Content warnings are a topic of serious debate. Are they spoilers? Do they coddle our readers? I think they show that we care.
Spoiler: Content Warnings Aren’t Spoilers
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Rewriting History: How the Cowboy Came to Be White
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One of the reasons I wanted to make Ferr a Black-presenting character in The Bull by His Horns was to address the cultural myth that all cowboys were white. Over time, the history of people of color working as cowboys in America’s Wild West has been lost, erased. It was replaced with the myth of a white cowboy. Why and how did this happen? At the root, we know exactly why it occurred: racism...
Race, Racism, and Representation in SFF
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For my upcoming book, The Bull by His Horns, I knew I wanted to feature cowboys. And specifically, I wanted to pay homage to the often glossed-over fact that most in the American Wild West weren’t white. Many were Black; some were Latinx and yet others were Indigenous people. (Nishant Aneja /Pexels.com) So, it seemed only natural to make the love interest a Black cowboy. Of course, said love...
Redefining the Feminine
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Who is a woman and who isn't? The current definition is a bit of a problem, considering it actually serves patriarchal and capitalistic ends.
On the Performance of Queerness
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Which characters are queer? What does it take for us to accept them as true representation? What counts as "queer enough"? Whenever we ask these questions, we're debating how queerness should be performed.
Historical Accuracy: People of Color Existed in Medieval Europe
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Think of medieval Europe. Did you imagine a bunch of white people tooling around in the dirt, nary a Black or brown person in sight? You've had the wool pulled over your eyes. People of color definitely existed in medieval Europe.
“Clean” Romance Has a Dirty Secret
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Ever wondered why we use the term "clean romance"? It looks innocent on the surface, but it's actually packing quite the patriarchal punch.
What Counts as Romance?
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It's almost Valentine's Day, which means we'll see non-romance readers crawl out of the woodwork to tell us all about great romances. But what counts as romance? Even some of the "great love stories" we point to aren't ... actually ... all that romantic.
Is Mpreg Transphobic?
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I've heard people say mpreg is transphobic, and my knee-jerk reaction is to defend it. But dig a little deeper, and we might see the ugly truth of that statement.
On Main Squeeze and Writing Outside My Lane
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Marty Yoon, the hero of Main Squeeze, is a Korean-American trans man. Clearly, I'm writing pretty far outside my lane here. So, why did I do it?
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