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Sirens Conference

23 Oct, 11 tweets, 7 min read

2009: Sirens delved deep on what it means to be to a warrior, especially as that construct intersects with gender and gender expression. Here are 10 amazing warrior books (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. A BLADE SO BLACK by L.L. McKinney: “Alice couldn’t cry. She couldn’t scream. All she could do was run.” #SirensAtHome

2. CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi: “Pick me. It’s all I can do not to scream. I dig my nails into the marula oak of my staff and squeeze to keep from fidgeting. Beads of sweat drop down my back, but I can’t tell if it’s from dawn’s early heat or…” #SirensAtHome

3. CROWN DUEL/COURT DUEL by Sherwood Smith: “I hope any of my descendants reading this know exactly what the Covenant and the Code of War are, but there is always the chance that my story has been copied by the scribes and...” #SirensAtHome

4. DARK TRIUMPH by Robin LaFevers: “I did not arrive at the convent of the Saint Mortain some green stripling. By the time I was sent there, my death count numbered three, and I had had two lovers besides. Even so...” #SirensAtHome

5. DREAD NATION by Justina Ireland: “The day I came squealing and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me. I guess it should have been obvious to everyone right then that I wasn’t going to have a normal life.” #SirensAtHome

6. FIRST TEST by Tamora Pierce: “Alanna the Lioness, the King’s Champion, could hardly contain her glee. Baron Piers of Mindelan had written to say that his daughter wished to be a page.” #SirensAtHome

7. GRACELING by Kristin Cashore: “In these dungeons, the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind. One that had so far proven correct, as Oll’s maps tended to do.” #SirensAtHome

8. TIGER’S DAUGHTER by K Arsenault Rivera: “Empress Yui wrestles with her broken zither. She’d rather deal with the tiger again. Or the demons. Or her uncle. Anything short of going north, anything short of war. But a snapped string?...” #SirensAtHome

9. WE HUNT THE FLAME by Hafsah Faizal: “People lived because she killed. And if that meant braving the Arz where even the sun was afraid to glimpse, then so be it.” #SirensAtHome

10. WE RULE THE NIGHT by Claire Eliza Bartlett: “Revna didn’t realize the war had come to them. Not until the factory stopped.” #SirensAtHome

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More from @sirens_con

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

24 Oct

@amytenbrink

We're back again! @amytenbrink welcomes everyone and notes that we're in a liminal space in this very strange year of 2020, which falls between *our* years of discussing Heroes (2019) and Villains (2021).

#SirensAtHome

In 2020, we all feel like we're failing, not doing enough, not being enough -- "Like we've become the villains in our own stories."

But Amy thinks we're all heroes.

#SirensAtHome

In classic Amy style, she says "fuck that" to the traditional definition of heroism.

What we're doing for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities -- that is heroic.

#SirensAtHome

Read 44 tweets

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

23 Oct

2021: Sirens will challenge what it means to be a villain—and especially of what it means for people of marginalized genders and other identities to so easily be cast as villainous. Here are 10 wicked works (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. A FEAST OF SORROWS by Angela Slatter: “My father did not know that my mother knew about his other wives, but she did. It didn’t seem to bother her, perhaps because, of them all, she had the greater independence and a measure of prosperity that was all her own.” #SirensAtHome

2. AMERICAN HIPPO by Sarah Gailey: “Winslow Remington Houndstooth was not a hero. There was nothing within him that cried out for justice or fame. He did not wear a white hat—he preferred his grey one, which didn’t show the bloodstains.” #SirensAtHome

Read 11 tweets

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

23 Oct

2019: Sirens considered heroes in all their forms, and explicitly rejected the hypermasculine notions of heroism—and discussed a pantheon of more revolutionary heroes. Here are 10 magnificent heroes works (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. A PALE LIGHT IN THE BLACK by K.B. Wagers: “Commander Rosa Martín Rivas pasted another smile onto her face as she wove through the crowds and headed for her ship at the far end of the hangar. She and the rest of the members of Zuma’s Ghost...” #SirensAtHome

2. A SONG BELOW WATER by Bethany C. Morrow: “It feels redundant to be at the pool on a rainy Saturday, even though it’s spring, and even though it’s Portland, but maybe I’m just more of a California snob than I want to be.” #SirensAtHome

Read 11 tweets

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

23 Oct

2017: Sirens deconstructed magic and those of marginalized genders who want it or wield it—and how magic is so often an analog for power. Here are 10 magical books of witches, sorcerers, enchanters and more (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V.E. Schwab: “Kell wore a very peculiar coat. It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several, which was, of course, impossible.” #SirensAtHome

2. LABYRINTH LOST by Zoraida Córdova: “The second time I saw my dead aunt Rosaria, she was dancing. Earlier that day, my mom had warned me, pressing a long, red fingernail on the tip of my nose, ‘Alejandra, don’t go downstairs when the Circle arrives.’” #SirensAtHome

Read 11 tweets

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

23 Oct

2016: Sirens examined lovers and representations of romantic and erotic ideas in speculative spaces, including the notion of taking those things—or not—on your terms. Here are 10 beautiful stories of love (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. ANCIENT, ANCIENT by Kiini Ibura Salaam: “Sené. Pregnant Sené. Sené of the tired skin. Sené whose face held a million wrinkles, each one etched deeply as if carved over the course of forty years. Sené whose blood was only twenty-four years young.” #SirensAtHome

2. EMPIRE OF SAND by Tasha Shuri: “Mehr woke up to a soft voice calling her name. Without thought, she reached a hand beneath her pillow and closed her fingers carefully around the hilt of her dagger. She could feel the smoothness of the large opal...” #SirensAtHome

Read 11 tweets

Sirens Conference

@sirens_con

23 Oct

2015: Sirens analyzed stories of rebels and revolutionaries—and cast a wide net, seeking both traditional fantasy uprisings and more revolutionary rebellions as well. Here are 10 world-shattering tales (with more books/info here: sirensconference.org/news/2020/10/s…): 1/

#SirensAtHome

1. ALIF THE UNSEEN by G. Willow Wilson: “The thing always appeared in the hour between sunset and full dark. When the light began to wane in the afternoon, casting shadows of gray and violet across the stable yard below the tower where he worked...” #SirensAtHome

2. AN ACCIDENT OF STARS by Foz Meadows: “Sarcasm is armour, Saffron thought, and imagined she was donning a suit of it, plate by gleaming, snark-laden plate...’” #SirensAtHome

Read 11 tweets

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