LCRW Guest Editor Interview: Michael J. DeLuca
Tags: Andrea Pawley, Anthropocene, Environmental, Feminism, lady churchill’s rosebud wristlet, LCRW, Magazine Spotlight, Michael J. DeLuca, Solarpunk, Weightless Books
Andrea Pawley interviews Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet guest editor Michael J. DeLuca:
Q: The theme of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet Issue 33 is humanity’s relationship with the earth. When you became the issue’s guest editor, did you anticipate you’d get story submissions from the likes of Sofia Samatar and Carmen Maria Machado?
DeLuca: As a matter of fact, I asked them specifically! Along with a handful of others, though those are the only two I solicited whose work appears in the issue. Which is a bit of a cheat, I admit. One of the reasons I love LCRW is how it has been a showcase for new writers. But I felt an imperative to hedge my bets a little, given that it’s a theme issue, and I am not a known brilliant editor like Gavin and Kelly.
Q: LCRW 33 is filled with female perspectives and a strong undercurrent of feminism. What connections do you see between the two and the future in the age of the anthropocene?
DeLuca: Insofar as there is feminism in the issue — and there absolutely is, and I’m very happy that’s the case — I take no credit for it. I’m as feminist as I think any financially solvent white cis American male can reasonably be expected to be, which is to say not as much as I’d like to be or should be. Women’s voices have been and are institutionally tuned out and devalued as much by the literary establishment as everywhere else. But I really didn’t have to make much conscious effort in that direction for the issue to come out the way it did. I solicited work from some amazing women, and I tried to make clear in the submission call that I was interested in points of view other than my own. But for whatever reason, an overwhelming proportion of the submissions came from women. And I don’t really have an explanation for it. Do women have a stronger relationship with the earth than men? Creative women in particular? I could speculate fancifully about Gaea and the sacred feminine, but I fear I’d be wading in too deep.
I’m not a feminist scholar; I’m married to one, but I only manage to osmose so much. What I think I can say is that the future of the anthropocene has to involve a reevaluating and breaking down of traditional narratives of all stripes. And that absolutely must depend upon empowering women to reshape those narratives. The massive, deleterious effect humanity’s trajectory is having on the earth is the direct result of established, patriarchal modes of thought: the capitalist notion of progress, just to name one. And the people best situated to recognize and question those modes of thought are not the people currently situated to benefit from them, but rather the people they hurt: women, minorities, the disenfranchised, the poor.
Q: If you could make the majority of the world do one thing to benefit the future of the planet, what would it be?
I’m a little wary of wish-fulfillment: anything I say is going to be something that could never really happen in a million years. But okay, in the name of speculative fiction, I’ll speculate.
What if everybody, everywhere, tomorrow, stopped using fossil fuels? There’d be enormous fallout. Economic collapse. Just in terms of food distribution — everything’s globalized, my fruit comes from Chile, my walnuts from California. We’d be forced into an incredibly rapid, drastic period of readjustment. Communities would change overnight. A lot of people would starve. A lot of people would have to relearn how to grow their own food. But in the long run — and I don’t think it would be that long, really, a generation let’s say — I think we’d bounce back, and the world would be so much better for it. We’d have learned a lesson. And meanwhile, the whole rest of the world would have bounced back too: forests, watersheds, animal populations, even the ocean.
But can I actually wish for that, knowing the hardship it would cause? Only in fiction.
Q: What do you see as the future of Solarpunk?
I’m curious about that. It’s a very new idea, new enough I hesitate to even call it a movement. Applied broadly, I think it’s a great idea and I really hope it catches on. In other words, if it’s not really so heavily solar-focused, but is used more as a blanket term for all kinds of speculation, technological and otherwise, about where we could go, all taken in a spirit of optimism and play, that could really be amazing. If you think about it as an answer to cyberpunk rather than or not quite so much as steampunk: cyberpunk actually spawned a lot of real advances; it changed the world more rapidly than maybe any other movement in fiction ever has. But it was, for the most part, cynical. And with good reason. Those advances are all pretty amazing: cryptography, mobile technology, virtual currency, social networking. But they’ve led us to some dark places. If solarpunk starts and grows from a place of progressivism and hope — who knows.
Q: What/who are some of your environmental influences?
How about this? In chronological order by how I encountered them:
1. My family. Camping, hiking, hunting, biking, berry picking, swimming, canoeing, fishing, gardening. Predictable, but it’s how we all learn, or don’t learn, to value the natural world.
2. Thornton W. Burgess, a children’s writer of animal stories from Cape Cod. His animals are anthropomorphized to a great degree, but they also keep to their natural routines and in so doing taught me a lot.
3. Ms. Howland, my middle school English teacher. She introduced me to the greenhouse effect, global warming, extinction, pollution, habitat loss, suburban sprawl, all these concepts of modern conservationism. She also taught me how to edit a story.
4. Henry David Thoreau. “Thoreau” was one of my nicknames in high school. He’s blindly optimistic about some things, very narrow in his views about others — he’s a privileged, classically educated white guy from 19th-century New England, after all. But his prose never fails to blow me away, and his observations of the natural world and human nature and the relationship between them are incredibly perceptive and eye-opening even today.
5. . . . Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, John Muir, Carlos Castaneda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ray Bradbury, John Crowley, Robert Frost, Kurt Vonnegut, Jon Krakauer, Stephen Harrod Buhner, Paul Stamets, Benjamin Parzybok, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rachel Carson, Mircea Eliade, Werner Herzog, Willa Cather, Elizabeth Dodd, Karen Russell, Karen Joy Fowler. . . .
Note the absurd overbalance of white men. This is my fault, and not because men have or deserve any kind of monopoly on ecological writing or thought. And it’s something I’m trying to correct.
Q: You’re a writer, too. How did that influence what stories you selected for this issue?
Being a writer probably makes me harder to please. Purely idea-based SF doesn’t do it for me anymore, I’ve seen too much of it. Plot-driven fiction has gotten old for me. Likewise, writing that relies on prose fireworks to get away with lack of depth. Because it’s LCRW, there was a certain amount of stylistic consideration that went into my choices — it’s very easy for me at this point, having read many submissions for Gavin and Kelly over many years and also having been a big fan of the final product, to identify an LCRW story. But really, the biggest deciding factor wasn’t about whether it was weird enough or LCRW enough, but just whether it was a good story, whether I got caught up in it, cared about the people in it and felt like it all meant something at the end. To a certain degree, someone who knows how to write and understands the tools of storytelling will be affected in a different way by a story than someone who isn’t in it for the craft. But I think, I hope, a lot of it is universal: the tools for appreciating a good story are written in our bones, right next to the instructions for how to eat and sleep and die and procreate.
Michael J. DeLuca is a fernlike, woody perennial native to the Eastern US, found on hilltops and in woodland clearings from Massachusetts to Michigan. Leaves astringent; strongly tannic; used in teas, to flavor ales and as an aromatic smudge. Flowers late summer in cylindrical catkins. Recent fiction in Ideomancer, Phobos, Betwixt. Tweets @michaeljdeluca.
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet is An Occasional Outburst, an arrow shot into the future, a harbinger. Edited since 1996 by Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link. LCRW contributors include many writers whose names you may know and many more whose name you may not — and that there finding and reading unfamiliar voices is one of the joys of existence. Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet is available DRM-free in single issues or in a wide range of subscription options, which may or may not include chocolate.
THE VAMPIRE MAY YET ATTEND A POTLUCK by A.B. Robinson
Tags: A.B. Robinson, Andrea Pawley, lady churchill’s rosebud wristlet, THE VAMPIRE, Weightless BooksTHE VAMPIRE responds to “Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof at the Potluck” in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet No. 30.
as dictated by THE VAMPIRE to THE NOVELIST
VAMPIRE: It is true, of course, that VAMPIRES attend potlucks, present, as we also are, in train stations, the staging areas of distribution warehouses, priories, shopping malls (especially shopping malls), dentist’s offices (less often), garrets and garret-imaginaries or garret-subsidiaries, great and venerable libraries, coliseums, arcade parlors, bakeries, theaters and discotheques. VAMPIRES can be said to be nowhere, especially, even as we are simultaneously everywhere, particularly, and Friday in the park with middle management nearby (fluffing their anxious wings) is no exception.
VAMPIRES dictate gory sentences about potlucks to NOVELISTS, disdaining any direct act of writing. VAMPIRES make company nervous by announcing a savory dish brought in INDIVIDUAL RAMEKINS . . . a plush color. The grapes in Pan’s Labyrinth didn’t even look that good. Baroque eddies of fruit and flowers, VAMPIRES believe, are best suited to picnic tables.
VAMPIRES, like VEGANS, would prefer not to.
(THE NOVELIST would like a yam chipotle enchilada.)
The function of THE VAMPIRE at the corporate or collegial potluck is of a hieroglyph with tie pin. This chicken is so dry. Hello, I’ve heard so much about you. Will there be a round of Guitar Hero following the disappearance of the innocents? The hoagie is to be eaten with knife and fork, from the center moving swiftly outward in a V in either direction. At my home, you know . . . in Rialto . . . with the pair of wet-eyed cocker spaniels, Abelard and Heloise, and the lead pipe . . . I don’t have a job title as of yet, as my position is considered experimental . . .
VAMPIRES consider themselves unpopular but necessary, with the interruptive force of a hammer! Into the egg salads on leaves of endive!
It is considered impolite to compete directly with VAMPIRES, especially since our leisure time is without blemish. We have a perfect attendance record. The napkins were arranged in artful sequences, and it was time . . . for Twister . . .
A.B. Robinson lives in Western Massachusetts. Her poetry can be found in TINGE as well as Industial Lunch, which she currently co-edits. Her first chapbook, Dario Argento is not my Boyfriend, was selected as a jubilat contest winner. Five of her poems appear in Lady Churchill’s Wristlet No. 30, which is available DRM-free as a single issue or as a subscription.
Author Interview: Erica L. Satifka
Tags: Andrea Pawley, Author Spotlight, Erica Satifka, lady churchill’s rosebud wristlet, Shimmer, Weightless BooksAndrea Pawley interviews Erica L. Satifka whose most recent publications appear in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet and Shimmer.
Q: When did you first know you wanted to write science fiction?
Satifka: I came to genre reading (and writing) late. As someone who grew up pre-Internet in a shitty small town, I was restricted to reading what was in the school library, which had some SF (mostly Bradbury and Vonnegut), but not much. I did watch a lot of SF, mostly anthology shows like The Outer Limits. My college advisor said my stories were good but would be better if I didn’t insist on writing science fiction. It was a surprise to me that I was even writing science fiction! In college, I also gained access to a wider variety of books and there was also the arrival of a few online fiction markets (Strange Horizons is the only one that’s still around, I believe). I guess mostly I just want to write crazy stories, and crazy stories are usually going to be labeled as some kind of science fiction.
Q: Almost two dozen of your short stories have been published since 2005. How has your writing changed?
Satifka: I’m not sure I completely knew what I was doing in 2005. My introduction to genre was so late and spotty that I had a lot of disparate influences. Many of my earliest stories were basically style imitations of Vonnegut or Philip K. Dick. Now that I’m more widely read, I think I’ve developed a bit more of a personal style. Or I’m just getting better at copying people.
Q: What technological advance do you most hope to see in the next fifty years?
Satifka: Sounds boring, but eradication of various diseases. I really don’t think we should be launching people into space until we figure out how to stop people from contracting polio. I’d like to see a world where nobody dies from infectious disease because I think it’s insane that we’re still dealing with things like polio and measles in the year 2014. Then, space.
Q: What do you care most about when you write a story?
Satifka: Finishing it. Most of my short stories are written in one or two sessions, because if they run any longer than that, I get bored and start working on the next thing. I think this helps maintain a certain consistency of voice, which is also important to me. Short stories, more than novels, are really about the idea and I like to go really deep inside the concept to find the most resonant take on the idea.
Q: What’s it like to be part of the Codex Writers’ Group?
Satifka: I think it’s a wonderful community. It’s a lot of what you’d get at a place like Clarion, but it’s free! I’ve also met many writers through there who became real-life friends. I honestly think I’ve learned more about genre writing and marketing on Codex than I have in any academic setting. I really recommend that anyone who’s reached the minimum entry requirements (one pro-published story or attendance at a writers’ workshop) join Codex. If nothing else, it shows you that even people who have published way more than you or I have the same insecurities and self-doubt.
Q: You live in Portland now, but you’ve lived in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Does being on the West Coast versus the East Coast make a difference to your writing?
Satifka: The East Coast is full of lovely people, but it’s not the best place for creative people. On the East Coast, your job is your life, and writing (or art or music) is just a hobby. Even though I produced some good work in Baltimore, and it’s where I became a writer again, I felt like too much of my identity was being steamrolled under my “real job.” (Pittsburgh isn’t really the East Coast, more the Midwest and is completely different from both coasts.) Portland is much more “work to live” and people don’t wrap themselves up in their day jobs as much. I almost never get asked “what do you do?” out here, and if you are asked that, it’s just as likely that the asker is inquiring about your creative outlet. This matters for my writing because it allows me to mentally put it front and center.
Q: Do you have any upcoming projects you can share?
Satifka: I’m putting the finishing touches on a novel. It’s about a young schizophrenic woman who battles against an alien invasion of Earth taking place in a small-town big box store, and it should be done very, very soon. I also have another novel project in very early stages. Of course, my main focus is still short stories and while my output has slowed slightly due to novel work I’m still on pace to write one new short story every month. I’ll also be teaching an adult extension class on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy at Portland Community College in January 2015.
Erica L. Satifka’s fiction has appeared in Shimmer, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and Clarkesworld Magazine, among others. She lives in beautiful Portland, Oregon, with her husband Rob and too many cats. Visit her online at www.ericasatifka.com.
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet Author Interview: Nicole Kimberling
Tags: Andrea Pawley, Author Spotlight, how to seduce a vegetarian, lady churchill’s rosebud wristlet, LCRW, Nicole Kimberling, Weightless Books
Author Nicole Kimberling, a columnist for Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, answers a few questions for Weightless Books.
Q: Your non-fiction piece, “How to Seduce a Vegetarian”, appears in the new issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet Issue (#29, September 2013). How successful are the vegetarian capture methods you describe?
Kimberling: They are madly successful. Through use of my simple plan, I was personally able to snag a full time vegetarian that I have been cooking for for 27 years now.
Q: What was it like to win the 2008 Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror for your novel Turnskin?
Kimberling: Well, I was really surprised. I hadn’t even considered the notion that I would win so I didn’t work out a speech or anything and had to resort to stammering out a cute, but incoherent string of “Thank Yous” to random people. I think I also did a little dancey on the stage.
In terms of how it affected me as a writer–I felt a lot more sure of myself after being presented with a glass brick with my name etched into it. Since that time, I haven’t ever suffered from that sort of crippling angst and frustration that afflicts young writers who still feel like they have to prove themselves. So it was really nice. Freed up a lot of mental space.
Q: You write in several formats and genres. Do you have a favorite?
Kimberling: Not really. Each length and genre is fulfilling in different ways. The column I write for LCRW lets me play with language and be philosophical, which is great fun.
The mysteries and romances are interesting to build and execute. Because they’re largely contemporaries, they allow for the sort of observation-based commentary that doesn’t fit well into SF/F writing. (What I mean to say here is that you can’t riff on people’s relationships to their cars in a world that has no cars…and maybe no people.)
And the SF/F stuff allows me to work at the highest degree of difficulty and also to express ideas that are hard to address directly in a contemporary setting without alienating a reader. (I’m talking about big issues here, like race and animal cruelty and things like that.)
Q: Can you offer any advice to people writing novels in a series?
Kimberling: Speaking as an editor who reads a lot of slush–do not plan for a book to be a series. Plan for a book to be a standalone. You can always find a sequel if you really need one.
But if you’re really dead set on writing a series (that is not based on a protagonist who lends herself to episodic storytelling like a detective or mercenary or something) you must have a very explicit plan for how to execute the plot over the intended number of volumes. Otherwise the stories get mushy and indistinguishable from each other–like listening to too many MUSE songs in a row.
I would also suggest that authors intending to write an episodic series have some specific direction for the protagonist to grow so that the intrepid detective (or mercenary or star captain) doesn’t appear to just have had some sort of reset button pushed on her memory directly before the start of every story. Characters who appear to have no capacity to learn from experience get old pretty fast.
Q: Who’s your favorite author?
Kimberling: My favorite author of all time is Douglas Adams. I also really love anything written and drawn by Fumi Yoshinaga. And, of course, I adore all the authors I choose for Blind Eye Books.
Q: What are you working on now?
Kimberling: I’m writing the sixth story in the Bellingham Mysteries, which is a series of contemporary gay comedy-romance novellas set in the town where I live.
In addition to successfully feeding many vegetarians sandwiches in her personal life, Nicole Kimberling specializes in formulating this very same item at the restaurant where she now cooks. A current DRM-free subscription to Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (including Issue 29) can be purchased on Weightless Books.