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jreynoldsward ([personal profile] jreynoldsward) wrote2025-08-04 02:19 pm
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It's Indie August Time...and more blather!

Yeah, I’ve been quiet a lot lately. Some of that has been due to just a pile of stuff going on—edits for others, working on renovations for a house we’re selling, horse hijinks, and—gestures wildly—just everything going on.

Part of July has been taken up with a class about The Story of My Books—an approach to newsletter onboarding for people like me with a big but obscure backlist to promote. As a result, I drafted five essays centered around themes common in my work (well, that’s four of them, the fifth picks up on my assorted short works). I ended up creating multiple samplers of my work as a long-range promotion, and created a Joyce’s Books section on my Substack for those essays—and more, as I write more.

(That is, if the stars finally align and I don’t have life/cataracts/other health issues interfering with writing work.)

I do have a project in mind for August that is writing-connected but not writing—updating my website. Those backlist essays will go there, along with an updated bibliography.

Hoping to get back to regular essays this month. I looked back at essays I wrote about training Mocha at the same age as Marker and…wow. Lots of attitudinal similarities, except that I can persuade him to cooperate a lot faster than I ever could her. And he doesn’t buck as much as she did…but he bolts. Working on that, plus I bought a back protector for road riding. I’m not getting any younger, and after an incident involving yaks (yes, YAKS), I realized that even though I don’t have osteoporosis, I am getting up there and don’t need a broken back or ribs to complicate life.

Anyway. This week, I’m talking about Corporate Weirdness in my books, and have three samplers for you to check out! Or you can go to my essay about Corporate Weirdness and get the sampler links from there.

Corporate Weirdness essay!

The Martiniere Family Corporate Weirdness Sampler: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/p3zrsk5bke

Netwalk Sequence Corporate Weirdness Sampler:

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/4nkr251psk

Science Fiction Corporate Weirdness Sampler:

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/72na9hig88


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catherineldf ([personal profile] catherineldf) wrote2025-08-01 04:24 pm
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Seattle Worldcon schedule and weekly update

Seattle Worldcon is looming in a week and a half and I'll be there! I'll be rooming with Heather, who's also on the Hugo ballot so that'll be fun. I am beginning to make dinner and other plans so if you want to hang out with me or talk projects with me or both, now's a good time to schedule. What kind of projects? Well, hiring me for things like commissioning stories and articles, signing me up to teach classes, coach or do editing and writing projects would all be swell. I know a lot about book marketing and sales and the publishing process, just saying. And I'm an award-winning writer who's good with deadlines.

On the directly related to Queen of Swords Press front: I'm reading some fine queer horror and dark fantasy and historical fantasy subs and am awaiting at least one more for this year. But we are light on queer science fiction and I'd like to fill that gap, ideally with novel length work. It will be very, very helpful to be familiar with at least some of our existing titles. I have fairly idiosyncratic tastes and I drive what gets selected. Anything much over 90k words is a hard sell for POD and anything slow-moving is a hard sell for me. We are also a "fly by the seat of our pants" operation, which while it is totally on me, also has helped us be flexible enough to outlast many, many other presses. But this is not everyone's speed and I get it. What does the future hold? Who knows? We're still here right now and making stuff happen. Reach out to me here if you don't have the QoSP email. We are not officially open to subs so this is on an invite basis.Talk to me first.

Back to Worldcon:
Wednesday:

Why Are Villains Queer-Coded?

Culture/DEI; Horror; Streaming; Virtual
Room 435-436, –

Numerous genre traits, characteristics, and stereotypes have been molded into the modern idea of the villain, and many such quirks are directly tied to stereotypes of the LGBTQ+ community—but why? Is it because the status quo fears the growing acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, or because the status quo has always excluded and oppressed these individuals? Let’s break it down and discuss ways we creatives can alter that message for positive change regarding this misconception, even in the darkest of genre fiction.

Dr. Heather O. Petrocelli (M), Catherine Lundoff, David Demchuk, Sumiko Saulson, The Grand Arbiter

Friday:
 

Table Talks - You do need to sign up for these beforehand - limit of 6 per talk
Room 430, –

Have an intimate discussion (up to six participants) with your favorite creators. Advance sign-up is required (sign-up info coming soon).

Brandon O’Brien, Cassie Alexander, Catherine Lundoff, Daphne Singingtree, F. J. Bergmann, Melinda M. Snodgrass

Saturday:

Reading: Catherine Lundoff

Readings
Room 428, –

Blue Moon. Blue Moon is the third novel in Catherine’s Wolves of Wolf’s Point series, about a group of women from different backgrounds who turn into werewolves as they enter menopause. Blue Moon picks up where Blood Moon left off and traces the origins of the Wolf’s Point Pack. The books are sapphic dark fantasy.

The Radical Fiction of Joanna Russ

Genre History; Streaming; Virtual
Room 435-436, –

Joanna Russ, author of The Female Man, wrote some of the most radical fiction of the 1960s and 1970s. The Female Man has remained consistently in print and is one of the most experimental and challenging books of our genre. This panel will discuss her short stories and novels and their effects.

Sue Burke (M), Catherine Lundoff, Langley Hyde, Michael Swanwick, Rich Horton

I'll also be at the Liminal Fiction table in the Dealer's Room selling my and other folk's books on Friday from 1-2PM and Saturday 1-2PM.


What else have I been up to?

  • Some passive job hunting through contracting companies
  • Accepted an invite to do grant reviewing again in November (pays a stipend)
  • Followed up on numerous things that needed following up on
  • Read 1.5 submissions
  • Did some writing and made a writing date for tomorrow
  • Worked on my developmental editing certificate class
  • Laundry and cleaning things out, like old files and things that need to be emptied before I can sell them
  • Selling more of Jana's tools
  • Prepping for Worldcon
  • Went with friends to see the alebrijes sculptures at Raspberry Island, the current art show at the Cafejian Art Trust in Shoreview, the weird Renaissance show at the MIA and "Glensheen: The Musical" at the History Theater and by myself to the Minneapolis American Indian Center to see the queer/two spirit art show at Two Rivers Gallery.
  • Diagnosed a plumbing issue and ordered parts to fix it.
  • Followed up on some Jana-related things including turning over an unfinished project to the people it should have gone to originally, networking with her former boss about selling some of her bindings and finding more things for the Minnesota Center for Book Arts to sell in the Shop at Open Book.
  • Starting to get some ducks in a row for talk and class proposals.
  • Research for the article I have due soonish.
Okay, that was a lot. Hang in there, folks. It's Friday.
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