LGBTQ Literature is a Readers and Book Lovers series dedicated to discussing literature that has made an impact on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. From fiction to contemporary nonfiction to history and everything in between, any literature that touches on LGBTQ themes is welcome in this series. LGBTQ Literature posts on the last Sunday of every month at 7:30 PM EST. If you are interested in writing for the series, please send a message to Chrislove.
Good evening, faithful LGBTQ Literature readers. As I said in last month’s update diary, I wanted to post something this month (even though I was planning to put this series on hold for the holidays) since our posts have been pretty irregular lately. Fortunately, doomandgloom stepped forward and wrote a post about the treatment of gender and sexuality in the genre of science fiction and fantasy. They preferred that I post the diary, so you can find it below, but I wanted to make sure that I gave doomandgloom full credit. Many thanks to doomandgloom for contributing this month’s diary!
Also below, you will find the LGBTQ Literature calendar for 2024. All dates are open except January, so if you are interested in contributing, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Happy New Year, and see you in 2024!
As a long time reader of science fiction and fantasy (60 years), I have noticed a change in attitude towards human sexuality. (Alien sexuality is another subject.) When I was a child, science fiction and fantasy (SF&F) literature was relentlessly heterosexual. Even groundbreaking books like The Left Side of Darkness by Ursala Le Guin, wherein the people literally change sex from male to female and back, had the actual sexual partnerships as heterosexual.
The first SF writer I recall as having homoerotic relationships established as a normal part of life was Marion Zimmer Bradley in her Darkover SF series. She also had a literal sex-changing species, the Chieri, who interbred with humans, thus creating several new sexual variants, including the asexual and sterile emmasca as well as functional hermaphrodites.
People of the normal human genders have various sexual orientations in her works, including homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual. Among the upper class, same-sex pairings between young men are expected until the men are assigned to their arranged marriages. Young aristocratic men are also encouraged to pursue heterosexual pairings with young women of the lower classes. Young aristocratic women are expected to remain rigidly chaste until their arranged marriages.
Women who reject the patriarchal society's norms often join the Renunciates, an all-female group that allows both homosexual and heterosexual relationships. These are called "freemate marriages.” Needless to say, the working out of all the various gender-based roles and rules allows for a near-infinite variety of stories and plots.
Another great writer who has tackled sexuality in her stories is Mercedes Lackey. Her trilogy—Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, and Magic's Price—follows the life of Vanyel, the Last-Herald Mage. Vanyel is treated brutally by a father and armsmaster who suspect he is "fey" because of his love for music and fine clothing, and try to beat it out of him.
Vanyel is sent to Haven to live with his aunt and promptly falls in love with his aunt's male protégé. Vanyel's coming to terms with a sexual orientation he didn't know existed and the results of a tragic love affair are the main axis of the book. The other two books follow his story from young herald to the most powerful herald-mage in Valdemar.
Her numerous other works include all facets of human sexuality—including asexuality—in Eye Spy, where the heroine is totally uninterested in sex. It is a good book that can be enjoyed even by those with no knowledge of Valdemar.
A less well-known author is Glynn Stewart. (His books are available on Kindle.) He has multiple series, one of which is the Castle Federation series. The story takes place in a universe where Earth has colonized over 300 planets which are grouped into several political organizations. Unfortunately, the largest of these, the Terran Commonwealth, is brutally and fanatically expansionist and the Castle Federation is next on its list of conquests. The officers of both navies are widely diverse as to race and sexuality.
The same is true of the Peacekeepers of Sol series. The protagonist, Henry Wong, is a naval officer recently divorced from his husband, who was unfaithful. Henry is demi-sexual, meaning he has no sexual attraction to someone unless there is already a deep relationship of mutual trust. Unfortunately, his husband's betrayal of trust shatters that attraction. One of the sub-plots in the ensuing books is about Henry learning to love again. The main plots concern survival in a universe disrupted by the fall of the Kenmiri Empire.
In the Starship's Mage series—and in its offshoot, the Red Falcon series—there are non-binary characters and people of numerous races and genders. The same is true in the Scattered Stars series, and indeed in all of his SF series. If you are looking for modern SF&F you cannot do better than Glynn Stewart.
LGBTQ LITERATURE SCHEDULE (2024)
If you are interested in taking any of the following dates, please comment below or send a message to Chrislove. We’re always looking for new writers, and anything related to LGBTQ literature is welcome!
January 28: Chrislove
February 25: OPEN
March 31: OPEN
April 28: OPEN
May 26: OPEN
June 30: OPEN
July 28: OPEN
August 25: OPEN
September 29: OPEN
October 27: OPEN
November 24: OPEN
December 29: OPEN
READERS & BOOK LOVERS SERIES SCHEDULE
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