I teach in the legendary kidlit-writing program at Vermont College, and this year I had the terrifying honor of delivering a graduation speech.

Here it is. Huge and happy congrats to the grads.

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The great and powerful Cynthia Leitich Smith moderated a We Need Diverse Books roundtable discussion between biracial / bicultural authors. The first post features Chrystal Chan (author of Bird) and myself. Stay tuned for more from Kekla Magoon, Jo Whittemore, and Yvonne Wakim Dennis…

Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman just published Grayling’s Song, her first fantasy novel, which adds actual magic to her already-magical depictions of medieval Europe. She invited other fantasy writers over to her blog for conversation and celebration. (Susan Cooper! Susan Fletcher! Anne Ursu! SUSAN COOPER! The Dark is Rising shaped much of my young brain…)

Ahem. My contributions are here.

K.C. Maguire, science fiction writer and graduate student at VCFA, asked me a bunch of crafty questions about speculative things. The answers are all posted here.

 

I need to talk about narrative structure in Hamilton‘s “Satisfied.” That song is an entire Jane Austen novel squished into five minutes and twenty-nine seconds. It undoes me. I must understand why.

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It is nomination season for the Hugo, Nebula, and Norton Awards. My book Nomad is eligible for such things. But self-promotion makes me squirm, so I’m going to talk about Nomad all the way down at the bottom of this post.

First I will present, for your award-nominating consideration, other Latin@ speculative fiction–most of it written by fellow Cuban-Americans.

 

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When I was six years old I had a Super Grover exactly like this one:

I would hold him while listening to The Monster at the End of this Book. Both of my parents could manage a decent imitation of his muppety voice.

I marveled at the metafiction, felt gleefully wicked each time I turned a page, and wondered why Grover sounded so much like Yoda and the Chamberlain.

Sometimes parents get smacked with the sledgehammer of nostalgia, and then we buy things. I spotted an exact clone of my old friend in a toy store and immediately bought him. Someday soon I’ll give him to my kid. Meanwhile, to honor Worldbuilders and the Battle of Agincourt’s 600th anniversary (again), Grover and I have performed Crispin’s Day.

Worldbuilders is a charity founded by Patrick Rothfuss to benefit Heifer International, because virtue flows through Patrick’s beard.

Many authors donated signed books (mine are in there somewhere). Cards Against Humanity is currently donating proceeds from their Fantasy-themed expansion pack. And absurd videos will go live each time they reach a fundraising milestone. John Green will gargle the first line of his next book. Neil Gaiman will sing a terrifying lullaby to his infant son. Many will attempt to read Fox in Socks. 

Please donate. Earn prizes. Help people. Watch writers embarrass themselves. Build worlds with Grover on St. Crispin’s Day.