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Columnists

Jeff Baker—Boogieman In Lavender

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Jeff Baker

The Better Part of Wisdom The Better Part of Wisdom By Jeff Baker   In contrast to a lot of other science fiction writers, Ray Bradbury wrote no gay-themed science fiction, no fantasy stories with gay characters. But the author of “The Martian Chronicles” did write at least one story with openly gay characters, and while it has no elements of science fiction it is worth taking a closer look at. In “The Better Part of Wisdom,” we are introduced to Tom and Frank in their cozy apartment, one happily using the other’s lap as a pillow, when they are … Read more

Ayres and Graces: Introduction

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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

Angel’s Bits – Mainstreaming

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Hi all! We talk a lot ( a LOT) about mainstreaming queer spec fic in this group (and in the queer writing community at large) but what do we mean when we say that? Granted, it seems to mean different things to different writers, but the goal is the same: getting queer fiction out of the small, niche audiences (sometimes referred to as literary “ghettos”) and out to a larger reading population. Sometimes, authors are referring specifically to moving away from the erotic or even romance aspects of stories. Sometimes, they mean breaking into the big venues and the big … Read more

We Already Invented the Wheel. Where the Boys Aren’t – Part 1.

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John Allenson

When I started thinking of the topic of women only societies I quickly realized that I perceived of two separate types of story under the same label of ‘Lesbian Utopia’.  While there is a LOT of overlap in the way people have written about societies where a group of women have separated from the mainstream mixed society, (Amazons,) and single-sex worlds I’ve decided to treat the two as separate topics. After all, it’s not as if we talk way too much about women.  I’ll talk about Warrior Women in a later article dedicated to her history.  There is enough information … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Junk DNA

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I must say, I learned some weird stuff while researching this topic. It’s no secret that we don’t know an awful lot about our DNA, what makes us what we are, but more is coming to light every day. And it’s more than just the standard what gives blue eyes or left-handedness either. I repeat, it’s weird stuff. For a start, the term junk DNA was something we thought up in the 1970’s to label a bunch of DNA code that we didn’t think did anything. It’s not actually junk, come to find out. On top of the standard automatic … Read more

Dispatches from Hogwarts G.S.A.: A Game of Thrones Report Card

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We love HBO’s Game of Thrones. It’s some of the best storytelling on premium cable, possibly the best production quality ever for a TV series (DRAGONS!), and the directing and acting are pretty darn awesome to boot. We’re also really happy the phenomenally popular show has increased interest in high fantasy on the small screen, big screen, and in books. Another thing we love about GoT is that it has gay, lesbian and bisexual characters and decent portrayals of women. The Hogwarts G.S.A. believes gender equality and LGBTQ equality go hand-in-hand, so strong, diverse female characters are important to us … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Genre Bits and Pieces

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One of the biggest issues we watch authors obsess and fuss over these days is genre. What genre is this? Should I call it that? How many genres can a thing be? So why do we have genres in the first place? Who did this horrible thing to us? The short answer is the Ancient Greeks. Isn’t it always? Seriously, this is where it all started when the Greeks started to divide things into poetry and drama, into tragedy and comedy, epic poetry, lyric poetry and love poetry. (Seriously, there are three separate muses to handle poetry.) Modern genres start … Read more

Dispatches from Hogwarts G.S.A.: Hello QSFers!

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When Scott posted an open invitation to write a column for QSF, I thought: “Cool opportunity!” Then I thought, “What the hell am I going to call it?” That question followed me around for a while like a storm cloud, sending me hiding for cover, too filled with angst to even try to tackle a response. I mean, A: I’m an author, so whatever I called this column had to be clever and good. And B: QSF is a site for sci fi and fantasy fans and writers, so the expectation for cleverness is especially high. Then, C: Whatever I … Read more

Angel’s Bits – So You Want To Send a Submission

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Hey all – I know a lot of our authors here are self-pub, so this post won’t apply for you guys. Or it might. You may find that you want to send a manuscript to a publisher some day. I’m not going to talk about the pieces of a submission (query letter, synopsis, etc.) but I do want to talk a teensy bit about submission etiquette. Etiquette used to be taught. Not so often any longer, but when you correspond with a publisher, how you present yourself can make the difference between having your submission considered and having it tossed … Read more

We Already Invented the Wheel. Introduction

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John Allenson

So, this is my first column and I’ll take the opportunity to introduce myself and the basic topics of this column. I’m what is politely called an Independent Scholar of Speculative Fiction. I’ve delivered two papers on the subject of Aboriginal Canadians in Canadian Futurism. Back in the early 90s I’d edited a bibliography of Queer Positive Speculative Fiction which indicated whether content was Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Other-Gender. I also co-wrote an article for the (sadly) defunct Body Politic on Gay/Lesbian subtext in mainstream comic books. After some 20 years of writing slash, I took a Master Class with the … Read more