The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2023, pt.2: Eleanor Arnason

 

2023 Pleasures

by Eleanor Arnason

 

I think I have mentioned before that I have had trouble reading fiction for the past several years. What am I reading then? Way too much news. The war in Ukraine disturbs me. The attack on Gaza horrifies me. I take refuge in some rereading: the fantasies of Diana Wynne Jones, for example. She is clever, fun and comforting. 

I also read nonfiction. Recently I read Portable Magic, A History of Books and Their Readers by Emma Smith. This is about books as physical objects. It’s interesting enough so I plan to reread it.

I followed it with Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World by Michael J. Benton. This is basically a picture book with a scholarly commentary. I like paleontological art, and this has plenty. And I like dinosaurs, including the living dinosaurs, aka birds. I followed the Benton book with The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman. As the title suggests, it is about birds, the tiny dinosaurs that chirp in trees. I would describe this as pleasant pop biology. 

What next? A book on volcanoes, which didn’t give me what I wanted to know about volcanoes.  Then Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery, which is about a wildlife rescue organization that treats injured turtles. Most have been hit by cars. Be careful when you drive. This was an encouraging book, about people doing good work. 

 

Finally I am reading a book on grass. Grassland: The History, Biology, Politics and Promise of the American Prairie by Richard Manning. Grass is amazing stuff, and Minnesota is at the edge of the great American prairie. I am a fan of rewilding much of it and bringing back bison. They evolved with the prairie. Unlike cattle, they have no trouble surviving on the prairie, and they do not harm it. They are huge and splendid and belong. 

 

We don’t watch many movies or TV series, but we have watched the Good Omens series, based on the Terry Pratchett-Neil Gaiman book. I love it. The actors, especially the two leads, are wonderful. We live in a time of catastrophe. A funny, well-acted, moral show about the end of the world is useful.

 

 We have a classical radio station on all the time. I listen to classical music and read about life forms, some alive now, some long gone. And I write some poetry as a way of coping with a world that seems difficult right now.

 

Maybe when this is all over

grass will grow

among the shattered buildings,

and birds nest and sing.

 

But will there be people?

Will children grow here

like the world’s grass,

which survives everything?

 

 

 Eleanor Arnason has written several novels and many short stories. Her fourth novel, A Woman of the Iron People (2001), won the James Tiptree Jr. award for gender-bending science fiction and the Mythopoeic Society Award for adult fantasy. Her fifth novel, Ring of Swords (1995), won a Minnesota Book Award. Aqueduct Press published her collection Big Mama Stories in 2013, her Lydia Duluth adventure, Tomb of the Fathers, in 2010, and her collection, Ordinary People, in 2005. In 2016 Aqueduct released  e-book editions of The Sword Smith, To the Resurrection Station, and Daughter of the Bear King. In 2017, Aqueduct published a collection of her Hwarhath stories, Hwarhath Stories, which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and was named to the James Tiptree Award's Honor List. Next year, Aqueduct will bring out a new edition of Eleanor's Ring of Swords, with an introduction by Ursula K. Le Guin, as the fifth volume in its Heirloom Books series. 

 

 

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2023, pt. 1: Tara Campbell

 

Pleasures of Reading 2023

 by Tara Campbell

 

 

They say reading is breathing in, writing is breathing out. I’ve been doing a lot of breathing in in 2023, and here are just a few of my favorite inhalations:

The Guest by Emma Cline

If you like to read (or write) protagonists who are both fascinating and reprehensible, this is the book for you. The main character Alex is clearly only out for herself, but demonstrates just enough vulnerability and occasional helpfulness to make her not a complete a monster. Her impulsive and just plain bad decisions have gotten her into a bind, and her hopes for extracting herself clash with the reality she’s heading toward. The book reminded me of John Cheever’s story “The Swimmer” in a couple of ways: (1) how Cline subtly signals the disparities between how Alex sees herself and how other people perceive her, and (2) the fluidity with which Alex oscillates between self-awareness and magical thinking, with the balance between those two states shifting toward the end. Then I happened to find a video clip of Cline talking about how that story was indeed one of her inspirations.

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

 

Propulsive and nerve-wracking in the best way. Finished it the day after I picked it up from the library, which is saying something because I’m a slow reader. I was swept away by the escalation of one bad decision after another. 

 

 

 

Jewel Box: Stories by E Lily Yu

I was lucky enough to meet this author at an event in Seattle this fall. The breadth of times, locations, and subjects of the stories in this collection is impressive, and the precision of her language is consistent throughout. Truly inspiring craft!

 

What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri

These are nothing like the “cute animal story” trope that many an author has fallen into when trying to imagine the experience of a non-human narrator. Soulful and tender, sad and gentle, these stories contain a rich mixture of pathos and hope. ]

Cascadia Field Guide edited by Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman, and Derek Sheffield

This was a delightful (re)introduction to the Cascadia area, a bioregion that extends from Southeast Alaska down to Northern California and as far east as Idaho and Montana. Rather than focusing on dry taxonomy, however, the editors fully embraced the STEAM method, giving equal weight to field notes, poetry, and artistic renditions of the flora and fauna. It was a truly engaging way to educate myself about a place I’d left for decades before moving back this summer. 

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoferry

Nominated for just about every award under the sun, and I completely get why. It’s worth every bit of the hype. Not many authors can are so adept at easing light touches of humor into the midst of hardship. The fluidity of Escoferry’s prose and his unforgettable characters are a winning combination.

You Don’t Belong Here by Jonathan Harper

Devoured it in one day. One of the blurbs says it "reads like a Cheever fever dream," which I think is a great way to describe it! Amazing descriptions of food/consumption/self-destructive spirals. An extended queer Twilight Zone where the world around the main character constricts slowly to haunting effect. 

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu

I picked this book up in a display of Pacific NW authors, and was not disappointed! Fu’s ingenious ideas + well-developed characters = a pleasure to read. Loved the rising tension and unease in “#ClimbingNation” and the formal experimentation of “Pre-simulation and In This Fantasy.” “June Bugs” and “Bridezilla” also employed rising tension plus avenging monsters, “Sandman” and “Scissors” were notable for erotic tension, and “Do You Remember Candy” was remarkable in its full exploration of sensory information.

 

I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You and Other Stories by Julianna Baggott

Her deadpan wit and the bizarre situations that arose in her stories kept me reading sections aloud to my husband.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

As in Kite Runner, Hosseini proves once again to be masterful with stories that stretch over decades and long absences, capturing longing and grace in horrific circumstances. 

Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, fiction co-editor at Barrelhouse Magazine, and graduate of American University's MFA. Prior publication credits include work in Masters Review, Wigleaf, Electric Literature, CRAFT Literary, Daily Science Fiction, and Strange Horizons. She's the author of a novel, two hybrid collections of poetry and prose, and two short story collections from feminist sci-fi publisher Aqueduct Press. Her sixth book, City of Dancing Gargoyles, is forthcoming from SFWP in September 2024. Find her at www.taracampbell.com

The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening in 2023

 

 The Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening: the 2023 Edition

 

 

Our annual Pleasures of Reading, Viewing, and Listening series will begin tomorrow. This year I feel unprepared to make any generalizations at all about 2023, much less imagine what might lie in store for us in 2024. Over the last few years I’ve begun to feel in my bones a reality of history which, from the time I studied history as a graduate student, I’ve understood intellectually, though not as something important to me personally, that the random and the unpredictable rule human history—and, of course, the universe. If there were such a thing as the Laws of History, this would be the First Law. I remember thinking, during my first exposure to the theory of evolution, that the one thing most people I knew didn’t get about it—as evidenced by their misunderstanding of selection via “survival of the fittest”—was how great a role chance played in evolution.

 

In theory, of course, probabilities can be computed to great effect, and quantum computing gives one the sense that extraordinary feats of prediction might be achievable in the near future (as many science fiction novels have, of course, depicted). But reading the first two books in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series this fall actually saddened me a little for reminding me of how fervently we humans long for predictability (which isn’t, of course, the same as stability) even as we struggle to believe that humans hold the fate of their species in their own hands. (Sometimes, when I think about the rising sense of fatalism in the US, I want to scream. It reminds me of the deceased family member who years before his death refused to do anything for his rapidly deteriorating health, saying “What will be, will be.”) A few years back, my reading of the Foundation series would instead have been focused on the gap between theoretical models, which are needed for generating projections, and the vast complexity of reality, never mind the complications of chaos theory.

 

Reading is always serendipitous. When a few days ago I read an essay by Joseph Conrad titled, simply, “Books,” dated 1905, I knew I would be offering lots of book talk on this blog in the weeks to come. The context for which Conrad wrote the essay wasn’t mentioned, so I have no idea why he began the piece by talking about books that people (including himself) hadn’t read. “But they are books, part and parcel of humanity, and as such, in their ever increasing, jostling multitude, they are worthy of regard, admiration, and compassion,” he writes, startling me.

 

“Especially of compassion,” he continues. “It has been said a long time ago that books have their fate. They have, and it is very much like the destiny of man. They share with us the great incertitude of ignominy or glory—of severe justice and senseless persecution—of calumny and misunderstanding—the shame of undeserved success. Of all the inanimate objects, of all men’s creations, books are the nearest to us, for they contain our very thought, our ambitions, our indignations, our illusions, our fidelity to truth, and our persistent leaning towards error. But most of all they resemble us in their precarious hold on life.”

 

I confess I’d never thought of books—the precarity of their existence—in this way before, though I had thought (almost obsessively, some people probably think) about how books mean differently over time. Conrad continues:

 

“A bridge constructed according to the rule of the art of bridge-building is certain of a long, honourable and useful career. But a book as good in its way as the bridge may perish obscurely on the very day of its birth. The art of their creators is not sufficient to give them more than a moment of life. Of the books born from the restlessness, the inspiration, and the vanity of human minds, those that the Muses would love best lie more than all others under the menace of an early death. Sometimes their defects will save them. Sometimes a book fair to see may—to use a lofty expression—have no individual soul. Obviously a book of that sort cannot die. It can only crumble into dust. But the best books drawing sustenance from the sympathy and memory of men have lived on the brink of destruction, for men’s memories are short, and their sympathy is, we must admit, a very fluctuating, unprincipled emotion. No secret of eternal life for our books can be found amongst the formulas of art, any more than for our bodies in a prescribed combination of drugs. This is not because some books are not worthy of enduring life, but because the formulas of art are dependent on things variable, unstable and untrustworthy; on human sympathies, on prejudices, on likes and dislikes, on the sense of virtue and the sense of propriety, of beliefs and theories that, indestructible in themselves, always change their form—often in the lifetime of one fleeting generation.”

Conrad also talks in this essay about novels and what novelists do. For those interested, the essay can be found in his collections, Notes on Life and Letters (1920)

 

The Pleasures series includes more, of course, than the pleasures offered by books. In past years the series has shown that reading, viewing, and listening pleasures vary widely. And that is what has made me keep this series going. I love the variety of tastes and practices it repeatedly reveals. This year's edition will include posts by Eleanor Arnason, Andrea Hairston, Lisa Tuttle, Christopher Brown, Nisi Shawl, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Cheryl Morgan, and others.

I hope you'll enjoy reading these as much as I do and that they'll swell the presumably always growing list of titles you want to read. Sometimes it seems that the volume of books published is so tremendous that it's no surprise that really wonderful work often slips below one's personal radar. 

 

Adventures in Bodily Autonomy, ed. Raven Belasco

 

 I'm pleased to announce the release, in both print and e-book editions of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy, an anthology of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories edited by Raven Belasco. It's available now from Aqueduct Press at  http://aqueductpress.com/.

 

The fourteen tales in Adventures in Bodily Autonomy flow across alternate universes and through space and time to consider the issues of reproductive justice through a fresh perspectives. There is an adventure here for everyone.

 

An astronaut on her way to Mars discovers she’s pregnant — can she keep her baby? Bee-like entities try to force a human to be their queen. In 1930s Philly, a vampire offers a novel form of birth control. From a ghost, lessons learned too late. Women who cannot find a comfortable fit in their mythic realities. Future worlds where reproductive choices are different, but individual choice and external battles for that choice are just as real. 

 On October 16, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opened the country’s first birth control clinic. Just nine days later police shut down the clinic, and Sanger served 30 days in prison.

For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels — including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and postpartum care, and paid family leave—for every body. 

 Authors include Kathleen Alcalá ~ Elizabeth Bear ~ Raven Belasco ~ Tara Campbell ~ Anya De Niro ~ Jaymee Goh ~ Cynthia Gralla ~ K Ibura ~ Ellen Klages ~ Annalee Newitz ~ Nisi Shawl ~ Sonya Taaffe ~ Cecilia Tan ~ Helena María Viramontes

One hundred percent of the royalties from sales of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy are being donated to Reproductive Freedom for All to help them continue their vital fight for women’s bodily autonomy and basic human rights.

Advance Praise

“So satisfying to read a volume of new speculative fiction stories centered on women’s experience, women’s lives, women’s choices! You’ll find a pleasurable variety here: hard sf, fantasy, ghosts, vampires, horror, sweet lyricism and steel- edged noir — stories from well-known names, and stories from writers you've never encountered before. I guarantee that at least one story in this volume will make you punch the air in triumph, and another will work its way into your dreams, and not let go.”
 ——Elizabeth Lynn, World Fantasy Award Winner

“I’m absolutely blown away. Featuring so many authors who I love, this is a stunning anthology with many different approaches to the subject of bodily autonomy. Readers are going to be captivated by its range and variety. This anthology will be a breath of fresh air in the ongoing fight for the right of women to control and make decisions about their own bodies.”
 —Chinelo Onwualu

Adventures in Bodily Autonomy is a fresh and bold collection. In our current political climate, these stories and imaginings are desperately needed.
 —Myriam Gurba, author of Mean and Painting Their Portraits in Winter

Reviews

For this distinctive anthology, the royalties from which will be donated to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Belasco (Blood Ex Libris) brings together 14 thoughtful speculative tales centered on issues of reproductive freedom and female agency. The opener, Nisi Shawl’s stirring “Queen of Dirt,” about a Black teen at summer camp, explores racial bias and questions about what makes a family, demonstrating that the anthology has more on its mind than a medical procedure....Tones vary throughout: some stories are bleak, presenting hard choices or pyrrhic victories, but others sound more hopeful notes. These timely tales both draw readers in and have the potential to advance important conversations.   (Read the whole review)   —Publishers Weekly, July 2023

 Is there anything scarier this Halloween than the loss of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy? (Okay, this may be only one of the scariest things happening right now, but…) Raven Belasco has assembled this inspiring collection....So get yours and one for each of your friends!--Ms. Magazine, October 2023

Sacraments for the Unfit by Sarah Tolmie

 

  

I'm pleased to announce the release, in both trade paperback and e-book editions, of Sarah Tolmie's Sacraments for the Unfit. It is available now at www.aqueductpress.com. This is Sarah's fourth collection of fiction from Aqueduct. 

The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic brought out the ritualist in many of us. In this collection of contemporary weird short fiction, a variety of different persons and beings try to fill up their days in varying states of isolation and mystery, real or imaginary. An angel outlives the Apparat that used to employ him; a deity complains about no longer feeling seen; a museum curator living alone begins to inexplicably alter; a medievalist suffering from vision loss gets into a strange relationship with the ghost of the codicologist M. R. James; enigmatic objects begin to work themselves out of the ground by the grave of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, prompting scholarly speculation. Sacraments For the Unfit is a series of vignettes about the transformations that can happen while staying in place. 

Read a sample from the book:  http://www.aqueductpress.com/books/samples/978-1-61976-240-4.pdf

Advance Praise

“These stories could be the mad progeny of Umberto Eco and Ursula K. LeGuin: fiendishly cunning thought-twisters that shimmer with compassion and charisma.”
 —Helen Marshall, author of The Migration

 

The 2023 Pride Bundle

As in past years, Aqueduct has titles in the year's Pride Bundle. For those of you who read e-book editions, this is a great deal. Here's the scoop:

 We're back with another queer-themed bundle to celebrate Pride! This year, we have a total of seventeen books on offer, with eight in the main bundle and another nine in the bonus. It's a big bundle, but it was still hard to narrow it down: every year, there are more and more writers out there who are creating intelligent, nuanced, and queer SF/F.

Because this is for Pride, we looked for books that depicted queerness in all its aspects. You'll find profoundly hopeful work as well as darker themes, but what you won't find is stories in which being queer means you're evil, nor any in which it's a purely doomed and tragic fate. Instead, these are stories that showcase the myriad ways that queerness manifests — the many ways that we have chosen to be.

You can read more about the bundle here, and make sure to click on each cover for a synopsis, reviews and preview of each book!

• Queer Weird West Tales edited by Julie Bozza
• Uncommon Charm by Kat Weaver and Emily Bergslien
• The Silences of Ararat by L. Timmel Duchamp
• Martha Moody by Susan Stinson
• The Unbalancing by R. B. Lemberg

• Perishables by Michael G. Williams
• In the Deep by Kelly Jennings
• The Feast of Panthers by Sean Eads
• Unfinished Business by Catherine Lundoff
• Night Sky Mine by Melissa Scott
• We're Here - The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2021 edited by L.D. Lewis and series editor Charles Payseur

• The Dragon Eater by J. Scott Coatsworth
• Our Fruiting Bodies by Nisi Shawl
• Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks
• The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
• Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J. Miller
• The Gusty Deep by Lee Morgan

 

HOW IT WORKS

• Support awesome authors by paying however much you think their work is worth!
• Pay at least $20 to unlock another 12 bonus books, for a total of 17!
• Read all our books on just about any tablet, ereader, laptop or
  even your smartphone.

 

SELECTED REVIEWS

The Unbalancing by R. B. Lemberg

[STARRED REVIEW] "Lovingly crafted with a deep and rewarding world full of complex characters who are often LGBTQIA+ and/or neurodiverse, this is an outstanding novel from a rising star in fantasy fiction."

– Booklist

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia

[STARRED REVIEW] "Naseem Jamnia's brilliant and insightful novella, The Bruising of Qilwa, explores questions of identity and belonging in a nuanced medical mystery. . . . Jamnia has built an intricate, multi-layered world full of magic and queerness."

– Shelf Awareness

Boys, Beasts & Men by Sam J. Miller

[STARRED REVIEW] "Highly recommended for any reader interested in speculative fiction that concerns itself with queer themes, particularly messy or emotional ones."

– Booklist

Martha Moody by Susan Stinson

"This 'speculative western' first came out in 1995 but was just reissued. The first sentence is magnificent in the way it's a microcosm of the whole book, as well as a glimpse at the way Stinson writes so beautifully about fat bodies: 'I was crouched next to the creek baiting my hook with a hunk of fat when I heard a rustling on the bank upstream.'"

– Alison Bechdel, Elle Magazine

Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks

"Fire Logic is a delightful, feminist fantasy epic featuring a ragtag bunch of misfits, swashbuckling, romance, and some weird elemental magic."

– Bustle

Our Fruiting Bodies by Nisi Shawl

"Nisi Shawl's Our Fruiting Bodies is a wilderness of untamed magic to explore, ever changing underfoot, beauty thorned and fertile with meaning, nurtured by the most talented of keepers. Shawl trusts their readers to be attuned to the mysteries of the imagined, rather than sated by formula or convention."

– Indrapramit Das, author of The Devourers

We're Here - The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2021 by L.D. Lewis and series editor Charles Payseur

"With this lovely anthology, Lewis and Payseur collect 15 speculative shorts that range widely in tone and genre, but all circle themes of love and identity...There's something here for any reader of speculative fiction to admire."

– Publishers Weekly

Uncommon Charm by Kat Weaver and Emily Bergslien

"An enchanting and poignantly subtle story told with deft humor and thoughtful absences, where the initiation into mysteries is both esoteric and deeply personal."

– Caitlin Starling, author of The Death of Jane Lawrence

Night Sky Mine by Melissa Scott

"Mature, balanced, absorbing work, with a richly detailed, enchanting backdrop: something of a breakthrough in overall technique, and Scott's best so far."

– Kirkus Reviews

The Silences of Ararat by L. Timmel Duchamp

"Duchamp tells the story in straightforward style, using a setting only slightly removed from the here-and-now and characters many of us will recognize as drawn from some of our neighbors. The magical component, while crucial to the plot, doesn't divert attention from the relevance of the story to the world we see on the nightly TV news. Not always a comfortable read—nor is it meant to be—but well worth tracking down."

– Asimov’s On Books by Peter Heck

Queer Weird West Tales by Julie Bozza

"a varied and entertaining set of stories … Bound to be something for everyone to enjoy."

– Matt the Womble, Runalong the Shelves

The Feast of Panthers by Sean Eads

"…If you love history with a twist, I highly recommend "A Feast of Panthers," an incredible story with paranormal aspects that are at times gruesome and frightening…"

– Queer Sci Fi

The Dragon Eater by J. Scott Coatsworth

"The only thing wrong with this book is that it ended. Scott Coatsworth has produced an adventure that is a rich mélange of science fiction and fantasy, creating the world of Tharassas and its denizens with vivid detail... It's going to be hard to wait for book two. Five stars."

– Ulysses, Liminal Fiction

Perishables by Michael G. Williams

"Stephen Colbert meets Stephen King."

– Book Nerd's Brain Candy

Unfinished Business by Catherine Lundoff

"And we are here in October where the weather and season turns; the nights darken as we start to feel more comfortable at home rather than wandering in the dark. Like many of you at times like this, I love to hear tales of ghosts and the things that go bump in the night. Queen of Swords Press has just launched a new series of mini-collections of short stories and novella collections. In Unfinished Business, this starts with the work of Catherine Lundoff and provides a smart, scary and progressive set of horror tales – perfect for a dark and stormy night."

– Runalong the Shelves Book Blog

In the Deep by Kelly Jennings

"…as gritty and complex as the first novel-length adventure… // Strongly reminiscent of C.J Cherryh at her best."

– Gwyneth Jones, author of the Aleutian trilogy, winner of the World Fantasy, Clarke, Dick, and Tiptree awards

 

Get the Pride Bundle at https://storybundle.com/pride.

Susan diRende's Knife Witch

 

  

I'm pleased to announce the release, in both print and e-book editions, of Knife Witch, Susan diRende's debut fantasy novel. It's available now from Aqueduct Press at www.aqueductpress.com.

 

 Read a sample at  http://www.aqueductpress.com/books/samples/978-1-61976-238-1.pdf.

 

 

A village kitchen girl has few choices in life until a slip of her knife causes invading barbarian pirates to think she’s a witch. They kidnap her to get the “witch” bounty offered by their home coven. She goes willingly enough with only the clothes on her back and her favorite boning knife.

Dubbed “Knife Witch” by the barbarian captain, Volzh, and his crew, she saves the ship—twice—thanks to what they insist is magic and she protests is nothing more than an itchy disposition and her mad skills at carving and filleting. They start to think of her as “their” witch, and she starts feeling responsible for them as if she actually had the power to protect them. Which is not what she wants. She doesn’t see herself as capable of defeating anything larger than a chicken headed for the soup pot. That she manages to skewer a kraken before it sinks them all does not help her case. Side note: the kraken is telepathic and develops an amorous fascination with her.

Claiming she’s just a kitchen girl, she goes on to wreak havoc with the evil coven, an even evil-er Empire, the kraken determined to marry her, a world-breaking volcano, and the gods themselves.

Be as must be. 

Advance Praise

“Knife Witch by Susan diRende offers seafaring, kraken-haunted adventure centered on a kitchen maid from a coastal village whose “luck” turns out to be witchery. She soon endears herself to a band of pirate raiders and to the reader. It’s pure pleasure to discover, along with diRende’s spiky narrator, how magic and other forces work in this novel’s archipelago universe. Thoughtful readers will appreciate diRende’s dissections of monstrousness and barbary, but the tale itself is primary: you have to root for this sharp young woman with knives stashed in her hair as she outwits every power ranged against her, from small-town bullies and corrupt witch councils to far greater natural—and supernatural—entities.”
 —Lesley Wheeler, author of Unbecoming and Poetry’s Possible Worlds

“Susan diRende’s unique voice marries funny to fantasy in this rollicking feminist tale of a kitchen worker who discovers she’s a powerful witch after she’s captured by pirates. She takes on krakens and kings, not to mention other witches, all while protecting others (including a dog and the pirates) and doing good (mostly). And she does it her way.
   Anyone who thinks feminism — or, for that matter, fantasy — can’t be funny needs to read Susan diRende.”
 —Nancy Jane Moore, author of For the Good of the Realm

Coming Soon: Adventures in Bodily Autonomy

 

I'm pleased to announce that Aqueduct Press will be publishing an anthology of fiction, Adventures in Bodily Autonomy, edited by Raven Belasco, later this year, in support of abortion rights. 

  The fourteen tales in Adventures in Bodily Autonomy flow across alternate universes and through space and time to consider the issues of reproductive justice through fresh perspectives. There is an adventure here for everyone.

An astronaut on her way to Mars discovers she’s pregnant — can she keep her baby? Bee-like entities try to force a human to be their queen. In1930s Philly, a vampire offers a novel form of birth control. From a ghost, lessons learned too late. Women who cannot find a comfortable fit in their mythic realities. Future worlds where reproductive choices are different, but individual choice and external battles for that choice are just as real. 

Adventures in Bodily Autonomy will be released on October 16th, 2023, a date important in the history of women’s healthcare rights. On October 16, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opened the country’s first birth control clinic. Just nine days later police shut down the clinic, and Sanger served 30 days in prison.

For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels — including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and postpartum care, and paid family leave—for every body. 

 Join the authors in supporting
NARAL Pro-Choice America
Kathleen Alcalá ~ Elizabeth Bear ~ Raven Belasco
Tara Campbell ~ Anya De Niro ~ Jaymee Goh
Cynthia Gralla ~ K Ibura ~ Ellen Klages
Annalee Newitz ~ Nisi Shawl ~ Sonya Taaffe
Cecilia Tan ~ Helena María Viramontes
~ ~ ~

One hundred percent of the royalties of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy are being donated to NARAL Pro-Choice America to help them continue their vital fight for women’s bodily autonomy and basic human rights.

The Language of Water by Elizabeth Clark-Stern

 

 I'm pleased to announce the release of a debut novel, The Language of Water, by Elizabeth Clark-Stern, in both print and e-book editions. It is available now at www.aqueductpress.com.

The dawn of the twenty-second century finds women in a new world where water—the lack of it or the over-abundance of it—shapes their inner and outer lives. Sara turns eighteen and longs to join the all-women’s Kurdish army to wrestle control of the headwaters of the Euphrates River from the grip of Turkiye’s first woman President, who calls herself “Ataturka.” These two women share a common enemy that has infected the globe: climate despair. And yet, in the darkest hour there is cause for hope. A new technology born of the secret substances of the Earth could transform the planet. Only the power structures of humanity stand in the way. Can Sara and Ataturka help one another create a new form of power defined by the depth and scope of their hearts, or will the Water War bitterly divide them? Will their passion for life, for love, for a world where all living things can flourish pull them down into the darkest cavern of the human soul or catapult them to the stars?

Read a sample from the book here: http://www.aqueductpress.com/books/samples/978-1-61976-234-3.pdf

"Elizabeth Clark-Stern has created a marvelous adventure that takes us into a mysterious future where the climate is out of control. Her characters vibrate with creativity, passion, and imagination as they bring an evolving world to life."
 —Beverly Olevin, Kirkus Award-winner for The Good Side of Bad

"I found this novel's complex characters and the richness of their relationships—in love and in war—tremendously compelling. Sara, Kethuda, Ruqia, and the rest of the cast are skillfully drawn. A story about the future devastation wrought by climate change has the potential to be a grim read, but instead Elizabeth Clark-Stern has written a gripping feminist tale exploring love and power, violence and forgiveness, despair and hope. The Language of Water is a page-turner and a paean to resistance."
 —Gwynne Garfinkle, author of Can't Find My Way Home

"The diverse ensemble of characters in Elizabeth Clark-Stern’s debut novel includes royalty and subsistence farmers, teens and the elderly, fierce warriors, and dedicated pacifists. Each character is compelling, complex, and struggling with the types of difficult decisions that can shatter souls. But the core protagonist in the novel, the only one truly powerful, is the natural environment.
    The action takes place in 2100, when climate change has created extremes in the global distribution of, and access to, water. The divide between Haves and Have Nots is an ever-­widening chasm. Regional conflicts sparked by dwindling natural resources are rampant. Agriculturalists have developed a plant, the pea cactus, that grows in harsh environments and can be processed into a variety of goods, but worsening floods and periods of drought make this, at best, a last-gasp measure.
    It is a world severely out of balance, but not quite out of hope. Clark-Stern captures the inflection point toward which we are barreling at break-neck speed, the moment when humans—having contorted ourselves to our limits in a desperate effort to maintain life as it was before climate change—are forced to decide if we want to die clinging to old ways or give up illusions of power and embrace something new.
    The Language of Water is a balm for nerves frayed by the fear of impending environmental disaster and a bracing vision of how balance might be restored to our off-kilter world."
 —Kate Boyes, author of Trapped in the R.A.W.