Cover of Long Hidden anthology (and ToC) released

Cover by Julie Dillon

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History, edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, and published by Crossed Genres Publications, will be released in May.

I'm thrilled to be included in this table of contents:

“Ogres of East Africa” by Sofia Samatar
Kenya, 1907
illustrated by GMB Chomichuk

“The Oud” by Thoraiya Dyer
The Shouf, Ottoman Empire, 1633
illustrated by Janet Chui

“Free Jim’s Mine” by Tananarive Due
Georgia, U.S.A., 1838
illustrated by Alice Meichi Li

“Ffydd (Faith)” by S. Lynn
Wales, 1919
illustrated by Daria Khvostova

“Across the Seam” by Sunny Moraine
Pennsylvania, U.S.A., 1897
illustrated by Eric Orchard

“Numbers” by Rion Amilcar Scott
Maryland, U.S.A., 1919
illustrated by Alice Meichi Li

“Each Part Without Mercy” by Meg Jayanth
Madras, India, 1746
illustrated by Kaysha Siemens

“The Witch of Tarup” by Claire Humphrey
Tarup, Denmark, 1886
illustrated by Daria Khvostova

“Marigolds” by L.S. Johnson
Paris, France, 1775
illustrated by Daria Khvostova

“Diyu” by Robert William Iveniuk
British Columbia, Canada, 1883
illustrated by GMB Chomichuk

“Collected Likenesses” by Jamey Hatley
New York City, U.S.A., 1913
illustrated by Nilah Magruder

“Angela and the Scar” by Michael Janairo
Ilocos Norte Province, Philippines, 1900
illustrated by Eric Orchard

“The Colts” by Benjamin Parzybok
Hungary, 1514
illustrated by Sasha Gallagher

“Nine” by Kima Jones
Phoenix, U.S.A., 1902
illustrated by GMB Chomichuk

“The Heart and the Feather” by Christina Lynch
Austria, 1589
illustrated by Janet Chui

“A Score of Roses” by Troy L. Wiggins
Memphis, U.S.A., circa 1968
illustrated by Eric Orchard

“Neither Witch Nor Fairy” by Nghi Vo
Belfast, Ireland, 1895
illustrated by Kaysha Siemens

“A Deeper Echo” by David Fuller
Winnipeg, Canada, 1919
illustrated by Aaron Paquette

“Knotting Grass, Holding Ring” by Ken Liu
Yangzhou, China, 1645
illustrated by Jennifer Cruté

“Jooni” by Kemba Banton
Jamaica, 1843
illustrated by Nilah Magruder

“There Will Be One Vacant Chair” by Sarah Pinsker
Ohio, U.S.A, 1862
illustrated by Kaysha Siemens

“It’s War” by Nnedi Okorafor
Aba, Nigeria, 1929
illustrated by Esme Baran

“Find Me Unafraid” by Shanaé Brown
North Carolina, U.S.A, 1905
illustrated by Kasey Gifford

“A Wedding in Hungry Days” by Nicolette Barischoff
Shandong Province, China, 1900
illustrated by Eric Orchard

“Medu” by Lisa Bolekaja
Kansas, U.S.A., 1877
illustrated by Esme Baran

“Lone Women” by Victor LaValle
Montana, U.S.A, 1914
illustrated by Eric Orchard

“The Dance of the White Demons” by Sabrina Vourvoulias
Guatemala, 1524
illustrated by GMB Chomichuk

Nuestras Voces, Our Voices: Long Hidden

Editor’s note: Elianne Ramos is the scheduled “Nuestras Voces, Our Voices” writer spotlight for March, but as she has been swamped and hasn’t been able to send her guest blog post yet, I wanted to introduce you, in the interim, to an anthology very much in the spirit of “Nuestras Voces, Our Voices.”

"¡Alumbra, lumbre de alumbre, Luzbel de piedralumbre! Como zumbido de oídos persistía el rumor de las campanas ...."

I read this in Guatemala more than three decades ago.

And while some of my memories of the country I called home during my earliest years have faded (or healed or diminished or become distant and pale as old photographs) the opening of Miguel Ángel Asturias’ seminal magical realist novel, El Señor Presidente, never has.

Because books shape us.

I read it as a form of resistance. It was, after all, about Manuel Estrada Cabrera, an early 20th century Guatemalan dictator heading a regime very much like the ones that would follow his. The ones that would put the country through thirty-plus years of armed internal conflict and genocide. The ones I was living under when I read the book.

I read it as an incantation against forgetting. I was young when I read it, but even my juvenile, half-formed conscience knew what this book did: it called out the present by looking at the past. It saw the dispossessed, the marginalized, the invisible. And if it could do that, couldn’t we all?

I read it as magic. Because words are the beginning of magic, and with them, we learn to make and unmake. To spell. To create speculation about what could be, or might be — if only we conjure it true.

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History is an anthology that sets out to conjure  history true. Writer Daniel José Older, editor Rose Fox and publisher Crossed Genres describe the book (slated for release in early 2014) this way:

“Most written chronicles of history, and most speculative stories, put rulers, conquerors, and invaders front and center. People with less power, money, or status—enslaved people, indigenous people, people of color, queer people, laborers, women, people with disabilities, the very young and very old, and religious minorities, among others—are relegated to the margins. Today, mainstream history continues to perpetuate one-sided versions of the past while mistelling or erasing the stories of the rest of the world.

There is a long and honorable legacy of literary resistance to erasure. This anthology partakes of that legacy. It will feature stories from the margins of speculative history, each taking place between 1400 and the early 1900s and putting a speculative twist—an element of science fiction, fantasy, horror, or the unclassifiably strange—on real past events.”

They have enough funds to include approximately 20 stories in the anthology, and have asked a number of very accomplished speculative fiction writers to submit work to be considered for it. But they are also planning to have an open submission period, and would like to be able to gather enough supplemental funding to include 10 additional stories.

If you are a reader of this “Nuestras Voces, Our Voices” series, you already know that there are many fine, undiscovered writers that deserve to be heard. In fact, some of you are those writers. If fully funded, Long Hidden will be a book of stories of resistance, of incantation, of magic. Please help make it a reality by clicking here and pledging your support.

From Genreville: More than Tramp Stamps

Click the link to read what's on Rose Fox's desk at Publishers Weekly currently. My novel, Ink, is one of the books, of course. But ... so is Jocelynn Drake's Angel's Ink (which launches Oct. 16, one day after mine) and Damien Grintalis's Ink (which launches in December). They all sound completely and utterly distinct and different from one another, but it's funny that we all had the same title impulse. I'm blaming it entirely on our (obviously shared) muse who really, REALLY wanted a book with ink on more than just the pages.


Read Fox's posting here: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/genreville/?p=2030