Christie Yant

You may have heard about this wee project I’m working on–a special all-women double issue of Lightspeed called Women Destroy Science Fiction! We have a Kickstarter going, which funded in seven hours (thank you!). Now we’ve added stretch goals to include Women Destroy Horror! edited by Ellen Datlow, and Women Destroy Fantasy! edited by Cat Rambo.

This project has been so fun to work on, and the women I’m working with are all so amazingly talented.

Fran Wilde interviewed me about Women Destroy Science Fiction! for GeekMom.com. I gave them a sneak peek at two of our contributors–I’ll reveal more in days to come!

Check out the interview, consider backing the Kickstarter (we have 18 days to go), or take a look at my initial call to arms. The destruction of science fiction is imminent! Are you prepared?

What a weird year it was. Upon reflection, I realize it was a year of Firsts.

My daughter moved out; my sister moved in. My other daughter started sixth grade (IMPOSSIBLE). John went on his first book tour. We went to our first comics convention (which Grace still uses as her yardstick for PURE JOY: “I smiled almost as much as I did at Comicon!”)  I went to the Rainforest Writers Retreat, and John and I both attended the Nebula Awards Weekend for the first time. I made my first sale to Analog, which still seems kind of like a dream except that I have the magazine to prove that it happened. I ran for SFWA office, which was terrifying on a number of levels, but I’m glad I did it. A story of mine was translated into Chinese and sold to the world’s largest SF market. Somewhere in there we accidentally adopted two special-needs cats (one intended, the other an imposter who is currently admiring the hummingbirds from her corner shelf in the office).

I spent three months writing three short stories that ultimately got trunked, a few weeks writing a story for an anthology on short notice (out next year), and another three months writing a novel, which was an exercise in focus and determination. And then my dayjob ate the next three months, and then it was the holidays, and here we are.

I did have two short stories published this year, within a couple of weeks of each other. They are:

• This Is Not A Metaphor – Kaleidotrope, edited by Fred Coppersmith. January 2013 (Short Story, 1200 words.)
• The Revelation of Morgan Stern – originally published in Shimmer #16, edited by E. Catherine Tobler. January 2013. (Short Story, 3350 words.) The story was reprinted and an audio version made available at The Drabblecast #299 , narrated by Norm Sherman. I blogged about how this story came to be here.

In 2014 I’m returning to short(ish) fiction, with a resolution to write a minimum of 250 words a day, which so far I’ve steadily exceeded. Why so little? Because life, I discovered last year, is completely unpredictable, and I never know when shit’s going go sideways, but 250 words takes me about 15 minutes, and I can always find 15 minutes in a day. I’m nearly done with the first draft of a science fiction novella related to my Analog story, and of course I’m working on the Women Destroy Science Fiction! special anniversary issue of Lightspeed,  with a number of amazing women–about which, more soon.

Those are also Firsts, I just realized. A life full of Firsts promises to be anything but boring.

Happy New Year to  you, and as the saying goes: May the best of the past year be the worst of the next. Onward!