I am (along with Paul Stevens and Liz Gorinsky and some others) trying to figure out ways to publish more books with queer protagonists here at Tor/Forge.
I'm not sure I can even express what a relief it is just to read that line. The lack of information about anyone's specific interest in such storylines is why I'd written three agents and asked them point-blank whether I should pursue a m/m or f/f romance line in an urban fantasy; I'd seen perhaps three, maybe four well-known writers with such storylines (but even then, there's a lot of "fading to black" and "you must read between the lines, cock your head to the side, and squint" as opposed to bluntly treating any romance with the same amount of attention as a m/f romance would get in the same type of book).
It was good to hear all three agents say that this didn't bother them in the least. It's even better to know that a major publisher is not just neutral about such storylines (which is acceptable in itself, if that's the only option) but is actively willing to encourage such. You go!
As for the book, the entire issue of rape in a story is a damned hard one, I think. It can be such a politicized topic, when rendered outside the compassion we give a 'real' human, and that always seems to become: "just what is the author trying to tell us with rape that s/he couldn't say with severe assualt or even verbal assault or some other kind of violation?" That, and I can't help but think of all the stories I've read in which there's the strangest niggling feeling in the back of one's head that the author is punishing the character(s), even as with the other hand s/he insists s/he is all for the character.
I mean, I get the notion of "get your character up a tree, throw rocks at him, get him down" -- but it's the kind of rock you throw that can be saying a great deal, even when you aren't thinking consciously about it.
And now I think I have to look busy on a manual. Excuse me.
no subject
I'm not sure I can even express what a relief it is just to read that line. The lack of information about anyone's specific interest in such storylines is why I'd written three agents and asked them point-blank whether I should pursue a m/m or f/f romance line in an urban fantasy; I'd seen perhaps three, maybe four well-known writers with such storylines (but even then, there's a lot of "fading to black" and "you must read between the lines, cock your head to the side, and squint" as opposed to bluntly treating any romance with the same amount of attention as a m/f romance would get in the same type of book).
It was good to hear all three agents say that this didn't bother them in the least. It's even better to know that a major publisher is not just neutral about such storylines (which is acceptable in itself, if that's the only option) but is actively willing to encourage such. You go!
As for the book, the entire issue of rape in a story is a damned hard one, I think. It can be such a politicized topic, when rendered outside the compassion we give a 'real' human, and that always seems to become: "just what is the author trying to tell us with rape that s/he couldn't say with severe assualt or even verbal assault or some other kind of violation?" That, and I can't help but think of all the stories I've read in which there's the strangest niggling feeling in the back of one's head that the author is punishing the character(s), even as with the other hand s/he insists s/he is all for the character.
I mean, I get the notion of "get your character up a tree, throw rocks at him, get him down" -- but it's the kind of rock you throw that can be saying a great deal, even when you aren't thinking consciously about it.
And now I think I have to look busy on a manual. Excuse me.