Steam-Powered II Roundtable! Editor JoSelle Vanderhooft

So! Remember when I said I'd start a series of Steam-Powered II writers answering a set of questions each about their stories? I thought it would be a fine idea to start this off with the fabulous editor herself, JoSelle Vanderhooft, answering a few questions on this series in general:

So tell us about your feelings for this anthology!

This is such a strong and diverse collection of steampunk stories, with tales set in India, Malaysia, Turkey, China, Persia, Africa, and all over the United States. I'm deeply honored to have been able to assemble it.

So why, specifically, lesbians?

The obvious answer is that I’m a bisexual who is oriented almost entirely towards women--a 5 on the Kinsey Scale, if anyone wants me to be more specific. I love writing and reading about lesbian and bisexual women, and this interest informs my editing. But obvious answers are usually boring and not entirely accurate.

The Steam-Powered II Roundtable!

It starts tomorrow! I just wanted to warn ya'll. Over the next few weeks, every two days there will be a new author interview, everybody answering pretty much the same questions. You can totally ask the authors any question you like in comments (please remember comment moderation is turned on after 7 days) as long as you are Not-An-Asshole-and/or-Creepy. You can leave squeez and comments, you can link at will, and you can also repost content, so long as you link back to the author in some form (posts will have links to author websites).

I hope ya'll enjoy the posts, and will look forward to your further questions and comments!  

The Steampunk Postcolonialist Out Of School!

Hallo readers! All three of you who are still with me, that is. 

Guess what! I've finished my M.A. Major Research Project! The final product is a cool 17,000 word thingum, entitled "Towards Chromatic Chronologies: Using the Steampunk Aesthetic for Postcolonial Purposes" in which I tear apart S.M. Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers (I got a lotta mileage outta that one), and to some extent Cherie Priest's Dreadnought, analyze the shit out of Karin Lowachee's Gaslight Dogs, and tease out the awesome of N.K. Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine" all in the name of getting a degree. I handed this in on the 15th, and since then, I've read and finished 3 books, written a poem, and attempted arranging my apartment into some form of livable space. 

So! That means since I am currently gainfully unemployed, it is back to business blogging about postcolonialism and steampunk, while I scribble up application forms for PhD programs (anybody want to rec me schools, I'd be much obliged), write new fiction, study for the GREs, and generally figure out what to do for the next year or so. 

Within the next few weeks months you can expect the following:

- Steam-Powered II authors answering a set of questions I posed to them, one by one, day by day, after Tor.com's Steampunk Week, and ya'll can mosey in and ask them more questions if you so please;

- a review of Tobias Buckell's Crystal Rain. I am not convinced it is steampunk, but I am convinced it is an awesome book with all the cultural specificity that steampunk ought to have;

- a recap and review of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy, because I just got GOLIATH today after much gnashing of teeth since everybody else and their dog seemed to have it;

- further gnashing of teeth at not being able to attend TGNESE, since everybody and their dog seems to have attended it;

- interviews with various steampunks of colour of my acquaintance. If you are / know a steampunk of colour who would like to be interviewed about your radical awesome POCness in steampunk, feel free to get in touch;

- con reports (I appear to be attending SteamCon, and perhaps TeslaCon. If you'd like me to appear at yours, you know the drill);

AND various rants and raves and thinky thoughts I've been having for the last few months with just no motivation / time to write them down. Get prepped; they're angry as all get-out. 

It's good to be back, Internet!