Wow.
That’s pretty much all I could say. I read an amazing blog post by Ann Koffsky this morning (thanks Ann for sending me the link!) where she interviews the unforgettable writer Gila Manolson. The interview is chock full of advice to writers, advice to parents, and other neat stuff. But the biggest revelation to me is that Manolson has created a website to promote her upcoming book–her first book for a non-Jewish audience.
Manolson is not alone. Continue reading
One of the things I most like to write (and find it hard to sell) is Jewish speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is a wide-ranging label that includes genres like fantasy, science-fiction, and horror. Basically, in speculative fiction, the author suggests a scenario that proposes the question: “What if_______?”
What if…
…you found out that you weren’t a friendless orphan but a powerful wizard with many supporters? (Harry Potter)
…you discovered the back of the wardrobe led into a magical realm where you became royalty? (Narnia)
…you discovered there was a way to communicate with aliens through your dental work? (Fat Men From Space)
…you accidentally returned to the time of the Holocaust during your Pesach Seder? (The Devil’s Arithmetic)
While Isaac Asimov, Jane Yolen, Harlan Ellison, Daniel Manus Pinkwater, and many other secular Jewish Americans (as well as the Orthodox writer, Michael Burstein and the Israeli writers Lavie Tidhar and Nir Yaniv) have written speculative fiction to great acclaim–even Jewish speculative fiction–specifically Orthodox Jewish speculative fiction is much harder to find. As I have mentioned previously on my blog (and again, and again), there has been movement into this direction. But still, I get a lot of funny looks when I tell people what I most like to write.
But I don’t get it. I think speculative fiction is just SO Jewish, and so should you. Here’s why: Continue reading
Rebecca Klempner 