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WIP: No Clue What the Title Is Yet

Photograph of a diagram showing the different kinds of starting points for a story.
A story in very rough form.
Working on a far future space story that is getting very complicated with its gender stuff. This is one of the things that annoys me sometimes about future space stuff — that it superimposes early 21st century (sometimes earlier) gender patterns in a way that I know is hard to avoid but which infuriates me when it’s unquestioned. I just reread The Pride of Chanur (OMG how is that out of print in hardcopy??) yesterday and love the way Cherryh handles the question.

Hence this story of two cultures clashing, and both the gender norms and the norms around the sex act are getting tangled up in interesting ways.

Anyhow, this is currently the story’s beginning (and is a good candidate to remain the beginning):

“It can’t be avoided, Tom,” Gayathri said to her spouse. “I know it’s Age-Come for Suzette and Bit, but they must deal with an outsider visiting. To keep Grace, they must be taken in by one of the Lines, and everyone else is dealing with emergencies right now. i can’t create a diplomatic incident over the feelings of two family members. They must learn to adapt.”

“It’s not the quarters that’s a problem,” they grumbled. “Since Bethany and Besa moved over to their new Line, we’ve had extra. But Gaya, this means adjusting all my meal planning.”

“A few more servings here and there”¦”

“Individualized cakes with names on them for the party, for one,” they said. “And the centerpiece was a fondant scene of the family. Now how will I incorporate them?”

“I’ll send you a couple of images from her press kit. Dress her in scarlet, that’s the Corps color for women.”

They frowned at her. “They dress in different colors? What do they do about in-betweeners or asexuals?”

“The Corps doesn’t allow them.”

They rolled their eyes. “One of those.” They eyed her. Her own insistence on keeping the same gender without ever attempting other forms or sexualities was a sore point in the relationship. While not unknown, it was eccentric enough that Tom found it embarrassing.

“A wealthy one of those, with money to invest on the behalf of her coalition. You will be nice.”

In the end the tiny fondant image of the Gräfin was easy enough. A little twiddling let Tom print a sugar face, which they affixed with a dab of icing. They’d been working on faces for the family members for a month: seven generations would be represented, which they privately thought a poor showing, but Gaya’s family was so much newer than the one they’d married out of. And cooking for that family on such an occasion had been making food for several hundred. Tom might have had more help in their family of origin, but there would have been considerably more work.

Still, the loss of Bethany, the most interested in kitchen work, had grated on them. Bethany had known how to help, how to clean up after Tom as they moved through the kitchen as well as how to supply whatever it was that was needed, prepping the mutual mise en place to perfection. And the pair known each other’s depth of perception, could tease each other with tastes, ask advice on building a sauce that reached past acid and sweet to take on other notes and textures.

They tapped air bubbles out and tamped the face down with a toothpick, then set it in the diorama to one side, clearly an onlooker. They relented and moved it a few inches further in. The poor woman couldn’t help it that she came at an odd time.

The diorama sprawled, a meter in diameter, on the kitchen’s center counter. They circled it, looking it over in the lime-tinted sunlight cast through the rear windows that overlooked slopes of garden leading down to the lake, an expanse that would have swallowed the massive house entire without a thought, its surface glutted with water-lilies.

In a week the swollen cream-colored heads would burst into blossoms, soft explosions that would happen as dusk settled, while the nightbirds sang, and the children would have an Age-Come that let them step into new roles and responsibilities if they chose. Sometimes children decided they did not want it yet and retreated. Tom didn’t think Bi would. They had borne the baby, carried it within their body till birthing time, and that gave the two of them a special knowledge of each other. Suzette had come into the family as a baby when one of their parents had married in, and the affection Tom held for them was the same as that towards most of the two dozen children: pride and affection, but perhaps not to the same fierce degree they experienced when teaching Bit “” not cooking skills, to their chagrin, since the child expressed no interest, but other basics, like how to tie a knot or do daily chores.

Tom had been expecting them for a while, but they came late to breakfast and inspected the diorama dutifully, without focus or remark, before sitting down.

Turning from the heat counter, Tom slid a plate of pancakes in front of the child, who inspected it with the same lack of interest the diorama had evoked.

Jitters. “Having second thoughts? Should I move your figure to the sidelines? You wouldn’t be the first.”

A headshake in reply. You try not to press them, let them grow at their own pace, but they do it to themselves. “It’s only one change, one of plenty in your life. Take it at your own pace, however you like.”

Enjoy this sample of Cat’s writing and want more of it on a weekly basis, along with insights into process, recipes, photos of Taco Cat, chances to ask Cat (or Taco) questions, discounts on and news of new classes, and more? Support her on Patreon..

6 Responses

  1. Cat, this seems more like Lois McMaster Bujold than C.J. Cherryh (faves of mine either way). But I’m about to reread PRIDE OF CHANUR myself, more for how she keeps that intense narrative drive going than for gender issues. But I’ll have to read for both now.

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WIP Snippet: Five Ways To Fall In Love on Planet Porcelain

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(From a story I’m working on.)

Over the years, Tikka’s job as a Minor Propagandist for the planet Porcelain’s Bureau of Tourism had come to shape her way of thinking. She dealt primarily in quintets of attractions, lists of five which were distributed through the Bureau’s publications and information dollops: Five Major China Factories Where the Population of Porcelain Can Be Seen Being Created; Five Views of Porcelain’s Clay Fields; Five Restaurants Serving Native Cuisine at Its Most Natural.

Today she was composing Five Signs of Spring in Eletak, her native city. Here along the waterfront, she added chimmerees to her list as she watched the native creatives, cross between fish and flower, surface, each chimerene spreading its white petals as it surfaced, white clusters holding golden centers, tendrils of golden thread sending their scent into the air along with the most delicate whisper of sound, barely audible over the lapping of the sound’s water.

The urge to pose beat along every energy vein of her silica body, but she resisted it. She would remain alone this spring, as she had every spring since she had made her vow and inscribed it in the notebook where she kept her personal lists, under “Life Resolutions,” #4 under “Keep myself clean in thought and mind,” “Devote myself to promoting Porcelain’s tourism,” and “Fall in love.” The third item had been crossed off at the same time, in vehement black pen strokes.

Enjoy this sample of Cat’s writing and want more of it on a weekly basis, along with insights into process, recipes, photos of Taco Cat, chances to ask Cat (or Taco) questions, discounts on and news of new classes, and more? Support her on Patreon.

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Round-up of Awards Posts by F&SF Writers, Editors, and Publishers for 2020

It’s that time again! Once again I have created this post for consolidating fantasy and science fiction award eligibility round-ups. If you are an F&SF writer, editor, podcast, or publisher working in comics, fiction or games, I hope you’ll let people know what you have that they should be reading. People on my Discord server have already been gently prodded about this.

Past things I have written about why writers should do this include On Awards: To Be Pushy Or Not To Be Pushy (2014), The Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated Awards Process (2015), and To Eligibility Post or Not to Eligibility Post? (2016).

Here are the previous such posts from 2017, 2018, 2019

Here are the guidelines that save us both work. It’s best if you e-mail me to add your name and link. I need to know your name, what categories you fit in, and the single URL that lets people find the works. Fair warning: If I have to click through multiple links in order to figure out your name and which category you should be put in, it will slow me down and make me cranky.

I strongly suggest that you do this in a blog post rather than on social media, for multiple reasons, including: it’s hard for people to find stuff on social media sometimes; not everyone has a social media account; it affects search engine optimization; and the fact that it’ll be easier for you to find it yourself later on. I can and do point at Twitter or FB posts if that’s all that people have, but I think they are shortchanging themselves when they do it.

If you tweet yours and tag me, there’s a good chance I’ll miss it somehow. Feel free to remind me in e-mail so I don’t miss it a second time.

A.C. Wise maintains a similar list here.

Here are the SFWA recommended reading lists. These lists are the suggestions made by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and represent pieces they found particularly read-worthy over the course of the year. Appearance on the list is NOT the same thing as a Nebula nomination.

Novel
Novella
Novelette
Short Story
Games
Bradbury Award
Norton (Young adult/middle grade novels)

Here is the Coyotl Award Recommended List.
Here is the Hugo Award Nominees Wiki
Astounding Award Eligibility

Writers:

  1. Eisuke Aikawa
  2. Phoenix Alexander
  3. B. Morris Allen
  4. Mike Allen
  5. G.V. Anderson
  6. Jason R. Baltazar
  7. Patrick Barb
  8. Devin Barlow
  9. Yaroslav Barsukov
  10. Phoebe Barton
  11. Alan Baxter
  12. Helena Bell
  13. Renan Bernardo
  14. Gautam Bhatia
  15. Derrick Boden
  16. Maurice Broaddus
  17. Laurence Brothers
  18. K.T. Bryski
  19. Andi Buchanan
  20. Cora Buhlert
  21. Stephanie Burgis
  22. Lisbeth Campbell
  23. Rebecca Campbell
  24. H.E. Casson
  25. Minerva Cerridwen
  26. L. Chan
  27. Jordan Chase-Young
  28. Mike Chen
  29. Joyce Chng
  30. Zen Cho
  31. May Chong
  32. Kay Chronister
  33. Nino Cipri
  34. Chandra Clarke
  35. ZZ Claybourne
  36. Katherine Crighton
  37. Brandon Crilly
  38. Marc Criley
  39. Carrie Cuinn
  40. Ray Daley
  41. J.R. Dawson
  42. Aliette de Bodard
  43. Ashley Deng
  44. Tracy Deonn (eligible for Astounding)
  45. Anya Johnson DeNiro
  46. S.B. Divya
  47. Maria Dong
  48. Jennifer Donohue
  49. Vraiux Dorós (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  50. Aidan Doyle
  51. Katharine Duckett
  52. Jonathan Louis Duckworth
  53. Andy Dudak
  54. R.K. Duncan
  55. Anthony Eichenlaub
  56. Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
  57. Louis Evans
  58. Corey Farrenkopf
  59. Illimani Ferreria
  60. C.C. Finlay
  61. A.J. Fitzwater
  62. Vanessa Fogg
  63. Susan Forest
  64. Theresa Frohock
  65. Sarah Gailey
  66. Ephiny Gale
  67. R.S.A. Garcia
  68. Emma J. Gibbon
  69. Craig Laurence Gidney
  70. Chadwick Ginther
  71. Lora Gray
  72. J.T. Greathouse
  73. A.T. Greenblatt
  74. R.W.W. Greene
  75. Mika Grimmer (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  76. Eileen Gunnell Lee
  77. Thomas Ha
  78. Elad Haber
  79. Essa Hansen (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  80. Leigh Harlen
  81. Maria Haskins
  82. Kate Heartfield
  83. Joachim Heijndermans
  84. Sylvia Heike
  85. Rhiannon Held
  86. Carlos Hernandez
  87. Alicia Hilton
  88. Stark Holborn
  89. Jessica Jo Horowitz
  90. A.P. Howell
  91. Jennifer Hudak
  92. Andrew D. Hudson
  93. Zina Hutton
  94. Oshahon Ize-Iyamu
  95. Sid Jain (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  96. Jessica Jo
  97. Rachael K. Jones
  98. Anya Josephs
  99. Keishi Kajifune (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  100. Umiyuri Katsuyama
  101. Gwen C. Katz
  102. Ava Kelly
  103. Michael Kelly
  104. L.P. Kindred
  105. Scott King
  106. Benjamin C. Kinney
  107. Gwendolyn Kiste
  108. Zelda Knight
  109. C.H. Knight
  110. Shawn Kobb
  111. Joanna Koch
  112. Jordan Kurella
  113. Jamie Lackey
  114. Lavanya Lakshminarayan
  115. N. R. Lambert
  116. C. J. Lavigne
  117. J.H.R. Lawless
  118. Eileen Gunnell Lee
  119. P.H. Lee
  120. R.B. Lemberg
  121. Jessica Lévai
  122. L.D. Lewis
  123. Mina Li
  124. Monte Lin
  125. Marissa Lingen
  126. Darcie Little Badger
  127. Monica Louzon
  128. S. Qiouyi Lu
  129. Catherine Lundoff
  130. M. Evan MacGriogair
  131. Clara Madrigano
  132. Usman T. Malik
  133. Lyndsie Manusos
  134. Marshall Ryan Maresca
  135. Anna Martino
  136. J.A.W. McCarthy
  137. Jo Miles
  138. Lawrence Miller
  139. Samantha Mills
  140. Premee Mohamed
  141. Aidan Moher
  142. Ben Monroe
  143. Elisabeth R. Moore (eligible for Astounding Award)
  144. L.H. Moore
  145. Sunny Moraine
  146. Mike Morgan
  147. Ilana C. Myer
  148. Ray Nayler
  149. Yvette Lisa Ndlovu
  150. Celia Neri
  151. Mari Ness
  152. Wendy Nikel
  153. Leah Ning (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  154. Christie Nogle
  155. Julie Novakova
  156. Claire O’Dell
  157. Sandra Odell
  158. Aimee Ogden
  159. Tobi Ogundiran
  160. Anya Ow
  161. Suzanne Palmer
  162. Rhonda Parrish
  163. Irette Patterson
  164. Shari Paul
  165. Charles Payseur
  166. Robert G. Penner
  167. E.A. Petricone
  168. Aimee Picchi
  169. Sarah Pinsker
  170. Hailey Piper
  171. Vina Jie-Min Prasad
  172. Mary Rajotte
  173. Cat Rambo
  174. Jenny Rae Rappaport
  175. Arula Ratnakar (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  176. Julie Reeser
  177. Jeff Reynolds
  178. Joyce Reynolds-Ward
  179. Endria Issa Richardson (eligible for Astounding Award)
  180. Lauren Ring (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  181. Rebecca Roanhorse
  182. Karlo Yeager Rodríguez
  183. Josh Rountree
  184. Frances Rowat
  185. Jed Sabin
  186. Malena Salazar Macia (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  187. R.P. Sand (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  188. Jason Sanford
  189. Lynne Sargent
  190. Erica Satifka
  191. A.T. Sayre (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  192. Edmund Schluessel
  193. Adam R. Shannon
  194. Jennifer Shelby
  195. Sameem Siddiqui
  196. T.R. Siebert
  197. Elsa Sjunneson
  198. Prashanth Srivatsa (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  199. Carlie St. George
  200. Caitlin Starling
  201. Mats Strandberg
  202. Sonia Sulamain
  203. Bogi Takács
  204. Jordan Taylor
  205. Kristina Ten (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  206. R.J. Theodore
  207. Sheree Renée Thomas
  208. M. Elizabeth Ticknor
  209. Steve Toase
  210. E. Catherine Tobler
  211. Rebecca E. Treasure (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  212. Eugenia Triantafyllou
  213. Sienna Tristen
  214. Marcus Vance
  215. Hilary Morgan Ventura
  216. Elaine Vilar Madruga (eligible for the Astounding Award)
  217. Kelly Washington
  218. Izzy Wasserstein
  219. Paul Weimer
  220. M. Douglas White
  221. Rem Wigmore
  222. Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
  223. Fran Wilde
  224. Brittany N. Williams
  225. A.C. Wise
  226. John Wiswell
  227. Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
  228. Caroline Yoachim
  229. Ramez Yoakeim
  230. Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko (eligible for the Astounding Award)

Editors:

Publishers:

Podcasts
If This Goes On (Don’t Panic) (Alan needs to give me the link to this post, hi Alan 🙂 )

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