Clarion West 2010 Instructors
I just dropped by the Clarion West homepage and discovered the instructor lineup for next year:
- Michael Bishop
- Maureen McHugh
- Nnedi Okorafor
- Graham Joyce
- Ellen Datlow
- Ian McDonald
Confession time. I look at these names and scratch my head. I am familiar with Ellen Datlow by name but not by work (not generally a horror reader).
However, I found the same difficulty about ten months ago looking at the list of names for both Clarions. I had no idea how sheltered I was. I discovered John Kessel and am now a fan (I had unwittingly read him before). I discovered Rudy Rucker and enjoyed his stories. I discovered Robert Crais (C-SD) and loved the Elvis Cole novel I listened to (and I don’t usually enjoy straight mysteries). I discovered I had already read and enjoyed several stories by Karen Joy Fowler. I also have books and/or stories standing by from Kim Stanley Robinson, Elizabeth Bear, and Elizabeth Hand. The instructors were a who’s-who of speculative fiction and I was a poorly-read wannabe.
Now I feel like a wannabe again. Michael Bishop has been publishing and winning awards since before I was born. (I need to do some research to see if I’ve read anything of his before.) Maureen McHugh has been popping out short stories since I was in middle school; Graham Joyce, winning British Fiction Awards since I was in high school. Nnedi Okorafor seems to be an up-and-coming author with YA experience and cites Donald Maass as one of her agents. Ian McDonald has a list of awards that could choke a…well, whatever eats awards.
So my ignorance says nothing of the quality of the instructors for next year. I intend to get started reading right away. I bet I can find a McDonald novel at the Book Cellar and I bet I have some of Bishop’s stuff lying around the house if I look hard enough. Others will require deeper exploration.
I will likely apply to both Clarions again next year, especially if the C-SD lineup is as promising as this one. I’m hoping to see some of this year’s CW names show up there, but I’ll wait and see. It will probably be a bit of a wait to find out that list. (Insider information always appreciated.)
I also hope to see some familiar names from here show up on the student lists.
Scott W. Baker: Chaos out of Chaos 
Just as I thought. I opened one book (a Year’s Best SF…the same one with Kessel’s “Stories for Men”) and found a story each from McHugh and McDonald. Maureen McHugh’s name was even on the cover. I can’t wait to read them. But not now…now it is time for sleep.
Damn, good list. (Not that the lists aren’t always star-studded and interesting). I better get reading too, though I’m less in the dark so to speak than it sounds like you were (but I’m an insomniac and apparently read more than is healthy or something).
I’m going to apply to both also. So here’s fingers crossed.