It’s curious talking to all the readers who loved holiday tales and the writers who craft them. This time, I’m one of the writers. Seven Tricks definitely counts a holiday tale. Curiouser and curiouser. This isn’t a time of year when I focus primarily on writing. Don’t get me wrong. I do my best to stay in practice. I write something every day, working on polishing my craft. My focus is on other things, though. Christmas shopping. Decorating the tree. Writing an annual letter (this is one of the major projects of the season). Above all, spending time with my … Read more
Just call this one an early/late Christmas idea for the LGBT writer/reader on your list. The only hitch to this is the anthology I’m talking about doesn’t exist. (At least, not yet!) I’m a big fan of the “Mammoth Books Of…” series. 500 plus page collections of fiction on various themes: Egyptian Whodunits, Comic Fantasy, Extreme Science Fiction to name a few. Also, several volumes on non-fictional subjects as … Read more
For all the spy fans, all the tech geeks, all the science fiction aficionados, I bring this humble offering on one of the Holy Grails of fiction. Invisibility. Yes, you read that right. We, as a species, have been chasing that lofty ability since we understood what it was. We’ve blended into the scenery with clever disguises of mud and leaves, hoping our prey didn’t see us. There are reams of accounts of Native cultures on their seeming mystic ability to disappear from their enemies’ sights. Our myths are chock full of Gods that unveil themselves from some dark space … Read more
It’s no secret we know more about the stars above us, than the Earth below our feet. However, we’re making strides to resolve our ignorance now that we’re paying closer attention. Case in point, scientists have found something a little weird in the water. I’m talking about the Pacific Ocean. It has my creative Muse tingling in glee over possibilities. There is a shadow zone, it’s been discover. A deep, huge pool of water that hasn’t seen the light of day in about 2,000 years. You read that right. The water trapped in that area was last on the surface … Read more
We’re in the middle of NaNoWriMo right now. It’s a time of supercharged creative tension. People are scribbing and typing, trying to churn out 50K words before the month ends. It can also be a time of staring at the blank page or words written, contemplating a corresponding blank space in one’s head. All the while, the writer wonders what happened to their inspiration, their desire to write this particular story? How do they move forward from that blankness, even if it’s just a little? I’m only too well acquainted with this blankness. I’ve stared at my empty page, feeling … Read more
For today’s topic, and my last post for 2017, I thought we could discuss some of our favourite LGBT writers from history. I know a huge number of my favourite writers from the past were LGBT. Many are the obvious, famous names such as Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. Not to mention Marlowe and Shakespeare, if you go along with the suppositions about the two of them.
Yes, there’s a gay version of Ronald Reagan in here, in one of the stories of Lethe Press’ Wilde Stories. The alternate history version of the former President is only one of the surprises in the 2017 edition of the year’s best gay speculative fiction edited by Steve Berman. “Frost,” by ‘Nathan Burgoine borrows from “Frosty the Snowman” but in subtle ways (the mention of the broomstick was worth a smile!) and adds another origin story, as well as a poignant statement about the nature of magical transformations. “Where’s The Rest Of Me?” by Matthew Cheney (the aforementioned alternate Ronald … Read more
The 1990s saw a huge increase in the positive portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) characters in all parts of the genre: literature, anime, manga, comics, even some television and movie characters. Character-driven fantasy and science fiction became more popular, as did game-driven fiction and fandom. Different kinds of science fiction, fantasy and horror became a global phenomenon via the Internet. Cyberpunk-influenced science fiction with out queer characters, urban fantasies with LGBTQ characters, queer horror and television, movies and comics which celebrated queer subtext, all became more visible to mainstream audiences. One change in this decade was … Read more
I’ve been thinking about vulnerability a lot lately. Every time I use a form of social media, I feel vulnerable. Do I feel brave enough to post this? I constantly ask myself this question. It’s exciting, but it’s scary, too. I don’t know who’s out there, who’s listening. At least some of them may be enemies. By using a social medium, I’m exposing myself and my stories to them. The bright side is that there are friends out there, too. There are allies. There may even be those special readers I dream of connecting with. Readers I’ll enchant and inspire, … Read more
Notice that it is not “How I Became a Bisexual Author.” That part is easy. As a Bisexual, I would be a Bisexual author whether I was writing about spaceships or hog futures. Lately there’s been a lot of talk about “Bisexual erasure,” Quite often, a Bisexual who is involved with someone of the same gender will be assumed to be Gay. Likewise, a Bisexual involved with an opposite gender partner is assumed to be straight. And often the Bisexual in question will just let the assumption slide by uncorrected. (A friend of mine said he had to come out … Read more