From: c1dje@watson.ibm.com (David Edelsohn)
Subject: Re: gay science fiction
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1992 21:21:51 GMT
Reply-To: c1dje@tweetie (David Edelsohn)
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

	    Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy

Bibliography --
	Uranian Worlds: A Reader's Guide to Alternate Sexuality
		in Science Fiction and Fantasy [Eric Garber & Lyn Paleo]

	Surprisingly complete list of books published before 1983 with
notation for type and depth of sexuality mentioned.  A new edition is
rumored to be published shortly.

Youth/Young Adult --

	_Act Well Your Part_ by Don Sakers
	_Second Chances_ by Alice Adams
	_The Spartan_ by Don Harrison

Write for a complete catalogue:
	Alyson Publications
	Deptartment B-79
	40 Plympton St.
	Boston, MA 02118
	+1 617 542 5679

	Nice, positive stories and information books for gay and lesbian
teenagers.  The ones listed above are recommended as particularly good.

Anthologies [editor] --
	Aphrodisiac: Fiction from Christopher Street
	First Love/Last Love: New Fiction from Christopher Street
	The Gay Touch: Short Stories [Peter Robins]
	Hot Living: Erotic Stories about Safer Sex [John Preston]
	I've a Feeling We're not in Kansas Anymore:
		Tales from Gay Manhattan [Ethan Mordden]
	Kindred Spirits: An Anthology of Gay and Lesbian
		Science Fiction [Jeffrey M. Elliot]
	Los Delitos Insignificantes [Alvaro Pombo]
	Men on Men I, II, III: Best New Gay Fiction [George Stambolian]
	My Deep Dark Pain is Love: A Collection of
		Latin American Gay Fiction [Winston Leyland]
	On the Line: New Gay Fiction [Ian Young]
	Relatos Sobre la Falta de Sustancia [Alvaro Pombo]
	Restless Rednecks: Gay Tales of the Chaning South [Roy F. Wood]
	Shadows of Love: American Gay Fiction [Charles Jurist]
	Worlds Apart: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay
		Science Fiction and Fantasy [Camilla Decarnin, EG, LP]

Authors --

	Augustin Gomez-Arcos:
		The Carnivorous Lamb (incest)

	Phil Andros:
		Below the Belt & Other Stories
		The Boys in Blue
		Different Strokes: Stories
		Roman Conquests
		Stud: A Novel

	Sharon Baker:
		Quarreling
		They Met the Dragon

	Gael Baudino:
		Gossamer Axe

	Jean de Berg:
		The Image

	Marion Zimmer Bradley:
		The Catch Trap
		Darkover Series (The Forbidden Tower, Thendara House,
			Heritage Of Hastur, The Planet Wreckers)

	Octavia Butler:
		Dawn
		Adulthood Rites
		Imago

	C.J. Cherryh:
		Cyteen

	Arthur C. Clarke:
		Imperial Earth
		Songs of Distant Earth
		2010/2061

	Storm Constantine:
		Books of Wraeththu series
			(The Enchancements of Flesh and Spirit,
			The Bewitchment of Love and Hate,
			The Fulfillments of Fate and Desire)
		The Monstrous Regiment

	Samuel Delaney (see below):
		Babel-17
		Dhalgren
		The Jewels of Astor
		Neveryona series (Tales from Neveryon, Neveryona, Flight from
			Neveryon, Return to Neveryon)
		Nova
		Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand
		Triton
		The Motion of Light on Water (autobiography)

	Diane Duane (best known for Star Trek novels and screenplays):
		Door into Fire / Door into Shadow /
			Door into Sunset / Door into Starlight

	Katherine Forrest:
		Dreams & Swords
		Daughters of the Coral Dawn

	Patrick Franklin:
		The Uncertainty of Strangers
		Sea Gift (short story)

	David Gerrold:
		The Man who Folded Himself

	Heather Gladney:
		Teot's War

	Joe Haldeman:
		The Forever War

	Joseph Hansen:
		Dave Brandstetter series

	Harry Harrison:
		Star Smasher of the Galaxy Rangers

	R.A. Heinlen:
		Friday

	Tanya Huff:
		Fire's Stone
		Blood Price / Trail

	Eileen Kushner:
		Swordspoint (no sorcery; gay mercenary swordfighters)

	Mercedes Lackey:
		Arrows of the Queen
		Magic's Pawn/Promise/Price (Last Herald Mage)
		Heralds of Valdemar series
		Knight of Ghosts & Shadows
		Summoned to Tourney
		Born to Run

	Tanith Lee:

	Elizabeth Lynn:
		The Woman Who Loved The Moon (A collection of Short stories,
			evidently not currently in print)
		A Different Light (The two male protagonists are lovers).
		Chronicles Of Tornor trilogy (Northern Girl, The
			Dancers Of Arun, Watchtower)

	Ursula K. LeGuin:
		The Left Hand of Darkness
		The Dispossessed

	Ann Maxwell:
		Fire Dancer/ Dancer's Luck / Dancer's Illusion

	Anne McCaffrey:
		Dragonrider series

	Peter McGehee:
		Beyond Happiness
		Boys Like Us
		Survival (short story)
		Sweetheart

	Loren McGregory:
		The Net

	Vonda McIntyre:
		Starfarers
		Transition
		Metaphase

	Eric Minns:
		Island Boy

	Michael Moorcock:
		The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius
			in the Twentieth Century
		Glorina

	George Nadar:
		Chrome

	Fred Pohl:
		Gateway

	Pauline Reage:
		The Story of O (I and II)

	Mary Renault:
		The Persian Boy
		The Last of the Wine

	Anne Rice:
		Chronicles of the Vampires series
			(Interview with the Vampire, Vampire Lestat,
			Queen of the Damned)
		Cry to Heaven

	Philip Ridley:
		Crocodilia [publ: Brilliance]

	J.F. Rivkin:
		Silver Glass Series (Silverglass, Web of Wind,
			Witch of Rhostshyl, Mistress Of Ambiguities)

	Spider Robinson:
		Stardance
		Timepressure

	Geoff Ryman:
		The Child Garden

	Pamela Sargent:
		Venus of Dreams(~)
		Venus of Shadows

	Matthew Stadler:
		Landscape: Memory

	Ron Silverberg:
		At Winter's End

	Spedding:
		A Walk In The Dark (The Road and the Hills,
			A Cloud Over Water, The Streets of the City)

	Theodore Sturgeon:
		Venus Plus X 

	John Varley:
		The Barbie Murders
		Blue Champagne 
		Gaea Trilogy (Titan/Wizard/Demon)
		Hall Of the Martian Kings
		The Ophiuchi Hotline
		The Persistence Of Vision
		Short Stories: Beatnik Bayou and Picnic on Nearside

	Walter Jon Williams:
		Hardwired

	Helen Wright:
		A Matter of Oaths

-----
Samuel Delaney:
	One of the most articulate and intelligent authors in the
field (ranking with Harlan Ellison and Gene Wolfe) who happens to be black
and gay.  During a reading of one of his works at Duke, he opened the
reading by mentioning that his grandparents had been slaves not too far
from Durham, NC.  I would not say that he writes "gay" fiction, but there
is a sensibility regarding the uses of language and naming (semiotics) that
pervades his writing, and there is a fair amount of sexual explicitness.
The excerpt he read (from his Neveryona series), concerned Gorgik, a former
slave, who is sexually aroused by being bound and shackled and by wearing
his slave collar (BTW, he has sex with both men and women, but seems prefer
men.) In his novel _Stars_in_my_Pockets_Like_Grains_of_Sand_ a gay
relationship is key to the work.  A sequel (actually the second half of a
duology) has been promised, but rumors have mentioned problems with his
publishers over the gay content of his books or the fact that they haven't
sold so well.
	Delany looks at all sorts of sexualities, amongst many
other concerns.  Some of these books are quite heavy reading,
especially Dhalgren.  On the other hand, many of them are among my
favourite books, especially Neveryona.   The best place to start is
probably Stars ... or possibly Triton.  Dhalgren was very popular when
it came out, both because of its significance in the development of
science fiction as "serious" literature and because of its explicit
bisexual sex scenes and alternative lifestyles.  (It outsold other SF
classics such as The Mote In God's Eye and The Dispossessed.)
	Delany's autobiographies are both interesting reading (and easy
reads!).  Heavenly Breakfast is about a commune in New York in
1967/8.  The Motion Of Light In Water is about Delany's childhood and
youth in Harlem.
-----
_The Body and Its Dangers and Other Stories_ by Allen Barnett
_Psychopathia Sexualis_ by Krafft-Ebbing
David Leavitt and Paul Monette
_Rubyfruit Jungle_
_Blue Heaven_ by Joe Keenan
_Family Dancing_ and _Equal Affections_ by David Leavitt
_The Arabian Nights_
-----
From: lbusenb@oregon.uoregon.edu (Lawrence Busenbark)
Subject: Gay Fiction
Organization: University of Oregon

Neil Bartlett:        Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall

Christopher Bram:     Surprising Myself
                      Hold Tight
Pat Califia:
	Macho Sluts: Erotic Fiction
	Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality

Joe Keenan:           Blue Heaven
                      Putting On the Ritz

David Leavitt:        A Place I've Never Been
                      (Short stories--much better than his novels. . .)

Ethan Mordden:        I've a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore
                      Buddies
                      Everybody Loves You

John Weir:            The Irreversable Decline of Eddie Socket

Edmund White:         The Beautiful Room is Empty
                      (By far, his best!)
-----
From: db@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry)
Subject: Bisexuals in fiction
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 11:13:55 EDT
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U

Here's my annotated list of bi-positive fiction.  Since it's only based on
what I've read, and I don't have time to read much these days, this list
is rather short.  So I'm asking you to add to it.  I'll mark each entry
you contribute with your name, so that readers can get an idea of what
each "reviewer" likes.  Please keep the annotations brief!

Thanks to Giles, Sandy Hereld, Jean-Ric Meller, and anyone else who
has contributed.

Non-fiction - Bisexual Lives, Bi Any Other Name, A Bisexual Reader, Two
Lives To Lead, The Bisexual Option, Denis Altman's Homosexual Oppression
and Liberation.

Anon.(?) - Gilgamesh.

Julian Barnes - see Dan Kavanagh.

Andrea Dworkin - Mercy (M)
	This is about the sexual oppression of women, and a bisexual
	woman's reaction to that oppression.  A heavy read.

Paul Goodman - Making Do, Five Years (M).
	I'm told that Goodman is fairly explicit about his
	bisexuality.

Jo Hansen - A Smile In His Lifetime (M).
	Set in California.  A married man falls in love with another
	man.

Dan Kavanagh - Duffy, Fiddle City, Putting The Boot In, Going To The Dogs.
	A series of (mainly) light-hearted stories about a bisexual
	private eye.  Duffy is an interesting character, not at all
macho.  I didn't like Putting The Boot In as much as the others.

Florence King - Confessions Of A Failed Southern Lady (AB).
	This is King's story of growing up in the American South.  It's
	a very good read.

James Kirkwood - P.S. Your Cat Is Dead.
	Based on a play, this is the story of a man who is really down
	on his luck when he traps someone trying to burgle his flat.
As the story develops, the burglar turns out to be gay.  This is
another very good read.

Anita Mason - Bethany (M).
	One of my all-time favourite books.  This is about two women
	lovers and drop- outs who live in a remote village.  Their life
is shaken up when a charismatic (and highly irritating) man leads them
into setting up a sort of commune.  The book looks at basic questions
of right and wrong, and at how supposedly egalitarian people can be
extremely manipulative.

Mary Mason
	I met Mary at the San Francisco conference last year.  She
	lives with part of MZB's extended family.  I don't know if any
of her books are available in the UK.

Carole Spearin McCauley - Cold Steal (M).
	This tells the story of a bisexual woman's attempts to find who
	murdered her lover.  It also looks at some of the issues
surrounding cancer research and journalism.  I felt that the ending
could have been better paced, but it's still a good read.

Manuel Puig - Kiss Of The Spider Woman (M).
	The story of two male prisoners, one convicted for
	homosexuality, the other for political agitation.  Written
entirely in dialogue.  I found the extensive footnotes more interesting
than the story.

Gore Vidal - The Best Man (M), Myra Beckenridge (M).

Alice Walker - The Color Purple (M).
	A black bisexual woman rescues another from a life of drudgery
	and violence.

Michelene Wandor - Some Of My Best Friends (M).
	This is a short story in the collection Passion Fruit, edited
	by Jeanette Winterson.  It's a witty look at the foibles of
political activists, particularly those who are prejudiced against
bisexuals.

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