Falling further

Quick bit of news: the 2013 Worldcon panel on gay and lesbian issues in SF/F has been released as a podcast at Outer Alliance. I mostly talk about the issue from a day job perspective; you can hear it here.

Also: as a recent post indicated, I'm fairly used to running into other Matthew Johnsons. This is the first time I've encountered another "Fall From Earth," though. It wouldn't quite make sense as a cover to my book but it really ought to be the cover of somebody's.

You will find it positively fascinating

Here's my schedule for Can-Con, coming up next weekend (October 4-6) in Ottawa:

Friday

8:00 PM: News and fun from WorldCon with Cenk Gokce, Marie Bilodeau, and Andrew Barton.

9:00 PM: Humour in Science Fiction with Ira Nayman and Mike Rimar.

10:00 PM: ChiZine party and Ottawa launch of Imaginarium 2013, where I'll be doing a short reading from "The Last Islander."

Saturday

9:00 AM: SFWA Regional meeting. Coffee and wood-fired Montreal-style bagels for SFWA members in attendance.

10:00 Reading with Kate Hearfield. I'll be reading "Beyond the Fields You Know," a new story from my upcoming collection; Kate will read "For Sale by Owner" and the prologue from her upcoming On Spec story "Traveller, Take Me".

5:00 PM: Multiculturalism in Science Fiction with Yves Menard, Candace Black, and David Hartwell.

6:00 PM: Researching for Fantasy Stories with Karen Dudley and Mike Rimar.

7:00 PM: Law in Science Fiction with Kate Heartfield, Tom Barlow and Lynda Williams.

8:00 PM: You're qualified for SFWA: Should you join?with Derek Künsken, Suzanne Church, and Andrew Barton.

My Worldcon reality check

Fan: Oh, hey! Could you sign this for me?  

She opens an anthology and holds it out to me. 

Me: Sorry, I didn't write that -- that's another guy who publishes as "Mat Johnson."

Fan: Oh. Okay, well, never mind.

Pause.

Me: I'll still sign it, if you like.



More ritual humiliation to come soon, maybe. In the meantime, here's me about to unravel the mysteries of time and space:

Inter con

Just time for a breather between getting back from When Words Collide and heading off to WorldCon. I had a great time at WWC in Calgary, meeting many people for the first time and also getting to know people I had technically "met" online in various contexts. All my panels were terrific and everyone was tremendously welcoming.

Two pieces of good news also came my way while I was there. First, I got my first look at the latest edition of The Year's Best Science Fiction and found that both "The Afflicted" and "The Last Islander" had gotten Honorable Mentions. Second, I learned that my story "Closing Time" will be included in a collection commemorating the 25th anniversary of On Spec. It's one of my favourite stories as well being the first story I ever sold there and, in fact, the first story I sold anywhere, so I'm particularly plased that it made the cut.

Edited to add: Actually three pieces of good news -- I had totally missed the fact that "Long Pig" was included in the collection Not Just Rockets and Robots: Daily Science Fiction Year One. I'm not sure they would have let me back on the plane with that huge book in my luggage, but it was cool to see it in the dealer's room.

Next up is LoneStarCon, just over a week away. Here's my schedule:


Meet the New Doctor: Helen Mirren
Friday 13:00 - 14:00
0018B (Convention Center)

How much longer do we have to wait for gender parity in the Whoverse? What will happen if the regenerated Doctor is female, and who should play the role?

Julia Rios, Lynne M. Thomas, Matthew Johnson, Juliet Bruce 

Autographing: with Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, Cathy Clamp
Friday 17:00 - 18:00 
Autographing (Convention Center)

SFWA Meeting
Saturday 10:00 - 12:00 
008B (Convention Center)

008B Convention Center

008B Convention Center

Use of Language in Fantasy
Saturday 14:00 - 15:00
006A (Convention Center)

How do you determine the stye of language to use in fantasy? Do you use archaic language, modern language or poetic language - which works best and in what circumstances?

Mary Robinette Kowal, Jaime Moyer, Susan Krinard, Matthew Johnson, Carol Berg 

Who's Working on Gay Issues and Themes in SF/F?
Sunday 16:00 - 17:00
007CD (Convention Center)

Lee Martindale, Scott Bobo, Matthew Johnson, Julia Rios, Paige E. Ewing

SFWA Table Autographing
Monday 11:00-12:00 Dealer's room

I'll also be staffing the SFWA table in the dealer's room from 2-3 on Friday and 12-1 on Sunday. If you don't see me anywhere else stop by and say hi! 

Table talk

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that When Words Collide is actually next weekend and not this weekend. Luckily I had the right date on my plane tickets and hotel reservations.

I also now have my schedule for signings at the Bundoran Press table in the dealers room; I'll be there from 3-4 to 6-7 on Friday and from 2 to 3 on Saturday. Stop by and get a free copy of "The Salt and Iron Dialogues" if you buy Fall From Earth, as well as my illegible signature.

Words Collide

I realized today that it's just two weeks 'til When Words Collide in Calgary, so I thought I ought to post my schedule. Here's where I'm going to be:

Friday August 9


1 PM Suite 1062 Reading with Ed Willett and Susan Forest

4 PM Suite 1057 Workshop: "Show, Don't Tell" (sign-up required)

You've probably heard that piece of writing advice a hundred times -- but what do "show" and "tell" mean, exactly? How can you turn telling into showing, and when is it better to tell than to show? This workshop will cover techniques for turning narration into action, tips on when and how to do narration successfully, and a writing exercise in turning a "told" story into a "shown" one.  

9 PM Surrey Panel: The Issue is the Issue with Neil Godbout, Amanda Sun, Nina Munteanu and Peter Halasz   Racism. Genocide. Sexism. Homophobia. How can genre fiction tackle these concepts without trivializing them but without turning into political lectures?    


Saturday August 10  

11 AM Yorkshire 3 Panel: Transhumanism: Where Do We as Homo Sapiens Go From Here? with Ed Willett, Nina Munteanu and Ron Friedman   Western society is rapidly moving toward a time when many dreams of the transhumanism movement, such as advanced genetic engineering, prosthetics, organ/neuro-implants, and age retardation/reversal will become reality. The question is how society - including speculative fiction writers - will respond to this evolutionary change in human beings.  

12 PM Surrey Panel: Making the Everyday Fantastic with Ronald Hore, Melodie Campbell, Jodi McIsaac, Nina Munteanu and Nola Sarina   Authors discuss how they take a normal, everyday situation and add magic or mystery or mayhem to build a compelling story.

3 PM Surrey Panel: Our Exotic Home: Putting Canadian Settings on the World Stage with Jodi McIsaac, E. R. Brown and Adrienne Kerr

What gives Canadian characters and locations an international appeal? Is there a penalty? How do we overcome it and capitalize on the Canadian appeal?

5PM Suite 1057 SFWA Regional Meeting
All SFWA members are invited to attend to receive updates about and discuss SFWA business. Coffee and light refreshments will be served.

9PM Yorkshire 3 Making Up Religions with Barb Galler-Smith, Ann Marston, Lynda Williams and Anna Bortolotto

Religion often plays a minor or even major role in fiction. Be it characters of faith, real-life issues examined through wholly made up belief systems, or evil portrayed through (hopefully) non-existent cults, the reader must be able to suspend their disbelief in order to enjoy the tale. Authors who apply‘unfamiliar’ religion to their fiction discuss how they get away with it.

Lightning-quick post, with new extra lightning quickness

So, there have been a... lot of things happening, which at the same time make it hard to find time to do a blog post and also important to do so.

As a lot of people know, it's been a pretty active time for SFWA. At the moment I'm getting lots of e-mails around the @SFWAAuthors Twitter account, which is good: if you're an SFWA member (or even if you're not) and you want your voice to be heard, please e-mail me and the rest of the Board. Because the matter is still under consideration I can't really say much more about it right now, other than to say that before too long my position on it, both as a Board member and a member of SFWA, will be clearly and unambiguously stated.

Two other bits of news, somewhat more cheerful: first, "The Last Islander" has been selected as the anchor story of Imaginarium 2013: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. I thought this story was a bit overlooked when it came out (relative to my other stories, that is; I'll let other people decide how it rates in terms of short stories in general) so it's nice to see it get a second chance. Second, I've sold my almost-novella "Rules of Engagement" to Asimov's Science Fiction. It's a pretty nifty bit of near-future SF, if I do say so myself, with guns and drones and neural implants and all the action that "The Last Islander" and "Holdfast" didn't have, and then some. I'm not sure when it's coming out yet, but the contract arrived a week after I got the acceptance which may mean it'll be gracing shelves and ereaders soon.

Lightning, away!