A new year with new hopes!

As much as I wanted 2022 to leave, I turned over a new calendar and *poof* felt hopeful for what possibilities 2023 could bring!

My optimism astounds me too. But hey, let’s not argue with it!

Season One of Iris and the Crew is imminent!

Time really flies! I got the acceptance for the first “season” of my new episodic space opera series, Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! in late 2021. And we’re already in 2023! It’s gonna be released by Renaissance in September! Or September-adjacent, LOL! Septemberish.

I’m champing at the bit, waiting to share this series with the world. Accessibility and accommodation are the norm in this world-building. I like to say the book has body celebration, an accessible ship, and PEW PEW PEW! And of course, for it to be an authentic Cait Gordon space opera, there are scenes with cake. Because cake. Cake is reality.

@caitgauthor
I have a book coming out later this year! Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! It has body celebration, an accessible ship, and PEW-PEW-PEW! Will keep you posted when it is available for pre-order! #BookTok #DisabledTikTok #SpaceOpera #DisabilityRepresentation
♬ Epic – Joystock

(I made this little teaser on my TikTok. The background is black, and it’s mostly text based with a cameo of the SS SpoonZ flying by. And I did a voiceover for the text.)

Daring to dream…

I’m never really into resolutions. I have designated a theme words for different years, and that was motivating. But this year, I decided to try a new thing. I created a dream board!

Two white square canvas glued together with an orange ribbon dividing them. Orange letters say: Dream Board. There is a tiny wooden star above a wooden cloud between the words Dream and Board. Little squares are pegged on the board.

Sorry, ye cannae have access to our dreams! But the orange-pink posts are mine and the turquoise ones are Bruce’s. I was happily surprised when he so enthusiastically participated. And many of our dreams line up!

So, the hope is to see what dreams we can fulfill this year, and if we still have dreams we still hope to come to fruition left over, then they can go to the next year’s board!

Piloting new events through the Spoonie Authors Network!

Gulp. What am I even doing? No, no, I totally got this! This year, beginning with Sunday January 15 at 2:30 pm, we’re having the debut of the Spoonie Authors Network ReLaunchpad! It’s an initiative where we have virtual book launches for indie and small press authors who manage spoons. We have a great lineup for this Sunday. It’s my first time ever running an event like this. I’m very grateful for my lovely assistants Nathan and Talia. And the wonderful authors who are going to be there. It’s a free event, and here’s the Eventbrite link where you can register for it. I hope you can join us!

Anthology awesomeness!

ID, book cover: Graffiti wall with “Nothing Without Us” spray painted in black. The list of editors and authors is included in the text of this page.

Talia and I found out that our 2020 Prix Aurora Award finalist anthology, Nothing Without Us, is being taught for a fourth time as part of the syllabus of a disability studies course at Trent University. Wow! That was a dream of mine before I even had a dream board! It’s so great that non-disabled and disabled students are continuing to learn from those stories!

Book cover: a watercolour of a brick wall in teal, brown, and beige bricks. Black graffiti says “Nothing without US.” And dark orange-red graffiti says “TOO.” Editors and author names are also on the cover.

It’s also award season! As of this month, Nothing Without Us Too is officially eligible to be nominated in the Best Related Work category of the Prix Aurora Awards. That doesn’t mean it’s nominated though—voting to include it on the nominee ballot comes in March, I believe. I’ll keep you posted about that in case you’d like to vote for it.

Oh, and the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) has a new website: csffa.ca) Did you know you can become a member for 10 Canadian dollars a year? Being a member not only means you can vote but it also means you’ll get access to works when making your decisin to vote for the winners! Learn more about this on the CSFFA website!

What other hopes do I have?

Oh, a whole bunch! And I will most likely be blogging about them and posting on social media. It’s nice to feel hopeful again, to be honest.

I hope this feeling lasts!

May many of your hopes and dreams for the new year come true too!

A greyscale close-up of me, standing in front of a blank background. I am a white woman with short silver hair cropped closely on the sides. I am wearing dark metallic rimmed glasses with rhinestones on the side. I’m wearing silver hook earrings with flat beads and a plaid shirt.

Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction that celebrates diversity. She is the author of Life in the ’Cosm, The Stealth Lovers, and the forthcoming Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space (2023). Cait also founded the Spoonie Authors Network and joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the multi-genre disability fiction anthologies Nothing Without Us and Nothing Without Us Too.