Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Angel Martinez: We’ve talked a lot about the tropes you love (and when I say trope I mean story component/ archetype, not cliche.) What tropes are guaranteed to make you walk away from a book, and why? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat
For Readers: Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Andrew Kelley: I know that there are several Sci-fi movies and books that weren’t specifically LGBT themes and didn’t even make mention of any LGBT issues that I strongly identified with and really moved me. Even though I don’t think the author/director/screenwriter meant it to be an analogy it still could have been. Are there movies/ books that others felt this way about as well? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat
We were talking about covers the other day – the good, the bad, and the merely horrendous – which made me think of SF covers and how you can often pinpoint an edition’s decade by the cover art. Early SF cover art was largely the realm of pulp magazines, which then became pulp novels. Cheap art in a time when jobs were scarce and money tight. Oh, the places we’ve been since then… The 1930’s see the beginning of pulp art – flashy, colorful, eye-catching sometimes to the point of being lurid. Thoughts about space travel and vehicles were sketchy … Read more
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Aidee Ladnier: Why so many alpha males? Where is the diversity of main characters? I’d extend this out past the subject as stated. Yes, we have a glut of alpha male characters – especially on the romance side of speculative fiction (and maybe especially in shifter books?). But we also have a preponderance of cute young white male characters. But I’d also argue that a lot of our fiction, romance, and otherwise, lacks diversity. Diversity of orientation, of gender, of color, and of ability. Are readers ready for more? As a reader, are there … Read more
We Already Have the Wheel. Werewolves and Toxic Masculinity. Growing Hair in Funny Places. The western werewolf myth has been incredibly stable for most of its history up until the turn of the last millennia. Most of the stories, legends, and court cases reflect the same understanding of what it means to be a werewolf going back to the Greek legends of King Lycaon. The main stream of the King Lycaon story, with many regional differences is this: Zeus (sometimes with Hermes) appears in the city of King Lycaon. The king doubts that the person claiming to be Zeus is … Read more
We were recently drawn into pondering this question while reading Kai Ashante Wilson’s The Sorcerer of Wildeeps and looking at the book’s Goodreads reviews. One review stood out because it gushed about the book, but the reader said the tragic ending kept her from giving it five stars because (paraphrased) hasn’t gay tragedy been done enough already? Spoilers: One interpretation is that the main character Demane’s love interest dies at the end, though our take was the story left a sliver of hope he could have survived. Reviews of course are subjective, every reader is entitled to her opinion, and … Read more
Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Cheyenne Meadows: What do people think are the growing trends in speculative fiction that readers want right now? Are shifters still hot? Are stories about other worlds picking up readers? What do the readers want to see? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat
Hi all! For today’s Bits, I wanted to talk a teensy bit about book formats and media. In the past couple of years, I’ve seen more publishers going for a “check box” type of contract where the formats are listed and the ones included in the specific contract are checked off. So what are all these things? eBook Self explanatory, up to a point, but you should know what formats your publisher offers and where they distribute. PDF, epub, mobi and html are the most common (mobi is the Kindle format, though most Kindles now can handle multiple formats with … Read more
Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Ryane Chatman: Are you inspired by what you read? Beyond the entertainment factor. It’s a good question. I do enjoy reading most speculative books, but every now and then one comes along that moves me, that makes me think for a long time after I finish it. What are some of those books in queer spec fic for you, and why? And did any inspire you to some kind of action or change? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works … Read more
