Chatter in the Blogosphere

There’s a fair bit of hit or miss going to be on for the next two weeks as attempt to uproot from Scotland – not taproots, though; just couldn’t manage – and resettle my possessions, if not my self, elsewhere. I’m hoping to develop a breezy and brief (Hah! Brief. Who am I kidding?) style so that I post frequently short bursts of things I’ve found intriguing.

With this in mind, I point backwards to the great conversation, “It’s Complicated!” that went on LAST week at CBC Diversity blog. Featuring such well-known advocates for ethnic and cultural representation in YA lit as Debbie Reese, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and some surprising words from experienced editors and agents, this conversation struck up a number of respectful and intelligent exchanges in the comments. A rarity elsewhere, but “Status: Normal” in our community – which is more amazing and precious than maybe you understand, giving the level of vitriol in national discourse.

Add those introductory discussions to the wonder that is this week’s panel discussion at SF Signal on writing race in science fiction and fantasy.. Hosted by Zack Jernigan and featuring David Anthony Durham, Aliette de Bodard, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Ken Liu, we’re getting all kinds of cultural and ethnically diverse opinions and perspectives. This promises to be full of really intelligent, thoughtful exchanges.

Meanwhile, Liz Burns is doing her thing with Kelly Jenson and having an unconventional blog tour. This means it’s bloggers talking about blogging – best practices, ethics, why we do it, where we’re going with it, what we want our relationships with the editorial/publishing world to be — which has sprouted a number of really good points and some intelligent conversation. (No, we don’t believe that blogs are free advertising – we write about the books we love, and if you want a guarantee of something? You pay for it. As you would anywhere else.)

All in all, some good chatter to chew over.