Hello everyone! About two weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the 47th international conference for the fantastic in the arts, and it was so lovely to see old faces and meet new faces alike!
This year was my last year of eligibility for the Must Read Books (formerly Dell) Award, and like last year, I came in as first runner-up, this time for my story KINESIS. New this year was the chance for all awardees to read an excerpt from our winning stories—previously, only the winner had that opportunity. Here’s a recording of my reading, and below, a link to a full video of all of the awardees’ readings.
In addition to reading my own works, I had fun listening to other authors read their works and to scholars within the field present on topics around this year’s theme of metacognition. Admittedly, much of my time was spent sitting next to the pool enjoying the temperate Orlando weather (a delightful contrast to the 40 degree weather in Montana that week) while editing some new stories and compiling spreadsheets on my upcoming grad school decision—more on that later—but I still learned a lot! It was nice to take a break from the world of snowboard instructing and put my academic cap back on for a few days, and boy do I have a long list of new story ideas and research topics to work my way through.
I will admit, the end of this era has been a bit bittersweet; I still plan on attending ICFA in the future, either as a presenting scholar or as a guest author, but gone will be the days of the longhorn steakhouse dinner (this year I got to sit between Ann Leckie and Fran Wilde—how crazy cool is that?), one hour of private access to the book room (which my bookshelf might actually thank me for), and one on one conversations with the Asimov’s editors, which are all things I always look forward to. However, the thru-line through all of those things aren’t the events themselves, but the company I get to keep during them, and I know all of my various connections, professional and friendly alike, will endure long beyond my awardee days into the rest of my career.
Like I said in the Q&A at the end of the full reading video, one of the best things the MRB Award and ICFA have given me is a swift kick to my impostor syndrome’s butt. The last few months of my life have been startlingly unproductive when it comes to writing, and it’s been difficult having to push my creative career to the side in favor of other things. Ultimately, those other things will benefit my creative career, but sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees, and going to ICFA makes that forest crystal clear again, every time. So, once again, I’d like to thank all of the wonderful people I have in my corner—the other awardees, Rick, Sheila, and Emily, and the other authors, editors, and scholars who I’ve gotten to know over the last three years. Mark my words, this year isn’t the last you’ll see of me. Maybe next year, I’ll be lucky enough to have more works published and come back as a presenting author. (To any magazine editors out there, psst, that’s your cue!)
To conclude, here’s a bunch of photos of us from the conference! That lava cake never stood a chance.
reading list from the book haul, for those curious:
- The Ascent of Wonder, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
- Hild by Nicola Griffith
- Steampunk, an anthology edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
- The Witch of Prague by J. M. Sidorova (published by Homeward Books; check them out here!)
- The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu
- The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi
- Bears Discover Fire and other stories by Terry Bisson
- Spear by Nicola Griffith
- Sphere by Michael Crichton
- Voyage of the Mourning Dawn by Rich Wulf
- Rebellion 2456, a Buck Rogers novel by M. S. Murdock
- The Fall of Hyperion (sequel to Hyperion) by Dan Simmons
e. m. kerkman 
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