Queer Eye for the Crime Tale

In 2023, a study of thirty major crime fiction anthologies revealed A disturbing figure: of the 517 stories published, fewer than one percent were written by LGBTQ+ authors. That statistic speaks volumes—not only about ongoing exclusion in publishing, but about whose stories are deemed worthy of telling. Enter Crime Ink: Iconic, a new anthology co-edited by award-winning novelist John Copenhaver and Bywater Books publisher Salem West. A vibrant and unapologetic collection of crime fiction stories inspired by queer icons—James Baldwin, Radclyffe Hall, Candy Darling, Oscar Wilde, Megan Rapinoe, Laverne Cox, and more—Crime Ink offers a necessary course correction for a genre that has historically sidelined queer voices.

The stories in this book are so compelling and so necessary, now more so than ever. We’re up against a regime whose primary and most devastating weapon has been the deliberate and systematic devaluing of empathy. There is a concerted effort underway to censor our voices, to restrict or eliminate access to our books in schools and public libraries and to label stories based on our lived experiences as “woke propaganda,” inherently obscene, or even pornography.

These two things are not separate, but intimately connected. Because nothing builds empathy like reading and sharing stories. You can’t see people as vermin to be eliminated if you’re allowed to see the world through their eyes.

I’m not talking about Manic Pixie Dream Gays who fart rainbow glitter and make “normal” people’s lives more fabulous, either. The characters you’ll find in this book are complicated, flawed, flesh and blood human beings.

So, if you’re queer and hungry for stories that resonate and make you feel seen at a time when it seems like the whole world is conspiring to erase you, this book is for you. But I really hope that people who don’t think they have anything in common with these characters will check it out too.

-- Christa Faust

We Need Diverse Books (by Christa Faust)

Speaking of books, if you’re reading this you probably already know about The Get Off, but did you know I’ve also got a brand spanking new short story coming out in September? I’m proud, honored and thrilled to be included in John Copenhaver and Salem West’s new anthology Crime Ink: Iconic!

In 2023, out of 517 stories published in major crime anthologies, fewer than 1% were written by LGBTQ+ authors.

Crime Ink: Iconic is a necessary course correction.

This bold new collection gathers crime stories inspired by queer icons—James Baldwin, Radclyffe Hall, Megan Rapinoe, Oscar Wilde, Candy Darling, and more—spanning the full spectrum of the genre: noir, cozy, psychological thriller, procedural.

With a foreword by Ellen Hart and an afterword by Katherine V. Forrest, the anthology is both a celebration and a call to action.

Featuring stories by:

Ann Aptaker, Chris Bollen, Marco Carocari, Katrina Carrasco, John Copenhaver, Meredith Doench, Margot Douaihy, Diana DiGangi, Christa Faust, Kelly J. Ford, Katherine V. Forrest, Stephanie Gayle, Robyn Gigl, Cheryl Head, Greg Herren, Renee James, Anne Laughlin, Kristen Lepionka, Mia Manansala, Jeff Marks, Ann McMan, Penny Mickelbury, David Pederson, JM Redmann, Jeffrey Round, & Baxter Clare Trautman

Published by Bywater Books.

If you preorder a copy of Crime Ink: Iconic or buy a copy of The Get Off from an independent bookstore of your choice (including bookshop.org) and email me your receipt dated between April 26 and May 3, I’ll donate 5 bucks to We Need Diverse Books.

Because in dark times like these, we all need diverse books. Now more than ever.

(Originally posted at https://buttondown.com/christafaust/archive/we-need-diverse-books/)

[Link] Let Them Be Morally Flawed: In Defense of Queer Villains in Stories

John Copenhaver on Conflating Queerness with Evil

by John Copenhaver

Queerness and villainy have a long history of being conflated by mainstream entertainment, from Peter Lorre’s effeminate and threatening Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon to the obsessed and manipulative Mrs. Danvers in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca to, more humorously, the violent Lord Humungus from Mad Max, decked out in leather fetish gear, to the many queer-coded Disney villains, such as the Evil (Drag) Queen in Snow White to the preening Jafar in Aladdin.

Originally, these queer-coded antagonists were molded to contrast mainstream heteronormativity; the straight cis-gendered heroes of these stories embody traditional ideas about gender and sexuality. On the surface, the villains aren’t explicitly queer, but they wear a cloak of queerness to imply a harmful false equivalency that being LGBTQ+ is morally dubious or, from another angle, that transgressing gender and sexuality norms indicates innate corruption or, perhaps, a moral weakness leading to greater evil.

If you grew up in the eighties and early nineties, as I did, it was difficult to find any positive queer role models in popular entertainment or books; few of these stories were within easy reach. So hungry were we for queer characters, we zeroed in on the flamboyant queer-coded villains, which despite the intention behind these characters, we embraced long before Disney seized the opportunity to capitalize on their beloved baddies and began franchising their origin stories. In doing so, they filed down their villains’ horns for mass consumption.

At first glance, transforming queer-coded villains into protagonists with rich backstories seems well-intentioned and progressive. This revision of villainy seems to challenge conflating queerness with corruption: “Those vicious villains weren’t evil after all, just misunderstood.”

In truth, Disney is just nudging these queer-coded characters into the circle of conventional morality, not widening the circle. The original vampy evil fairy Maleficent becomes a scorned and brutalized lover and later a protective mother figure. Vicious and glamorous fashionista Cruella becomes a Dickensian goth orphan girl-cum-fashion designer. While these films are entertaining, they don’t embody progress as much as they want us to believe they do.

Read the full article: https://lithub.com/let-them-be-morally-flawed-in-defense-of-queer-villains-in-stories/