Come join us in celebrating the 2021 Otherwise Award winners at WisCon next week!

WisCon is an annual science fiction convention with a focus on feminism and social justice, held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. This year’s convention runs from May 26 through May 29.

WisCon is capping its in-person membership at 600 people this year, and they have only a few of those in-person memberships remaining. So if you want to attend in person, register as soon as you can.

Alternatively, you can register to attend the online parts of WisCon. There’s no cap on online attendance.

This year, as usual, the convention’s program will include several panels and other events related to the Otherwise Award, including the traditional live auction on Saturday night to benefit the Award.

Program items listed in this post are in-person except where marked as online.

Celebrating the winners

The winners of the Otherwise Award for 2021 were Light from Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki, and Sorrowland, by Rivers Solomon.

Aoki and Solomon will both be at WisCon 2023 in person. We’ll celebrate them and their winning novels on Sunday night of the convention, during the Dessert Salon, with a brief awards ceremony. We’ll present both authors with their awards and the most important Otherwise accoutrement: chocolate.

(The award for 2021 was announced early in 2023 rather than in 2022, for pandemic and other reasons. The award for 2022 will be announced later in 2023.)

Other panels and program events related to the award

Two panels that are specifically relevant to the Otherwise Award:

• Otherwise Award 2021 and Beyond (Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT), discussing such topics as:
  • The 2021 winners and Honor List.
  • Trends in the handling of gender in speculative fiction.
  • Plans for the award to catch up from pandemic delays.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in SF/F (Sat 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT), which will discuss Otherwise as well as many other organizations.

Rivers Solomon’s panels

Rivers Solomon will be on the following program items:

• Guest of Honor reading and reception (Thurs 6:00 PM–8:00 PM CDT)—Solomon is one of this year’s Guests of Honor at WisCon.
• Fighting the Good Fight with Limited Resources (Fri 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
• Healing From Cissupremacy (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
• Opening Ceremonies (Fri 5:30 PM–6:00 PM CDT)
• Too Disabled to Labor? (Sat 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
• Colonialism and the Social Sciences (Sat 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
• Guest of Honor Reading: Rivers Solomon (Sun 10:00 AM–11:15 AM CDT)
• Abolition and Transformation (Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
• What We’ve Gained and What We Grieve (Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
• Guest of Honor Speeches & Otherwise Ceremony (both in-person and livestreamed; Sun 8:00 PM–9:00 PM CDT)
• The SignOut Autograph Party (Mon 11:30 AM–12:30 PM CDT)

In addition, the following program items will include discussion of Solomon’s work:

• The Fiction of Rivers Solomon (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
• Generational Trauma in Rivers Solomon’s Fiction (Sat 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
• Sea & Sky: Spaces of Black Liberation & Dreams (Sun 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)

Ryka Aoki’s panels

Ryka Aoki will be on the following program items:

• Fighting the Good Fight with Limited Resources (Fri 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
• Healing from Cissupremacy (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
• Opening Ceremonies (Fri 5:30 PM–6:00 PM CDT)
• Otherwise Award Winner Reading: Ryka Aoki (Fri 9:00 PM–10:15 PM CDT)
• Nonviolence in SF/F (Sat 10:00 AM–11:15 AM CDT)
• Redemption 2: Beyond Good and Evil (online; Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
• Guest of Honor Speeches & Otherwise Ceremony (both in-person and livestreamed; Sun 8:00 PM–9:00 PM CDT)
• The SignOut Autograph Party (Mon 11:30 AM–12:30 PM CDT)

Aoki was added to the program late, so may not be listed in some printed or online program listings, but will be listed in errata for each day.

Fundraising auction

Our fabulous live auction will be on Saturday evening of the convention (7:30 PM–9:30 PM CDT), featuring fabulous auctioneer Sumana Harihareswara. It will be livestreamed, but only in-person attendees will be able to bid.

Items to be auctioned include the following:

• A signed copy of 1998 Otherwise Award winner Raphael Carter’s novel The Fortunate Fall, which is currently out of print, donated by the author. (The author has since transitioned and is now Cameron Reed.)



• A ’zine created by Sumana: Quill & Scroll.



• Dead in the Scrub (A Shirley McClintock Mystery) by B.J. Oliphant, a pseudonym of Sheri S. Tepper, donated by Sigrid Ellis.
• A first edition of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, donated by Heather Rose Jones.
• An item to benefit the Carl Brandon Society: a lot of three handspun yarns and a project bag, all made by Carl Brandon Society co-founder Candra K. Gill. These fine-weight skeins include a tonal blue Merino & jewel-toned rainbow sparkle Merino/Cashmere/Stellina (80/10/10), each spun from fiber dyed by women of color fiber artists and a one-of-a-kind mini-skein of mill-end wool mixed with other fibers that Candra blended herself. (Note that these were made in a cat-friendly home.)





• Keepsake bookmarks.

And lots more!

For those of you attending WisCon in person, auction items will be displayed ahead of time at the Gathering on Friday of the convention.

Hope to catch you—in person or online—at WisCon!

We bring to your attention books and short stories published in 2022 by past Otherwise Award winners. As nomination and voting deadlines get closer for awards for 2022 work (Feb. 28th is the nomination deadline for the Nebulas!), consider adding these to your reading list:

• Eleanor Arnason, 1991 winner for A Woman of the Iron People, wrote the short story “Grandmother’s Troll,” published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in the September/October 2022 issue. You can buy that issue digitally on Magzter. The print issue may be available from Asimov’s.
• Maureen F. McHugh, 1992 winner for China Mountain Zhang, wrote the short story “The Goldfish Man,” published in Uncanny Magazine in March 2022. You can read it for free on Uncanny‘s website.
• Elizabeth Hand, 1995 winner for Waking the Moon, wrote the novel Hokuloa Road, published by Mulholland Books on July 19, 2022. You can order it from Room of One’s Own Bookstore.
• Geoff Ryman, 2005 winner for Air: Or, Have Not Have, wrote the short story “Not Best Pleased,” published on February 15, 2022 as part of the book Vital Signals. You can buy the book from Bookshop.org.
• Catherynne M. Valente, 2006 winner for The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden, wrote the novel Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods, published by Margaret K. McElderry Books on April 26, 2022. You can buy the book from Bookshop.org. Also, Valente wrote the short story “The Difference Between Love and Time,” published on May 10, 2022 as part of the book Someone in Time. That book can be purchased at Room of One’s Own Bookstore.
• Nisi Shawl, 2008 winner for Filter House, wrote the short story collection Our Fruiting Bodies, published by Aqueduct Press in November 2022. You can purchase it directly from Aqueduct Press.
• Anna-Marie McLemore, 2016 winner for When the Moon Was Ours, wrote the novel Lakelore, published by Feiwel & Friends on March 8, 2022. You can buy the book from Room of One’s Own Bookstore. McLemore also wrote the novel Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix, published by Feiwel & Friends on September 6, 2022. This book can be purchased from Bookshop.org.
• Akwaeke Emezi, 2019 winner for Freshwater, wrote the novel You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, published by Atria Books on January 25, 2022. You can buy the book from Room of One’s Own Bookstore. Also, Emezi wrote the novel Bitter, published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on February 15, 2022. You can order it from Room of One’s Own Bookstore.
• Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, 2020 winner for “Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon”, co-edited the anthology “Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction”, published by Tordotcom on November 15, 2022. You can purchase it from Room of One’s Own Bookstore. Also, Ekpeki published the short story “Destiny Delayed,” published in the May/June 2022 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction. You can buy that issue digitally on Magzter or contact the magazine to try to purchase it in print.

Past Otherwise Award honoree authors have had works nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards!

Here’s a list of this year’s Hugo-nominated authors who’ve been Otherwise honorees in the past, along with links to where to buy or read copies of their Otherwise-honored works. Join us in celebrating these Otherwise honorees who have gone on to be honored by other parts of the sf community.

(The categories listed here are the Hugo categories in which the authors’ works were nominated this year.)

Best Novel nominated works by Otherwise honorees

N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became. Author’s The Obelisk Gate was longlisted by Otherwise in 2016. Also, author’s The Fifth Season was longlisted by Otherwise in 2015. Also, author’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was honored by Otherwise in 2010.

Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Relentless Moon. (Kowal also has a series nominated in the Series category.) Author’s The Calculating Stars was honored by Otherwise in 2019.

Best Novella

Nino Cipri’s Finna. Author’s “Opals and Clay” was honored by Otherwise in 2016. Also, author’s “​​The Shape of My Name” was honored by Otherwise in 2015.

Seanan McGuire’s Come Tumbling Down. (McGuire also has works nominated in the Series and Graphic Story categories.) Author’s Every Heart a Doorway was honored by Otherwise in 2017. Also, author’s “Each to Each” was honored by Otherwise in 2015.

Best Novelette

Aliette de Bodard’s “The Inaccessibility of Heaven.” Author’s “Heaven Under Earth” was honored by Otherwise in 2013.

Meg Elison’s “The Pill.” Author’s The Book of Flora was honored by Otherwise in 2019. Also, author’s The Book of Etta was longlisted by Otherwise in 2017.

Sarah Pinsker’s Two Truths and a Lie. Author’s “No Lonely Seafarer” was longlisted by Otherwise in 2014.

Best Short Story

Yoon Ha Lee’s “The Mermaid Astronaut.” Author’s “The Contemporary Foxwife” was longlisted by Otherwise in 2015.

Best Series

John Scalzi’s The Interdependency. Author’s Lock In was longlisted by Otherwise in 2015.

Best Graphic Story or Comic

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Monstress, vol. 5. Monstress vol. 1 and vol. 2 were longlisted by Otherwise in 2017.

Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation (adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings). Author’s Parable of the Talents was honored by Otherwise Award in 1998.

Best Editor, Short Form

Ellen Datlow. Editor’s Silver Birch, Blood Moon (co-edited with Terri Windling) was longlisted by Otherwise in 1999. Also, editor’s Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (also co-edited with Terri Windling) was longlisted by Otherwise in 1998.

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We hope you’ll take a look at any of the above Otherwise-honoree works that you haven’t read.

Congratulations to all of the Hugo nominees!

As nomination and voting deadlines get closer for the Hugo Awards (nominate by March 19th!) and other honors, we bring to your attention books and short stories published in 2020 by past Otherwise Award winners.

• Eleanor Arnason, 1991 winner for A Woman of the Iron People, published the short story “Tunnels” in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine on May 1, 2020. You can buy that issue on Magzter.
• Maureen McHugh, 1992 winner for China Mountain Zhang, published the short story Yellow and the Perception of Reality in July 2020. You can read it for free on Tor.com.
• Elizabeth Hand, 1995 winner for Waking the Moon, published The Books of Lamps and Banners on September 29, 2020. You can order it from Room of One’s Own Bookstore or from several other vendors.
• Candas Jane Dorsey, 1997 winner for Black Wine, published The Adventures of Isabel on October 20, 2020. You can buy it from Room Of One’s Own Bookstore or from several other vendors.
• Kelly Link, 1997 winner for Travels With The Snow Queen, published a tarot card in the 20th anniversary anthology of Diagram, available for sale from New Michigan Press. Link also published the short story “The White Road” in A Public Space # 28, published 28 January 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or from the publisher.
• Hiromi Goto, 2001 winner for The Kappa Child, published “The Last Time I Saw You” in the literary journal Brick in the winter of 2020. You can buy a digital subscription to get the issue or order a paper copy from the magazine’s site.
• M. John Harrison, 2002 winner for Light, published The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again in June of 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or from several other vendors. Also, Harrison published Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020 in August of 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or from several other vendors.
• Matt Ruff, 2003 winner for Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls, published 88 Names on March 17, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own, or from several other vendors. Also, the HBO series based on Ruff’s novel Lovecraft Country was released August 16, 2020.
• Johanna Sinisalo, 2004 winner for Not Before Sundown, published Strangers Inside (original title: Vieraat) in 2020. It is currently available in Finnish but (it seems) not yet in English.
• Geoff Ryman, 2005 winner for Air: Or, Have Not Have, published the short story “Something Went Wrong in Heaven” on October 27, 2020, as part of the in book London Centric: Tales of Future London. You can buy the book from Room of One’s Own or from several other vendors.
• Catherynne M. Valente, 2006 winner for The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden, published a short story, “This is No Cave,” in the book From a Certain Point of View: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on November 10, 2020. You can order it from Room of One’s Own or order it from several other vendors.
• Sarah Hall, 2007 winner for The Carhullan Army, published a short story in The BBC National Short Story Award 2020 on March 10, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or buy it from several other vendors.
• Patrick Ness, 2008 winner for The Knife of Never Letting Go, published Burn on June 2, 2020. You can read a sample chapter and order from several vendors — and it’s available through Room of One’s Own.
• Fumi Yoshinaga, 2009 winner for Ooku: The Inner Chambers, volumes 1 & 2, published Ôoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 17 on August 18, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or order from other several vendors.
• Dubravka Ugresic, 2010 winner for Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, published The Age of Skin on November 27, 2020. You can order it from Room of One’s Own or order it from several other vendors.
• Andrea Hairston, 2011 winner for Redwood and Wildfire, published Master of Poisons on September 8, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or order from several other vendors.
• Caitlin R. Kiernan, 2012 winner for The Drowning Girl, published The Tindalos Asset on October 13, 2020. You can order it from Room of One’s Own or buy it on several other platforms. Also, Kiernan published Comes a Pale Rider on November 30, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own, or from Subterranean Press as ebook or signed, limited edition hardcover.
• Jo Walton, 2014 winner for My Real Children, published Or What You Will on July 7, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own, or order it from several other vendors.
• Anna-Marie McLemore, 2016 winner for When the Moon Was Ours, published Dark and Deepest Red on January 14, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own, or from several other vendors. Also, McLemore published Miss Meteor on September 22, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own or from several other vendors.
• Akwaeke Emezi, 2019 winner for Freshwater, published The Death of Vivek Oji on August 4, 2020. You can buy it from Room of One’s Own (where it is backordered), or from several other vendors.

Also, past Otherwise winners have forthcoming books you can preorder now to read in 2021, including:

• Gwyneth Jones, 1991 winner for White Queen, has Grasshopper’s Child forthcoming for publication on March 2, 2021. It’s available for pre-order on Google Play.
• Nancy Springer, 1994 winner for Larque on the Wing, has Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche forthcoming for publication on August 31, 2021. You can preorder it from several vendors now. Also, a Netflix film based on the Enola Holmes books was released on September 23rd, 2020.

 

Happy reading and nominating!

The Otherwise Motherboard is in solidarity with the current mass protests, in the US and beyond, that are fighting against police violence and white supremacy and for Black lives. We mourn George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the countless other Black people whose lives have been cut short by police violence. We support the transformative coalitions now emerging to abolish white supremacist systems, structures, and institutions. We believe another world is possible.

To change the world requires that we first imagine it otherwise. One small thing that the Otherwise Award can do for the current struggle is to amplify the voices of Black authors whose visionary speculative fiction creates pathways to imagining and building a more just world. And so we offer a list of fifteen works, honored by the Otherwise Award in the past, to feed the imaginations of those engaged in this moment and this movement.

Some of the works on this list, such as Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts and The Deep, speak directly to Black people’s lived experience of oppression and uprising; others, such as Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber, transport readers to worlds in which white supremacy, and whiteness itself, are absent. Andrea Hairston’s Redwood and Wildfire and Nisi Shawl’s Everfair decolonize history to center Black and Indigenous creativity, joy, and love. Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon, Jennifer Marie Brissett’s Elysium, Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring, and Hairston’s Mindscape reconfigure science fiction tropes to unmake the colonial conventions on which they rely. Three short story collections, Shawl’s Filter House, Sheree Renée Thomas’s Sleeping Under the Tree of Life, and Kiini Ibura Salaam’s Ancient, Ancient, provide multiple routes through Black history, memory, myth, and sensuality. Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents and N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth show people and communities in complex relationship to apocalyptic change and transformative social movement. And, in a mode that Bogi Takács describes as “speculative only so far as real life can be called such; which is, of course, considerably,” our most recent winner, Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater, refuses colonial definitions of gender, self, and identity.

As you engage in this struggle in whichever ways you can, we hope these books bring inspiration, solace, escape, and pleasure.

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Jennifer Marie Brissett, Elysium (Honor List, 2014)

 

 

Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents (Honor List, 1998)

 

Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater (Winner, 2019)

 

Andrea Hairston, Mindscape (Honor List, 2006)

 

Andrea Hairston, Redwood and Wildfire (Winner, 2011)

 

Nalo Hopkinson, Brown Girl in the Ring (Honor List, 1998)

 

Nalo Hopkinson, Midnight Robber (Honor List, 2000)

N. K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (Long List, 2015)

Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Honor List, 2014)

 

Kiini Ibura Salaam, Ancient, Ancient (Winner, 2012)

 

Nisi Shawl, Filter House (Winner, 2008)

 

Nisi Shawl, Everfair (Honor List, 2016)

 

Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts (Honor List, 2017)

 

Rivers Solomon, The Deep (Honor List, 2019)

 

Sheree Renée Thomas, Sleeping Under the Tree of Life (Long List, 2016)