Did you all know there’s a website specifically dedicated to urban fantasy and social justice issues?
(Take a moment to revel in the glories of this thing we call the internet, where all interests have a voice.)
Fangs for the Fantasy recently posted a 4.5 Fang review of Waxing Moon–you should follow the link and check it out! While you’re there, click around on their website and read a bit. They have some REALLY great perspectives on books, movies, TV shows, etc. I love their attention to diversity, representation, and equity–these are issues I hold central in my mind while I write. I have joked that Waxing Moon is actually a social justice book. With Werewolves.
My favorite part of their review of Waxing Moon is this discussion of Eliza:
“Loyal, supportive, passionate, determined, a good woman AND WRONG. Because you can be a good person and still be part of a deeply flawed, prejudiced system; you can be a good person and perpetuate inexcusable things within that system and being a good person doesn’t make it ok. That’s a nuance that is far superior to the simplistic narratives we see elsewhere.”
I know not all readers will like my work and not all readers will even think much about the social justice messages wrapped up in my Werewolf stories, but how lovely that SOME READERS GET IT! ❤
When we write fantasy, we write our ideal worlds. How important it is for such worlds to contain as much diversity and representation as our real world! If not more. And it may be easier to think about discrimination, stereotypes, and power structures when we dress them in the guise of humans, Werewolves, ‘Manders, and Witches. Less threatening to our sense of self and society? (Unless we happen to be Weres…)
Interested in fantasy written with social justice in mind? Here’s some authors you might want to check out:
- Octavia Butler
- N. K. Jemisin
- Ursula LeGuin
- Margaret Atwood
- China Miéville
- Jim Hines – lots of writing about disabilities; he’s new to me!
This anthology is on my reading list right now: Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements.
Updates from the writing trenches:
- I plan to have a decent draft of book three (working title Rising Wolf) done by the end of November.
- Right now, I have four stories out on submission at various places. Swim strongly, my little babies, and impress the editors!
- I also took a side step and wrote a creative non-fiction essay about being a care partner. That’s also on submission to an academic journal in the field of disability studies. We’ll see–this essay came pouring out of me, for better or worse.
This blog doesn’t have enough pictures. Um. Here, have some cats.
And one more time, my favorite gif of all time!
Sarah E. Stevens 