Rochita Loenen-Ruiz

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Excerpt

Siren traces the marks on Inyanna’s body. There are concave hollows in Inyanna’s arms, and there are connectors along her ribs that allow her to jack into her windbeast when she is in flight. Under Siren’s fingers, the patterns on Inyanna’s shoulders register as bumps—like tiny hills grouped together in circles that wind in and around each other.

“That tickles,” Inyanna says.

Her voice sends shivers along Siren’s spine and her fingers clutch and caress Inyanna’s skin.

“There is no one more beautiful than you,” Siren says.

She worships Inyanna’s body and follows the shape of muscle and bone with her hands. There is no fat on her body and Siren takes note of this too. Her fingers glide over her love’s hipbones, and she feels the muscles contract and hears Inyanna’s indrawn breath.

“There,” Inyanna says.

The shiver in her voice makes Siren smile.

“Here?” she asks.

She blows gently and watches Inyanna stretch and reach upwards.

In the moment when Inyanna reaches climax, Siren feels as if she has traced the road from Lower Ayudan to that place where the high gods dwell.
-from Song of the Body Cartographer (not yet published)-

Bio

I attended Clarion West in 2009 as an Octavia E. Butler scholar. I am a Filipina writer. I grew up in the mountains of Ifugao, and a lot of the stories I write are influenced by the culture of that place. I have sensed a change in the way I approach writing and story. I like to think that it has to do with me growing and becoming more of the writer I want to be. I want to encourage younger writers of color to keep on engaging and writing science fiction because I believe more of us are needed in this genre.

Publications

I have a bad memory and can't recall all my work that has been published. My most reprinted and anthologized fiction is "Alternate Girl's Expatriate Life." My WordPress site has a bibliography linking to my online work.


Writing Goals

I dedicated quite a good bit of last year's Write-a-thon to research. This year, I want to write science fiction or fantasy stories inspired by the histories I have read. My intention is to complete work on three short stories and to make progress on an existing longer work of science fiction that involves acts of revolution, secession, and my most favorite part, characters who are not quite human.

Fundraising Goals

Compared to last year, I plan to conduct a better campaign in regards to fundraising.

Here's the fun part. If you choose to sponsor me, I will include you in a short piece of work as either a planet, a strange creature, a person, a spaceship, and anything else my brain intuits when I see your name on my sponsorsheet. I will mail you the snippet, post it to my LiveJournal page, and tweet about it so people will come read.

And if you sponsor me for ten dollars or more, I will mail you a small token to remember me by.

Website

rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com


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