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Discussion

Celebrating Diversity

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Homophobia

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: “When you have a culture that celebrates diversity, how did it get that way and how do they make it work? In particular, are any of those things replicable in the world where we live? Look at the places where we’re writing a future in which homosexuality and other sex/gender variations are fully accepted. How do we get from here to there?” It’s a great question. Mark and I run a number of directories, including one for LGBT friendly wedding vendors, and we have known for some time that our business will likely … Read more

Fractured Fairy Tales

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Vassily the Beautiful

Today’s topic comes from QSFer (and admin) Angel Martinez: “Fractured fairy tales. Which ones do you wish someone would retell as an lgbtqi story?” I love reading reinterpretations of fairy tales, especially those with an LGBT twist. Some of my favorites include Angel’s own Vassily the Beautiful, one Jon Keys is finishing up that retells Cinderella in a Colorado rodeo setting, and (stepping outside the LGBT community for a sec) the amazing Beauty by Sheri Tepper. So our questions today – what fairy tale, myth or fable would you like to see retold from an LGBT spec fic perspective, and … Read more

Anthropomorphic Things

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Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames: “What about anthropomorphic … things? There was a cute book that I have yet to read with a book who was anthropomorphic and other creatures. Think The Little Toaster for grown-ups. Anyone done it? Read it? Hate it? Love it? Too… out there? (NOT shifters)” For folks who aren’t familiar with the term: As Tam says, this is discrete from shifters – these are not people who can take the form of animals. Typically, anthropomorphism is used with actual animals that either display human-like traits, or to whom we assign them – think … Read more

Alternate Genders

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Julian Vivian Bond

QSFer John Allenson has today’s discussion topic: “Have we ever discussed writting gender past male/female binaries? The Andorians in Star Trek have four genders. Alien Nation had three. The Left Hand of Darkness has androgens. How would we write alternate genders?” It’s an interesting question. My first real awakening in terms of a third gender came via the film “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. Terrence Stamp’s character struck me as someone who wasn’t trying to be a man or a woman, but was truly embodying something different, someone who rejected binary gender norms. Justin Vivian Bond (pictured) is another well-known … Read more

Falling For Your AI

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Her

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames: “Virtual intelligence? AI? Have we discussed this? But could you have a romance between a human and software? Using virtual technology to have sex or communicate, but no physical body? Would we want to in the future? Could a good author really make readers believe it’s “real” romance?” So far tyhe best example I’ve seen of this is the movie “Her” – which very convincingly explored a near-future romance between what the movie called an “operating system” and a human. Downside – it was MF… LOL. So what do you think? I’ll defer … Read more

Gay Superheroes

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Stripling Warrior

Let’s check out the Superman/Batman end of the sci fi pool today. When I was in my early teens, I started collecting comic books, and I was fascinated by Superman – good looking guy, great muscles, and really good inside too. But in my wildest youth fantasies, I couldn’t have imagined a gay superhero at the time. But now they’re popping out all over – and not just gay ones – lesbian, bisexual – maybe even transgender. And just this morning I saw an article about a crowdfunding effort for a gay Mormon superhero (photo above)! So here are my … Read more

The Midweek Mingle: From the Horse’s Mouth

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Horse's Mouth

Last week, we talked about the Big Scary Barrier for including members of the QUILTBAG+ community in the SF/F community, and right there at the end, I put it on content creators (myself included) to create more diverse characters. By doing that, there’s more for someone queer to latch onto, and that will make that person feel more welcome. But that raises the big question: how? The easy answer would be for QUILTBAG+ individuals to start creating more content, and we do see that happening more and more, both with new authors entering the field and established authors coming out … Read more

Fantasy and Sexual Orientation

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Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: “Fantasy is most prone to hardwired polarity issues. How do you feel about settings where people “must” be in a specific type of sexual pairing because other kinds tangle up the power flows? Or magical artifacts attuned to a specific sex/gender? And then how do people cope with those parameters? Do they simply accept that, or do they try to change it? Do those efforts cause problems or open up whole new fields of magic? “I just did a poem where an artifact responded to a trans character’s innate identity rather than physical … Read more

Easter Reloaded

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Alien Easter

OK, I thought we’d have a little fun today since it’s easter and all. The photo above is one of my all-time favorites, and shows a perfect melding of Easter and sci fi. But we’re writers, right? We should be able to stick just about anything with just about anything else – so why not fantasy or paranormal too? So here’s my challenge to you today – post a prompt for a story that blends Easter (the bunny, the Christian tradition, whatever) with a sci fi, fantasy, or paranormal element (steampunk, alternative history, horror fine too). Let’s see what we … Read more

Writers and Characters of Color

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Black Sci Fi

Today’s topic comes from Anastasia Vitsky: “How about a day devoted to fic by and about authors of color?” I think it’s a great idea. Just as we (ok I) too often focus on the MM part of the LGBTQI world in speculative fiction, we (I) also often neglect some of the other parts of our rainbow. So let’s explore another part of that spectrum today. And lets try to keep this focused on color and not gender… that’s a topic for another day. :) Are you a spec fic writer of color? If so, have you included that part … Read more