reading Eclipse by K.A. Bedford

Was shopping at Robin's (the discount one) & bought Eclipse by K.A. Bedford, an Australian writer. The cover art itself seemed kind of queer: a shadowy close up of a sharp-featured man's head. The jacket copy didn't indicate anything homo but did tell me it was going to be on a space ship. That was enough for me.

It's written in the first person in the voice of a 21 year old newbie space officer. I was immediately skeptical of this P.O.V., because I like my space stories chock full of smart information and not didactic and that's a hard mix for the first person. But the voice of James Dunne is smart without being didactic, is informative without being dry, etc. There's real darkness in the narrative that keeps me turning pages, but I don't actually feel as if the theme is integrated into the speculative elements as much I'd enjoy. I mean, finding aliens affects the crew and how they act/feel, but the emotional verifiability of these characters is not necessarily an organic part of the speculation. (In contrast to something from Joanna Russ, for instance; in The Two of Them, Irene's actions, reactions, etc. completely flow from the realities they move between, the proto-Islamic back to their normal world, & from her lover's attitude about her actions vis-a-vis the girl they "rescue." The story is the speculation, or the other way around.)

Bedford's characters are specific and emotionally verifiable, and interesting, too. The most interesting character, the tough woman (surprise, surprise) doesn't get enough page-time and isn't playing an active role yet (though I'm 2/3 through). So far she's mostly there to make Dunne swoon (also a product of Bedford's use of the first person), but her early characterization showed her to be bold and powerful, so I'm hoping that the author is saving her up for the third act. There's at least one confirmed homosexual who manages to be self loathing and closeted despite the book's assertions that his own family gave him positive images of gay life. And there's plenty of male-on-male rape and rape anxiety.

The violence in the text is interesting in the way it thematizes women in the military and ignores them. According to the Bedford's universe's status quo, men and women are equal and discrimination is dead. But his characters know that's a crock of shit, because, as Dunne says early in the novel, power equals violence and there's a functional and entrenched patriarchy. It's a fascinating text to think about sex, gender and violence in a speculative novel, in particular because it's from the point of view of a straight-identified man but is written in a way that questions the fundamental political assumptions of our patriarchies. It's an attractive and almost hypnotic use of this voice.

Got A Minute

Heard from Alison Tyler yesterday that Cleis is taking my story "Saturday Afternoon Steam" for the forthcoming collection of short shorts Got A Minute.

It's set to come out in March 07 and has a pretty hot cover.

reading Everything I Have Is Blue by Wendell Rickets

I'm reading Everything I Have Is Blue: Fiction by Working Class Men About More Or Less Gay Life. I'm about 5 stories in. They have a different texture than other short stories I've read lately, especially different from the gay stories I've been reading. (Although, to be fair, I've been reading mostly queer sf and queer erotica.) But the politics that manifest in these textures from Blue are maybe what is catching me. So many of the stories I've read in the last few weeks have worldviews and politics that are narrow and heterocentric. I want to read some queer stuff, not just stuff about "queers," i.e. "homosexuals." And Everything I Have Is Blue might have some.
Already, too, I recognize the feelings in the pieces I've read as emotionally verifiable in a working class gay sort of way. But there have been some token figures of poor life. I have no doubt that the emotions expressed in these figures are reliable, and honest--and maybe that's what gives it the extra texture I wasn't finding in all those queer sf and horror stories that were written by straight identifieds and in the sex negative erotica--but the token working class figures aren't always as nuanced as they could be.

Travelrotica 2

My story "Italian Idol" will be in Alyson's Tales of Travelrotica for Gay Men 2, edited by (no relation) Brad Nichols. Check out the original Travelrotica. Travelrotica 2 will come out in August, I think.

on the (midnight) Radio

OK- so I'm not Hedwig, but I'm going to be on the radio, reading my Peter Altenberg story "Grays of the Morning" on Kate Bonner-Jackson's radio show Open Yr Throat & Speak on Radio Volta, a Project of the Philly IMC.

I've never really liked my voice recorded, so I hope I'm not too freaked out to listen to it.

Sex By The Book

Kevin Bentley emailed an acceptance today for Sex By The Book, which is set to come out from Green Candy Press. It'll be a whole anthology of "gay men's tales of lit and lust" and I can't wait to see how the other stories use books, writers, librarians, dead authors, etc. to make hot homo sex. My story "Comicboys" is about boyfriends who are writing a comic book together. Their heroes are the Skater and the Punk, who I hope will also turn up in one of the comics-themed anthology whose deadlines are approaching.
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C is for Co-eds

Just heard word that my story "I Wanted Him to Feel It" will be reprinted in Alison Tyler's college-themed C is for Co-eds from Cleis Press, which consistently brings out high-quality and interesting erotica.

Of course, there's no contract yet, so you never know for sure...but I'm still happy enough to be this near a Cleis title that I'm posting.

"I Wanted Him to Feel It" was previously published in Just the Sex, from Alyson, in 2003, and was the back jacket copy, too!

Dorm Porn 2

A contract for Sean Fisher's Dorm Porn 2 arrived on Friday for my story "Cultural Studies," about a college wrestler who tries to seduce his Professor in order to pass "Desconstructing Asian American Identites." It's set for a release. in August 2007. Dorm Porn is fantastic, and I'm sure DP 2 will be even better!


Shane Allison told me they'd taken a story of his for Dorm Porn 2 weeks ago, and since he had heard via email I thought for sure they hadn't taken my story. It was a nice surprise when I got home late Friday.

Still no contract for Second Skin, though, and haven't heard the final word on a couple of other stories that have been submitted in manuscripts, but not approved by publishers.

Second Skin & New York weekend

Spoke to Christopher Pierce at the end of last week. He & co-editor Rachel Kramer Bussel are taking my story "On the Night Bus" for the next Fetish Chest book Second Skin. It's stories of leather and latex. "On the Night Bus" is set in a near future Berlin where everybody's recycling car and truck tires into fetish and club gear.


Went to New York this weekend to visit Ruth. Went to the Oscar Wilde Bookshop for the first time, and found Steve Berman's book of stories Trysts, which is the exact book I went there for: weird, creepy (& hot) stories and a hot cover, too. Ruth & I watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy.

Jeopardy and Female Otherness

So Jeopardy was exciting tonight because two contestants tied, and I don't think I've ever seen a tie. (If only I could have watched the Oscars in 1968...)

But what's with Jeopardy's sexism? One question was about "Tim McGraw and this beauty" singing some song. When the contestant answered "Faith Hill," Alex said, "yes, his wife." Because McGraw is called by his name, whereas Hill is marked twice, once as "this beauty" and again as "his wife." Nice. But it gets better. In a category about the words of women artists, the answer referred to Virginia Woolf as "this authoress." AUTHORESS? Why not just lady author? After all, the category was already women artists, so why call one a fine modernist an authoress? AN AUTHORESS? Fuck Jeopardy.

Distant Horizons: Queer SF Anthology news

Signed and returned my contract to Greg Herren for Distant Horizons: A Science Fiction Anthology. My story is called "The Musicmaker," and is set thirty years in the future in Vermont. My first non-erotic professional sale! Greg is fantastic; check out his writing and his troublemaking over here. He published my first story, in Alyson's Full Body Contact in 2002. There's no TOC for Distant Horizons, but I know that Steve Berman's story "Caught by Skin" will appear in it, too. It's forthcoming from Haworth Positronic, which has a pre-preview page here.

Ultimate Undies & Sexiest Soles on sale, with Tables of Contents

Am*zon has the pages for Ultimate Undies &
Sexiest Soles, and if you scroll down enough past those fantastic covers, you'll get to Rachel Kramer Bussel's introductions and the Tables of Contents.
And when you're done lerking at those pages, head on out to a LOCAL INDEPENDENT bookstore and show that you like to buy queer books! If you're in Philadelphia, that's gonna be Giovanni's Room or Robin's. If you're in Brandon, it's Briggs Carriage Bookstore. And if you're somewhere else, go to BookSense and find one near you.

My story "Storm of Me" in Ultimate Undies

from "Storm of Me"
I got my first transmission today: a packet of emails I can’t respond to, a news report, a mission update, which was the only reason for the transmission. I spend hours and hours monitoring the seedlings and still have hours and hours to stare out the portholes at the curving, blue halo of Earth or into the black. I wish I’d brought something other than Ulysses because I even though I have nothing else to do, it’s still practically unreadable. I should have brought the collected Steven King.
There’s another problem developing, too: I’m as horny as I’ve ever been and there’s nothing to do about it. I spent most of day two jerking off and except for the novelty of cum sluicing through the capsule in zero gravity, all that’s happened is that I’ve rubbed myself raw and am still painfully hard.
I got an email from a couple I’d fucked around with, people who lived in my building, that had naughty innuendo but nothing really sexy. I fantasized about the last time I was with him, with the guy eating out my ass while I fucked his girlfriend. And soon enough I was poking out the front of my flight suit, my cock pointing straight out in between halfway between the two thick nylon straps. If only there was room for porn in on board computers.

Read more about Ultimate Undies & see the Table of Contents over at Lusty Lady, RKB's blog.

"Skate Shop" in Sexiest Soles, coming out July 1, 2006

from "Skate Shop"
The customer had taken a seat on the bench in front of the sneaker shelves, and had kicked off his torn canvas slip on.

“I’m sorry to ask you, but can you help me get it on?” He looked down at his cast, and said, “I broke my elbow, too.”

Dave bent down on one knee, and lifted box lid. “Do you want the left one, or the right?” The customer chose, and Dave grabbed the hell of the torn shoe and pulled it from his foot. The guy’s foot smelled a little sweaty-sweet, and Dave smiled as he leaned in and finished lacing up the shoe.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a sock, but I couldn’t get it on.”

“No problem.” Dave pulled a thin white disposable sock from a tissue-style box and stretched it over his foot, trying not to make contact with hit.

“My feet got scraped, but not too bad. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. I really appreciate it this.”

Dave reached for the guy’s foot again, holding it firmly with the heel cradled in his palm. The disposable sock was soft against his hands. He had loosened the sneakers as much as they would go, and guided the toes in, and easing the guy's heel over the hell of the shoe. When it was in, he squeezed the heel and said, “how’s that feel?”