After publishing only a single piece of short fiction in 2014, I have my first piece out already in 2015: A review of Rosemary Kirstein’s The Steerswoman series in the January 2015 issue of Cascadia Subduction Zone.

I do not write reviews. This incident, therefore, was a bit of a fortuitous happening. Nisi Shawl DMd me on Twitter on a Thursday to ask if I could possibly write a review of a “classic” work of SFF by Monday for CSZ’s “Grandmother Magma” series on classic works of SFF by women writers (they had an emergency gap).

As it happens, I had re-read Kirstein’s 4 books (so far) series while traveling last summer so the narrative was fresh in my mind and I had been thinking a lot about what makes her world and characters and plot so appealing.

The review “wrote itself,” as they say.

The January issue opens with an important essay by Shawl on the obstacles inherent in being a PoC trying to break into the sff writing world, and some solutions:

Honesty on the part of working POC speculative fiction authors will give aspiring colleagues a realistic idea of what to expect of their careers.

CSZ’s January issue also includes poems by Rose Lemberg, Mary Alexandra Agner, and Sonya Taaffe, five reviews of current books, and featured artist Tahlia Day.