Lynne Jamneck

One of the best bits from my thesis report:

“One of the most impressive things about this thesis is that, without actually setting out to do so, it makes such a good case for taking Lovecraft as seriously as we now take Poe. I regard this as a sign of considerable accomplishment.”

Booya Howie!

It’s here! The Lambda Award shortlisted anthology of sf I edited and compiled for Lethe Press in 2008 has now been re-released by Untreed Reads in a host of e-book formats. You can buy Periphery direct from the publisher, as well as amongst others Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBookstore, Scribd, All Romance Books and DriveThru Fiction.

Description:

Periphery is as much about the female perspective of the future as it is an exploration of individual identity in a world increasingly dominated by technology.

How do we define our humanity, if not by the way we connect to others? Yet, even in the realm of the physical and the sensual, technology continues to change perspectives on what it means to be human.

Through the stories collected in Periphery, we experience the intersection between a number of possible futures, and how we will continue to discover through our fallible emotions what it means to be human.

Reviews (refers to the 2008 paperback edition):

“An exceptional collection of 14 stories of remarkable and wondrous erotic science fiction. While exploring the spectrum of human emotions, the quintessential hallmark of great storytelling, the various talented authors take the reader on a magical and sensual sojourn. A captivating and compelling reading experience awaits those who dare to venture beyond the ordinary… . Well worth the time to enjoy. There is something to satisfy everyone within these covers… . A genuine galactic jewel… . Offers an odyssey which will fascinate, excite, and enlighten any reader.” — Arlene Germain, Contributing editor, The Crown

Works on all three facets: as erotica, as Lesbian literature, and as science fiction. Many of the stories emphasize one or two of those facets over others, but a few manage to balance all three with thrilling results. This is also a fine sampling of work from today’s prominent writers of queer and speculative fiction… . Fans of dystopic science fiction will be especially delighted. This would make an ideal textbook for a class on queer literature or dystopic fiction. Grab a copy before the fundies set them on fire. — Sheela Ardrian, Reviewer, Fearless Books

TOC:

Origins | Marianne de Pierres
The Voyage Out | Gwyneth Jones
They Came From Next Door | Kristyn Dunnion
Ishtartu | Lyda Morehouse
Mind Games | Tracey Shellito
The Rocky Side of the Sky | Melissa Scott
Angels Alone | Carolyn Ives Gilman
Devulban Dreams | Jean Stewart
Diplomacy | Catherine Lundoff
Silver Skin | Elspeth Potter
The Spark | Cecilia Tan
Sideways | Sharon Wachsler

While working on the first book in the Strickland Diaries yesterday, I realised that the way I’m writing it mirrors to a large extent what happens in the story. I’ve had a number of structural problems since I first started working on it a few years ago, but I am finally in a place where writing it now feels right — the story feels like it is being told in the right way.

There are several reasons, I think, why it took me such a long time to get a handle on how the story needs to come through. I had problems with perspective, changing from first, to third, back to first, and finally ending up with all but one character being written in third.

This happened for several reasons, the main one being that I wanted to create an additional viewpoint of the protagonist from the perspectives of those around her, this viewpoint being shaped by events of the story and the observations of those around her, while the reader gets another perspective of the protagonist through her actions and subjective observations.

I have ideas about why the story works this way. To a large degree it has to do with thematic content. The story is an interpolation of magic and science, often leading me to have to speculate about how interactions between the two will pan out. A lot of this feels similar to the way in which the different informed/uninformed aspects of the different character perspectives affect events.

It’s a lot fun — and sometimes surprising — to see what characters assume about others when they don’t have the complete picture. What’s more fun is leading the reader along with these assumptions, and then making characters do something completely “out of character”, when really, all you’re doing is revealing another personality trait.

This is definitely something I have assimilated from my own reading. I am quickly bored by characters whose actions I can predict. I want characters to surprise me. I’m not entirely sure I agree with the notion of “out of character”… I can only speak for myself, but in 36 years, I have done plenty of things that would by others be considered “out of character”. Frequently, these actions were pivotal in some way or another, giving me greater insight into my own sense of self, my identity.

I’m currently standing on 60K. The book being the first in a series, the end result will probably be around 80/85K. Soon, then.