Robot Sister Number Phi

No Top Ten Tuesday this week because my brain is fried and I’d rather talk about things like robots and anthologies and diversity instead. Hot topics, those, yep.

A robot! A robot! My sister for a robot!

I wouldn’t really trade my sister for a robot. (Or would I?) In any case, I’ve been pretty excited–and tickled–that one of my short stories will be featured in Dreaming Robot Press’ 2015 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide. Excited because it’d be my first short story in the pro-rate publishing market, and tickled because, well, I based it off of a “what if” moment I sometimes ask myself when I am relatively annoyed with my sister. “What if I replaced my sister with a robot? What would that do for me?” Well, it started out that way, but in the end, even with all the cool gadgetry that is Robot Sister Phi, I did reconcile the sisterly bond that’s inherent–or should be inherent–in families. (I also got to put my minimal knowledge of Latin Am Spanish to good use–with the help of a friend–so that’s a plus!)

In any case, “Robot Sister Number Phi” and the stories in 2015 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide are typically trying to relay the same message for the middle-grade readers: That science fiction can be a playground for a diverse group of individuals in a span of different cultures, female or male, flesh-and-blood or artificial. The anthology description on the Kickstarter page pretty much sums the book up:

We’ve got a great collection of 20 stories from amazing authors, ranging from Nebula and Hugo winners to relative newcomers to the field. 90% of the stories in the anthology are brand new, and 80% have central female characters. We don’t have girls who are prizes to be won or waiting to be rescued. All of our heroines and heroes are on their own adventure, not a side note in someone else’s. Our characters are white, black, asian, latino. Human and robot. Everyone belongs here.

While the Kickstarter campaign has already reached its initial goal (and thensome, yay!), there’s still a little over a day left until the campaign closes.  If you’re into supporting projects that include the push for more middle-grade science fiction with a focus on girl protagonists and diversity, this is definitely the place to go, so show some love our way!

And normally, this is the part where I’d probably throw in an excerpt, but Corie Weaver had already put excerpts up on Wattpad, so I’m sending you there, too.