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Who’s the Most Positive & Inspiring Creative in SFFH?
It’s been tough out there for fans of speculative fiction. Recent years have seen so many of our best-loved heroes revealed to be more on the villain scale, and it can be really easy to get wrapped up in the depths of despair.
That’s why this month I decided to ask the BFS community to name those they find the positive and inspiring in SFFH. Who should we be boosting instead of those-who-shall-not-be-named?
Give your own thoughts by leaving a comment at the end of this article, or jump back into Discord to get involved. Are you a member but not yet in the BFS Discord server? Contact us to request your invite.
As for my own most-wholesome, most-beloved members of the community? You can’t go past Dave Jeffery and Lee Murray for their tireless efforts on boosting mental health and wellness in horror. See also: Alex Davis, who’s supported my ventures into running events in the last couple of years; Vicky Brewster for unwittingly nudging me into the SFFH world; Sarah Elliott for always having a smile on her face; Tiffani Angus for sharing her wisdom; CC Adams for having the best hugs in the biz; Marve Michael Anson for all she’s doing for community diversity; Stephanie Ellis for bringing me into the Horror Tree fold while also fighting the good fight for representation of older women; and Tracy Fahey for being her delightful self.
Across the pond, Robert P Ottone seems endlessly cheerful in the face of, well, the state of the world. Cynthia Pelayo and Gabino Iglesias fight for what’s right while helping everyone. Jendia Gammon for being so open about her journeys. And Grady Hendrix for being, well, he’s Grady Hendrix.
I could keep listing names but I’ll inevitably upset someone because the more I list, the more I’m likely to forget. So let’s leave it with this: much love and high praise to Shona Kinsella, David Green and the rest of the BFS committee for steering the good ship—and to the indomitable PS Livingstone. She scares the shit outta me but I love her so much.
-Lauren McMenemy, BFS Marketing
Comments are presented as they were in Discord/Facebook. Where an individual contributor came back with more, those comments have been summarised as one.
Stu Turton and Catriona Ward (pictured) are my big ones. I love Stu’s really practical attitude to writing and how down to earth he is. Catriona … I mean, she’s just a rock god of writing. I love how honest she is about the difficulties she’s had with her writing, and the way her mind works in terms of how she uses her writing craft, as well as the writing she produces.
I think we’re all feeling a bit sick at the moment. Cat Ward, I agree is awesome. So is Sarah Pinborough. Looking forward to her MC-ing (is that how you write it?) World Fantasycon this year, she’s a good mate. RJ Barker is solid as a rock too.
Juliet E McKenna (pictured) is both whip-smart and very kind.
If she counts as a horror writer (amongst many other things), Joyce Carol Oates is the writer I have read more by than any other alive or dead. I have read over fifty of her novels (two twice) and standalone novellas and have more than twenty I haven’t yet read, and she’s still alive and active well into her eighties. I have met her three times.
Liz Williams most definitely.
This is an easy one. I don’t know if you know about him but for the past few years Joe Young has been helping people to become writers through his Get Writing Horror group on Facebook, and he has promoted thousands of books with several more of his groups like Get Reading Horror and all of the other social media accounts he has. He is a fantastic mentor and he has taken on the seemingly impossible task of creating a horror community resource site to help authors with everything they might need and to promote literally everyone in the horror author community. The site already has at least 170 forums with over 1400 topics and thousands of posts. He is still working on it but says it’ll be launched soon. In spite of everything he has done and is doing to help others he’s never asked for a penny in return. If anyone’s more inspirational and awesome than that I’ll be shocked.
There is one person who has done a lot of work in the community and has been very supportive and encouraging to me personally: Lauren McMenemy. I’d also nominate Charlie Jane Anders, who has been one of the best writers on SFF for years now, and her newsletter is never anything but inspiring.
I can’t look past Adrian Fletcher (full answer to come later when my child is not lecturing me on the merits of a black hole appearing next to the planet Earth).
(later)
Okay, some extremely supportive people have been mentioned already (Francesca, Ann) and some have commented who really should be mentioning themselves (Cheryl Morgan, Heide Goody), but there are a few people I’d like to mention who made me feel at home on my first Fantasycon (as a fledgling writer in 2021) and since.
(Photo by Karly Santiago on Unsplash)
- Anna Smith Spark – a warm and humorous person with tonnes of empathy and wisdom.
- Justin Lee Anderson – possibly the kindest person on the planet with time for everyone.
- Adrian Tchaikovsky – had no reason to want to talk to me, but saw me sitting alone at one point at my first Fantasycon and called me over for a chat lasting nearly an hour between just me and him. He’s always been wonderfully patient and friendly.
- Bella Pagan – who, somehow, has become my con buddy.
- Shona Kinsella – there are many reasons.
- Stew Hotston – see above. A wonderful person who is a force for good in the UK writing scene.
- PS Livingstone – for pushing me to come to conventions in the first place and getting involved.
There are lots of other people who have given me their time freely and always offer support – Iain Grant, Eliza Chan, RF Long , Katie Bruce – and many others like Annabel Campbell and Omar, but I am always indebted to Peter Newman. At my first Fantasycon, I turned up at the hotel knowing barely anyone. I was sat in the lobby, researching for the panels I was on (my first in person!) when I heard, from a group next to me, people discussing their panels. One said, “there’s a person called David Green but I’m not sure who that is.” Being close to them, I put my hand up, and this person, with a wide grin and wave, brought me over to their group. This was Peter Newman – my first ever panel moderator – who pretty much pulled me under his wing for the weekend and looked out for me. Not only is he a brilliant writer, but he’s always been kind and supportive.
You are a superstar, David Green for all the effort and kindness you put into everything. I especially love the writing sprints. Your list is a great one, and thank you for suggesting my name alongside these magnificent people.
Fully agree with what’s been said above, David Green (pictured). You’re always so friendly and helpful. You put me on my first ever panels at FantasyCon and I couldn’t be more grateful. You’re always encouraging, no matter where someone is on their journey. You’re fab and I hope you know it!!!
-Katie Bruce
Aw, man. I’m not even the kindest person in this conversation. But I second pretty much everyone you mention, especially Heide Goody who along with Iain M. Grant did for me what Peter did for you way back in 2017. Big wings and kind hearts.
-Justin Lee Anderson
Oh the crazy amounts of love going on in this conversation. You’re all wonderful!
-Iain M. Grant
For me it’s got to be Sanderson. Do i like his writing? Meh. Do i like the fact that he posts entire courses on how to write SciFi and Fantasy online for free? Hell yes. I would not be the writer i am, nor even have had the self confidence to ever post ANYTHING I’d written were it not for tools I got from those lectures. And this is from a guy who DNF’d Wind and Truth so you know I’m not biased!
I’ll break a spear for Xiran Jay Zhao (pictured). It takes a lot of courage to write a book that mix anime mechas with Chinese ancient history. I appreciate learning of new cultures through books and while they are not the only one that do it by a mile, they are one of them.
-Derek Drake
Within the Scottish/UK sff scene I’d say Francesca Barbini & Ann Landmann both bring so much joy & good things to the community. More widely, AC Wise does a fantastic job celebrating short fic & smaller authors.
Totally Francesca. As a fellow publisher, I have no idea how she does what she does. Clones probably.
Seconding this!! In Scotland, I’d also add LR Lam who is always shouting about other authors and books they’ve enjoyed as well as I find their newsletter/patreon super transparent and interesting on all things publishing! Same goes for Raine Wilson‘s excellent blogs and newsletter. Also, Ed Crocker of FanFiAddict is a brilliantly enthusiastic reviewer and always boosting and shouting about writing and authors so positively! I could name so many folks in BFS widely who have all been very welcoming.
Can I sneak in a suggestion for R.S.A Garcia for her amazing pep talk on Crafting Characters?
-Sam Hodges
Ursula Le Guin, always. Her style, her ability to imagine radically different kinds of society… Also, personally, I find many of her works strangely comforting. Alright, I know she’s dead, so in case that doesn’t count, I was thrilled to discover Lorraine Wilson last year. Her novels are beautiful, and her newsletters are so wonderfully humane.
Intisar Khanani writes incredible YA fantasy and her tag line is she writes ‘mighty girls in diverse worlds’, which is exactly correct and I love her for it!
I don’t think she’s an author (yet) but Isabelle aka The Shaggy Shepherd has to be one for me. She’s a great reviewer and big advocate for indie / self-pub authors. She’s always a delight to talk to and contributes a lot to the online community.
-Rai Furniss-Greasley
A shoutout for Caimh McDonnell. If he turns up at an event that I can get to, then I want to watch it. His newsletter is hilarious. He’s just quietly sent me a box of books for an event I’m running in Birmingham. Top guy.
-Heide Goody
(Photo by MARK ADRIANE on Unsplash)
Seconding PS Livingstone and Lauren McMenemy, who made me feel very wanted and part of the community when I was feeling out of my depth at Worldcon last year. They’ve both been so supportive in helping me do something I’m passionate about for BFS in running events to give authors that aren’t just the big names space to do book events – and be on panels. I never thought I’d have a community like this, and it’s thanks to them I’m part of it.
Just to second the general gist of this conversation, the entirety of the BFS committee are the best people around! Community is so important and it really does feel like I belong here.
Yes, this, absolutely. I didn’t know if “everyone I’ve interacted with in the BFS” was an option, but if so, yes, this.
-Luna Profir
I too would like to go for the “everyone in the BFS” option. I’ve honestly never met such an openly welcoming and supportive bunch of people. It’s a huge part of why I got back into writing. I joined the BFS not knowing anyone else in it and at my first Fantasycon there was just so much love, and now it feels like home. I try my best to share that with everyone I meet, especially those new to the BFS/Fantasycon, as I just want everyone to feel welcome and included. I could start mentioning individual people, but I’d be sure to forget someone, and would probably take up all the remaining space on the blog post as there are just so many wonderful people!!!
^^ This! I know that I wasn’t exactly social at the conference but that was a me problem, not a everyone is awful one. Completely the opposite.
I absolutely agree with the sentiment that the BFS and everyone involved in organising and running it goes above and beyond. I’m not going to separately name names for fear of missing someone out but you are all the best.
So much love in here, which is amazing. It’s making me have actual emotions – very unsettling. The BFS is absolutely the most wonderful bunch of people anyone could ask for. Huge shout out to Shona Kinsella for turning this ship around. And David Green for all the effort and hardwork. Lauren McMenemy for the million things she does that aren’t always seen. The entire committee for the many hours they put in and their always thoughtful approach. And I’ll second Justin Lee Anderson being a rather marvellous human, even if he is from Edinburgh.
(Photo by Tanya Santos on Unsplash)
I’m also going to add Alexandra Beaumont, Katie Bruce, and Thea Lyons for their herculean efforts on in-person events. It takes a lot of time and energy to put these things together. They’re creating opportunities for others, which makes them pretty awesome in my book. And my wonderful librarians, Mack, Robin CM Duncan, Matthew Palmer, and Helen Rose Thwaite. They give up their precious time to watch, edit and upload videos, again creating opportunities for others. Nobody has to stand up, but they did anyway. Thank you.
My formerly-local writing group is at least 90% of the reason I went from ‘person who writes a goofy amateur short story once in a blue moon’ to ‘person who is imminently querying their debut novel’. I’ll not shout ’em all out by name since they’re not public figures in the writing/SFF world, but they know who they are. Without them, I’d never have finished a novel, never mind had the willpower to learn how to turn a so-called-finished novel into one that’s actually finished and worth querying.
So when you say the most ‘positive and inspiring creative’ it sounds like you’re asking for someone whose writing is inspiring, and the answer to that for me is Priya Sharma. I love this community, but not many people in it share my conviction that a beautifully crafted sentence/passage/paragraph is the most important thing in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. When I read Priya’s writing I’m reassured that my own obsessive approach is valid and worthwhile. Her total commitment to her creative process, however long it may take, or however hard it may be, is the definition of the word ‘inspiring’.
But in terms of creative people generally, it’s every single member of the BFS committee. I’ve been around for long enough, and seen enough voluntary organisations, to understand how incredibly fucking lucky I am to come to this one when it’s in such amazing hands. So many groups, even if they’re not blighted by the toxicity that seems to periodically bubble up out of nowhere, just kind of muddle along without going anywhere. Since I joined the BFS my jaw has been on the floor at the frankly mind-blowing commitment, resourcefulness, supportiveness, and empathy shown by all of the committee, in both the behind the scenes stuff they do to make all the events and activities happen, and in how personally generous and available many of them have been to me, and presumably everyone else. I’ve never felt so welcomed by any organisation.
Positive: Everyone at the BFS, but especially Siân O’Hara, Omar Kooheji and Annabel for looking after me at our first FantasyCon in 2021 when I was completely terrified and didn’t know how to talk to people. I still don’t, but now I can find people I recognise. Karen for putting up with my weird accidents, like the time I broke my glasses in London, and tolerating both my anxiety and hyperactivity. Also for organising. David Green for not thinking I’m too weird about books. Francesca Barbini, who always seems to publish at least one book I want desperately.
Inspiring: Terry Pratchett – I wish I could write such profound and funny books. Ursula K LeGuin – sensible straightforward writing advice. Everyone who tries to write beautiful crafted words, even if they fail.
(Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash)
I agree with Lauren McMenemy and PS Livingstone but also I would throw in Stuart Conover who created The Horror Tree some years back and through thick and thin has managed to keep it going – I will say he’s told me it was a close thing at times! He’s created a platform people go to for submission calls, interviews, reviews, promo etc and is one of those who is always there supporting the community through this but is rarely directly mentioned. Note that Horror Tree is for all things spec fic and not just horror! I’ve been there in one way or another for nearing a decade I think, though recently I have stepped back further but Stuart – he just keeps on going!
And a final word:
Well this was bloody wholesome to read! I can add “Absolutely adorable” to “Mad in the best of ways” when I’m talking about this group going forward.
Just wanted to say that this is so wholesome, and thank you for doing this!
-Janet Forbes, World Anvil
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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