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Silver Winner, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award (Science Fiction) Silver winner, Independent Publisher Book Award (Fantasy/Science Fiction) Winner, 2 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards, Best Book and Best Short Fiction ("Instinct" by Joy Parks) In a world increasingly complicated by questionable technologies and factional politics, what does the future hold for gays, lesbians, and transgenders? The gay marriage controversy, scientific "breakthroughs," and well-organized anti-gay campaigns by the Religious Right seem to ensure that we are still decades away from achieving any kind of pansexual utopia some forty years after the advent of gay liberation. But in this anthology, the first of its kind in over ten years, provocative stories and comics posit a queer future of limitless possibilities, covering issues like cloning, gene manipulation, and gender assignment. The Future is Queer is not about bug-eyed aliens or missions to Mars, but asks probing questions that relate as much to our past and present as they do to the future; of gays and lesbians, it asks, who are we, what do we want, and what should we be afraid of? The book includes pieces from writers around the world, including bestselling author and comic book creator Neil Gaiman (Anansi Boys, The Sandman), World Fantasy Award winner Rachel Pollack, and cult UK comic artist Bryan Talbot.… (more)
User reviews
Only exception so far is Rachel Pollacks 'The Beatrix Gates', a truly queer vision of a post-gender world without physical boundaries on sexuality.
Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel are both probably most well known for their work as editors for anthologies. They each wrote their own introduction to the book. While both introductions were strong, Labonté's "My Love Affair with Queer Boys, Gay Lit, and Science Fiction" was particularly good. The anthology's initial theme was to be queer inspired "near-future, social science fiction, depicting plausible, possible realities" although this was eventually expanded to included "future-based fantasy." If I was excited about this book before (and I was), I was even more so after reading the introductions. Unfortunately, the collection didn't quite meet my expectations.
I did appreciate the wide variety of stories that the editors included; it's particularly impressive as there were only six short stories, an even shorter comic, and a novella. Most of the stories had at least a glimmer of something that spoke to or interested me, but ultimately didn't do much for me. The comic, "From Homogenous to Honey," that Neil Gaiman (a favorite of mine) collaborated on with Bryan Talbot was particularly disappointing. I love the fact that comics are appearing more frequently in anthologies, but this one, while not bad, was nothing special. The strongest story was also the last one--"The Beatrix Gates" by Rachel Pollack. (I knew Pollack as a tarot expert; I had no idea that she was an award-winning fiction writer as well, so that was pretty cool.) As for the rest of the contributions, I generally enjoyed the underlying concepts more than the stories themselves. However, this was often enough to interest me in the authors' other works.
While not a horrible anthology, The Future is Queer wasn't fantastic either. Short story collections seem to be a tricky format to work in, and it probably didn't help that the last couple I read (Dreams Underfoot, Sex in the System) were particularly well done. I might not insist everyone drop everything to go read a copy of The Future is Queer, but there is enough in it that if it happens your way it might not be amiss to glance through it.
Works included: "Introduction: My Love Affair with Queer Boys, Gay Lit, and Science Fiction" by Richard Labonté; "Introduction: Looking in All Directions" by Lawrence Schimel; "Obscure Relations" by L. Timel Duchamp; "Instinct" by Joy Parks; "The Chosen Few" by Caro Soles; "...the darkest evening of the year..." by Candas Jane Dorsey; "From Homogenous to Honey" by Neil Gaiman and Bryan Talbot; "My Long Ago Sophia" by Diana Churchill; "The Sleep Clinic for Troubled Souls" by Hiromi Goto; "The Beatrix Gates" by Rachel Pollack.
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