Today’s topic comes from QSFer Elizabeth Barrette: What are your favorite fantasy books with queer characters and how far back do they go? I’m fondly remembering the gay unicorn that Alan Dean Foster put in one of his novels. I haven’t read a lot of fantasy with LGBTI characters myself, but I did love the characters in The Chronicles of Tornor. And you? We have a bunch of modern day fantasy works to choose from, too… Come join the chat
One reason I’ve been writing all these years has to do with helping us feel good about ourselves. I’d like to think the cultural work that’s proliferated from the latter half of the twentieth century through today has contributed to building our strength so we could accomplish all we have. If the pendulum of history swings against us like a wrecking ball from the future, we’ll need the writing, the photographs, the women’s music–to stay strong, to be queer strong, just as we need it now. But will our stories be available twenty, fifty, a hundred years from now? I … Read more
Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames: Name the last LGBT SciFi/Fantasy/Paranormal book you read (name and author) and give the tags you would assign it. You don’t have to say if you loved it or hated it (don’t want to make authors feel bad) but will be interesting to see what kind of books we’re all reading. Vamps? Dragons? Aliens? BDSM? For me, I’m in the middle of three: The Caphenon, by Fletcher Delancey – a sci fi story about the arrival of a group of strangers in a mysterious craft, so sci fi, LGBT, lesbian, outer space. Lore … Read more
Vietnam has banned gay romance novels following media reports that they are ‘poisoning’ young people. The ministry of culture sent a letter to publishers ordering them to stop printing ‘clichéd, useless, obscene and offensive’ romance novels, most of which are translations from Chinese. It also told them to review all their published books and remove anything ‘indecent.’ Earlier this year, the media condemned Chinese romance novels, singling out danmei – gay erotica – for special criticism. The books, most of which started as web fiction, were accused of giving young people unrealistic ideas about love and relationships and even promoting … Read more