I’m thrilled to announce my upcoming Reading Room Residency at the British Library, where I’ll be conducting focused research for my paper on age and aging representation in Star Trek: Picard. The British Library’s extensive archives and historic reading rooms offer the perfect environment for deep investigation.
This week-long research period supports my contribution to the upcoming publication on the third age of Star Trek and its cultural impact.
My latest creative nonfiction piece follows a pair of herring gulls who took up residence on the roof outside my window in April and decided it was a good place to raise a family. The story unfolds in three parts:
Part One: Feathered Siege – The invasion begins
Part Two: Fluffy Occupation – Three chicks turn my life upside down
Part Three: The Last Gull Standing – I thought I knew how this story would end. I was wrong.
Available now on the platform of your choice:
I attended a great show and vary daring show at HUNGR as a part of the Tallinn Fringe and I thought you might enjoy my review, Pole Dancing with the Gods: Norse Mythology for Adults published at Sour Cream and Dill.
Someone wearing a sheet over their head topped by a pair of antlers slipped towards the stage. The specter carefully polished the pole and disappeared again. The crowd hushed as three women entered the stage area: the elven-eared girl and two others in less identifiable costumes. Was the leather-clad dancer with the pixie cut Freya? Were the angel wings meant to signify a Valkyrie? Each took a turn dancing in front of the pole and then on it. The pole quivered but held steady, even when one woman pulled her way to the very top.
If you are in Tallinn, I recommend checking out the events in HUNGR. They are a queer-friendly space who are taking the opportunity to do something different.
I’m pleased that I will be presenting on the subjectof Murderbot and AI at Estcon 2024. The conference is taking place in July at Udu Talu and I will post full details under events.
This is a fun presentation and I’m pleased for the opportunity to revisit it.
I am pleased that my proposal was accepted for Transitions, the SFRA 2024 annual meeting. I will be presenting my paper on The Journey into Old Age in ‘Star Trek: Picard.
The conference takes place in Tartu in May and I’m very happy that I’ll be attending in person. For more information on the conference, please see their website: SFRA 2024 | Transitions.
I’m going to be attending the AXALP ’23 Air Force display next month! This is a flight display and live-firing exercise run by the Swiss Air Force every year. The spectator areas are 2,200 metres amsl (7,200 feet) and although there’s a shuttle taking me from Briez to Axalp, I’ll be hiking the final 708 metres (2,320 feet). I cannot tell you how excited I am about this.
If you are interested in more detail, please read my newsletter post about it here: Wheels Up for Raclette
I’m thrilled to have another story in Nature Futures! I have to admit, this one has an author’s note that’s longer than the story.
“Don’t be mean, Paul. We’ve never had to live through data scarcity.” I cleared last week’s menu, as if that helped. Paul was right, Mom was getting worse. There was nothing so trivial that she wouldn’t save it to the cloud and then make a back-up.
You can read the entire story and author’s note at Nature.
I’m pleased to be presenting at Disruptive Imaginations, the Joint Annual Conference of the SFRA and the GFF in Dresden. I’ll be speaking on the subject of Murderbot and AI on Thursday morning in room ABS/114. I hope to see you there!
I am delighted to announce that I’ve been selected for a month-long writer’s residency on Hrísey Island in Iceland. Next May, I’ll be packing my bags and moving to the island! I’m very grateful to Gamli Skóli, a non-profit organisation supporting artists, photographers and writers, who are providing accommodation and working space. I’m hoping to get a grant to cover travel expenses. The residency will be focused on a narrative nonfiction project which I submitted as a part of my application and at the end of the month, there will be an exhibition on the island (I have no idea how I’m going to do this).
They’ve sent me the initial paperwork which points out three times that it is not possible to buy alcohol on Hrísey. However, the island does have forty species of nesting birds, a supermarket, two museums, a restaurant, a hundred and fifty plastic puffin decoys, and a resident ghost. There are also regular ferries to the mainland with a bus to Akureyri, a city with several breweries, shops and a thriving restaurant scene, so I don’t expect to be suffering overmuch.
Duolingo does not offer Icelandic, which means it is now 0 for 3 of the languages I have asked it for (Welsh*, Estonian, Icelandic)!
This was my second application to the residency. I was worried it would a tough sell, as an older woman working on narrative nonfiction. So I’m immensely happy that I get to have this opportunity!
*(to be fair, they added Welsh but not until after I’d left Swansea).
I’m excited to say that my latest story, Cyber Junk, has sold to Nature Magazine. Who decides what’s worth remembering? Cyber Junk explores the generational divide of data hoarding and information overload in the digital age. This will be my eighth appearance in the magazine.
