{"id":23527,"date":"2013-12-19T06:30:22","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T17:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=23527"},"modified":"2013-12-16T20:55:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T07:55:55","slug":"heres-specficnz-wellington-featuring-darusha-wehm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/12\/19\/heres-specficnz-wellington-featuring-darusha-wehm\/","title":{"rendered":"“Here’s SpecFicNZ Wellington”: Featuring Darusha Wehm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past two months I have hosted a blog \u201cmini-series\u201d titled \u201cHere\u2019s SpecFicNZ Wellington\u201d<\/a> in which my fellow members—from Wellington, of course!—have\u00a0 introduced themselves using a series of\u00a0 common headings:<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Who:<\/strong> a short, first person introduction to the member
\nHere\u2019s Why:<\/strong> the member writes or works in speculative fiction
\nHere\u2019s What:<\/strong> an example of the member\u2019s work
\nHere\u2019s Where:<\/strong> you<\/em> can find out more about the writer and their work\u2014and I really hope you will!<\/p>\n

This week, I welcome my final guest, Darusha Wehm, who is also a member of the SpecFicNZ committee—and extend special thanks for her help in putting the series together. A very warm welcome, Darusha.:)<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s SpecFicNZ\u2013Wellington: Featuring Darusha Wehm<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here’s Who:<\/span><\/h3>\n

I am the author of the novels Beautiful Red<\/strong>, Self Made<\/strong>, Act of Will<\/strong> and The Beauty of Our Weapons<\/strong>, three of which have been nominated for the Parsec Award<\/span><\/a>. My short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine<\/strong> and the award-winning Toasted Cake<\/strong> and Escape Pod<\/strong> podcasts. I also am the editor of the crime and mystery short fiction magazine, Plan B<\/strong>, and curate the photo blog Spaceships Today<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Originally from Canada, I sailed to New Zealand with my partner Steven on our yacht \u201cScream.\u201d We left from the west coast of Canada and sailed to the US, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Ecuador, across the Pacific via French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. We live aboard in Wellington Harbour.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Why:<\/span><\/h3>\n

I write lots of different things: mystery, mainstream, poetry, non-fiction… but I mostly write science fiction. Unlike a lot of spec fic writers, I came to SF as an adult, introduced by friends who assured me that there was more to sci fi than rayguns and bugeyed monsters. I began my education with Iain M. Banks, moved on to Neal Stephenson, Octavia Butler, William Gibson and more. I immediately realized that SF can be literate, universal, funny, and intensely real.<\/span><\/p>\n

To me, speculative fiction is the abstract art of literature: through the depiction of states of existence that are not real, it can illuminate aspects of the human condition that are otherwise inaccessible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, robots, spaceships and cybernetics are way cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here\u2019s What:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Excerpt from <\/em>The Beauty of Our Weapons<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\n \u00a9 M. Darusha Wehm<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did this have to happen to me?\u201d Jeffie whined. Ren\u00e9 Biagini patted his friend on the hand and flicked a finger up to the waiter for another glass of synth-wine.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you tell me exactly what was done?\u201d Biagini asked, setting his system to record the conversation. He didn\u2019t really think he\u2019d be able to find whoever vandalized his friend\u2019s store, but he\u2019d promised to try so he ought to put a little effort in. \u201cDo you have a recording of the instantiation?\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffie nodded. \u201cI record every work day. Prevents a lot of disputes over price quotes.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d Ren\u00e9 said. \u201cSend me the vid.\u201d The wine arrived and Ren\u00e9 felt a download drop into his system. \u201cYou drink this,\u201d he said, handing Jeffie a large glass of red, \u201cwhile I look at it, okay?\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffie sniffled and nodded, sipping the wine. The vid showed a blurry image of Jeffie\u2019s storefront as it materialized in front of his vision. Ren\u00e9 had visited it more than a few times, and expected to see the familiar yellow and orange sign over the green portal door. Instead, there was a disturbing electrical buzzing sound and the door was distorted and pixellated. It did not look safe to enter, but Jeffie must have gone in anyway as the vid\u2019s point of view moved through the portal and into what should have been the small shop.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Where:<\/span><\/h3>\n

You can read stories, buy books and find out more at http:\/\/darusha.ca<\/span><\/a>. I\u2019m also on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

As noted above, Darusha is the final guest in the “Here’s SpecFicNZ Wellington”<\/a> series. Christams is upon us now, but I’ll do a roundup of all the featured guests early in the New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past two months I have hosted a blog \u201cmini-series\u201d titled \u201cHere\u2019s SpecFicNZ Wellington\u201d in which my fellow members—from Wellington, of course!—have\u00a0 introduced themselves using a series of\u00a0 common headings: Here\u2019s Who: a short, first person introduction to the member Here\u2019s Why: the member writes or works in speculative fiction Here\u2019s What: an example […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-other-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23527"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23550,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23527\/revisions\/23550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}