IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! MY FIRST!
Presenting…my very first Reference Librarian column in Analog! I had a great time reading a bunch of recent science fiction novels set on and around the Moon. Having sent some fictional astronauts to the Moon in my last Analog story, it’s fascinating to see what other contemporary authors can do with it as a setting. Check it out if your taste runs to alternate history, unusual lunar communities, a Moon book to read to young kids, or a nonfiction book on building and driving Moon buggies.
The books I review are:
- Hot Moon by Alan Smale
- Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
- Sweep of Stars by Maurice Broaddus
- The Moon and the Other by John Kessel
- Molly of the Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
- Into the Airless Wilds by Earl Swift
I hope you’ll read my thoughts, then let me know what Moon-based stories you have enjoyed recently.
MY 2022 YEAR IN REVIEW
I’m pleased to announce that I had a couple of items published in 2022:
- Etruscan Afterlife appeared in The Reinvented Heart, edited by Cat Rambo & Jenn Brozek
- The Holy Wars of Mathematics: A Secret History of the Calculus of Chicanery, which appeared in 99 Tiny Terrors, became available via Amazon.
My Virtual Appearances (still available to watch!):
- Go Indie Now panel on writing hard science fiction
- Go Indie Now panel on love interests in fiction
- Con-Tinual panel on archaeology, anthropology, and paleontology in fiction
My In-Person Appearances:
- Balticon 56 (science fiction convention in Baltimore)
- Chicon 8, (World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago)
- Multiverse (SF & fantasy convention in Atlanta)
Most Enjoyable Reads:
- Hot Moon by Alan Smale
- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
- Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
Most Unexpected Pleasure:
- Being invited to write a regular column. Details soon!
Best Trips:
- San Diego to Seattle via plane, automobile and overnight train
- Runner-up: summertime spent at a lake in the Adirondacks
Best Educational Opportunities:
- Smithsonian Institution on-line classes about art, archaeology, and world heritage sites
- Close Runner-up: The Rambo Academy classes for writers at all skill levels featuring many different aspects of our craft.
Best Museum Experiences:
- Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles
- Royal Ontario Museum, especially dinosaur fossils and minerals
Most Entertaining Streaming Series:
- Wednesday
Guilty Pleasure:
- Enstrom almond toffee
Things to come in 2023: Watch this space for announcements about:
- Murder at the Westminster Dino Show
- Who’s a Good Hellhound?
- Other fun stuff I can’t disclose yet!
I’LL BE A MULTIVERSE FIRST TIMER
Hey look at the neat new promo piece the talented folks at MultiVerse put together for me! It will be my first time attending and being a panelist at their convention outside Atlanta, Georgia. I can hardly wait! Come see me if you’re in the area on Oct. 14-16.
MY CHICON 8 SCHEDULE
The dedicated folks running this year’s World Science Fiction Convention have placed me on a bunch of panels plus a reading and a table talk. If you’ll be there in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, stop by ’cause yanno, it’s been a while.
MY BALTICON SCHEDULE
Here’s where you can find me this weekend:
COME SEE ME IN PERSON OR VIRTUALLY
Catch me on some upcoming panels! I plan to attend the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association’s Nebulas weekend May 20-22. I’ll be talking about alternate history such as my story, The Last Frontier, in Analog Magazine. I’ll also be part of a Q & A about SFWA’s contracts committee. It’s never too soon or too late for aspiring or published writers to come hear about what SFWA members are doing to assist other writers.
I’m also on a slew of panels May 27-30 at Balticon. Some of these will be recorded for those following from home. Topics include
- historical fiction vs. alternate history
- magic in the ancient Mediterranean
- mapping the landscape
- getting the most from writers’ associations
- gods as characters
I love all these topics and can’t decide which will be the most fun! I have at least two more appearances to announce before too long and you can watch them both on You Tube.
MY NEXT STORY DROPS ON MARCH 10!
I tell you this now so you can get in on the ebook for a discounted pre-publication price. My story, “Etruscan Afterlife,” combines an ancient sarcophagus for two people with a mechanism for uploading the human mind and thereby escaping death. It will be in The Reinvented Heart along with stories and poems by some incredible writers such as Jane Yolen, Naomi Kritzer, Fran Wilde, Seanan McGuire, Lisa Morton, Xander Odell, and Beth Cato. Paper copies are expected to be available in May. Still undecided? Check out this review! Kudos to editors @catrambo and @@jenniferbrozek
READ THE ANALOG READERS’ AWARD FINALISTS FOR FREE
For a short time, the stories Analog readers voted the best of 2021 are yours to read right here. I’m so honored to have “The Last Frontier on this list with these fine stories.” I had a great time creating an alternate timeline featuring a woman in the Apollo space program. Hope you’ll give all these stories a read!
REINVENTED HEART: SPECIAL PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE
I woke up this morning to find a Bookbub ad in my inbox for The Reinvented Heart. This fabulous anthology featuring Seanan McGuire, Jane Yolen, Naomi Kritzer and others including me (still hard to believe!) will be on sale for $6.99 until it is released next February. But chances are a lot of you will forget all about it between now and February, so order it now. My never-before-published “Etruscan Afterlife,” plus other stories, will be a big batch of sweet surprises when the book shows up on your electronic To Be Read pile, I promise you.
THE REINVENTED HEART WILL BE A THING!
Check out the gorgeous cover for The Reinvented Heart, an exciting anthology of new stories about love and other relationships in the future, coming February 2022. I can’t wait to dig into the stories editors Jennifer Brozek and Cat Rambo have assembled. In their wise and gently insistent ways, these two editors have helped me keep on writing during deeply troubled times. I’m thrilled to have a story included among those written by such talented writers!
ROSEMARY CLAIRE SMITH 