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Discussion

Graphic Novel Week Day Two: Superheroes

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Graphic Novel Week

Hey all, The long-awaited graphic novel week is here! Today’s topic – Superheroes: Superheroes were long solely the province of (mostly white) heterosexuals. But that’s slowly beginning to change. Queer as Folk (the US version) famously featured Rage and JT. Saturday Night Live spoofed them with the Ambiguously Gay Duo. And we’ve had a number of other characters come out in the Marvel and DC universes. But now we’ve got some of our own, including The Young Protectors, a great LGBT series done by the fabulous Alex Woolfson and the great illustrator Adam DeKraker – we’ll have both of them … Read more

Discussion: What to Expect for Your First Book

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First Book

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Beth Brock: What should new authors expect from their first few books? Emotionally, who their first readers will be, and expectations from their editors. It’s a great question. I just got through my first two stand-alone releases. And while they were not, technically speaking, full-blown books (they were novellas), most of the same things apply. I learned a lot this first time around. I learned that some publishers have a more thorough editing process than others. I learned that a large part of the marketing process falls on the author’s shoulders, especially when you’re working … Read more

Discussion: Effective vs. Ineffective Social Media Marketing

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Social Media

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Ruff Bear: “Some people post daily in book promotion and reader groups. Others only post to promote when something is happening (new book, cover reveal, sale, etc.). Many groups allow unlimited or one-a-day posting, while QSF and a few others have a day of the week set aside for promotions. Is posting to FB groups worthwhile? How do you get noticed when so many others are doing the same thing? How do posts to groups measure up compared to posts to your personal or author’s pages? To other social media channels (Twitter, LinkedIn,etc.)? Is participating … Read more

Angel’s Bits – Genre Fiction by the Numbers

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(chart from authorearnings.com) It’s not a big trade secret. Genre fiction outstrips all other book categories in sales, and not by a small margin. It’s the monster in the room. Woohoo for us! In one form or another, that’s what we all write. We can argue about what’s a more deserving genre or what we enjoy more, but when we look at sheer numbers, where does the money fall? (Please note: I’ve ignored any charts that list a category of “women’s/romance” since I feel this is both misleading and an improper labeling.) (From publishingtechnology.com – Neilson data) Again – this … Read more

Creating Engaging Dialogue

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Dialog

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Allison Mann: how to build engaging dialogue. fun? witty? suspenseful?how to build engaging dialogue. fun? witty? suspenseful? Dialogue is at the heart of most stories – if you can pull off a natural dialogue, you can keep your reader engaged in the story, and provide insight into your characters without having to say “Character a likes toast.”: Millicent’s hand hovered over the plate for a moment. “Oh, I haven’t had a piece of toast since I was a child,” she said, willing her hand to return to her lap. “But it looks soooo good. Is … Read more

Why Does it Matter if a Character is Gay?

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Jonah Bergan bw

It’s a fair question, I suppose. It’s a fair question for those who feel that their own sexuality is somehow unimportant or is some manner disconnected from their identity. It’s a fair question for those who feel that anyone’s sexuality is an aberration or distraction from their true being. I for one don’t feel that is the case, but in this age where the mere mention of a difference between us is held up as an example of someone’s political agenda, I understand how it could seem to be a part of that and how, in order to protest the … Read more

Discussion: Last Book You Read

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Books

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Tam Ames: Name the last LGBT SciFi/Fantasy/Paranormal book you read (name and author) and give the tags you would assign it. You don’t have to say if you loved it or hated it (don’t want to make authors feel bad) but will be interesting to see what kind of books we’re all reading. Vamps? Dragons? Aliens? BDSM? For me, I’m in the middle of three: The Caphenon, by Fletcher Delancey – a sci fi story about the arrival of a group of strangers in a mysterious craft, so sci fi, LGBT, lesbian, outer space. Lore … Read more

Discussion: Your Evil Red Eyes

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red eyes

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Alicia Nordwell: The use of eye color being a distinctive element in paranormal fiction is really common. Do we naturally associate good/bad with different eye colors? Yellow glowing eyes peering out of the dark, or the use of amber to black eyes versus the red eyes of the vampires in the Twilight series, for example. It’s an interesting question. We’ve long used physical characteristics as shorthand for a character’s, well, character. Not so long ago, an off-handed comment that a character was gay or bi or trans denoted a villain. Blonde hair was good and … Read more

Reflections on *The Great Mirror of Male Love*

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Gomen nasai! I’m Jim Comer and I read, edit, and post on QueerSF. This is the third of an irregular series of dispatches from the front: I read very widely across the fields of history, science, language and religion, and want to make sure that the QUILTBAGs back home are suitably informed. For writers and readers, here is the third in a series of book reviews, on tales of same-sex love (“nanshoku”) in Japan. I hope that you enjoy it. Reflections on The Great Mirror of Male Love, by Ihara Saikaku J. Comer Reading a text from another place, and … Read more

Discussion: Differently-Gendered Beings

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Facebook Genders

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Brian Cherry: How about a discussion of different gendered beings, such as Storm Constantine’s Wraeththu? it’s a good question. We’re starting to move, as a society, beyond the idea that there are only two genders, male and female. This first hit me when I was watching Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and I realized that Terence Stamp’s character was really neither. In recent years, we’ve started to see “third gender” passports. More and more people are identifying publicly as gender queer, eschewing being strictly identified with either of the “traditional” genders. And even Facebook, flawed … Read more