As you’ll have noticed, I haven’t updated in quite a while – two months. I’ve been applying for jobs, getting interviews, not getting the jobs, and doing a lot of soul searching.
I’ll be blunt – according to the numbers, somewhere between five and a dozen people will read this. That’s about how many pings I get in a day, usually for Melissa’s review of the Barbie movie or, for some reason, the Doc Savage Method of Personal Development. And those pings never result in clickthroughs to Amazon, much less sales.
And, in addition to many other things, this blog is a business proposition, a marketing method. It’s supposed to funnel folks toward buying and reading my stories, and after fifteen years, it doesn’t do that.
It’s bigger than that, though. I’m tired of independent publishing, all the marketing, the covers, the formatting, the reports, the trends, all of it. And I’m increasingly tired of science fiction and fantasy, which frightens the hell out of me because without SF/F, who am I? So there’s increasingly little reason for me to try to keep this blog updated.
So, this is, in Nickel Creek’s words, “goodbye for now.” The blog will still be here (I don’t begrudge $100/year). But there won’t be any updates any time soon. Same story with Solidarity Forever: The History of American Labor. The audience interest just isn’t there, and I’m tired.
I’m not blaming any of you. If you’re reading this, you’re part of the stalwart few. And I just want to say …thank you. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
This is just a short check-in. My computer can no longer detect its wifi card and I need to take it into the shop for the professionals to look at it. I’m not sure how long that will take, so the update in two weeks might be delayed or even skipped. Updates to the newsletter, Patreon, and Solidarity Forever are the same story. Sorry about that!
I’ve been coping with some severe writer’s block since mid-July. I’m experimenting with some different projects to try and find a crack in the block that I can wiggle through, but this, too, will take some time.
Being limited to my backup computer, which is so ancient all it can really do is run Word, might help. 😛
Finally, I have been interviewing for several jobs. When I do get a job (and I will), it’ll cut into how much I can write and how much I can do the business of editing and publishing. But I will get out a novella here and there, regardless what job I do get.
Well, the Nebulas are over. The winners announced, the new board of SFWA sworn in, and everything. I may not have pictures, but I have some thoughts.
First, I want to congratulate all the winners and finalists. Félicitations! You’ve all earned it, and especially in short stories and novelettes, the stories were really strong this year. Choosing a winner must have been a trial.
But I’d especially like to congratulate Naomi Kritzer and our oldfriend, Ai Jiang. Naomi’s two finalists were a joy to read and a breath of fresh air – hope for the future. In her acceptance speech for the winning novelette, “The Year Without Sunshine,” she spoke of its inspiration – of wanting to kick against the idea that there could be no handicapped people in the apocalypse, and how a community comes together around their neighbor in need. That’s the kind of message, and the kind of science fiction, we need today.
But it wasn’t all awards and speeches. There were many, many great panels this year – just of the ones I attended, Novellas and Novelettes, Setting as Character, and the LGBTQ+ meetup were standouts. The ones I missed, I’ll be watching the videos and taking notes.
I even sat on a panel (again!) this year. Last year, it was “Unusual Short Story Formats.” This year, “Religion in Worldbuilding.” With Rachel Gutin, Sue Burke, Shvarta Thakar, and Natalie Wright, (a Quaker, a Jewish woman, a Unitarian Universalist, a Hindu, and an atheist, respectively), we ranged from why religion might be important (even in science fiction) to practical polytheism. The audience’s questions were great, too. Afterward, we adjourned to the Cooper Suite to continue the conversation, where a Friend from Ville Québec interrogated me about how hard it is for me to write Quakers.
Seriously. Hindu characters, Jewish characters, Catholics, atheists and Episcopals? Fine. No problem. Writing Quakers? Haven’t succeeded yet. …well, maybe once.
Speaking of my own writing…
I had an office hour with an editor who really understood Doña Ana Lucía. That’s right, To the Future! is out in the mail. Win, lose, or draw, I’m glad there’s someone in the industry who smiles when I say “it’s everything I thought was cool when I was 14” and understand the importance of nice, long names. Hold me in the Light while she considers To the Future!.
Which brings me to my last point. After office hours and some instructive panels, I’m making some changes to my independent writing career. I’m approaching the dirty thirty short stories, where each new title gently boosts sales on all the old titles. That’s fine, especially since they all sell rather modestly. But I’m going to move away from short stories.
Instead of one short story a month, I’m going to focus on (a) getting Doña Ana LucíaSerrano…to the Future! traditionally published, and (b) releasing a novella every three to six months. They’ll be 25,000-40,000 words – short enough to finish in an evening, long enough to sink your teeth into. And I’m going to start experimenting with series again, something I haven’t really done in a decade (aside from Doña Ana Lucía herself). Series, shared worlds…my stories are going to get bigger, in every way. I’m already gathering ideas, from swashbuckling lesbian space pirates to fantasy Quakers (because, hey, what’s the point of writing if you don’t challenge yourself?).
The diversity of voices, depth of characterization, and lived-in worlds that you’ve all praised for the stories in The Night Meeting will still be there. They’ll just be full meals every three months, instead of snacks every month. Trust me, they’ll be worth the wait.
This also means pivoting away from some of the intense marketing I’ve been sucked up into. Marketing is a gas – it will expand to fill the available space. I’m scaling back to blog updates every other Friday, and one update per month on the Innerspace newsletter and Patreon. But they’ll be richer for it – I’m incorporating more of the new prose I’m writing into the newsletter and into Patreon, so there’ll be more of the fiction you love coming to you.
That’s all the news that is news at the top of the hour. See you in two weeks!
That’s right, this week is this year’s Nebulas. You know I’ll be on the Religion in Worldbuilding panel (Friday, 7 June, starting at 3:00pm), but here’s my (planned) schedule for the weekend.
June 6, 1:30 – Novellas and Novelettes June 6, 4:30 – Love Beyond the Romantic
June 7, 9-12 – Party Suite hosting June 7, 1:30 – Setting as Character June 7, 3:00 – Religion as Worldbuilding June 7, 4:30 – Time Management OR Building Your Crew
June 8, 9:00 – Smaller is Better June 8 12-3 – Party Suite hosting June 8, 6-8 – Party Suite hosting
June 9, 10:30 – Planning Publicity
As you can see, my volunteer hours have me in the Party Suite. If you’re attending the Nebulas, drop on by!
The Night Meeting is now available, in ebook and print formats!
“Brilliant and beautifully written, Mathieu’s stories span the ages and blur the lines between past and present, alien and mundane.” – Anthony W. Eichenlaub, author of Not Done Yet: Sci-Fi Stories of Wisdom and Fury
“I was instantly drawn in by the stream of tales, some easy to understand, some confusing by their alien nature.” – William C. Tracy, editor of Space Wizard Science Fantasy
“Mathieu’s narrative voice is so good. His characterization, though, is what really shines though — really burning bright.” – J. D. Mitchell, author of Curse of the Worlds
“Readers of works like The Expanse ought to enjoy this dynamic blend of themes and concepts.” – Austin Conrad/Akhelas, author of To Hunt a God and Treasures of Glorantha
“[T]antalizing realism and teasing bouts of imagination…” – Barbara Swihart Miller, author of The Call of Gold
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Two men meet around a campfire at night. For one, it is sweltering summer in the jungle primeval. For the other, it is bitter winter beneath steel skyscrapers. Both men are seers, but they cannot both be true. So which is the dreamer, and which is the dream?
To solve this riddle, they tell the stories of what they have seen – things which were, are, and are yet to come. The two men, over the course of the strange night, share visions from humanity’s last message to the stars to Buddhist beatnik vampires of 1955 San Francisco. These fifteen tales, including five all-new, all-original stories, will thrill you, perplex you, and enlighten you.
If you like classic collections like The Illustrated Man and Glass and Gardens, you will love sitting in on The Night Meeting.
My new anthology, The Night Meeting, coming out May 31, is now available for pre-order on Amazon! This is the first time I’m offering pre-orders here on R. Jean Mathieu’s Innerspace, and not as an exclusive for my patrons or my newsletter subscribers, but The Night Meeting is absolutely worth it.
And in further good news, the reviews are in, and the reviews are glowing:
“Did the Earth burn? Does a creation consume its creator? Does the city of Mazghunah exist if tourists don’t know about it? Can engineers preserve Canadian winter under glass?”
I’m proud to announce that my new anthology, The Night Meeting, will be coming out May 31 from FedoraArts Press!
Two men meet around a campfire at night. For one, it is sweltering summer in the jungle primeval. For the other, it is bitter winter beneath steel skyscrapers. Both men are seers, but they cannot both be true. So which is the dreamer, and which one the dream?
To solve this riddle, they tell the stories of what they have seen – things which were, are, and are yet to come. The two men, over the course of the strange night, share visions from cities that rise from the sea to humanity’s last message to the stars to Buddhist beatnik vampires of 1955 San Francisco. These seventeen tales, including six all-new, all-original stories, will thrill you, perplex you, and enlighten you.
If you like classic collections like The Illustrated Man and Glass and Gardens, you will love sitting in on The Night Meeting.
This is a project years in the making – a collection of all my favorite short stories (and yours, too). Many of them are old favorites, but five of them, including the title story, have never before been published or seen.
Melissa’s cover, in its idiosyncratic and handmade design, is the perfect, arresting image for this anthology. You can’t mistake it for anyone else, and certainly not for a gen-AI image.
The Night Meeting comes out on Amazon and Kindle on May 31. With a little luck, it will also be out in print the same day. I’ll see you then.
Not your traditional sports story, “Earthball” (and Earthball) are all about teamwork and togetherness in a future you might even want to see.
Cover by Melissa Weiss Mathieu.
The ball spun perfectly in the middle of the ship’s storm cellar, blue-green, round and full as a living planet, suspended in place, ready for play, pregnant with unspent momentum.
“…HAJIME!” Cried Captain-Grandmother Atsuki.
As one, with cries of kiai, two dozen sprawling bodies launched themselves from every angle, every bulkhead slapped with foot and limb. Two dozen howling spacers hurtling together toward the big round ball, which nearly slipped from grasp from the split-second difference of these hands arriving on its smooth rubber surface just before those hands. But those hands touched the ball, and reestablished something like equilibrium, before the smooth surface slipped again, caught this time in Ensign-Niece Oceanne’s belly, just under her floating ribs. Her loud ‘ouf!’ gave way to the subtle cries and laughter of the game of Earthball, as crew bumped into one another in the frantic, writhing effort to keep the slippery ball in place, far away from any bulkhead whose merest glance would end the game.
On the free trader Kanno-Maru, there are only so many ways to stand out from the crowd of family. Ensign-Niece Kanno Oceanne struggles to find her place on the ship, amidst Kanno family expectations and Kanno family values. She is not quick about her duties, nor is she studious in her schooling. But in the game without teams, only teamwork, the game of Earthball, she has a chance to shine.
If only her father would let her.
When her cousin suggests she switch sides, Oceanne eagerly accepts. Little does she realize that her change of position sets in motion a chain of events that could tear the crew, her family, entirely apart.
For fans of inspirational sports stories (or hippie games), “Earthball” is the only game in town.
Been a Hell of a year, hasn’t it? Then again, so was the entire Trump administration.
My year opened with a double-embolism and ended with a gout attack. In between came the slow-motion loss of my day job and the resulting chaos bringing my rhythm of writing, editing, mailing, remailing, updating, hustling crashing down around my ears.
I got two Quaker articles published, “A Quaker Rosary” in Western Friend and “A Friend with Taoist Notions” in Friends’ Journal. Western Friend called me back for an interview on their podcast even. One reader reached out about my thoughts on martial arts in the meeting-house, and that article will be coming out in 2024. And that wasn’t the only one – no less than Matt Selznick interviewed me for Sonitotum.
Speaking of podcasts – I launched Solidarity Forever: The History of American Labor, with notes right here on R. Jean’s Mathieu’s Innerspace. This is the soup-to-nuts labor history in this country, the bloodiest labor history in the developed world, from 1619 to 2024 and beyond. And if you don’t like that labor history, go out and make some of your own!
I have Doña Ana Lucía Serrano…to the Future! out under review by agents, I have stories in the mail, and I have a new novel, The Thirty-Sixth Name, a YA Jewish fantasy swashbuckler, open in Word. I have stories to tell, and a voice to be heard.
And, oddly enough, I feel like 2024 will be a pretty good year.
Eligibility: The Voluntolds of America
“Voluntolds of America”
Eligible for: Hugo Award, Nebula Award Genre: Science Fiction Subgenre: Solarpunk as fuck Publication: Reclaiming Joy Publisher: Inked in Gray LLC Link: Amazon.com, Goodreads Category: Short Story Voted “Most Uncomfortably Relevant” by the people I read it to!
Eligibility: Cambermann’s Painter
“Cambermann’s Painter”
Eligibility: Nebula Award, Hugo Award, Locus Award Genre: Steampunk Subgenre: Satire Publisher: FedoraArts Press Link: Amazon.com, Goodreads Category: Flash Voted “Most Too-Clever-By-Half” by a small collection of randos!
Eligibility: The Man Who Shot Lü Dongbin
“The Man Who Shot Lü Dongbin”
Eligibility: World Fantasy Award, Locus Award, Nebula Award, Hugo Award Genre: Fantasy Subgenre: Urban Fantasy Publisher: FedoraArts Press Link: Amazon.com, Goodreads Category: Short Story Voted “Most Mathieuvian” by my wife!
Eligibility: Fire Marengo
Fire Marengo
Eligibility: Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award Genre: Science Fiction Subgenre: Sea Story/Solarpulp Publisher: FedoraArts Press Link: the Innerspace Newsletter (free with signup) Category: Novelette Voted “Most Entertaining to Listen To” by several local writers!
Eligibility: Lost Signal
“Lost Signal”
Eligible For: Shirley Jackson Award, Bram Stoker Award Genre: Horror Subgenre: Psychological Horror Publisher: FedoraArts Press Link: Amazon.com, Goodreads Category: Short Story Voted “Most Likely to Make People Listen for Darkness” by one beta-reader!
I’m proud to announce the first episode of my new podcast, Solidarity Forever: The History of American Labor, has dropped at Acast and your local podcast app.
Solidarity Forever is, as it says on the tin, the history of American labor – from 1619 to the 21st century. Informed by my reading on labor history and organization, and my own lived union experience, I aim to provide the big picture of American labor history – who the mill girls were, what happened at Homestead, the first Red Scare, what a sit-down strike is – and the tools you need to go out and make some labor history of your own.
This first episode, “The History of the History of American Labor” discusses what labor unions are, what the podcast is about, who I am, and why you should care. It’s fifteen minutes long – go have a listen.
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