John Picacio’s Mexicanx Initiative Approaching 50 Memberships

Late in January, Worldcon 76 Artist Guest of Honor John Picacio announced he would be giving memberships in the con to two #Mexicanx professional sf/f artists or writers and two Mexicanx sf/f fans.

I’m doing this because our world needs more #Mexicanx stories, more #Mexicanx sf/f pros and fans, and more #DREAMers. To own our future, we *must* own our narratives, lest we continue to be villainized, abused, and butchered.

Two of the first four memberships were donated by John Scalzi. Since then many more contributors have stepped up, raising the number to nearly 50.

John Picacio has updated the donor list

My amazing sponsoring teammates so far are:

The submissions date has passed for requesting assistance (February 2) however,  Picacio says, “I’m still accepting Worldcon 76 Attending Membership sponsorships for Mexicanx pros and fans.”

Interested sponsors can contact him here: http://johnpicacio.com/contact.html

Neil Clarke on Fast Forward

Tom Schaad’s interview with Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld for Fast Forward TV has been posted on YouTube.

Clarke is frank and supremely interesting as he discusses the submission process, the way issues are assembled, and his business model.

Here are some examples of the information he shares —

“Short stories sell more short stories – they don’t sell authors.” He’s had more success cross-selling other magazines than books by Clarkesworld authors.

He’s been tracking gender of story submitters since 2008 – while only 1/3 submissions are from women, about half the stories he’s published are by women.

The session was recorded live in front of an audience at Capclave 2012. The YouTube description phrases it “in front of a live audience” which tempts me to imitate Jack Nicholson’s line, “Is there any other kind?”

I also recommend Clarke’s editorial in the current issue, “Publishing Turns Like a Battleship”.

Life Found on Denver

Worldcon coverage on the Internet – Eureka!

Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction has posted a several-minutes-long video blog about Denvention Day 1. It’s rather good, too, mixing brief interviews with various fans (among them, Michael Walsh and Phil Foglio), shots of a Registration line already made notorious by Cheryl Morgan, and excerpts from Opening Ceremonies and a Rick Sternbach program item. The small-format video came through with jewel-like clarity on my computer. Highly recommended.