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Breath of War’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/debodard_01_14_reprint/" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Ship’s Brother’</a>, Kameron Hurley’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/enyo-enyo" style="border: 0px none; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Enyo-Enyo’</a>, though I’d be happy to read more. For golem stories – erm, please suggest?</span></span></div>
Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-53134610061585477292014-03-27T04:02:00.000-07:002014-04-21T03:55:40.517-07:00Beneath Ceaseless Skies science-fantasy months<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Bitter, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.66666603088379px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; orphans: auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
The Beneath Ceaseless Skies science-fantasy month is thoroughly solid – Scott H. Andrews curated a stunning double issue – and makes me hugely happy; science fantasy looks like a very fun thing to do! I haven’t read all of them yet, but for the moment…</div>
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Behold Sekhmet! Blood and brawn, fang and claw, shoulders caked in salt. Risen from the anaerobic sea, the ancient broth, to hunt and kill her foe.</div>
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<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/sekhmet-hunts-the-dying-gnosis-a-computation/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Sekhmet Hunts the Dying Gnosis: a Computation’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Seth J. Dickinson (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Mar 2014). I think most would be hard-pressed not to read on after the first three gorgeous sentences. Seth calls this the sort of fable a tiger raised on science might tell and that seems a fitting description! It’s an incredibly accomplished story, where every sentence sings out in perfection, visceral poetry. I adore it.</div>
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<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-breath-of-war/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Breath of War’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Mar 2014). On a planet where people carve stone into ‘breath-siblings’ a pregnant woman seeks her stone-companion: a warship. Of all Aliette’s stories I’ve read recently I think this is easily the strongest – it’s rather different from her non-fantasy SF, but tensely told and striking. In a lot of ways it shares resemblances with her Subterranean story, but I do love this one more. I’m not sure if this is part of the Xuya universe, but it shares many themes with her Xuya stories. Seth had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-breath-of-war/#comment-251394" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a lot more</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to say about this story, and his insights as usual are thoroughly smart.</div>
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Beneath a high pale sun, Doormaker follows the broken road into the demon’s kingdom.</div>
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She is clad in an armor wrought of primordial isotopes, imbued with mathematics of sufficient strength to reinforce its stability against the demon’s fallout. Beneath it, she hides her war-given wounds, which burn and twist at certain hours of the day or beneath the shadows of certain trees.</div>
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<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-river-does-not-run/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The River Does Not Run’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Rachel Sobel (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Mar 2014). A wizard sets out to defeat a demon in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s a relatively brief story, tightly focused, and the imagery is evocative. Science fantasy with maths magic! My favorite kind of main character!</div>
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<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-bonedrakes-penance/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Bonedrake’s Penance’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Mar 2014). This is very different! But beautifully written, of course. I’m always faintly puzzled by stories where dragons (or other fantasy creatures) raise children, but that may be due to me not reading a lot of fantasy outside of short fiction. (You would think it’d be common in YA, of which I read a lot, but I actually can’t think of any title that fits the bill…)</div>
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<a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-mote-dancer-and-the-firelife-by-chris-willrich/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">‘The Mote-Dancer and the Firelife’</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by Chris Wilrich (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 2012). An older story but also from a science-fantasy month at BCS, reprinted in Rich Horton’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Space-Opera-Rich-Horton/dp/1607014076" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Space Opera</a>. An interesting look at a telepathic-digital afterlife and grieving!</div>
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And relevantly…</div>
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This is a thoroughly fantastic panel that I think is essential to watch for anyone interested in short fiction in the genre, whether to read, write, or edit. They cover the rise of online zines and how that opens doors and access to international audiences and writers. Some podcasts were recommended,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://scienceismagic.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Synthetic Voices</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and Tina Connolly’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://toastedcake.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #759b22; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Toasted Cake</a>.</div>
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I was pleasantly surprised to hear my name brought up, along with Seth J. Dickinson and Yoon Ha Lee. Many thanks to Sarah Pinsker, Neil Clarke and Scott H. Andrews for that kindness. All editors talked in depth about the nitty-gritty of running, editing and maintaining zines. Funding! Story selection! And things. It’s fairly long a clip, but really quite worth checking out.</div>
Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-46341941119835149102014-02-10T09:09:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:44:20.500-07:00Common questionable (?) makeup wisdom1. Black eyeliner is too harsh for the daytime. Wear brown instead. ('This may not apply to all skin colour but the expert says, "Here is a general rule: dark colors shrink and recede," Patel says. "Light colors advance and bring forward." That's why she recommends skipping black eyeliner (especially underneath eyes) during the day, so your eyes look more open and awake'.)<br />
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I've never been able to understand this one. This could be due to my skin being on the deep end of things - any liner 'weaker' than black would not go very far in defining my eyes! But my paler friends and colleagues also wear black liner, even liquid ones which tend to pull dramatic. The same goes with most people I know who wear makeup, black is the definite standard (and I don't think it looks 'too harsh', not that I feel like I ought to pass opinion on what other people do with their faces!). This might, possibly, be an Asia thing? I wouldn't line my waterline with black in the daytime, to be fair, though that's because I just about never line my waterline. (I'd get irritated and my eyes would tear up).<br />
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2. Blue eyeshadow is unwearable. (<a href="http://www.edoworld.net/Makeup.html">Source!</a> '"Blue eyeshadow works for some people," Patel says. " such as little girls in dance recitals. Guests at 1970s-themed parties. Ethereal looking supermodels. If you aren't one of the aforementioned people, don't wear it. Enough said." Harsh, but truer words have never been spoken.')<br />
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I would definitely not try wearing baby blue shades - having to do with my skin being in the Guerlain shades with 'dore' prefixes - but I find most other blues perfectly easy to wear. Navy is fantastic for smokey eyes or pairing with gold or yellow, green-leaning blues in general are lovely and flattering on most people! Purple-leaning blues may be trickier but I've definitely found ways to make them work. I do tend to suspect that navy blues would not look especially good if you are aiming for 'ethereal supermodel' either. ^.^;<br />
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(Now I want to know how to pronounce that 'dore'. I hope it doesn't sound like 'dour'. I am not a dour person! Neither is my skin!)<br />
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3. Bold eyes or bold lips, not both!<br />
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I'm of two minds about this one - I do think if I'm going light on the eye makeup I've all the liberty in the world to do statement lips. The 'smokey eyes and nude lips' approach really doesn't work for me though, I can't stand nude lips on myself, it looks - er - it makes me look like a dead person or as if I've got a terminal disease. Unpleasant!<br />
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4. No metallics or shimmer on 'mature' eyelids.<br />
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I'm *definitely* heading toward the, um, more mature end of things but I've been lucky in that the skin around my eyes and my eyelids haven't expressed this too strongly, so I still wear metallic finishes or foil them with sealants or water for even more shimmer. I do admit matte or satin finishes do obscure fine lines and creases better....Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-88997216810755284332014-01-08T12:47:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:43:41.475-07:00Recent readings that I enjoyed!<img alt="" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1382941891l/87305.jpg" width="219" /><br />
<b>Grass Roof, Tin Roof</b> by Dao Strom. This book was hard-hitting for me, emotionally. Immigration, war, family - all difficult, sticky topics and the author pulled them off fantastically. It's so alive and intimate, the prose like music.<br />
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The police officers had had to track me down through a web of excuses my friends and I had set up in order to go out dancing; in smugly reprimanding tones, they told me this. The drive to the hospital took forty-five minutes. I arrived still wearing my cat's-eye makeup - exaggerated rings of black eyeliner - and black lipstick, and my black clothes felt garish under the glare of the fluorescent lights. I thought: onlookers will say the teenage daughter knew all along, was waiting every day for the mother's end to come, was celebrating death, even. Just look at her!</blockquote>
<img alt="" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320540909l/7334201.jpg" width="219" /><br />
<b>Super Sad True Love Story</b> by Gary Shteyngart. This isn't SFF but I'd say it is decidedly speculative!<br />
Otherwise I'm still trying to catch up on short fiction - so not all of these were published in 2013 and eligible for awards, but their writers have published in 2013 and definitely eligible for short story categories, the Campbell, or both.<br />
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E. Catherine Tobler's <a href="http://www.clarkesworldmagazine.com/tobler_06_12/">'You Were She Who Abode'</a> (Clarkesworld, 2012) reminds me a little of Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha, being about a woman soldier, war, and PTSD. No bugs, though!<br />
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A.C. Wise's <a href="http://www.3lobedmag.com/issue24/3lbe24_story1.html">'Her Last Breath Before Waking Up'</a> (Three-Lobed Burning Eye, 2013) is striking magic-realism! It's about an architect, a doomed love affair, and forgetting. This is eligible for awards in the short story category.<br />
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Veronica Schanoes' <a href="http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/06/burning-girls">'Burning Girls'</a> (Tor.com, 2013) is hard to categorize but if I'd encountered it outside Tor.com I would've said it was from a literary lineage - though it can still be that, naturally! Immigration and family and demons.<br />
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I became familiar with Sofia Samatar through sharing a TOC with her, and her <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/samatar_08_12">'Honey Bear'</a> (Clarkesworld, 2012) really stuck with me - the way it is about motherhood, about saying yes, about persevering in a post-apocalyptic world. She's got many eligible stories in 2013, the novel <b>A Stranger in Olondria</b>, and is in her second year of Campbell eligibility.Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-82918376515862071042014-01-04T17:11:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:43:01.704-07:00Rounding up my year: 2013 in reviewHello! If you've come across me for the first time, please allow me to introduce myself: I write a lot of speculative things, but in 2013 most of what I've had published is postcolonial science fiction with a space opera and cyberpunk bent. It's been described as <a href="http://starshipfabulous.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/2013-in-queer-media/">'dazzling futures full of queer love and interesting gender thoughts'</a>.<br/><br/>This is my first year of eligibility for the <a href="http://www.writertopia.com/awards/campbell">Campbell Award for Best New Writer</a>. Nomination is open from 1 Jan to 10 March 2014.<br/><blockquote>Like the Hugo Awards, the Campbell Award voting takes place in two stages. The first stage, nomination, is open to anyone who had a Supporting or Attending membership in the previous, current, or following year's Worldcon as of January 31. For Loncon 3, this means members of LoneStarCon 3 (the 71st World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio), Loncon 3 itself, and Sasquan (the 73rd Worldcon in Spokane) can nominate any eligible author.</blockquote><br/>Looking back at 2013, I've had four stories published online and three in print anthologies. Two of those have been selected for reprints! Except one, they're all eligible for Hugo nomination for Best Short Story. All are, I understand, eligible for the <a href="http://www.bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards/">BSFA Awards</a> under short fiction (nomination open until 14 Jan 2014).<br/><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://beekian.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/covers.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1110 aligncenter" alt="covers" src="http://beekian.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/covers.jpg?w=800" width="616" height="238" /></a></p><br/>Here are, I think, the highlights. For stories unavailable online, let me know here or on twitter if you'd like to read them!<br/><br/><strong>'<a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_12_13/">Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade</a>'</strong> (Clarkesworld) concerns General Lunha, a gender-fluid officer of the Hegemony who's been brought back from the dead to subjugate the world of her birth and her dissident wife. I like to call it military space opera, and so far nobody's corrected me, so I'll go with that! You can listen to this as a <strong><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_12_13b/">podcast</a></strong> read by the compelling Kate Baker. The nicest thing anyone's ever said about this story is <a href="https://twitter.com/KameronHurley/status/407519439936970752">'Fans of Ancillary Justice, take note'</a>. (!!!) To my surprise and delight, this comparison's been made more than once. This is one of my proudest stories and will be reprinted in Space Opera edited by Rich Horton (Prime Books).<br/><br/><strong><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_04_13">'Annex'</a> </strong>(Clarkesworld) concerns two revolutionaries, a resourceful subversive and a genderqueer cyberneticist, out to alter the laws of the universe and protect their world. I believe this has been classified as cyberpunk, and I'm not inclined to disagree! Here's the <strong><a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_04_13a/">podcast</a></strong> also read by Kate Baker.<br/><br/><strong><a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-crows-her-dragons-gate/">'The Crows Her Dragon's Gate'</a></strong> (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) is Chinese fantasy in immersive first person where the sun goddess Xihe finds her way through the role given to her by heaven and myth. It's the longest thing I've got published in 2013, at 8,500 words, but I like to think longer stories have their own way of being. This, unlike the others, is eligible for the Novelette rather than Short Story category.<br/><br/><strong>'Fade to Gold'</strong> is a historical dark fantasy, referencing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Suriyothai">Queen Suriyothai</a> (who went to war openly, as herself, accompanied by her daughter), where a soldier returns home and on the way encounters a mystery. This is my effort to touch on PTSD in a combatant fresh off the field. It appears in <a href="http://www.rebellionstore.com/products/end_of_the_road">End of the Road</a>, an anthology of weird, dark road tales edited by Jonathan Oliver. It will be reprinted in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Best-Science-Fiction-Fantasy-Year/dp/1781082162">The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Vol. 8</a>, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris Books).<br/><br/><strong>'The Bees Her Heart, the Hive Her Belly'</strong> is magic-realist cyberpunk where a woman trades in her heart for a beehive and sets out to find her lost sister in a world where memory and reality are malleable while galactic empires duel in the background. This one appears in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGQPX4S/">Clockwork Phoenix 4</a>, an anthology of very unique science fiction and fantasy edited by Mike Allen. Rich Horton, <a href="http://time-shark.livejournal.com/606783.html">reviewing for Locus</a>, quite liked it; he will be including it in his The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2014 (Prime Books). It was also in the <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2014/02/2013-locus-recommended-reading-list/">2013 Locus Recommended Reading List</a> - double yay!<br/><br/>I'm delighted that several people - <a href="http://pickledthink.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/my-favourite-short-sff-fiction-of-2013.html">A.J. Fitzwater</a>, <a href="http://bookonaut.blogspot.com/2013/12/end-of-2013.html">Sean Wright</a>, and <a href="http://www.hawksmoorsbazaar.net/?p=838">Allegra Hawkmoor</a> - have included my stories in their lists of the best short fiction they've read in 2013. I'd also like to thank <a href="http://prezzey.net">Bogi Takács</a> for having motivated me to submit with more confidence. Lois Tilton, reviewing for Locus Online, also <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2013/12/lois-tiltons-2013-reviews-in-review/">highlighted my Clockwork Phoenix 4 story</a> in her year in review column.<br/><br/>I am, in all, very excited for 2014!Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-55222852429020914292014-01-01T10:22:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:43:01.700-07:00On reading and writing what you love*✲゚*。✧ Happy new year! *✲゚*。✧<br/><br/>This post was inspired by <a href="https://twitter.com/ann_leckie/status/417439965413244928">this conversation</a> where Ann Leckie said many wise things. It isn't my year in review; rather it's a post of thanks.<br/><br/>2013 was the year I started reading Yoon Ha Lee religiously, got head over heels into the works of Nicola Griffith and Ann Leckie, and discovered Elizabeth Wein's stunning YA historical <strong>Code Name Verity</strong>. I'd also been reading Kameron Hurley for a while, Aliette de Bodard, and a great many other writers - I've been trying to read more specfic to shore up my familiarity with the genre (though I do break away from that sometimes, the Wein isn't speculative as such!). It's all been, I think, good news. Because other people like them too, characters like Nyx, Breq, Hild, Verity and Aud Torvingen or all the powerful, dimensional ladies of Aliette's fiction. This is what I love to read and want to see more of! And I am far from alone. These are authors that, as I hardly need to point out, have been received fantastically and applauded thoroughly. Yay! I've also met wonderful writers (on twitter, at least) like <a href="http://www.acwise.net">A. C. Wise</a>, <a href="http://pickledthink.blogspot.com">A. J. Fitzwater</a>, <a href="http://bonniejostufflebeam.com">Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam</a>, <a href="http://alexdallymacfarlane.com">Alex Dally MacFarlane</a> and more.<br/><br/>When I write I'm not looking to shake or upset - upset things might fall over and break, after all! Instead I write what makes me happy, whether that's <a href="http://clockworkphoenix.com/">ladies with heart bees</a> doing things, <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_04_13">genderqueer cyberneticists</a> changing the course of history, <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/sriduangkaew_12_13/">gender-fluid soldiers</a> struggling against inevitable tragedies. Whether anyone would want to read these is chancier, though I've been honestly really surprised - for a short fiction writer (and a really new one, both to writing and to the genre) I've <a href="http://beekian.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/fiction/">published fairly well</a> this year, with two stories in Clarkesworld, one in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in outstanding anthologies: Jonathan Oliver's <a href="http://www.rebellionstore.com/products/end_of_the_road">End of the Road</a> and Mike Allen's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DGQPX4S/">Clockwork Phoenix 4</a>.<br/><br/>Two of my 2013 stories will be reprinted very excitingly and 2014 is looking really good, too! At minimum, editors like my work enough to publish me - and they hardly mind if a character of mine is sometimes male and sometimes female, or if they're women married to women. None of them ever made me edit somewhat unconventional pronoun choices either: the singular they for a genderqueer character, the occasional switch from 'he' to 'she' for the same character. Nobody's ever asked me to change names that might sound odd to some ears - Lunha, Xihe, Esithu - and when it comes to pronouncing mine everyone's been perfectly lovely (even though my surname must be a beast!). I've never had to compromise, and for this I've been so lucky and am tremendously grateful. Editors are true treasures. I've worked with some of the very best and that's been a real privilege.<br/><br/>But before I could get to the point of actively writing and submitting, it helped enormously to see that there are writers who've gone before doing the things I love, and who do it with confidence and success. This gift of courage is so precious, whether or not it's intentionally passed along. It gives me space to believe that the stories I want to tell could *be* and that there'd be an audience for it. And there has been! I've been delighted and surprised every time someone reviews my stories or tweets to let me know that they've enjoyed my fiction. Role models and influences have been incredibly important for me as a writer, not just because they inspire my fiction but because they open up possibilities. They've set a precedent. They fill me with optimism, not least because I'm looking forward to more of their works as well.<br/><br/>Here's to a wonderful 2014!Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-41003642151683256662013-12-31T00:03:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:32:12.776-07:005 things I learned about skincare and makeup in 20131. Bar soap is the best brush cleanser I've ever met.<br />
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I wouldn't do it to my expensive natural hair brushes, but for synthetic ones it's perfect! I'd wet the bar of soap and just rub the brush on it, swirl in my palm until all the suds and foundation - it is usually foundation - comes off. Brushes that started life white *do* turn back to white, it cleans like nothing else. \o/ I do think this would be a really bad idea to subject natural hair brushes to, though!<br />
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2. MAC Pearlglides are incredible eye primer.<br />
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I've noticed that they stay on my eyelids *always* without smudging, fallout, anything unless I rub - and even then if my eyelids are dry they don't really come off. Since I sometimes get fallout with pencil or gel liners (the coveted panda look!) I decided to try using the pearlglides as a primer, putting it on my bare lids before layering a gel liner on top. This works exactly just as I expected, I don't get any of the dreaded flecks or smudges of black under my eye or anywhere else the liner's not meant to be. The downside is that the pearlglides are high on glitter content, and while I haven't yet had it fall *into* my eyeballs I do get a little worried. The glitter does show through the coat of black gel liner too, but I don't mind that too much! The pearlglides make a good base for shadows as well, though they do modify the shadow's color. (Prettily! I love the duochrome effect I get out of layering just about anything over MAC Pearlglide in Industrial). The Pearlglides are less pricey than my beloved NARS Smudgeproof, as a bonus! (´∀`)<br />
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3. Coconut oil!<br />
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I've the driest skin this side of... erm... a desert? My lips get chapped badly in winter, even in Hong Kong's humidity (such as: right now!). I've tried several kinds of lip balm and was on the verge of getting expensive lip treatment but I tried coconut oil first. It absorbs nearly instantly and leaves my lips a lot nicer and readier for lipstick application, though I still can't really pull off matte formulas, those being much too dry for me. (If only I could! Illamasqua shades would be some of the first I'd grab). I use this to clean my brushes too, as unlike my face goat hair doesn't break out! This conditions the bristles in a lovely way and gets all the pigment cream or powder out. As an extra coconut oil removes lip products like a dream, whether it's gluey glosses like the MAC Dazzleglass or lip stains.<br />
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4. Sisley works.<br />
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This is deeply sad-making as buying Sisley products is a little like throwing your wallet into a bonfire (just less hot). (✖╭╮✖) But my dry skin problem escalated to the point that my cheeks were *burning* in the day time - I thought it was my foundation, finishing powder, blush, face brushes, anything! No amount of packing on moisturizer helped, no amount of cleaning my brushes helped, changing face products or even going bare faced didn't help.... Then a coworker gave me a sample size of Sisley Ecological Compound. I believe it has a good amount of mineral oil? I don't like to put oil on my face as I'm leery of breaking out, though this didn't cause any clogging. What it did do was to reduce the burning and stinging - it is as unpleasant as it sounds! like you sprinkled vinegar on your cheeks instead of blush - until that was totally gone in a few days. Yay! Only not very yay when I saw the price tag. I purchased a full size after the sample ran out. (✖╭╮✖) I'm lucky that I've got more disposable income this year, but it *does* hurt!<br />
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5. Some high-end lipsticks just about deserve their price tag.<br />
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<img alt="YSL Rouge Volupte Shine #19 "Fuchsia In Rage"" height="369" src="http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/33/51/023351aae858f39e1e23ac64e9de17fa.jpg" width="400" /><br />
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I'm sensitive to scent - I can't wear strongly scented lip products without getting horrid headaches, and owing to the chapped lips I prefer lipstick formulas that hydrate. The tragedy is that at drugstore price range, hydrating balmy lipsticks get loaded up with perfume when they don't just smell like wax. A lot of them feel sticky, oily and unpleasant on my lips... so I worked up my courage and shelled out for one of these, a YSL Volupte Shine in Fuchsia in Rage. The tube's, um, you would never mistake it for a Revlon! Or a MAC or anything else. It's metal and the weight does count - designer lines tend to have heavier tubes (Guerlain is *heavy* judging from handling it at the counter; confusingly Cle de Peau, more expensive than even Guerlain, is plastic) - and the cap's completely round, so if it drops it's going to roll all the way across the room. ヽ(゚Д゚)ノ<br />
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On the other hand, the lipstick itself is perfect! It's creamy and glides like a balm - even softer, I think! I wouldn't leave it in the heat in fear of it melting. I've worn ones more hydrating, but the Volupte Shine in this shade is gorgeously and deeply pigmented while still being moisturizing. I can just swipe it on even though my lips are a little chapped, it's slightly soothing and formulated so that it hides all the imperfections of unexfoliated lips. I've never used anything like! The color stays on and on - it stains, and flatteringly. The price tag makes me sneeze and tear up, but lipsticks do last a long time.Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296425268661643195.post-86045880866576568612013-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:002014-04-21T22:37:11.320-07:00What I loved reading in 2013I'm going to have to refrain from gushing about <a href="http://beekian.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/ancillary-justice-is-perfect/">Ancillary Justice</a> again because I think it's becoming obsessive of me to do so - but suffice to say that I've bought multiple copies for friends! That is how much I loved it. *_*<br />
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Lavie Tidhar's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18309415-the-violent-century">The Violent Century</a>! I'm not familiar with the history side of things - this being alternate history, that spells a lack on my part - but the *writing*. I don't think it's often I get to read something so intense, so indelible, and breathless. It's such visual visual text and incredibly different. In <a href="http://trubadurs.com/2013/12/05/an-interview-with-lavie-tidhar-in-english/">an interview</a>, Lavie said it underwent several conceptual revisions, having been conceived at various points as screenplay and comics.<br />
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On the short fiction end of things, I discovered Seth J. Dickinson's writing this year starting with <a href="http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-traitor-baru-cormorant-her-field-general-and-their-wounds-by-seth-dickinson/">The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds</a>, a heartbreaking tragedy, tautly and richly made - I don't think anyone I have recommended this to didn't love it; I believe he has a novel taking place before this story and I hope to see that out someday. More this-yearly, his '<a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/dickinson_11_13/">Never Dreaming (In Four Burns)</a>' is just as wrenching but ends on a *slightly* happier note. Women rocket scientists! Magic *and* hard science!<br />
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'<a href="http://strangehorizons.com/2013/20130211/north-f.shtml">The Long Road to the Deep North</a>' was my favorite story from Lavie this year, not an easy choice to make when he's <a href="http://lavietidhar.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/2013-the-short-stories/">published more than twenty</a>! I hear that he sleeps... sometimes. But it's a wonderfully engaging story, brilliantly smart, with the way it speculates on the future of languages and poetics.<br />
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Is there anybody who's not read Yoon Ha Lee yet? '<a href="http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-knight-of-chains-the-deuce-of-stars/">The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars'</a> is so stunning, isn't it? Yoon Ha Lee is how I got started writing space opera, possibly one of my biggest writing influences this year.<br />
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Why not more space opera! What a coincidence as well that two of my favorite reads this year have spaceships in human bodies - although hugely differently: <a href="http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/online-fiction/the-waiting-stars/">'The Waiting Stars'</a> is, like much of Aliette's fiction, complex and haunting, and it's about memory and forgetting, two of my favorite themes.<br />
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Lastly, whimsical time travel playing with history! <a href="http://www.strangehorizons.com/2013/20130729/2beautifulchicken-f.shtml">'Count Poniatowski and the Beautiful Chicken'</a> by Elizabeth Ziemska. I do so adore it.Chrysanthemumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00782506536445831141noreply@blogger.com0