Hey all, We’re excited that QSF was featured on the new Pop Queer-ies podcast – Angel, Ben and I talking about diversity in speculative fiction. The audio’s a little grainy, but it’s a great interview. Take a listen here: https://soundcloud.com/user-3501191/episode-3-part-2-interview-with-queer-sci-fi See the whole Pop Queer-ies site here
Before we get started, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m Bran L. Ayres, I’m a 38-year-old non-binary writer and parent of three young nerdlings. I’ve had an intense relationship with science fiction and fantasy since I was very young. I started writing seriously in high school and after years of playing about I got serious and published my first sci-fi novel. Since then I’ve written a steampunk novel and short stories along with fanfiction and various articles. NOTE: Throughout this column I will use the acronym MOGAI (Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments and Intersex) as I feel it is a more … Read more
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Brian Cherry: I’d like to see more books with characters with multiple minority status, such as a gay person who is also trans, disabled, an ethnic minority, etc. Brian makes a good point. We have sooooo many stories about young pretty white boys. And don’t get me wrong – I love me some young pretty white boys. But there are also young pretty black boys. And middle-aged hispanic guys. And Older asian men in wheelchairs. That’s just the MM side. What about asian lesbians? Native American ace characters? Intersex folks who lost an arm … Read more
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Kellie Doherty: Maybe having a discussion to figure out how we could promote diversity in adult fiction, too. Starting a hashtag to promote it maybe? To gain some more attention to it. It’s a great idea to take specific actions like this to try to increase diversity in adutl fiction. I’d love to see more stories across the LGBTIQA spectrum. More characters iolder than 25. More people of color and people who don’t connect with the usual categorizations. OTOH, diversity is also something you have to work on every day, in both big and … Read more
Today’s topic comes from QSFer Heather Rose Jones: We could touch on the ways labeling and categorization affect “discoverability”. And techniques that web sites, reviewers, blogs, etc can use to move beyond being “open” to the entire spectrum to being actively welcoming. For example, a LGBT review site that has 90% M/M content and no easy way to search for the marginalized categories isn’t actively welcoming because of the extra work imposed on non-M/M readers to find their interests. This is something that even Amazon has a major problem with once you move outside the Romance categories. So, discussion topic: … Read more
Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Ryane Chatman: Do you talk to people to get a feel for a certain personality trait? Also how do you go about cultural research? It’s a great question. As writers, we often write stories about characters different from ourselves, sometimes vastly different. This can be someone who is aggressive where we are shy, or someone who is sweet and young while we are bitter and old (we are writers, after all *grin). Or it could be someone from an entirely different culture. So how do you get the details right? Join the chat
Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer ‘Nathan Smith: As readers, what is our role is supporting diverse fiction, and a more diverse publishing industry? Do we have one? Can we influence it? 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
Writers always try to research things when we write about them. When I wrote about a character who had suffered an amputation during war time, I tried to do my due diligence, reading up on how characters who endured a Civil War Era amputation survived the surgery, the infection, and the terrible conditions. And then there’s the struggle to live on with the change in one’s state, both the physical and mental aspects of that. In a piece I’ve been working on, I have a character with an amputated arm. (The setting is 1815 Russia, but the medical process then … Read more
Hey all, From the beginning, we’ve sought to make Queer Sci Fi a welcoming and diverse place. We wanted a forum where both writers and readers could mingle, and where FF fiction was just as welcomed as MM, where transgender, ace and bisexual writers and readers would feel comfortable sharing their work and talking about their favorite books and authors. I am proud of what we have accomplished so far. I do think that most of our members feel comfortable here, and although there have been occasional flair ups, you guys have helped us to navigate them with grace and … Read more