Dare to speak its name: Queer science fiction and fantasy, the writers who write it and the readers who read it

 
A proposal by

Overview

The goal of this book is to provide a history of the appearance of LGBT characters and situations in science fiction and fantasy and to show the various methods writers used to incorporate those characters. This will not be just a collection of essays from various contributors, nor will it be overly academic and formal. It will be approachable and affordable by a variety of audiences, ages and genres, usable in a classroom setting or to be enjoyed by the layman or fan, easy to understand yet still be able to make them think and to relate new and useful information. While the majority of the books in this genre focus at an academic level, this will focus on the societal and take a serious look at the reasons LGBT SF/F is being written, how society affects them and how they affect society.

The title of the book comes from a contemporary of Oscar Wilde, referring to same-sex love as “The love that dares not speak its name.”  The quote has been used by gay and lesbians for over a hundred years now is still apt; despite progress made in recent years to raise awareness of the LGBT community, we’re still attacked and denied the rights our heterosexual counterparts take for granted.

Peter Bergman, in his book Gaiety Transfigured, mentions a study done twenty years ago by Barry M. Dank who asked gay men how they first recognized themselves as gay.  Fifteen percent said they came to it through reading.  And, Bergman says, “If one considers how little Americans read, the figure is quite astounding, showing both the importance of literature for developing gay identity, and how rare such discussions have been.”  While now the internet provides easy access to information about homosexuality and LGBT communities, it’s still reading.  Bergman goes on to say that gay literature places a double burden on the author, both to identify the gap between public and private discourse about being gay, and the responsibility to change that discourse to reflect the truth of the gay experience—something that television and other forms of media often exploit or misconstrue.

One mark of both gay literature and SF, and the reason the two genres are so complimentary, is their treatment of the alien, or “other,” that which defines us in our reactions to it and yet is outside the established norm.  A sense of Otherness is made more apparent by authors of gay fiction, because unlike ethnic and religious communities, the homosexual community lacks a shared group history.  Bergman goes on to say, "Gay children—who have a keen sense of being different—often have nothing and no one to show them what that difference consists of, or how one might integrate that difference into a way of life" (5).  Hence the importance of books and other literary resources to provide a much-needed enlightenment and sense of belonging. It's no wonder, then, why Otherness is a frequent occurrence in both SF and gay literature.  Writers write to be understood; readers read to find understanding.  Authors like Marion Zimmer Bradley had a huge impact on their audience, especially the LGBT community, because they finally felt included and that someone understood them.  Bradley treated her LGBT characters positively and with respect, and thus the community felt the same.

One of the purposes of Dare to Speak its Name  is to provide a space for LGBT SF/F in the regular gay canon. After researching several mainstrean gay nonfiction books, only one book--Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness--and one author--Samuel R. Delany--were mentioned. Gay SF/F deserves notice, and is far different from mainstream gay literature because in mainstream, the LGBT characters are usually treated as the outcast and the "other," while in SF/F the LGBT characters are allowed to exist in a society where their sexuality doesn't matter. While the LGBT community has made great strides over the past few years in gaining recognition and acceptance, we still have a long ways to go, and this book will help support our cause as well as to support those struggling with their own identities.

Book Format

The book will be approximately 225 pages in length.  Format will be Foreword, Introduction, and eleven chapters interspersed with “anecdotes,” which will be collected contributions from readers as to how reading LGBT fiction affected their lives, and “interludes,” which will be two short (2,000 words or so) essays after every chapter by authors of LGBT SF/F mentioning their own work and the reasons they chose to write it, audience reaction to their work and their overall impression of the status of LGBT SF/F today. Author contributers could include but not be limited to, Samuel R. Delany, Nalo Hopkinson, Nicola Griffith, Kelley Eskridge, Melissa Scott, Mercedes Lackey, Deborah J. Ross (for herself and for Marion Zimmer Bradley), Sherwood Smith, Lynn Flewelling, Steven Harper, Steve Berman, and Christopher Paul Carey for Philip Jose Farmer. Including these authors and allowing them to use their own words and express their own perspectives would at a personal touch to the book and would interest fans of those particular authors.

The chapters explore several different aspects of LGBT SF/F novels in-depth. These are not overly critical examples, but more of what LGBT aspects the books include. The chapters also include research and examples from LGBT resources not limited to fiction in order to place the SF/F novels into context.

The level of writing will vary a little, depending on the style of the included author essays. The non-author portions will be more towards the academic side but written so as to be approachable by those at an undergraduate level as well as entertaining and informative for the general public.

After going to several conventions and being on panels, there is a significant portion of the SF/F community thirsty for knowledge about LGBT SF/F books, but they don't know where to find them. Dare to Speak its Name will also include a list of recommended works and resources on where to go to find more LGBT books and authors.

Competition

The most recent competition in this area is entitled Queer Universes, edited by Wendy J. Pearson et al., recently out from Liverpool.  However, my book differs from this one, in that Pearson’s book is academic essays by various authors and a couple of interviews with authors like Nicola Griffith and Nalo Hopkinson.  Queer Universe, at $85, is an “investigation into these contemporary and historical representations of gender and sexualities” using contributions from scholars and authors which makes the book read at a far higher level than what I intend.  The high price  means that the average person will not be able to afford it and will only be able to get it at a library if they’re lucky.  Her audience is those who seriously study science fiction and its construction, while my book would appeal to an audience eighteen and up and be appropriate for both personal and classroom settings.  Queer Universes consists of entirely science fiction sources while mine would go on to include fantasy, young adult, Japanese manga, and e-books that feature homosexuality in an SF/F setting.

To the best of my knowledge there is no other book that encompasses this subject matter nor is it written in such a format. There is little mention of LGBT SF/F in nonfiction books save for a few essays and three anthologies edited by Nicola Griffith. There are some comparisons in mainstream gay literature, but those are meant for a different market. Richard Canning, in Gay Fiction Speaks, features interviews with leading mainstream gay authors, but my book would let both gay authors writing LGBT characters and straight authors writing LGBT speak for themselves as to the reasons they write what they do.  This addition would bring in an audience of those author’s fans. 

Promotion

The book will be able to be marketed to a variety of audiences, both academics and laypersons. The individual essays by authors well-known in their field will make the book approachable to and desirable by fans and more enjoyable than an book consisting entirely of essays. The more scholarly information will appeal to historians, academics, and those teaching and studying LGBT subjects in college. Science fiction and fantasy fans will likely comprise the largest portion of the intended audience, with crossover into those interested in LGBT subjects and the history of SF/F in general.

There are various outlets through which to promote the book. Science fiction and fantasy conventions such as WorldCon, World Fantasy and the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, writer's associations such as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), writer and fan blogs, and academic spheres will comprise the largest target group for solicitation. I have multiple contacts in all of these areas as well as well-known writer friends who can help promote the book by word of mouth. Other outlets would include LGBT centers, groups, festivals and bookstores.

Author qualifications

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Foreword by Big Name Author

Introduction

            In a study, it was discovered that some fifteen percent of LGBT leaned about their sexual identity by reading.  Yes, reading.  This book focuses on the existence and need for positive LGBT role models in the science fiction and fantasy genres which have both been traditionally accepting of those who fall outside the norm.  There will be a brief mention of the forthcoming chapters, author and reader involvement.

Part I: The history of LGBT SF/F: Where did we come from?

Anecdotes

Quotes from real people and their response to LGBT characters in SF/F books.

Chapter 1: Otherwise known as the “Other”

Science fiction, fantasy, and gay literature are actually very complimentary genres—why?  Because of the idea of the Other, or of outsiderness.  In SF, the trope has been long and hotly debated, but generally it boils down to the idea that the Other, usually an alien, is obvious, and the plot is often about how humans and aliens relate.  The story behind the plot, though, is the way the humans (or aliens) define themselves in relation to the opposite species.  The very existence of the Other threatens or comments on values and self, yet we still seek something in the Other that we recognize, no matter how alien they may be.  Mainstream gay literature often revolves around a similar idea, only it’s the homosexual that is the Other, the alien, the one struggling to give himself one definition while society insists on another.  Unlike mainstream literature, science fiction allows authors to create worlds free of the moralities of our own society.  It's this ability to create alternate worlds that allows SF/F to address the concerns of the LGBT community by using one of its most common tropes, the idea of the Other.  This chapter explores that idea in depth.

Chapter 2: The Big Bang

The history of sex in science fiction begins in 1952 with Philip Jose Farmer’s novella, The Lovers, which blasted apart the sexual taboo.  The next year Theodore Sturgeon wrote a novella sympathetic to the plight of two homosexual aliens fleeing their restrictive planet.  Soon after, upcoming author Samuel R. Delany, for a long time the only “black, gay, science fiction writer” breaks down more taboos in such landmark works as his Neveryon series and Dhalgren.

Interludes: Samuel R. Delany and Christopher Paul Carey for Philip Jose Farmer

Chapter 3: The doors are open, now what happens?

Authors such as Marion Zimmer Bradley continue to pave the way for gay, lesbian and transgendered characters.  Bradley’s Darkover series was one of the first novels to positively portray a gay man in a protagonist role.  Later books included a character whose gender fluctuated and the Renunciates, women who defied traditional female roles in their society.  LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness features aliens who are neuter until they reach a period of kemmer where they may develop into either male or female to mate.  Mercedes Lackey’s The Last Herald-Mage trilogy features a gay protagonist and garnered her a huge following. 

Interludes: Deborah J. Ross, Mercedes Lackey?

Part II: Representations of Homosexuality in SF/F

Anecdotes

Chapter 5: A cleverly titled chapter about SF gay guys

TBD as to the exact theme; possible books to include are Karin Lowachee’s Warchild and Cagebird, and Steven Harper’s Silent Empire series.  I need more M/M SF.

Interludes: Karin Lowachee, Steven Harper

Chapter 6: Celebrating women

This chapter will focus on feminism and lesbianism in SF/F, with portrayals like societies made of entirely women as in Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite and feminist perspectives in Nalo Hopkinson’s The Salt Roads.

Interludes: Nicola Griffith and Nalo Hopkinson

Chapter 7: Twisting the Other: Using a "Third" sex to represent homosexuality in science fiction

One of science fiction's most common tropes, the idea of the Other.  Twisting the Other, in this case, means using a "third" sex to represent homosexual characters and concerns.  This chapter considers the idea that by distancing homosexuality through using it as the Other makes it more palatable and acceptable.  Emphasis is placed on homosexuality as it relates to present-day concerns in our own culture as explored by the techniques of how three different authors twist the Other: "SF as a Societal Allegory" with Melissa Scott's Shadow Man, "Ethnographic Studies" with Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series, and "The Search for Self Through SF" with Samuel R. Delany's "Aye, and Gomorrah.”

Interludes: Melissa Scott, (?)

Chapter 8. Exploring sexuality

This chapter looks at non-standard sexualities in various novels, from a certain hermaphrodism necessary for procreation in Steven Leigh’s Dark Water’s Embrace to the transgendered body-modifiers in George Alec Effinger’s When Gravity Fails.  (And I know I should include Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness here, but so much has been said about that already I’m rather reluctant to say much about it in-depth.  And I could likely merge this with the chapter above, except the premise is slightly different.)

Interludes: Steven Leigh, (?)

Part III: Representations Beyond SF

Anecdotes

Chapter 8. Shine your swords and swab the decks: LGBT characters in fantasy

This chapter takes a look at the development of LGBT characters in fantasy, including Lynn Flewelling’s Night Runner series, the idea of sex without guilt in Sherwood Smith’s Inda series, and Ellen Kushner’s genderbending heroine in Privilege of the Sword, with perhaps a look at other transgender characters in fantasy, such as Robin Hobb’s Fool.  What makes fantasy LGBT portrayals different from SF portrayals?  Are the messages or difficulties different?

Interludes: Lynn Flewelling and Sherwood Smith

Chapter 9: LGBT fantasy at the intersection of reality

This chapter takes a look at LGBT fantasy in a modern-day setting, including books like Richard Bowes’ Minions of the Moon.  Are the situations similar or different from more traditional fantasy and SF settings?

(Could possibly contrast this with all the paranormal M/M vampires)

Interlude: Richard Bowes, Tanya Huff?

10. YA LGBT:

A discussion of YA LGBT books such as Holly Black’s Urban Faerie series and Steve Berman’s Vintage.  Why these books are important and what kinds of issues they address.

Interlude: Holly Black, Steve Berman

Chapter 11: Yaoi, Erotica and Slash, Oh My: Crossing genre boundaries and speculating about the future of LGBT SF/F

This chapter takes a look at the current, emerging genres.  One is Japanese manga in the form of Yaoi (explicit homosexuality) and Boy’s Love (non-explicit homosexuality.) Another is the popular erotic e-books, which feature explicit homosexual and sometimes transgender sexuality in SF/F settings.  And, of course, no discussion about homosexuality would be complete without a look at Slash fiction (named for the original Kirk/Spock fanfiction.)  The chapter ends with a discussion of whether or not these popular genres can—or should—be merged with more literary science fiction and fantasy.

Interlude: Anne Harris/Jessica Freely, Rachel Manija Brown


Appendix

List of recommended books and authors

List of resources

References