Transgressive Queer Fiction and the Right to Be Messy

Straight writers frequently portray cisgender heterosexual characters with twisted sexual pathologies or dysfunctional, miserable relationships. But when an emerging sci-fi writer published a sharp, witty, in-your-face short story about a transgender helicopter pilot in a dystopian future, prominent members of the writing community rushed to viciously condemn her until she withdrew her work and went into hiding.

In this episode, horror writer Gretchen Felker-Martin joins us to talk about the importance of making space for transgressive fiction by queer writers. We also discuss didactive versus expressive art, the trap of respectability that queer creatives fall into, and Isabel Fall’s “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter.” (And Raquel mispronounces the word didactic several dozen times.)

Links:

• Gretchen’s Twitter

• Gretchen’s Patreon

• She Kills People From 7,85- Miles Away

• Drone Disorientations: How “Unmanned” Weapons Queer the Experience of Killing in War

• The Right’s One Joke:
  

  you guys have like one joke you tell over and over again

  — 9 V O L T (@9_volt_) May 12, 2019

• “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter” (via Wayback)

• What’s the Harm in Reading?

• That Tyler the Creator tweet:
  

  Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Is Cyber Bullying Real Hahahaha Nigga Just Walk Away From The Screen Like Nigga Close Your Eyes Haha

  — Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) December 31, 2012

• The Abominable Act: Depictions of Gay Sex in Horror Film

• An Attempted Suicide Forced a Tumblr Community to Open Its Eyes About Bullying

• Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

• ‘Better Call Saul’ Gets the Point of Prestige TV

• Wealthy Teen Nearly Experiences Consequences

• Me Sowing, Me Reaping:
  

  Me sowing: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

  Me reaping: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

  — The Golden Sir (@screaminbutcalm) March 12, 2019

• Remembering Hollywood’s Hays Code 40 Years Later

• Yoon Ha Lee on being trans

• PORPENTINE

• Briar Ripley Page

• Torrey Peters

• Black Dresses

• {familia} KM Claude

• The Pervert, Michelle Perez and Remy Boydell

About Rite Gud: R.S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes, critiques and more.

Rite Gud is supported by readers like you. If you enjoy what you’ve read here, please consider supporting Rite Gud on Patreon, or via the Kittysneezes Boutique. 

The post Transgressive Queer Fiction and the Right to Be Messy by Matt Keeley appeared first on Kittysneezes.