My publications:
January: Review of Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman series in Cascadia Subduction Zone
February: The Very Best of Kate Elliott (Tachyon Publications)
Started Remembering Japan memoir
Smart Bitches tribute post
Eggs, Bees, & Toilets
March: Writing Women Characters
August: Court of Fives
Blog tour
November: Black Wolves
December: Night Flower
The Beatriceid
Coming in 2016:
Poisoned Blade (Court of Fives 2) (August 2016)
Anything else is unconfirmed as of this time.
From October 1945 to June 1946 my father, a Navy signalman, was stationed in Japan at Toriga-saki by the town of Kamoi, at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. He was then nineteen years old, a young Danish-American man from rural Oregon. The experience made a profound impression on him and he spoke of it often.
In Chapter Four, he answers the question “what did we do?” (in our spare time).
Chapter Two: Harbor Entrance Control Post Toriga Saki, Tokyo Bay
I picked up the anthology The Steampowered Globe, editors Rosemary Lim and Maisarah Bte Abu Samah (ASiFF, Singapore, 2012) because . . . . I don’t remember why. I read about it or saw a mention of it pass through Twitter or Tumblr, and bought and downloaded a copy on Kindle.
Then it sat on my iPad for months, unread, until I went to London Worldcon (Loncon) and had the pleasure of being on a panel with J Y Yang. She was smart and funny, and when I remembered she had a story in The Steampowered Globe, I started reading.
I’m just sorry I waited so long. Except for Yang, the authors and editors weren’t known to me so I came into the experience with, I hope, few preconceptions. This kind of anthology represents what digital publishing offers: opportunity and accessibility. Twenty years ago such a collection of seven stories by Asian writers might certainly have been published but my ability to discover it would have been limited. If the ebook revolution has done anything it has broadened the range of what can be affordably published and how much more feasible it is to get hold of things from all over the world. This is not to say there isn’t a long way to go in in the quest for diverse books, just that I’m delighted that anthologies like this exist and can be downloaded with one click.
I read the anthology back in September and this many months later I still remember what all the stories are about as well as their stimulating visions of colonialism, science, authority, work, and relationships.
I loved the rich language in Leow Hui Min Annabeth’s Ascension, with its clever alternate history of an empress and her natural philosopher.
Claire Cheong thoughtfully explores humanity, freedom, and loyalty in No, They Dream of Mechanical Hearts.
In Viki Chua Morrow’s Knight, science and superstition clash. I particularly enjoyed the way Chua lovingly describes machinery.
Yuen Xiang Hao’s Colours made me cry, and I didn’t expect that. Poignant.
The workers do not like their Union Jacker superintendent in Mint Kang’s delightful How the Morning Glory Grows. So much sardonic banter.
I can’t tell you anything about Ng Kum Hoon’s Help! Same Angler Fish’s Been Gawking for Eight Minutes! without ruining the experience of reading it for yourself. It’s so rare for this kind of story to work for me, but this did.
I asked J Y Yang if she was writing a novel in the splendid world that is the setting of Captain Bells and the Sovereign State of Discordia. I really wanted more. I still want more.
I think what I loved most about these stories was how — for me — they blended familiar sfnal elements with a non-Western perspective; it made the settings and stories feel fresh and brought interesting nuance to each individual story’s approach.
I have written a long essay on Writing Women Characters, published on Tor.com
“To suggest that “inequality” or “violence” is the only or the most important thing in portraying women’s lives in a reconstructed past is a profoundly incomplete representation of a much richer territory.”
That it is March already does not thrill me, given the volume of work I have to do. At this point I am not trying to get ahead or even get caught up; I’m just trying not to fall any farther behind.
On Fridays I will continue to post chapters of my father’s post-World War II memoir, Remembering Japan: 1945 -1946.
Each Thursday I hope to post a short “enthusiasm” for a novel, short fiction collection, or other media, but that will depend on how each week shakes out.
In February I did some publicity (posts and interviews) for the publication of my short fiction collection, THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT (Tachyon Publications). The collection also got a number of gratifyingly positive reviews. It’s not too late to buy and read it!
I also completed and turned in the copy-edited ms of Black Wolves (Orbit Books). The novel now goes to typesetting and I will next see it in page proofs. Publication date remains 3 November 2015.
I continue to work on a draft of the sequel to my YA debut Court of Fives (Little,Brown Young Readers). Having sorted out a plot tangle (with the patient aid of one of my editors) I have what looks to me like a clear shot to the end.
An essay on Writing Women Characters will go up some time this month on Tor.com. It’s long and meant not as an “opinion piece” but as more of a workshop style essay.
I am still working on The Beatriceid, which is now my most overdue item.
The three projects mentioned above are my focus for March. I have other posts, essays, interviews, short stories, and novels awaiting my attention but for the moment they have to stand in line. I’m not complaining; far from it.
I am at that stage of my workload where I am having to say No to things I would like to say Yes to because I have too many outstanding projects and commitments (often small ones, but the small ones pile up into monstrously intimidating mountains). I like saying Yes to things but when I have too much unfinished work, especially of multiple diverse types, I often end up becoming exhausted by the mere thought of the overload and don’t get anything done at all.
So: March is for finding the space to breathe.
From October 1945 to June 1946 my father, a Navy signalman, was stationed in Japan at Toriga-saki by the town of Kamoi, at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. He was then nineteen years old, a young Danish-American man from rural Oregon. The experience made a profound impression on him and he spoke of it often.
In Chapter Three, he describes the village of Kamoi next to the Harbor Entrance Control Post.
Chapter Two: Harbor Entrance Control Post Toriga Saki, Tokyo Bay
Chapter One: The Sea Devil to Japan.
Introduction can be read here.
From October 1945 to June 1946 my father, a Navy signalman, was stationed in Japan at Toriga-saki by the town of Kamoi, at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. He was then nineteen years old, a young Danish-American man from rural Oregon. The experience made a profound impression on him and he spoke of it often.
In Chapter Two: Harbor Entrance Control Post Toriga Saki, Tokyo Bay, he arrives at and describes the signal station where he spent nine months. It includes Dad’s famous story about how he and the signal crew there proved they were the best signalmen in the Navy.
Chapter Two: Harbor Entrance Control Post Toriga Saki, Tokyo Bay
Chapter One: The Sea Devil to Japan.
Introduction can be read here.
“But some days when I get this weather inside me it seems no matter how I want to be good, sooner or later I’m going to let off on somebody.”
Shadowboxer is the story of Jade Barrera, a seventeen year old mixed martial artist with anger issues who wants to fight professionally. Her story intersects that of a Burmese girl, Mya, in Thailand who has the ability to walk from our world into a deeper world that lies alongside and intertwined with ours. I’m not going to try to encapsulate the plot (although it includes drug smuggling and child slavery as well as the world of Mixed Martial Arts) but rather discuss some elements that really stood out for me.
This is a novel that excels at voice. Sullivan’s writing shines. She deftly switches from Jade’s first person narrative to Mya’s third person narrative in a way that feels completely natural within the text. What I found most impressive is how each voice is entirely distinct; leaving aside the first/third person differentiation, there is no way a reader can mistake Mya’s sensitive and observant point of view for Jade’s fierce personality because the language and the kinds of things each character notices, describes, and remarks on fit each girl’s psychology.
Jade fights her own demons and her tough, uncompromising voice and her mistakes and imperfections and her constant pushing of herself to figure things out and do better just make me love her as a protagonist. Her interactions with other characters are consistently fitting to her blunt and yet genuine manner. Mya’s situation is stark and frightening but her compassion and courage, and her intelligence and ability, keep her moving and striving. The language flows through the narrative in a way that reveals how each point of view character acts and reacts within the world.
The secondary characters also stand out. It’s not a particularly long novel and yet the other characters remain vividly drawn and easy to tell apart. The dialogue is just so good. It has the the rhythm of real exchanges and there is always just the right amount of it to tell the reader what she needs to know. I can read and re-read certain of the dialogue scenes because they’re so well done, so dexterous, so agile as they unfold impressive amounts of information and emotion.
How much do I love how Sullivan depicts serious training and the drive to compete? How much do I love the intense, sweaty, physical fight scenes? There are no training montages here, no smooth moves or easy grasp of competence. Jade trains hard in a way I found tremendously believable. Furthermore Sullivan really knows how to fight and therefore her fight scenes read like they’re actual Mixed Martial Arts bouts taking place rather than as if they are literary fight scenes written with Hollywood-style choreography. I’ve rarely read a book in which the fighting felt as real.
In four fascinating essays Sullivan writes about how martial arts are depicted on screen and in novels, and how she wrote the fight scenes in Shadowboxer. You can find all four linked here, and I highly recommend them.
I did a Reddit AMA yesterday (you can find the entire text here & there were great questions).
I enjoyed all the questions but I wanted to highlight this exchange.
A reader asked if I was going to be at Worldcon/Sasquan this year and, when I said I was, wrote:
i’m so unbelievably stoked for sasquan. my first con, and a ton of authors who i really respect are going to be there. i’m not sure i’m going to be able to keep my cool.
To which I replied:
Once a newer writer sitting next to me at an autographing said she thought I was being really gracious and patient with the people coming up with books for autographs.
I said, “Are you kidding? I feel like grabbing each one and shrieking, ‘omg thank you for reading my books!!!’ But I keep my cool and don’t.”
There’s a giveaway at Reddit until Wednesday (tonight) evening for THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT.
In other news, the CEs (copy edited manuscript) for BLACK WOLVES dropped into my inbox yesterday a month before I expected it. Well. That’s my next week sorted when i was already working gangbusters on the first draft of the second YA novel. Now I feel guilty for complaining although at the time I did get a massive 6 hour stress headache (I’m feeling better now as I went paddling).
Here’s a cool post over at A Dribble of Ink that shows the evolution of Julie Dillon’s art from black and white sketch to color illustration to the cover of THE VERY BEST OF KATE ELLIOTT. I find this kind of process amazingly cool.
I believe an interview with me by Paul Weimer should be up at SF Signal (probably it will post while I’m asleep), so I’ll just link to SFSignal for now.
First: thanks for asking. Seriously. Click through to read my answer.
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