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Columnists

Sources of Inspiration: Pain

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I’m feeling a lot of physical pain now; an ache in my joints, an itching soreness in my feet. Perhaps these are the natural results of age or having too much weight upon me.  It’s hard to talk about these things or even write about them. I feel like I’m whining, depressing everyone I discuss my pain with, including myself.  My inclination is to make a joke about my pain, to try to laugh about it with other people. It’s a lot better than being laughed at. For there’s fear at the heart of my jest; fear that my pain … Read more

Jeff Baker: Boogieman In Lavender “Snacking With Panthers.” Oscar Wilde’s Short-Stories. April 2025

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My Well-Worn Copy Of Wilde’s Short-Stories. Snacking With Panthers; The Short-Stories Of Oscar Wilde by Jeff Baker One of my very favorite short stories is Oscar Wilde’s “The Selfish Giant,” which I read as a children’s book in about third grade. The book included most of the text and the story was definitely there. I have since re-read the original many times and it was a few years later (also in Grade School, during those blissful days when a month stretched on for half a year) that I read Wilde’s famous novella “The Canterville Ghost.” That starts off as a … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Rudeness

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Courtesy is extremely alluring to me, even in story or real life. Rudeness I’ve always found repellent.  I try very hard not to be rude myself. I don’t want the rudeness in the world to grow, swelled by my own. At the same time, it’s very hard not to respond in kind. I find myself visualize doing all sorts of impossible things in retaliation.  I walk straight through the rude people, causing them to shudder with cold or share my hot flashes. My target feels my anger, like a blow.  I imagine the rude person changing into a form that … Read more

C. L. Moore’s “No Woman Born.” On Beyond Cisgender X – Boogieman In Lavender

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NOTE: This occasional series was inspired in 2019 by a suggestion from A. M. Leibowitz about a reading list for High School beyond the straight, white, male paradigm. In this edition, we won’t talk about a book, but rather about one story. We’ve met C. L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore several times in this column and in this feature. Moore (1911-1987)is the science-fiction and fantasy writer for the pulps from the 30s through the 50s in an era where women writing in that field were seemingly rare or concealed; whose use of initials was not meant to hide her femininity but … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Power

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It’s alluring. It takes on many forms. It corrupts when hoarded. It strengthens many, when shared. It can be used to exploit entire nations, to ravage individuals of their self-respect, to prey upon the vulnerable. It can lift a person to lofty heights they’ve never dreamed of.  Power can be used for great good or great evil; for it can bestow greatness or reveal how small the wielder truly is.  What will you do with power? How will it change your characters? How will it effect everyone around them? Power can be the stuff of legends or nightmares. How it … Read more

“…Until It’s Sold…” – Boogieman In Lavender

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I’ve been getting back into the groove of writing in the New Year after slowing down on doing longer stories. I actually have a list of longer stories I started that are unfinished. (“In progress,” as I say.) I’ve also been submitting stories to various markets online. I can do the last bit because I’ve been writing a lot of stories over the last decade or so and I have a lot that never sold. Some editors dismiss that as “in the trunk” stories but I disagree. Legendary writer Robert A. Heinlein once listed some rules for writers. Among them … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Dualities

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Light and dark; the light casting a shadow. Good and evil struggle against each other, manifesting often in surprising forms.  These are not just the stuff of stories, but the stuff of legends.  I call them into question whenever I write. What is good? What is evil? What do we associate light with goodness while we fear the dark? True, there are things lurking in the dark that frighten us, but the light can burn and blind us.  I wasn’t certain if some of the striking dualities in fiction even existed in reality.  Now, I find myself wondering if they … Read more

Jeff Baker, Boogieman In Lavender: “All That We Can Do.” January 11, 2025

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All That We Can Do by Jeff Baker There’s a meme floating around the web; a quote to the effect that you should thank the part of you that helped you get through this year before you start listing the improvements you’re going to make this year. That got me thinking. I post a monthly progress report about my writing. Listing how much stuff I finished, what I worked on and any sales and the like. I look through them and I get a little discouraged about my progress and my career. But I shouldn’t. I have published at least … Read more

Sources of Inspiration: Safe Spaces

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As I grow more and more fragile, I feel increasingly unsafe.  Plot may thrive on conflict, but I need a place, a space, and a time to channel that conflict into words. I need a place of safety to write.  All my life, I’ve felt as if I had to go through daily life, surrounded by enemies. I’ve reached out, searching desperately for allies, for kindred spirits while being screamed at, kicked, and hurt for simply being who I am.  I’ve tried to disappear, blend in, not wanting those enemies to know it was me they were screaming at, kicking, … Read more

Jeff Baker; Boogieman in Lavender. Brown Grass.

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Brown Grass By Jeff Baker A lot of things make me nostalgic this time of year, especially since I outlived my immediate family. I have some distant cousins I rarely see and some found family that I talked about in last December’s column. https://www.queerscifi.com/jeff-baker-boogieman-in-lavender-found-family/ All of them have been hugely supportive. But that’s not what I want to talk about. I live in Kansas. Driving from one town to the other involves covering a lot of ground, usually on the highway. Lots of farmland and a lot of grass by the roadside. In spring and summer that grass ought to … Read more