First Cup of Coffee - October 19, 2020
I'm talking about Guardian (or Goblin): the Lonely and Great God, the fantasy romance K-drama that Kelly Robson turned me onto. Also about good omens, new opportunities, and why I withdrew from World Fantasy Con programming.
You can read up on Guardian (or Goblin): the Lonely and Great God (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5994364/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3)
This is my WFC statement:
In the interests of transparency and being the best ally I can to marginalized authors, I've decided to withdraw from participation in panels at World Fantasy Con (WFC).
I've been listening to a lot of the conversations about the enduring and systemic problems with WFC programming. I know the con committee put effort into making fixes in the last week, but I've been convinced that in order for there to be real change, from the foundation, that white allies should pull back. Especially given SFWA's very public and committed stance on DEI, I feel can't participate in WFC this year. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to my panels, but I'm also convinced this is the right thing to do.
Many people understand the issues far better than I do, but I can reiterate what other people have said. That a place to start is that there needs to be:
- a standing accessibility policy
- a standing harassment policy
- a standing programming policy
- an understanding that requirements that volunteers pay for entry will always be harshest on the marginalized voices needed to bring true diversity.
As an author of fantasy and lover of the genre, I really hope that we'll see a World Fantasy Convention in 2021 that we can all be proud to participate in.
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Thanks for listening!
Thanks for posting your statement here.
Hopefully the weekend allowed your subconscious to work some things out and the words be easier this week
No ideas what the plot is for book 1 other than what you have told us so far, but The Shadow of something something has a nice ring to it. Or not.
Shadows are always good
The WFC thing has been so frustrating. And I’ve been to the two good ones of the last 10 years, so I always thought it was the other one I went to that was the aberration. It’s sad to find out I simply got lucky and also sad to know that they *can* be not-terrible, and usually just don’t bother.
If you’re really burning to write more Dark Wizard stuff, I would just do it. As much as I’d love to read the Heirs books, it’s not like you signed a contract on them, and as fast as you write, I know you’ll get to them eventually. And you don’t have to worry about wasting time on a sequel to a book that never sells, since you’re already good at self-publishing.
SO frustrating! And true on self-pubbing…