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Author of queer, wry sci fi/fantasy books. On Amazon.
Editor of all fiction genres.

Sunday 18 June 2017

Hey Queers, What the &$%#

Hello hello!

Well, it's Pride month, and I'm feeling a little feisty and punchy.

I'm a proud part of the Queer Sci Fi group on Facebook, and as many readers will know, I'm no stranger to writing about queer characters.

I was talking to a mentor of mine about something recently, and my dander's up. The problem is this. The lesbian stigma is absolutely real, and a problem. When seeking out books about queer characters, readers say they want f/f couples. But m/m books outsell f/f books handily, and so do stories with m/f 'straight' couples. (For those unacquainted, 'm/m' is 'male/male', 'f/f' is 'female/female', and yes, I realise that's very gender binary, but that's the industry right now.)

If a book has the most carefully designed and well-blurbed cover it can, and has all its marketing data lined up, at some point, this comes down to readers. It's no coincidence that m/m books on Queer Sci Fi make up the majority of titles.

As my mentor said,

#1. Go to teh LGBT subcat bestseller list- tally how many titles are which "branch" of LGBT. You can also just look at the LGBT subcats and note how many more MM titles there are than basically all the others combined.

I don't have an analytical article today - merely an admonishment and a call to arms. If you are a queer person who has publicly asked for f/f lit in the past, or even just privately wanted to read it - put your money where your mouth is! This year, seek out books about queer women. You can still buy m/m, I'm not going to tell anyone to stop doing something they like, but please support diversity within the LGBTIAPQ/QUILTPBAG community.

It's not that f/f books are 'too special' or 'too good' for mainstream readers. I know a lot of people - even people who have mainstream sexual and gender identities - who like stories about ladies in love. It would seem that although lesbians still get that ol 'pornographic' stigma, presentation of lady-lady or femme-femme love has not hit the mainstream.

So here's my request - whether you are an ally or a QUILTPBAG person, please share, talk about, and read f/f fiction this year. It will help those of us who love the stories get more of them, and push back against the unintentional but ingrained misogyny of the publishing industry.

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Thanks for returning to the nest. Leave a comment and say hi! I want to hear from you. Keep up with the new releases by getting on the mailing list. Buy my books on Amazon, and keep up with me on TwitterFacebookTumblr, and the original blog. This is the one and only SciFiMagpie, over and out!

Thursday 15 June 2017

Where did the Magpie Go?

Hello hello!

This has been an interesting year. And admittedly, my longest blog hiatus in three or four years of running this thing. What have I been doing, exactly?

  • Mostly working on editing projects. A lot of manuscripts. Like, a lot. 
  • Trying to fix my sleep schedule. (For a while, it was untenable and I felt awful. This happens regularly. Cross your fingers for my ability to keep the current track up.) 
  • Knitting and listening to podcasts on days off (or when focus eluded me). 
  • Helping my partner look for a job
  • Staring at my drafts folder and wondering if there's any point in posting, given the state of the world and the arts, and whether what I have to say still matters
  • Reading articles on Medium, especially from The Establishment, and cowering in fear at the state of American politics 
  • Resurrecting my editing site from the grave
  • Wrangling my biological family 


That about covers it. However, I'm working on a bunch of scheduled posts right now, so you can start checking on Sunday nights/Monday mornings for your usual dose of SciFiMagpie.

At least, that's the plan. In the meantime, reach out. Leave a comment, ask a question, let me know what you want to hear about. Let me know that you're reading! I've seen the page views, which have been surprisingly steady for years, so I know some of you are definitely having a look at my tiny blog.

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Thanks for returning to the nest. Leave a comment and say hi! I want to hear from you. Keep up with the new releases by getting on the mailing list. Buy my books on Amazon, and keep up with me on TwitterFacebookTumblr, and the original blog. This is the one and only SciFiMagpie, over and out!
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