It's a cute story. It is flirting with some romance tropes a little more than I generally like, but it is well written, and the world and characters are interesting enough that I will check out the next one in the series.
I watching this video earlier this morning, but had too much to do for it to take me the time I wanted to respond. I do, indeed, like you, enjoy a philosphical discussion and am have a lot of street training as well as book smarts for my own breed of "my truth"...the modern way to say opinion. "Is that a run-on sentence, Dr. Chase?" Where's Dr, Phil around when you need him? I am gay, and have gender dysphoria, and I hate the word queer, because today it means anything. Troublemakers have entered the LGBT community (I call them queers and I am one of those old queens that don't do the Q). After getting the majority of rights that we demanded in the 90's, more problems had to be made to keep the donations flowing. Now you can be a male and identify as a lesbian and like women and fall within the protective Rainbow umbrella. I'm gay, not queer. I am an author and have queried over the past year. I am getting ready to query another project now, and I see a lot of disturbing patterns. I am not judging this book, nor have I even read a sample, but because of the plotline and subject matter, I probably would not pick this up. There is too much of it out there now for one, and flooding the market with "Queer and inclusive" fiction is not going to make up for the sins of the past. Also, (again I am not saying this book is an example) I know from studying successful query letters, watching videos, and being nose-deep in the MSWLists of the agents, they really want the Queer subject matter above a lot of others. It's a trend, first, for being what the agents are looking for, next for authors writing to sell books. And then (from what I see in other authortube videos) a lot of publishers are making the authors change things for them. It's bad all around. Again I am not at all saying that this book or author is guilty of this, just that the market is saturated to the point that its a turnoff for me. Give me Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. That's one of my favorites (and short) and it's enough for me. I am a Christian gay white male conservative that loves my community especially trans people. I mean, the ones that are being strong and not some of the narcississies incorporating that moniker to try to control and manipulate people. Believe me, they exist, I've had experiences with them in public too many times before. I am not looking at name badges to check for your They/them He/She pronouns, I am just getting a biscuit! Because I have seen so many weak narcissistic shenanigans in my community, I write satire about it and call it out for what I feel it is, attention-seeking behavior. To much drama out now, a lot being caused to mine content. I have seen and experienced this side of it myself a few times, so I write about it. SInce I do that, especially since I am conservative and gay, I am hated by the vocal ones in my community more than others. I even tried to apologize to the little baristanance who got offended at my honest mistake at Starbucks. I even went told the coffee workers that I was gay and had gender dysphoria. It didn't matter to him or his friends. I offended him was all. He never talked to me and they still hated me. I like strong gay people. The ones like from Stonewall. The modern queers at the top of the activist food chain now want to put you in jail for misgendering, They want to take away your freedom of speech and compell you to say and use their terms. Stupid ones like Bonus Hole. I might not have marched for my community or waved flags at protests, but I have been beaten up for being myself and have defended myself and others over this issue when it came to blows. These modern queers (most of them) don't have respect for that. For my opinions I am thrown aside and cancelled. And these are the people that say "Be Kind!" If a person gets triggered so hard that they can't deal with it by being misgendered, especially accidentally, they need mental help. They need to be hospitalized if they want to be able to put you in jail for it. (mental asylum, of course, not the other one...lol) That seems to be where we are heading, it looks like. And it's sad. I just don't want our proud community to be one of the puzzle pieces that takes our freedom of speech. Also, if this appears to be slightly off-topic, I am drawing from my comments from the live stream, and I consider this to be a philosophical discussion of the semantics of modern "Queer."
We don't see eye-to-eye on all the issues you bring up above, but I appreciate you sharing your position. There are multiple simultaneous uses of the term queer, and they overlap but also occupy distinct spheres of ideology. The reclamation of the term "queer" from its pejorative usage really seemed to stem, or at least be popularized, with the queer rights movement that started in the 70s. The queer rights movement formed in distinction to the gay rights movement, which it felt was too conservative and myopic in its stated goals as well as means to achieve those goals. So in this way queer represents a radical, intersectional political ideology that is concerned with wide-scale systemic change. Then coming up to the end of the 20th century the idea of Queer Theory and Queer Studies started coalescing in more concrete ways, and thus queer was imported into academia. Within academia it exists somewhat parallel to the political ideology, with greater emphasis on exploration and deconstructing than in-the-streets activism. Then sometime around the term of the century queer started to be used as an umbrella term to identify all dissident, non-conforming, and/or marginalized sexual and gender identities and presentations. This is a de-fanged use of the term, stripped from its radical politics as well as its intellectual rigor, but in exchange it creates an inclusive and welcoming space to build community. All three of these, and likely more, are simultaneous meanings and explorations of the usage and ideology of queer/the queer. Choosing to live as a monk has complicated my relationship to categorizations based on sexual preference and identity, but discarding that for a moment I always identified as queer first, and gay or whatever else secondary, because that radical political ideology is at the forefront of how I have seen myself existing in the world and in community with others. I think have _more_ queer and inclusive characters and narratives is a net positive, and I say that without a shadow of a doubt. The idea that the queer community has achieved even a fraction of the rights and privileges and human decency it has been fighting feels far from the truth, given how queer communities are still denied basic human decency by the political class. This is why inclusion is important and I support it. I don't actually believe that authors are being forced to change story lines or include gay or queer characters. Yes, publishers may be more interested in inclusive stories, but that is because publishing houses are interested in selling books, and the audience at large is starving for queer and inclusive stories, stories that reflect the lived reality of so many people. So I don't deny that publishers may be seeking out, or especially interested, in those stories. But my experience is that authors and other artists create inclusive/gay/queer art because that is a reflection of the world they see and experience and the one they want to live in. I am willing to give folk, even straight/straight-presenting folk, the benefit of the doubt unless they explicitly give me reason not to. Now, my concern, that I bring up in this video and elsewhere, is simply that sometimes that inclusion is done in a thoughtless way. It may be done with the best of intentions but it doesn't always hit the mark. So the way to remedy that concern is to be thoughtful and intentional when creating, and when including characters who exist outside of your personal experiences. Which many authors do, already. To be honest, I think the younger generation already has a much more accepting worldview then even Millenials, never mind Gen-Xers or Boomers. Overall they seem to have a much more comfortable relationship with sexuality and gender identity and presentation, and so it is no surprise to see more and more art reflecting these attitudes and experiences, and I think we are all better off for it.
Just started this book, and am enjoying it so far! My only thing is, I feel like I know I am reading a woman writing as a gay man and it takes me out of the story a little. Other than that so far 10/10
Glad you're enjoying it! I felt the same way. In fact I made a whole video about Queer Erasure that talks about it, a little (th-cam.com/video/Th0tgIR1hM4/w-d-xo.html) . There seem to be more and more books by straight/straight-presenting women that feature young queer men, usually teenagers, as their (troubled) protagonists, and in the ones I have read they do, by and large, feel like a little bit of projection going on, there is something about them that isn't entirely authentic. However, that said, it isn't _bad_ representation, and if that is what it takes to make space for more queer authors to have a market to write from their experiences then I am all for it.
@@arockinsamsara glad I wasn’t alone in feeling that! Very interesting topic queer erasure, i feel like it’s so pushed in media now people forget that not too long ago we were fighting for marriage and equality. Definitely gonna check out and watch your video about that.
Perfect timing for my morning coffee. Great review! The worldbuilding does sound really interesting, I'll keep an eye out for this book.
It's a cute story. It is flirting with some romance tropes a little more than I generally like, but it is well written, and the world and characters are interesting enough that I will check out the next one in the series.
Ooo! A queer romp in the woods sounds like fun!
The woods are definitely one of the most exciting parts of this story. I hope we get some more of the untamed wilderness in the future installments!
I watching this video earlier this morning, but had too much to do for it to take me the time I wanted to respond.
I do, indeed, like you, enjoy a philosphical discussion and am have a lot of street training as well as book smarts for my own breed of "my truth"...the modern way to say opinion.
"Is that a run-on sentence, Dr. Chase?" Where's Dr, Phil around when you need him?
I am gay, and have gender dysphoria, and I hate the word queer, because today it means anything. Troublemakers have entered the LGBT community (I call them queers and I am one of those old queens that don't do the Q). After getting the majority of rights that we demanded in the 90's, more problems had to be made to keep the donations flowing. Now you can be a male and identify as a lesbian and like women and fall within the protective Rainbow umbrella. I'm gay, not queer.
I am an author and have queried over the past year. I am getting ready to query another project now, and I see a lot of disturbing patterns.
I am not judging this book, nor have I even read a sample, but because of the plotline and subject matter, I probably would not pick this up. There is too much of it out there now for one, and flooding the market with "Queer and inclusive" fiction is not going to make up for the sins of the past. Also, (again I am not saying this book is an example) I know from studying successful query letters, watching videos, and being nose-deep in the MSWLists of the agents, they really want the Queer subject matter above a lot of others. It's a trend, first, for being what the agents are looking for, next for authors writing to sell books. And then (from what I see in other authortube videos) a lot of publishers are making the authors change things for them. It's bad all around. Again I am not at all saying that this book or author is guilty of this, just that the market is saturated to the point that its a turnoff for me. Give me Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. That's one of my favorites (and short) and it's enough for me.
I am a Christian gay white male conservative that loves my community especially trans people. I mean, the ones that are being strong and not some of the narcississies incorporating that moniker to try to control and manipulate people. Believe me, they exist, I've had experiences with them in public too many times before.
I am not looking at name badges to check for your They/them He/She pronouns, I am just getting a biscuit!
Because I have seen so many weak narcissistic shenanigans in my community, I write satire about it and call it out for what I feel it is, attention-seeking behavior. To much drama out now, a lot being caused to mine content. I have seen and experienced this side of it myself a few times, so I write about it. SInce I do that, especially since I am conservative and gay, I am hated by the vocal ones in my community more than others. I even tried to apologize to the little baristanance who got offended at my honest mistake at Starbucks. I even went told the coffee workers that I was gay and had gender dysphoria. It didn't matter to him or his friends. I offended him was all. He never talked to me and they still hated me.
I like strong gay people. The ones like from Stonewall. The modern queers at the top of the activist food chain now want to put you in jail for misgendering, They want to take away your freedom of speech and compell you to say and use their terms. Stupid ones like Bonus Hole.
I might not have marched for my community or waved flags at protests, but I have been beaten up for being myself and have defended myself and others over this issue when it came to blows. These modern queers (most of them) don't have respect for that. For my opinions I am thrown aside and cancelled. And these are the people that say "Be Kind!"
If a person gets triggered so hard that they can't deal with it by being misgendered, especially accidentally, they need mental help. They need to be hospitalized if they want to be able to put you in jail for it. (mental asylum, of course, not the other one...lol) That seems to be where we are heading, it looks like. And it's sad. I just don't want our proud community to be one of the puzzle pieces that takes our freedom of speech.
Also, if this appears to be slightly off-topic, I am drawing from my comments from the live stream, and I consider this to be a philosophical discussion of the semantics of modern "Queer."
We don't see eye-to-eye on all the issues you bring up above, but I appreciate you sharing your position.
There are multiple simultaneous uses of the term queer, and they overlap but also occupy distinct spheres of ideology. The reclamation of the term "queer" from its pejorative usage really seemed to stem, or at least be popularized, with the queer rights movement that started in the 70s. The queer rights movement formed in distinction to the gay rights movement, which it felt was too conservative and myopic in its stated goals as well as means to achieve those goals. So in this way queer represents a radical, intersectional political ideology that is concerned with wide-scale systemic change. Then coming up to the end of the 20th century the idea of Queer Theory and Queer Studies started coalescing in more concrete ways, and thus queer was imported into academia. Within academia it exists somewhat parallel to the political ideology, with greater emphasis on exploration and deconstructing than in-the-streets activism. Then sometime around the term of the century queer started to be used as an umbrella term to identify all dissident, non-conforming, and/or marginalized sexual and gender identities and presentations. This is a de-fanged use of the term, stripped from its radical politics as well as its intellectual rigor, but in exchange it creates an inclusive and welcoming space to build community. All three of these, and likely more, are simultaneous meanings and explorations of the usage and ideology of queer/the queer.
Choosing to live as a monk has complicated my relationship to categorizations based on sexual preference and identity, but discarding that for a moment I always identified as queer first, and gay or whatever else secondary, because that radical political ideology is at the forefront of how I have seen myself existing in the world and in community with others.
I think have _more_ queer and inclusive characters and narratives is a net positive, and I say that without a shadow of a doubt. The idea that the queer community has achieved even a fraction of the rights and privileges and human decency it has been fighting feels far from the truth, given how queer communities are still denied basic human decency by the political class. This is why inclusion is important and I support it. I don't actually believe that authors are being forced to change story lines or include gay or queer characters. Yes, publishers may be more interested in inclusive stories, but that is because publishing houses are interested in selling books, and the audience at large is starving for queer and inclusive stories, stories that reflect the lived reality of so many people. So I don't deny that publishers may be seeking out, or especially interested, in those stories. But my experience is that authors and other artists create inclusive/gay/queer art because that is a reflection of the world they see and experience and the one they want to live in. I am willing to give folk, even straight/straight-presenting folk, the benefit of the doubt unless they explicitly give me reason not to. Now, my concern, that I bring up in this video and elsewhere, is simply that sometimes that inclusion is done in a thoughtless way. It may be done with the best of intentions but it doesn't always hit the mark. So the way to remedy that concern is to be thoughtful and intentional when creating, and when including characters who exist outside of your personal experiences. Which many authors do, already. To be honest, I think the younger generation already has a much more accepting worldview then even Millenials, never mind Gen-Xers or Boomers. Overall they seem to have a much more comfortable relationship with sexuality and gender identity and presentation, and so it is no surprise to see more and more art reflecting these attitudes and experiences, and I think we are all better off for it.
Just started this book, and am enjoying it so far! My only thing is, I feel like I know I am reading a woman writing as a gay man and it takes me out of the story a little. Other than that so far 10/10
Glad you're enjoying it! I felt the same way. In fact I made a whole video about Queer Erasure that talks about it, a little (th-cam.com/video/Th0tgIR1hM4/w-d-xo.html) . There seem to be more and more books by straight/straight-presenting women that feature young queer men, usually teenagers, as their (troubled) protagonists, and in the ones I have read they do, by and large, feel like a little bit of projection going on, there is something about them that isn't entirely authentic. However, that said, it isn't _bad_ representation, and if that is what it takes to make space for more queer authors to have a market to write from their experiences then I am all for it.
@@arockinsamsara glad I wasn’t alone in feeling that! Very interesting topic queer erasure, i feel like it’s so pushed in media now people forget that not too long ago we were fighting for marriage and equality. Definitely gonna check out and watch your video about that.
@@kevinharvey8588 It's definitely still an important discussion, but it has taken on new parameters. Let me know what you think about the video!