Great Stuff Out There, January Edition

At the end of most of my blog posts, I include a section of links called Good Stuff Out There. These are usually posts or articles by other people who have something interesting to say about writing, books, or related topics. I offer these links because when I find something I like, I want to tell more people about it, as we all do.

Sometimes I encounter undertakings of a literary nature (or otherwise) that I want to highlight more prominently than a link at the end of an unrelated post. So I'm introducing a new recurring feature called Great Stuff Out There. In this first edition of Great Stuff, I have two exciting projects to discuss:

→ FOGcon 2012 - Last year I attended the first Friends of the Genre convention, and I had a blast. The con focuses on science fiction and fantasy literature, and it will be held March 30 to April 1 in Walnut Creek (in the San Francisco Bay Area).

This isn't a writing conference, but a gathering of enthusiastic readers (some of whom are also writers). My knowledge of genre fiction is limited compared to most of the attendees, and I was a bit nervous about that last year, but I still felt welcomed and able to participate. You can look through the long list of suggested programming to see what kind of panel discussions and workshops will be offered.

I'm looking forward to attending FOGcon 2012, and I hope I can talk a few people into joining me. Interested? Register here!

→ Flamingo Rampant - My longtime friend S. Bear Bergman is launching a line of children's picture books that celebrate the fluidity of gender. Bear is a wonderful writer (may I recommend his essay collection THE NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU?), and since becoming a wonderful dad, he's been thinking about subjects that are underrepresented in children's literature. Bear has written two picture books and located artists to illustrate them.

Visit the Kickstarter page and watch the video to learn more about the project and the books. The fundraising campaign has been so successful that almost all the money required to publish both books has been raised in only three days, but pre-orders and donations are still being accepted.