Nor Sanavongsay and Full Metal Hanuman

We hit a major stretch goal in the Strange Horizons Fund Drive and the awesome art of Nor Sanavongsay has been included with my poem Full Metal Hanuman.

If you're interested in seeing more of Nor Sanvaongsay's work, be sure to check out his tumblr at http://nawdsign.tumblr.com.

Be sure to let him know if you need a sketch. He has great rates for commissions. I appreciate him donating his skills to Strange Horizons on short notice. The results are great as one of the first visual depictions outside of the Lao community of the legendary entities known as the Vanon, set in the far flung future.

The Vanon are the Lao analog to belongs to the Hindu Vanara, who were typically simian in appearance. But they're more than just monkeys. Vanon had taken birth in bears and monkeys attaining the shape, valor, and occasionally, the character flaws of the gods and goddesses who created them. They were a forest-dwelling fighting force, who began near holy mountains at the center of the Multiverse. Or bio-weapons. So I think there's a lot to examine in their story.

Hopefully, we won't be the last to write of these fascinating entities. Who they've been, and what they might yet become.

Available for Minnesota lectures and presentations October 15th to December 20th

As an update: I'll be available for a limited number of lectures, workshops or readings in Minnesota from October 13th to December 20th. Discount rates are available for schools and non-profit organizations. This is a very narrow window of time when I will be available in Minnesota in the coming year ahead based on my current schedule, but I would be happy to speak to your students and colleagues on any number of topics of interest to you..

The following credentials may assist you when considering whether to retain my services:

I hold the distinction of being the first Lao American to receive an NEA Fellowship in Literature in 2009 for poetry. In 2012, I was selected as the Lao delegate to serve as a Cultural Olympian during the London Summer Games. My poetry is presently on display at the Smithsonian's national traveling exhibit I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story.

I have been cited for my writing in over nine national and international textbooks including the 2012 edition of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and Wenying Xu’s Historical Dictionary of Asian American Literature and Theater.

Among my 20 literary, academic and professional awards, I hold an Asian Pacific American Leadership Award in 2009 from the State Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, and a 2002 Many Voices Fellowship from the Minnesota Playwrights Center. I am the author of 6 books and my work appears in over 100 international publications around the world including Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Germany, France, Singapore, China (Hong Kong), Korea, Chile, Pakistan, as well as across the United States.

I am the first Lao writer to hold professional membership in the international Horror Writer Association and the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Set Truth on Stun: Reimagining an Anti-Oppressive SF/F

Recently, Daniel José Older asked a group of writers, editors, and publishers to imagine in both practical and fantastical ways what the SF and fantasy community would look like if it was actively anti-oppressive. This conversation took place over email in August 2013, and the results were published in Strange Horizons as "Set Truth on Stun: Reimagining an Anti-Oppressive SF/F."

He opened with the question: "How do you imagine an anti-oppressive SF/F community? You can think small and practical or sweeping and grandiose, you can talk about the community itself or the literature it produces, take the question anywhere you want to go with it."

Léonicka Valcius, Carrie Cuinn, Andrea Hairston, Kay T. Holt, and Justine Larbalestier responded with a lot to consider.

Among my favorite take-aways was Cuinn's response: "I imagine a community that isn't aggressively anti-oppressive—it simply isn't oppressive. I'd love to live in a world where sexism, racism, and other forms of Othering didn't happen, to the point where we're surprised when they do. The reaction to those sorts of negative generalizations should be, "Oh, why would you think that?" not the agreement or even silent acceptance we often see today. I imagine a community that understands there is a wide spectrum of speculative fiction creators and consumers."

Daniel José Older is a Brooklyn-based writer, composer, and paramedic. Salsa Nocturna, Daniel's ghost noir collection, was hailed as "striking and original" by Publishers Weekly. He's co-editing the forthcoming anthology, Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From The Margins Of History. His music, ponderings, and ambulance adventures live at ghoststar.net

Check it out!

[Poem] "No Such Phi" accepted by Lakeside Circus

My poem, "No Such Phi," has been accepted for publication in Lakeside Circus. Stay tuned for more details! UXO, Pokemon, Lao horrors from the other world, and Ceres, California. It's all in there. But you'll have to wait and see how...

Lakeside Circus is a short-form speculative fiction magazine, published quarterly by Dagan Books, LLC. Beginning late in 2013, they will produce the magazine for sale in multiple ebook formats, and then release most of the content online over the course of three months (free to read). Readers can subscribe, purchase the individual ebooks, or wait for the free content to appear on their site. It's a nice model and I wish them much success in the coming years ahead.