comedychick

On September 26th, 2015, I got up on stage with my improv troupe, YUM, and delivered a 90 second monologue about how I’d bingewatched seven seasons of Supernatural in the previous five weeks (you can watch the clip below, if you’re interested).

I’d started out just wanting to catch up on the series before season 11 started, but that only required me to watch seasons 8-10. Watching them made me want to go back and revisit the series (and, okay, season 10 wasn’t available to buy yet when I finished season 9, so I started on season 1 again at that point). Though I’ve been a long time fan of the show, having started with season 1, episode 1, when it first aired in Australia, moving to Malaysia disrupted my ability to watch the series regularly. I only watched season 4 after I received it as a birthday present when I lived in Malaysia, and seasons 5-7 were watched when I first moved to the US once I had access to Netflix.

If you watched my monologue above, you can see that I was a bit embarrassed about my level of obsession with the show at the time. It’s not so much because I like the show, but because I watched so much of it in such a short period, and that it was affecting my creative motivation. I’m not embarrassed that it inspired the story I wrote for Marked by Scorn: An Anthology Featuring Non-Traditional Relationships, but I was embarrassed that part of my motivation for wanting to get more into acting was because I thought it would be awesome to a) be an actor on Supernatural and/or b) act opposite Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester). As unrealistic as I know that desire is, my improv director and fellow troupe members encouraged me to go for it, asking, “Why not?” Why couldn’t that happen? Obviously people already saw something in my acting ability through my improv shows, and clearly I had the motivation to keep working on that.

Well, sure, but in the last year and a quarter, I’ve done a few things to go after my acting dreams (whether Supernatural related, or not — when I wasn’t constantly watching it, it was easier to let that go as my motivation). I took classes, like training with Michael Navarra at SF Acting Academy, and then five months training with Jeffrey Weissman. I did workshops with people who work in LA and came up to San Francisco. I submitted myself to roles, auditioned for some of them, and acted in my first ever student film, which I was fortunate enough to be cast the lead in. I had to turn down a last minute opportunity because I was unavailable for the role. I lost 40 pounds, and I dyed my hair back to my natural brown, all because I thought it would help me get more auditions. I went to networking events.

Along the way, I feel like I’ve made a few revelations.

I’m more of a personality than an “actor” or “improviser” or “writer” or whatever else it is that I do. I’m always going to do my best work when I’m working with a team of friends who understand me and want to work with me. When I was the lead in Go Your Own Way, I got a taste of what it feels like to be part of a film cast&crew family. I think this is a big part of the draw of Supernatural, because you can see what a tight nit and caring family they are. You see it in their interactions, and how dedicated they are to their fans, with their conventions and their campaigns. They care. And that’s the kind of thing I want to be part of. I’d rather work with people I like on projects that inspire me, for no pay, than go through the arduous audition process to try and get a part for something I’m not really interested in just so I can get a paycheck.

In improv, I have this. The community, the feeling like family, is a big part of why I’ve continued to follow that route and progress to the level of performing at festivals. I feel weird saying this, but this has been the year where I’ve had improv newcomers come and tell me they were fans of YUM, and my work, and they have said that a part of that has been because of how open and honest I am as a person and in my work on stage. I feel like I’ve had a very small-scale experience of what many of the Supernatural cast have — fans being able to connect on a more personal level. It certainly changes the appreciation for the person from more than just their work in their chosen craft. It’s an appreciation for their personality. The realisation that this person is human just like you are. I had a conversation with one of these “fans” (again, I still weird saying that, because to me it’s a developing friendship) somewhat recently about their feeling intimidated talking to other improvisers with a lot more experience than them, and the fear of not measuring up. And so I talked to them about my own experiences with feeling like that, and how I built up my confidence over time through working and training with more experienced people, so it led to a friendship.

And then I think about how I was at the San Francisco Supernatural convention this past weekend, and how different things were for me there. It’s been many, many years since I’ve been involved in any kind of fandom community. A Harry Potter one was probably the last, which I left probably back in 2009. Or it wound down. I don’t remember the details. Sure, it was post Supernatural starting, but I joined more for the community aspect than appreciation of fan works.

Attending the Supernatural convention alone and seeing so many people there with a friend, or groups of friends, gave me a greater understanding of what the SPN family community is like. How it’s helped many people find a sense of belonging, and working on various mental health issues. I found myself feeling a little envious that I’ve missed out on some of that because I’m not involved in fandom, and I choose to not make time for it because I have other things in my life that are more important to me. It’s not like I don’t have my own community, my own family. I just tend not to have friends that I talk with at length about the shows and movies I watch, or the books and graphic novels I read. I’ve found that, even though I can get really enthusiastic and excited about the things I’m interested in, I’m rarely able to convince people to take a chance on those interests themselves. I’m about as good at convincing people to watch popular things I like as I am at getting them to consume my creative outputs, which is to say it doesn’t happen very often. When I attended the convention, I thought the only Supernatural fans I knew were: my friend who was originally supposed to go with me, but thought she might have a work thing she’d have to attend; my husband’s girlfriend; and an Internet friend from way back who’s been to a ton of fan conventions over the years. I didn’t think I’d get much reaction posting about any of it on Facebook. That ended up not being the case, and I discovered a bunch of other people who liked the show, who I’d just had no idea were into it because I don’t talk about it that much. And even if some of the Facebook reactions I got weren’t from people who were fans of the show, it suggests that I also have a lot of friends who appreciate my ability to celebrate the things I like on Facebook.

I’m going to talk more about the actual convention when I write up a part 2 of this entry, but there are still some things that relate more closely with the thoughts I had here. Like, before I attended, I figured it’s so expensive, I’d only go to one Supernatural convention ever, because how could I justify spending that kind of money again, when I’ve already seen all the actors I like? I ended up snagging 6 different photo ops because I thought I wouldn’t have another chance to if I wasn’t going to attend another convention. But then actually being there, I felt the value. It made me want to go back. It made me want to connect with other people, even though I was too shy to really talk to anyone. I barely ever said more than thank you to the actors during the photo ops because I wanted to do the polite thing and not hold up the lines, as we were directed in the rules. I mean, I didn’t even introduce myself! I figured they see so many fans at these things, it’s not like they’d remember me anyway. Although I did comment to Rob Benedict, “I’m back again,” when I went for round two of the free Louden Swain autographs, so I could get my CDs signed. I was wearing the same red leather jacket so I thought he might’ve been able to recognise that, and maybe I was a little embarrassed to be doing that. Probably my favourite interaction with another fan was chatting to someone at the Random Acts booth while I made a birthday card. She commented on my “Emma Swan” jacket, and I fortunately knew she was referencing Once Upon a Time, because that’s one of the only other network TV shows I watch at the moment, and I got to comment on the fact I didn’t make that connection when buying the jacket, and I associate red leather jackets more with Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it was just nice to be able to talk to someone who understood all of those references.

A lot of people do seem to return to these conventions, and I certainly got a taste as to why. There’s a part of me that feels a desire to be more of an unashamed fanatic. I don’t judge the way others celebrate their fandoms, but I think I do judge myself. It’s like, I’ll say something to myself to the effect of, “Why are you getting so worked up? They’re just people, just like you.” Or, “They’re never going to get to know you, so just admire them from afar; you don’t need to reach out, and they’re not going to want to be your friend if you’re an obsessive fangirl anyway.” Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter. I’m a bit of an obsessive fangirl of improv rock group Oil in the Alley, but I worked my way to friendship with them, and worked on music videos with them. Granted, I was friends with one of them before I knew who they were, but they still appreciated me, and how much I celebrate and share their work. So, the point is, I could just be telling myself lies in order to make myself behave in a way that protects me from feeling judged rather than letting myself appreciate something the way I want to appreciate it. I know I’d like to attend another Supernatural convention. Maybe by the time I do, I’ll have worked out how to connect more with the rest of the community of fans. Because if there’s any fandom that really appreciates and caters to their fans, it’s Supernatural. That’s been obvious since as early as season 4, when the plotline of the Prophet writing the Supernatural books was introduced, and Sam and Dean discovered fanfiction written about them. Including the incestuous stuff. It’s the only show I’ve seen celebrate that side of fandom to that extent. Even without being involved in the fandom, the meta episodes like those are my favourites.

(Part 2 of my thoughts and commentary after the convention will be more focused on the events at the convention itself, and include the photos I got with the various cast members; I’ll post that sometime after I get the jpegs, which will be better than the scanned versions I currently have on Facebook).

When terrorist attacks occur in Western countries, Westerners can be quick to respond with vitriol and hatred directed at Muslims, whether or not the attack has yet been confirmed carried out by people who identify as Muslim. I don’t know what it was like before September 11, 2001, because I was only 17 then, and not yet aware of the worldwide political landscape. The World Trade Center attack was a wake-up call for many, as it was me. I watched it live purely because it interrupted whatever comedy programme I was watching at the time it started. What I can say is that I’ve noticed attitudes towards “others,” especially Muslims, seems to have gotten steadily worse since then, especially with the rise of social media.

I generally don’t step up to talk about these issues. Part of it is about wanting to keep the peace, though I know where I stand on the issues, I don’t wish to fight with people who disagree with me on them. I also often don’t feel I know enough to make comment, and that there are many more people with a more personal understanding of the situations who are better suited to speak up. I believe it is better to listen to the stories of the people who have first-hand experience with things, rather than having those stories filtered through someone who does not. I cannot begin to fathom the true sense of loss and pain suffered by those who have experienced the violence of terrorism. I have never lost someone that way.

Having said that, I’m tired of reading hatred spewed online, filling up small sections of my Facebook news feed. I am lucky that I don’t have very many Facebook friends who believe all Muslims are evil, but the fact is I have still seen it. I’ve never felt like I could argue with someone who believes such things, so I never spoke up. But I’m sick and tired of that attitude, and I want to say something now.

I lived in a predominantly-Muslim country for over five and a half years. In my experience, the attacks they get in Western culture is unwarranted. Those who I know personally who identify as Muslim enjoy the same things we do. They just want to go about their lives the same way we do. They’re not violent people, on the whole. I’m sick of seeing people blame the violence and terrorism on an entire religion. This video sums up much better than I can about why I think it’d ridiculous to lump every Muslim into one category. There are a lot of Muslim countries in the world. They are not all suffering from the threat of ISIS. Even in the Middle East, The Queen of Jordan has said there is nothing Islamic about ISIS. And getting people in Western countries to fear Muslims is exactly what ISIS wants.

I wish there was a simple way to get people to choose love and compassion over fear and hate. Though I don’t consider myself religious, I was raised Catholic, and I still believe in the compassionate teachings of Jesus and the Bible. Love thy neighbour. My understanding of most major religions is that we should be compassionate to all, not just those who look like we do, and believe the same things. This is true of Islam as much as it is Christianity. I’ve learned this through knowing people who are Muslim. I do my best to avoid poor mass media representations of them, because personal experience with actually meeting them and listening to them should trump that.

Now, I understand the difficulty with that, I do. I’m guilty of not taking the time to ask people questions about their experiences because I’m afraid of saying something offensive. But that doesn’t stop me from reading about their experiences online, where they have made the effort to be heard. That doesn’t stop me from being friends with them and understanding their character, finding what we have in common, outside of religion. Because religious beliefs will always only be one aspect of who a person is anyway.

Not everyone will be open enough to talk about their experiences, but we can always listen to the ones who are. About a year and a half ago, perhaps a little longer, when I still lived in Malaysia, my eldest son’s best school friend came from an Iraqi refugee family. I took my son to visit him one afternoon, and stayed. I got to talk to his parents, but mostly I just listened. I listened to their stories of how Iraq was once a more open country, where Muslims and Christians lived side-by-side in peace. I listened to the pain they felt when they started to see their country change, and the moment where Muslim was pitted against Muslim, slaughtering each other in the street, solidifying for them that it was time to flee their home. I learned about how their family is now spread across several countries around the world, and I felt the pain of being separated by that distance. But they were the lucky ones. They got out. They survived.

I support the idea of letting refugees in. The argument of it being a risk and allowing the terrorists in is ridiculous, because if the terrorists want in, they’ll get in regardless. They will find a way. I would like to think that standing with these people, allowing them into our schools, will create a better understanding of what they have been through. More compassion. When they stand among us, we won’t have to give in to the fear created by the media, because we will personally know these “other” people and know that the media is lying to us. The media should not control us like that, and we have the power to stop it.

Because they are just like us. Their children are just like our children. I am proud of the fact that my kids go to a school with mixed ethnicities and religions. A couple of weeks ago, I chaperoned four kids for my 3rd grader’s field trip. My son was one of them. One of them was a Muslim girl, and the other two were Hispanic kids. They all behaved the same way. Childhood innocence. But who they grow up to be will depend a lot on how they are treated by those who don’t look like them. I wish they could grow up in a world where they had the same privileges my son does. I wish they could grow up in a world that will treat them with the respect they deserve. But I’m afraid with the attitudes I see around the world, that dream is too far to grasp.

The media needs to do a better job of shaping our positive attitudes towards “other.” I do what I can with the anthologies I publish, but I’m only a small independent publisher, and what I release doesn’t have the wide audience it deserves to have. But I still do my best to make those voices heard. In my last anthology, that included a story about a grieving Muslim mother, experiencing loss the same way anyone else would. In the anthology I’m working on now, there’s a story about the difficulty of being gay and Muslim. Both of these pieces were included because I really feel it’s important for people to see the similarities of their experiences, rather than the differences.

We are all human.

It’s time to stop being scared of people just because you don’t personally know anyone who fits into a particular race or religion. The majority of them are not like their negative portrayals in the media.

YUM! cast members, from L to R: Dillon Thomas, Heather Field, Hemant Sharma,
Adrian Bosada, Jean Nachiwala, Casey Trujillo, Nilay Shah, Dominica Malcolm
Photo by Michael Astrauskas

Since my last update about my first 8 months in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been getting even more involved in the improv scene. In that post, I wrote about wanting to audition for Leela’s PIE program, and that their PIE group YUM! had been one of the first groups I saw in San Francisco, before I even knew about Leela.

Though I hadn’t had the requisite Improv III class under my belt, I auditioned with Leela at the end of March, and was subsequently cast in YUM!, much to my surprise and delight! I was able to take the Improv III class in the lead up to our first show, whilst also rehearsing weekly with the latest cast (pictured above), as well as going to weekly duo classes with a separate partner, Syeda Huq. Whilst I am still going to these duo classes and YUM! rehearsals, I wanted to write a bit about my experiences with YUM!, as it’s really had a profound effect on my life. Then, at the end of this post, you’ll have the chance to watch us in action, as our first show was uploaded to YouTube.

YUM! Photo by Michael Astrauskas

The thing that has struck me most about working with YUM has been the level of support I’ve received from my fellow troupe members. I was particularly touched by how Adrian and Dillon — the only remaining members from the troupe as I first saw them last year — supported me when I participated in the Lady jam at the end of the Femprovisor Festival in May, before I’d had a show with them. Heck, we’d only had two rehearsals together by that point. It’s really meant a lot to me to have felt welcomed by those I see as being far more experienced than myself. Especially since I could probably have described myself as being a fangirl for YUM! once I’d seen them perform for the first time. I’m pretty sure they were on the line-up for the first Leela show I went to, and why I’d dragged myself out to see it.

We’ve been connecting really well together, and I feel like our current format with truthful monologues has really allowed us to bond and trust each other quicker than we might have otherwise. Of course, the atmosphere of Leela in general also lends itself to that truthful fun.

Immediately following our first show, or rather the morning after, we were able to gather together for a group retreat, which took place at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, followed by spending the night at Dillon’s place, where half of us stayed up until 6am. Words cannot really express how incredible of an experience it all was, but it certainly helped us feel closer to each other. We’ve found in-jokes and catch phrases, that in part came out of our first show, and has just continued to grow.

YUM! at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

After barely two hours sleep (for me — the others who stayed up until 6am with me seemed to get a little more sleep than I did), we snuggled up with each other on Dillon’s bed and an air mattress to have a last minute discussion on what our photo shoot would entail, as we were scheduled for a session at 1:30pm. A couple of us didn’t really have time to go home due to the distance we lived from Dillon’s place and San Francisco, so that factored into things. I ended up having to rush to a clothing store with Adrian once we arrived in San Francisco, and we were lucky I found an outfit that fit with our plan for “scholarly look” on the clearance rack in only a couple of minutes, and that it fit perfectly once I tried it on. Meanwhile, Jean drove Casey, Hemant and Nilay back to San Francisco, and they’d been tasked with getting dictionaries for the shoot, but when they couldn’t find enough, ended up getting Dr Seuss books, which we all decided via whatsapp actually worked even better for us. It blows me away just how easily everything has come together for us. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more connected with a group of people than I do with YUM!.

All up, I just feel so incredibly lucky to be working with such a talented, open, and honest group of people. Our director, too — Christopher DeJong — has been great. He’s really encouraged us to open up with our truths, and dig deep with our emotional vulnerability. The exercises he’s given us during rehearsal have been great to help us focus on the things that we as a group have decided we want to work on, and I think that’s a really important attribute to have as a director.

So, now, feel free to watch our first show!

Our next shows with this current cast are on June 13th, along with Sketchy Alley and Couples Counseling, and June 27th alongside That One Troupe and Sketchy Alley. Both shows are at the Ninth St Independent Film Center in San Francisco, starting at 8pm.

Tickets are available online for $15 or $20 at the door. See Eventbrite for the tickets: June 13 and June 27.

Getting to this point has been a long and sometimes emotionally difficult road. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel once I finally held my novel in my hands. Creating the ebook files was almost too easy for me, with my background in Internet Computing. It didn’t quite feel real then. And whilst battling with depression, I thought there was a strong possibility that I wasn’t going to feel anything.

Thankfully I was proven wrong by that. In one of my more obvious narcissistic tendencies, on the day the book arrived, I kept looking at it, admiring my work, from the cover design, to the formatting inside. Then I’d look at how thick it is and think, “Wow, did I really write that much?”

I’ve been working hard on sorting out the Indiegogo perks, looking at sales avenues, and various marketing opportunities, over the last few days. I got to be a guest on a new podcast, which will go live on September 20. That was a lot of fun to do. Go check out Stark Raven Mad Radio to see what it’s all about!

Now to let you know what else is happening with the book.

I set up a pre-order for the ebook, and PayPal “buy now” options to order it direct through me. If anyone orders it via the PayPal links before the release date, I’ll try and get them sent off early. While I’m travelling until Sept 1st, I may not be able to get those orders organised until I return, but I can do my best to try. You can check out those options here, or you can wait until the official release date (September 19) to buy it direct from Amazon and other locations.

I’m also running a giveaway on Goodreads right now! 3 paperbacks are up for grabs, so feel free to check that out! That’ll end on the release date.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Adrift

by Dominica Malcolm

Giveaway ends September 19, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter then you may be aware that Fae Fatales: A Fantasy Noir Anthology already reached its primary funding goal. This means the book is definitely happening, and everyone who has contributed through the Indiegogo campaign will get their copy of the book. It reached the goal less than halfway through.

Since then, Jax Goss announced that she was increasing the goal to $2160 in order to commission 10 artists, one for each of the stories, so she can send out a collection of postcards to everyone who orders the book through Indiegogo. But she’s not waiting until the book reaches that goal — she’ll have one new artist for every $66 over the goal it goes. As I write this, we have enough for three artists, all of which have been assigned. However, the call for artists is still open, so if you are an artist or know someone who is, check that out on the Solarwyrm web site.

Since it’s also been publicly announced now, I can also tell you that I was fortunate enough to have been the lucky writer who was assigned the first artist to a story. That means if you pre-order a physical copy of the book on Indiegogo before April 12th, you will at the very least get a postcard with a picture that accompanies my story, Siren (plus at least two more).

So who is my artist? Grace Jensen (That’s a link to her online portfolio so you can check it out). I really liked the art on her portfolio, and have already seen her draft black and white drawing. I love it already, and can’t wait to see it in colour! Here’s what she had to say about my story: “Siren is beautifully written and the suspense is enthralling. (I tip my hat to the author!)”

The other artist presently announced is Ashley Frary, who I’d recommended because I adored the work she had contributed to Plunge Magazine.

Word is getting around about the anthology too:

On Tuesday Fae Fatales was mentioned on Plunge Magazine’s Tumblr, which is used for their news, because I was one of their first writers.

Today, Kristen Duvall interviewed me about crowdfunding, Fae Fatales, Solarwyrm, and me.

We’re now sitting at 61 contributors and $1748. That’s $16 away from funding our 4th artist. Will you help us get there?

Also, if you’re not already following us on Facebook, Fae Fatales and Solarwyrm Press both have Facebook pages. They’re great places to be to follow all the latest news.

Over the past 11 days, Fae Fatales: A Fantasy Noir Anthology has been up on Indiegogo, doing nicely with contributions from people who want to see the book in print. As I write this, it is at 80% funded, with 19 days to go. We’d really love to see it fully funded early so we can start organising stretch rewards – additional perks that everyone can get once we reach higher goals.

It’s been an interesting experience for me. Last week Jax gave me access to editing the campaign details so I’ve been a bit more hands-on involved than I had been in the beginning. I had sought some advice on a writer’s forum about marketing and how to attract interest, but the advice tended toward the content on the campaign page rather than how to find people or what to say separately from that.

Having said that, it did help us to come up with more information for people, which you can now read about on the campaign page. If you had a look at the link before but weren’t sure if it was something you wanted to support because there wasn’t enough information up, now’s the time to go back. Since I previously wrote about the campaign, these updates have been made to the campaign:

* The book now has a title and a tagline.

* The page count has been listed (it’s approx. 270 pages).

* 7 of the 10 writers have contributed information about themselves and/or their stories which feature in the book.

* New perks have been added, including a $1 raffle ticket for a chance to win a copy of the book, specifically designed for those who want to help out but can’t afford to buy the book at this time.

There are also a few writer-specific packs. I’m personally quite fond of Jax Goss’s pack where you can get a copy of Fae Fatales along with a signed copy of her collection of short stories, The Edge of the Map, and a personalised short story written by her. I myself am offering to either draw a cartoon of you, much like the examples I have on my artwork page, or write a short film screenplay for someone, like the ones I have posted on my writing page.

During the week I also had the opportunity to read Jax’s story in the anthology, and I have to say I was very impressed with it. This doesn’t surprise me, since I enjoy Jax’s spin and voice when she writes fantasy (that being part of the reason I submitted something in the first place), but I felt very fortunate to have that sneak peak. She writes with a very clear voice that works well for the genre.

For me, being as personally involved as I have been in the developing the campaign page and promoting on social media, I liken this as a helpful learning experience. When it comes time to raising money for marketing and releasing my novel, Adrift, this is how I want to go about it. Yet, I worry about my ability to get people on board. Fae Fatales has thus far been more successful in receiving contributions from people who know some of the other writers rather than myself, and it’s hard for me to deduce why. Are my people holding out for my novel instead? After all, I have been talking about that on Facebook for over a year. I have a list of 50+ people who want a copy of that, but they’re not buying this book. Or is it that I’m not saying the right things to the right people? As someone who has often struggled with social interactions, I worry that this might be the case. And then I wonder, if I can’t personally build interest in an anthology I’m in, how am I going to make sure my novel is successful? On that note, I’m probably more likely to get my book out sooner if I can see more of my people supporting this one.

Perhaps it’s simply that I’ve not done a good enough job of explaining to people how crowdfunding works, and why it’s important to contribute within the period that the campaign is up. After all, my promoting the link around various parts of the Internet has drawn in 170 clicks (so far), yet I can only claim 3 of the pledges. It may be a case of me being too familiar with crowdfunding now that I don’t know how to explain it to others. But this is the most important thing for you to note: often times, if a campaign does not reach its goal by the target date, it does not receive any of the pledges, and backers do not get their perks or rewards. This ends up disappointing both the people running the campaign, as well as everyone who pledged money toward it. We all want it to be successful.

I’ve been supporting crowdfunded projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo for over a year, with a total of 26 projects backed between them (plus 1 on Pozible). Very few have been unsuccessfully funded, in part due to Indiegogo’s flexible funding option. The Kickstarters I backed that didn’t get funded gave me an opportunity to support them separately, and still get the perk I selected. I could probably write a whole post about what works for me as a backer and why I’ll decide to fund something, but I’ll save that for another time.

For now, what I’d like to hear from you about is, if you’ve been involved in crowdfunded projects before, what are some of the lessons you learned, both pitfalls and successes?

Alternatively, if you’ve had a look at the Fae Fatales campaign page, I’d love to hear from you to find out if there’s anything else you’d like to know about the anthology or writers, or any of the reasons why you may choose to either support or not support it. It is through this kind of feedback that I find it easiest to learn what’s going on, so that I don’t have to extrapolate reasons.

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The link to the campaign for Fae Fatales, in case you missed it before and want to check it out, is here.

Another crowdfunded anthology you might be interested in supporting if you like the idea of Fae Fatales is Long Hidden, which is being marketed as speculative fiction from the margins of history. That means they’re focused on the non-mainstream stories, with characters who aren’t predominantly the straight rich white men who get written about most in history. This anthology isn’t in any way affiliated with Fae Fatales (though one of our writers, J.M. Templet, was published by Crossed Genres in their Menial: Skilled Labor in Science Fiction anthology), I just like sharing the things I’m supporting that I think others might also enjoy. This is exactly the sort of thing I like to write and want to read more of.