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Columnists

U=(N/T)M*G: MDMA

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Yeah, I wrote those ridiculous letters for this post, knowing full well what they mean. And yes, I also know that knee-jerk reaction I had when I first read those letters in conjunction to anything having to do with medicine. For those that don’t know, MDMA is more commonly known as Ecstasy. I personally know of it’s short, sordid history as a party drug because my sister and a couple of my friends. I especially remember a party out in the desert of my junior year where I babysat a boy not much older than me while he was rolling. … Read more

Words & Dreams: Finding Hope in Star Trek: The 9 Most Hopeful TNG Episodes

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There are times when we feel down. When hope is elusive. During those times, it helps to have something to turn to—something that will bolster your morale with its message, along with the knowledge that others cared enough about the same thing to write about it. That’s the very spirit in which most of the Star Trek franchise was written. So, as a soul-booster, I’ve gone through all the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s the most hopeful of the Trek series, in my opinion. The original series provides some real competition, but its run was sadly short. … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Mnemonic

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As if the ancient Greeks couldn’t have been more awesome, I stumbled on a little factoid that was the inspiration for this post. They invented the Mind Palace. If you’ve ever read the books or seen the numerous shows and movies, this is the vaunted “mind trick”that the great detective Sherlock Holmes uses, among quite a few others both real and fictional. In reality, the Mind Palace is just one variation of mind trap in a dozen under the heading method of loci, as part of a bunch of kinds of mnemonic devices. And it works, though some types of … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

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  One of my favorite sources of inspiration is research on old legends, tales, or classic stories. I’ve always loved ‘The Nutcracker’. As a child, I went to see a version, which a friend’s sister was playing one of the Russian dolls in. This particular ‘Nutcracker’ was half play, half ballet. The play part featured the mouse king. He ran around, biting people, giving them ugly faces, until the Nutcracker stopped him. I’ve seen many versions of ‘The Nutcracker’ since, but that was the only one with that particular storyline. When I did some research for ‘Seven Tricks’, I finally … Read more

Asta’s Annotations: Queer Theory in Modern Culture

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In his 1993 essay “There’s something queer here” Alexander Doty stated that queer erotics were “already part of culture’s erotic centre” (Hollows, Hutching & Jancovich, 2000, pg 339) when he discussed queer readings of films. More than twenty years on, and with gay rights movements slowly gaining ground around the world, to what extent does this statement still hold true? I believe that these readings have become more mainstream. No longer merely the purview of cultural critics, they are readily embraced by an audience happy to celebrate diversity. In a previous column I discussed the role of fan fiction in … Read more

Queer Fantasy Roots: Enough About M-Preg, How About Female Impregnation?

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Since I gave some time in my first column to medieval literary examples of male pregnancy, how about some equal time for the ladies? Are there any examples in myth or literature of women getting other women pregnant? Pre-modern understandings of how pregnancy works allowed for some interesting possibilities, either in fantastic literature, or pseudo-medical writing. For example, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras (and his followers, well into the 17th century) postulated that sperm contained a tiny fully-formed homunculus that was nourished within a woman’s womb but that derived entirely from the father. This “preformationism” theory of pregnancy had its female … Read more

Jeff Baker—Boogieman In Lavender

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                                         Wilde Stories 2016                                                 By Jeff Baker               Science fiction, magical realism, fantasy and plain old horror. All are on display in the 2016 edition of Wilde Stories, editor Steve Berman’s annual “best of the year” collection devoted to gay speculative fiction.             “Imaginary Boys” by Paul Magrs is one of several stories in Wilde Stories with a young adult protagonist. In this case David, raised by a single working mother, dealing with homophobia and with a visitor from Somewhere Else thrown into the mix. The story is both touching and funny with laughs coming from the least-likely … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Water Bear

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Don’t let the picture of that weirdly adorable little microbe that accompanies this article fool you. That badass is the Tardigrade. And it’s tough as nails. Sent to space unprotected and survived, it’s so hardcore. So superheroic that it survived all five mass extinctions. I bow down in awe to this, the toughest sumbitch on this planet. Like some weird love child of Colossus and Wolverine, this extremophile beastie earns its awesome status because it can dry out into a hard husk, called a tun, and it has wild regenerative properties. Some species are bisexual and some are asexual too. … Read more

Where No Gay Has Gone Before: Mars Needs Interior Decorators

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It probably goes without saying that the first homes on Mars will be built for substance rather than style, so what will these humble abodes look like? Since the first settlers on the Red Planet will not be able to rely on Earth for resources, houses must be self-sustaining, providing oxygen, water and food. In other words, ugly.  Imagine an igloo made from red brick.  But that doesn’t mean they have to be uncomfortable.  Maybe some nice window treatments, an accent rug, throw pillows here and there…The possibilities are endless!   I realize that at first we won’t have to … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Sour GRAPES

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Well, I found something I didn’t know could even happen. Last June, that’s June 2015 for those that read this post past 2016, Earth was smashed by a pretty damned big geomagnetic storm. Massive, really. Big enough to temporarily force a crack in our magnetosphere. That’s scary impressive. And scary. It’s no secret that the Sun interacts with our little backwater mudball in more ways than heat and light and orbit. Solar storms, coronal mass ejections and sunspots are just a few of the trade offs we contend with due to our little Goldilocks spot in the system. A year … Read more