“Covering” Contemporary Queer Fiction

And excellent 'tips' for finding our books :)

This is actually a subject I've been thinking about lately because I was looking for a specific book that I read a while ago but could not remember the name of it. In my search (successful finally!), I did notice that 'covering' you mentioned. The question, as always, is what can or should we do about that? I'm very interested in ideas others will no doubt bring forth.

Great article and advice! I now have new ways to keep my eyes out for some great queer reads. YAY!! Thank you!

- PKiddo

to lesbian oriented websites like AE and OurChart for lesbian authors.  I've read some great books written by lesbian authors over the past two years that I heard about on-line.

Another place to learn about lesbian literature is at school.  The University I attend instituted a Queer Studies Minor starting this semester.  The Upper Divisional course number for the Lesbian Literature class?  369!  No fooling. 

You can also check out Edmonton Lesbian Book Club, which lists books (fiction mostly) writted by lesbian authors. Sometimes they metion books or authors I haven't heard of, so I like to check it out from time to time. 

Probably the number-one way publishers signal lesbian and bisexual content is by getting out authors to provide a brief promotional paragraph, or blurb, for the back cover or jacket. Dorothy Allison, Sarah Waters, Ali Smith and Octavia Butler may all be tip-offs

Good idea but a little difficult in the case of Octavia Butler as the woman's been dead for a while ...

Thanks so much for posting this. I'm going to a big book fair this weekend and it's hard to find lesbian lit., especially since they're not categorized. These tips will really help me out. Hope I find one! :)

I've been lurking here since...well, a loooong time. It took an article like this for me to finally sign up so I could comment. I'm such a nerd...LOVE IT! :)

Try calling the reference desk at the local public library and asking them to give you the names of 5 new titles. These folks are public servants who get all sorts of questions each day and can find info like that quickly. And be sure to ask them which sites they used to answer your question.

Go to a major on-line bookseller site (I use Barnes & Noble) and type in the title of a queer book. The entry you get back will also have links to other books that other people who are interested in that book have looked at, or the site might come back with a list of other queer books it "reccomends". The Amazon site used to do that, I haven't used their site in a long time so I don't know if it still does.

And check the back of a book you like; there's usually other books advertised from the same publisher. And get on mailing lists.They are a goldmine of info.

The best source is often word of mouth so ask around, book clubs and reading groups are a great source for suggestions. And if you are nervous/not out/don't want anyone to know your business - use the "code" to your advantage. If you rave on, and on, and on, at the library sci fi reading group about Octavia Butler, someone in the group is bound to "get it." And tell you about the cool book she's reading ... ;-)

Thanks a lot for the tips! I've already developed a book gaydar that works quite ok but it's a great idea to check the prize websites and specific literary blogs. :)

Another suggestion: don't look at the book dedication only but also at the "Thanks" list. If the author of the book thanks famous queer authors that's a good a sign ;)

all I do is listen to music or flake out in front of the telly, I'm terrible. But I want to get back in to the ''fold'' of reading again, so some of these titles may be a good start, especially if the story line is good and irrespective of the gender of charcaters. Thank you.

Thanks for the article, it was very interesting.

Personally, I agree with Klara. Why should we label literature? I choose the literature I want to read based on its quality, not based on the sexual orientation of the main characters. I think that the people who can't relate to characters that are of a different gender and/or sexual orientation than what they represent themselves are somewhat limited in their thinking.

I live in a small country of 5 million people, and of course the market for books is a lot smaller than in the US, but here books are rarely labeled as "gay" or "lesbian". To be honest, the market for good quality literature with higher literary value is already limited, why would you want to furhter limit it with unnecessary labels? Still, novels with significant gay or lesbian relationships (novels where the main characters are gay) have for example won the most prestigious literary prize in the country at least 4 times during the past 10 years. So I guess gay and lesbian fiction is not marginalized here...

As far as I can remember, during the past couple of years, the only novel that was marketed as being one about lesbians was a novel written by a well known athlete (who never would have got it published if she hadn't already been a celebrity of some sort). And that novel was pure crap.

Oh, and anyone who hasn't read any Helen Humphreys yet, I envy you, because you have so much to look forward to! To be honest, I think she's one of the best if not the best author of our time. Her works, both poetry and prose, are just brilliant. Her new novel is going to be published in spring 2009, I can hardly wait!

Its hard to get GLBT themed books over here..i've got ,Kissing Kate,Annie on My Mind,and Keeping You A Secret..n thts about it..
Thanx for the tip..this will definately help me find books which have queer characters in its storylines..

I see where this article is coming from but I can't say I entirely agree. Yes, it would be nice to see queer literature covered more "honestly" if it really is a significant part of the story line. Especially with teen books that centre around coming out and identity etc. I believe that it's important to broadcast the book's queer content, but with other books is it always so necassary?

If the story is not about any of that, I think it's more effective to leave details of a same sex relationship out of the plot. You don't read on the back of Dark Tower about a straight couple getting together, because that is not the main focus of the book/s. Or the same sex back story. Surely shouting from the roof tops about books containing queer content further alienates queer people?I thought the idea of being accepted and not just tolerated was BEING A PART of the mainstream, and not seperating ourselves from it.

I'm divided... 

I actually love it when queer content sneaks up on me in a book that gave no sign of containing it.  Some of my favorite books are ones I was already reading and enjoying - and then the author included a queer character!  Then again, I don't usually read books specifically because they revolve around queer characters/themes - I read TONS, and I'd run out of books if that were a requirement. ;-)

Another suggestion: for anyone who likes young adult fantasy, try Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle Trilogy.  I'm definitely not a teenager, but I picked up the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty, on a whim and got completely addicted.  And then there was bonus queer content later in the books!

As as author of a novel that is getting great reviews from both lesbian and mainstream readers, I really appreciate this article.

When I present my book, Seeking Sara Summers, I find myself gearing the presentation to whatever audience is in front of me. To lesbians, I describe the book one way, to the rest of the world I describe it another. And yes, please forgive me, but I will veil the content when presenting to a more mainstream audience because I want people to read my book! It's a great story.

I will, however, promise in the future to give a nod, a wink and a special handshake to those women in the audience playing "spot the lesbian."  ;) 

www.SeekingSaraSummers.com

What is going on now is a revolution in mainstreaming of same sex relationships.  This is what we wanted, but there are costs.  When we were (literally) outlaws, we enjoyed the comforts of our ghetto.  Certainly the 1970s in the Village or the Castro or at a Womyn's music festival were as vibrant as Harlem in the 1920s.  But in a time of greater acceptance, people have the freedom to migrate out of the ghetto into the larger world.  Hooray!

Queer people always were a diverse lot with little in common.  Our shared enemies forced us into the position of being viewed as a monolithic minority group.  Remove the oppression and we fragment into our own interests as programmers, triathletes, violinists, cops, nurses, or whatever.

Seriously, in a world free of homophobia, lesbians and gays would cease to exist completely as a social identity.  Oh, there would be same sex couples and same sex Casanovas, but they would just be regular people doing those things.  The process has already begun.

AfterEllen is actually part of the process.  This site lumps together lesbian/bi(and even trans) women celebrities with actors who play lesbian/bi characters and straight women celebrities who lesbian/bi women find particularly appealing.  Very politically incorrect by the standards of a generation ago.  But it is progress nonetheless.

The entire idea of having a homosexual identity was a Western  20th century idea whose time is passing.  In ages past, same sex behaviour existed, but did not define the person.  In the Christian world, same sex behavior was punished, but as a bad behaviour.  In ancient Greek and Roman times, it was just part of normal behaviour.  Likewise, Polynesian and Native American cultures accepted same sex behaviour as part of their normal world.  In every case, same sex behaviour (whether judged good, bad, or indifferent) was something you did, it did not define who you were.

So now publishers no longer think it is necessary to put a warning label on every book that has same sex content.  EXCELLENT!!!  This is wonderful.  Formerly same sex stories were confined to the lesbian/gay section of the bookstore, a place where less than 10% of readers will ever go.  Now general readers might come across same sex love stories anywhere in the bookstore.  This is true progress.  Unless one is in the market for erotica, isn't the quality of the writing more important than who the characters love?

Yes, some of us will miss the clear divisions of the ghetto days, but I will not.  I am very happy to see female-female and male-male kissing on broadcast TV on Torchwood.  I am thrilled that the Torchwood characters are not clearly defined as straight or gay or even bisexual.  They are just people doing what people do, no labels required.  True freedom indeed.

While it might be more of a challenge for lesbian readers to find the books, I actually prefer that we not be branded lesbian fiction.  Before I was first published, and was seeking an agent, I unknowingly created a little experiment.  I found that  agents would only reply to my query if I had not identified the novel as a lesbian story. 

This is a sad reality, but a reality none the less---possibly created in part by the formula style of some lesbian fiction which has tainted the industry a bit.  This has improved greatly over the years.

I think now publishers believe that a straight reader still will not seek out a lesbian book, but they have come to realize that they also will also not bail on it if there happens to be a lesbian character in it. So, hopefully, this sneak attack could be the first bridge between true integration of lesbian fiction and mainstream fiction, and if so, I think it's a great thing.

--Mari

Mari SanGiovanni

Author of: Greetings From Jamaica, Wish You Were Queer...

www.GreetingsFromJamaica.com

Genres are evil.  They alienate people and keep them from enjoying literature because of preconceptions.

Books with obviously gay covers are relegated to the gay ghetto in bookstores which means authors will never get access to prime shelf-space.  A reduction in visibility means not being exposed to new readers and all the impulse buys that result of taking a chance on a new author.  

Unless publishers want to sell to only gay people they would do better to keep the overtly gay cover stuff on the low-down and appeal to more people.  Publishing is a business, why alienate three quarters of the market needlessly? 

Sometimes people are surprisingly open-minded, they just need non-threatening exposure to new things...

"...it's rare to find a young adult title with lesbian or bisexual content that tries to hide it".

The reason for that is, most likely, legal. the target audience for these books are often under age teenagers. failing to disclose queer content might result in law suits brought up by narrow minded homophobic disapproving parents.

Nevertheless, and although it serves as a "warning sign", revealing the true content of these books adds visibility to the LGBT community.    

I actually think it is a great thing when book covers do not make any explicit mention of any possible queer content. 

To me that implies that it isn't such a big deal and it  helps to have a wide (straight) audience read the books.

Our local library used to have genre pictures on the cover, including one for gay content. It helped me find the queer books I wanted to read, but I think it also put of a lot of other readers.

There's still lots of websites where you can find out about which books have what kinda queer content. And then there is queer or feminist bookstores if you really want to make sure you are picking up a gay book.

- - - - - - - - - -

-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

I blog, therefore, I am

Where is the documentation or an actual statistic which backs up the premise of this article? Where is the evidence a so-called phenom called 'covering' is on the upswing? I work in this field: I see no such indication one way or the other, sorry. A few quotes from people promoting their own stuff hardly qualifies.

Pointing out hints for how to better 'read' blurbs is always useful, thanks.

It's so nice to have so many intelligent women have an intelligent discussion about this topic. Thanks, ladies. You are very much appreciated.

www.SeekingSaraSummers.com