Narratives Are Maps
June 2020 is not apolitical
No story is apolitical. A story can’t exist without the author making choices about who the story focuses on, what will happen, what the world looks like, and how people will react to the events described. Every writer (and artist) brings to their art their own understanding of the world, their experiences, their assumptions, and their prejudices; these taken together create the often unseen and unexamined foundational elements of a narrative.
And make no mistake: narratives are maps. They can be maps of the physical world or they can be maps of the narrative terrain, an internal map through which the people in the story perceive the cosmos and their place in it as well as the ideas the writer has about the fictional landscape they are working in and the stories they believe are going to be told there. Narratives can also be cultural maps, stories we tell to each other and about each other to define who we are, and who gets to be “we” and who gets excluded and what that means.
We are living in and through a tumultuous time when old narratives are being challenged and new narratives are starting to be written (and radical narratives told again and again until they can be heard). It’s impossible to know what the future will bring as Black Lives Matter activists lead diverse protests on American streets all over the country, as Hong Kong protestors keep fighting for their rights, as people all over the world call for basic human rights to become universal and for governments and industry to take genuine action in a time of climate emergency, all this and more, and beyond all that during a time of global pandemic.
Human beings are social animals. Babies react strongly to faces as they learn to interact. For the most part (although not everyone), humans live in groups of various sizes and shapes; it’s how we survive. This is part of what makes us a political species. We are pattern makers who make art to talk about our lives and our world.
Today I want to amplify some stories and voices that have for too long in American culture been ignored, trivialized, or erased.
Fiyah Magazine got its start in 2016 but the history it builds on is a lot older. You can read about that here, and subscribe for its quarterly blast of fiction and fabulous art.
Enjoy the work of author and illustrator Nilah Magruder. Okay, so I’m a little biased since she is one of Finn’s favorite people but you can check out some of her book work at this link. I have read the lovely picture book Wutaryoo and seen some of the early pages for Creaky Acres, and I can’t wait for their release.
If you follow me on Twitter you’ve seen me talk about my love for the work of writers like Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles), Justina Ireland (Dread Nation), Kacen Callender (Queen of the Conquered), Tade Thompson (the Rosewater trilogy and Making Wolf), N. K. Jemisin (The City We Became), and that’s just scratching the surface and leaving out way too many people. But let me for today add Na’amen Gobert Tilahun’s The Wrath and Athenaeum Trilogy because imo it isn’t well enough known. The trilogy starts with The Root, and my blurb calls it “an intense, emotional ride that combines libraries, monsters, fallen angels, magical powers, and secret societies fighting an ancient war.” Here’s a 2018 Lightspeed interview with Na’amen.
UNCONQUERABLE SUN IN ONE MONTH
It’s a weird time to have a book coming out. My next novel, which is also my first published novel in three years, releases in the USA/Canada market in exactly one month (Hawaii Time but it might be tomorrow for many of you as you read this).
UnSun (as I call it for short) has so far received three starred reviews in trade journals: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist which I can’t find online but includes the line “a candidate for instant re-reading as soon as the last page is turned.” Whoo!
Sadly I do not have a pre-order campaign with cool goodies. If you can pre-order, as I am sure many of you already have, my heartfelt thanks. Same with reviews and word of mouth, especially once the book is released and immediately available for impulse purchasing. Books can thrive or die on visibility. If you can and choose to boost in some way, that’s great and again I thank you, and if you prefer not, that’s also obviously fine.
What I do have for you, that I haven’t shared publicly yet, is this amazing fanart from the great Yoon Ha Lee. It depicts the Wily Persephone, one of the POV characters from UnSun. I cried when Yoon sent it to me because I love it so much.
UK/Commonwealth edition for UnSun
Yes! There will be a UK/Commonwealth edition from Head of Zeus. I’m thrilled!!! (extra exclamation points).
And let’s be real, I adore having a chance to get another take on the cover because I love cover design and illustration. The more covers the better. I believe it might not be published until the autumn but I can’t yet confirm a date. More later.
FAIR WARNING:
For the new few months this newsletter will come out more often than usual.
For example in a week or two I’ll be sending an update on
APPEARANCES
(all online) — schedule to come, but let’s start with
Sunday 14 June at 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT (10 am HT!) a panel at Tor Con/Den of Geek
I’ll be on a panel on Chaos and Cosmos with Andrea Hairston, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Ryan Van Loan, moderated by Kayti Burt.
Thank you as always for reading and for supporting my work. You are all the best.
So says Finn, in the yard.
