Writing

NaNoWriMo 2023 is here!

NaNoWriMo 2023 is here!

Hello all!

My apologies for not posting in a while. It is harder than I would like to admit to keep to a regular schedule of any sort, especially when I have to take the bus to work - I spend about 2 hours each day taking the bus, and as I’m already low-energy, I don’t have much energy to do much else.

I was planning on taking part in Inktober, at least to some degree. Where did the time go? October was incredibly busy, suffice to say. But I will still be taking part in NaNoWriMo. In fact, I was planning to post about NaNoWriMo on Wednesday, but the best laid plans…

If you are planning on doing NaNoWriMo (or already started), please be sure to friend me on there! If I can make the time for it, I will also be doing some writing streams on Saturday mornings or early afternoons (not this Saturday, though, as I am out of town). You can find me here: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/justin-grays

Keep on writing!

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 2, Episode 03

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 2, Episode 03

Last season, I started to take some time to sit down and talk to fellow POC folx in the geek community about our experiences. Now that we’re in season 2, the discussions continue. Today we have a returning special guest - writer and cosplayer, Sonni de Soto (she/her). You can find Sonni with the following links:

Content Warning - Mentions or Discussions of:

  • COVID-19

  • Eyes

  • Religion

Spoiler Warning:

  • The Good Place

Join the Grays Zone on Discord!

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 1, Episode 12

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 1, Episode 12

So, as longtime listeners may be aware, the usual format of this podcast is for me and two or three of my co-hosts to talk about society and current events from a perspective other than your stereotypical podcaster - that is, not from a cishet white male. But another thing that I’ve been meaning to do is to sit down and talk to fellow POC folx in the geek community about our experiences.

And so with that in mind, today we have a special guest - writer and cosplayer, Sonni de Soto (she/her). You can find Sonni with the following links:

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 01

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 01

Over the last four years, I have been promising to finish cleaning up the audio from the various panels that I have been on and improve the show notes. Now that GraysMatter Podcast is up and running, I have taken the time to also revisit these panels. Please join me in experiencing Justin on Panels.

MarsCon 2018

Creating actual diversity requires a great effort to avoiding unintentionally tokenizing your characters. Tokenism, even when unintentional, is what leads to adding "diversity” for the sake of diversity. How do we engender true diversity in sci fi and comics?

With: Justin Grays, Rob Callahan, S.N. Arly, Tyler Tork, mod.

Content Warning:

  • Mention of the slur for Romani people

  • Transracial/Transcultural adoption

Black Fan, White Fandom - CONvergence 2020

Black Fan, White Fandom: What it was like in the days before representation was as prominent, even though we have a long way to go. Panelists: Taylor Aaron Cisco, Briana Lawrence, Justin Edward Grays. Liaison: Shannan Paul

Although COVID-19 has postponed CONvergence: The Stuff of Legends to 2021, we still were able to move forward with having an online convention. CONvergence Online was a free to attend event where we can digitally gather and enjoy the convention weekend; we were still able to hold room parties and participate in panels over Zoom. You can listen to or download an audio version of the panel here, or watch on the CONvergence YouTube channel.

CVG 2020 Will Be Online - I Hope To See You There!

Although COVID-19 has postponed CONvergence: The Stuff of Legends to 2021, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be a CONvergence in 2020. This weekend will be CONvergence Online - a free to attend event where we can digitally gather and enjoy the convention weekend! I hope to see you all there!

I will be on a panel with Taylor A Cisco on Friday the 21st at 6PM: Black Fan, White Fandom - “A discussion of how PoC kept their geek torches burning in the days when representation was non-existent.” If you have any early questions that you would like us to consider during our discussion, please feel free to fill out the form below. I cannot guarantee that your question will come up, but even if it doesn’t, I will do my best to answer your question in a post after the convention!

Gender & AI - CONvergence 2019

Gender & AI - CONvergence 2019

Androids & AI in sci-fi disrupt the idea of a gender binary: what purpose is there for an android and/or AI to have gender? Could an android/AI be trans, gender-fluid, and/or non-binary? How will that affect how we as a society see gender as a construct? Participants: Naomi Kritzer (mod), Leigh Hellman, Justin Edward Grays, Nate Bird, Elliot Besmann

Content Warnings:

Mention of sexual harassment towards AI.

References to the dehumanization of indigenous peoples.

Avoiding Tokenism in Literature at CONvergence 2018

Avoiding Tokenism in Literature at CONvergence 2018

Creating actual diversity requires a great effort to avoid unintentionally tokenizing your characters. Tokenism, even when unintentional, is what leads to adding "diversity" for the sake of diversity. How do we engender true diversity in our literature?
Panelists: Tamora Pierce, Justin Grays, Kerry Peterson (mod), Jei Herald-Zamora

CVG 2018 Day 3, Part 2 - Sex in Sci-Fi/Fantasy

CVG 2018 Day 3, Part 2 - Sex in Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Warning: Rape gets brought up in this post. It is mentioned in the Hard Passes.

CONvergence 2018 was July 5-8, 2018, almost 3 months ago now. I had planned on getting this post done two weeks ago as I have been trying to get posts out on a regular basis, but certain events tied up my brainspace. I’m not willing to say that I am back on track yet, but I am certainly trying. As a reminder of Day 3 (Saturday the 7th), I was on the panel “Polyamory 101” and attended “Sex in Sci-Fi/Fantasy”. For part 2, I present to you my notes from “Sex in Sci-Fi/Fantasy”.

My apologies for taking so long to post!

My apologies for taking so long to post!

My apologies for taking so long to post - two things have happened recently that have slowed me down. The first thing of note is that my primary laptop (the piece of modern technology) has been finding new ways to stop working (first the power button somehow got disconnected, and then the keyboard was acting funky, and then the screen hinge disconnected, and then lastly the monitor decided that the brightness was at minimum while the keyboard quit working again). The second thing is that I caught the concrud at CONvergence 2018.

Science Fiction, Gender, and Race: How Star Trek Has Failed to Live Up to its Progressive Ideals

Science Fiction, Gender, and Race: How Star Trek Has Failed to Live Up to its Progressive Ideals

In May of 2012, I graduated with my BA in Gender Studies from Metropolitan State University. My capstone paper was titled "Science Fiction, Gender, and Race: How Star Trek Has Failed to Live Up to its Progressive Ideals" - it was because the 2009 Star Trek film was still on my mind (the second reboot film wouldn't be out until 2013) and I was still very disappointed in it.

MarsCon 2018 - Day 3

MarsCon 2018 - Day 3

If you haven't read MarsCon 2018 - Day 1 or MarsCon 2018 - Day 2 already, I would suggest that you read those two entries first. Some parts of the eight previous panels can be connected to today's panels: "Androids, AI, And Gender Theory" and "Artificial People in Science Fiction."

MarsCon 2018 - Day 1

MarsCon 2018 - Day 1

MarsCon is a fan-run science fiction convention for all ages held every March in the Twin Cities area. This year's theme is Robots, Rayguns, & Rockets: The 3 R's of Sci-Fi. Today I was on two panels, "Avoiding the Tokenism in Comics and Sci Fi Cultures," "How to Fail Gracefully," and "Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities." There are audio recordings of all three panels; however, they are still the raw, unedited versions. The normalized, balanced versions will be put up on a later post. I also took some notes for some of the panels - I will include them here so that I can expand on them on a later date. Please feel free to ask questions and post comments about the panels. Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo is upon us!

NaNoWriMo is upon us. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a 30-day event in November where people attempt to write a 50,000 word novel. Their Mission Statement is:

“National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.”
— https://nanowrimo.org/about

I have been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2011. In that time, I have tried my hand at various Science Fiction and Fantasy tales. This year, as a motivator, I am going to try something different: you all will have the opportunity to see my progress as I go. As I'm writing, I will be posting what I am writing to my Patreon for $1+ sponsors. If I complete stories, they will be available for early download for $10+ sponsors.

I will be dedicating a good deal of my mental resources towards writing for NaNoWriMo throughout November. There will still be blog posts, of course, but they may be shorter than usual. But this will be a fun time! Check out my NaNoWriMo page here: https://nanowrimo.org/participants/justin-grays

If you like what you read here, and would like to show your support, please consider donating.

I am on Patreon to help fund the work that goes into maintaining a website and creating researched content. Also, it will give me some financial relief as I am also endeavoring to complete a number of science fiction and fantasy stories, and hopefully compile them into zines or collected works. As a sponsor, you'll get quality blog posts, early access to completed stories, and the knowledge that you are helping me fund the creative process. I will get the benefit of some stress reduction as I won't have to worry about finances as much anymore, and that will help me be free to create more work.

It's not always possible to sponsor on a monthly basis. If you would like to do a one time donation, please feel free to use PayPal or SquareCash. Producing content takes time and effort, and any support would be most appreciated. Your donations help me cover expenses and eventually will let me be able to create quality content full-time.