Still We Write
For me, writing is not an easy thing. Of course, there are days when everything flows perfectly, when the words […]
Dec. 2016 (Issue 60)
Here’s what we’ve got lined up for you in this special issue: Original fantasy—edited by Daniel José Older—by N.K. Jemisin, P. Djeli Clark, Darcie Little Badger, and Thoraiya Dyer; Reprints—selected by Amal El-Mohtar—by Sofia Samatar, Celeste Rita Baker, Shweta Narayan, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson; Nonfiction articles—edited by Tobias S. Buckell—by Justina Ireland, Ibi Zoboi, Erin Roberts, Karen Lord, John Chu, Brandon O’Brien, and Chinelo Onwualu; plus an original cover illustration by Emily Osborne and original interior illustrations by Reimena Yee and Ana Bracic.
Author Spotlight: Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Storytelling is a practice in my culture that is always a conversation between different generations and different beings—it is a conversation that takes place across time and space. I wanted to reflect that very organically in this piece.
gezhizhwazh
everyone always tells wiindigo stories when they should be telling gezhizhwazh stories. that’s what this old one says.
Give Us Back Our Fucking Gods
Creation myths are the stuff of old, intuitive science. They are the stories that attempt to explain the source of
Author Spotlight: Darcie Little Badger
From the title onward, this is a story built in stark, vivid color. The white train, the black feathers, the
Black, Their Regalia
Outside, the quarantine train was unblemished white. Where its tracks skirted populated regions, barbed wire and warning signs—DANGER! ¡PELIGRO! INFECTIOUS MATERIALS! ¡SUSTANCIAS INFECCIOSAS!—discouraged trespassers from marking the cars with spray paint. The interior was another story. In her cabin, a narrow sleeper with four beds (one for Screaming Moraine, one for Fiddler Kristi, one for Drummer Tulli, and one for their carry-on luggage, several densely packed grocery bags, and an electric violin), Tulli found graffiti scrawled near her upper bunk.
Learning to Dream in Color
I didn’t grow up dreaming in color. I dreamed in white. Not my literal dreams, the thoughts that flickered within
Author Spotlight: Shweta Narayan
What was the inspiration for this story? Wow, that’s kinda complicated, and I’m reconstructing from six years later, but here’s
Eyes of Carven Emerald
Sunrise glinted bloody on giant tumbles of statue; it edged the palace beyond with blood. A limestone arm, severed elbow to thumb, came almost up to Alexandros’ waist. Fingers thick as logs lay scattered behind it. Sunrise glimmered in the statue’s blank, rain-filled eyes, and trickled down the pitted stone cheek. So too would Dareios of Persia have fallen, had the coward not fled.
People of Colo(u)r Editorial Roundtable
I wanted to start with the idea of the origin story. Every writer has one, and it’s always interesting to hear how writers of color navigated the choppy waters of reading fantasy early on and then deciding to write it. I remember searching for myself, in that languageless sort of way we do when we’re young and don’t know the larger meaning of our search.