Gay SciFi/Fantasy?

[wayfriend]

The only author that comes to mind as being a specifically gay-oriented SF writer is Samuel Delaney.

Fantasy, too. And very good, I might add. His whole Neveryon series is so dang interesting that the gay orientation of almost all main characters is often overlooked.

Delany's Dhalgren and Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand are excellent science fiction with gay and/or bi protagonists. Also in my top favorites.

I've never read Hogg. That's way past where I want to go.

(How bad can a guy with the initials SRD write? )

[Encryptic]

The only one I can specifically recall at this moment is Tomasso d'Astibar in "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay. Admittedly, he's not a major character, though he plays a central part in the story early on.

[Ainulindale]

I looked through teh trhead but I scould have msitakenly looked over these if teh ywere already mentiuoned. Of course many other great works have been mentioned - I'd like to throw in works like Naked Lunch by Burroughs.


From George R.R. Martin's A Song of ice and Fire, Loras Tyrell and Renly Baratheon.


The forthcoming Vellum from Hal Duncan has gay characters as well.

[taraswizard]

OK, previously I recommended the Gaylactic networks Spectrum awards lists. Another list of books to look over for their applicablility to the topic is the list of the Tiptree awards. www.tiptree.org The books are supposed to examine gender and the expansion of gender roles in SF and fantasy. Not specifically gay books, but many of the winners, short list and long list books deal with gay topics and have gay characters. (For example, Burning Bright by Melissa Scott on the Tiptree longlist for 1993).

[Dawngreeter]

During a time in The Forever War, all the people were queer including some main characters.

Gateway had a semi main character switch-hitting.

[I'm Murrin]

Miéville's Iron Council has one gay main character, and another who goes both ways but seems to prefer men.

[lucimay]

no one mentioned Nicola Griffith in this thread so i thought i would...

just a great writer


www.nicolagriffith.com/novels.html

[burgs]

I used to read much more SciFi/F than I do now, and when I was reading more of it I recall most gay characters being portrayed in a negative light. It really ticked me off. Most of them were pederasts or rapists, like

Spoiler

Gilbur from MD

.

I'm tempted to look into some of these books and see if any of them do a better job, and if they're accurate portrayals, for that matter.

[lucimay]

then you must DEFINITELY check out Nicola Griffith burgs. she's great.

[burgs]

Thanks, Lucimay!

[Loredoctor]

During a time in The Forever War, all the people were queer including some main characters.

While a great novel, it was the weirdest form of population control having people become gay.

[Avatar]

Never managed to get into The Forever War myself.

In L. Ron Hubbards Mission Earth series, the promotion of a homosexual lifestyle was carried out by the government as part of their attempt to curb world population. "Psychiatric Birth Control" they called it.

--A

[FaTeke]

Having just read the "What if TC was gay" thread it makes me wonder what mainstream or close-to mainstream Fantasy and SciFi books out there have gay characters in them? As a gay man I would be very interested in this.

How many Gay main characters out there? There can't be many.

Just curious.

FaTeke

"So shines a good deed in a weary world."
Willy Wonka

[danlo]

This may belong in the Sci Fi/Fantasy forum...

[I'm Murrin]

Yeah... and in fact, it already is in the SF/F forum.
It was three years ago, so I don't blame you for forgetting about it FaTeke, but you've started a thread on this subject before.

[I'm Murrin]

*Bump* for FaTeke.

I see Ainulindale mentioned this before, but both books have been released since then: Hal Duncan's The Book of All Hours duology, Vellum and Ink feature some gay characters, Jack and Puck, in very prominent roles. In fact, Vellum just won a Gaylactic Spectrum Award, awards that specifically "honor outstanding works of science fiction, fantasy and horror which include significant positive explorations of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered characters, themes, or issues."

[FaTeke]

hahaha That figures, its been a long time since I last visited the forums. Please forgive my intrusion.

FaTeke

[I'm Murrin]

No problem. Nothing wrong with bringing up a topic that we've been quiet on for a while, especially when it's been this long. I've bumped the old topic, maybe we can stir up some fresh input.

[sherlock_525]

First time responder, but I do know of a sci-fi series that does have gay characters in it: The Matadors series by Steve Perry

[Holsety]

Hmmm . . . I know that in the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire that one character,

Spoiler

Loras

, is gay. It doesn't say for sure but there are strong hints, and there's also the fact that he was a member of the Rainbow Guard and was called the "Knight of Flowers". Maybe that's my imagination running wild, but, heh, it's a funny thought.

For that matter Renly was possibly of the same persuasion...I tend to think that he simply had little sexual discretion in either direction.

In orson scott card's earth series there's a sort of weird portrayal...a gay man who marries a woman and has kids with her. It's pretty weird, actually like a "sympathy fuck" where she wants kids and he loves her, just not sexually.

It's not a book, but the main character of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Ike, is the first fire emblem character who has no "special endings" with any female characters. The only ending he has is with his best friend and advisor, Soren, where they leave the continent and everyone on it behind to go on a journey. They have a pretty chaste conversation (hug, and soren cries) but since it is a video game rated everyone you have to keep things in perspective. Fans seem to be split between saying it's platonic and it isn't, as well as discussing whether the pairing makes sense or it's just fangirl material.

(I lost my memories of you. But… despite that, I was happy. I only wanted to meet you just one more time. Only that one person. …I only wanted to meet the boy who had held out a warm hand to me.)

My own take...I don't like soren much as a character, but the pairing is more substantiated than any Ike/female pairing, and the fact that he's the first main who doesn't have 3 or 4 girls to get hitched with seems like a pretty strong indication. Frankly I'm surprised so many fans are surprised because I saw it coming in the earlier game (path of radiance).

There's a similar thing in the original american FE between Lyn and Florina, but that felt like fanservice, not an honest attempt at a pairing.

I used to read much more SciFi/F than I do now, and when I was reading more of it I recall most gay characters being portrayed in a negative light. It really ticked me off. Most of them were pederasts or rapists, like

Spoiler

Gilbur from MD

.

I'm tempted to look into some of these books and see if any of them do a better job, and if they're accurate portrayals, for that matter.

Lest we forget, in The Gap Cletus Fane is described as having a pedosmile (i believe it says he smiles like a pederast).