Quick Thoughts - Some Thoughts on Diversity

I feel odd writing about diversity, probably because I am a white cis man. That's…not exactly the greatest cocktail for diversity, and yet I have been included in "diversity" calls for LGBTQIA+ because I'm bi. Recently Fireside Fiction put out a report on the fiction sales of black writers that I sort-of knew about when the researchers were putting things together. I can remember the sort of bombshell moment when I was presented with the number of stories by black authors published in 2015. I think my first thought was "That can't be right." I mean, I don't read every publication out there, but I do read a lot. And I know that I read a number of stories by black authors. I could rattle off a dozen stories easily. So it couldn't really be the case that those dozen stories would represent such a huge percent of the total number of stories put out by black writers. Right?

In this, I think I had a fairly standard reaction to the news. I went straight on the defensive. Because shit, wow, that's…but I read a lot of stories. I scoured my Monthly Rounds, my Sippys, hoping to assuage my sudden guilt, wanting to assure myself that I wasn't part of the problem, that I could distance myself from the numbers. And then I stopped. Not because awards and recommended readings lists aren't important. I know that they are, not only in encouraging people who might otherwise avoid genres and publications, but also to encourage publications to look at what they publish and how they're going forward. Fireside is taking the data and is doing something about it. I expect that others will as well. Which is important. Which is vital. For all that the Puppies will be up in arms, for all that some non-marginalized people seem to think reverse racism and misogyny is a thing, this is a good thing.

But I stopped counting up things because at that moment it wasn't really about me. It's not about standing up and saying "I'm not a racist." At that moment, and at this moment, this is a great time to listen. Perhaps that seems odd as a white person writing a blog post about this. But I very much want to point people toward the report and toward the responses to the report. To the efforts of so many trying to make SFF a better place. And I want to speak a bit about diversity in broader strokes. Mainly, I want to talk about a certain phenomenon I've noticed especially of late with regards to institutional marginalization and oppression. Not that it's new, but that I think people are getting distracted and sidetracked by it. And it swirls around intent and "fairness."

I think that at this point to say that you didn't mean to be racist is a pretty ridiculous thing to say. And yet it's something said more and more loudly now because I get the feeling that people "know it's wrong to be racist." My white generation is one raised on MLK, Jr. and civil rights taught in schools and it's insidious both how this teaches in some ways that racism is "over" and that racism is only racism if it's a caricature of racism. Only if you're a Nazi, only if you're in the KKK. Anything short of that and it enters this area where "wait, then you're saying everyone is racist and that's not fair." But the truth is, pretty much every white person benefits from institutional racism and white supremacy. Just because it's not any single white person's "fault" that they were born into this system doesn't mean that it's all okay, nor that there isn't an imperative to work to make the world better, to fight for social justice.

There's talk around Voter ID laws that they aren't about being racist but are about preventing voter fraud. There's talk around laws that restrict abortion that they aren't about misogyny but are about women's health and safety. There's talk around anti-trans and anti-LGBTQIA+ laws that they aren't about hate but are about religious freedom. These things go to courts and advocates for these (terrible) laws argue that they can't be unconstitutional because the stated purpose of them is noble. And yet the effects of these laws are not to prevent voter fraud (which isn't a problem), are not to keep women safe (it actually puts them at much greater risk), and are not to protect people's religious freedoms (they are about hate). The effects of these laws are to institutionalize injustice. Saying that they aren't hate-based in design first off, is wrong, and secondly shouldn't matter. If they promote hate, if they promote violence against people of color, against women, against queer people (which all of these, surprise-surprise, do), then they are wrong. Anyone still defending them is actively involved in that violence, is actively involved in the marginalization and oppression and exploitation they say is wrong.

So to pull this back to SFF. It should be obvious at this point that it is not enough to simply say "I am open to diverse submissions." It should be obvious that in order to actually promote diversity, there needs to be a step beyond that, needs to be an effort to actually fight against editorial and slush bias by instituting policies that proactively seeks marginalized writers. That doesn't make this a failure of marginalized groups to write enough or write the right kinds of things or submit enough or anything. Saying that the sales aren't there or the market isn't ready is only allowing the problem to continue and spread.

But I'm not a publisher. I'm not an editor. So what can I do? Well, I can make sure that the money I spend on fiction, on SFF, goes to publications and publishers involved in fighting against this problem. I can refuse to take the easiest option, which is to just go with the flow. I can decide I'm going to search out publications that are doing work I want to support. I can try to help signal boost others, and I can speak up when I see shit going down. As a reviewer I can seek to meet stories on their terms instead of demanding they exist to make me comfortable. And I can refuse to skip over stories that don't fit my preconceptions about what SFF has to look like or be about. I can listen. Thanks for reading.

All the best,

Charles Payseur

Quick Sip - Fantastic Stories of the Imagination #235

I almost thought that Fantastic Stories of the Imagination wouldn't manage to get this issue out in July, but here we are at the end of the month with a pair of stories about absences and choice. About the distance between people and how, sometimes, there is no closing that distance. About taking control and about seeking happiness and about the ways that we get trapped by relationships. In unhappiness. And the stories show different glimpses of people realizing that they do have a choice. That they do have a recourse. That they don't have to live in a stifling relationship just because their partners want them to. The stories complement each other quite well, and I'm going to get to reviewing them! 

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #204

The second issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies this month features a pair of stories that look at quests and stagnation, hope and transformation. In both stories characters confront the trajectories of their lives, the directions that seem inevitable but which are made by their choices. And both face regrets and face a future that is full of possibilities and yet defined by duty and care for others. There is a balancing of the selfish desires of life and knowledge that sometimes environments are kinds of prisons. Systems oppress. But belonging is not impossible. These are some complex and moving stories and I'm going to jump right into those reviews!

Art by Martin Ende

Quick Sips - The Book Smugglers July 2016

The Year of the Superhero continues at The Book Smugglers with a story that complicates the idea of the superhero. That looks at invulnerability and pairs it with a very aching sense of vulnerability. Both of the physical sense, because the main character is not unable to be very injured, and the emotional kind, which is even more complex and moving. The story weaves together the ways we think of strength and provides a touching and great narrative about a failed super soldier and love and family. Time to review! 

Art by Melanie Cook

Quick Sips - Nightmare #46

The two stories in this month's Nightmare Magazine both seem to look at the effects of trauma. The ways that people can react to extreme emotions and situations, the ways that people can fracture. These are both sorts of ghost stories, or maybe stories of hauntings. Not necessarily literally but both stories question whether a thing must be literally true to be real. To have a deep and meaningful impact. These are rather shocking stories, and ones that are difficult to face. Because the situations are terrible, violent, and tragic. And because these things happen, because these tragedies do happen in literal ways, in the real world, these are important stories to face and examine, and I will waste no more time in getting to the reviews!

Art by Rod Julian

Quick Sips - Apex #86

The stories in this month's Apex Magazine deal with superpowers. Certainly not in the most standard or typical of ways, but both look at what happens when young men realize that they have powers beyond those of normal people. The stories also are about rage and privilege. About responsibility. And about art. They are two incredibly paired stories for the issue, and make for some great reading. The poety is also tight, looking at departures, looking across space, looking across cultures. It's fascinating to see how all these works play off each other, and I guess I should stop talking about it and get right to the reviews! 

Art by Sunny Ray

Quick Thoughts - Updates, Announcements, and Plans

So I feel like it's been a bit of a busy summer for me. Since May I've had almost a thing out a week until the end of June/beginning of July. Which is good news for people wanting all the things by me but also has been rather exhausting for trying to keep up with everything. You can, of course, head over to the My Work!!! to check out anything you might have missed. But I thought I would also take this time to give people some me-things to look forward to.

First up, my Patreon is up and I've hit my first goal to continue with at least 4 review-posts a week for Quick Sip Reviews. And I'm about 3/4 of the way to hitting my next goal for the Liver Beware! series of Drunk Goosebumps reviews. I've done a freebie to give people a taste of what those will be like for Escape from the Carnival of Horrors. So that's rather exciting.

In other news, it looks like my story, "What Dora Saw" will finally be seeing the light of day in the Another Dimension anthology which has an official release for the beginning of September. This is a story that's...been in development a while. But it involves a psychic, the ocean, and some disgusting mac n' cheese.

I've also sold a story to F*CKING LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE!!! The title will probably change but it's a contemporary sci-fantasy featuring a queer Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed and is a bit dark I will admit. This was the first story that I got to workshop with my writing group, the Chippewa Valley S.P.A.C.E.C.A.T.s and it turned into a pro sale, so I've super excited about that. We're not a huge group, but we are an amazing group, so I only hope that the success for us continues.

I also have a bunch of smut news. My story, "Defying Gravity," will be appearing in the Dreamspinner Press Starstruck anthology! This is a superhero story and I'm 90% through production on it so it's rather close to being completely done. I actually liked writing that one so much that I decided to do a quasi-follow up set in the same world as a Christmas story and just found out that it will be appearing as part of Dreamspinner's Advent Calendar this year. It's a supervillain story titled, adorably, "How the Supervillain Stole Christmas." I must say that I completely love writing superhero stories, and these two are super cute and hopefully people find them enjoyable and fun. "Defying Gravity" doesn't really get too steamy but "How the Supervillain Stole Christmas" definitely has some naughty bits. So yeah, all that.

My m/m/m erotic SFF story, "Riding Red," will be showing up this year, too, in Less Than Three's Fairy Tales Slashed Vol. 8. It's, you guessed it, a take on Little Red Riding Hood only add in crossdressing, shifters, deadly witches, and a man named Jack. There's magic and there's decapitations and there's lots of sex.

As for upcoming projects? Well, I'm working on a few short stories right now that I hope might spread their wings and fly. And I'm working on a novella that I would describe as Mech-Suit Queer Arthurian Retelling Set in a Second World Fantasy. So if that's something that sounds interesting, well, cross your fingers that I can finish it and sell it. But yeah, that's it from me for now. I hope to have more to report soon. Until then, though, thanks for reading!

All the best,

Charles Payseur