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Boogieman in Lavender

Tales for October – Boogieman in Lavender

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This will be a Halloween season like no other. Fears are real. Trick-Or-Treat may be cancelled. Costume shops are devoid of costumes. Wearing masks has taken on a new meaning. With more time to read, the escape of good horror fiction has never been more needed. The fine writer Greg Herren has released a collection of mystery and suspense stories; “Survivor’s Guilt and Other Stories.” (Bold Strokes Books.) Including such fine tales as “Annunciation Shotgun” and the title story blending gripping plotting with fine character studies. Many of Herren’s stories have the feel of episodes of the old “Alfred Hitchcock … Read more

The Feminist World of Joanna Russ- Boogieman in Lavender

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Joanna Russ

Her literary criticism was blunt and uncompromising. Her humor was sharp and stinging. Her importance to the field of science fiction cannot be underestimated. Best of all, her fiction is still being read, enjoyed and learned from. She is Joanna Russ (1937 -2011.) Here, I must confess that I have not read much of Russ’ work, but I am familiar with it. Her book “How to Suppress Women’s Writing” is a must-read. I sat down with one of her collections; “The Hidden Side of the Moon.” I didn’t quite know what to expect, I certainly didn’t expect her sense of … Read more

L. Frank Baum and the Indians – Boogieman in Lavender

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In an era where statues are being torn down and schools names are being changed, this column may be more topical than when I first came up with the idea a few months ago when grabbing at straws for ideas for columns. Namely, the subject of author’s personal lives and opinions and how or if that should affect how the writing is viewed. I have written before about my affection for H.P. Lovecraft in spite of the author’s views on race and nationality (in “The Strange Bust of H.P. Lovecraft,” https://www.queerscifi.com/jeff-baker-boogieman-in-lavender-2/  ) from my vantage point as a Bi man … Read more

That’s The Signpost Up Ahead; Jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender

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  That’s The Signpost Up Ahead                                     By Jeff Baker Somehow in the last few weeks, nostalgia has been flowing freely here. Not the drinkable kind, but a feeling, that wistful mood of nostalgia for days gone by. Writers and other creative types are particularly susceptible it seems, at least this one is. A few songs play on the radio, a package arrives in the mail and then the nostalgia hits. And it brings up memories of a regret. I have been outrageously fortunate: I have lived a life with very few regrets; one of them goes back nearly forty … Read more

Lewis Padgett’s “Mutant,” Jewelle Gomez’ “Gilda” – Boogieman in Lavender

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Jeff Baker

LGBT people are regarded as “the Other,” and sci-fi and fantasy specializes in characters who are “the Other.” And “the Other” is often perceived as a metaphor or stand in for minorities and the oppressed. Queer people were not a regular topic of public discourse in the closeted world of the Golden Age of Science Fiction of the ‘30s through the 50s. And in this world, two very heterosexual writers wrote a series of stories about a very science-fictional form of “the Other.” Beginning with the story “The Piper’s Son” in February 1945, Lewis Padgett told of a near-future group … Read more

Boogieman In Lavender: On Beyond Cisgender: Books for High School

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Jeff Baker

On Beyond Cisgender: Books For High School                                                By Jeff Baker    A. M.  (Amy) Leibowitz has grumbled on Facebook about the “Old Dead White (mostly/presumed) Cis Hetero Male Literature Canon,” and how high-schoolers mainly read books from the aforementioned canon. No authors of color. Rarely any women. “Only literary fiction and other genres are typically not only disallowed but actively sneered at.” A. M. goes on to ask that if you could add any 4 books to a high school literature curriculum (one for each year of US High School) which would you add and why? Among the Facebook users … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In lavender: Halloween Reading; Clive Barker

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        By Jeff Baker    The year was 1993 (or pretty close.) I was running a delivery route in-town and on my lunch hour I ran into a used bookstore and grabbed a horror anthology I hadn’t heard of. “Masters of Darkness,” edited by Dennis Etchison. In three volumes, the books feature horror stories selected and introduced by their authors, stories they think may not have gotten the exposure they deserved on first publication. Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell. And Clive Barker.             I’d heard the name, but this was where I first encountered Barker. His selection was “In the Hills, … Read more

A Loaf of Bread, A Jug of Urine and Thou – Jeff Baker

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Writers have day jobs. It’s a plain fact of economics, writing doesn’t pay that much unless the writer is very lucky. We supplant our creative careers with a nine-to-five (or six to three, or some such.) A lot of writers have been teachers. Stephen King taught high school English. Jeffrey Marks juggles teaching and editing, the British ghost story writer M. R. James was a Provost of King’s College, Cambridge and Eaton. Some writers, like Steve Berman, have worked in publishing. And others, like me, have jobs that have nothing to do with writing at all. For the last 25 … Read more

Following Oscar Wilde – Boogieman In Lavender

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Oscar Wilde

       Following Oscar                                                 By Jeff Baker “In the old days, men had the rack. Now they have the Press.” —Oscar Wilde. It is possible, in the United States, to have crossed paths with the legendary Oscar Wilde without knowing it. Wilde did a lecture tour of the U.S. in 1882 that was supposed to last a few months. He wound up staying about a year, and crossed the States, touring the East and West coasts, traveling through the South and even visiting Canada. For years, however, the specifics of Wilde’s itinerary were a matter of debate, but now a … Read more

Ray Bradbury Revisited: jeff Baker, Boogieman in Lavender

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Pumpkin - Jeff Baker

            I haven’t read every story by Ray Bradbury, but Graham George Barber may have. Barber contacted me to point out that Ray Bradbury did write at least two more stories with Queer characters, after my writing about Bradbury’s story “The Better Part of Wisdom “ (Boogieman In Lavender, July 11, 2016.) None of the stories are science fiction or fantasy, and they all speak of attitudes toward the LGBT community that a straight writer would have had back in the 1950s, but they are Bradbury. By the very nature of this exposition, this review will contain spoilers. In “Long … Read more