Sue Burke’s most recent science fiction novel is Usurpation, the conclusion of the trilogy that began with Semiosis and Interference. She began writing professionally as a teenager, working for newspapers and magazines as a reporter and editor, and began writing fiction in 1995. She has published more than 40 short stories, along with essays, poetry, and translations from Spanish into English of short stories, novels, poetry, and historical works. Find out more at https://sueburke.site/
A neighbor is away on an extended family visit, and she asked me to take care of her plants while she’s gone. She seems to think I’m doing it just to be nice. I think I’m doing it because I get to have more plants. I have them only temporarily, true, but look at these beauties! These quiet guests are content with a sunny window and weekly watering, and they add color and delight to my home. They’re very welcome.
I’m interviewed in the latest issue of Panel Magazine in an article called “Lessons from the Future.” Published in Budapest, Panel is a magazine of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and the arts produced in Central and Eastern Europe and originally written in English or translated into English.
Half the proceeds from Issue #9 will go to help Ukrainian people currently residing in Hungary. You can order an electronic copy here.
Here’s an excerpt from the interview by editor Jennifer Walker:
Question: Clones play a key role in Immunity Index … Were you drawn to clones to explore the concept of what it meant to be human, as a device to show what happens when a group becomes dehumanized, or was it something else you were curious to explore?
Answer: I know some human clones. We all do. Identical twins are clones. Most of my houseplants are clones, too. When you take a cutting and grow a new plant from it, that’s a clone. And yet, the simple, natural, common state of being a clone has been associated with evil. Other natural states like being trans-gender are actively being dehumanized right now. This is another political choice, and who’s making those decisions and why? As I said, anger seeped into my novel.
The annual conference is designed to promote the research of speculative fiction, media and technologies. It aims to shine a spotlight on the research of postgraduates and early career researchers working at the overlap of speculative fiction, theories and cultures.
For CRSF’s 11th year, this hybrid event “seeks to generate interdisciplinary discussions of communication within speculative fiction, breaching boundaries of communication and how forms of communication and kinship manifest themselves within textual and visual cultures in the present-day.”
I’ll appear in a roundtable on Friday, July 1, at 3 p.m. BST, on “Communicating the Other” with hosts Jonathan Thornton and David Tierney, and special guests Chana Porta, Vandana Singh, Aliya Whitle, and Sue Burke.
Other panels and keynotes include “Building the Other,” “Gender,” “Uplift Fiction and Listening to the Other,” and “Degrees of Distance from Consensus Reality.”
If you’re in Chicago, come to the preview reading Tuesday, June 14, 7 p.m., at Fado Irish Pub and Restaurant, 100 W. Grand Ave., near the Magnificent Mile downtown! More information here: Ludlow Charlington @ GFS 6/14/22 | Facebook
Each year, the City of Chicago Animal Care and Control gets thousands of unwanted animals. Some are pets whose owners can no longer keep them, some are strays, and a few are evidence animals in court cases. Most of these pets are looking for homes, and all of them need care.
At Ludlow Charlingtons Coffee Shop in Chicago, eleven ornate portraits of contemporary dogs dressed in historical costumes hang on the walls. As a fundraiser for FCACC, nineteen writers, mostly from Chicago, have donated work to an anthology based on those portraits.
In all, thirty-four stories, poems, and plays tell about guarding kids, dealing with queens and kings, captaining a pirate ship, and creating a fashion trend. They span the globe and historical eras. I wrote a sonnet about Dog Six.
You can buy the Ludlow Charlington’s Doghouse starting June 14 for only $5.99:
Chris Helzer, The Nature Conservancy’s Director of Science in Nebraska, wants to convince you that prairies are interesting and important, even though there aren’t any trees.
I’ll be reading from my novel Immunity Index on May 19 as part of the Strong Women Strange Worlds series. The Zoom presentation is at 7 p.m. ET. Sign up to attend at https://strongwomenstrangeworlds.weebly.com. Other readers are Heather Rose Jones, Missy Jane, Kyoko M, Cass Morris, and Mari Ness.
The novel Immunity Index is now available in trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audio book editions. Find your favorite retailer here.
“Prescient and powerful, this is a gut-punch of a book.” — Seanan McGuire
You can pre-order the trade paperback edition of “Immunity Index” for 25% off from today to Friday, April 20 to 22, at Barnes & Noble. Coupon code: PREORDER25
Semiosis 