2017 Awards Eligibility

I’ve never done this before, so I’ll just jump right into it.

Hi, my writing name is R.S.A. Garcia and I have a story eligible for awards this year.

You can read ‘The Bois’ for free at this link.

Really nice people said some really nice things about the story here and here.

There’s a great list of everything published by black authors in 2017 here, which I’m on.

I’m also on the recommended reading list for the Nebulas.

I would love it if you read my story. If you’re a voting member for speculative fiction writing awards and you like it, please consider voting for it.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The Sunspot Jungle Anthology Cometh!

My Nebula recommended short, ‘The Bois’, is going to be in Rosarium Publishing’s new Sunspot Jungle two-volume anthology!

You can read the announcement here.

I mean, did you see the names I’m going to be appearing alongside?

DID YOU SEE?

AND LOOK AT THIS COVER!

Rosarium to release “Sunspot Jungle” 2 volume anthology!2018 will mark Rosarium Publishing’s fifth anniversary. To celebrate, they will be releasing a two-volume SFF anthology, entitled Sunspot Jungle: The Ever-Expanding Universe of Science Fiction...

I’m beyond flattered and excited to be included, and I’ll let you guys know as soon as it’s on sale.

Not a bad start to 2018, huh?

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I’m On the Nebula Awards Recommended Reading List!

The title says it all!

I’m so shocked and SO SO HAPPY!

You can click on this link to see my name up in lights with all the other writers, a lot of whom I admire and can’t believe I’m keeping company with!

I’m recommended reading!

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Me!

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No idea how it happened, but I’m taking it!

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(P.S. apologies for all the exclamation points and gifs, but yeah…you know how it is… 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Shaken, Not Stirred

Yesterday I was curled up in a chair, ignoring my finicky WiFi and playing Farm Heroes on my phone – which has it’s own internet – when I got momentarily dizzy and thought I felt my armchair shake.

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Turns out I was right. Around 11am, we did in fact experience an earthquake. A 5.7 to be exact. Nowhere near enough for most Trinis to notice. I was sitting down, and I always feel them anyway, but my bush-men, who were outside trimming the yard, felt nothing.

I find it odd that in Trinidad we have had up to a 6.7 and had only cracks to a few houses in some parts of the island. Most of the times, if it’s less than 6.0, we might not feel it, and there’s never any damage. This when anything over a 5.5 can cause damage in most other countries. I wonder if it’s because other countries are more densely populated and, therefore, there are more buildings to be damaged.

Which is not to say we’re nonchalant about earthquakes. Quite the opposite. Trinis HATE when the Earth shakes. It panics us the way rain panics Bajans.

What we’re nonchalant about is hurricanes.

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Yep. We’re that crazy.

We live in a hurricane belt but remain convinced that since we haven’t been directly hit since before they started keeping records, we’re pretty much safe from storms. Part of that is due to the fact that the Northern Range of mountains tends to push storms north of us. The rest, if you ask anyone, is because, ‘God is ah Trini’.

Considering the way the weather has changed in my region over the last ten years, I really hope so. Because as another disaster slips past us without taking us down, I breathe a sign of relief while simultaneously thinking, how long can we stay lucky?

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And looking around at the devastation wrought in the Caribbean this year alone, I hope it’s a really, really long time.

 

Still Doing the Grind

I really suck at this posting regularly thing, don’t I?

I make all these resolutions every year and manage to still manage to be more erratic than Trump’s tweeting schedule.

Well, anyway, here I go again. Haven’t got that much to say except sorry for being silent so long and I hope I do better this time around. I might have some writing news soon. Good stuff, though not earth-shattering. Still grinding away on one sequel and trying to shop a Caribbean inspired fantasy.

Wish me luck!

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New Short Story – The Bois

Hello!

It’s been a while, right? Well, I have good news.

I have a new short story out!

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It’s called ‘The Bois’ and it’s in Truancy Magazine’s final issue, Truancy 4. It’s a futuristic take on the Caribbean mythical figure, Papa Bois, set in a colony of Caribbean descendants.

You can find it here:

The Bois by RSA Garcia

It’s free, so drop on by and check it out, along with the other great stories in the issue. Feel free to pass the word if you like it.

And thanks for reading!

The Official NOC #CrossLines Reading List

This has been up since May and I had no idea my book was on such a great list. Seriously, the company I’m keeping is far above my station. It also happens to be a kick-ass list for fiction by and about people of colour.

My only quibble is the link to my book leads to someone else’s book instead of mine. You can find mine here, or you can just click the link right here on my blog. You know, if you still care and all, seeing as this was posted in May and we’re in November. But some of you have Christmas presents to get right? Well, here’s a list full of good options. Go have fun with it!

The Nerds of Color

This past weekend in Washington DC, the Smithsonian’s historic Arts & Industries building was home to the most important gathering of artists you have ever seen. The CrossLines pop-up culture lab on intersectionality brought together over 40 artists and scholars to explore race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, disability, etc.

I was fortunate enough to be invited and helped organize a Reading Lounge and live podcasts — while artist Matt Huynh painted a mural in real time the entire weekend. One of the questions I got asked the most was about the books we included, so after the jump you can find a complete list of books we had in the Lounge!

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NaNoWriMo And Piracity, Arrgh!

It’s been a while. Hope you guys behaved yourselves while I was gone.

Just a bit of news for those wondering what’s been happening since I last dropped by. I signed up for NaNoWriMo for only the second time in my life because I love deadlines and I really want to get this second book done. I’m hoping that being all public will make me push through to the end. Since this is the sequel to LEX TALIONIS, the sooner I have it in the can, the better. I totally got sidetracked by another book, but now that’s finished, time to refocus and try for the long haul.

I’ll be posting a synopsis, and excerpts as I go, to make sure I keep the writing juices flowing. I’d be delighted if anyone here reached out to me on the site and we hooked up as writing buddies for November. I’m MarenaCrewMember on the site, and if you read the excerpts, you’ll figure out what that means pretty quickly lol.

Another thing I’m involved in is an anthology called Piracity that’s been launched on Kickstarter. It’s being produced by Hugo Award winner Cheryl Morgan, in conjunction with Jo Hall and Roz Clarke. If it gets enough backers, you’ll have pirate stories of all genres from writers based in the UK and the Caribbean, and even further afield once funding is successful. Writers already attached include Karen Lord, Gareth L. Powell, Jonathan L. Howard, Stephanie Saulter, and yours truly. You can find out more about the project, including plans for more writers, by visiting the Kickstarter site.

Better yet, there’s currently a contest for the project where you dress like a pirate–or post a picture of a time you dressed like a pirate–and hashtag it #Piracity, and Cheryl and I get to award prizes to the best dressed. The contest ends soon, so enter as soon as you can.

I’ve already finished one story for the anthology, so be sure to back us if you can, or it will go to waste. And who wants to waste a good dragon pirate story, huh? Who?

dragon

I also have another story in case the first doesn’t pass muster, but that one’s set in space and features the Madinah warriors mentioned in LEX TALIONIS and–oh yeah–Shalon herself. It’s set between LEX TALIONIS and the sequel, IACTA ALEA EST, and yes, there’s space piracy.

So good luck at the start of a new NaNoWriMo and I hope I see you over on the site real soon. And be sure to drop by the Piracity Kickstarter and share the love. Because I really, really want to see what the other writers come up with and trust me, so do you.

Until then, stay thirsty, my friends.

Success!!

Just so you guys know, it worked.

You know that book I was posting bits of pieces of on here? The Nightward? Well, as planned, I finished writing it during my break.

I’ve moved on to beta readers and continuous edits, which will end either when the book is bought and polished, or when I trunk it.

Join me in hoping for the first option lol.

Also, am now working on finishing the sequel to LEX TALIONIS. Wish me luck getting that done by end of next month.

And how you doing today?

New Caribbean Beat Magazine Interview!

Hope you’ve all been behaving yourself while I’m away, putting the final scenes in my latest book.

Remember I mentioned some good things were coming up for me soon? Well, one of them just dropped.

Caribbean Beat magazine, the free in-flight magazine for Caribbean Airlines–one of the largest carriers in the Caribbean–interviewed me a while back. The interview is in the new March/April issue. This one is important to me because it’s a special article about the rise of speculative fiction in the Caribbean and several authors were interviewed. I got to keep company (again!) with Nalo Hopkinson, Tobias Buckell and Karen Lord.

How lucky does one girl get, right?

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You can read the interview here.

Hope you enjoy the article. Feel free to let me know what you think by leaving a comment, or contacting me via the ‘Say Hello’ form on this website.

Stay thirsty, my friends, and see you soon!