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Motivational Monday: Imagine the Stories

Taylorverse Books releases Sean Taylor's first poetry-only collection -- WHEN WE HAD NO FLAG!

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Atlanta, GA -- Taylorverse Books releases Sean Taylor's first poetry-only collection -- WHEN WE HAD NO FLAG!

​While the book contains mostly new poems from 2004 and 2005, it also collects several of his poems going all the way back to 1994. All poetry collected in the book has a certain, specific attitude summed up by the opening quotes from the book:

“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”
—George Orwell

“All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, ‘Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better.’”
—Sonia Sanchez

“All stories are political; they involve power that has structural underpinnings and material consequences.”
—Judy Rohrer

"Make no mistake," says Taylor, "these are politically charged poems. There's no way around them. While they may contain the language of pop culture and religion, all these poems work together make a statement."

With references as varied as Bob Dylan, Langston Hughes, Rita Hayworth, and Mae West (among others), this collection has been a long time coming. 

"Sometimes you can't help but stop and write because the world forces you to have something to say, something you feel is important. WHEN WE HAD NO FLAG is that something for me," says Taylor.

​

​Sean Taylor writes short stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, and comic books (yes, Virginia, there is a difference between comic books and graphic novels, just like there's a difference between a short story and a novel). In his writing life, he has directed the “lives” of zombies, superheroes, goddesses, dominatrices, Bad Girls, pulp heroes, and yes, even frogs, for such diverse bosses as IDW Publishing, Gene Simmons, and The Oxygen Network. Visit him online at www.thetaylorverse.com and www.badgirlsgoodguys.com.

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[Link] Small Changes

by Emily Miller

There is obviously a political context to this post. A context that difficult things have happened and more difficult things are likely to happen in the future. For people like me, and maybe you, there is a sense of powerlessness, a sense of what we think and what we do doesn’t really matter. 

I also feel like I don’t recognize my country, or maybe that I just hate what my country has clearly become. It’s dispiriting, paralyzing even.

In the face of such challenges, this is not intended to be a pep talk. It is not intended to be a rallying cry (even I’m not quite so narcissistic as to think anyone would rally to a cry I made, I’m nobody). But, contrary to my parenthetic words, this brief article is about the things that a nobody like me – maybe like you – can do. And it’s not hypothetical, it’s based on small things I have actually done, small things I have actually achieved.

So, I write erotic literature if I am feeling pompous, and I scribble porn if I am in a more realistic mood. Some people expect me to be ashamed of this. I’m not. I think any form of consensual and legal sex is a blessing to be cherished and celebrated, not something dirty to be hidden. And it’s fun to write, I deal with real human emotions, as well as procreative bodily functions. 

What difference can smut make in the world? Well maybe not a lot, certainly with my limited audience, but not zero difference either. Here are four examples of small changes I have made in people’s lives through what I write.

Read the full article: https://emilymillerlit.wordpress.com/2024/11/07/small-changes/

[Link] One More Vital Reason Why Community Gives Me Hope

by Charlie Jane

Hi! I wrote a book a few years ago called Never Say You Can't Survive, about using creative writing to get through hard times. I believe that the act of making up stories, creating imaginary friends, getting lost in the fictional worlds you create, can help you make it through some really scary shit.

In fact, I'm here in one piece right now because I've been writing a ton of utterly bizonktastic fiction and comics. I wrote a whole young adult trilogy about queer teenagers fighting space fascists! And I co-created a trans superhero named Escapade for Marvel Comics, and basically I've been goofing around.

A copy of one of my books. I scribbled "Keep daydreaming. Daydreaming is important, serious WORK!!!" And I drew a silly cat picture. Over that is written DAYDREAMING IS THE OPPOSITE OF DOOMSCROLLING

Lately when I sign books for people, I often write the same phrase: "Keep daydreaming. Daydreaming is important, serious WORK." And I usually add a terrible cat picture.    

My motto these days is that daydreaming is the opposite of doomscrolling. So I absolutely believe creativity can save us — and help us save each other. And yet, nothing could have prepared me for the time we're living through right now.

My books are banned in a handful of places, and trans healthcare is becoming illegal in even more places. You honestly can't know what this feels like, until it happens to you. My words and my body are both outlawed.

And I'm bombarded with rhetoric about how my very existence is dangerous. Seeing this image of a dumpster full of queer books outside New College in Florida felt like a slow kick in the solar plexus.

Read the full article: https://buttondown.com/charliejane

DEI and the Teaching of American Literature

For the record, as a lit/comp teacher, I integrate writing from all racial/cultural lines possible within a given unit. For example, for the founding documents section, we not only look at the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights, we also read selections from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl so students can see how the US failed to actually implement life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness promises to those who weren't white, male, or land owners. 

In our unit on the Individual and Society, we examine writing from Booker T. Washington, Emily Dickenson, T.S. Eliot, and Walt Whitman, along with an extended study of American Born Chinese (the graphic novel). 

In our unit on Power, Protest, and Change, we look at the literature that confronted inequity and led to changing status and rights for women, workers, and African-Americans. This includes works by Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Abraham Lincoln, Langston Hughes, Upton Sinclair, and an extended study of Kate Chopin's The Awakening.

[Link] Writing as Resistance

by Tim Waggoner

You’re a writer.

You live in a world that has problems – a lot of them – but you’ve always seen glimmers of light in the darkness, and they’ve encouraged you to keep writing, even if you sometimes wondered what the point was.

Then November 5, 2024 happened in America, and now you’re looking at January 20, 2025 careening toward us like an out-of-control freight train, and you see the famous line from Dante’s The Divine Comedy flash across your mind like the blazing letters on a Times Square jumbotron – “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” You’re well aware people sometimes quote that line as a joke, but you don’t feel much like laughing right now.

And you may not feel much like writing, either.

Dreaming dreams then translating them into words on a page (or screen) for others to read might seem like a ridiculous activity in the face of what’s coming, and I get that. But there are good – maybe even vital – reasons for you to keep writing.

Let’s talk about some of them.

But first…

Read the full article: https://writinginthedarktw.blogspot.com/2024/11/writing-as-resistance.html

LGBTQIA+ Writers, Characters, and Books

Hey, LGBTQIA+ writer folks!

For the next roundtable, I want to talk to you in particular. I want to know what the independent and small publishing world looks like for you.

Do you feel welcome in the world of independent and small publishing? At cons, in stores, sales? Why or why not?

October Santerelli: I feel welcomed by authors and readers, and given lip service by some small press who claim they want to be more inclusive and don't demonstrate it or big houses. I mention ace or queer characters and people pick up the books just to read about them, so I know I have stories readers want! Cons are good, stores have not been great, I keep getting brushed off. My sales are phenomenal when I get in front of people, but I feel like algorithms and some sales folks and such are just...suppressing LGBTQ+ content or ignoring it.

Inka York: In the online world, I definitely feel welcome. There are some great spaces with excellent support, authors lifting each other up, and readers throwing themselves into ARC and street teams. I can't speak for cons or bookshops because they're not a priority for me. Most of my sales are ebook (like 99% of them), so my most recent releases don't even have print books.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: I feel welcome as an independent author at cons and sales tables. Most people will let you know if they are not interested in a same-gender couple.

I also write MF pairings, so my sapphic/mm romances don’t sell as well to my audience that reads the MF pairs. I find most readers like to read set tropes, couples, etc. Myself included. I’ve read almost exclusively MM romance for about two years now. Of course, some readers will read anything in a genre. It’s about finding the audience.

I’ve had more pushback on writing about witches than homosexuals. I live in GA by the way.

DL Wainright: Cons are my bread and butter, when it comes to book sales, and I typically feel very welcome at them. There's often at least one pride flag on my table at events, and it doesn't seem to deter many, and in fact draws many in who are seeking stories with representation. I can't speak about small publishing or any of that, as I self-publish, but I know many folks who publish through smaller print presses which specifically exist for queer fiction. Because I'm self-pub, I'm print-on-demand, which most stores won't carry without specifically asking them to. A popular local bookstore carries my stuff without any issue. At first, though, they put it in the queer lit section and I had to suggest they either move it to horror or YA, so they moved it to horror. That was the only hiccup. 

James A. McDonald II: As a transgender individual much of the world is not particularly welcoming in general at the moment which influences things. There are locations that are more friendly/welcoming than others, in fact there are locations that are downright unsafe for me to go. People have become emboldened to be more openly hateful and violent toward trans people which makes me more cautious about travel and who I engage with.

What in your mind goes into a book being LGBTQIA+ focused or friendly? Must it be written by an LGBTQIA+ writer?

Emmy Anthony: An author in the community helps. Characters that are more than a stereotype are very important. My female protagonist has a gay male best friend but he is not the rom-com comic relief. He protects her and loves her like a sister when she needs it most, for example.

James A. McDonald II: Representation matters, but representation beyond the token and the stereotype. Not every gay man is effeminate, lesbian a butch, and trans woman a catty obvious dude in a dress. Bisexuals, trans men and so much more exist. Go beyond the stereotype and create whole complex characters. I think it is also a disservice to make LGBTQIA+ characters too perfect. That gives the perception that nothing bad ever happens to them and that is also false, give the characters space to be more than token mentions. In my mind to be LGBTQIA+ friendly a major character has to be LGBTQIA+ and it a known fact within the story, perhaps even a minor plot point. I.e. The character is nervous about their partner meeting the parents or the friend group, etc. To be focused a main character has to be LGBTQIA and it has to be a plot point. 

I don't think it must be written by an LGBTQIA+ writer, but I think if the writer is not they should do a lot of research, spend a lot of time engaging with the community they are trying to write in a respectful way and they should have several individuals from within the community/sensitivity readers read over it to ensure that they are not missing some nuance. 

DL Wainright: It used to be that we basically had two kinds of stories that contained queer characters: mainstream books where a queer character was a villain or comic relief, or "queer lit," which was heavily focused on the queer experience. But nowadays there are very mainstream stories where the protagonists are queer, and it isn't about THAT, it's about the standard hero's adventure. I often bring up She-ra and the Princesses of Power, and I'm going to do it again here. That story has a ton of queer characters, including She-ra herself, but the story is about the conflict between different factions and the threat of Hordak, etc. Stories like that, I don't think need to necessarily be written by queer authors. But if it's something like traditional queer lit, where it's about the EXPERIENCE of being queer, then that's a subject for own voices. Basically: anyone can write about a princess who saves the world and falls in love with a cat girl, but only someone who is bi should write a story about a girl in high school who's struggling with her bi identity. That's not to say the princess can't be struggling with her identity, too, it's just about framing and what the actual focus is of the narrative.

Evan Peterson: While there is definitely the presence of misconceptions and microaggressions within the alphabet towards other parts of the alphabet, I still find myself much more wary of cis-straight writers writing queer characters. I won't avoid them, but I do approach them more guarded and prepared for disappointment. 

Inka York: I don't write LGBTQ+ fiction, by which I mean my books are not about BEING LGBTQ+, so I don't market/categorise them that way. I write queer casts, stories about kicking angel/demon/vampire/whatever butt while being queer, or paranormal pirate adventures but everyone is gay. And I write these queer casts because when I was growing up I didn't have books where everyone was as casually queer as they were casually cishet.

I genuinely don't care what people write, but if I'm reading LGBTQ+ focused books, I favour own voices because authenticity is important to me as a reader. I don't think it's my place to tell other authors what they should and shouldn't be writing.

October Santerelli: It doesn't have to be written by an LGBTQ+ person! One of the best books I ever read was written by a middle-aged cisgender Christian mom in her 40s. The queer character was a side character and helped the main character realize human is human and love outweighs intolerance. What makes a story LGBTQ+ friendly is giving us stories outside the stereotypes and letting us and our existence help tell a tale, any tale. Humanizing us. I feel like LGBTQ+ focused is coming out stories, queer romances, etc. Things that inherently focus on the aspect of queer as a story-driving element. But any story with a developed character who is LGBTQ+ is queer-friendly.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: For a LGBTQIA+ focused book, the writer needs to tell the story in an authentic way without villainizing the character because of their sexuality. I mean the character can be the antagonist as long as it’s not tangled into their LGBTQIA+-ness. Anyone can be a dick.

As for friendly, treating characters as you would a cis/straight character is important. Don’t make a big deal about it. Like “This is my friend Bob and his boyfriend Pete. Can you believe they met at the post office?”

I highly suggest hiring a sensitivity reader if you write a character that you do not have a similar lived experience (this includes different cultures and race). I hired a sensitivity reader for my sapphic romance even though I’m pansexual, because I’ve been in a straight passing relationship for 20 years now. I want to be respectful.

Continuing from that previous question, what are some issues you have seen -- both helpful and harmful -- that ally writers who aren't living in the life of an LGBTQIA+ person do well or do poorly? What more can they do to be an ally who is a writer?

Inka York: This may ruffle some feathers, but I think LGBTQ+ authors are just as capable of writing harmful messages as allies. We're not a monolith, and some of the hate is coming from inside the house from folks who, frankly, should know better.

I can't say I've read anything glaringly horrible from an author who's a known ally, and if their sexuality/gender identity isn't known, I'm not gonna go looking. There are enough readers and authors out there trying to gatekeep queer stories by outing authors or forcing them to out themselves, and it's repulsive.

I always recommend authors get a sensitivity reader or two if they're including experiences vastly different from their own. It's easy to say "avoid harmful stereotypes," but you don't know what you don't know. If you're not part of the demographic yourself, you may not be aware of the nuances of microaggressions and dogwhistles, for example. Casual inclusion of side characters is enough if allies want to add representation but would feel out of their depth doing more. Just acknowledgement that we exist and are normal like everyone else. There are online groups to help with that too.

October Santerelli: In my work as a sensitivity editor, a lot of what I see is trying to step into a lived experience they don't have. It's easier to write about a trans person from an outside perspective if you are cis and have met a trans person, it's harder to get in their head and write the genuine experience of it without said experience. I see them want to include representation without knowing how to do do without making a huge deal out of it, too, but some of my favorites have been when characters talk about their two moms or casually mention a boyfriend. I love, as an example, the jock in the movie Paranorman. The whole movie he is a stereotypical dude bro, the cheerleader is flirting with him, at the end she asks if he wants to go see a rom-com sometime...and the jock goes yeah, can my boyfriend come? He's a chick flick nut. No big drums, not even making a scene about it at the start, just letting this character be who he is and letting it come up naturally in the story. The more normal you write us, the more normal we seem!

Sarah Marshall Malluck: If an ally asks questions of the community while writing, they tend to create a better story with realistic characters. You can spot a writer who makes assumptions pretty quickly. Not all non-binary people are androgynous. Don’t write all your LGBTQIA+ characters to stereotypes.

An ally who is a writer should be open about their work, don’t back down when people are openly homophobic/transphobic, do the research, do the work, and accept constructive criticism. Allys need to step up and openly support the community.

James A. McDonald II: I have seen ally writers underestimate the fear and sense of danger that comes with coming out, particularly as trans. I believe this comes from a place of feeling like it shouldn't be a big deal but in reality it is often terrifying and sometimes dangerous. This can be particularly true in other time-frames. They can also treat hormone therapy as though it cures the feelings of dysphoria immediately when that is not usually the case. Dysphoric feelings can continue long after hormones and even some surgery, it is all very dependent on the trans person.

Ally writers often do a great job of writing themselves into the characters' lives. What I mean by that is they often include ally characters that are supportive and there for the LGBTQIA+ character which I think is great because it can be both a model for others and a way to give hope to LGBTQIA+ folks going through hard times. It can be harmful because it can also paint the picture that LGBTQIA+ folks always need saving from bigots, it depends on how it is written so just a word of caution. 

The last piece of caution I would ask for is to watch for accidental fetishization, this is particularly true for gender nonconforming/genderqueer/transgender people. 

I think something that could be really powerful is for ally writers to ask what stories LGBTQIA+ people wish were told more. What experiences we wish were better understood by others. Even if the experience is seen from an outside perspective it might still bring interest to it and folks might start looking for stories written from a LGBTQIA+ perspective.

I want to add I would love for the character being LGBTQIA+ to be the least interesting thing about them, but also avoid the "oh yeah Dumbledore is totally gay" Retcon effect. If that makes sense.

Evan Peterson: If you're straight and cisgender, are you intentional in why you want to include queer characters? Do you have a strong circle of queer friends/family/peers who give you firsthand awareness of our lives and struggles and who would feel safe calling you in of you wrote something harmful, stereotyped, or problematic? I question how a cis straight writer can write honest queer depictions without really knowing the queer experience. Utilizing sensitivity readers (I hate that term) could also be helpful. And most important, listening to criticism when it comes without succumbing to the knee-jerk reaction of getting defensive is an important quality for all writers to have, but even more so for those who are writing any marginalized background they haven't themselves experienced.

DL Wainright: I have seen straight authors force a heteronormative perspective onto queer couples in narratives (basically, assigning one person the "male" role and one the "female" role, despite the actual genders of the couple). People also like to demonstrate that the guy is trans by making him short and fae-like, and that the woman is trans by making her really tall. And, like, I'm trans masc and am taller than my cis husband. My point being that cishet authors tend to very obviously be affected by this erroneous perspective that we have been fed in narratives for a very long time that all boys are like A and all girls are like B and that's just how things are. When in truth humans are gloriously diverse. There are cis women who aren't typically effeminate in the way that would fit that box. Likewise, there are cis men who don't like or do the things men are "supposed" to like and do. When we say that gender is a spectrum, that encompasses every aspect of one's gender, including how they present, and how they "perform" gender. I think a great first step for a cishet author, in helping them improve how they write queer characters, would be for them to start breaking out of boxes when it comes to even just writing cishet characters. Look around you at the people you know, not at characters in shows. Look at your family and your friends. Really consider how varied they all are in how they dress, their interests, their relationship dynamics...but also look at the similarities regardless of gender. And I want to note, I'm not asking for "She's not like other girls" kind of stuff, I'm asking for more realistic depictions of human beings. Once you can do that with cishet characters, then you will be better equipped to try your hand at folks who challenge the norms even more. 

Emmy Anthony: We can all work on non-gendered or neutral characters. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros has several bisexual characters and that fact is only acknowledged in terms of which dorm room they happen to be seen sneaking out of. I like that. Sexuality isn’t someone’s whole identity.

Mari Hersh-Tudor: One of the most egregious sins hetero writers commit is the Character Cliche: it’s lazy writing that depends on the reader’s brain to fill in the details by sketching an outdated incorrect empty wrapper instead of writing a fully nuanced actual character. Examples include the power-tool-toting bull-dyke with a buzz cut and a flannel shirt and a red pickup truck. Or the effeminate gay man in pink bunny slippers with a lisp and a muffin bakery.

These are extreme examples but dead giveaways that the author is a cishet without a clue.

LGBTQ characters are just *people,* folks. That kid next to you on the bus. The old lady feeding squirrels in the park.

I don’t believe that LGBTQIA books are required to address certain issues or have a minimum body count of non-cishet characters. While that’s certainly an established genre, there’s plenty of room for good solid fiction that just happens to have a more accurate population.

How is the publishing world changing for you? Is it becoming more or less accepting? Do you find readers to be more or less progressive when it comes to gender identity and sexual identity culture?

Emmy Anthony: I as a romantasy writer feel pinned. I would like to have a gay/lesbian main romance arch but the majority of readers seem to expect heterosexual main characters with LGBT friends.

DL Wainright: The reason I self-published was because back when my first book came out, it was like how I described before, where books with queer protagonists had to be about the queer experience itself. And mine wasn't, it was about monsters that ate people and a group of queer young people dealing with all of that. So back then, no agent was interested because they wouldn't have been able to sell it. Now YA is booming with queer content, and I've had agents express interest in whatever I come out with after this series (as they can't use something already in print). The publishing world is definitely changing, with YA leading the way when it comes to quality queer representation. The market targeted towards adults is getting there at a slower pace, likely because of the differences between generations when it comes to views on queerness. If you go to cons, you can often find indie authors with adult books featuring queer characters, because that's unfortunately still their best option until the publishing world catches up. Talking with customers at cons, I fully believe the market is there, especially considering that Millennials are aging (I'm in my 40s, for example), and we're a generation that's very queer and want to continue reading stories with representation beyond things for teens.

Mari Hersh-Tudor: I find the publishing world has some welcoming established genres for queer characters, and that’s a definite improvement from 50 years ago. I don’t see much that breaks out of those safe lanes, though, like a serious gay James Bond, for instance.

Cons and fairs are much more welcoming than they used to be.

The paradox of having established queer lit genres means that those have become the only acceptable outlets, and god help you if you try to publish a round peg that doesn’t fit in those square holes. So while there are more outlets, they are narrowly defined and can be restrictive.

James A. McDonald II: I think there are niches in both directions. I think reader response really depends on genre and where your work is shown, obviously there are groups that are going to be very vocally opposed to anything LGBTQIA+ but there are also groups who are incredibly supportive. This might be the biggest change that the division is bigger and more obvious than before, and those opposed are much more vocal and aggressive.

Sarah Marshall Malluck: Being an indie author, I find that readers are becoming more progressive. There is a higher demand for books with diverse gender identity and sexual identity. I also think these next few years will be difficult for authors who write in that space due to the political climate. But this is not the time to hide. I can pass for a cis straight woman, but I choose not to because there needs to be more voices to push back against the chaos. I want people to know I’m a safe space should they need it.

October Santerelli: Right now, the industry is a weird mix. A lot of places are becoming more hostile, I've seen some small press in solid Red states pulling back from publishing or acquiring these stories. But then there are places like Penguin putting out open, unagented submissions for books by queer authors and more small houses and imprints starting just to lift our voices. There's a push in both directions and it's going to get rough. There's no doubt about that. Readers themselves are just as divided. Videos asking for more queer authors, Trans Readathon, and booksky influencers who love their rainbow flags are just as common as influencers telling people to DNF books as soon as they see queer content, people trying to ban books from libraries and bookstores, and people threatening, harassing, or questioning queer authors. A friend who is a MULTIPLE TIMES NYT bestseller dreads podcasts about their work because 9 times out of 10, they are asked why someone is queer and they hate having to defend our existence in a story by one of us for us about us.

Inka York: I write a lot of romance, and readers lap that shit up. Queer media is doing big numbers all round, so yes, I think the audience is becoming more accepting. I'm not focusing on those who are less accepting because they're not my people. I don't think about them at all. I only care about my readers and those with the potential to become my readers.

The biggest change for me in recent months is that readers are coming around to the idea of buying direct from me. Direct sales for fiction was virtually unheard of a few years ago, but that's not specific to any niche or demographic. It's just an observation. LGBTQ+ folks have a tendency to be more sceptical of big corporations dipping into their pockets than the population at large, though, so I think they're more willing to support creators directly. I think we're going to see big movement in direct sales and subscriptions over the next few years.

Heroes Fall

Yesterday was a tough day for a lot of writers I know. We all knew our patron saint of oddness and quirky stories had fallen from grace, but yesterday's article at The Vulture (sadly behind a paywall, but there's an archive version here) wasn't the icing on the cake -- it was the cake itself. Everything up to that point might as well have been the printed recipe card. Yesterday we actually tasted the cake and wanted to spit it out to keep from gagging. 

Be warned, several of the articles contain descriptions of sexual assault and harassment. They can be difficult to read, so exercise caution if you can be triggered by such. 

The author in question has been seen as an ideal for literary weirdness, an icon that proved writers didn't have to sacrifice their souls on the altar of "accepted markets" to find success, a proof text that writers could be true to their visions no matter how warped or weird or whacked out and still make it on their own terms as creators. And he was loved for that. 

Sure, little stories popped up as warnings here and there, but even in the "during" and "after" parts of the #metoo realization, no one really wanted to believe it, not about HIM. Surely, just this one time, maybe, surely, pleasepleasepleaseplease, let it be some kind of conspiracy of hurt feelings lashing out. 

Alas no. 

And now we must swallow the cake, as bitter and vile as it is, evidenced in the following articles (not behind paywalls):

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn01dynqx7ro

https://variety.com/2025/tv/global/neil-gaiman-allegations-sexual-assault-1236272893/

https://www.avclub.com/neil-gaiman-sexual-assault-allegations-details-report

I've known writers who have shared stories about Neil, not #metoo level stuff, but icky enough to make me wonder. On the other hand, I've heard lots of tales about how wonderful he was to meet at conventions or book signings too. That's what made this whole thing so hard to process. 

But, in light of the consistent and growing number of allegations, it's time to side firmly and vocally with the victimized. 

For some, that may look like throwing away all your Gaiman books and stopping watching shows based on his work. 

For some, that may mean you keep what you've enjoyed and you refuse to support any new books or new television/movie projects.

For some, you may still have the freedom and distance to separate the man from his art and enjoy the stories. 

For some, it may simply look like a few more months or years of processing that some will no doubt see as you being overdramatic because they just can't understand how deeply this affects you. 

Now, some will compare this to JK Rowling's recent fall from grace regarding her transphobic hard-line rants (seemingly meant to intentionally alienate her previous fans and celebrity connections), but some will draw lines between them and seek to delineate how different they are. For me, no distinction matters. Not really. They both have been revealed to vile people. 

However, it's not my place to tell you how to react. I'm going to be busy enough with the mote in my own eye. If anything, both of these situations are warnings for me to keep an eye on my own life. Let's suppose one day the dream of being recognized as a world-renowned writer comes true. What kind of harmful words or actions can folks drum up against me (and rightfully so) at that point? If anything, this is another bell ringing to tell me to be true to the things I believe and to watch my words in interviews and conventions and to be on guard how I treat people both in my private and public life.

I mean, nobody's perfect, as the cliche goes. I can find something to revile in the lives of many of my favorite writers. Flannery O'Connor. Shirley Jackson. Ernest Hemingway. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Racism. Sexism. Physical abuse. Homophobia. History is filled with writers who fail(ed) to live up to the ideals that fans foist upon them. And it's not just short story writers and novelists. So many of the comic book writers I grew up on have turned out in recent years to be MAGA redhats (or perhaps that should be asshats) who stand staunchly against most everything I stand for in terms of women's rights, racial equality and equity, LGBTQIA+ causes, humanitarian issues, etc. So, learning to reevaluate my support for and enjoyment of certain authors is nothing new. 

But, at least in my mind, that never excuses any kind of abuse or vileness. And make no mistake, what has transpired in this case is vileness, purely and utterly. 

What does it all mean for this blog?

Well, this blog has referenced writing advice and writing tips from Gaiman in the past, and there are several posts that show up with his name as a keyword. I will not be removing the previous posts but this blog will no longer reference Gaiman or his work, except in the interest of updating news about this story as it develops.

[Link] Penguin Random House books now explicitly say ‘no’ to AI training

The copyright page on new books and reprints now says they can’t be used or reproduced ‘for the purpose of training artificial intelligence.’

By Emma Roth

Book publisher Penguin Random House is putting its stance on AI training in print. The standard copyright page on both new and reprinted books will now say, “No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems,” according to a report from The Bookseller spotted by Gizmodo.

The clause also notes that Penguin Random House “expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception” in line with the European Union’s laws. The Bookseller says that Penguin Random House appears to be the first major publisher to account for AI on its copyright page.

Read the full article: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/18/24273895/penguin-random-house-books-copyright-ai

Poetry Corner: I Am

In the hallway today I passed students,
Some afraid, others emboldened,
Once sung precious—In whose sight?—
All distracting themselves with trivialities.
“Did you hear about…?”
“Are you going to…?”
“Do we have practice…?
It kept them from noticing the dreams
Of existence, of acceptance,
Of being a part of the Grand Experiment,
Kicked along the dirty floors
As they scurried to class.

Driving to work today I watched the woman
Standing in the rain,
Holding the sign,
“Out of Work Please Help,” shivering, shimmering.
Mother, sister, daughter, aunt—perhaps
Saint, sinner, harlot, sacrifice,
Prophet, poet, priest, king—
Bosses watch clocks, and we can’t hesitate,
Not in the rain, nor in heavy traffic,
It’s easy to forget after all
When there’s a man with a sign
Two blocks closer to the office.

In my newsfeed today, opinion hurled like daggers,
“Not a woman”
“Biological male”
“Sports and bathrooms”
Rainbows and flags posted support
Allies brought hammers and words to build
A place to be secure, to exist,
To know who she is, was, will be, amen.
But the damage was done,
Hateful words have barbs
And even to pry them out
Leaves scars and bleeding.

I am not them.
But I am them.
I am he, she, they, all the pronouns.
They are always in me.
The him, the her, the them,
Flow like oxygen through my lungs,
Expressed outward in his, hers, theirs,
Collectively exhaled from my open mouth
To the ground below,
Picked up by some, ignored by others,
On the way to class, driving to work,
In the anonymity of virtual life.

I am that I am, one said.
Know that I am, said another.
I am too, I proclaimed.
To be one,
To be one another,
To be.

Sean Taylor © 2024

Visit my poetry.com site.

Poetry Corner: When We Had No Flag

by Sean Taylor

When we had no flag 

There were only white sheets, hanging on clotheslines 

Flapping on windy days, 

Waving greetings like so many neighbors on so many dusty paths

White not for surrender 

But for sleeping, for rest because white was easy 

Easy to bleach our odors away, 

Dirt and sweat from one person's work, one man's labor, one woman's toil

One day we  painted bars deep red

Crimson with the blood of the people who lived here first 

But there wasn't enough

So we added more from the backs of the people we owned

And so we painted what was left blue

Blue with the bruises of our slaves and red with their stripes 

Even if we had to wrench the paint out of the whips after use, 

Twisting leather until our fingers too were as calloused as theirs

We found some white remained

But it was not for sleeping, not anymore; it was for the Virgin Innocent

Our children who would inherit a world 

Built on the paint dripped from the wounds of those we had  conquered

Perhaps it's time again

Wash day for the flag, with fresh bleach to clean away the red and blue

To allow the colors to surrender and fade

And once more flap greetings in the wind

Perhaps you, or me, 

or that woman over there, the one in all the colors of the rainbow

Or that vermin, that enemy, that animal,

Could be the bleach to get the job started

To speak the change we all should hear

Whistling in the wind

That blew when we had no flag

(c) 2024

Visit my poetry.com site.

Poetry Corner: Punk Rock

They busted the windows on Wall Street today
Trash cans filled with garbage and old food made the first crack
And sent all the happy people in nice suits scurrying
For once thinking about something other than the numbers
That make them better at ignoring the rest of us.
They stepped over the banana peels and potato chip bags
The crushed soda cans that should have been recycled instead 
On their way to the exits, the only light they were
Suddenly focused on—But that kind of thing isn’t really my style. 

They’ll gather up a million men and women tomorrow
And put them in matching T-shirts that say “Not Going Back”
With rapidly practiced chants, call-backs to great leaders
Of yesterdays gone by, times we thought we had moved beyond
Times we assumed we had put behind us. I can join them
Of course I can. It’s the least—the very least, if I’m honest—
I can do, right behind merely sending money on my phone
While I stream Agatha All Along on Disney Plus. But
It still doesn’t quite feel like the thing I was created to do at this time.

They dyed their mohawks in rainbows and shoved the middle finger
Into the air while their fans screamed and moshed and bled
Showing camaraderie, empathy, solidarity the only way
They understood fully, with anger, with energy, with activity. 
And it felt amazing to jump, and yell,  and raise my fist, and shout obscenities 
At the powers, and yet… Even when they kissed—tongues and leather 
And lace and fingers and hair—Man on man, woman on woman, 
Man on woman, trans on trans, Trans on straight
Straight on till sunrise… It still was not enough. 

Yesterday I am a writer. Tomorrow I paint in words. Today
I have words or many colors, many spectrums that correspond 
To those that swirl in the sky, dance in the puddles, blur through smoke
“Vandalize” city walls with slogans: Trans rights are human rights.
Abortion is healthcare. Gay and proud. Black lives matter.
I have all these, and my keyboard has been selfish, complacent,
Too satisfied in my place of safety. But no more. 
I cannot break windows. My knees may give out on a march. 
My money can only go so far. My shouting can be drowned out by other music. 

But I can write. And by God, I will. We are not going back. 

(c) 2024 Sean Taylor

Visit my Poetry.com site.

A Personal, Post-Election Manifesto for My Writing Life

Dear women, POC, immigrants, LGBTQIA+ folks who are feeling the impact of being disenfranchised and distanced after the election, please know that there are still people who see you, still people who support you, still people who love you, still people who are your allies, and still people who will fight for you. 

I'm one of them.

I say that as an old, white, straight man who personally loses nothing thanks to the election. Technically, I'm still golden. 

Except I'm not because it's not about me. It's about you. 

So...

Viva la revolución! As long as I believe the ideals written in the flag image below, I guess I will now be considered #TheEnemyWithin.

Don't worry. It won't be hard to find me when you need to report me to the Gestapo for continuing to support and fight for:

• Women's reproductive rights at the national level
• Equal marriage protection for lgbtqia+ 
• Acceptance for my trans brothers and sisters
• Open paths to citizenship for documented and undocumented immigrants and migrants
• Restrictions on weapons designed to kill many quickly
• Safe schools where active shooter drills become a footnote in our history
• Restrictions to keep convicted felons out of public office
• A world where we embrace kindness over bullying and name-calling
• A world where we choose humility over braggart hyperbole
• A world where facts, research, and expertise actually matter
• Presidents who don't use hateful rhetoric to incite insurrections

If you follow my writing, you'll know my work has always leaned into multiculturalism and diversity and empowered female leads in terms of plots and characters. I think from this point on, my work needs to take a much sharper turn into Woke themes.

It's not like it's gonna hurt my sales. (Ha! Heck, it might actually help.) 

• My trans psychic detective in the 60s with the ghost of a lesbian go-go dancer as her sidekick? I'm almost done with that novel. 
• More BLM themes in Rick Ruby and his black world? I'm just getting started. 
• Racist/misogynistic Thulist fascists behind the big bad in my Golden Amazon and Tribunal stories? Just you wait. 

Am I losing you as a reader when I say that? 

That's okay. Now isn't the time to back down. Now is the time to stand our ground and say proudly, "We are not going back." Even if we lost the election. This fire may not be the hottest on the block, but it's burning strong. 

I will be loud. I will be outspoken (even more) in my support for those who need their allies to be more vocal. 

Because I am and will continue to be...

#TheEnemyWithin

Sharing Information Online Responsibly (i.e., Don't Be a Douche)

Here's your periodic reminder not to be irresponsible or manipulative when sharing links. Knowing is half the battle before you start spouting bad sources:

News -- This is news. It is fact-checked, verified, and references credible, relevant sources or interviewees specific to the story or event. It strives to be as objective as possible, sticks to actual data parsed by multiple experts, and always provides a counterpoint(s) for credible discussion (questioning an interviewee who claims the earth is flat or continuing to cite debunked theories about massive scale election interference isn't a credible opposing point, for example). It focuses on the who, what, where, and when of a story or event.

Analysis -- This is not news. This is someone's breakdown of what he/she/they feel are the takeaways from actual news or some event. This one confuses many people because the person presenting the opinions is usually some kind of expert in a matter related to what he/she/they are analyzing, such as pundits discussing a presidential debate or a legal expert discussing how a court case plays out. However, even though the analysts are experts , they tend to have a vested interest in promoting one side of an issue over the other side, such as a conservative pundit for a conservative news station or a climate change attorney for climate change rulings. The best examples of this include a variety of experts who can discuss and even disagree with each other, providing the experts are peer-respected, tenured, and credible (again, there's no point in including flat earth "scientists" for a credible discussion of geology or a pillow salesman or pop star for a discussion of world politics). 

Opinion/Editorial -- This is not news. This is someone's opinion (quite often a complaining, partisan one) about some issue or event. I'm surprised how often I see people reference these as facts or news because they are quite often clearly identified as just Op/Ed in the papers or sites they appear in/on. (Although some sources do incorrectly and irresponsibly let these appear alongside news stories as a counterpoint to news.) Sadly, this can often masquerade as Analysis and confuse those who are looking for quick, easy "facts" (not actually facts though) to support their preconceived beliefs.

Review -- This is not news. This is an assessment by a professional critic regarding (typically) some published media. 

Political Memes -- Not only are these not news, they are often flat-out lies and falsehoods. Unless they cite a credible source in the meme, these are typically unverified and intentionally misleading or designed to elicit an emotional, knee-jerk response. If it has no source, just don't share it. You could do more harm than good. If it does have a source, check it out before sharing it. Chances are the source is made up to provide false credibility or designed to take an actual quote or fact out of context. And trust me, we've all been fooled at least once by these pesky critters. 

Most YouTube sources fall under Analysis, Op/Ed, or Review. There are some that actually do the work of journalism to present news.

Most podcasters tend to fall under the Analyst-Op/Ed-Review category as well, though there are a few credible investigative journalism podcasts that report relatively unbiased news.

It's okay to share Op/Ed and Analysis articles. But please don't source it as news. Always be sure to explain that it is merely an opinion, albeit in some cases a more informed opinion, but an opinion nonetheless. If you intentionally imply that such a source is news or is a factual account of a story or event, you are irresponsible at best and outright spreading lies and trying to manipulate others at worst. 

Most partisan sources that identify as such promote bias and don't actually cover news. They inject a lot of Analysis and Op/Ed into so-called news stories.

Motivational Monday: What the Hell is Normal Anyway?!

 

Great Fiction: Inspired By or Reaction To (Or Both)?

There's no denying it. A lot of (I'd go so far as to say most) great fiction is either: 

[a] inspired by the idea of renewing or continuing something (like Gaiman does with his sort of fairy tale grown-up fantasies that read like children's fantasies or the pulp revivals)

[b] a reaction against something (like the Harlem Rennaissance and feminist literature of the sixties or the Beat Poets)

[c] a little of both (the remix notion of taking something old and making it new to the point the old fans most likely won't like it)

It's a bit heavier of a topic for one of our roundtables, but I'm curious where your body of work falls. 

Aside from esoteric ideas and nature, etc. what are the genres that appeal to you that you want to pick up on their tropes and see them continue through your own work? Which of those tropes and trappings mean the most to you and show up most often in your work?

Kay Iscah: The Seventh Night world is very much about folklore and fairytale tropes. I genre-hop a lot, so won't go into all my books and stories. And it would be another book of literary analysis to answer all these questions. So sticking with Seventh Night and one short story I've written called "The Magically Thinning Mirror" and hitting some main points.

Sean Taylor: Hands down, I love the tropes of sci-fi, horror, and superhero stories most of all. I love the way they so effortlessly settle into a sort of magical realism as people accept all the oddness that goes on around them and just move on with their lives. A guy shoots lightning from his eyes to fix a falling bridge? No problem. It's a Tuesday. A girl who holds her head at her side and talks with you about family secrets? Who cares? She seems nice enough. A friend who can slide between dimensions by tugging the strings of String Theory? Been there, done that. 

HC Playa: Sticking with what I both like and write, that would be fantasy with romance. Now, I have it on good authority that I do not, in fact, write romance (per multiple romance publishers). I write fantasy/adventures that just so happen to have some kissy-face stuff in them 😂. I like the world-building of fantasy, being transported to an entirely different world, be it high fantasy or urban. I also enjoy the human aspect of romance paired with the guarantee of a happy ending. Now, there's a place in fiction for sad and tragic endings. I, personally do not wish to write that most of the time. The world is harsh enough. I prefer to offer an escape. So I like going with larger-than-life protagonists, super capable, highly intelligent heroes. After all, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, and Bilbo Baggins are memorable BECAUSE they are extraordinary. I like the white knight or occasionally they are the tarnished knight...but ultimately good and love always wins.

Looking at those genres you love, what are the things about them that you try to push aside or ignore as a way to bring your own mark on them, or to make them important or apropos for modern audiences?

HC Playa: My heroes might think they are rolling in to save the heroine, but buckle up buckaroos, in my worlds, it's usually the heroines that do the real saving. There are no helpless, hapless damsels. Again, there's a place for that. Plenty of women love the damsel in distress being saved by a savvy, hot hero. One of the reasons I don't fit the romance genre is b/c my plots don't center on the absurd miscommunications and dating games that are central to a romance. If my heroine wants to know if the hero is interested she just asks...maybe it takes working up the nerve, or clever events that drop her hints (or him), but no silly games....after all, they are usually trying to save the world.

A lot of classic fantasy is from a male POV. A lot of romance features overbearing males who just need the right female to "tame" them. I got very tired of both of those things. It shouldn't be THAT groundbreaking for both the male and female protagonists to be badass in their own way and realize they make a great team when they communicate.

Now in newer works, I am expanding to queer relationships. That's a whole other box to unpack.

Kay Iscah: Despite the settings or fantastic magical elements people are people. So if their responses to the unreal feel realistic or natural the character tends to resonate with someone, if not everyone. Cultures and technologies change, but we still tell many of the same fairytales because they resonate with us on very fundamental levels. Escaping abuse, enduring hardships, traveling (or at least leaving home), finding or losing love, pursuing our passions, and longing for wealth (or at least financial stability) are all pretty universal.

Sean Taylor: What I hope most to move beyond in my preferred genres is the (what I call) sort of shallow storytelling that was painted in broad strokes and stereotypes, whether character or plot. I want to create worlds that smack of realism -- at least until the baby elephant grows wings and sings 12-bar blues standards. I want my stories to more accurately reflect the types of people I see on a daily basis. You can call that woke if you want to, but I call it reflecting the real. 

If I'm writing in a specific time period, like my 30s private eye, Rick Ruby, then I want to go deeper than the surface mysteries and tell the kind of stories that couldn't be told back then, whether because of race, gender, or sexual orientation of the characters or the kinds of goings-on in the plots. I want to take the tease of burlesque and racial tensions that made the back cover of the book to sell it but never really showed up inside and put it inside the stories where it belongs. 

What tropes or trappings does your work most try to change? Are there social issues you want to write about (without, you know, blatantly writing about) or stereotypes you intentionally set out to destroy (or for a lesser loaded word) dismantle in your work?

Sean Taylor: I kind of answered this one above, but I really want to write the kind of stories that people I know in my life now didn't have a chance to be written into back in the day. I want to see the pages fill up with non-white, non-straight people, not because I have a political agenda but because they didn't get the opportunity then, and if I can do something about that now... well, it may be too little, too late... but it's something I can do. So I plan to do it. Period.

HC Playa: By having my heroine do the saving, I turn that expectation on its head. I try to make my male characters in touch with their feelings...now occasionally they require a clue-by-four, which often comes by way of a helpful friend/relative/etc. pointing out their idiocy, but I try not to fall into toxic masculinity tropes. Even as a woman, it can be easy to paint what we are used to seeing and not realize we are perpetuating negative stereotypes. With regards to non-heteronormative characters, I (1) don't kill them off, try to show an array of diversity across my worlds, and show love as love.

How have you combined these ideas in single pieces of work before so that you are building and unbuilding at the same time in the same story?

Kay Iscah: "The Magically Thinning Mirror" is a short story written like a fairytale, but it's also a pretty blunt metaphor for anorexia, about a woman who wishes herself thinner until she vanishes altogether. However part of the point of fairytales and folklore is to deliver an idea or lesson without a lecture. You keep the story simple, leaving space for the reader to process their own thoughts on the topic. And by simplifying the story it can have secondary lessons like taking a good thing too far to the point it becomes bad, or not being satisfied with what you achieved.

Seventh Night comes from a bit more of a fractured fairytale tradition. It was inspired by the tone of The Princess Bride, which places fictional medieval-ish settings alongside more modern attitudes, but with heavier fantasy, particularly fairytale, elements. The main book is broken into three "Acts", which is intended to emphasize that the characters are all playing parts that don't necessarily fit who they are. The main book is about taking the characters through the tropes.

But I'm currently working on a set called "Before the Fairytale" which are prequel coming-of-age stories for the main characters in Seventh Night, more parallel stories than a series, so the style of writing shifts a bit in each story. "The Girl With No Name" follows the sorceress. She is a shapeshifter so there are a lot of themes of finding and building identity, but as her story is drenched in magic, the telling is in the style of an extended Grimm's fairytale. There's a gradual shift from less to more detail as the book goes on and she forms a stronger sense of self. But whereas Seventh Night tends built on a stack of tropes, "The Girl With No Name" sets them up and then sidesteps them.

"Horse Feathers" in contrast follows the stableboy whose life is mostly devoid of magic, so the writing style in his story is centered more on realism and descriptions of being stuck in the life of a medieval peasant when you are a nerd at heart. There are unicorns and pegasus (a word that is treated both as singular and plural like sheep), but in the world of Seventh Night, these are not considered magical creatures. "Horse Feathers" has a lot of focus on world-building, but it's the part of the fairytale that tends to get fast-forwarded like "He worked for the lord for seven years." There's a lot of groundwork for how Phillip gets to be the somewhat jaded dreamer or callous callow youth he is in Seventh Night. He actually has a fair bit of adventure, but being a dreamer, he doesn't recognize it as an adventure because it doesn't fit his more romantic notions.

The third book in the set which is written and edited but has had publishing delays is called "The Hidden Prince". While the setting is still a medieval-ish fairytale world, it incorporates a lot of elements of gothic literature including a bit of a murder mystery at the end. Again, this reflects a character who sees himself as a bit of a tragic hero.

The last one in the set will focus on the princess. It's called "Seven and 13", and it's about half-written. The format is a bit more of a series of vignettes, which are not my favorite thing to read but work for this character. I think of it a bit like writing in the style of a stained glass window, so it's about setting visually striking scenes but not much action. In a way, this one's a bit more personal, because it's a young girl navigating the world as a prosocial psychopath, though that terminology is never used, and I doubt many readers would make that connection. But being a thinker more than a feeler and the detachment that comes with that, or simply feeling perpetually out of place in your own life but not having other options.

HC Playa: I have and continue to play in different ways to explore the human experience of love whilst adventuring in pretend worlds.

Sean Taylor: The writers I love to read did this all the time and because of that I tend to do it too. Vonnegut wrote literary sci-fi. Bradbury blended sci-fi, fantasy, and horror almost into a new genre of his own. Gaiman uses the trappings of adult and children's fantasy to tell urban stories about people and their isolation from and longing for each other. 

So, yeah, I do that too. For example in my short story collection Show Me A Hero, which is filled with superhero stories, I have horror stories, adventure stories, romance stories, family drama stories, fantasy stories, and police procedurals. It comes with treating your genre as a setting with rules and bits and bobs, and then realizing you can tell all kinds of stories within that setting. I try not to think of genres as genres at all, but turn them into settings. That is why I can write a romance fantasy set in space during an invasion. That is why I can write a coming-of-age literary tale with a monster stalking the woods. That is why I can write a detective pulp tale that is a literary story with jazz as a metaphor for sexual preference. Writing's just more fun that way. 

[Link] You Just Found Out Your Book Was Used to Train AI. Now What?

This week, many authors discovered that their books were used without permission to train AI systems. Here’s what you need to know if your books are in the Books3 dataset, as well as actions you can take now to speak out in defense of your rights.

If you’re an author, you may have recently discovered that your published book was included in a dataset of books used to train artificial intelligence systems without your permission. (Search the dataset here.) This can be an unsettling revelation, raising concerns about copyright, compensation, and the future implications of AI. Here’s what you need to know if your work has been used to “train” AI without permission:

Books3 Is One of Several Books Datasets Used to Train AI Systems

The Books3 dataset contains 183,000 books, downloaded from pirate sources. We know that companies like Meta (creators of LLaMA), EleutherAI, and Bloomberg have used it to train their language models. OpenAI has not disclosed training information about GPT 3.5 or GPT 4—the models underlying ChatGPT—so we don’t know whether it also used Books3. Regardless of whether GPT was trained on Books3, the class action lawsuits against OpenAI should uncover more information on the datasets used by OpenAI, which we believe also include books obtained from pirate sources.

You Don’t Have to Be a Named Plaintiff in the Lawsuits to Benefit From the Outcome

In addition to the recent lawsuit in which the Authors Guild is a named plaintiff, there are other author class action suits pending against OpenAI, Meta, and Google. You don’t need to be a named plaintiff in any of these lawsuits to participate because the respective named plaintiffs represent their entire class. Even if you don’t fall within one or more classes, an outcome in favor of authors should benefit you by clarifying that books need to be licensed when used to “train” generative AI.

Read the full article: https://authorsguild.org/news/you-just-found-out-your-book-was-used-to-train-ai-now-what/

Narrowing the Target -- Publishing with a Single Audience in Mind

Let's talk about the idea that certain types of stories are traditionally for specific genders or targets. For example, romances were clearing published throughout much of publishing history with women readers in mind. Men's adventure magazines clearly wanted to appeal to the manly man (or those who imagined themselves to be) market.

Today, with our focus on diversity and inclusion, we have books that are targeted to fill in gaps traditionally missed in publishing, such as books specifically for certain racial audiences or for lesbian, gay, and trans markets (different things to marketers). And then there are books published (even fiction) for those of a certain political bent as a reaction to real or perceived slights in the culture (I'm looking at you, Comicsgate). 

What does all this mean for us are writers and readers? I was lucking enough to get some time from two of my favorite folks -- HC Playa and John L. Taylor -- to pick their brains about just this issue.

Traditionally single publishing has been divided along gender lines -- adventures for men, romance for girls. How do you see that changing? Are those divisions beginning to fade as men and women are reading similar things? Or do they still control a significant place in the publishing world?

HC Playa: So I am mostly answering as a reader vs as an author. I literally started writing BECAUSE so much fiction aimed at women seemed to be formulaic or focus only on romance and the writers I admired most found a way to write a damn good story with good characters and a dash of romance only made it that much better.

On gender division--TBH it rather depends on how our society progresses or regresses. Thanks to some big name authors (Like Laurel K Hamilton, Sherrilyn McQueen and many others that I don't know off the top of my head) many a male reader discovered that so-called "romance novels" were just adventures with some spice and well crafted characters. The gender division in writing reflected society. "Men's fiction either excluded women in the plot or used them as plot devices whereas "women's fiction" paints larger than life men that can do all the things AND treats their women right...well mostly. There are plenty of project-save-an-a**hole plot lines 🤣 in books out there. It was never that women only wanted to read romances or cozy mysteries...it's all that was marketed to them. The divide is and was a pillar of mysogeny, the idea that men and women are so inherently different that she can't possibly be interested in adventures and vice versa that a man can't possibly want to read a story that puts him in touch with emotions.

I think to some degree there will always be a market for fiction aimed at specific audiences. There are are plenty of people that find a reading genre niche they like and stick with it, but I don't know that hard and fast gender-divided marketing has as much a place as it once did.

John L. Taylor: As a horror writer, I feel this very much as huge amounts of the genre are aimed at young men. So here are my takes. I don't see my genre as becoming any less gender focused in writing, just more youth focused. Series like Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark were some of the bestselling horror books of the last 30 years, and I'm seeing renewed interest in youth driven projects. Those seem to trend more in a gender neutral direction. But in terms of gender specific genre fiction, I'm seeing more self aware or apologetic works. Men's Adventure specifically seems to be in the doghouse with editors right now. Titles like the Executioner were discontinued by Harlequin recently, and I see this continuing. 

Do you see single audience publishing becoming more propagandized and/or reactionary rather than driven by markets? Are new single issue or single audience models becoming more based on reactions against the way the world is changing or are publishers just trying new directions in an ever changing world?

John L. Taylor: Yes, in many ways. Horror in particular has a reputation for misogyny it's fighting to shake off. That has been of mixed success. While "post horror" movies are going strong and producing amazing films like Midsomer and Get Out, it's a genre trying to fit into a culture where it's traditional tropes are simply no longer relevant to it's core market (lower middle class men ages 16-25). Most genre fiction is becoming more message/virtue driven, as is media in general. Romance is also in a tug of war at the moment. with trope bending progressive narratives aimed at a media savvy urban readership or an ocean of Amish bonnets and "All American Country Girl" romances aimed at rural Evangelicals fight for shelf space while competing with Harry Potter for the same audience. I believe the emphasis of message over substance is really hurting their appeal right now.

HC Playa: I hadn't given this much thought before and to be honest the idea is rather frightening. I write views that speak of tolerance and I admit that I have a hard time enjoying anything that smacks of misogamy or racism or anything along those lines. So I suppose the answer is: quite likely.

Art reflects life, so unless we as a society become less polarized, then yes.

Let's look into the future. Of the single audience markets that are trending nowadays, do you think many of them will still be around in the next 20 to 30 years? Do you think that proves that the markets are a good idea for publishing or that as a people we will continue to divide along cultural lines and publishers will still be trying to keep up?

HC Playa: I have no idea what's trending. I am always late to the game or do it absurdly early and then like 20yrs later people are like, ooooh this is cool. 👀

Trends come and go, so give it enough time and the answer is always yes, it'll again be popular.

John L. Taylor: Some single audience fiction will never fade totally. The longing for adventure, romance, and horror are to deeply ingrained in the human psyche to lose appeal. The subgenres, however, will change quite a lot. Westerns will die off. There's no way to separate those themes from a very dark period in U.S. history. Military adventures will take their place, as well as things like Sword and Sorcery and Sword and Planet will take their place. Master Chief is the new Mack Bolan, it seems. Post Horror will continue to grow and explore new themes and audiences, as horror always does. Romance, I believe will find a new, untapped market: Men. Many young men are socially isolated and dream of genuine emotional connection, and editors will soon realize this. New classics are on the way that will be cherished for decades. But I think this is all about ten years down the road from now. Works from the period between 2014 and 2025 will not age well, in my esteem. They'll be a perfect time capsule of the Culture Wars era, but I don't see any of them having the timeless appeal of what came before. Hell, the bestselling movies in America right now are based on Marvel comics from 30+ years ago. I doubt material being produced right now will have that kind of staying power. 

Here's the big one. What are the "good" uses of single audience markets? What are the "bad" uses of it? Or is it just way too complex to be defined that narrowly?

John L. Taylor: Defining good or bad uses of single audience fiction is based on a logical fallacy: that it was ever single audience. Every genre has some crossover appeal. For example, despite the male nerd stereotype, half of the Dungeons and Dragons players I know are middle class women with college degrees. They like the appeal of adventure outside the office, as men before them did. Tapping that longing, with whomever it lies, is the way forward.

HC Playa: Good uses: well as a parent I liked age demographic lines at least until they graduated out of easy readers and small chapter books and into actual novels.

I don't really pay the slightest attention to how a book is marketed. I read the blurb and the first page or so and if it intrigues me, it's a sale.

I suppose some good uses can be to market more diverse fiction, so that people see that there ARE stories out there that they connect with. Bad uses would be to spread propaganda and hate.