Author: Christine Hart

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Derek Newman-Stille Interviews Cait Gordon

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Today we have another inspiring interview from Derek Newman-Stille. They spoke with fellow SF Canada member Cait Gordon to talk about disability activism, what it means to be a Spoonie, and the healing power of humour.

Keep reading to hear about Cait’s community-building journey and the path to publishing powerful stories with disabled protagonists.

 

Interview with Cait Gordon About Advocating for Disabled Writers

By Derek Newman-Stille

 

Derek: It’s great to talk to you again Cait! To start out our interview, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Cait: Thanks for having me! I often start by saying I’m a disabled autistic humorist whose favourite writing vehicle is space opera. I’m also a feisty disability advocate who loves cake,and boosting the written word of Spoonie writers.

Derek: As a fellow disabled person, I know how much advocacy you do and how essential it is that we have disabled advocacy. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved in disabled activism?

Cait: Certainly!

When I wrote my first book, Life in the ’Cosm, I was #DisabledAndAlone. I didn’t have a community of fellow disabled folks, and was scared. Primarily because I was submerged in ableist narratives that taught me disability was bad and I was terrified of ending up in a wheelchair because my mobility was so impaired.

So, I decided to start a “writing exercise” just for myself. I was totally flying by the seat of my pants, and along in chapter three comes this character named Noola. She was an explosion of colour who uses skates as mobility devices. At the time, I couldn’t walk or stand much at all, but Noola became my community. She taught me to be myself and thrive. Then I met other disabled people in Canadian Spec Fiction, and whoa…I wanted to commune with them. I created the Spoonie Authors Network a month after ’Cosm was published. This led to me wanting to dedicate a lot of my energy to boosting other Spoonie creatives.

Derek: Can you tell us a little bit about the term Spoonie and why it felt like the perfect term for you and your identity?

Cait: Sure! Christine Miserandino was trying to explain to her abled friends what it feels like to expend energy as a person who manages chronic fatigue. She used spoons as tasks in a day. So, getting up used one spoon. Getting dressed, a spoon. Washing your hair, another spoon. Many abled people don’t realize how draining routine tasks are to folks like me. So, this way of explaining is called Spoon Theory, and those who manage disabilities and/or chronic conditions use the nickname Spoonie. It’s also common for use to say “I’m out of spoons today.” It means we just have no more energy to give. As an autistic person, I might also say, “I’ve no brain spoons,” meaning, I need to rest because I cannot process anything else for the day.

I just love the term for myself and there are still a lot of people who use it as well!

Derek: You do a lot of amazing Spoonie/Disabled advocacy along with other disabled writers at the Spoonie Authors Network. Can you tell us a bit about how that network began and what you are up to currently with it?

Cait: I went to my first writers conference in Sep 2016, Can*Con, with my BFF Talia C. Johnson. Life in the ’Cosm made its debut at the Renaissance vendor table. I’m still so embarrassed I tried to sell you a copy like I was a used-car salesman from a 70s TV series or something. But hey, we’re here! Anyway, at that time I used a cane to walk. And I noticed canes, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and thought, “Whoa, these are one the disabilities I can perceive. There must be a lot of writers with ‘invisible’ disabilities, too!” And as a newly-published, disabled author, I wanted to build a community. So, in Nov 16, I built the website for the Spoonie Authors Network, thinking myself and maybe one other friend would be contributors. I think we now have over 20. Authors just writing about their experiences as creatives while managing spoons. This year, I have Canadian fantasy author Dianna Gunn running the Spoonie Authors Podcast, so that’s also been exciting. But in 2017, I had a longing to amass stories into an anthology, written solely by disabled authors. I blurted out the idea to Nathan Frechette from Renaissance one day at an event, just thinking out loud, and he said, “Renaissance will publish it!” Um, what? I never did this before and WHAT ARE YOU DOING, NATE?! But he’s an amazing person, and he saw something in me I couldn’t in myself. It was his suggestion to co-edit with Talia, and now you know I’m speaking about Nothing Without Us, a 2020 Prix Aurora Award finalist for Best Related Work. The idea came to me after I went into disabled culture. It’s been a real blessing.

My field of advocacy is about books and stories. I just want to have more own-voices representation out there. We are the heroes, not the sidekicks!

Derek: This is a big question, but when did you first encounter a story that featured a character you can identify with, particularly a disabled character?

Cait: Life in the ’Cosm? I’m not being cheeky, either. My first novel isn’t perfect, but Noola had a neuropathy that varied in severity from day to day. One abled beta reader couldn’t understand how Noola could do one thing one day and be too sore the next. But that was my life back then. The first disabled protagonist I ever read was in Madona Skaff’s Journey of a Thousand Steps” I love that book so much and it was the only one I’d known at the time that starred a disabled character. One of the reasons I wanted to do Nothing Without Us was so I could know more authors and more stories. At panels, I’d say I only knew one book, and that was just wrong.

Derek: That says a lot about the under-representation of disability, doesn’t it? What could you say about the need for more disability representation… and perhaps more importantly GOOD disability representation that isn’t just tropes?

Cait: I mentioned in a group chat once that I really wanted more disabled characters in stories and someone mentioned a list of tropey, problematic characters from the superhero world. I know they weren’t being mean-spirited either. Many abled people don’t understand how badly we’re written. Dianna Gunn asked everyone she interviewed on Season 1 of the Spoonie Authors Podcast about what’s we’d like to see with regards to representation and so many Spoonies said we need MORE characters written by us. And they should be performed by us as well. As an autistic person, I’m weary about this one type of representation: usually a man, usually a savant, and this notion that he cannot experience empathy. *shudder* Heck, I’m so empathetic, I fret over my little tree and sing the Spiderman song to my spider plants to make them grow. There’s not only one way to be disabled or autistic or Deaf or experience mental illness. I sometimes wonder if we don’t see ourselves in books and media because producers and publishers don’t believe our experiences. So, our own-voices are never shared. Again, this was why Nothing Without Us was so important to Talia and me. We only accepted stories where the disabled person was the main character.

We wanted the authors to be disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, Spoonie, and those who managed mental illness.

Derek: Nothing Without Us is such a powerful collection of stories. What is some of the feedback you’ve received from the disabled community?

Cait: The first feedback we got before the anthology was published was, “When are you doing the next one?” And Talia and I were so out of spoons, we were like, “Can we have a sleep for a few months, please?” But there was so much excitement for this anthology and the feedback from the community has been wonderful. I think the fact that the protagonists identified as disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, mentally ill really impacted readers in a positive way. The stories took turns that I know many abled people might not have expected but the disabled folks were like, “YES! WHOOT!” One thing I really want to underscore because I don’t think it’s well known is how funny the disabled/Deaf/neurodiverse culture is. And there’s snark woven into several stories of Nothing Without Us. I loved that because it’s so reflective of the community. When I entered Disabled culture, the first thing I found was I was laughing with abandon. Such clever humour, and often dealing with ableism. Jennifer Lee Rossman has a tweet that went viral. Someone was saying disabled parking should only be for a few hours because why should disabled people need to go out after a certain hour. And Jennifer replied, “We’re disabled, we’re not werewolves.” I laughed so hard at that. So, I guess I also want abled folks to know that we’re funny. It’s okay to laugh with us.

Derek: Do you feel like there is a disabled style of writing and what are some of the things that you see in writing from our disabled community?

Cait: I personally have witnessed a richness in storytelling. Really creative work that even allows for world-building in the limited word count of a short story. And my favourite thing is that the characters just “are.”  And whether the stories are paranormal romance, fantasy, science fiction, and reality fiction, there’s a painting and sculpting of the world their in. Talia and I were drawn right into the 22 stories we chose. The authors were unapologetic in their storytelling as well. No meandering around the disability or mental illness or whatnot. Also, Raymond Luczak even called out gatekeeping in the Deaf community in Mafia Butterfly. That happens, too. So, I loved the honesty of the writers in crafting their stories. And I must say, I loved your snarkier-than-snarky main character in Charity™. Golden way to end the anthology, too.

Derek: You brought up humour and I know that you often identify as a humourist writer too. Can you tell us a little bit about humour and the need for a good laugh while we read cool Speculative Fiction?

Cait: I just can’t imagine life without humour in it. I was going to say we’d be robots, but I also make my bots funny as well. Humour is life for me. It takes us to a place that we often need to go because life can be trying at times. In 2018, I was having some of the worst panic attacks and palpitations of my existence. Scary stuff, Holtor monitors worn, cardiologist seen. Yet, I was also writing The Stealth Lovers then, and these are fan favourites Commanders Xaxall “Xax” Knightly and Vivoxx “Viv” Tirowen. Well, writing Xax is like taking off my filters and putting my foot on the gas. I think he’s a little blurty from being neurodiverse—no idea where I came up with that, cough—and he’s got extra helpings of sass. So, I found myself settling down from a massive anxiety spell by writing the book. Then I was amazed how funny the pages turned out. I didn’t even know how I did that when just before my heart had been racing from panic. But for me, reaching beyond the pain of mental illness and PTSD and into that fun, absurdist place was my personal tonic. If you read The Stealth Lovers, you’d have no idea the author was nearly tormented with anxiety. That’s the magic of finding your sense of humour even in the worst circumstances.

And I think we all could use a good laugh. Let’s face it.

So, why not in spec fiction, too?

I was just discussing this topic on a humour panel at When Words Collide, moderated by Ira Nayman. We authors collectively agreed that humour adds to the worldbuilding.

Derek: Absolutely, it does! Speaking of worldbuilding, can you talk a little about the appeal of Space Opera. What appealed to you about it and what got you writing it?

Cait: As a little kid, I adored Star Trek and Star Wars. I’ve always been fascinated with space travel, and love the notion of people being relatable, even galaxies away. Space opera just feels natural to me. I want all the colours of the rainbow in my characters. I don’t often write human-type characters but aliens with scales, snouts, several arms, and so on. In my latest WIP, Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space, I have more human-like types. But yeah, I just love the fantastical merged with the scientific, and strong character-driven stories. That really appeals to me whether I’m writing or reading it. Also, I think humour and space opera go really well together. But I must say even though I’m a humorist, I’m not one-dimensional. My stories and books often tackle serious themes as well. I sometimes feel I tell a story like an Irish person, I’ll make you cry, then laugh in the next paragraph.

Derek:What are some of the current… and perhaps even NEXT projects you are working on?

Cait: I’ve just sent a disabled sea-folk fantasy short story to a sensitivity editor. I’m hoping to submit that. And I have a sequel to Life in the ’Cosm in the works as well. But I’m really enjoying writing Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space. It’s a space opera adventures series with a disabled crew who live in such an accommodating world, they don’t even understand the word disabled as applied to people. I’m having so much fun and have fallen in love with these characters. My progress is slowed while I’m recovering from a shoulder injury, but the ideas are booming!

Derek: there anything further that you would like to chat about or anything I have missed that you want our readers to know about?

Cait: One thing I’d like to say is that I cringe whenever anyone says “differently abled.” Can we put that expression in the blender? Now, I understand that sometimes abled folks are taught this is correct, but in fact, it can negate our identities. So, it’s fine to say disabled, and if the person identifies using another term, just thank them, use their term, and carry on.

Derek: Yes please!! I can’t stand that term either. It doesn’t come from our community – it comes from abled folks.

Cait: Oh, and Barbies and cosplay are cool. Cosplaying Barbies, even cooler.

Derek: That’s right! I meant to ask you about Barbies and cosplay, especially since I saw your amazing Cosplay Barbies! Can you tell us a little bit about your collection of Barbies to start off?

Cait:I can’t remember if it was my 47th birthday. But I saw a Uhura Barbie. I thought she looked so great, so I bought her. And I had no idea that was the gateway to collecting for me. I often find myself housebound because of my mobility and the suburban location where I live. So collecting Barbies is like seeing people all around me, living their best life. I even have Barbies with physical disabilities. And on one of my Barbies, I put the neurodiversity pride symbol.

Then I started getting into collecting women who were superheroes. That was fun. But I had read the rat queen’s comic and fell in love with Hannah. But where was I going to buy a Hannah Barbie? So, I had a notion to buy a Barbie and cosplay her as Hannah the sweary elf wizard. That was such a blast that I decided to do one for Harley Quinn. I like to cosplay as well, but cosplaying my Barbies was a whole new level of fun.

Derek: Thank you for an absolutely amazing and brilliant interview! I really appreciate your time and work.I am really honoured that we were able to chat today and thank you for all of your insights.

 

Cait Gordon is a humorist and disability advocate who writes speculative fiction that celebrates the reality of diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm and The Stealth Lovers. Her short stories have appeared in Alice Unbound Beyond Wonderland  (Ed. Colleen Anderson, Exile Editions), We Shall Be Monsters (Ed. Derek Newman-Stille, Renaissance), and Space Opera Libretti (Eds. McNett and Rossman). Cait also founded The Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit Nothing Without Us, a collection of 22 stories whose authors and protagonists identify as disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, and/or they manage mental illness. You can connect with Cait at spoonieauthorsnetwork.blog, caitgordon.com, or on Twitter (@CaitGAuthor).

Derek Newman-Stille, MA, PhD ABD (They/Them) is a Disabled, Queer, Nonbinary activist, author, artist, academic, and editor. They edited the anthologies Over the Rainbow: Folk and Fairy Tales from the Margins (Exile) and We Shall Be Monsters (Renaissance Press) and are the 8 time Prix Aurora Award-winning creator of the digital humanities hub Speculating Canada. Derek has published in fora such as Uncanny Magazine, The Playground of Lost Toys, Quill & Quire, Fireside Magazine, Diamond Book Shelf, The Town Crier, Exile Quarterly, and Nothing Without Us. Derek’s art work has been published in fora such as Feminist Space Camp, Lackington’s, Postscripts to Darkness, and Aging Activisms.

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Orthicon by David Perlmutter

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SF Canada member David Perlmutter has just released his debut novel, Orthicon. The story draws on David’s many years of studying animation and cartoons.

This sci-fi/fantasy world is based on the idea of cartoon characters being real living people. Orthicon’s plot follows their exile from Earth into space, carried out by the US government. We see the creation, rise, and fall of the Cartoon Character Colony of Orthicon (CCCO) located on the planet of the same name.

“This is Orthicon,” he said. “A sub-orbital lunar projectile located approximately twenty-five million lightyears from Earth. The U.S. government discovered it during the Apollo missions in the 1970s, but we had to keep it a secret from the rest of the world, lest Russia found out about it, for obvious reasons. We have spent approximately thirty years terraforming…”

This was a new term to me, so I asked what it meant.

“Haven’t you read any science fiction?”

“I have never been much of a reader, sir,” I said.

“Well, all you need to know is that it means to make an alien planet look and feel as much like Earth as possible, and therefore, allow Earth people to settle and colonize the planet’s territory!”

These cartoon characters, creatures of ink and paint, may have been created by human minds, but they are remarkably lucid and intelligent. Are they threats to their human creators? Or simply discarded commodities?

David Perlmutter is a freelance writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. His published works include the non-fiction books America ‘Toons In: A History Of Television Animation (McFarland and Co.) and The Encyclopedia Of American Animated Television Shows (Rowman and Littlefield); as well as a number of speculative fiction collections and novellas, including Orthicon (September 2020). His short stories can be read on Curious Fictions and Medium, and his essays on Vocal.

Connect with David on Twitter or Facebook.

Order your copy of Orthicon via Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and Draft2Digital.

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Daughter of Earth & Fire, The Fledgling by Sandra A Hunter

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SF Canada member Sandra A Hunter recently released Book 1 in her new Dragon Heir series. Daughter of Earth & Fire, The Fledgling is an urban fantasy novel.

Daughter of Earth & Fire follows protagonist Jayda along with a group of human/dragon shifters who work as flight instructors. They are swept up in a hidden climate war with the future of our planet at stake.

A genetic marker, carried in Jayda’s bloodline for two millennia, catches the attention of the ruling Black Dragons, who in their human guise, operate a flight school at North Fraser Airport. The Dragons learn, however, that Jayda is beloved of the Earth Mother Elemental, and She too has plans for the young woman…

 

Suddenly thrust into the Dragons’ world, Jayda learns that a realm of magic underlies everything she’d previously taken for reality—especially the ancient and ongoing war against the Naga Serpents, a war that must be conducted without humankind’s awareness…

“This book is a great beginning to a new series. The characters and storyline are well developed and easily draw the reader into the story’s world. A fun read that will leave you wanting more of the characters and the stories that are waiting to be told.” – Amazon reviewer

Sandra A Hunter has always lived at the edges of ocean and forest in the Pacific Northwest, so it came naturally to have a sentient forest as a major character in her Elanraigh series (YA/Adult High Fantasy) beginning with The Guardian Forest (published 2019) and its sequel A Scourge of Shadows (coming 2020).

She won the Dante Rossetti Award in 2014 for Elanraigh: The Vow. Sandra’s short story “And the Coyotes Sang” won Spinetingler’s Dark Fiction Writing Competition. Sandra has been published by Caliburn Press, On Spec, Gaslight, Lynx, and Women & Recovery.

Learn more about Sandra and explore her other titles at sandraahunter.com.

Order your copy of Daughter of Earth & Fire, The Fledgling via Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.

 

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Crystal Cloud by Claudiu Murgan

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SF Canada member Claudiu Murgan is launching the sequel to his novel Water Entanglement, a spiritually-inspired futuristic tale revolving around the nature of water.

Crystal Cloud is an eco-fiction story that continues the exploration of water’s ability to heal us when treated with reverence – or hurt us when treated with ignorance.

Water was always on our side—we were the ones who strayed! After the initial shock of the world’s water awakening, humanity comes together to put measures in place to ease adverse climate changes. Cherry Mortinger, the limnologist behind Hayyin’s enigmatic identity, works on creating a universal language for water…

Learn more about Crystal Cloud at an online launch tonight at 7pm EST via live stream on YouTube and Facebook.

“A unique writer voice, a refreshing storyline, and a future that we may all see before too long! Tension, pace, and real-life issues make this a novel to read. Wow, what a story!” – Jonas Saul, author of the Sarah Roberts Series

Claudiu Murgan was born in Romania and has called Canada home since 1997. He is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and during his university years he was involved in the Romanian fandom, writing and organizing local events. He also participated at Science-Fiction conventions in both Europe and North America, meeting contemporary writers with the utmost impact on this genre.

He received several awards for his short stories and novellas that were published in SF Journal and Science & Technology Magazine. Claudiu was a member of the Friends of the Merril Collection in Toronto, organizing the first Science-Fiction art show in the association’s history.

Learn more about Claudiu and explore his other titles at claudiumurgan.com.

Order your copy of Crystal Cloud at Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and iBooks.

 

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Derek Newman-Stille Interviews Nathan Caro Fréchette

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Derek Newman-Stille

Writing and publishing during a pandemic has been challenging to say the least. Small presses are closing. Conferences are going online. And yet, opportunities still exist.

So, we’re excited to both introduce SF Canada’s newest member, Derek Newman-Stille, and to share their latest interview. In the Q&A below, Derek talks with Renaissance publisher Nathan Caro Fréchette to explore the origin and development of a small press.

Keep reading for a fascinating and very personal perspective on creating and promoting work by and for marginalized authors. Including Nothing Without Us, an anthology co-edited by Talia C. Johnson and SF Canada member Cait Gordon.

You may recognize Derek as the author of the Aurora-winning blog Speculating Canada, as well as numerous short stories and anthologies. Both Derek and Nathan’s bios are included at the bottom of the interview.

 

Interview with Nathan Caro Fréchette About Small Presses and Canadian SF Publishing

By Derek Newman-Stille

 

Nathan Caro Fréchette

Derek: Welcome to another interview Nathan. I am looking forward to catching up and seeing how you are coping with the COVID world. To start our interview, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Nathan: Sure! I’m a queer, transgender dad, and I’m also an artist, a writer, a publisher and one of the people in charge at Renaissance Press.

Derek: I’m glad that you mentioned Renaissance Press. I was wondering if you could share a little bit about how Renaissance Press started?

Nathan: Absolutely! So what seems like another lifetime ago, I used to teach creative writing. I did this for a few years, and a couple of my former students and I formed a critique circle when I stopped teaching. A year or two into this critique group, two of our members got publishing contracts – one with a really big publisher. They brought the contracts for me to look over, and they were terrible contracts: the publishers wanted things like lifetime of copyright without any possibility of reverting the rights back, wanted print and audio rights even though they explicitly only wanted to publish an ebook version, things like that. The contracts were so terrible that I had to recommend they pass on the opportunity, which broke their hearts – and mine.

I ranted to a friend about this, saying I didn’t understand why publishers weren’t friendlier to their authors, because I saw it as a partnership, and my friend just looked at me and said, “Why don’t you start your own company?”

So with the help of a few friends, I did.

Derek: Wow! That must have been tough to see. And I have to say, terrible contracts seem to be pretty regular in the publishing industry. I’m so glad that you created a press that would better represent authors and support them.

Nathan: Thanks! It was really the primary goals of Renaissance – we wanted a place where authors would be truly supported and understood, and be able to have some creative control even though they would be traditionally published.

Derek: Small publishers play and important role in Canadian SF publishing. What do you feel are some of the benefits of being a small publisher, especially in the Canadian SF market?

Nathan: One of the benefits is definitely the very personal relationship we have with our authors. We can have honest discussions about what they want, and because there aren’t a whole huge team working on the book, every step can be personalized to reflect what the authors really want. I wouldn’t want to give up that close relationship for the world; there’s just something magical about being the person who gets to be there when they see their cover for the first time and see their reaction when you’ve done it just right.

As for other advantages, it allows us to publish more hybrid titles, or titles that don’t fit neatly in one genre, because we don’t have a huge catalog of titles to market, we can really focus on each book’s possibilities instead of only worrying about which book shelf it’s going to be on, if that makes sense.

Derek: That personal touch is so important!!

What are some of the hybrid titles that Renaissance has published?

Nathan: For example, one of our most recent titles, Murder At The World’s Fair, is a young adult steampunk murder mystery set in an alternate past. Or, one of our upcoming titles, Cypher, is a sci-fi mystery, and because of its preoccupation with puzzles, the book itself is filled with actual puzzles to solve, so it’s a book, but also kind of a game.

Our anthologies also tend not to be limited in genre, but are multi-genre, such as Nothing Without Us, which is centred on positive disability representation, but has everything to humour, to hard sci-fi, to slice of life.

Derek: I really like that space for writing innovation and imagining new possibilities.

Nothing Without Us actually brings me to my next question. Originally Renaissance Press billed itself as a small Ottawa publisher, but a few years ago the press changed to highlight the fact that you publish marginalized authors. What inspired the change in focus or perhaps change in how the press was represented?

Nathan: Well, after a few years of publishing books, we sat down and tried to narrow down our editorial policy so that we could make more informed decisions about what we published. So far, the only criteria was books we fell in love with, but we started falling in love with too many of our submissions to publish them all. So we took an actual look at what really drew us in most of the time, and what really made us excited to publish a book, and we realized we were naturally drawn to stories that were by and about marginalized people, which at that point had mostly been disabled and LGBTQIA2P+ people. We were also noticing that a lot of the complaints from authors around us included the fact that there was a lot of gatekeeping in the publishing industry preventing marginalized authors from publishing, and since Renaissance was made to elevate the voices of those who were often left behind by the industry, it seemed like a natural conclusion that we would focus on marginalized authors.

Derek: Often the larger presses tend to be more conservative and are reluctant to adopt books about marginalized people that are written by marginalized people. Do you feel like small presses have a stronger ability to do this and how so?

Nathan: I’m not sure I would say a stronger ability, because the truth is these are choices that we make as a business and any business can make that choice. But I think that being a smaller business perhaps helps us do it right, because the close personal relationships we can have with our authors helps us understand their goals a bit better, and the fact that we try to cultivate a close relationship with our audience helps us find the right public for the book, I think, because we market each book differently.

Derek: Well said. I think that close personal relationship is essential for supporting marginalized authors, particularly from groups that are often silenced.

Are there some examples of that personal touch that you are comfortable sharing?

Nathan: Well, I don’t want to get too much in the details because it can get quite personal, but for example I’ve had authors who have felt comfortable enough to come to me with questions and speculations about their gender and sexual orientation, about their mental health, and a lot of other things, and I think I can safely say I’ve developed a lot of close friendships with my authors. On top of that, I know of a few who have ended up finding support and a community in their audiences, as well as other Renaissance authors. Our author community is very tightly knit, and I think each Renaissance author has made friends and grown not only their audiences but their communities by publishing books with us.

Derek: What does it mean to you, as a marginalized person yourself, to be able to provide this space for other marginalized people? What is it like to elevate voices and do social justice work while also entertaining people with great books?

Nathan: It means more than I have the ability to say. It’s so special to me to be able to transform these incredible stories into beautiful books that the authors will be proud to hold, but also to be able to place them in front of readers, and top off all that joy with actual money for the authors. There are few things that thrill me more than seeing a picture of a happy author holding their new book for the first time, or sending nice royalty payments when a book is doing really well.

Derek: You and I are both Queer and Disabled, so this may seem like a question with an obvious answer to both of us, but, why do you feel it is so important that we have marginalized representation, especially in Canadian SF?

Nathan: So often, our stories are told by people who’ve never even met a person like us. It’s not just a question of it being annoying or disappointing: it can be downright dangerous for us to be misrepresented. Mentally ill people like myself are often depicted as serial killers; it’s actually hard to find a depiction of someone like me in fiction that ISN’T a serial killer. This makes people afraid of me, and I’m much more likely to be harmed because of that fear because people might attack me thinking they are defending themselves. The same can be said of transgender people, people of colour, and most marginalized communities. A lot of hate crimes stem from fear, and that fear is often born from and stoked by misrepresentation in fiction.

Derek: I often feel like marginalized people have a unique ability to write speculative fiction, especially since so many of us are already alienated from the very straight, cis, ableist, racist society that surrounds us. Do you feel like we have insights that we can provide to society through our marginalization?

Nathan: Absolutely. As marginalized people, we tend to come up against huge and frequent barriers in everyday life that prevent us from doing a lot of things, or even existing in some spaces. Because of that, we tend to spend a lot of time thinking about solutions and possibilities that people who have fewer or no barriers would never think about, because those possibilities aren’t missing for them. So I think we have a natural ability to imagine worlds where these barriers are removed or worked around in original fashions.

Derek: I’ve been thinking a lot about COVID and its relationship to disability, especially since so many people are still saying “it’s ONLY disabled people who are dying from COVID” as though our lives matter less than others, and I can’t help but think about Renaissance Press’ book Nothing Without Us by Cait Gordon and Talia Johnson. It seems like a well-timed book to elevate disabled voices at a time when the mistreatment of disabled people is so visible in our world. What are your thoughts about COVID and Nothing Without Us? And especially about the need for disability representation?

Nathan: I think that good representation matters now more than ever. I’ve heard it so much, this “It’s only disabled people” and “It’s only old people” as if our lives were somehow disposable. People don’t think of us as people, because they are used to seeing us used as mere tropes with two-dimensional characters in fiction, which is where a lot of people are exposed to folks who might be different than themselves. I often wonder, if stories like the ones in Nothing Without Us were more commonplace, if most people would still see us as disposable or not human enough to be worthy of living.

Derek: Very well said!! Disability representation is so incredibly important!!As a way of creating community while we were all social isolating during COVID, you and Renaissance Press decided to hold a virtual convention. What inspired the convention and why are online conventions like this so important during COVID, but also in general for public access (especially accessibility for disabled folks)?

Nathan: The one comment we got the most often from our audience was “Thank you for doing this, I can never come/stay as long as I want to these conventions usually.” So many people were able to attend and stay longer just because it was online, and they didn’t have to spend spoons dressing, commuting, hire help or sit in uncomfortable (which can translate as painful for some disabled people) chairs in cold rooms with loud ventilation that prevented them from hearing, etc. We made this convention because of COVID, but it will be something we will continue to have for sure, just because so many people were thankful for the accessibility. And we are having our next edition of it this October, in partnership with SF Canada!

Derek: That is incredibly exciting. In addition to all of the horrors caused by COVID, it seems to have opened up some new opportunities for re-thinking things.

Nathan: Yes! I hope future events might take the opportunity to do hybrid events which are partly online partly not in the future

Derek: How do you see COVID changing small presses in Canada?

Nathan: There have definitely been challenges, that’s for sure. But one thing that’s been easier is organizing things with authors who live really far. We have an author in Vancouver, for example, and organizing launches was going to be difficult because we were looking at long travel times, but now with online events it makes everything smoother and easier to organize. I think it’s going to make us closer as a community of authors and presses.

Derek: That is fantastic!! I love the way that these new changes are bringing people together in unique and exciting ways!

Where do you see Renaissance Press going from here? What are some of the next steps for the press?

Nathan: We have our next big event in October, and after that, we will be having more online events twice a year. We have wonderful, amazing books that are coming out later this year which I’m very excited about, and in fact, our publishing calendar is full all the way to 2022, so we have lots of exciting things coming!

Derek: How about your own writing – are there any exciting new projects coming up?

Nathan: Well I have a book of queer fairy tale retellings coming out soon with an fellow author. We’re illustrating the book, and it’s going to be absolutely gorgeous. Other than that, I’ve been working on a graphic memoir of my transition and my relationship with my partner.

Derek: Your memoir sounds fascinating!! Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Nathan: Absolutely! So it talks about all the times in my life where I thought I might be transgender, starting from when I was five years old. It’s told in small vignettes, and it incorporates all of my 16-year relationship with my partner, since her own transition was hugely impactful on my transition.

Derek: That is incredibly powerful!! I look forward to reading it.

As we wrap up our interview, is there anything further you would like to mention or anything I missed talking about with you?

Nathan: I think that’s all I wanted to say!

Derek: Thank you Nathan. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me and share your insights.

 

Nathan Caro Fréchette is a queer transgender sequential artist, publisher, and author. He has published over a dozen short stories, both graphic and prose, as well as five novels, three graphic novels, and two works of nonfiction. He has taught creative writing over a decade, and has a degree in Film Studies and another in Sequential Art. He was the founder and director of the French Canadian literary magazine Histoires à Boire Debout, an editor for the French Canadian graphic novel publisher Premières Lignes, and is a co-founder of the Ottawa-based publisher Renaissance.

 

Derek Newman-Stille, MA, PhD ABD (They/Them) is a Disabled, Queer, Nonbinary activist, author, artist, academic, and editor. They edited the anthologies Over the Rainbow: Folk and Fairy Tales from the Margins (Exile) and We Shall Be Monsters (Renaissance Press) and are the 8 time Prix Aurora Award-winning creator of the digital humanities hub Speculating Canada. Derek has published in fora such as Uncanny Magazine, The Playground of Lost Toys, Quill & Quire, Fireside Magazine, Diamond Book Shelf, The Town Crier, Exile Quarterly, and Nothing Without Us. Derek’s art work has been published in fora such as Feminist Space Camp, Lackington’s, Postscripts to Darkness, and Aging Activisms.

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Congratulations to 2020 Aurora Award Winners!

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Winners of this year’s Aurora Awards were announced Saturday August 15, via live video as part of the When Words Collide (WWC) convention.

The awards ceremony went online this year along with WWC in response to Covid-19. While we didn’t get the in-person magic of a banquet hall, these achievements are certainly every bit as impressive this year. And SF Canada members were well-represented winning both awards and a hall of fame induction.

Susan Forest won Best YA novel for Bursts of Fire. Diane L. Walton won Best Related Work for On Spec Magazine. R. Graeme Cameron won Best Fan Writing and Publication for Polar Borealis, Issues #9 through #12. And Marie Bilodeau co-won Best Fan Organizational for Can*Con.

Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s (CSFFA) Hall of Fame inductions included Cory Doctorow.

Huge congratulations to all the winners and nominees this year! And extra thanks to our own Mark Leslie Lefebvre for emceeing the event.