[go: up one dir, main page]

Pages

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Werejelly Eligibility 2018

'Tis the season once more, and we do a round-up of all the publications by Clarion class of 2016!

Emily Cataneo
"Bears at Parties." Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, no. 38, July 2018.
"Seven Steps to Beauty for a Girl Named Avarice." Nightmare Magazine #65, Feb 2018.

Jaymee Goh
"When the Bough Breaks." Mythic Delirium 4.3, Jan 2018.
"A Field of Sapphires and Sunshine." Glass and Gardens: Tales of Solarpunk Summers, World Weaver Press, June 2018.
"Magic Potion Behind-the-Mountains." Beneath Ceaseless Skies #262, October 2018.

Jen Julian
"Attachment." TriQuarterly, July 2018.

Jordy Rosenberg (2nd year of Campbell eligibility!)
Confessions of the Fox. One World Press, 2018.

J.P. Sullivan (2nd year of Campbell eligibility!)
"We Have Discerned a Potential Deal." Mysterion, April 2018.
"The God Down the River." Intergalactic Medicine Show, Issue 64.
"A Martyr's Art." Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #267, December 2018.


Thursday, May 10, 2018

Werejellies and the Shirley Jackson Awards!

We are pleased to announce that werejelly Kathleen Kayambe's novelette "You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych" has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Awards!!

The Shirley Jackson Awards, named for the famed writer, was established to recognize "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic"!

Also in this list is our instructor Victor LaValle with his novel The Changeling!!

Congrats, Kathleen! 

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Werejelly Eligibility

It's Awards Season! The Werejellies have been very active publishing over the course of 2017, and several of us are thus eligible for things like, Hugos for Short Stories, and British Science Fiction Awards, and the Nebulas, and the Campbell Award for New Writers!

Here is a roundup of all the things we have published in 2017 in one convenient place for you to find us easily! This is the bare bones listing; some of us have more commentary on the stories in our own eligibility posts at our blogs.

Emily Cataneo
Speaking to Skull Kings and Other Stories. JournalStone. May 2017.
"The Lily Rose." The Dark, February 2017.
"Glasswort, Ice." Lackington's, May 2017.
"Evangeline and the Forbidden Lighthouse." Interzone 270.
"And the Village Breathes." Beneath Ceaseless Skies, October 2017.
(eligibility post)

Giovanni de Feo *1st year Campbell eligible!
"Kiss of the Mouthless Girl." Nightmare Magazine, May 2017.
"Ugo." Lightspeed Magazine, September 2017.

Kendra Fortmeyer *1st year Campbell eligible!
"The Selkie Wives." Apex Magazine, April 2017
"Octopus vs. Bear." Lightspeed Magazine, May 2017.
"Assymetry." Podcastle, June 2017.
Hole in the Middle. Little Brown UK, July 2017.
(eligibility post)

Jaymee Goh
"Eruption." Anathema Magazine #2, Aug 2017.
"The Last Cheng Beng Gift." Lightspeed Magazine, September 2017.
"The Reset." Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation. Upper Rubber Boot Press. August 2017.
(eligibility post)

Jenn Grunigen *2nd year Campbell eligible!
"Figs, Detached." Nightmare Magazine, April 2017.
(eligibility post)

Jen Julian
"One for Sorrow, Two for Joy." Beecher's Magazine, Spring 2017.

Kathleen Kayembe *1st year Campbell eligible!
"You Will Always have Family: A Triptych." Nightmare Magazine, March 2017.
"The Faerie Tree." Lightspeed Magazine, October 2017.

JP Sullivan *1st year Campbell eligible!
"The Blue Widow." Baen 2017 Fantasy Adventure Award Grand Prize Winner
"Tenure Track." Galaxy's Edge #27, July 2017.
"The Resurrectionist." Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show #58, October 2017
(eligibility post)

Jordy Rosenberg *1st year Campbell eligible!
"Sky Veins of Potosi." The Boston Review, December 2017.

Thank you for considering us! 

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Additional Advice for #ThatClarionLife

Addendum to Jaymee Goh's awesome post collecting tips and tricks for maximizing your Clarion Experience. If you haven't read that post, go now. I'll wait.

Okay.

First, unless adequate self-care requires you not to, always go to class.

Even if you have to arrive late, didn't do all the critiques, have to leave to nap in the hallway for part of it, think you'll be embarrassed for X reason if you show up, whatever—always go to class. You will learn so much in every class from your classmates and instructors. Take notes as much as you can, jot down fun quotes that come up during critiques to share with each other later on your message board, and recognize that some of what you learn in class will only sink in months or years later.

Second, nap if you need to.

I'm not a nap person, but thanks to Jaymee, I gave them a try and found taking plotting naps after lunch helped my energy level, focus, and writing.

Set a timer for 30-90 minutes, lie down, put on a sleep mask, keep a pen and notebook handy, and let yourself drift while thinking about a story you want to write. When you have something you want to use, pull up the sleep mask enough to pen down some notes, then go back to drifting.

The timer helped me schedule naps into my plans for the day in a way I found acceptable, and the story meditation aspect helped me get around my resistance to spending time on self-care.

Starting in week three, I was so exhausted I stepped out of class to nap in the hallway because the alternative was an involuntary nap in the classroom. If you're going to do that, tell someone (even though it's embarrassing), and ask someone to come get you when it's your turn to critique. If you're like me, you'll be restored enough by that time to be fully present for the rest of class—and not have missed the instructor's comments or the rest of class.

Third, if your classes are in the same building as ours were, one of the two sets of lights causes migraine symptoms in those susceptible to them.

If you find yourself with a migraine or feeling strangely drained or ill after class when you felt fine beforehand, it might be the lights. Turn that set off—you'll still have plenty of light—and let classmates know to do so when they enter the classroom every morning.

Fourth, go out of your way to include people in group events, author talks, and your daily life.

Check on your roommates if an instructor talk is imminent and they're still in their room with the door closed. Invite them to sit with you at meals and knock on their doors to invite them on impromptu outings. Remind them a Skype session with Industry Person Y starts in 10 minutes and they'll be late if they don't leave soon, but that you're willing to wait a minute to walk with them. If you have a big sitting area, open your doors while you're in there and say hi to classmates walking past your room, invite them to sit with you or chat, and bring in an extra couch from a room of classmates that never uses theirs. You are a community, and the connections you make at Clarion can be lifelong and nourishing and precious if you're willing to make the effort. You only have six weeks to build that foundation; make that time count.

Finally, bring a rolling suitcase.

They're the lightest, most convenient way to transport clothes to and from campus laundry rooms.

Have fun! ^_^

Friday, June 2, 2017

Advice of the Mundane



Clarion 2017 cohort, greetings from the werejellies of Clarion 2016! We gift you with tips and tricks for making Clarion UCSD as smooth as possible, because you're going to have a rough time with the writing already!

First, an important message from Kathleen Kayembe on the issue of medication. If you require prescriptions throughout your time at Clarion, please, PLEASE read this section first:

California has dangerous laws against filling controlled substance prescriptions written out of state—i.e. your non-California doctor must send the pharmacist an electronic script directly. If you take a medication like that (ex. most ADHD meds) which requires a new script every month to be physically given to the pharmacy, find out before Clarion if your doctor's office is capable of sending electronic scripts.

If your doctor can send scripts electronically, call their office from Clarion at least 3 business days before you're out of meds so a local pharmacy has time to fill the new script without you running out of meds in the interim.

If the pharmacy won't fill your prescription despite having the script in hand, and your doctor's office is incapable of sending one electronically, you should plan to give a script or two for your meds to someone at home to fill and mail to you via FedEx (USPS won't mail controlled substances, medication or not). It's expensive, time consuming, and a headache, but you'll have meds.

If you can't do either of the above, your best bet is to make an appointment with a local doctor so they'll write you a script. This was, in fact, the pharmacist's recommendation. I am not even kidding.

If you take a monthly-script-requiring controlled substance medication, try filling it as early as you're allowed to for a few months in a row before Clarion so the monthly overlap builds you up a few days of extra medication. With that, you can cut down and then build up your dose at Clarion without going off your meds entirely while waiting for the new fill to arrive. Also, if you switched medications for insurance reasons but have extras of a previous prescription that worked well, take that with you in case you need it.
If you will have a car for the duration of your time there, Sunil Patel has got this next important word for you:
If you are bringing a car to UCSD, you will need a parking permit. Allot an hour on Monday morning before the first class to go to the parking office located in the Gilman Parking Structure in the center of campus (9500 Gilman Dr) and get one. It opens at 7am, and you'll need to buy a 1-month pass ($61) and a 10-day pass ($41) to cover the six weeks. You won't be able to buy these passes online and the office is not open on weekends (but don't worry, weekend parking is free). Find your fellow car-having folks on Sunday and go over together on Monday morning since parking spaces are limited by the parking office.
Grant Shepert, resident novel-brainer, traveled to us from the United Kingdom and had to watch his country get set on fire pass Brexit while he was away. Here is his advice on a variety of matters:


Before you go:
  • If you are going early or staying on afterwards, BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM EARLY!! San Diego can sell out of hotel rooms a week in advance, and you don't want to be stuck paying $500 for a room at the Howard Johnson 
  • Clear your calendar! You won't have time to deal with X, so if you can at all help it, shift X somewhere else on your calendar. 
  • Make a dedicated effort to let everybody in your life (work, family, friends) know that you will be a) very *very* busy, b) very stressed, and c) variously lonely/moody/needy/desperate/manic. 
  • Get lots of exercise and lots of sleep before you arrive. 
  • If you are travelling overseas, try and arrive a day or two early. It will be very hard to get over your jet lag once the long hours of reading/critiquing/writing/repeating kicks in. 
  • Long distance can also mean timezone difficulties. Work out a calling schedule before you leave. 
  • Start jotting story ideas down. Now! Lots of them! No, even more ideas! 
Campus life prep:
  • The cafeteria food can at times be, erm, 'challenging'. Plan this into both your budget (occasinally eating out, shopping trips) and your lifestyle (vegetarians, you have been warned!) 
  • Bring fitted sheets for a twin bed, unless you enjoy crazy carpeting off a high bunk at all hours of the night 
  • Bring a fan too, or pick up a cheap little one. It's hot in SoCal 
  • Other nice things to have: a collapsing hamper, a big water bottle, a thermal coffee cup, your favorite tea/coffee (and perhaps a kettle/coffee press), a stuffed animal to clutch desperately in times of woe, aspirin, ear plugs, a white noise machine/app, a backpack, headphones, a durable notebook 
Locations:
  • There aren't many amenities within walking distance, apart from convenience stores. There is a mall about 30min walk away with a CVS and Whole Foods, and a Trader Joe's a bit further on. An occasional group exodus to these locations will make your time much more enjoyable 
  • Rock Bottom Brewery has decent food and big tables 
  • Mysterious Galaxy (bookshop where the readings are) takes an easy hour to get to during rush hour. Leave early! 
Advice
  • Your loved ones will get lonely. Find a moment or two every week to remind them how much you miss them too. 
  • Be kind to the people with vehicles. San Diego is sprawling, and they will be your heroes. Chip in for gas. 
  • Be kind to everybody else too! Even if you are having an easy time of it, others may not be (beware the brave face). A single kind word can be a lifeline. 
  • Step out of your comfort zone. Be as sociable as you can possibly be. But also, give people space when they want it. 
  • Everybody is just as afraid as you are. Honest. Impostor and/or failure syndrome are common. Every single instructor will remind you that you belong there, that you earned your place. Trust in that. Trust yourself, but if it gets to be too much, tell somebody. 
  • If conflict arises, deal with it ASAP. Don't go to bed angry! If you can't resolve it, discuss it with the instructors. There's just not enough hours in the day for any sort of drama. 
  • Go to the readings. All of them. You will find yourself in awe and inspired, and they are great bonding moments. Also, there is a CVS within walking distance where you can load up on caffeine and sundry 
  • Be thoughtful/mindful of your instructors, as they are away from home too! 
  • Go into your personal interviews prepared. That one-on-one time will be like gold in your hand. 
  • Don't be shy about trying to solicit industry experts (agents/editors/authors) to do conference calls with your group, but also don't pack your schedule so badly that you can't get any work done. 
  • Take care of yourself. Listen to your body, be mindful of your mood, your energy level. Go for a run, a walk, a trip to the beach. 
  • In that light, keep healthy snacks on hand at all times, otherwise you'll find yourself munching on processed crap sticks and your energy level will tank 
  • [BRACKETS] are your friend! Don't be afraid to put [IT'S HERE THAT SARAH FINALLY CAPTURES THE TALKING MARMOT AND LEARNS THE REAL STORY OF HER FATHER'S DEATH etc. etc..] blocks as placeholders in your week's submission, rather than abandon the story or not submit for lack of time. But not the Sarah/Marmot thing. That's mine. 
  • If a furry black dog barges into your apartment demanding attention, say "Hello Wendell" and give him lots of love. 

Wendell's owner is Gayle. She's also a science fiction fan. Send her our love. This is Wendell, in case you have the good fortune to see him:



Here are some words of love from Kendra Fortmeyer, whose debut book, Hole in the Middle, will be out in July 2017 from Little Brown:

--(Passed down from Carmen Machado) You aren't meant to bring trunk stories into Clarion, but it can be helpful to come in with a list of ideas of stories you want to write lest you end up staring at the ceiling in week 4, drowning under the dual anxiety of having NO IDEAS SOMEHOW OH MY GOD and also YOUR STORY IS DUE TOMORROW OH MY GOD.
--Seconding Grant: reach out to authors, editors and agents you admire and ask them to do a video call with your class, even if you don't know them personally. I was in awe of how many good-hearted folks in the SFF community agreed to talk to us because they love Clarion; we "met" amazing people and got amazing advice (and submission opportunities to magazines like Lightspeed and Clarkesworld).
--Be friends with Clarion West! They are your cousins, and of all of the people in the world, they understand what you're going through the best. Become pen pals and send each other goodies and promote each other's work.
--Be aware of (but not freaked out by) the fabled Week 3 or 4 Slump -- the week when the honeymoon period wears off, the sleep deprivation starts to weigh heavy, and homesickness is at its peak. If big fights break out, it's usually during the Slump. The Slump happens. It's normal. Prepare for it with extra kindness for yourself (naps! long solitary beach walks!) and for each other (little presents, games, parties). You'll get through it. By Week 5, the preemptive nostalgia will kick in, and you'll be back to being a huge cuddle puddle.
--Self care, self care, self care.
-- If you have a problem with a classmate (i.e., someone who consistently isn't showing up to class or providing critiques), talk to them about it. If you can't work it out with that person for whatever reason, talk to your instructors and your faculty advisor about it. Instructors do communicate with each other, but a lot gets dropped from one week to the next, and if Person A is consistently flaking on critiques, it's not safe to assume that Instructor B will know about and address it.
--Go into your one-on-ones with questions prepared! It's such a valuable time. Don't be afraid to be honest and unflinching -- your instructors here for you, and want to help you grow.
--This is more about group dynamics generally than about Clarion specifically, but: know what group dynamics are healthy for you. Having a buddy/buddies to vent with a bit when you're frustrated with a classmate can be cathartic. Venting about your classmates all of the time can become toxic. Know what's healthy for you. WITH CAVEAT: If someone is making you feel icky or uncomfortable, SPEAK TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE GROUP. Even if you think it makes you sound paranoid. Even if it's just "Hey, I get kind of a weird vibe from X and I don't know how to handle it." If you feel this way, you're likely not alone. And if someone approaches you with such a conversation, listen. (Also, please feel free to reach out to me/anyone else if you have a question about uncomfortable group dynamics. The Clarion alum network is your friend.)
--If you can afford to, get off-campus to eat occasionally. Cafe Ventanas starts to wear on the stomach after a while.
--Comic-con: GO! Also, visit the Falling Star house. And have reading parties. And run around the woods trail in the middle of the night and howl like wolves. Or don't. Ignore all of this. Make your own magic, you lucky things, you.
--Overall, love each other. Work hard, sleep as much as you can, but don't miss opportunities to get to know each other. You're here to write, yes, but you can write anywhere, can't you? These people are here now. Learn from them, love them, get into the emotional trenches. These are scars you'll be grateful for.
From the depths of rural Indiana speaks Ben Sloan:
  • Get drunk together as soon as possible (if that's your thing). Otherwise, by the time you get close, you'll say, "Why didn't we do this earlier!?" and then you'll only have a week left, and it's hello darkness my old friend. 
  • Reading? I managed to get about a half-hour of non-critique reading in before breakfast, while the healthy people were out jogging, but even that broke down by the end of it, because I always had critiques to catch up on. 
  • LOOK OUT FOR LIZARDS. People kept saying they saw lizards, and I was jealous, because I wanted to see lizards, but I realized I rarely went outside where lizards were to be seen. But I spotted one through a window. It was glorious. So, uh, go outside. And look out for lizards. 
  • People will say, "the beach is such a short walk away," and they will not be lying. But it is about as far vertically as it is horizontally, so you have to become a mountain climber just to get down to the thing and back up. Still worth it--a couple of times. More than that? Some of the healthy people went every day, somehow. They must have legs of steel. I would not want to have to climb back up in the dark. 
  • The traffic will make you doubt the wisdom of humans living together at any density. Or maybe not, maybe you're from some place with similar insanity. I am not. The traffic made me feel like I was in a bizarre, crowded world where logic had left our species and nothing made sense. Just expect it to take longer than you think to get to the readings. I think once it took us roughly an hour? I was driving, but I blacked out as a survival mechanism, so I'm not sure how long it actually took. 
  • Find your favorite way to connect digitally, because it will be how you continue to hang out after it's over. One of our group created a Slack channel, which I didn't even know was a thing at the time, but which I now use daily. It's how we coordinate our monthly critique group, share news, gossip, etc. It was great while we were there, too, for planning and bullshitting. 
  • WITCH HUT. There may still be a witch hut. We found one in the woods one day, and returned in the dead of night. It was some kind of survival shelter made of woven limbs, and inside was an upside-down painting of a hanging rabbit. If it is there, consider convening a group to enter at night. SOMETHING MAY HAPPEN. Fear not. They mean you no harm. 
  • THE PRINTERS. They will hate you. And you will hate them. And you will become your hate. There is no escape. 
Black's Beach, which is right by the Gliderport, is right beneath the Torrey Pines Bluff. It's a fairly challenging hike if you're unused to steep hills and working your calves out. Take it easy and you'll be fine. Black's Beach is also a "clothing optional" beach, so if you ever wanted to know what it's like to swim in the ocean naked, you have your chance to find out. You could always try to drive or bus down but what fun is that?

Derek So has some random thoughts from up north:

  • steal popsicles and keep them in your fridge for for after Cafe Ventanas closes. the hazelnut popsicles are weirdly gummy. 
  • if you sweat a lot and are not from a californian climate you will be astonished at the speed at which your sandals become rank. research ways of dealing with this 
  • as writing locations go, the top floor of the seuss library has a much nicer view than your bedroom 
  • don't be afraid to push your draft til next week if you come up with different idea that flows more easily at present. walking at night is great for coming up with said ideas 
  • try not to repeat comments that people have made six times already, even if that was going to be your main critique. find interesting ways to build on it instead. 
  • humorous comments can be fun but usually aren't worth the class time and the potential of being misinterpreted or seeming condescending. 
  • if you have terrible handwriting and are taking notes by hand during critiques (and/or writing comments late at night), aim for legibility even if it slows you down 
  • if you are a poor sleeper, trying to nap immediately after class can seem helpful but also has the potential to turn into a terrible feedback loop 
  • you can ask people at comic-con to consider skyping clarion while they sign your books (william gibson ended up being busy, but he was open to the idea) 
  • make sure to loot the free book pile for stuff, because a lot of people with great taste have passed through (e.g. I'm currently reading the Grace Paley collection I picked up there and it's brilliant) 
  • BE ABSOLUTELY SURE to read Ted Chiang's story from the Clarion archives 

You will have to request the archives in advance! Ask Patrick or Shelley to help you with that. The Seuss Library is the Geisel Library, the one that famously looks like a spaceship.
The inimitable Maggie Cooper has some delightsome sidenotes on dealing with the cafeteria and exercise:

Take control of your cafeteria destiny! Using the ingredients in the Cafe Ventanas salad bar, you can make yourself: Egg salad sandwiches on toast! Gourmet chicken salad with craisins/apple chunks! The chili (both veg and meaty) is also particularly flexible—have it with rice! Have it with pasta! Have it with lots of salad bar cheese on top!

Set realistic expectations for yourself in terms of written critiques. There's a healthy balance between handing people back completely blank stories and spending hours upon hours writing lengthy notes. If you can find that balance early on and give consistently helpful, succinct notes, you and your workshop peers will be much happier. Positive comments are great too—noting the parts of the story that are working best is just as helpful as noting what's not yet working.

Let people help you! Most of us are usually solo writers, but this is a rare opportunity to brainstorm with other folks and talk through story ideas as you are writing. If the thought doesn't horrify you, try it—I wish I had done this more.

Soak up all the time you can with your instructors! One of the things that surprised me most about Clarion was how much time we got to spend just hanging out and eating meals with amazing SFF luminaries. Volunteer to be the one to show them where the dining hall/classroom/laundry facilities are! Sit next to them at breakfast! If you have a car, offer to give them a ride to X or Y! Invite them when a group walks down to the beach! They might say no—their weeks are as busy/intense as yours are, if not more so, but most instructors are eager to get to know the class. Important caveat: don't be creepy. (Repeat: do not be creepy.)

Line up some pen pals! Getting mail is a fun treat to remind you that the world outside Clarion still exists—even if you only have time to scrawl a few lines on a postcard in response.

Even without a car, you can have small adventures: walk the path around the UCSD "challenge course" or get bubble tea in the Price Center—great alternatives to sitting in your room stewing over your less-than-half-finished story.

SLEEP. Just do it! Preferably at night, in your bed, for more than 5 hours at a time. Not only will this help you give better critiques and write better sentences, but it may also help you be a happier and kinder person too. Encourage your pals to sleep too!

Our resident Italian surrealist Giovanni de Feo has just one thing to say:
Get out of UCSD AT LEAST once a week with non-Clarion related activities or you’ll go bunkers in no time!
He is a wanderer, though. Follow his adventures!

And finally, here is mine (Jaymee's):

- Answer the Introduction Questionnaire!
This will help your group gel together early before you arrive, so you don't come to total strangers. Even if you are busy, even if you are late, just fill them out! One of us made her introduction post the night before we met, so, you know, there's no such thing as too late.
- Set boundaries.
You are not obligated to take care of everybody. No one can fault you for saying "no" to some things. While you should try to reach out to each other, and check in with one another, sometimes something someone says may twig you, and there's nothing wrong with talking it out with classmates, or with the instructor.

- Be thorough and kind during workshop.
Everyone is there to learn. Everyone is also there to write what they want to write the most! There are no limits to the breadth of science fiction. Even if the work in question is not in a genre you are a fan of, you can still give feedback on the structure of the story, on character, or other aspects of the text in question. The more you have to say about any given story, the more you help your classmate, and the more you build goodwill in the class. Things that are not your business to share, though: whether you think the work will sell or your opinion of the genre.

- Roundtable or Quaker?
There are two ways to deliver critiques in a class of 18. Your instructors may determine this for you. Kelly had us doing "Quaker style" in which a moderator keeps track of who puts their hand up first and makes a list, timing the current speaker. Ted insisted on going around.

Advantage of the Quaker style: Folks build off what previous people have said, adding nuance.
Cons: The people with the least to say tend to go last, and it could end on a negative note (folks aren't perfect). To deal with this, we developed a little pointing-downward gesture for someone to indicate that they wanted to go last, often as Avenging Angel to end the critique session on a good note.

Advantage of the roundtable: Everyone has a better sense of when they will go next, rather than wait for the moderator to call on them from a list hidden from everyone. Since most everyone takes up their allotted two minutes, this means that when you really need to go pee and can't wait for recess, you know how much time you'll have to wait.
Cons: Because we know when we're delivering critiques, folks are a bit less engaged with what others are saying, and less likely to respond to what someone else has said.
- Have little parties, and everyone goes to bed at a reasonable hour.
Our cohort was probably a rare cohort in which we didn't go out drinking regularly and instead mostly stayed home to read quietly or chat or take walks. On the Saturdays that we sent off previous instructors and welcomed the new one, we worked together to cook a meal.

- Bring something fun to share (games, bubbles)
Kelly Link taught us how to play Mafia. We killed off Ted Chiang a few times (he was never Mafia). We had blowing bubbles, fairy lights, card games, board games to keep us occupied on the weekend evenings.

- Invite Clarion alum to hang
Quite a few Clarion alum live in San Diego! You will meet them at the Mysterious Galaxy readings on Wednesdays. They may also come to help you settle in. Don't be shy and talk to them; they are beautiful people and just want to help you have the best Clarion experience.

- Read aloud the stories for a speedy first read-through.
#That104Life (that is, Apartment 104 of Mesa Verde housing, Jen Julian, Kathleen Kayembe, and Jaymee Goh) of Clarion 2016 is proud to present this startling realization that sometimes we suck at reading quickly the first time, which makes critiquing take forever. However! If you have someone read the story aloud, it goes much faster. You power through the story the first time and you can go back later to make your margin notes.

Asking people to read their own stories is also great practice for future professional readings, and gives folks a chance to flex their theatrical muscles. You'll also hear accents you may not have thought of, or get the sense of voice that will help you critique!

This doesn't work for everybody, obviously; some folks just don't want to spoil their reading of a text by listening to a read-aloud. But making it a point to set a reading time and inviting folks to join in the listening cultivates a reading environment that can be restful and special.

- Health hugs
According to uncommon wisdom and as pointed out by the inimitable Maggie, eight hugs a day is good for health and happiness. Hug your classmates. You won't have much chance for it after you've parted ways. If you're not a hugger, though, then, don't. And don't hug people who look uncomfortable with the whole idea.

- Plan your gift!
If your cohort decides to get presents for your instructors, get that ball rolling on Thursday or so. You'll have had your instructor for three days, and they may have shared something during their Mysterious Galaxy reading that will help you figure out an appropriate gift. Give yourself a couple of days to get the gift shipped in. If all else fails, there is a Godiva in the nearby Westfield Century Mall. You can also bring fruit for them to dip (they'll charge by the pound).

GODSPEED CLARION 2017!!!

Sunday, June 19, 2016

(Very Very Late) Hello from Jenn



Filling out this tardy questionnaire from the 24 hr McDonald’s near campus (motels are expensive), in a city I have never before set foot in. This is incredibly surreal on so many levels….

Do you have a nickname?

People enjoy giving me silly nicknames, for some reason. I think because my name is easily rhymed? (My sister’s pride and joy is “Jenny Jenn Jenn Jenn Jenn Woodhog.” This does not rhyme, obviously, so I’m really not sure what happened here…like, at all. WTF is a woodhog?!).

However, most people just call me Jenn (which is my real name and not short for anything) and that is fine by me.

What do you like to read?

Kij Johnson, Jeff VanderMeer, Catherynne Valente, Caitlyn Kiernan, Seanan McGuire\Mira Grant, Sonya Taaffe, Tolkien, Michael Marshall Smith, Margaret Atwood, Richard Paul Russo, Ken Liu, Douglas Adams, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Ursula K. Le Guin…

…this would be a lot easier if I had my bookshelf in front of me…

What kind of stories do you write?


My usual answer to this question is “weird ones.” But almost always weird ones that are also SFF, often mythpunk-y in nature. The past two years, I wrote many fox stories, because of my Master’s thesis, but I have made myself promise to write no fox stories while at Clarion.

How would you describe your personality?


I am quiet until I know you reasonably well, and even then, I tend to listen more than talk. When I am quiet, I may come off as cold, but am actually a really nice person. (I try to be/hope I am. As you can see, I also try really hard to not make assumptions, even about myself.)

What would you do this summer if you hadn't been accepted to Clarion?


Scrounge for money, somehow (probably working in a natural food store’s deli, which is my usual fall back), while writing all the books and stories and poems I never had time for while in grad school. Also, recording with my band (managed to cram tracking my drums + vocals into just a couple of days before heading out, but I would’ve liked to be around for everything else, too).

Who will miss you most while you're in San Diego (cats, kids, partner, boss, coworkers)?


Um…my plants? (If my housemate forgets to water them, that is. But then the plants will be dead and incapable of any sort of longing.)

Have you participated in an intensive writing workshop before?


Yes, but nothing quite like this.

What scares you most about Clarion?

Saying something stupid and/or thoughtless. Not being able to properly socialize. The terrible stories I will write and have to share. The likelihood that I will shame myself with my lack of Hamilton lyric knowledge. (Unless it’s “Aaron Burr, Sir.”)

What do you do to relax or for recreation?

Weight lift. Ride my bike everywhere (except to San Diego, apparently…). Read. Drum. Write. Eat. Hike. Walk. Daydream.

What 1-2 essential things will you bring to Clarion besides your laptop, watergun, and espresso maker?


A dragon (no really) and a sunhat.

What is your ideal career?

A writer who is also a metal musician. Or a metal musician who is also a writer. Either, both, whatever.

What else do you want us to know about you?

I am a reformed peanut butter devotee. You have my permission to smack and\or admonish me if you catch me slipping.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Hi from Shelley, faculty director of Clarion

Hi Everyone,

I'm Shelley Streeby, Clarion's faculty director, writing to welcome you and introduce myself. After reading your application stories and blog introductions, I'm really looking forward to this summer! I am a Professor in the Literature and Ethnic Studies Departments at UCSD. I've worked at UCSD since 1994 and have directed Clarion since 2010, which is a wonderful pleasure and privilege. Definitely one of the best things I get to do as part of my job.

During the summer, I'll be with you all of the next six weeks. I will attend class with you twice a week and will participate in the round robin critiques. You will also see me every week at the readings your instructors will be doing at Mysterious Galaxy and at other events.

Starting Week 2, I hold a couple of office hours each week where I greatly enjoy talking with you all and getting to know you better. I usually meet students at Peet's coffee house near where you will be housed or in my Ethnic Studies office, which is in a nearby building (SSB 223). In the last few years I have been reading a lot of extra stories for people, either ones I miss because I am not in class that day or ones that can't be critiqued in class because they are too long or because they're trunk stories. I like to have at least one meeting with each student during the summer and would be glad to read any story you would like me to read as part of our meeting--and am happy to meet more often if you'd like, as I often have with many students in the past. It's interesting for me and also a good way for me to get to know you better, which is part of the fun of Clarion for me.

As a scholar, I have written a couple of books about US social movements, empire, culture, the US-Mexico border, and related matters: American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture (UC Press, 2002) and Radical Sensations: World Movements, Violence, and Visual Culture (Duke UP, 2013). I'm currently working on a little book I hope to finish this summer on science fiction and climate change, and another more ambitious, more research-intensive one on science fiction archives--in both a more specialized and a more general sense--and what they can tell us about imaging the future.

One of the archives I am writing about is the Clarion archive, which is at UCSD and consists of all the stories every written at Clarion by all students in its history. Last year's Clarionites enjoyed investigating the archive and reading the student stories authored by their favorite writers, so be sure to check it out while you're here. I can help if you need it.

Looking forward to talking with interested parties about all these things and more. My cell phone is 323-350-0961 if you need to reach me. Can't wait to meet you tomorrow!

Shelley