QSF Broken Metropolis; On Beyond Cisgender VII
by Jeff Baker
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is the latest installment of this column’s occasional feature “On Beyond Cisgender,” recommending books written by or that feature people beyond the “Old Dead White Cis Hetero Male Literature Canon.” It was suggested by A. M. (Amy) Leibowitz who was lamenting the choices of books for High School reading.
I’ve been doing this feature since October of 2018 and it is even more important in an era of censorship and book banning.
So, here’s the latest installment.—-jeff
Queer-themed anthologies of science fiction and fantasy, while not dominating the market, are not as unheard of as they were a few years ago and I stumbled across this one in a Pride Month display in my downtown Public Library in Wichita, Kansas.
“Broken Metropolis,” subtitled “Queer Tales of a City That Never Was” and edited by Dave Ring came out from Mason Jar Press in 2018, and was probably Ring’s first anthology. (He has since edited several more, including the Shirley Jackson Award winning “Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die” as well as the magazine “Baffling.”)
The title, and the theme of a City sounds science-fictional but Editor Ring notes in his introduction; “Urban fantasy lets us imagine connections that shouldn’t exist, in a place outside many of our preconceptions., using the tools of wonder and impossibility.”
The stories (all of which feature LGBT characters) include encounters with ghosts, evil working out of a convenience store, a run-down bazaar where bikers gather and a happily ensconced pair of witches in kx carys’ “Familiar.”
“Ravens are entirely unsuitable for a familiar.”
“What do you want me to pick, a pigeon?”
“It would blend into the cityscape more…”
The stories (and at least one poem) are entertaining reading and I will point out the cover by Akshay Varaham. Take note of it; it fits the book perfectly and suggests that this city could be anywhere.
We turn now to another book and another story.
Since Fall is the season for football (I first read this back in September) and in keeping in the theme of the strange, Catherynne M. Valente’s story “White Lines on a Green Field” takes the magical Native trickster-figure Coyote and sets him down as a small-town High School football team’s Quarterback.
Coyote (no secret as to who he is) oozes handsome, virile charm, seduces women and men for his own purposes and leads Centerville High to one of their first triumphant seasons ever.
Valente’s prose is poetic, very reminiscent of Bradbury or Sturgeon but she is no copyist. The story’s opening includes the lines:
“Coyote walked tall down the halls of West Centerville High and where he walked lunch money, copies of last semester’s math tests, and unlit joints blossomed in his footsteps.”
Coyote has the girls and guys wrapped around his enticing little finger but even he has a surprise or two in store as the story progresses through the school year.
The story first appeared in the late, lamented “Subterranean Magazine,” and can be found (among other places) in Subterranean Press’ huge 2017 anthology “The Best of Subterranean,” edited by William Schafer. The magazine’s stories blended genres as well as presenting a diversity of characters. The anthology features stellar writers including Joe Hill, Jay Lake, Hal Duncan, Kage Baker, Harlan Ellison, Karen Joy Fowler and Joe R. Lansdale among others.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Jeff Baker writes about reading and writing sci-fi, fantasy and horror and other sundry matters on or around the thirteenth of each month. He didn’t care about football or homecoming in high school but he would have noticed a hunky player like Coyote.
His fiction is in the new QSF anthology “Rise,” and appears regularly on RoMMantic Reads https://rommanticreads.wordpress.com/ He regularly posts fiction on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time of Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063555483587 and Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak
Here’s a link to “Broken Metropolis.” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40103075-broken-metropolis