She Is Here—Still Here!

US: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | PM Press
UK: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | WH Smith

Tuesday is traditionally book-launch day. Today She Is Here has been out three months but as a small book from a small, independent press known for its anarchist leanings (see two of my favourites from their merch offerings, below) you might not have seen it reviewed in the usual places. (I didn’t go on tour, and did only two book events—one in person right here in Seattle, and one virtual for City Lights in San Francisco.)

Both events were great, and PM Press are very happy because sales have, by their lights, been unexpectedly strong. (Yay!) But I know there are more people out there who might enjoy the book if only they knew about it.

Some might enjoy what Gary Wolfe in his Locus review characterises as the four “good short but stabby poems.” Some might prefer the essays—including epistolary criticism such as “TheWomen You Didn’t See,” which is my analysis of how Tiptree’s identity shaped her short fiction. But what I’m really keen on getting readers to discover are the four pieces of my short fiction—particularly the original novella, Many Things in Dumnet. Why should you seek them out? Well, here I’m going to quote Wolfe again to save me the embarrassment of praising myself:

More than half the book consists of the four fiction selections. The shortest is “Glimmer”… a showpiece for Griffith’s lyrical prose, as a woman (who describes herself as “a cripple”) is transformed as she travels through time and space – “pulsing, lengthening, cooling, a cord stretched past the horizon along which she slides like a bead.” “Down the Path of the Sun”, one of Griffith’s earliest stories, is a grim but powerful postapocalyptic, postplague account of the narrator’s attempts to protect her sister in a violent, desperately diminished world. Both “Cold Wind” and “Many Things in Dumnet” are rare Griffith fantasy stories. “Cold Wind”, which begins in a women’s bar in contemporary Seattle, explores the complex relationships of predator and prey, as both the narrator and the strange woman she meets there both turn out to be not quite what they seem. “Many Things in Dumnet” is set in what appears to be a fantasy version of Griffith’s early medieval Britain, in which a musician, Anya Reine, arrives in Dumnet, “most southwesterly of the kingdoms of Albion,” and quickly lands a gig at a tavern – only to be warned that no one is allowed to perform without the approval of Macalla, who at first appears to be a local crime boss. But Macalla turns out to be far more than that, and so does Anya. Aided by totemic figures such as a silver fox, she eventually finds herself defending the kingdom from the predations of Macalla’s “wodebreath.” Apart from its supernatural fireworks and its convincing portrayal of a haunted medieval setting, the story also serves as a moving paean to the power of music…

Those who follow me on Patreon know quite a bit about Dumnet—it’s part of an SFnal alt-history set in a ninth-century Dumnonia (Cornwall and Devon) in which, over four hundred years earlier, the Fall of Rome coincided with the Fall of Something Nasty From the Sky and utterly changed the trajectories of every civilisation on earth. (I’m choosing my words carefully here.) But as that novel isn’t actually written yet, this novella is presented as a fantasy—the best way for it to make sense as a standalone. And having now written it and read part of it aloud that way, I remembered just how much enjoy writing fantasy: I can feel myself changing my mind. I think I will turn the novel into a a big-ol’ sword-swangin’ alt-history science-fantasy! Full of all those delicious tropes that writing realism (whether historical fiction, crime fiction, contemporary fiction about fighting ableism, science fiction), doesn’t always allow for: Music can save the world! Sex can save the world! Violence can be a good and useful and even, y’know, kind of cool thing! Lather everything in love and lust and loss and longing! And lesbians. And villains—eeeeeevil villains who can be defeated by lusty lesbians who love to sing! Fighting to save the whole fucking *world*!!! Oh, yep now that sounds exciting…

Er, anyway, my point is that if you like novels such as Spear, Hild, Menewood, and Ammonite, you will like this novella. So do me and PM Press and perhaps yourself a favour and go read “Many Things in Dumnet”—only to be found in She Is Here.

To whet your appetite, here are a few nice things people have said about the book:

• “Beyond having an astute way with words, [Griffith] speaks with an emphatic, take-no-prisoners clarity. Griffith plays brilliantly to this strength in her new collection She Is Here.”— Eric Olson, Seattle Times
  
• “Fresh work from [one] of the greats in the queer literary canon! This new book contains essays, poems, art, and stories. Griffith can indeed do it all.” — Autostraddle on She Is Here
  
• “Griffith’s sharp and uncompromising voice comes across clearly in the nonfiction and the interview, but the important news for Griffith’s readers lies in the four short fiction pieces, especially an excellent novella, ‘Many Things in Dumnet’, which is original to the volume [and] serves as a moving paean to the power of music … She is Here is a revealing and rewarding self-portrait of one of our most important—and most outspoken—voices.” —Gary Wolfe, Locus
  
• “A winning survey of Griffith’s work.” — Reactor on She Is Here
  
• “The collection starts with the most shocking piece, Griffith’s ‘A Writer’s Manifesto.’ I was thrilled to hear Griffith read it aloud. ‘I want to write a novel that invades you,’ Griffith said. ‘I want to control what you think and feel, to put you right there, right then, killing and being killed, f—king and being f—ked, cooking and starving, drinking and thinking, barely surviving and absolutely thriving. I want to give you a life you’ve never had and change the one you live.’ From a lesser writer, these few sentences would sound arrogant, even egotistical. As it is, the manifesto is intense and…a little frightening. For Griffith, it’s a distillation of what she wants to do (and what she does) in all of her fiction. She is Here is an excellent and deeply personal introduction to both Griffith’s writing and her perspective on writing.” — Chaitna Deshmukh, The Daily

US: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | PM Press
UK: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells | WH Smith

#CreativeWriting Prompt: Cauldron

Beneath the gnarled roots of the ancient hawthorn, where moonlight dares not tread, the cauldron rests. Its iron sides etched with runes long forgotten, pulsing faintly with a rhythm like a slow, sleeping heart.

more...

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