Alisa on the challenges small and non-mainstream publishers face
Over the last few weeks, in the lead up to the launch of our Kaleidoscope campaign, I’ve also had my head buried in my PhD candidacy proposal. I wanted to write a bit about some of the problems, trends, and questions I’ve been exploring for that proposal. Over the next three years, I plan to study the potential for politics in publishing. It’s something I have a deep personal interest in as a small publisher whose books are not mainstream. An important element of the economics of publishing is the idea of censorship – not the kind of...
read moreAlisa and Sue Isle on the Twelve Planets and Nightsiders
I asked Sue Isle to talk a bit about Nightsiders, which was the very first volume in the Twelve Planets series, because it perfectly represents the kind of stories we’re looking for in Kaleidoscope. Nightsiders captures, to me, the core of what science fiction tries to do – act as a sounding bell to warn us off going down a bad path. Nightsiders is set in a post climate change apocalypse in my home town Perth, Western Australia and the four stories follow several different characters not just surviving, but making lives for themselves in this...
read moreVylar Kaftan tells us about her Kaleidoscope story
Vylar Kaftan is a Nebula-nominated writer, whose work is smart and feminist and lush. We were very excited when she sent us a story we both loved for Kaleidoscope. Here’s what she has to say about it. __________________ When I heard about Kaleidoscope, I knew I wanted to be part of it. A kaleidoscope finds its beauty from the whole, in the unified picture. Without it, we’ve just got scattered pieces of plastic. Even as a kid, I noticed many YA anthos and reading textbooks pigeonholed their stories. I saw stories filling one...
read moreSherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown on Who Gets to Escape
We started working on Kaleidoscope because we wanted to foster diversity in YA and SF. This is something we think is larger than our one project, so we’re also inviting others who care about diversity in genre to share some of their thoughts. Today we welcome Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown to talk about the importance of escape for everyone. ____________________ I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories . . . Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go...
read moreAlisa Talks About Why Kaleidoscope Is Important To Her
We’re about halfway through our fundraising period now (GIANT THANKS to all our lovely backers!), and many people have asked how this project came to be. Today, Alisa is sharing her project creation journey: We started working on the Kaleidoscope project over a year ago now. I remember driving around on a Saturday afternoon, running my errands and listening to an episode of one of my favourite podcasts – The Outer Alliance. This particular episode was recorded live at WisCon and was a panel Heteronormativity in YA Dystopian Novels...
read moreJim Hines tells us about his Kaleidoscope Story
Today, Kaleidoscope author, Jim Hines is here to tell us about his story. We both love Jim’s non-stop work to make the SF community more inclusive, and we were thrilled when he agreed to write something from his Libriomancer world. Here’s what he has to say about why he chose to write for us. __________________ Nicola Pallas didn’t start out autistic. In the first draft of Libriomancer, the character was named Nikos, a weary, arrogant man described as looking “like an accountant in his plain suit and tie, gold-rimmed...
read moreCongratulations to Ken Liu for winning the WSFA Small Press Award!
The WSFA Small Press Award was announced this weekend at Capclave, and we are delighted to congratulate Kaleidoscope author, Ken Liu on his win! This award honors short fiction published by small presses, which is obvious something near and dear to our hearts. “Good Hunting” was the winning story this year, and it was published in October of 2012 in Strange Horizons. Julia had the honor of editing it, and she says she loved it immediately because of the lush setting, the exploration of ways people adapt when faced with...
read moreHappy Coming Out Day!
Today is Coming Out Day in the US, and Julia has something to share with you: Hello, Kaleidoscope community! I’m one of the editors, and I’m also bisexual. When I was growing up, I had a lot of struggles with my identity and orientation. I was convinced that being anything other than a straight cisgendered person was wrong, and I was very ashamed of the feelings I had. It wasn’t until I was away at university that I came out. I was 20 years old, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done! I had to do it,...
read moreFree Fiction by Kaleidoscope Author, Sofia Samatar
We are only $80 shy of the $4,000 mark in our Pozible campaign! When we hit that, we’ll do a special update, so please spread the word, and help us get there! In the meantime, we thought you might like to read a contemporary YA fantasy story that we loved. “Selkie Stories Are For Losers” is by Sofia Samatar, who’s also written a FANTASTIC story for Kaleidoscope! Strange Horizons published this story in January of 2013, and Julia remembers all three fiction editors being enchanted by it from the first. They loved the...
read moreThank you to our first 50 backers!
We’ve reached 50 backers on Pozible, so Julia’s made a thank you video, starring her cat, Desdemona (AKA Monster)! THANK YOU! Please keep spreading the word so we can get this project fully funded! Tell all your friends to back Kaleidoscope on Pozible now!
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