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Jeff Baker

“Four Pages A Day—I Gotta Be Out Of My Mind…” Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender. April 2026

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Photo By Amy Tharp Four Pages A Day or I Gotta Be Out Of My Mind by Jeff Baker I didn’t expect to do one of these columns involving Frederik Pohl again. Pohl (1919-2013) being the very heterosexual sci-fi writer whose story “Day Million” I profiled a few months ago https://www.queerscifi.com/day-million-jeff-baker-boogieman-in-lavender-january-13-2026/ here. But I’m going to and it ties in with the act of writing. Several years ago I picked up a copy of Pohl’s 1984 collection “Pohlstars,” where Pohl collected several of his more recent short-stories and also offered introductions to the stories, entertaining little snippets about how (and … Read more

Jeff Baker; Boogieman In Lavender: Peter Lefcourt’s “The Dreyfus Affair”

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The Dreyfus Affair by Jeff Baker A couple of decades before “Heated Rivalry” heated up bookstores and screens, there was the story of Randy Dreyfus and D. J. Pickett causing a stir among the sports-minded in Peter Lefcourt’s 1992 baseball novel “The Dreyfus Affair.” Set presumably in the early Two-Thousands and loosely patterned after the famous Ninteenth-Century political scandal that gives the book its title, the novel takes a lighter tone and was reportedly sold on a one-sentence pitch: a shortstop falls in love with his second baseman. Said Shortstop, Randy Dreyfus, has started noticing an attraction to Second Baseman … Read more

Reading “Heated Rivalry.” Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender February 2026

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Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid by Jeff Baker NOTE: Of course, this review contains a bunch of spoilers. “You know those guys on rival teams who act like they hate each other when the game is playing but are really good friends when the game is over? Well, this takes it to its logical extreme…” —-Kenny Blasco, explaining the TV show “Heated Rivalry.” It’s almost impossible to scroll through any LGBT social media or websites without seeing references to “Heated Rivalry.” The Canadian Gay Hockey Romance that has taken television audiences by storm. But before there was a TV show, … Read more

“Day Million.” Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender. January 13, 2026

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Day Million by Jeff Baker Gender fluidity. A love story. A man and a woman who are not a man and a woman. And this is not in a modern work of fiction but in the 1966 story “Day Million” by the very cisgender Frederik Pohl. “Day Million” is not a story that would be called “groundbreaking” for LGBT fiction but it fits the 1960s in that it broke taboos and norms with frank explorations of gender and phrases like “he doesn’t need the flesh for pleasure…it is the brain that feels; it is the interpretation of (the) impulses that … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender Says “Kids, Get Off My Lawn!!”

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In Which An Old Guy Says Get Off My Lawn by Jeff Baker Another year, another bracketed space of time slips into history. 2025, wow. 2026, again, wow. It doesn’t feel like that long ago that we were awaiting the arrival of the year 2000. Remember the squabbles over exactly what year began the Twenty-First Century? It seems amazing that a nice chunk of the populace have never known anything but years when they would begin writing a date with “20.” People to whom the phrase “The Year Two-Thousand” connotates antiquity, not “the Future” and all its possible wonders. People … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender–On Being A Good Kitty Daddy. November 2025

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On Being A Good Kitty Daddy by Jeff Baker File this one under “Things To Be Thankful For.” After my husband died, the house was too empty and quiet. I’ve always loved cats and so when my Brother and his family adopted two pregnant strays I decided to adopt a brother-and-sister pair from one litter. An inquisitive ginger male and a sweet calico female. And I wound up adopting an affectionate and vocal tortoiseshell female from the other litter. (Two mothers, but probably the same father.) My house became lively and warm and felt like a home again. The kitties … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender—Oscar Wilde’s Canterville Ghost. October 2025

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Oscar Wilde

And Peace Shall Come to Canterville: Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” by Jeff Baker For Halloween, a look at a story by the legendary Oscar Wilde. Maybe his most famous story. A tale that blends laughs, chills, wonders and a tale of redemption. It’s been adapted in various media with varying degrees of success, but there’s nothing like the original short-story. “The Canterville Ghost” was first serialized in 1887 in “The Court And Society Review” and collected in Wilde’s book “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” a few years later. It takes the classic ghost story and turns it on its ear. … Read more

Mightier Than The Sword, And It Fits In Your Pocket A Lot Easier! Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender

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Mightier Than The Sword And It Fits In Your Pocket A Lot Easier by Jeff Baker “I’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.” —–Wm. Shakespeare. A review for Goodreads and my recent flash fiction story about superheroes. What they have in common is they weren’t initially written by my typing them up on a laptop but by writing them up by hand in a spiral-bound notebook. So why is it that I do not always opt for the convenience of a laptop, where I can create quickly, edit easily and with less onscreen distractions. But electronics aren’t … Read more

John Van Druten: His Closet Was The Stage—Jeff Baker; Boogieman In Lavender

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John Van Druten: His Closet Was the Stage by Jeff Baker “Oh, Pye, Pye, Pyewacket, what’s the matter with me?” —–from “Bell, Book and Candle” I grew up reading plays. Part of that came from my watching a lot of TV shows and movies. In High School I had the run of the Library as my Mom was one of the Librarians and I read plenty of plays as well as a lot of books about plays and TV and Movies. (I didn’t get on stage until college, but I digress.) As I liked movies and TV shows with sci-fi … Read more

“Look! Up In the Sky!” Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender. June 2025

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Superman Goes Woke by Jeff Baker AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following column is an expanded version of something I posted on my blog (link below) a day or so ago. I am indebted to J. Scott Coatsworth for allowing me to share it here. —-jeff “I cut my teeth on you Ratzi scum…” —–The Golden-Age Superman, in a 1973 Justice League comic book. Far-right activists are screaming that Superman has become “Woke.” Having read comics for almost sixty years, I can vouch for our favorite Kryptonian. Of course, Superman is “woke!” He always has been! Of course, today’s conservative MAGA crowd … Read more