Destroying Horror, Week 2

This week's story is Alyssa Wong's nightmarish "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers," and the nonfiction is Nightmare's H-Word column with a twist: Stoker Award winner Lucy A. Snyder's "A Good Story," which asks what "caring about the quality of the story" means in the context of a genre where a publisher requesting that a writer 'straighten' a queer protagonist is not out of the question.

Horror is the literature of fear. And if you’re queer, and if you write fiction about your darkest fears while also doing your very best to tell a good story, a funny thing happens. Many of those readers who claimed to just care about story are now all squirmy. Sure, the plot’s exciting . . . but you made it all weird! Why couldn’t you just write a good old-fashioned entertaining story where the monsters are uncomplicatedly monstrous and the heroic guy gets the trophy girl at the end? Why couldn’t your story be straight, darn it?

Read, enjoy, and keep spreading the word!

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Friday, October 16, 2015

editing, horror, nonfiction, queer fiction

I Destroyed Horror - AMA

The first story and nonfiction piece from Queers Destroy Horror! went live at Nightmare Magazine this Wednesday. The story is Matthew Bright's phenomenal "Golden Hair, Red Lips," which drops the protagonist of my favorite novel into an AIDS-crisis era San Francisco, and ends on an absolutely chilling note. The nonfiction is the editorial introduction, including a few words from guest editor-in-chief Wendy Wagner, poetry editor Robyn  Lupo, and yours truly:

As queer writers and readers, we find ourselves feeling both at home and deeply unwelcome in the horror genre. Sexual and gender nonconformity are in the genre’s DNA; queer people began writing horror long before it was a recognizable fiction category, and our ranks include some of the biggest names in the contemporary horror scene...It makes sense that many of us are drawn to fiction that tackles [sex and desire] in unexpected and often unsettling ways. But, as the essays and interviews in this special issue demonstrate, if we often see ourselves reflected in horror stories, it can also feel like the genre wants us gone—or dead.

If you don't want to wait, or if you want to read the full slate of fiction and nonfiction in this oversized issue, it can be purchased in paperback or e-book.

Also, the QDH team is doing an Ask Me Anything on r/Fantasy on Tuesday, October 13. Unless dire circumstances arise to prevent me, I'll be dropping by in the afternoon. Come and ask us questions, or lurk your way through the answers.

Final, unrelated note: Mirror Dance will be closed to submissions until January 15, 2016 so that I can clear out the backlog. Exam reading has not been kind to my slush schedule,and too many authors have been waiting way too long for a response. If this is you: my apologies, and thanks for your patience.

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Saturday, October 10, 2015

editing, horror, nonfiction, queer fiction

No, silly, that's a master's thesis!

So the part of my brain that is good at finding ideas hidden in texts went a little haywire today. It was supposed to help me find the post-apocalyptic drama hidden in the book of Judges, but instead, it formed silly ideas about tribal loyalties and moral ambiguity. None of which will be useful in the post-apocalyptic drama.

I think I was trained too well in high school. My brain wants to write essays about everything.

Now, open question; what would the psot-apocalyptic equivalent of the tribes of Israel be?

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Friday, September 03, 2010

fiction, nonfiction, The Good Book, writing

Mirror Dance Updates

I am in need of one more poem for the Spring 2009 issue of Mirror Dance. There is one fiction and one poetry slot open in the themed Summer issue, "Villains and Antiheroes." Finally, I have nonfiction/opinion/art slots open in both these issues; the Summer item should relate to the theme, but I will consider a wide variety for Spring.

Submissions information can be found here.

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Thursday, February 12, 2009

art, editing, fiction, Mirror Dance, nonfiction, poetry, publishing, updates, writing