"Scion or Shafted: Being Mixed Race in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Cultures." @punuckish, @geniusbeee, @syrrann, @sarahmiyoko & @backthatelfup #GGC17 pic.twitter.com/Oj07gAJvfV
— Lauren Bullock (@LBullockPoetry) October 1, 2017
It's been a while and thank you for patiently waiting for the return of these blogs. Awesome and rewarding things have happened since I last posted a blog here (I recently got two articles published over on Women Write About Comics) and to start off the New Year (yes I know it's the beginning of April and past Lunar New Year as well) I'm going to toss out some creator recommendations.
Last year at GeekGirlCon, I moderated a panel on mixed-race characters in fiction. You can see the footage of it here and the tweet/photo above was from the awesome Lauren Bullock who attended the panel. I had a great group of people on the team and between that and the upcoming Alloy Anthology I thought it would be a great time to plug a few mixed race creators.
Tristan J. Tarwater
One of my favorite panelists of all time and an all around awesome person is Tristan. They has been on a bunch of panels with me and is a fantastic writer. They write Shamsee an ongoing webcomic and their book The Marauders' Island was the first physical book I finished reading in 2017 and is amazing. The book is a high seas family reunion in world where land and sea operate as one world and magic traditions are woven into the culture of each place. You can grab their books off of amazon and many local libraries (do a purchase request if you can't) and if you pick up her stuff don't forget to write a review. To find out more about her check out her website and follow her @backthatelfup on social media.
Marjorie Liu
A paranormal and comics writer, Marjorie Liu is fantastic. I really enjoyed her book The Iron Hunt, which was set in a paranormal-noir-modern-Seattle, and would love more audiobooks for her impressive oeuvre so that I could consume more of her work. She currently writes, Monstress for image and is specifically interested in talking about, and to, the experience of mixed-race people. While through allegory (which uses the biological definition of race as opposed to the social concept of race), it touches on the diversity of mixed-race people and the myriad ways we can or have “passed”. You can also buy her work on amazon or get them from many local libraries (do a purchase request if you can't) and if you pick up her stuff don't forget to write a review. You can check out her website for more information and follow her @marjoriemliu on social media.
Julie Fiveash
I met Julie at Indigenous Comic Con 2017 and her work is really cool. She blends the unsettling with the cute (I got a bunny sticker from her that says “Death Awaits”) and was great to talk to at the convention. She had a bunch of zines available (so if you catch her in person pick up a couple) and I grabbed “Why Can’t You-: A comic about multi-racial identity,” which is exactly what it sounds like in the best possible way. It blends 2-6 panel short comics into one plot and goes through the type of interactions that all multi-racial people have gone through. You can follow her work on tumblr, instagram and view her portfolio here.
Yoshi Yoshitani
I had the honor of having Yoshi on a panel with me at Rose City Comic Con to talk about Cultural Appropriation and she is an amazing artist. Her work covers all sorts of topics and what initially drew me to her work is a Tarot deck inspired by fairy tale stories from all over the world. She has an amazing and unique style and recently, she has decided to go full freelance (congratulations) and has worked on a bunch of awesome new covers for Star Trek, Monstress, and other comics. You can find out more about her on her website and buy her work here. To hear more about her upcoming projects and appearances follow her on social media @yoshisquared.
Kiku Hughes
Last but not least is Kiku who was also on the mixed-race creators panel at Geek Girl Con last year. Her ongoing webcomic the Sublimes is great and her graphic novel Displacement is going to be published by First Second in 2019. She also has the amazing honor of being the assistant editor to Der-Shing Helmer on the Alloy Anthology. Check out more of her work here and you can follow her on social media @geniusbeee
One of the best parts about looking for panelists for the mixed-race characters in fiction panel (and accidentally also my #ExpressiveAsians panel at Emerald City Comic Con) has been to see how large the multi/mixed/bi-racial creative community is. Many of us fall into the “ambiguous brown person” (a quote directly from Julie Fiveash's “Why Can’t You-: A comic about multi-racial identity”) category and no matter where we grew up there are some experiences that we all share. And if the works of these creators pique your interest, check them out and follow the the Alloy Anthology website to find out when the Kickstarter begins and to find out about more mixed-race creators.
