We Interrupt Very Srs Blog Bzns to Bring you Squeez! Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories

I'm very pleased to announce that I'll be sharing a table of contents with some very excellent writers for Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories!

Introduction: Kevin Steil (of Airship Ambassador)

"Journey's End," by Elizabeth Porter Birdsall

"Amphitrite," by S.L. Knapp

"In the Heart of Yellow Mountain," by Jaymee Goh

"Playing Chess in New Persepolis," by Sean Holland

"A Thousand Mill Lofts Gray," by Jeannelle Ferreira 

"Dark Horse," by A.M. Tuomala

"The Return of Cherie," by Nisi Shawl

"One Last Interruption before We Begin," by Stephanie Lai

"Selin That Has Grown in the Desert," by Alex Dally MacFarlane

"Granada's Library," by Rebecca Fraimow

"The Canary of Candletown," by C.S.E. Cooney

"Fruit Jar Drinkin', Cheatin' Heart Blues," by Patty Templeton

"Deal," by Nicole Kornher-Stace

"Not the Moon but the Stars," by Shveta Thakrar

"The Terracotta Bride," by Zen Cho

Article/Afterword: "Winding Down the House: Taking the Steam out of Steampunk," by Amal El-Mohtar

Some other words:

I'm really excited to have Kevin introduce this anthology, since it makes more sense to have a queer person introduce a queer steampunk anthology. 

Nisi Shawl's story is set in the same universe as the one she's developing for her upcoming Belgian Congo steampunk novel.

And I'm just fucking psyched to see three Malaysians (myself, Stephanie and Zen) in a single anthology, which is even more hilarious because we don't all live in Malaysia. 

If you'd like to review Steam-Powered 2, fire me an email and I'll forward you to our wonderful editor, JoSelle Vanderhooft, for an eARC!

Con Report: Growing Pains in Whitelandia - PDXGearCon July 22-24

Because let's face it, Portland is pretty white. A couple of people asked me for numbers for how many visible people of colour I saw all weekend, and I counted the following:

4 black men - Tony Hicks of Tinplate Studios; a dapper gentleman I didn't get the name of; a goth at the Saturday concert; and a man who came by with his wife and her two sisters.

5 Asians - Said wife and two sisters (I'm guessing East Asian; the two sisters were in lolita gear); my cousin Andrea (yep, that fab Azn rocking the boat - on her head - is related to me); and Brad working for LastWear.

ETA: I should also add Peter Zarate of Vernian Process on this list. Very remiss of me to have forgotten! I have no idea what he identifies though. 

There was also another man who mentioned in passing that he didn't identify as white but I didn't get the details. I never do unless they're volunteered. It's not good of me, because it does mean I overlook a lot of invisible racial minorities, but I hate poking into people's ish without permission.

The lack of POC, though, is not my problem, it's Portland's. (Although I AM curious as to the final count of people who registered to attend.) PDXGearCon, however, had other problems besides the need to colour up. 

And holy crap did it have problems. The website was down for a really long time earlier, and I almost thought that the con wasn't going to happen because there was so much radio silence on what, exactly, was going to happen.

Con chair Stephen was really accommodating to me for all my ideas, but programs are nice. Very nice. Mostly because I wanted to know what my schedule was so I could be sure to make the most of my con experience, seeing as I'm so rarely out to the West Coast. The day after I arrived in Portland, which would be the Wednesday right before the convention, I received an email asking if I still wanted any workshops in! What! I can't even respond to that. 

And I didn't know if I had a projector! And I didn't know who to talk to, besides the con chair, and you know, I hate that. The con chair shouldn't be taking so much onto hirself, no matter what. But it worried me enough that my first words to Stephen, ever, offline, were, "So do I have a projector?"

Not only that, but programs for Friday and Saturday weren't even available until the day of itself. Sunday's program was at least available the night before. At least. Still, this is something that should have been set in place weeks before.

Now onto the good stuff, with pictures even.

Thanks, PDX!

There will be a con report forthcoming, but just to say, GearCon was quite fantastic, the chillest con I've been to thus far, even with the horrible hiccups at the beginning. Thanks to the folks who came to the wine and cheese Kevin Steil and I hosted, thanks to Kevin for letting me stay with him, thanks to Stephen for inviting me (and for not looking too annoyed when the first words out of my mouth upon seeing him for the first time were "so do I get a projector?") and thanks generally to Portland for being nifty despite being Whitelandia. I wasn't supposed to do any shopping but I totally did. Also, PDX, you have some very nice food! Thanks to my cousin Andrea for taking me around and thanks everybody else for making her first nerdy-ass con experience an excellent one!