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Transgender

POV: Why Aren’t Queer Characters Simply Allowed to Be Queer?

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Star_Trek_Discovery-560x280

When Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed Albus Dumbledore was gay after the publication of Deathly Hallows, there was an uproar. She broke the cardinal rule — often attributed to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov — show, don’t tell. The theory is simple. In storytelling, don’t tell the audience what a character is like, or how a setting feels, show them through senses, actions, and feelings. By telling fans Dumbledore was gay, rather than showing us (even implications of his relationship with Grindelwald in the seventh book are a stretch at best), there’s a robbery of representation. What good does it do queer … Read more

LGBTQ Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 1990s

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The 1990s saw a huge increase in the positive portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) characters in all parts of the genre: literature, anime, manga, comics, even some television and movie characters. Character-driven fantasy and science fiction became more popular, as did game-driven fiction and fandom. Different kinds of science fiction, fantasy and horror became a global phenomenon via the Internet. Cyberpunk-influenced science fiction with out queer characters, urban fantasies with LGBTQ characters, queer horror and television, movies and comics which celebrated queer subtext, all became more visible to mainstream audiences. One change in this decade was … Read more

New Book “The Girl From the Stars” Helps Gender Non Conforming Kids

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Girl From the Stars

I never set out to become a writer, let alone a chosen auntie to so many different children. Growing up transgender meant internalizing that I was defective from a much earlier age. Long ago, the world convinced me that I was dangerous, unsafe, and worthless—to everyone. Because of my broken childhood, I never believed in my right to use my creative voice for anything, not until relatively recently. Not until Pearl. In 2015, my whole life changed when I accidentally became a caregiver to the sweetest six-year-old. At the time, I was just a housemate, an awkward pink-haired girl living … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Reunion, by M.D. Neu

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QSFer M.D. Neu has a new gay/trans Halloween tale out: It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy. But every year on the anniversary of the event Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light. NineStar Press | Amazon Excerpt Teddy stood atop the grassy knoll, glancing down at Lakeview. Has it really been twenty years? The smell of fresh roses and lilies filled his senses. From there, he could see all of the town, Main Street, the radio tower, the old … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Stark Divide, by J. Scott Coatsworth

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The Stark Divide

J. Scott Coatsworth has a new queer sci fi book out: Some stories are epic. The Earth is in a state of collapse, with wars breaking out over resources and an environment pushed to the edge by human greed. Three living generation ships have been built with a combination of genetic mastery, artificial intelligence, technology, and raw materials harvested from the asteroid belt. This is the story of one of them—43 Ariadne, or Forever, as her inhabitants call her—a living world that carries the remaining hopes of humanity, and the three generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers working to colonize her. … Read more

Out of the Past – LGBTQ Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the 1980s

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The Northern Girl

The 1970s, famed as an era of free love, political protests and hallucinogen-fueled utopias, gave way to the era of punk and New Wave, AIDS, and the politics of Reagan and Thatcher in the more conservative 1980s. And science fiction, fantasy and horror followed suit, with hard-edged military science fiction, dystopian visions, anti-hero sword and sorcery, vampires and of course, cyberpunk. None of these, on the face of it, seemed any more LGBT-friendly than the sfnal works of the previous decade, yet the number of portrayals of LGBT characters over the course of the decade more than quadrupled. This was … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT: Renewal, QSF’s Flash Fiction Anthology

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QSF Renewal-Print

QSF has a new book out, the latest in our series of flash fiction anthologies: Re.new.al (noun) 1) Resuming an activity after an interruption, or 2) Extending a contract, subscription or license, or 3) Replacing or repairing something that is worn out, run-down, or broken, or 4) Rebirth after death. Four definitions to spark inspiration, a limitless number of stories to be conceived. Only 110 made the cut. Thrilling to hopeful, Renewal features 300-word speculative fiction ficlets about sexual and gender minorities to entice readers. Welcome to Renewal. Mischief Corner Books | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | … Read more

South Park Video Game Includes Transgender Character

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South Park Video Game

South Park, known for skewering pop culture, has had a rocky relationship with the LGBT community. Some jokes and gags have definitely crossed the line into derogatory content, but the show has also has a history of lampooning the religious right and what we now refer to as the alt-right (as versus rednecks). A preview for the new video game “South Park: The Fractured But Whole,” allows you to pick your gender identity. But if you choose anything other than cisgender, the game’s difficulty level increases and you face new challenges the white boys don’t. You can also choose to … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GUEST POST: Where Home Lies, by Elizabeth A. Schechter

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Where Home Lies

QSFer Elizabeth A. Schechter has a new queer fantasy book out, and shares a great guest post with us: Not Where I Thought We’d Be I was going to write a blog post about the eroticism of food. Was being the operative word. I’ve been fighting with it for about a day and a half. The topic that seemed to be so interesting to me when I first thought about it just won’t come out of my head and onto the page. And I finally realized why. There’s something more important that I need to get out of my brain. … Read more

COVER REVEAL: Where Home Lies, by Elizabeth A. Schechter

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Where Home Lies

Today, we have something special – a cover reveal for the third book in Elizabeth A. Schechter‘s “Rebel Mage” series: About the Book: Once an exile, Matthias returns to lead his home Enclave and settles into a new life with his beloved Solomon. Struggling with his new role and responsibilities toward the new town of Sanctuary and the people who had once rejected him, he knows that the relative peace he’s found is temporary—the forces that destroyed Haven are still out there, and he knows that they’ll come looking for him. Until they do, there are alliances to make, mouths … Read more