As part of its recent series of content celebrating Black creators in SFF, Tor.com recently re-uploaded an essay I wrote for them in 2018 after Black Panther came out, about radical policy and the negative and positive aspects of letting your praxis be driven by personal rage, through the lens of Nakia and Killmonger.

I like this essay a lot. I think you should read it, just like I think everyone should watch—or rather, should have already watched—Black Panther itself. But in the current climate in which the essay’s been republished, I can’t help but find myself thinking deeply and complexly about one of the primary assumptions of that essay—

No, not whether Nakia was right. Nakia was right. Let’s be clear on this. Nakia was right the whole time, and it would be a different movie if T’Challa noticed sooner.

I am writing to you now from the second week of a national stay-at-home guideline. All schools are out for the term. Banks are cutting down their hours and negotiating the terms of debt restructuring for those financially affected by the shutdown. Restaurants are offering curbside and delivery service—even the fast food places that typically never had such a feature beforehand. For the first time, my preferred grocery has a curbside service where you can send them your grocery list, pay by card, and just pick up bags of your stuff at the door.

And these are perhaps the very least of what has changed here, let alone for many other people elsewhere. For lack of other descriptors, it’s terribly awe-inspiring what things the fear of a deadly virus can do to our sense of superstructure.

Hey, all! Have I mentioned that I’m headed to ConFusion?

On January 16-19, I’ll be at the Sheraton Novi in Michigan for ConFusion 2020! I’m the Creative Guest of Hono(u)r, which is (waaaaaaaiiiit foooooor iiiiiiiit…) quite an hono(u)r, and lots of other astounding people will be there, too!

If you want to get an idea of some of the stuff I’ll be up to, here’s it:

Guest of Honor Dinner

16 January 2020, Thursday | 7pm | Room: St. Clair

Join our Guests of Honor for a Thursday night dinner. Anyone is welcome to join.

Seanan McGuire, Gwenda Bond, Kameron Hurley, Bogi Takács, Brandon O’Brien, Dr. Julie Lesnik

Opening Ceremonies

17 January 2020, Friday | 7pm | Room: Ballroom C&D

Welcome to How to Train Your ConFusion! Please join our Conchair, Lithie Dubois, and our Guests of Honor, Kameron Hurley, Julie Lesnik, Brandon O’Brien, and Bogi Takács, along with our Subterranean Press Special Guests, Seanan McGuire, and Gwenda Bond! Hear about all of the exciting stuff you can expect from them, from us, and this weekend.

Lithie Dubois (M), Seanan McGuire, Gwenda Bond, Kameron Hurley, Bogi Takács, Brandon O’Brien, Dr. Julie Lesnik

Guest of Honor Dessert Reception

17 January 2020, Friday | 8pm | Room: Mackinac

Come enjoy desserts and mingle with our Guests of Honor and Subterranean Press’s Special Guests!

Evolving Visions of Toxic Masculinity

18 January 2020, Saturday | 10am | Room: Isle Royale

Awareness is on the rise about how toxic social expectations placed on men and masculinity poison men, their relationships, and society at large. We now have the vocabulary to discuss the precise ways in which patriarchy hurts men, too, and how that hurt bleeds into the rest of the world. How has this growing awareness changed our speculative visions of masculinity, and how can speculative fiction help dismantle the cultural poison backing social ills from rape culture to mass shootings?

Jason Sanford (M), Marsalis, Jim C. Hines, Kameron Hurley, Brandon O’Brien

Emotional Non-Violence In Fiction

18 January 2020, Saturday | 11am | Room: Petoskey

A discussion on what it looks like and what it means to integrate themes of emotional non-violence in fiction – is emotionally non-violent fiction important? Going beyond higher level issues of emotional abuse to more subtle topics such as consent, misidentification, and personal questions.

E.D.E. Bell (M), Jason Sanford, R.B. Lemberg, Brandon O’Brien

Reading: Brandon O’Brien

18 January 2020, Saturday | 1pm | Room: Leelanaw

A Reading with Guest of Honor Brandon O’Brien (I’ll be reading from How To Unmake It In Anglia!)

Masculinity and Trauma Recovery in Genre Fiction

18 January 2020, Saturday | 2pm | Room: Isle Royale

Science Fiction and Fantasy are full of tough manly heroes (and anti-heroes) with trauma in their backgrounds, from murdered families to witnessed war crimes. More often than not, these traumatic backstories serve as a justification for sarcasm, alcohol, and violence. In a world where men are significantly less likely to get professional help to heal from their trauma, how can science fiction and fantasy help to create positive examples of heroes who face their demons constructively?

Brandon O’Brien (M), Adam R. Shannon, Dave Ring, John Wiswell, R.B. Lemberg

Speculative Social Media in Science Fiction

18 January 2020, Saturday | 5pm | Room: Charlevoix

Thinly-veiled or even overt references to popular real-world social platforms are common in modern media–including in speculative stories like superhero tv shows and movies. But speculative worldbuilding often calls for a re-imagining of how humans interact–would the social media of the United Federation of Planets really look like ours? Or would a peaceful interstellar society be more likely to arise in a world where Google Reader never died? How can writers incorporate new visions of social media that reflect their speculative worldbuilding?

Marissa Lingen (M), John Chu, Jennifer Mace, Annalee Flower Horne, Brandon O’Brien

Speculative Open Mic with Brandon O’Brien and Bogi Takács

18 January 2020, Saturday | 8pm | Room: Charlevoix

Join Guests of Honor Brandon O’Brien and Bogi Takács for a speculative poetry open mic. Bring work to read, or kick back and listen as ConFusion’s poets share their work.

Kaffeeklatsch with Brandon O’Brien

19 January 2020, Sunday | 11am | Room: Club Lounge

Join Creative Guest of Honor Brandon O’Brien for a small-scale conversation and Q&A over cups of coffee or tea. Limit 10 attendees, sign up in Ops.

A Look at the World of Speculative Poetry

19 January 2020, Sunday | 1pm | Room: Charlevoix

Our panel of poets and poetry enthusiasts talk about the current state of speculative poetry–how has it evolved over time, and where is it heading? Where is it situated within the wider world of contemporary poetry? Who are our favorite speculative poets and publishers of speculative poetry?

Nora E. Derrington (M), Stephanie Malia Morris, Bogi Takács, Brandon O’Brien

Closing Ceremonies

19 January 2020, Sunday | 3pm | Room: Ballroom C&D

Come say goodbye to our Guests of Honor and Subterranean Special Guests, and learn which 2021 Guests of Honor announcements we will be sharing with you!

Lithie Dubois (M), Seanan McGuire, Gwenda Bond, Kameron Hurley, Bogi Takács, Brandon O’Brien, Dr. Julie Lesnik

So that’s what I’ll be up to, not including other GoH duties, checking out other cool panels, and meeting all of you! Feel free to say hello if you’re going to be there!

Another year has passed! That means even more fascinating poetry, short fiction, and essays across the breadth of fandom have emerged!

I haven’t done a great deal in 2019, mostly because I’m incredibly busy working on things that are not yet finished–but I can’t wait to share more of those! I also can’t wait to take it a little bit easier with myself, which is also a big reason why there isn’t a good deal more poetry or fiction on this list.

Regardless, here’s what I’ve been up to in 2019:

The Magazine (eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo):

🔥 FIYAH: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, executive editors Troy L. Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders, editors L.D. Lewis, Brandon O’Brien, Kaleb Russell, Danny Lore, and Brent Lambert

FIYAH is eligible in the Best Semiprozine category. Both Troy L. Wiggins and DaVaun Sanders are eligible in the Best Editor, Short Form category. 🔥🔥🔥

Poetry (eligible for the Rhysling Award):

🌌 ‘Elegy for the Self as Villeneuve’s Beast’, Uncanny Magazine Issue Twenty-Eight, May/June 2019

It’s funny how nobody asks about the spell,
who uttered it, or why; or why, pray tell,
we guess the boy-turned-beast was always beast-as-boy.

(Some) Other Poetry (That May Or May Not Also Be Rhysling-Eligible):

🌌 ‘Traveling Trini at Magic Camp 2019’, Patreon, August 31 2019

Every escalator is the first line of a portal story,
each queue its unwieldy next sentence,
but each of us is engrossed, all made of witness…

🌌 ‘Wolf’s Luck’, Twitter, October 17 2019

We came to play games.
Or to howl—to howl against
the pixelated woods, the pale woods,
the woods where we cannot be seen
as often as we howl…

Prose (eligible for the Hugo and Nebula Short Story categories) :

🌌 ‘Due By the End of the Week’, Fireside Quarterly January 2019 (available online February 2019)

“My problem? My problem is that I can’t afford to fail Sociology, or else I won’t be able to do any more of this.” I gesture at the dead slimy centipodal alien angrily, then lean my hair into the only clean sink in the room.

Nonfiction:

🌌 ‘Getting Out of the Cold: Revisiting Toxic Masculinity in Lethal Weapon’, Fireside Quarterly October 2019 (available online December 2019)

Sometimes the things that teach us how to be men also turn men into tools.

🌌 ‘If You’ve Heard This One Before’, Uncanny Magazine November/December 2019

Often enough there is a paradox where the work that deliberately seeks to take people to task for the hostile ideologies that breed violent actions are also the works that make those ideologies and those actions seem trendy and fascinating to impressionable consumers, not because those consumers are ignorant or undiscerning, but because they’ve been primed. And there is no better example of that priming than—
—well, there are so many examples, it’s not even funny.

Podcasts (eligible for the Best Fancast Hugo):

🌌 The Skiffy and Fanty Show, produced by Jen Zink and Shaun Duke, hosted by Jen Zink, Shaun Duke, Paul Weimer, Alex Acks, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Trish Matson, and team

Alongside making literal dozens of rad things on a monthly basis, such as Reading Rangers and Torture Cinema, The Skiffy and Fanty Network is responsible for producing Righteous Kicks, the podcast where Iori Kusano and I talk about Kamen Rider! But if you’re going to put it on a ballot, definitely credit the whole team—Skiffy and Fanty does so many amazing things, and all of them are deserving of your attention.

Stuff The Eligibility Of Which Still Eludes Me:

Here’s a reminder that I make tabletop games! You can get some of them at my itch.io page! Considering that they are all very small, I am not going to assume their eligibility for stuff like the Nebulas, but it would be really nice if you checked them out all the same!

And that should be all from me! Thank you for your time, and I hope you are the best at everything.

Hey, all! Have I mentioned that I’m heading to Dublin?

The 77th World Science Fiction Convention is in Dublin, Ireland, from the 15th to the 19th of August, and I’ve just received my complete programme schedule. It includes yet another Speculative Open Mic (!!!), some poetry readings and discussions, discourse around postcolonial and Afrofuturist work in the genre, and more!

Speculative open mic

Format: Group reading
15 Aug 2019, Thursday 18:00 – 18:50, Liffey Room-2 (CCD)

Speculative poetry is a creative space with a lot of lyrical potential and vibrancy, but many people don’t get enough chances to hear their work read aloud before an audience as often as writers in other styles of poetry do. Poets and fans gather together in an intimate and encouraging space to share and listen. Poetry, flash fic, and filk are all welcome!

Brandon O’Brien (M)

Grappling with the post-colonial in SFF

Format: Panel
16 Aug 2019, Friday 17:00 – 17:50, Wicklow Room-1 (CCD)

Over the last 500 years, cultures and histories have been forever altered by colonial expansion. Although many former colonies have gained independence, their peoples still grapple with the effects of colonisation. Can post-colonial SFF help to heal the past? How do post-colonial SFF authors reconcile the many facets of their identities in their work, and what do they want their audiences to know?

Professor Fiona Moore (Royal Holloway University of London) (M), Kat Tanaka Okopnik, Brandon O’Brien, Likhain

Group Reading: Speculative Performance Poetry

Format: Group reading
17 Aug 2019, Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Liffey Room-3 (Readings) (CCD)

Speculative poetry encompasses themes from science fiction, fantasy, and horror as well as all of the subgenres in between. Dublin 2019 presents a special showcase of poets who have come together to perform a selection of speculative poetry and to share the magic of this exciting medium. This reading will feature new and classic works from speculative poetry’s mainstays, rising starts, and trend-setters.

C. S. E. Cooney (M), Jenny Blackford, Sandra Kasturi (ChiZine Publications), Geoffrey A. Landis, Mary Soon Lee, Nigel Quinlan, Dr Anatoly Belilovsky, Sazib Bhuiyan (Can With Candle), Brandon O’Brien

Introduction to Afrofuturism

Format: Panel
17 Aug 2019, Saturday 18:00 – 18:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)

Afrofuturism blends the African diaspora with science, technology and philosophy. The term was coined in 1994 by Mark Dery but discussions surrounding the validity of a term not created by the community it references have led to other names for the sub-genre, including: the Black Fantastic, African futurism, CyberFunk, and Sword and Soul. Probably the most well known recent example is Black Panther, but the sub-genre includes a wide range of art, music and literature. Our panel will give an introduction to the topic and offer recommendations.

Afua Richardson, Brandon O’Brien, Maquel A. Jacob (MAJart Works) (M), Rivers Solomon

Panel show: ‘That was unexpected!’

Format: Quiz/Gameshow
17 Aug 2019, Saturday 21:00 – 21:50, Wicklow Hall 2B (CCD)

Ever wanted to know what your favourite fantasy novelist would do if they were suddenly turned into a witch’s familiar? Or how a popular sci-fi writer would communicate with an alien race that only speaks in bad puns? Watch a team of esteemed writers talk their way out of the kinds of problems they’re accustomed to writing their characters out of, and some that they would never have imagined.

Brandon O’Brien (M), Catherynne Valente, Charlie Jane Anders, Rafeeat Aliyu, Joe Abercrombie

Rossetti to Rhee: the speculative and the poetic

Format: Panel
19 Aug 2019, Monday 14:00 – 14:50, Wicklow Room-1 (CCD)

A panel where SFF poets will talk about SFF poetry and its unique challenges and freedoms, the traditions of the genre, where they see speculative poetry going in the future, and the connections between speculative poetry and speculative prose.

Eleanna Castroianni, Marina Berlin (M), Hester J. Rook, Brandon O’Brien

So that’s what I’ll be up to – not including the Hugo Awards (!!!!!), attending some of the other rad content that will be taking place, and spending time with cool people throughout the con. I look forward to seeing some of you there!