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TV: The Riddler Actor Comes Out

Cory Michael Smith

Gotham star Cory Michael Smith has spoken about his sexuality publicly for the first time – as he stars in a drama set during the AIDS crisis. Smith is best known for playing Edward Nygma, AKA supervillain The Riddler, on Fox’s popular Batman prequel TV series.  In an interview with the Daily Beast, Smith revealed that he identifies as queer. He had been discussing his new film ‘1985’, which debuted at SXSW this month and tackles the AIDS crisis head-on. By Nick Duffy – Full Story at Pink News

FOR WRITERS & READERS: Defining Who We Are

Dictionary - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: QSF is a very diverse group with a lotta knowledge. So I thought it would be fun to create a dictionary on the site of identity terms (orientation, gender, etc) – things like gay, transgender, enby, demisexual, scoliosexual, etc – with definitions and references 9ie: who submitted the term) as a resource for our writers and readers. So… please include in the comments below in a new comment post for each – any community or identity terms you are familiar with: Term: Definition (ok to post your name/FB link … Read more

Does Black Panther’s Success Open the Door for a Queer Superhero?

Black Panther

Hollywood is celebrating the remarkable breakthrough box office performance of Marvel’s Black Panther, the first entry in the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a black leading character, and indeed, a mostly-black cast. Part of the shock and awe felt within the industry when it comes to Black Panther comes from the history of black superheroes in films: There just aren’t very many, and even fewer with memorable films. Spawn anyone? Steel? Meteor Man? They hardly qualify as cinematic classics, and can’t even come close to the fun and style of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther. All of which raises another question: What about queer superheroes? Could the commercial … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Zeus, by Wendy Rathbone

Zeus

QSFer Wendy Rathbone has a new MM fantasy book out in her Fantastic Immortals series: When I throw the lightning and summon the thunder, it isn’t always out of anger, but often from a love so all-consuming it could only be the effect of Eros himself. Yes, he is beautiful. Of course he is. How could he be otherwise, with hair the color of sunlight and white-feathered wings that drape to the floor? And he is as ancient as the myth of time itself, an immortal with powers and glamour beyond my ability to imagine. He struggles to teach me … Read more

QUEER HISTORY: Polari, the World’s First Gay Language

Polari

“Bona to vada your dolly old eek!” That may seem like a string of nonsense words from Dr Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat or Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange but it’s a real-life greeting gay men in the UK would say to each other in the 1950s and 60s. It means “Good to see your nice face.” Until 1967, gay sex was illegal in England and Wales. To avoid imprisonment, gay men used Polari, a language that the Oxford English Dictionary says is “made up of Italianate phrases, rhyming slang and cant terms.” It had sprung up in the … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Shadow Maker, by Amir Lane

Shadow Maker

QSFer Amir Lane has a new queer paranormal book out: Physics major Dieter Lindemann is perfectly content living in a world where the Shadows he sees and hears are nothing but figments of his imagination. But when one attacks him, he’s forced to confront the fact that the Shadows are not only real, but dangerous. Though Necromancer Alistair Cudmore offers to help him, Dieter quickly realizes that what he and Alistair want are two very different things, and it’s difference that could cost him his life. Controlling and possessive, Alistair pushes him further and further into blood magic, dragging him … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Once Upon a Rainbow Anthology Volume 2

Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume Two

QSFer K.S. Trenten has a story in a new queer anthology: Your favorite stories from childhood have a new twist. Eight fairy tales of old with characters across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. Coming Home by Jennifer Cosgrove – No one ever expects to be Prince Charming. Snow Fox by Sara Codair – Jealous Queen E’s attempts on Snow Fox’s life are trending. Deathless by Emmalynn Spark – Love means finding new ways. At Her Service by K.S. Trenten – Dancing to her true desire. Shattered Glass by Lina Langley – The resistance was never ready for this. Finding Aurora by Rebecca … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Raise the Red Flag, by Eric Del Carlo

Raise the Red Flag

QSFer Eric Del Carlo has a new queer sci fi-alternative history book out: In an 1867 that never was, the American colonies are finally gearing up to revolt against oppressive British rule enforced by advanced technology. British airship captain Hamilton Arkwright is captured by the rebels when his vessel is commandeered. The insurgents are also aided—reluctantly—by young Jonny Callahan, a thief and ne’er-do-well who would rather carouse on the streets of New Orleans than fight for independence. When the two seemingly opposite men are thrown together on a harrowing journey across the war-torn colonies, they must grudgingly rely on each … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ancients, by Riley S. Keene

Ancients

QSFer Riley S. Keene has a new queer fantasy book out: Hidden far beneath the city of Khule lies a spell of immeasurable power. Athala Dohn, wizard and scholar, wants that spell. She’s already spent months researching it and enlisted some help—the barbarian Ermolt and the Conscript Elise—so getting what she wants should be easy, right? She was prepared for the giant rats, and she assumed there would be animated skeletons. But she didn’t expect to uncover a dragon, or to be carted off to jail. Ancients is the first book in the epic Heroes by Necessity series, overflowing with … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Balance of Estubria, by Trevor Barton

Balance of Estubria

QSFer Trevor Barton has a new queer sci fi book out: The Brobots (dehumanized nonhumans) seek a way for everyone to win; even if in doing so they die. A super-advanced AI travels the cosmos considering how much, or how little, she likes humans. Fleshing out plans to enslave all humanity, the super rich jeopardize everyone else’s future dreams. When all humanity finally gets the future it deserves, what sort of future will that be? Balance of Estubria is the conclusion to the Brobots trilogy – a work told across three continuous books. (Make sure to read them in order.) … Read more