Beyond Victoriana

This weekend, I’ll be off at TeslaCon V, talking books, steampunks, and hanging out with dinosaurs. I have been excited about this convention for months.

My panel schedule will be light, but you can catch me at the below panels or wandering around the convention. Of course, any authors or agents interested in an appointment, feel free to contact me beforehand or on-site.

Friday, November 7, 2014
10:00 am, Room 2
So You Want to Publish Your Steampunk Novel – Publishing tips for the retrofuturist set. An exploration of the publishing process starting with looking for an agent and submitting your manuscript and continuing with an insider’s view about how the book business works. Led by Tor editor Diana Pho and others, the panel gives advice drawn from their various experiences across the industry. Plus, a frank discussion on where steampunk literature is heading, tropes to avoid, and how other steampunk media impacts your steampunk book.

Saturday, November 8, 2014
Queering Steampunk
2:30 – 4 PM, Room 1
Panel discussion with an emphasis on how gender identity and sexuality intersect with other identity categories in steampunk culture, literature, cosplay, and creative objects.

Strike A Pose: Queer Cultures, Steampunk, & Fashion
5:30 – 7 PM, Room 1
Panel discussion on Victorian fashion,gender non-conformity and steampunk.

I’ll also be taking a brief stop on Friday at the Southeastern Wisconsin Festival of Books, paneling about steampunk with Lisa Hager and Austin Sirkin! You can RSVP for our talk on FB here.

Steampunk: Diana Pho, Austin Sirkin, Lisa Hager
Room: N140
3:00 – 4 PM
Victorian-era machinery and fashion, retro-futurism, and art-nouveau design: Steampunk is this, and so much more.

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Click to Download PDF of Presentation

UPDATE: Footage of the panel is now available on YouTube, courtesy of Lawrence Brenner Media. Check it out on our Video Page.

SOME STATS

25% of women at comic/pop culture conventions report being sexually harassed
(Source: Bitch magazine)

13% of people attending comic conventions report having unwanted comments of a sexual nature made about them at conventions. 8% of people of all genders reported they had been groped, assaulted, or raped at a comic convention. (Source: Game Skinny)

53% of all transgender/ non-binary individuals reported verbal harassment in places of “public accommodation”; this includes hotels, restaurants, buses, public spaces.
(Source: Transequality.org)

LGBTQ people of color were 1.82 times as likely to experience physical violence compared to white LGBTQ people. Transgender people were 1.67 times as likely to experience threats and intimidation compared to LGBTQ non-transgender survivors and victims. (Source: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs)

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RESOURCES

Track #YesAllGeeks & follow-up on Facebook

On Harassment Awareness & Prevention:

Back-up Ribbon Project

Cosplay is not Consent

Dummies Guide to Cosplay Photography in 2014

John Scalzi’s Convention Pledge on Anti-Harassment & Co-sign thread

Order of the White Feather

Reporting Harassment: What Happens

Yes Means Yes

On Gender, Race & Disability in Fandom

Anita Sarkeesian’s The Tropes vs Women in Video Games on Feminist Frequency

Cosplaying While Black

DisabledLife Media

“Facts About Geek Girls” via Geek Girl Con

GeekQuality

Jay Justice

The Mary Sue

Misa on Wheels

Racialious

Transequality

Panelist credits/ contacts:

Diana M. Pho (moderator) – BeyondVictoriana.com & Tor.com / @writersyndrome

Robert Anders, RN, NP-C

Emily Asher-Perrin – Tor.com / @use_theforce_em

Marlene Bonnelly – youtube.com/ilikecomicstoo / @ilikecomicstoo

Mikki Kendall – @karnythia

Kaye M – @gildedspine

Thank you to everyone who participated on the panel and online! If you have a resource you’d like to share, drop a comment below or tweet to #YesAllGeeks!

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Last year, I reviewed Joseph Bruchac’s pulse-racing KILLER OF ENEMIES. There is more to this post-apoc steampunk world in the prequel ROSE EAGLE, coming from Tu Books as an original e-novella. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, we are introduced to seventeen-year-old Rose Eagle of the Lakota tribe who is trying to find her place in a world in turmoil after a mysterious Cloud has destroyed all electronic technology.

Before the Silver Cloud, the Lakota were forced to work in the Deeps, mining for ore so that the Ones, the overlords, could continue their wars. But when the Cloud came and enveloped Earth, all electronics were shut off. Some miners were trapped in the deepest Deeps and suffocated, but the Lakota were warned to escape, and the upper Deeps became a place of refuge for them in a post-Cloud world.

In the midst of this chaos, Rose Eagle’s aunt has a dream: Rose will become a medicine woman, a healer. She sends Rose into the Black Hills on a quest to find healing for their people.

Gangly and soft-spoken, Rose is no warrior. She seeks medicine, not danger. Nevertheless, danger finds her, but love and healing soon follow. When Rose Eagle completes her quest, she may return with more than she ever thought she was looking for.

Check out the cover after the jump.

Continue reading →

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Tagged as "post-apocalyptic", books, joseph bruchac, tu books

New York Comic Con is around the corner, and I’m pleased to announce two panels that I will be moderating.

Thursday, October 9th
8- 8:45 PM
Room: 1A18

How can fans of color become successful creators? Experienced PoC in TV, publishing, comic books, gaming, and pop culture journalism offer their advice. With LeSean Thomas (producer, BLACK DYNAMITE: THE ANIMATED SERIES; animator, THE LEGEND OF KORRA; Director/Lead Character Designer, THE BOONDOCKS), Tracey J. John (Journalist, MTV.com; Gameloft), Alice Meichi Li (illustrator, Dark Horse), Daniel José Older (author, HALF-RESSURECTION BLUES); Jennifer Cruté (illustrator/writer, JENNIFER’S JOURNAL), & I.W. Gregorio (author, #WeNeedDiverseBooks). Moderated by Diana Pho (editor, Tor Books).

Full panelist bios & RSVP on Facebook.

Saturday, October 11th
3 – 3:45 PM
Room: 1A21

After years of silence, people have become more vocal about speaking against harassment in fandom. How can our community unite and make our spaces – online and offline – safer from creepers of all stripes? Featuring panelists Mikki Kendall (writer & activist, @karnythia), Marlene Bonnelly (blogger, @ilikecomicstoo), Kaye M (writer & founder of #YesAllWomen), Emily Asher-Perrin (blogger, Tor.com), Robert Anders (nurse practitioner). Moderated by Diana M. Pho (editor, Tor Books).

HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE PANEL? We’re creating a Q & A from questions submitted to us beforehand. You can post those on our event page or submit via Twitter hashtag #YesAllGeeks by October 10th.

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This weekend, I’ll be at the Kriti South Asian arts and literature festival in Chicago from September 25-28, 2014, at the University of Illinois as a guest editor for science fiction & fantasy. My schedule is below — hope to see some of you there!

Friday, September 26th:

Friday 10 – 10:50
Q&A with Editor Diana Pho: Daley Library, Room 1-470
Pho answers every question you’ve ever had about book editors and publishers — or as many as she can fit into an hour. An informal discussion with Diana Pho.

Friday 12 – 12:50
What are today’s alternatives to “traditional” publishing, and how do you decide if one of them is good fit for you?  The publishing industry has undergone, and continues to undergo, massive and rapid change. The array of publishing options now runs the gamut from traditional publishing to self-publishing, each with its own characteristics. What is happening in the middle of the spectrum? How is a writer to decide what path to follow? What are the relative pros and cons, and what are the questions to ask oneself in order to ensure a positive publishing experience?  This panel will address small press publishing, self-publishing, crowdfunding, social media, and more.  As it occurs over lunchtime, please feel free to bring a brown bag lunch. (Anjali Mitter Duva, Mary Anne Mohanraj (m.), Rajdeep Paulus, Diana Pho)

Friday 2:00 – 2:50
Writing and Arts Activism: Institute for the Humanities, open room
Writers discuss the intersection between art and activism; how can we use our work to support / challenge society’s assumptions and strictures?  What pitfalls stand in the way of the artist-activist?  What strategies can we use to make our activism more effective?

Saturday, September 27th

Saturday, 11:00 – 11:50
Crossing Genre Boundaries: Daley Library, Room 1-470
We’ve all seen the epic South Asian family novel, a tale of marriage and politics and history and social conflict. What other kinds of S. Asian fiction is out there? Who are our science fiction and fantasy writers, our mystery, spy novel, romance, and political thriller authors? Writers discuss the challenges of breaking out of the ‘literary’ ghetto as an ethnic writer, and recommend favorite work in other genres. (Vidhu Aggarwal, Sonali Dev, Phiroozeh Romer, Mina Khan, Diana Pho (m.))

Saturday 12:00 – 12:50
Q&A with Editor Diana Pho: Institute for the Humanities, open room
Pho answers every question you’ve ever had about book editors and publishers — or as many as she can fit into an hour. An informal discussion with Diana Pho.

Sunday, September 28th

Sunday, 12:00 – 12:50
Ask the Editor: Institute for the Humanities, open room
Editors gather to discuss their work, and invite your questions.
(Syed Haider, Pooja Garg Singh, Diana Pho)

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