As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Mainstream

Angel’s Bits: Mainstream Publishers – Open Submissions

by
Mainstream Publishing

The question came up on the group the other day – what mainstream publishers are accepting unsolicited submissions? We were talking about efforts to increase the presence of queer characters in mainstream spec fic, you see, so it was an inevitable question. For the purposes of this group, we’ll only be discussing publishers that are looking for spec fic. Romance is another animal entirely, existing in a parallel dimension (this is not to imply in any way that the enormous romance industry is somehow less in any way – it’s just a different topic with a certain amount of crossover … Read more

Discussion: Bending the Mainstream

by
Gay LOTR

Another fun topic today. There are so many mainstream/straight stories out there. Growing up, most of us were immersed in a sea of heterosexuality. As we’ve discussed many times in this group, there has historically been a real lack of LGBT representation out in the world culturally – in film and in literature. That’s changing now, but there are still many iconic books, shows and films that have virtually no LGBT content. Here’s your change to change that. If you could take a current mainstream sci fi/fantasy/paranormal story (film, book, etc) and give it a real LGBTQI/QUILTBAG twist, which series … Read more

Discussion: Is Mainstream Speculative Fiction Hostile to LGBT Characters?

by
Asimov's Sci Fi magazine

Up until I “discovered” (I know, like Columbus “discovered” the Native Americans LOL) the sci fi/fantasy/paranormal part of the MM Romance market a couple years back, I had mostly read mainstream sci fi and fantasy. And I had run across very few LGBT characters in my travels there. In fact, I can count on one hand the truly LGBT sci fi or fantasy books I had read. So now it’s become a bit of a passion of mine to help bridge the two worlds. To bring the energy and passion and characters from not just the MM romance side but … Read more

Mainstream Books With LGBT Protagonists

by
The Lord Won't Mind

Today’s topic comes from QSFer Theo Fenraven – “‘The Lord Won’t Mind’ by Gordon Merrick became a NYT bestseller. Think we’ll ever see that again? With so many people writing books with gay main characters, we should already have seen it. Why haven’t we? Why hasn’t one of our books gone ‘mainstream’ and hit the top ten?” So I’m going to unpack Theo’s questions here a bit. It seems to me there are two main issues here. The first one is writing LGBT characters into mainstream fiction – and for the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to define mainstream … Read more