Boskone 2018

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Kristin

I’m at Boskone this weekend (February 16-18), so if you’re here, please find me and say hello! I’m doing a reading, and am on 4 panels.

Donald and I are also hosting a party on Saturday (February 17th) to promote the new Mysterion online magazine. Room 405, starting at 8 pm.

Here’s my official schedule for the weekend:

 

Reading by Kristin Janz
17 Feb 2018, Saturday 10:00 – 10:30, Independence (Westin)

Come hear my story about alien anthropologists! “As Travelers in Sky Boats” first appeared in Escape Pod, in 2016.

CRISPR, Gene Editing, and the Future of Food

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 11:00 – 12:00, Marina 4 (Westin)

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) techniques for gene editing are said to find wide application in the food industry, raising the possibility of food that won’t spoil so fast. Or pigs that carry less harmful fat. Such genetically modified organisms (GMOs) carry considerable promise — plus a fat load of questions about possible consequences. Let’s talk about the future of food.

David Shaw (M), Rajnar Vajra, Kaitlin R. Branch, Kristin Janz, Stacey Berg

Faith, Philosophy, and Religion in Speculative Fiction

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 13:00 – 14:00, Marina 2 (Westin)

Resolved: science fiction, fantasy, and horror are perfect genres in which to explore ideas and philosophies, especially aspects of religion and faith. True? If so or not so, why? And what dangers do we face in creating new religions (*cough* Hubbard), or in these kinds of speculations generally?

Rajnar Vajra, Kristin Janz, Janice Gelb (M), Inanna Arthen

The Scientific Method in SF

17 Feb 2018, Saturday 15:00 – 16:00, Marina 2 (Westin)

Scientists abound in science fiction. Do these characters behave like real scientists, the good and the bad? Which authors get it right as they present positive images of scientists, and depict the way they work? The “mad scientist” is a common type in our literature — but is that really the way scientists go wrong?

Kaitlin R. Branch (M), Genny Dazzo, Kristin Janz, Justin Key, Vincent Docherty

Notes: Sir Francis Bacon’s method of reasoning, put forward in 1620, was the first attempt to codify what scientists do. While his can be said to be the first word, we haven’t heard the last word on the scientific method. Names like Kant, Ayer, Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, and Feyerabend have had their say.

Field Medicine in a Fantasy World

18 Feb 2018, Sunday 14:00 – 15:00, Harbor III (Westin)

After fighting orcs or falling into a ravine, you can come out with more than cuts and bruises. Yet without modern medicine, our fantasy heroes are often left to their own devices to stitch themselves back together. What tips and tricks should they know? What nearby items — plants, herbs, spyderwebs — might be helpful? But also: why isn’t there tons more toothache, child mortality, and gangrene in Fantasielande?

James D. Macdonald, LJ Cohen (M), Kristin Janz, Kevin McLaughlin, Christopher Paniccia

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Arisia 2018

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Kristin

Donald and I will be at Arisia this weekend, telling everyone about the new Mysterion webzine (which is currently open to submissions–6 cents a word, y’all!). We’ll also be reading from our own fiction, and I’m on 4 panels.

Here are all the details (all events are at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel):

Donald’s schedule

Saturday, 11:30 pm, Hale (3W): Humorous Horror Reading

Kristin’s schedule

Friday, 5:30 pm, Faneuil (3W): Food and Fandom
Sunday, 11:30 am, Adams (3W): Writing Faith Into Your Fiction
Sunday, 7:00 pm, Hale (3W): Relationship Basics
Sunday, 10:00 pm, Hale (3W): Historical Fantasy and Alternate History Reading (this is a group reading–I’ll be reading “The Vanished Legions” from the forthcoming Tales of Ruma anthology)
Monday, 11:30 am, Douglas (3W): Does Science Fiction Hate Science?

Mysterion Party

Room 454: I just spent the day baking 4 different kinds of cookies, including a triple chocolate variety that’s always quite popular. There will also be a fine selection of local New England cheeses, grapes, a variety of chocolate bars and things covered in chocolate, and some fun non-alcoholic beverages (but I’m not doing mixed drinks this year, because that was just too much work).

Oh, and … I guess we’ll be talking about the webzine? Showing off the anthology? Sorry, I assumed you were mostly interested in the menu.

8 pm until around 1 am (or whenever we get tired and kick everyone out).

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At World Fantasy Convention this weekend

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Kristin

Donald and I will be at the World Fantasy Convention in San Antonio this weekend. We’re sharing a table in the dealers’ room with some author friends, so if you’re attending, be sure to stop by and say hello! (And pick up a copy of Mysterion, of course.)

I’m also doing a reading from my own fiction at 8:00 pm on Thursday, in ExecSalon 3. Come hear my silly story about ancient Romans!

Temperatures are supposed to be in the high 80s in San Antonio, which will be a nice change from Boston, where it’s finally gotten chilly. (Not that chilly, though; I still don’t think we’ve had frost, and there are years I’ve had to start wearing long underwear by October’s end.)

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Mysterion goes online

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Kristin

Last year Donald and I published an anthology of speculative fiction stories that engage with Christianity (still available, BTW).

This past summer, we ran a Kickstarter campaign, hoping to raise enough to pay the authors for a second anthology. When that didn’t quite work out–we only got to 83% of our funding target, and Kickstarter fundraising is all or nothing–we decided we needed a less cost-intensive way of bringing Christian-themed fantasy and science fiction to readers, ideally one that would help us grow our audience.

We’re now pleased to announce Mysterion’s new online home: MysterionOnline.com. We open to fiction submissions in January (and are already open to art submissions), and plan to start publishing stories on the site in April.

There won’t be any paywall, but we will be setting up a Patreon for those who want to support us beyond just reading what we publish and sending us their story submissions. Stay tuned for more information on that… We pay 6 cents/word for new fiction, 3 cents/word for reprints, and $100 for art.

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Kickstarter for Mysterion 2

Posted on July 26, 2017 by Kristin

Donald and I are running a Kickstarter to fund a second volume of the Mysterion anthology. Check it out!

Our funding target is $5000, which would be just about enough to pay the authors. We are able to cover the other costs involved in putting together a book–cover art and design, layout, copy editing, etc.–but we haven’t sold enough copies of the first book for it to be feasible to go ahead with Volume 2 without doing some fundraising.

16 days in, 24 days to go, and we’re at 26% of our goal, with 40 backers. So, obviously, we need to get more people to pledge in order for us to go ahead with this.

What happens if we don’t meet our funding goal? (Kickstarter funding is all-or-nothing, so if we don’t reach our target, we don’t get anything.) Well, we probably won’t quit publishing. But we won’t be able to open to story submissions in 2017.

We’re the only pro-paying market for Christian-themed short speculative fiction; although we’re not a traditional Christian publisher. Our focus is on work that doesn’t fit comfortably in either inspirational or mainstream publishing–we actively encourage story submissions from authors who aren’t Christian, for instance, and are open to publishing fiction that’s critical of the Christian faith as well as stories that affirm it. Read our Theme Guidelines if you’re interested in learning more!

And support us on Kickstarter!

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Boskone 2017

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Kristin

I had posted earlier about my schedule for Boskone–I was going to be on several panels, and participating in the Boskone Book Party to promote Mysterion.  Donald and I were also planning to throw a party.

Unfortunately, we’re now unable to attend due to a death in the family.  However, Mysterion author Robert B Finegold has very kindly offered to take over our table at the Book Party and promote the book on our behalf.

Boskone Book Party
Saturday, February 18th, 6:30 PM
Galleria – Stage · 60 min · Event

Join us for Boskone’s Book Party! See what’s just out from authors you love, and discover new favorites. The book party will include E. C. Ambrose ( Elaine Isaak ), Neil Clarke, LJ Cohen, Milton Davis, Grady Hendrix, Carlos Hernandez, Jeremy Flagg, Kristin Janz, Hillary Monahan, Cerece Rennie Murphy, Ian Randal Strock, Christine Taylor-Butler, and more!

Boskone is held at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, 425 Summer St, Boston.

If you’re there, stop by the Book Party and say hi to Dr. Finegold!  He’ll even have copies of the book for sale, and I’m sure he would be delighted to autograph one for you.

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“The Price of Healing” in Kzine

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Kristin

My neolithic elf story “The Price of Healing” has just come out in Issue 17 of Kzine.  This one is set in the same world as “City of the Dying Sun”, “The Shoemaker’s Daughter”, “The Year of the Bear”, “Brother’s Keeper”, and “Twenty-Seven Images of Retribution”; but it takes place thousands of years before any of the others, in a milieu inspired by late prehistoric Egypt.  With elves!  (I don’t call them elves, because I’ve learned that it’s easier to get short stories published if you avoid using the e-word or mentioning their pointy ears.)

Yes, I’m working on a novel set in this world.  No, it isn’t done yet.

Kzine is a genre fiction magazine for the Kindle, although a paperback version is also available.  They publish science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction, so it’s great for people who prefer reading magazines where each story is different.  Some publications are aiming for a particular sub-genre or aesthetic, and while that can be really interesting if it happens to be a sub-genre you especially love, the downside is that all the stories can start to seem the same after a while (like reading a short fiction collection by one author with a distinctive style).  Kzine is trying to mix things up a bit and publish a lot of very different stories together all in one issue.  So if that sounds like something you’d enjoy, check them out!  The e-book is free if you’re a Kindle Unlimited member, $2.49 otherwise ($4.50 for the paperback).

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“Children of Cronus” out in Silent Screams

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Kristin

I have another new story out, my third this year. “Children of Cronus” has appeared in Silent Screams: An Anthology of Socially Conscious Dark Fiction, edited by Josh Strnad. The Kindle version is available now, with the paperback edition to follow in a few weeks.

From the book description:

Silent Screams is an anthology of dark speculative fiction focused on drawing awareness to the plight of those who are unable to speak for themselves. Simultaneously humane and horrific, each included tale presents a vision of the macabre animated by a beating heart of compassion.

It is primarily a horror anthology (although my story is a science fiction tale about human cloning and transplanted brains), so keep that in mind when deciding if this is a book for you. Horror fans should find plenty to appreciate here.

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“As Travelers in Sky Boats” now out at Escape Pod

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Kristin

My story “As Travelers in Sky Boats” is now up at science fiction podcast Escape Pod.  You can listen to it, narrated by Ibba Armancas, or read it at the website.  Or both!

It’s about clueless cultural anthropologists (in space!), and an island culture not especially enamored with what Star Trek fans might refer to as the Prime Directive.

A sample:

My sister blames the Travelers.  Before they came, she says, we were content within the small world we knew.  No one wondered what lay beyond the flat blue horizon where ocean met sky, or who journeyed between the stars.  Children never complained that there was an easier way to mend fishing nets, that they did not like the taste of seaweed.  Men did not abandon responsibilities to pursue the impossible fantasy of becoming Travelers themselves.

One rainy night, when both she and the water leaking through our roof were keeping me awake, I told her that she sounded like a Traveler when she spoke that way.  Who was she–or they–to tell me how I should live, what I could know or not know?

 

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Mysterion now available for purchase

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Kristin

Well, posts here have been scarce this year.  Apparently editing and publishing an anthology is a lot of work.  Who knew?

Mysterion cover flat

I’m very excited to announce, however, that the anthology Donald and I have spent much of the last year working on is now available from Amazon and other fine retailers (specifically, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo).  (Amazon has both the paperback and eBook; the others only have the eBook right now, although Barnes & Noble should eventually have the paperback as well.)

Our hope is that the book will be of interest not only to Christians, but to anyone with an interest in fiction exploring spiritual and religious themes.  It isn’t “Christian fiction” in the traditional sense.  We didn’t insist on “clean” content or that the stories had to uphold Christian beliefs and values.  We did want fiction that felt authentic to our own experience of the faith, but we didn’t feel that every story had to portray Christianity in an unambiguously positive way.

If you do read the anthology, please consider reviewing it at Amazon and/or other retailers (or Goodreads, or your own blog, or…).  Even critical reviews (thoughtful ones, at least) can help other readers decide whether they would like the book.

We’re thrilled to finally get this out into the world for readers to engage with!

 

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