Night of the (still not gay) Living Dead part III

[bodlon]

I want to talk a little bit about the whole zombie antho thing again. Probably for the last time unless something else comes up.

Before I do, though, I want to make it very clear that I don’t bear Doc, or any of the folk over at the Library of the Living Dead forums any ill will, nor do I think Doc’s actions reflect a homophobic impulse on his part. Doc is by all accounts a warm, kind, thoughtful guy who has published queer horror and intends to again, and his friends are very loyal.

(He’s also apparently epically snowed in right now, and I am wishing him warmth, food, and adequate toilet roll. So, you know, good thoughts his way, yes?)

Unfortunately he’s an awesome guy in a position to learn some uncomfortable lessons. As the whole matter of the queer zombie antho’s demise develops in public, the more troublesome it is for those of us who aren’t in the LLD inner circle.

To recap:
- on Jan 20, LLD put out a call for submissions for LGBTQ-positive zombie stories for an upcoming antho.
- A few days ago, the editor for the antho announced that the plug had been pulled because, “homophobia has reared its ugly head…NOT from the publisher, but with some authors that are contributers [sic] to the publisher.”
- Cue Internet freak-out at a story of publisher bullied into yanking the plug by a pack of bigots. Blogging ensues.
- LLD catches wind of Internet freak-out, Doc posts, taking responsibility for the demise of the antho and offering a kill fee. His reasoning, as stated in that post, was that he was “afraid [he] would upset people by publishing the book,” but that he considers LGBTQ people his “brothers and sisters.”
- Cue circling of the wagons over at LLD fora, including Bill Tucker’s second post, which states that the real reason for pulling the antho was a “concern that the anthology would be seen as a gimmick and would not have quality stories in it.”
- Cue Internet pointing out what a ridiculous Doc’s statement that is, pointing out that nice guys can still fail, and a total lack of people freaking out about Stoker winners Rot or Unspeakable Horror down at the Barnes & Noble.
- Doc replies to Jim Hines’ first post and says that he pulled the antho, based not on complaints from a shadowy cabal of homophobes (as in the original Bill Tucker post) but the concerns of his LGBTQ friends and writers that the antho was “gimmicky,” would “paint the gay community in a bad light,” and “no good can come from straight people writing about gays.”
- NEW: Doc’s most recent statement at Jim Hines’ blog, in which the new plan looks very much like the original plan.

Yeah, so I’ve got whiplash, how about you? Gee, if only I had a queer specfic writer around here to have an opinion about this.

Oh wait! I’m a queer specfic writer! With opinions!

Information flow (or “What is this fuckery?”)
From Bill Tucker’s first post to Doc’s reply to Jim Hines, every message about the rationale and impetus for dropping the antho has changed. This is a problem in general because cultivating good faith and trust is a necessary thing if you’re trying to do business, but it’s especially crucial if you’re interacting with a community that often gets the short end of the stick. We get lied to a lot, and even ‘nice’ people hem and haw and treat our rights like a semantic argument. It’s unreasonable to demand anybody’s trust — especially the trust of marginalized people — if you’re not going to be honest.

LLD/Doc went wrong by not being open and clear and consistent from the get-go. Whether it was deliberate obfuscation at work or just communication failure, this damaged LLD/Doc’s credibility. And, after asking all day why they didn’t just come out with their current statement from the get go, neither has offered any explanation.

Gimmicky, schmimmicky (or “I find your lack of faith disturbing.”)
Both Bill Tucker and Doc said that one of the problems with the proposed antho (which, remember, Bill was editing and Doc signed off on) was that it was “gimmicky” or that contributors would submit work that was offensive.

One, way to lack faith in your contributor base. Straight or LGBTQ, people are writing really good stuff in this vein right now. Everyone I knew who was interested was really fascinated by how to write something that would fit the theme while engaging the issues in new and novel ways. Judging by the fact that they already had subs to pay kill fees on — including one from one of the co-editors for Unspeakable Horrors — there was definitely interest.

Two, er, isn’t that what having an editor is for? Isn’t it his job (paid or not) to read over stories and determine if they fit, if they are good, and so forth? Unless LLD does things very differently from the rest of the world, I can’t understand how this is a problem. Reject the bad ones, accept the good ones, and go. It’s not hard.

Good Intentions (or “Where are we going, and why am I in this basket?”)
From the moment that there was outcry about the antho getting nixed, Doc’s friends came out in support of him. Based on his reply to Jim Hines, I can see why. His friends and his writers came to him with concerns and he acted on those. And that’s good, because listening is something good allies do. I can’t fault him for this.

What I would caution him against, though, is treating the LGBTQ community as singular and monolithic. When he says, “I’m sorry it seems I’ve caved in to peer pressure, but it was peer pressure from the LBGT Community,” that makes me uncomfortable as hell. Doc didn’t get pressure from “the LGBT community.” He got feedback from some people of his acquaintance and acted on it. Describing it as he does, though, he doesn’t make it sound particularly nice. He makes it sound just as awful as Bill Tucker’s first post, really. Darn those mean gay people! They’re so mean, crushing their own anthology!

Look, being an ally is hard. Sometimes you will get flack even when you do your best. Sometimes you will get flack for doing what you think is right. Sometimes there is no one right answer. It sucks.

Personally? I don’t think that straight people should abstain from writing queer stories. I disagree that an LGBTQ-only antho is the only right way to go. But I respect Doc for listening to his authors and friends. I hope Doc does ultimately go forward with this project when he and his authors are ready.

And now, to bed. I’ve got stories to write in the morning.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com