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Worldcon Recap on the Luna Station Quarterly Blog

One thing I don't talk about enough is my volunteer gig as an editor for Luna Station Quarterly, an online speculative fiction magazine dedicated to women's writing. I help read and select submissions and proofread stories that make it into the magazine. LSQ is a labor of love small publication which pays authors a token amount, but it gets some fine stories and offers writers some encouragement on their path to publication.

Currently, the LSQ story “The Thing in the Walls Wants Your Small Change,” by Virginia M. Mohlere, is a finalist for a WSFA Small Press Award.

Read submissions — that's great writing advice. Reading for LSQ has definitely helped me get a better feel for what works and doesn't in the story craft and what makes a story stand out. It can be difficult to be objective about one's own story ideas and writing. Seeing them from an editor's point of view helps.

LSQ, started by founding editor Jennifer Lyn Parsons, recently celebrated 10 years of publication. They did a nice editor interview with me as part of their 10-year special.

This year, I was able to attend Dublin 2019, An Irish Worldcon. It was a fantastic experience. Attending the 2019 Hugo Awards was also something of a do-over for my disappointing experience at my first Hugo Awards during Sasquan, held in Spokane, Wash., in 2015.

I wrote about this for Luna Station Quarterly's blog here.

I loved watching the awards with some friends and cheering for some of my favorite stories.

I also had a great time attending the "Can fiction convince people when facts can't?" panel and meeting solarpunk editor Phoebe Wagner. It's always fun to meet Twitter-friends in person.

A fantastic experience all around!


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