Call for IAFA GaH Division Head Applications The IAFA is accepting applications for the position of Gothic and Horror Literature Division Head. The deadline for applications is 30 Sept., 2025, 11:59 p.m. US Eastern/3:59 a.m. UTC. For full details, please see our blog post on the IAFA website.

As some of you know, I am the BIPOC Caucus Representative for the Internation Association of the Fantastic in the Arts. We are having our annual online conference (VICFA) from Sept. 17-21. This is a low-cost online speculative conference (with free options!): iaftfita.wildapricot.org/page-1820583

I decided to add this beautiful quote from Ibi Zoboi's (S)Kin to the top of my decolonial Latinx fantasy syllabus: “When you’re raised on folklore and fairy tales, Possibilities are infinite. The lines between Reality and fantasy are blurred—” Ibi Zoboi

Just saw the Hugo results, and I’m thrilled to see three Indigenous authors being honored! Huge congrats to Moniquill Blackgoose, @littlebadger.bsky.social and Rebecca Roanhorse! I have a detailed reading of Blackgoose’s To Shape a Dragon’s Breath in Dispelling Fantasies!

I just donated; help if you can: Help Haifa and Her Children Rebuild Their Lives chuffed.org/project/1370...

Please welcome Tasavvur Magazine to Bsky; they're one of South Asia's few dedicated sff magazines, and they do great work. There are barely any eyes on them here at the moment, so if you're interested in global sff (or a desi reader looking for more desi sff), please do read/follow them:

So looking forward to this release! Let’s get SM-G on all the bestseller lists!

So sad. One of the reasons I write academic books despite not needing to for tenure is to draw attention to authors who can then, hopefully, make enough from their writing to support themselves.

So I spent two years reseaching and writing Dispelling Fantasies to get a bad Amazon review because I spelled a character's name wrong. I feel awful about it; I double checked every author's name and title to avoid errors. But the reality of the situation is I am human.

Quick update on my cancer treatment. The arm still hurts. The doctor was trying to find a vein for almost a half hour. But I'm fine, no worries. Please boost so everyone who's donated can hear the latest. (And if you can spare a small donation, I'd appreciate it.) www.gofundme.com/f/help-r-s-a...

Wow!

It's that day!!! After this, I promise to stop pestering my friends with book news until reviews come in. By the way, if you want a review copy and I don't know you do, message me! The book and ebook are both live at all major booksellers: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dispelling...

One day to go! This post is about the Fourth Chapter of Dispelling Fantasies, Salvation: Rescuing the Dark Other from the White Savior. This chapter focuses on fantasy texts that complicate depictions of colonization. There is also a Tina Turner reference! Preorder today, get the book tomorrow.

Today's Dispelling Fantasies post is about Chapter Three, Patriarchy. This one is pretty self-explanitory, but read this chapter for my explaination of "genre/gender bending" fantasy literature. I also threw in some queer joy and meniacal laughter in there for you all as well.

Time to discuss my favorite chapter of Dispelling Fantasies, Envy: Blood Magic is Not Always Black Magic! Learning about the labeling of Indigenous practices as "black magic" helped me understand the reasons behind so many colonized peoples' fear of practices such as Santeria, brujeria, and Obeah.

Looks very interesting!

Now just $2.5k from being baseline funded for next year. Everything the magazine does relies on reaching this goal. C’mon. If you’re able, you want to be one of the donations that makes it happen, right?

One week until Dispelling Fantasies, so time to hype this book! The body chapters are titled: Virtue: Revising the Moral Order of Epic Fantasy; Envy: Blood Magic is Not Always Black Magic, Patriarchy: Reimagining Gender Roles in Fantasy; and Salvation: Rescuing the Dark Other from the White Savior.

Look what just came in the mail!!! Book is out July 11.

My new review is live! This book is amazing!

I just bought my ticket to the World Fantasy Convention! I am going to follow some of the program participants to make connections before I arrive; feel free to follow me back or not. So excited to discuss Dispelling Fantasies with such a knowledgeable group!

The librarians at LaGuardia are amazing! They posted my open-access contribution to the Routledge Handbook of Co-Futurisms to CUNY's Academic Works website. Here is the link, and the link to the entire handbook is in the comments: academicworks.cuny.edu/lg_pubs/204/

Just finished phone banking for swing state Medicaid recipients to convince them not to vote against their own interests. I hate calling people, but I did it anyway. MoveOn is doing more banking this week from 6-8pm EST. Please consider donating your time: www.mobilize.us/moveon/event...

Dispelling Fantasies is on Kindle! Available 7/11.

I apologize to my UK friends who spent time answering my Fullbright questions. Looks like I won’t be applying this year: www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

If I have any friends here who mentor or teach graduate students in the humanities, please do me a favor and stress to your students how important it is to have a strong, well-framed introduction when essay writing. As an editor, I am reading way too many articles where I am just lost for pages.

Jonathan Joss was MURDERED. Words matter here. He was MURDERED. it was a HATE CRIME because he is a gay Indigenous man. Say those words. Do not dance around it. He wasn't "killed in a shooting." He was murdered in a hate crime.

No better way to celebrate pride month than by finishing season two of Doctor Who! I will deeply miss the pure joy Ncuti broght to this role. And the backlash against his casting is one of many reasons we all need to continue the work of supporting lgbtqia+ communities worldwide ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

If any of my author/scholar friends know someone who would love to speak about the Ryan Coogler film Sinners at @iafa.bsky.social's virtual conference in Sept. 2025, please have them reach out. I an especially interested people with expertise in Black ancestral spirits or Black healer-figures.

I'm finally working out the travel details, so I will share that I will be attending this year's World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, UK at the end of October! I hope to see all my UK friends there and connect with any attending scholars and authors interested in diverse fantasy worlds. Excited!

I'm reading some amazing work for the @iafa.bsky.social Crawford Award. The award is still taking submissions; if you are publishing your first fantasy work this year, send it in and give me more summer reading! iaftfita.wildapricot.org/Crawford-awa...

I'll be participating in this, talking about my very long and winding path to publication along with several other great authors, why we all made the choices we did, and what your options are in a rapidly changing industry. Hope I see you there!

Huge thanks you to the Brooklyn Speculative Writers for hosting me, @chelsabdullah.bsky.social, @csecooney.bsky.social and Carlos Hernandez for our Tolkien talk yesterday. Fun times! What an amazing, supportive group. I encourgae everyone to follow @brklyndragon.bsky.social for upcoming events!

Just a reminder to come to Brooklyn this Saturday if you want to catch an amazing talk on non-Tolkien fantasy worlds: www.eventbrite.com/e/we-demand-.... Tickets are only a few dollars and support a great charity.

Here is the Eventbright page for the Brooklyn, NYC event I mentioned happening next month: www.eventbrite.com/e/we-demand-...

NYC friends! I will be participating in We Demand Stories about Non-Tolkien Fantasy Worlds by @bsfwriters.bsky.social with @chelsabdullah.bsky.social, @csecooney.bsky.social, and Carlos Hernandez on Sat, 5/17, at Hidden Door Games on Dean Street. Come if you can!

As I'm working through my 2nd round of proofs for Dispelling Fantasies, obsessively checking the spelling of author's names, I am so in awe of how many amazing fantasy and speculative authors there are doing such great work. Can't wait for everyone to start adding to their to-read piles!

Wishing @rsagarcia.bsky.social a speedy recovery! Donate if you can and buy a copy of The Nightward because it is amazing!

Such great news today! Dispelling Fantasties was chosen to be included in JSTOR's Path to Open program, which means it will be free to libraries participating in this program in July and then, in three years, it will be fully open access! So exciting! ohiostatepress.org/books/titles...

When I get asked to table on Afrofuturism at my school's Black Empowerment Summit, I bring my book game!

The NEH funded Queens Oral History Project at my college had its funding pulled. My colleagues were told that the funds will be repurposed “in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda.” How many losses will it take for supporters of this harm to realize what they have sanctioned?

I waited until today, so you didn't think this fun, amazing urban fantasy was a joke! Don't take my word for it. Author @teelglenn.bsky.social said, "...The reader is pulled along on a riveting, thrill ride that flips the script on life, death and the true meaning of family!! A great read!" 📚💙

It's been about 2.5 days out of the 14 for the campaign and we are at 91% of the base goal that secures funding! To clarify: the base goal does not cover all the costs of producing the anthology. We intentionally set the goal low to make it more likely we can reach the goal and make it.

New story!!! :D

Sharing a flyer the awesome crew at @ohiostatepress.bsky.social made for an event I have coming up. My books are in pretty amazing company and there's a coupon code!

NUZO ONOH ADAM NEVILLE AI JIANG GABINO IGLESIAS NADIA EL-FASSI RAMSEY CAMPBELL USMAN T MALIK ERIKA WURTH PREMEE MOHAMED HAILEY PIPER V CASTRO ELENA SICHROVSKY CALEB WEINHARDT SARAH DEACON You know what to do: titanbooks.com/72017-roots-...

Announcing this year's Crawford Award judges! Joyce Chng @jolantru.bsky.social Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social Joy Sanchez-Taylor @jsanchez-taylor.bsky.social Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay @bodhisattvac.bsky.social Brian Attebery

Did you or someone you know publish/will publish your first fantasy work (novel, novella, short story collection, or poetry collection) in 2025? I am a judge this year for ICFA's Crawford Award. You don't have to be a member of ICFA to submit: iaftfita.wildapricot.org/Crawford-awa...

By the way, is today a good day to once again exhort people to purchase the Nebula-finalist, Locus-recommended, BSFA-longlisted THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST? A magical forest, a rescue mission, and the only woman who's ever gotten out alive... us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

This looks amazing! Huge congrats to @pedroiniguez.bsky.social. Everyone, support the work and the artist who created this sick cover art, Raúl Cruz.