Friday, April 20, 2012

We Interrupt Srs Blog Bzns For Some News!

Not that there has been any serious blog business in a while; I've been learning how to sew, writing essays, finalizing books, and preparing for a move to California. 

1) CALIFORNIA!


That's right, folks, the steampunk postcolonialist will be moving to California. Hopefully not for good, since there are things I'd like to do in Hamilton, and besides which, I'd rather be a permanent resident in Canada than in the States. Anyway, still working on moving details, but in short, I will be starting my PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Riverside, with a four-year fellowship, this fall 2012. I hope have to advance to candidacy by 2014, and my topic of choice will be, what else? Steampunk. This time,  I will push my research from my MA further into studying the mechanisms of neocolonialism in steampunk, in particular the rhetoric of multiculturalism. 

It really all boils down to how to make steampunk not-racist as humanly possible, by addressing racism in steampunk, and how to use steampunk to address racism. Anyway, be assured that I will continue sharing my thoughts and research and academic work with you here on this blog. 

2) STEAMPUNK: REVOLUTION!

Ann Vandermeer asked me to "update" an essay I did for the WisCon Chronicles, so essentially I re-wrote the thing. My non-fiction essay "From Airships of Imagination to Feet on the Ground" will be sharing a table of contents with looming names such as Garth Nix, Nick Mamatas, Vandana Singh, Bruce Sterling and Cat Valente, more familiar names such as Jeff Vandermeer, N.K. Jemisin and Cherie Priest, as well as dear, dear friends of mine, Amal El-Mohtar, Paolo Chikiamco, J.Y. Yang, Annabeth Leow, and Margaret Killjoy.

Here, have a Table of Contents. Steampunk: Revolution comes out in October 2012, so keep an eye out for it!

3) THE OMNIBUS OF DOCTOR BILL SHAKES HAS A LAUNCH!

Yes! The Omnibus of Doctor Bill Shakes and the Magnificent Ionic Pentatetrameter: A Steampunk's Shakespeare Anthology will officially launch on May 13, and we (meaning I and Matt Delman of Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders) will have an official book launch at International Steampunk City, also known as Watch City Festival, in Waltham, Massachusetts, the weekend of May 11 - 13!

Back Pages Books is generously hosting our book launch! Right after Magpie Killjoy's reading of What Lies Beneath the Clock Tower. In a simpler format, the details are:

Date: Sunday, May 13
Time: 1pm
Venue: Back Pages Books, 289 Moody Street, Waltham, MA

Come and get your copy and celebrate with us the launch of this Shakespearean steampunk anthology! I will post its cover when it's ready, so come back to check this space, but I am SO FUCKING PLEASED WITH IT I MIGHT BURST.

4) CONVENTION TOUR!

I will be traveling like an itinerant again this May! Even moreso than usual, really. This is my itinerary, which you may have seen in the Blogmistress page but is now confirmed:

April 28 - 28: Fantastic Narratives Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I will be presenting a paper tentatively titled: "Pangolin Bear?" "Just... Bear": Hybridity in the Construction of Avatar The Last Airbender and Hyphenate Identity.  This isn't what it says on the program, of course. I will be speaking on Session VII: Nature and Cultural Identity, 2.30pm - 4.15pm.

May 4 - 6: Aetherfest, San Antonio, Texas
Yeap. Gonna do Steam Around the World, and sit on a panel about mental illness with the delightful O.M.Grey (hopefully!), share some icewine with Unwoman, room with Steam-Powered editor JoSelle Vanderhooft, refrain from molesting DJ Fact 50, and if things go well, meet Jess Nevins

After this, I plan on hitching a ride up to Waltham with Margaret Killjoy. Maybe Pablo Vasquez and Cameron "Sixpence" Hare will join us, and it will be a van full of steampunk radicals! Perhaps I shall finally stay in those roadside motels I keep seeing on TV and movies! We will be traveling to:

May 11 - 13: International Steampunk City, Waltham 
Ay-Leen the Peacemaker and I will be joining forces once more to deliver Steam Around the World! I will nap in Jake von Slatt's bus! We will launch The Omnibus of Doctor Bill Shakes and the Magnificent Ionic Pentatetrameter!

After a break in between wherein my friend Wilma will drive me, Ay-Leen, Pablo and Cameron into New York City, it's off to:

May 18 - 20: Steampunk World's Fair, Piscataway, New Jersey
I will be part of the Steamposium track, and will be delivering Steam Around the World at 10am, Saturday, and hosting Social Issues in Steampunk at 9pm, Saturday. This is especially exciting, because Social Issues will immediately follow Miriam "Steampunk Emma Goldman" Rocek's discussion on Steampunk Political Discussion!

Wilma and I leave on the 21st for a leisurely drive to Wisconsin, where we plan to check out Dr. Evermor's Forevertron! And we finish our tour with:

May 25 - 28: WisCon, Madison, Wisconsin
I will be sitting on two panels at WisCon! Asian Ancestresses, 2.30pm Saturday, at Assembly, and then I hustle to The Many Meta-Elements of Avatar: The Last Airbender, 4pm, Capitol A. Come see! I'm taking it easy because I want to go do some shopping and sit in the hot tub and whatnot. There will also be a movie night in my room at some point, too. We check in on Thursday and leave Tuesday (YAAAAAAYYYY!).


OK this is enough news for the time being. Anymore and I might explode. Anyways, I HOPE TO SEE YOU AT SOME POINT IN THESE TRAVELS! I look forward to hanging out in the deserts or beaches of California with some excellent West Coast steampunks for the next four years! I hope you will buy many of these books that feature me in them!

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on starting your PhD! Your research sounds so interesting. I hope the dissertation leads to a published book so I can nerd out with it.

    Steampunk: Revolution and the Omnibus cannot get here soon enough.

    And your travel schedule! I'm exhausted just thinking about it. :)

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  2. Congratulations! That has got to be the coolest (and most unique?) PhD's out there. Knowing you will do well, and looking forward to your success.

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