Malon Edwards's Blog

six blocks east of mars has moved the next block over.



you can now find me, my thoughts, and and my short stories at my new site here:



drop by and let me know what you think of the new site.

I'm putting this here for an early signal boost, and to remind myself to submit when it opens.





Cover art: Julie Dillon

Crossed Genres publisher Bart Lieb  announced today a second Long Hidden anthology is planned for publication.



Mikki Kendall and Campbell Award winner Sofia Samatar will co-edit the new anthology. Stories will feature protagonists less than 18 years old, and be set prior to 1930.



The first Long Hidden anthology was co-edited by Daniel José Older and Rose Fox.



Submission guidelines should be posted soon.



I suppose I need to get writing then.

The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce the application period for our inaugural Diverse Writers Grant and Diverse Worlds Grant is now open.



Applications will be accepted from May 1, 2014 until July 31, 2014. We are offering one $500 Diverse Writers Grant and one $500 Diverse Worlds grant annually.

The Diverse Writers Grant is intended to support new and emerging writers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups, including writers of color, women, queer writers, disabled writers, working-class writers, and those whose marginalized identities may present additional obstacles in the writing and/or publishing process.


The Diverse Worlds Grant is intended for work that best presents a diverse world, regardless of the writer’s background.

Applicants should include a work of fiction up to 5,000 words in their application. This work of fiction can be a new, in-progress work, or a published piece.

The winners for both grants are expected to be announced by September 15, 2014.

The Speculative Literature Foundation defines speculative literature as:

"...a catch-all term meant to inclusively span the breadth of fantastic literature, encompassing literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy to ghost stories to horror to folk and fairy tales to slipstream to magical realism to modern myth-making -- and more. Any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under our aegis, and would potentially be work that we would be interested in supporting."

Full disclosure: I'm the managing director and grants administrator for SLF.

Find out more about the grant here and the SLF here.

Source: Think Geek



Now, I don't know nothin' 'bout no Bluetooth technology, but I think the point is you don't have to walk around with your phone in your hand looking at it the entire time you're on a call.



Which makes me think Bluetooth Handset Gloves have to be a joke.



(See picture.)



But apparently not. 



You can even talk for 20 hours straight into your hand, according to the specs below. 



I suppose that's time well spent with your thumb in your ear, instead of in your aspartame. 




Bluetooth Handset Glove Features and Specifications:

Bluetooth handset built into the left glove
Compatible with all devices that are Bluetooth-compatible
Conductive-fiber allows capacitive touch operation
Operating range: 40 feet
Battery life: Standby 10 days, 20 hours of conversation
Sizes: Choose men's or women's sizes in knit, specific size in leather
Colors: Black and grey knit, black leather
Composition: Knit - 95% polyacrylonitrile, 3% cotton, 2% polyester; leather - 100% genuine leather
Charges over micro USB (~ 30 minutes, cable included)
Tested and works with iOS, Android, Windowsphone, Blackberry
Dry clean only



source: Think Geek

That's one of my favorite lines from my short story, "Into the Breach."



Source: www.comicvine.com

Artwork: Andrea Mutti





Speaking of "Into the Breach", the podcast reading for the story is now live over at Escape Pod. It's narrated by the wonderful Mandaly Louis-Charles, who runs Sweet Coconuts, a Haitian Creole language and resource site.




It's quite fitting that Mandaly is narrator, considering I used her site as a reference for the Haitian Creole in the story. 




By the way, any mistakes (and there are some) with the Haitian Creole in the story are all me. 




I can't tell you how pleased I was when I first heard Mandaly's narration. I smiled for the entire 33 minutes. It was spot-on perfect.




She gives the story, and the main character (Michaëlle-Modeste, a.k.a. Lark)  a beautiful, somber, yet powerful voice. It really is the perfect read.Give it a listen, when you have the chance.




Escape Pod also has a forums section on their site where listeners can discuss each podcast episode. There's an interesting discussion going on over there about "Into the Breach". Some people seem to get the story (and almost right on the nose, too), and some people don't.




I won't give away much here, but I will say the story is set in an alternate Chicago that's at war with the State of Illinois. In this alternate world, war is fought with exo-skeleton suits, much like the one you see in the picture to the right above. That's Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor.




In fact, Tony Stark/Iron Man and Pepper Potts/Rescue helped inspire "Into the Breach". I very much wanted to write a dieselfunk story with powered armor, but with a different flavor. A Chicago flavor, spiced with Creole.




I think I achieved that. What do you think?

Image credit: Orange

If Wifey had this tent, she would go camping all the time. 





She wouldn't be enticed  by its wireless charging pouch or the glow-in-the-dark tent panels, or even the built-in WiFi access.





No, for her, it would be all about the heated floor.




Seriously, heat anything she can sit or lie down on, and you're halfway to her heart.



Image credit: Orange



(Yeah, I know; I walked into that one. Get your minds out the gutter, you filthy animals).




Developed by Orange, and designed by Kaleidoscope, the tent is known as the Glastonbury, which makes sense, since it debuted at the 2012 music festival in Glastonbury. 



I call it the Superman of Tents, since, you know, it stores solar energy from the yellow sun during the day to kick ass at night.



Wifey would call it The Only Reason To Go Camping Ever. 

Source: moviecomicswhoswho.com

 After seeing the shout out io9 gave me for my flash fiction story, "In the Marrow", a few people have mentioned that, although they enjoyed the story, they wish there was more.



Well, there is.



"In the Marrow" is a sequel, of sorts.



Last summer, I wrote another story with Zakiya and Jae Lyn de la Rosa, titled "Better Than Everything". It was published by SQ Mag, an online Australian zine.



Unlike "In the Marrow", "Better Than Everything" is a longer short story, and goes into more detail about the relationship between Zakiya and Jae Lyn.



Give it a read and let me know what you think.



I think you'll enjoy it all the same.

Charlie Jane Anders has given me a bit of a shout out over at io9 for my flash fiction piece, "In the Marrow", published a few weeks ago at Lakeside Circus.



Check out what she has to say about the piece, and then give it a read over at Lakeside Circus. 



Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the story here, or over at io9.



In the meantime, I'll be geeking out over here in the corner.

I hope you know that's not true.




I know it's not true.




But yet, Charlotte Ashley  mentioned today in her review how she could not find one (not one!) black person  who has been published in a horror magazine or anthology in this still very young year of 2014:

It’s Black History Month as well as Women in Horror Month, and Graveyard Shift Sisters has hit on the excellent idea of spending the month combining the two and celebrating Black Women In Horror Month. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a single black person, let alone woman, published in a horror ’zine nor anthology so far this year. I am going to leave that right there.

She leaves it right there, and I'll pick it up, thank you.




This is less about black people writing horror (and speculative fiction, for that matter), and more about black people (and people in general) writing short stories.




The short story form just isn't sexy, anymore. Actually, I'm not sure if it ever was, except maybe back in the 60's and 70's when Playboy published them.   




Pun (not quite) intended.




These days, it's all about the novel. It's the preferred form, whether for reading or writing. 




Go to the airport bookstore and you'll find the latest John Grisham novel, not the latest anthology of Best American Short Stories. 




People want to pick up a book and immerse themselves in it fully. They want to know get to know a novel's characters on an intimate level. They want to read a novel late into the night. They want to cry when their favorite character in a novel dies.




Now, if you ask me, I think people can do the same with a good,  short story given a bit of length. But most people don't believe that. The market doesn't believe that. The airport bookstore doesn't believe that.




Once upon a time, short stories made writing careers. In the land of the lost, short stories were a writer's sole source of income.




Not anymore. Probably, never again.




Which pains me. I love the short story form. Seriously. If I could marry it, I would.




These days, short stories are all I write. I can't see myself writing a novel. At least, not now. I realize that's where the market is, though. I'll get around to it. One of these days.




Be sure to read Charlotte's full review over at ChiZine. She was able to find some good spec fic stories published by black writers so far this year, including An Owomoyela's And Wash Out by Tides of War. It's a very good read.



You just may find some intimacy with Aditi.

There.



I'm still here.



Might take some time for me to knock the dust off, but I'm still around.