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Columnists

U=(N/T)M*G: Tarantula Blue

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I love color. I can’t match it to save my everlasting soul, but I love it all the same. The entire spectrum from snow white to pitch. And when I found science about color, I just had to share it. Tarantula Blue is a term coined by the researchers of this structural coloration, and though the research is way above my paygrade, it has the potential for some rather interesting applications. Of course, optical advancement in technology, TVs and phones and computers, are a given. I’m more intrigued by the possible development this could have on culture and military or … Read more

Asta’s Annotations: The Path to LGBT Fiction

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Today I thought it might be interesting to discuss how we all came to LGBT fiction, whether as readers or writers.   For me, it all started with the film Van Helsing in 2004. Meeting fellow fans through the LiveJournal account I had at the time led me to discover fan fiction, and slash in particular. One of my earliest serious attempts at writing was a fan fiction with a Dracula/Van Helsing back story. I’ve written the occasional piece since—Rimmer/Lister (Red Dwarf), Hannibal/Will (Hannibal), Ragnar/Athelstan (Vikings), Sherlock/John (Sherlock), Steve/Loki (Avengers) etc.—and I still read a story or two when a … Read more

Queer Fantasy Roots: Astral Projection, Body-sharing, and a Platonic Threesome in Cavendish’s The Blazing World

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Queer Fantasy Roots

It’s become something of “a thing” lately to argue over who wrote the earliest science fiction novel, or what the foundational literature was that explores the common tropes and concepts of SFF. In my opinion, arguing over “first” or “most important” is like arguing over which superhero can beat up the others. Let’s just enjoy them all for what they are. One early novel chock-full of themes and tropes that would later become staples of science fiction is The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing-World published by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle in 1666. In brief: a young … Read more

Jeff Baker–Boogieman In Lavender

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                                                                                                         Queer 101                                                    By Jeff Baker               When I was scoping out markets for LGBT-themed science-fiction/Fantasy/Horror (1) short-stories (2) about five years ago, I decided to do my research. Not just into markets but into what sort of fiction of this type had been written and was being written today. The “had been” is important; there have been complaints that today are readers who gush over “Twilight” who have never heard of “Dark Shadows.”             So here are some, not all, of the books I perused (3) while I was figuring out exactly … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Stalking Authors in the Wild

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Authors are much more accessible these days – at least online. We can friend our favorite authors, follow blogs and Twitter feeds, see photos of them with friends and so on. But now you’ve decided to attend an event. Real life, three-dimensional authors will be there. (Gasp!) The time spent face to face with your author quarry can be limited at larger events. You might see them on a panel or at a signing. Other events are geared toward allowing readers to interact with authors. Though the setting doesn’t matter too much – you’ve spotted the author on your personal … Read more

Pineapples

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A set of business researchers over in England did a bit of science to prove something we already know: language changes. All the time. Evolutionary Linguistics is actually a pretty big topic, with scads of information. In my experience, slang usually comes first, before a word or turn of phrase is adopted into common usage. It’s a good thing, from an author’s point of view, challenging though it is to keep up with all the new words that are tried, accepted or dismissed aside. Like my friend Rich, who says pineapples to describe a bad idea or situation. In some … Read more

Dispatches from Hogwarts G.S.A.: Tropes we’d like to see

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A famous writer once said: “There is no such thing as a new idea.” That writer was Mark Twain, who is pretty hard to argue with (especially since he’s dead), and here’s his elaboration, which, naturally, is wise and brilliant: “It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” … Read more

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

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While I was searching for something completely different (read fandom stuff), I came across a pretty interesting bit of science that got me thinking. Meet the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient, and pretty accurate for its day, advanced clock/computer. This thing is seriously cool. It’s also some 2,000 years old, give or take a few decades. We don’t know who made it, or exactly why it was made beyond the obvious, but pretty sophisticated for back during the Hellenistic Period. I loved it instantly. The world hides all kinds of neat stuff from our ancient ancestors. Like the Native American arrowheads … Read more

Queer Fantasy Roots: Gender Transformations in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

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Ovid Metamorphoses

(My apologies for posting this a couple days late. I’m deep in editorial revisions of my current novel Mother of Souls and am scrambling to keep up with my blogging schedule.) We sometimes think of Greek myth as representing an ancient pre-Christian religious tradition, but many of the most elaborate and familiar sources for these stories come from relatively late, primarily literary authors who were re-working fragments and allusions into carefully crafted stories with a didactic or satirical purpose. Many of the familiar Greek stories of transformation come down to us in their most elaborate form, not from an early … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Shape of a Flower

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I remember taking pictures of this flower. It grew on a tree in a little garden in Ajaccio, Corsica. Ever alert for potential blog and column pictures, I photographed close up after close up of this particular blossom. Its petals flared out, reminding me of a girl’s skirt, when she was spinning in the middle of a dance. Yes, ‘Fantasia’ is one of my favorite movies. Yes, I’ve watched the sequence with the dancing flowers many times. Of course, it worked its magic on my imagination. Perhaps I would have visualized something else, if I didn’t still carry that imagery … Read more