Oct. 2 reading + Oak story + Oooh, rain
There’s a little bit of rain expected in San Francisco this week, which is hardly unheard of, but it feels early. I remember so many Octobers that were bone dry, with smoke-filled air, where rain would have been a blessing that saved lives and towns. I’m sure there will be many more of those Octobers. But this year, a fire season tempered by damp weather is exceptionally welcome. I’m so ready for rainy season.
Seasons in San Francisco are a fraught topic. I spent years, as many do when they first move here, completely thrown by the chilly Julys, the way it warms up in September just when popular culture tells us everything is cooling down, and the insipid snowflake decorations everywhere in December and January, when we all know these hills would get people killed if the wish for a white winter ever came true.
Slowly, intentionally, I began to separate my understanding of the seasons from the popular culture that only speaks to places I’ve never lived. I also began to understand the expectation of snow in winter and heat in summer as a kind of colonialism. Those rules, like the cars and coats and closets people bring with them when they move to San Francisco, aren’t needed here. They set false expectations while ignoring the beauty and pleasure of the real seasons that we do experience.
I still hear people say, all the time, that we “don’t have seasons.” But we do, and they’re fantastic. I think of them as Rainy Season, Flower Season, Foggy Season and Fire Season. Fire may not sound good, and because of that same colonialism it has indeed been a huge fucking disaster here for decades. But before colonialism, fire was used with intention in ecosystems like ours all over the world, to maintain the native plants that fed, housed and clothed everyone. Fire was a tool of renewal, and indigenous cultural burning practices helped make California a lush garden for thousands of years. Now, knowing that those practices are starting to come back, Fire Season feels less depressing, and more like a big, interesting project that skilled, dedicated people are working on.
I want that feeling for all the challenges we face as a society and as a planet. Desperately. Here’s a few small ways I’m trying to encourage that future:
Thursday, October 2: Stir is back!
The Fire Season installment of the new reading series I co-host in SoMa is back, with an incredible lineup: Charlie Jane Anders, Syr Beker, Lehua Taitano and Charlie Getter. Join us and my co-host Josh Wilson (editor at The Fabulist) for coffee and social hour at Cafe Suspiro from 5 to 6pm, then reading and discussion at Arc Gallery in the same building from 6 to 8. 1246 Folsom, three blocks from Civic Center BART. More details on Cafe Suspiro’s website.
Free-to-read fiction: To Plant an Oak in Sand
My new story in Reckoning Magazine is now free to read online. It’s very short speculative climate fiction about an ethical dilemma a man faces while rewilding his lawn (a practice I HIGHLY recommend). Read now at Reckoning.
Recommended read: What A Fish Looks Like by Syr Hayati Beker
For the first time, I was invited to write a blurb for a book, and so I share it with you now with great enthusiasm, because I genuinely loved these stories. This is the long version that didn’t fit on the back cover: “This book feels like the threadbare hoodie I want comforting me at the end of the world—singed on one sleeve, mended with longing, fish scales sewn in like shiny beads, unzipped just enough to show the lace.” Order your copy from your local independent bookstore, or direct from the publisher, Stelliform Press.
The Wildcraft Drones update
Announcements coming soon! We’re looking at spring/summer (flower season or foggy season if you’re in San Francisco!) and starting to talk about cover art. I’m thinking about promotions, too — if you have any suggestions for bookstores, podcasts, etc I should reach out to, let me know!
Til next time —
T. K. Rex