Crossed Genres Issue 12, the LGBTQ issue, goes live on November 1.

And I’m in it. Woohoo!  My short story “Cold,” about two young women on a planet in the late stages of terraforming, will appear on page… — well, I don’t know what page it’ll be on.  But it’ll be in the printed issue, & on the Crossed Genres website too.  Along with some other really good stories & artwork, like the artwork above which comes from the issue’s cover.

But while I’m really happy about being published in it, & will keep bragging it up in other posts, that’s not my primary purpose with this post.

The opposite of homophobia is…

On September 1, in one of two posts I wrote in celebration of Outer Alliance Pride Day, I wrote a post called “Queer eye for the sci-fi (& fantasy): LGBTA writers & homophobia” about antigay prejudice in the world of science fiction & fantasy. It was a homophobic rant by Nebula-award nominated John C. Wright that prompted the founding of the Outer Alliance in the first place.  (I also talked about Orson Scott Card.) [Ref #1]

Less than two weeks later, in a post called “Cold, Crossed Genres, & Flash homophobia”, I wrote about another instance of homophobia in the SF/F world: the refusal by Jake Freivald, editor of Flash Fiction Online, to accept Crossed Genres‘ ad calling for submissions to the LGBTQ issue (yes, this same issue that’s about to be published, with me in it) because that editor doesn’t accept “sexually themed ads” — & to him, anything with LGBTQ content was “sexually themed.”  Which is not the last thing Jake Freivald said that made a lot of people including me to rate him as homophobic, even if Frievald himself still claimes to “like” the gay people he knows. [Ref #2]

… welcoming.

There was a lot of reaction to the FFO editor’s action once it became known.  I write some about that in that post too.

But here’s something I didn’t mention:

Shortly after Bart Leib on Crossed Genres‘ blog & Outer Alliance posted about FFO as a queer-unfriendly market [Refs #3–4], Bart Leib was approached by Pablo Defendini of Tor.com.  Tor.com is the community site associated with Tor Books, one of the biggest publishers in science fiction/fantasy.  Defendini wrote about FFO’s rejection of the ad:

We find this attitude reprehensible, and would like to do our part in disabusing the public at large of the notion that the SF/F community is not LGBTQ-friendly. Tor.com would be more than happy to host your ad for the LBGTQ issue for free, for a period of, say, two or three weeks leading into the publication of the issue on 01 November? [Ref #5]

The ad at the top of this page went live on Tor.com yesterday. Now, & for the next couple of weeks, it appears as a banner ad on the very top of Tor’s home page (you might have to refresh the screen a few times, as the Crossed Genres‘ ad alternates with other ads placed there).

Now, that might not seem like a big deal.  But it’s an unanticipated act of generosity & welcome not only to Crossed Genres‘ & its LGBTQ issue, but to LGBTQ & allied writers and readers as a whole, from one of SF/F’s top publishers.  Let Tor.com know your appreciation.

I also want to mention here that Crossed Genres isn’t an LGBTQ magazine.  It’s a science fiction/fantasy magazine — as it advertises itself, “science fiction & fantasy with a twist.”  But its also a member of the Outer Alliance, & while there’s only one LGBTQ issue (so far, anyway), they always welcome new submissions with LGBTQ themes, so long as those submissions also have elements of Crossed Genres’ current theme.  See the current genre page for details.

I’ve already been encouraging some of my friends who write good SF/F to think about submitting to Crossed Genres.  I’ll be doing it again myself.

References

1. 9/1/09. “Queer eye for the sci-fi (& fantasy): LGBTA writers & homophobia” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
2. 9/12/09. “Cold, Crossed Genres, & Flash homophobia” by Melissa S. Green (Henkimaa).
3. 9/9/09.  “SFF market rejects our LGBTQ ad” by Bart Leib (Crossed Genres).
4. 9/9/09. “Regarding queer-unfriendly markets” by mbranesf (Outer Alliance).
5. 9/10/09. “Just keep your wide eyes wide wide open” by Barb Leib (Crossed Genres blog).

Related posts:

1. Now I REALLY feel like a writer again
2. Crossed Genres anthology released — complete w/ my story "Cold"
3. Cold, Crossed Genres, & Flash homophobia