What does Women’s History Month mean to you? Rights, intersectionality, fluidity, strength, perseverance, reclamation? All of the above? More?
Always more.
Women’s History is world history. This includes being front and center of sci-fi, horror, fantasy and any other genre you can think of. In the artistic world it’s a history of creation, innovation, and celebration. Even a little disciplination.
‘Cause that’s what ladies do.
Everything that needs be done.
Whether the world is hectic–and it certainly is right now–or enjoying periods of relative calm, women have been, are, and will be on the ground making sure that despite anything this world does, they’ll make the art that we need to get through it!
From Narazu to You: Yas, Queen.
Team Narazu
All Indie. All Awesome.
Film: THE FEMALE GAZE
by Leo Faierman
This past January saw Chinese filmmaker Cathy Yan breaking important ground within the DC cinematic universe, when she delivered the financially successful and critically well-received Birds of Prey to the big screen. That’s the kind of loud move required to incrementally scale-tip the gendered obstacles in film—and, specifically, genre film—to clear the path for more women to get some work done in this male-dominated ecosystem. Nowhere, I feel, is this progress felt more keenly than in sci-fi and horror, especially when loudmouthed internet neanderthals are so quick to celebrate each conspicuous failure, or dismiss trending successes with review-bombs against some kind of demented imaginary conspiracy. This Women’s History Month, I’d like to introduce some pieces that have had their share of attention but could do with more, especially given the constant development cycle that sees new work blotting out the old. Each of these three women are approaching the craft with confidence and are exciting creators to follow.
Yes, Issa López has had some of that aforementioned attention. With blurbed support by titans like Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro, López’s landmark urban horror film Vuelven (brought to the states as Tigers Are Not Afraid) arrived to screens with some crucial cosigns and a not-insignificant amount of critical acclaim. All of it was also hard-earned, and this uncomfortably dark and elegant film features impressive performances by its mostly-inexperienced young actor ensemble. Slotted within the urban fantasy genre, but taking place amid the conflicts of the Mexican drug cartels, Vuelven is bereft of pulled punches, a sensibility which effectively circulates the terror it wants to instill in the viewer. Framed by a storybook narrative involving three magical wishes, there isn’t a recognizable ounce of twee to the experience, especially when its leads are street kids orphaned by drug war violence. Delivering this kind of narrative requires, at the least, considerable trust between the filmmakers and their actors, and their actors to the story, and there’s not a single apparent miss to be found here. You can watch Vuelven on Shudder, where it’s now lived for a while, or rent it directly through streaming platforms like Amazon for $3.99.
On a lighter note, there’s a short you should make some time for as soon as possible, though I admit that I have a special attachment to the dark riddle it’s based on: Albatross Soup. Director and editor Winnie Cheung and her team of mostly women (the animator, Masa Nakamura, is male) turn the infamous old riddle about puzzling through a suicide into a wildly trippy and gorgeous animated short. The story amounts to this: a man walks into a restaurant, orders Albatross Soup, takes a single spoonful, then promptly shoots himself in the head. I myself puzzled through this riddle as a teenager on a punitive wilderness excursion for juvenile delinquents so, like I said, I can’t help but feel a little personally attached to the story. Cheung’s choice to leverage interviews with people painstakingly solving the riddle as the audio backdrop for a melty, gooey, neon-colored animated short is a wonderful approach to a tale which is considerably dark (though fictitious). You can watch the six-minute short Albatross Soup on Vimeo, where it was a Staff Pick last year, but there are a number of other pieces in the filmmaker’s growing portfolio worth investigating. I’d also recommend the enigmatic time travel short Dear Lucas and the decidedly Lynchian three-minute short Exit Interview.
Speaking of staff picks, YouTube’s sci-fi short film juggernaut DUST debuted Taryn O’Neill’s excellent, unnerving short LIVE about the (all-too-soon or possibly-already-here) future of streaming. O’Neill herself writes, directs, and even plays the lead role, a woman who is mostly-always connected to her fanbase, an unseen horde who relish the opportunity to watch her live-streamed bare-knuckle-brawls. The character suffers this abuse for likes, faves, follows, and corporate sponsorship, whiling her days in a reasonably-sized apartment and reserving nude video for premium subscribers. Aside from the brawls, everything in this paragraph doesn’t seem too far off from our present-day, and the story’s use of altered lighting for when her cam is on and off is incredibly effective. Seems like a stressful existence, playing off the timely notion of live and connected involvement which commodifies risk and exposure; the filmmaker describes the piece as “…the dark truths behind our online personas and the lengths we will go for engagement. Engagement is currency, conflict is currency.” Check out LIVE right now on DUST’s YouTube channel, and keep an eye out for O’Neill’s future projects at her website.
Comics
By George Carmona, III
Diary of a Mad, Black Werewolf
Writer/Artist Micheline Hess
Diary is a graphic novel about Aura and her pack of werewolves who satisfy their hunger by feeding on racist people, with the occasional sexist snack. While a short read, creator Micheline Hess gets right to the point in her spotlighting of current-day racism and sexism. Diary is a great starting point for more adventures in this world where Black Women get to exact revenge on the oppressive beneficiaries of very corrupt, harmful systems.
I first became aware of this project because I follow Micheline Hess on her Instagram. During the month of October, she posted previews as part of the Inktober Challenge. I was able to get a physical copy earlier this year at an event she was part of at the world-famous Apollo Theater. This book is a super departure from her very kid-friendly book Malice in Ovenland, as it deals with some very topical and disturbing issues. But even the heaviness of the subjects are not left without a trace of humor (if you ever get to meet her you’ll realize that dark humor is completely in her wheelhouse, which translates to the page exceptionally well).
And as always keep a look out for the Women in Comics Con in August!
Books: WRITTEN TO LAST
When I think of Women’s Fiction I rarely simply think of some of the best, but THE best fiction out there, period. That doesn’t owe to me as a male writer appreciating the “otherness” of women’s perspectives, it’s the brass tacks of prose, emotional mechanics, and daring put together in ways so intriguing I think about the works for days, weeks, or months afterward. The women writers I’m thinking of (a) take you there, (b) bring it, and (c) leave your imagination room to explore. It’s like they not only respect but expect your intelligence as a reader.
Do I dig that?
Like a brand new shovel I do.
I’m pleased to present two writers you need to know to get you through all the twisty days ahead.
The first thing you need to do is read this short story: One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, published in Fireside Magazine (April 2018). What you’ll find is an emotionally taut, lyrical, 7-layer story that will walk with you for several days afterward.
Next, read Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good, originally published in FIYAH Magazine (July 2018), later landing smack dab in the 2019 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology. What you will find is that you’ve never been immersed in a sci-fi, civil rights, cross-sectional race relations, blues, gospel, soulfest of a story using history in so many unique ways it stands as its own genre. A touching genre. A fun and funny one. One that will leave your brain lit like a Christmas avenue by the time you get to its perfect end. I’m not giving you plot points or summations; you should know to trust me by now.
LaShawn is that rare writer who can take world-building way past being interesting and make it alive. True virtual-reality of the mind where you’re not suspending disbelief, you living the experience. To me, that’s the mark of an A+ writer. Up to now she’s focused primarily on short stories and non-fiction, all of which you can delight yourself via her website. Expect to see a lot more from her in the near (and far; LaShawn’s got legs) future. Matter of fact, Narazu exclusive: she’s currently working on her first interactive space opera short story (read that line again) as well as a novel. Or two. Be patient; when it comes time to treat yourself, you’ll know where to go.
We’ll get the housekeeping out of the way first. “Zin E. Rocklyn is a 2017 VONA and 2018 Viable Paradise (22) graduate. Her work can be found in the anthologies Forever Vacancy; 2017 Bram Stoker Nominated Sycorax’s Daughters (of which her story Summer Skin was long-listed for Best of Horror 2017); Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters; Brigands: A Blackguards Anthology; Nox Pareidolia; the zine Weird Luck Tales No. 7, and tor.com. Her non-fiction essay “My Genre Makes a Monster of Me” is in Uncanny Magazine’s Hugo Award-Winning Disabled People Destroy SF&F 2018 issue. Her website, terizin.com, is currently under construction. In the interim, follow her on Twitter @intelligentwat.”
Got that? Wrote it down? Trick question. It’s the digital age; no one writes stuff down.
Although maybe they should.
Maybe they should keep a pad by the bed and let their hands automatically record the night’s scratchings of their own volition. Maybe they should write about what scares them, not in ways designed to frighten them, but enlighten them?
Or maybe folks should simply read Zin. E. Rocklyn and consider giving thanks.
Zin puts in the work.
Her story, The Night Sun, currently at Tor (which, yes, isn’t an indie but you need it), takes so much of life that is horrendous–and so much in fantasy/horror that we think should be horrendous–and merges them into one of the best stories of–well, if I tell you, I’m cheating you; you need to read it for yourself. Let me say this: she’s one of those writers who gets inside things. If you can’t handle visceral, read at a distance. If your abs are a little soft, plank. The gut punches are real and plentiful.
I fully expect to see mentions of novels sold, movie rights, comic adaptations and lunches with Clive Barker in various trade publications as her output increases. I’ll scoop up every project, because when, as a writer, you find a writer of whom you think ‘I wish I’d written that’, you break out your little propane heater and you camp out for as long as it takes to nab the next fresh batch of words.