In regard to Queer Sci Fi, you have no idea how many times I hear this. Someone posts to the group, the page, or comes to Scott and I, and says, “I know it’s not science fiction, but I’d like to share this (fill in the genre in question) story.” While we love that people want to check first, we want to be clear that we don’t want to limit the discussion to science fiction.
Queer Sci Fi has science fiction in the title, but we’re all about the speculative fiction. Sometimes I wonder if we should have called it Queer Spec Fic, but we so often get asked what speculative fiction is that a spec fic title might cause even more confusion.
So what the heck is speculative fiction (or spec fic) anyway? Wikipedia’s definition is a nice basic one: “Speculative fiction is a broad literary genre encompassing any fiction with supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements.” The term itself has been around since the late 19th century, but the SF community started using it more regularly when Heinlein did. Go figure. But what we get from the definition is that spec fic is anything that takes us outside the everyday world of “normal” experience.
Science fiction and all the star clusters included therein? Check
Fantasy and all of its sub-kingdoms? Check
Paranormal both old school and new? Check
Horror both spine-chilling and scream-worthy? Check
All of the above and Queer Sci Fi? Yep. You got it. We’re always happy to answer questions if you’re unsure, but remember there’s a name and a tagline:
Queer Sci Fi: Sci Fi, Fantasy and Paranormal with a bent attitude.