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midweek mingle

The Midweek Mingle: SJWs

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A lot of talk goes around the net about SJWs. Social Justice Warriors. And for the most part, it’s used as an insult, though I can’t really understand why. I proudly proclaim my status as an SJW, and am constantly working to become a better one. If you don’t know, an SJW is someone who works to spread justice for everyone. Equal rights, freedom, liberty, et cetera. When it’s used as an insult, the term SJW normally refers to someone who is hostile about their beliefs, and who goes on lengthy diatribes or goes to an extreme in the matter. … Read more

The Midweek Mingle: QUILTBAG+ Tropes

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It’s no secret that QUILTBAG+ characters in fiction have been widely misrepresented. And it’s no secret that it’s a big issue that needs solving. Personally, I think speculative fiction is the perfect battleground for that fight. In speculative fiction, we craft worlds from the ground up. Worlds, characters, cultures—more than any other genre, sci-fi and fantasy give the writer complete control over every aspect of their fictional playground. Not to mention we have a history of QUILTBAG+ representation to bring to play, and a history of tackling society’s issues in our fiction. Star Trek: The Next Generation comes to mind. … Read more

The Midweek Mingle

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I’ve been to a lot of conventions over the years, on both sides of the table. And doing that, I’ve met a lot of convention organizers. I count some of them among my acquaintances, and some of them among my friends. But either way, we talk to each other, and the conversation often turns to the inevitable topic of their particular SF/F convention. Now, you should know that I live in Washington, which I considered as a whole to be a very liberal state. All about freedoms and rights and all that. We’ve legalized same sex marriage, and have some … Read more

The Midweek Mingle: From the Horse’s Mouth

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Horse's Mouth

Last week, we talked about the Big Scary Barrier for including members of the QUILTBAG+ community in the SF/F community, and right there at the end, I put it on content creators (myself included) to create more diverse characters. By doing that, there’s more for someone queer to latch onto, and that will make that person feel more welcome. But that raises the big question: how? The easy answer would be for QUILTBAG+ individuals to start creating more content, and we do see that happening more and more, both with new authors entering the field and established authors coming out … Read more

The Midweek Mingle: The BSB

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“You got your sci-fi in my QUILTBAG+ manifesto!” “You got your QUILTBAG+ manifesto in my sci-fi!” And that, my friends, is the gist of the Midweek Mingle (I promise, this’ll be the only post with an intro like this.). Every Wednesday, I’ll be bringing you posts on bringing in the QUILTBAG+ community, both into your writing and into the sci-fi and fantasy community we all know and love. But enough of that. Let’s get into the meat of this.   For several years now, every time I go to Radcon, I’ve been on panels about gender and sexuality, or building … Read more