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which will be occurring October 23-25, 2015 in St. Paul, here. Arcana bills itself as "A Convention of the Dark Fantastic" and I'll be joining such previous luminaries as Robert Bloch, Melanie and Steve Tem, Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers and Pam Keesey. And they'll give out the Minnesota Fantasy Award to someone or other (it doesn't get announced much ahead of time so I don't know who's up for ti this year); last time I attended the Awards, it went to Lois McMaster Bujold, which was very cool. So, pretty impressive company for my second ever con-headlining experience. :-)
Why me? Well, I asked myself that a bit, too. Being local is not entirely off the table but they've certainly had plenty of headliners from elsewhere. In any case, I have edited or co-edited two award-winning anthologies: Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories and (with JoSelle Vanderhooft) Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic. I've also had 1 novel and 3 collections of short fiction published, much of it award-winning and/or included in sundry Year's Best anthos. My work has spanned fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, erotica, nonfiction, historical fiction and mystery, for a rough total of a half million published words. Between them, my books have won 5 awards and finaled for 5 others, to date. And I've been an awards judge and taught classes at the Loft Literary Center and sundry other places. So not a bad run, thus far, if not quite at the lofty heights of some of the previous guests, but I presumably still have time to catch up.
What's the con all about? Horror and dark fantasy, as a rule. It's a small chatty con so I'd love to see more folks come and check it out and broaden the conversations a bit. What do I plan to talk about? Werewolves and vampires and ghosts and the queer component in each of those subgenres and women in horror and dark fantasy. Penny Dreadful and penny dreadfuls. Sleepy Hollow. Diversity in dark fantasy and horror. Stuff that matters to me, and hopefully, to you. I'm pretty damned entertaining too, when sufficiently caffeinated (think sober geeky Dorothy Parker). And that's why you, yes, you! should join me for this shindig! Come for the dark, stay for the snark - which could well be the t-shirt for this year. :-)
Hope some of you can make it!
Why me? Well, I asked myself that a bit, too. Being local is not entirely off the table but they've certainly had plenty of headliners from elsewhere. In any case, I have edited or co-edited two award-winning anthologies: Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories and (with JoSelle Vanderhooft) Hellebore and Rue: Tales of Queer Women and Magic. I've also had 1 novel and 3 collections of short fiction published, much of it award-winning and/or included in sundry Year's Best anthos. My work has spanned fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, erotica, nonfiction, historical fiction and mystery, for a rough total of a half million published words. Between them, my books have won 5 awards and finaled for 5 others, to date. And I've been an awards judge and taught classes at the Loft Literary Center and sundry other places. So not a bad run, thus far, if not quite at the lofty heights of some of the previous guests, but I presumably still have time to catch up.
What's the con all about? Horror and dark fantasy, as a rule. It's a small chatty con so I'd love to see more folks come and check it out and broaden the conversations a bit. What do I plan to talk about? Werewolves and vampires and ghosts and the queer component in each of those subgenres and women in horror and dark fantasy. Penny Dreadful and penny dreadfuls. Sleepy Hollow. Diversity in dark fantasy and horror. Stuff that matters to me, and hopefully, to you. I'm pretty damned entertaining too, when sufficiently caffeinated (think sober geeky Dorothy Parker). And that's why you, yes, you! should join me for this shindig! Come for the dark, stay for the snark - which could well be the t-shirt for this year. :-)
Hope some of you can make it!
