The WIsCon Chronicles, Vol. 12

I'm pleased to announce the release, in conjunction with WisCONline, of the twelfth volume of the WisCon Chronicles, Boundaries and Bridges, edited by Isabel Schechter and Michi Trota. It's available now in both print and e-book editions at www.aqueductpress.com.

 Read a sample from the book.


The twelfth volume of The WisCon Chronicles explores our understanding of boundaries and bridges, and what they mean for us as individuals and for our communities. This collection includes essays from first-time WisCon attendees and former Guests of Honor, fans and Tiptree/Otherwise Award-winning authors and editors, cis het and LGBTQ+ attendees, affluent and less well-off, abled and disabled, white and POC, young and old, parents and child-free, English speakers and Spanish speakers, and hopefully more than just these categories can capture.

Structural changes in the convention that break down barriers to attendance and participation are important, and some of the essays recount the process and struggles of creating space and programming for POC attendees, access for disabled attendees, and affordability for all attendees. The words we use matter, as essays that talk about feminist terms, gendered language, and even the name of the Tiptree/Otherwise award (which is almost inextricably identified with WisCon) demonstrate. The definition of “community” is also examined, both within WisCon and beyond, as it spills out into the wider world — including online spaces.

CONTRIBUTORS

Jess Adams • Charlie Jane Anders • Nancy Bird
Kristy Anne Cox • Katherine Alejandra Cross
Alexandra Erin • Nivair H. Gabriel • Sarah Gulde
Lauren Jankowski • Inda Lauryn • Elise Matthesen
Gabriela Damián Miravete • Chimedum Ohaegbu
Otherwise Board • Julia Rios • John Scalzi • Nisi Shawl
Monica Valentinelli • G. Willow Wilson

The WisCon Chronicles submission deadline has been extended

Co-Editors Isabel Schechter and Michi Trota are extending the submission deadlines for The WisCon Chronicles: Vol. 12: Boundaries and Bridges. The submissions deadline has been extended to November 15, 2019.

For the complete set of guidelines, please see the original call for submissions:  https://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-wiscon-chronicles-vol-12-call-for.html.

WisCon Chronicles Vol 12 submission deadline has been extended

Co-Editors Isabel Schechter and Michi Trota are extending the submission deadlines for The WisCon Chronicles: Vol. 12: Boundaries and Bridges. The queries deadline has been extended to September 15, 2019; the submissions deadline has been extended to October 15, 2019.

For the complete set of guidelines, please see the original call for submissions:  https://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-wiscon-chronicles-vol-12-call-for.html.

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 12: Call for Submissions

WisCon Chronicles 12: LGBTQ+ Identities 
by JoSelle Vanderhooft

Hello, WisCon community! I’m thrilled and honored to announce that Emma Humphries and I will be editing WisCon Chronicles Volume 13, the theme of which will be LGBTQ+/queer/QUILTBAG identities.

We’re looking for submissions ranging from roughly 1,000 to 4,000 words. Pieces up to 5,000 words will be considered, but shorter lengths are preferred. This collection aims to be as intersectional as possible, so we are particularly interested in essays by (but by no means limited to) LGBTQ+ people of color, disabled people, immigrants, working-class people, people of (any) faith, and from other groups that experience multiple oppressions in addition to those against gender identity and sexual orientation. Additionally, we also encourage submissions by members of the community whose voices are under- or unrepresented in LGBTQ+ publications, including (but, again, not limited to): asexuals, aromantics, bisexuals and other multisexuals, intersex people, and nonbinary, genderqueer, and genderfluid people, as well as people whose identities have a complicated relationship with culturally dominant notions of what being LGBTQ+ means. We are also interested in hearing from LGBTQ+ people who are members of communities whose history ties in closely with LGBTQ+ history. In addition to personal essays on LGBTQ+ identity and its intersections with other identities, possible topics can include.

 ·Essays about LGBTQ+ fandom history and participation in fandom.

· LGBTQ+ presence at WisCon and other conventions, including con policies that are helpful or harmful to LGBTQ+ people.

 · LGBTQ+ fan works.

· The ongoing development of LGBTQ+ programming at WisCon and other feminist or feminist-friendly conventions.

 · Experiences at WisCon LGBTQ+ writers have had (good, bad, and otherwise).

 · Works of LGBTQ+ SF/F (prose, poetry, or any combination thereof)

· Academic essays on LGBTQ+ readings of SF/F media presented at WisCon.

Please submit your pieces, including a short query, by November 5 to jo.critiques@gmail.com. Please also email this address with any questions.

Accepted file formats are .rtf, .doc, and .docx. If you need to submit in another file format, please query first so we can make sure we are able to accommodate you. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness, ed. Jaymee Goh

I'm pleased to announce the release of the eleventh volume of The WisCon Chronicles: Trials by Whiteness, edited by Jaymee Goh. In short fiction, poetry, personal essays, academic thinkpieces, Twitter rants, and informal Q&As, this volume begins conversations on liberation and limitations, intergenerational and international conflicts, intra-community and internal tensions.

In her introduction, Jaymee Goh writes: "Beautiful ones, we come to WisCon because through science fiction and fantasy, we know better than to simply accept the status quo. Why should we be as Caliban, whose only profit form the language of his colonizer is to curse in't? Can we not re-shape it--have we not re-shaped it for our own ends?"

The cover, by the way, features an image of the quilt created by Annie Chen, who replies in "Entralink," to a question from Jaymee:

When you first emailed me asking me in all caps “IF I WANTED TO WRITE SOMETHING FOR WISCON?” I was flattered, but I am not much of a writer. So immediately I thought of things I do like to make and responded (jokingly) “DO YOU WANT A QUILT?”
            Then as I lay in bed that night, I thought to myself, “How cool would it be to use my experiences at WisCon to inspire a quilt, have it published in the Chronicles, and then auction the finished project in the tip tree auction?” My next thought was, “Shit, now I have to make a quilt for WisCon.” So then the next day I emailed you back with, “Actually….

The volume is available in both print and e-book editions now at at www.aqueductpress.com, and in print at Room of One's Own, and will be available at a few other places soon.

Contents

            Introduction
            Jaymee Goh

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speeches
       
            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Nalo Hopkinson

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Justine Larbalestier

            WisCon 40 Guest of Honor Speech
            Sofia Samatar

            Our Immediate Vicinity

            WisCon 40 Opening Ceremonies: WisCon is my Family Reunion
            Kat Tanaka Okopnik

            All Our Relations
            Nisi Shawl

            Who is Safe?
            Beth Plutchak

            Legacy of the Past and Foundation for the Future
            Isabel Schechter

            On WisCon, and Who Is Allowed to Feel Welcome
            K. Tempest Bradford

            Navigating WisCon 39 as a Local POC on the Ground  orA Tale of Two WisCons: WisCon 39  & WisCon 40
            LaShawn M. Wanak

            Five Scenes between WisCon
            Kat Tanaka Okopnik

            Whiteness’ Myriad Forms

            Being Jewish, Being White?
            Veronica Schanoes

            Where is the WORLD in Worldcon?A Twitter thread
            Crystal Huff

            Ansibel (odlomek)
            Tea Hvala

            Ansible (excerpt)
            Tea Hvala

            Far Away Enough to Count: Ansible Q&A
            Tea Hvala and Jaymee Goh

            Touching Whiteness

            asian flavours
            Joyce Chng

            The Long Arm of the West
            Nibedita Sen

            The Lies You Learned
            S. Qiouyi Lu

            I Used to Call Myself a Coconut
            Susheela Bhat Harkins (@SoosheBot)

            Our Defiant Selves

            “Entralink”: A Quilting Q&A
            Annie Chen and Jaymee Goh

            Science Fiction for My Failing Heart: On the Purposes of Speculation in Adverse Circumstances
            Regina Yung Lee

            Rolodex
            Mark Oshiro

           Mammie Don’ Left the Plantation  [And Took the Good Seasoning with Her] —How     WisCon Helped Me to Stop Cleaning Up White People’s Messes
            Jennifer Cross

            Advice for the Broken: Curating Weaponized Love Amongst the Multiply Marginalized
            Medieval POC

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 10: Social Justice (Redux)

I'm pleased to announce the release from Aqueduct Press of the tenth volume of the WisCon Chronicles, Social Justice (Redux), edited by Margaret McBride, in both print and e-book editions. WisCon 39's Guest of Honor speeches by Alaya Dawn Johnson and Kim Stanley Robinson inspired the theme of this volume. In her speech, Johnson delivered a cri de coeur: "We need diverse stories, we need a million mirrors of different shapes and sizes. Not just so we can see ourselves. So that they can see us through our own eyes." Robinson exhorted: "We now need to institute global justice and equality for all, for two reasons that bond together into a single reason: It's the right thing to do morally, and it's the survival thing to do."

In her introduction, McBride quotes Grace Paley: "Although writers may not want to be in charge of justice or anything like that, to some extent they are if they really are illuminating what isn't seen."

The volume includes the texts of Johnson and Robinson's speeches, as well as the keynote speech Julie Phillips delivered at the Tiptree Symposium in December 2015, and essays by Cheryl Morgan, Takayuki Tatsumi, Nisi Shawl, Johanna Sinisalo, Kathryn Allan, Ian Hagemann, Sandra J. Lindow, Ajani Brown, and others.

You can purchase this volume from Aqueduct now, at http://www.aqueductpress.com/books/978-1-61976-113-1.php.

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 9: Intersections and Alliances

I'm pleased to announce the release of The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 9: Intersections and Alliances, edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj. As with the seventh volume of the Chronicles, the electronic edition of Vol. 9 includes a good deal more material than the print edition, and will be available gratis to everyone who purchases the print edition. 

"In this volume of the WisCon Chronicles, we find ourselves considering what it means to live at the intersections of various identities, some of them more privileged than others. We ask how we can function as good allies to each other in often challenging situations. We're living through an intense time of social change, and a variety of questions arise as we have these often difficult conversations about feminism, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and more. Among them are questions about what leads to positive social change and how best to effect such change in our communities."
 —from the Introduction by Mary Anne Mohanraj

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 9: Intersections and Alliances, edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj, includes a mix of essays, fiction, poetry, and roundtable discussion by Nisi Shawl, Samuel R. Delany, Vandana Singh, Kelley Eskridge, Sheree R. Thomas, Michi Trota, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Tobias Buckell, and others.You can purchase it now from Aqueduct's website.

Update on WisCon Chronicles 9

Mary Anne Mohanraj has informed me that she's now 

"reading the submissions for Aqueduct Press's WisCon Chronicles 9 (essays, fiction, poetry, etc., centered around the themes of intersections and alliances -- you need not attend WisCon to submit). Although the deadline has formally closed, I will likely still be looking for some individual pieces to fill out the anthology. If you're interested in submitting still, please send me a query at mohanraj@mamohanraj.com, with a brief description of what you'd be sending; I'll let you know by the end of the week whether I'd like to see it.

"I am open to topical material (such as those responding to various recent controversies in our field) as well as pieces on other subjects."

WisCon Chronicles 9: Intersections and Alliances

Call for Materials

Aqueduct Press is seeking submissions that engage with WisCon 38 (2014) and its programming.  (You need not have attended WisCon in order to submit a piece for this anthology.)  We are especially interested in material on the themes of intersections and alliances (although we will consider other responses to the convention). 

We find ourselves considering what it means to live at the intersections of various identities, some of them more privileged than others.  We ask how we can function as good allies to each other in often challenging situations.  We’re living through an intense time of social change, and a variety of questions arise as we have these often difficult conversations about feminism, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and more.  Among them are questions about what leads to positive social change and how best to effect such change in our communities. 

We may be in conflict with one another about optimal tactics, yet we share the same goals for positive social progress and a healthy, safe, and welcoming community.  In conversation with each other, we hope this volume will help elucidate some of these difficult but necessary questions.  Passion is welcome, and nuance, even more so.

This will be a mixed-genre volume:  essays, short fiction, poetry, art, comics, are all welcome.  Preferred word length is variable, but ideally 1000 – 5000 words for prose.  We offer contributor’s copies and a nominal payment.  We are also looking for cover artwork, for which we can offer $100.

Submission deadline is October 15, 2014.  E-mail submissions to mohanraj@mamohanraj.com, with the subject line WISCON SUB:  [title].  You may submit up to 3 items.  You may submit in multiple genres if desired.

Mary Anne Mohanraj, Editor

ETA: Mary Anne has extended the deadline by two weeks.

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 8: Re-Generating WisCon

I'm happy to announce Aqueduct's release of The WisCon Chronicles, 8: Re-Generating WisCon, which Aqueduct launched last month at WisCon. This volume is edited by Rebecca J. Holden, who notes that WisCon is filled with strong opinions and loud voices, and that central to any discussion about definitions of feminisms are questions about outsiders and insiders: Who is WisCon? Who is feminist? Whose opinion matters? Whose voice is heard? Who counts? Who belongs to which generation and does that matter? What does WisCon mean now? What will it mean for future generations?
 
This volume collects stories, poems, essays, blog posts, and speeches that explore these questions within the framework of the feminism(s) of WisCon spanning “waves,” generations, and media. In addition to three speeches —by WisCon 37 Guests of Honor Joan Slonczewski and Jo Walton, and Tiptree Award winner Kiini Ibura Salaam—the volume includes a spotlight section on poetry and visual arts, Heather Whipple’s statistical study of con attendance, Elise Matthesen’s and Nancy Jane Moore’s thoughts on reporting and ending sexual harassment in conventions, and Janice Mynchenberg’s reflections on being a Christian pastor within the sf/f community. Other contributors include Heather Lindsley, Sandra Lindow, Beth Putchak, L. Timmel Duchamp, Nisi Shawl, Joan Haran, Naomi Mercer, Rachel Kronick, Lesley Wheeler, Sofia Samatar, Lisa Bolekaja, Kristen Kest, Clara Abnet-Holden, and Anne Lane Sheldon.

Re-Generating WisCon is available now through Aqueduct in both print and e-book editions, and will be available elsewhere soon. 

Call for materials for WisCon Chronicles Vol. 8

 by Farah Mendlesohn

I am very pleased to announce that I have been invited to edit this year's Wiscon Chronicles: Volume 8. The title will be Feminism(s), and I invite non fiction and fiction contributions which draw on experiences at this years; Wiscon, and express the diversity of feminist thinking: issues that might be considered include intersectional feminism, issues of race, generation, disability, gender identity, size and class. I want both serious pieces and playful pieces. Art, graphics and music will be considered.

Contributions should fall between 1,000 and 5,000 words long but this is not a rigid requirement.

Proposals are due by 1 August 2013, completed works (and it is acceptable only to send completed work, without a prior proposal) by December 1 2013.

Farah Mendlesohn farah.sf@gmail.com

Will there be any stars in our crowns?

"Because We Are All So Royal" is my contribution to Aqueduct Press's WisCon Chronicles 2; it's about making crowns at the Carl Brandon Society's annual party.  This year CBS co-founder MJ Hardman and her husband Dimas Bautista bought the tinsel and flowers and plastic fruit and giant moths and toy motorcycles partygoers used to construct crowns.  Health issues (cancer, embolisms) have kept them at home for the last two years, but they support the event and commissioned the creation of a crown because they love being part of the creativity.

Here's what I came up with for them.  To a circular base of fluttering white hearts I added a silver purse begemmed with multi-colored plastic, a golden candelabra, and a huge honkin hibiscus.  Someone took photos of me wearing this crown, but I can't find them at the moment.  Still, you get the idea, right?  All the elements I used here are symbolic of something I wish for MJ and Dimas to have.  I'll mail the crown tomorrow and hope they get what I want to send.

Occult wisdom says you get back what you put out.  So helping others externally concretize their inherent noblesse makes MJ and Dimas true royalty. The kind without armies.  The kind we love.  The kind we can become.

Here's MJ at WisCon 33, ready to work it.

Here's Dimas with Margie Peterson at WisCon 33, enjoying their handiwork.

I wrote a picture book called "The Secret Princess" about how to do what MJ and Dimas have done.  It starts out this way:

Once there was a secret princess: Princess Herminutia.  She was a secret princess because nobody knew about her royal status.  Her mama and daddy called her Minnie and made her take out the garbage.

With the assistance of a wise costumer, her neighbor Mizz Cherry, the secret princess constructs crowns for all her family and finally receives the respect she deserves.  She gets what she gives.  What I want for us all.

The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 6: Futures of Feminism and Fandom

I'm pleased to announce the release of the The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 6:  Futures of Feminism and Fandom, edited by Alexis Lothian. This volume of the WisCon Chronicles celebrates, challenges, and discusses the varied faces of WisCon 35—including the pre-con controversy surrounding an invited Guest of Honor and the revocation of that invitation, as well as the history and ethos of WisCon, memorial tributes to Joanna Russ, Steampunk, and other issues and subjects. Its contributors include a mix of writers, scholars, and fans, among whom number Nalo Hopkinson, Nisi Shawl, Liz Henry, N.K. Jemison, Jeanne Gomoll, Debbie Notkin, Amar El-Mohtar, Andrea Horbinksi, Eileen Gunn, and others. As with previous volumes, it does not shy away from controversy.

''We are all stories,'' Nisi Shawl says in her Guest of Honor speech included in this volume, and ''changing stories changes everything.'' What will the stories we tell ourselves about feminism, about science fiction, and about fandom change? How will--and how should--we change those stories? This volume of the WisCon Chronicles documents the conversations, the dramas, and the joys that shaped the world of feminist science fiction fandom before, during, and after WisCon 35. From founders' recollections of the excitement and conflict of the con's origins, to many different, difficult conversations about intersections of race, culture, class, and gender, to new forms of fannish engagement that changing media landscapes make more visible, the contributors explore feminism and fandom's past, present, and future.

You can purchase the volume through Aqueduct's website, here.

The WisConChronicles, Vol. 5: now available!

I'm happy to report that Aqueduct Press is now selling The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 5: Writing and Racial Identity, edited by Nisi Shawl, through its website. This volume, which focuses on WisCon 34, was in such great demand that we ran out of these at WisCon. Here's a brief summary of its contents:


Racial Identity and Writing
A Dozen Writers and Thinkers Reflect – Six-part Series edited by Eileen Gunn


WisCon GoH Speeches by
Mary Anne Mohanraj & Nnedi Okorafor


Speeches and Excerpts from Tiptree Award Winners
Greer Gilman & Fumi Yoshinaga (acceptance speech by Mari Kotani)


Essays by
Maurice Broaddus, Tanya C. DePass, Amal El-Mohtar, Jaymee Goh, MJ Hardman, Jane Irwin, Nancy Jane Moore, Kate Nepveu, Vandana Singh, & Heidi Waterhouse and Jess Adams


Short Fiction & Poetry by
Terry Bisson, Jane Irwin, Amal El-Mohtar


Panel Transcripts & Notes
Neesha Meminger and Ibi Zoboi, Zola Mumford, Maria Velazquez, & LaShawn M. Wanak

Nisi begins her introduction thus: "Some time in January of 2011 I wrote to a friend: 'I feel like I am floating in an alternate universe of silver goggles and artificial wombs and look there's Emily Dickinson smoking a cigar.' I was deep inside the process of editing The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 5: Writing and Racial Identity, surrounded by all those elements and more-- a delightful place."

Nisi also writes this in her introduction: "I'll offer you only one superlative: M.J. Hardman's minim opus, "The Russ Categories," has got to be the hardest-won essay in this book. For years MJ has taught a course on applying the lessons of  Joanna Russ's How to Suppress Women's Writing to the accomplishments of other suppressed groups. With colleague Anita Taylor she has been making of it an interactive online learning experience. I asked her to contribute a condensed version. Right before her deadline she had what's technically known as a"bilateral pulmonary embolic shower." Hundreds of blood clots formed in her lungs. One is enough to kill a person. MJ apologized from her hospital bed for missing her deadline. A few weeks later, when still a "shut-in" tied to an oxygen tank, she submitted her essay. It is provocative, sweeping, humorous, magnificent. It may well be the book's heart."

Interested? You can purchase the book here.

WisCon Chronicles, vol. 6 submission details

Over at Futures of Feminism and Fandom: The WisCon Chronicles Volume 6, Alexis Lothian has posted the submission details for the next volume of the WiCon Chronicles, which she is editing. If you're interested in contributing, you'll want to read the whole post. But here's the gist:

This year's theme, 'Futures of Feminism and Fandom,' is intended to focus on the ways that WisCon embodies movements toward a broader and more intersectional understanding of what feminism is and can be, as well as how changes in technology and communication affect our experience of fandom and of feminism. Panel reports, contemplations, and other thoughts (or images!) relating to this are all very welcome. If you have something you want to write about, an event at WisCon that you want to document, or a response to something that's happened online relating to the con, please write to me and/or submit even if it doesn't seem obviously related to the theme.

The initial deadline is August 1 2011. You are more than welcome to submit earlier––perhaps you want to start writing while WisCon is fresh in your memory? Send your submission as a Word or .rtf file to wischronicles @ gmail dot com. Lengths are flexible; aim for 2500 words if you aren't sure.

Good News!

I'm thrilled to announce that Aqueduct Press has just received two lovely, timely checks from The Society for the Study & Furtherance of Science Fiction & Fantasy (SF3) for grants made in support of the production of The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 4 & 5 respectively. As a result, we are discounting the price at which we retail all volumes of the WisCon Chronicles to $15.

Thank you, SF3! We greatly appreciate your support!

WisCon's sense of feminism

The latest edition of WisCon's newsletter, eCube-- Vol.35 No.4-- is now out. It includes a "Draft Statement of Principles," which is

a work in progress It was written in four days by Victor Raymond, Mikki Kendall, and Debbie Notkin, with input from Karen Meisner and Jeanne Gomoll. We will refine it over time. We welcome input from the committee and from anyone receiving e-Cube who wishes to participate, but the final statement will be approved by the WisCon committee (which anyone can join by volunteering). Please send an email to eCube35@wiscon.info if you want to help finish this work.

The statement defines WisCon's sense of feminism:

but one way to describe it is as a belief in the social, political, and economic equality of all. Feminism is part of a larger constellation of movements seeking social, political and economic equality for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, creed, ability, status, or belief.

Since its inception, WisCon has worked to create a space for feminism and its consideration within the science fiction community. Feminism is vital to WisCon's identity. Feminism itself has grown and changed over the decades, and WisCon has reflected those changes, often imperfectly, just as those changes have been unevenly and imperfectly implemented in other feminist contexts.

At base, we recognize that a commitment to feminism means a commitment to social justice of all sorts-we might not be able to focus equally on every issue, but still we cannot pick and choose which people deserve justice and which issues we are more comfortable with. We are called to be true to our principles, even (and especially) when they are unpopular. WisCon's commitment to feminist science fiction is a commitment to ensuring that our future includes everyone, not just white, well-off, able-bodied, straight men.

WisCon's commitment to feminism is also reflected in our processes. Meetings, decision-making processes, program development, and guest of honor choice all reflect a commitment to feminist ideals of equality, respect for everyone's right to be heard, and the obligation to hold each other accountable for what we say. We do this to help each other and the convention serve as better advocates for feminism and social justice, recognizing that this builds our community. WisCon's commitment to feminist process means that we reject hierarchies of oppression, recognizing "the need...to nurture each other is not pathological but redemptive." (paraphrased from Audre Lorde's speech, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House, " on the web at http://bit.ly/FbXvl.

I'm glad to see this. It will, I think, be helpful for WisCon's process in the future.

The WisCon Chronicles, Volume 5: Call for Materials

Nisi Shawl writes:

I am editing the WisCon Chronicles Volume 5. I'm looking for essays between 1000 and 6000 words long, on the theme of "Writing and Racial Identity," with the focus on WisCon 34--panels, discussions, and other events. I want written contributions from people who attended WisCon 34. I will need these contributions by August 27. Photos, drawings, poems, interviews, and (very) short fiction will also be considered for this book.

I will need informal proposals for contributions on or before July 26. Proposals must include the following:

* Your name--your legal name, and any aliases you may have used at WisCon 34 and/or online
* The length (wordcount) of the contribution if applicable
* The nature of the contribution (essay, panel report, memoir, interview, survey, photo, cartoon, etc.)
* A very general outline of the topic covered, running about one to three lines, or approximately one paragraph
* If the contribution relates to a specific WisCon 34 event, such as a particular panel, the bake sale, etc., note that in your proposal.
* If the contribution has appeared elsewhere or will appear elsewhere within the next two years let me know; your piece may or may not be eligible for inclusion, and we'll need to discuss this.

Email your proposals in the body of the email's text by July 26 at the very latest. Do not send attachments. I'm not opening them. Don't send them. Just write (briefly) about what you're going to do in your email.

Please respond to nisisNOSPAM@aolDOTcom. Thanks so much for considering this call. Nisi Shawl

WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 5

Several people have asked me who the editor of the next volume in the WisCon Chronicles will be. (Isn't that interesting: the general assumption is that the WisCon Chronicles is ongoing, and that of course it will have a new editor!) In fact, Nisi Shawl will be editing Vol. 5. So if you think you might want to contribute to it, do get in touch with her directly (or if you don't have her contact info, with me or someone else at Aqueduct). She'll be putting out a call for materials, with further information, that we'll be posting here as soon as we have it. But it's never too soon after WisCon to start thinking about essays, reports, papers, and other materials you might want to submit.

WisCon Chronicles 4: The Cobbler's Toss

When I was a kid growing up in the bush, and they were branding calves, my father would often say, as the final sufferer was let up from the ropes or out of the branding cradle and hurtled away, "Well, there's what the cobbler threw at his wife." And it amused us kids mightily to ask, "What did he throw, Dad?" And be told in reply, "The last."

So with WisCon Chronicles 4, I'm now at the cobbler's toss. This is the final update post. The submissions are all in, all edited, all typeset. The Table of Contents is laid out. The permissions to print are received, the errors and addenda fixed, the comma wars over (don't ask Kath about that!) The cover is designed. The photos are cleared for use, those on the cover and those inside. Last week the printer received the entire ms.

Now it's time for me to repeat, Thanks so much, to all the people who answered my calls for submission, and patiently followed all my requests for revisions. Also thanks to Kath Wilham at Aqueduct for typesetting the lot, picking up syntactical and other errors, putting up with my punctuation and other crotchets, and coming up with the idea of pictures for the cover, along with the sub-title.

WisCon Chronicles 4 is sub-titled WisCon Voices. It will be available for sale at WisCon 34 at the end of May, at the Aqueduct table in the dealer's room. If you're a contributor, one more reminder that you have a gratis copy coming your way. For everyone else, I hope you'll buy a copy, at WisCon or elsewhere. Here's a preview of the cover:

I hope you'll enjoy what's inside.