Hey all,
From the beginning, we’ve sought to make Queer Sci Fi a welcoming and diverse place. We wanted a forum where both writers and readers could mingle, and where FF fiction was just as welcomed as MM, where transgender, ace and bisexual writers and readers would feel comfortable sharing their work and talking about their favorite books and authors.
I am proud of what we have accomplished so far. I do think that most of our members feel comfortable here, and although there have been occasional flair ups, you guys have helped us to navigate them with grace and generosity.
That said, the group does still lean a bit to the gay/MM side. And while that may be a reflection of the LGBTIQ publishing universe at large, we still want to do what we can to counter it.
One step in this process was the addition of a monthly FF day to celebrate women’s speculative fiction, headed by the fabulous Anastasia Vitsky. While I am glad we took this step, it had the unfortunate side-effect of ghettoizing FF fiction to one day a month. And Anastasia has had a lot on her plate, professionally and personally these last few months.
We also reached out to FF publishers at Heather Rose Jone’s suggestion, and now list many of them in our publishers section of the website.
But we want to do more.
So rather than dedicating a monthly day to our lesbian members, or our trans members, or the bi and ace folks who make up the group, we’re going to try to sprinkle more topics throughout the month as part of our regular discussion mix.
But to do so, we need your help.
What do you guys want to talk about? I’m specifically reaching out to the folks beyond the MM/Gay part of the rainbow. We brainstormed a few topics in these areas for RC… we’ll talk about some of those here too.
And what are your other ideas for increasing both the diversity of QSF and its presentation within the group?
Thanks!
–Scott