JULY #2: The Tangents Issue, with Pride
& Pride Lists, a chance to hang out & a workshop. Plus the inevitable footnotes
Have I no Pride?!?
Please don’t yell at me for neglecting to put out a Pride letter in June; I’m too busy yelling at myself.
Pride Month was actually very good to Writer Ellen this year:
Sarah Fimm of The Mary Sue listed my novel Swordspoint in her roundup of 10 Best Queer Fantasy Books For Adults. The piece begins:
Fantasy – but make it gay. Is that so much to ask? [. . . ] As the queer community continues to become more visible in modern society, the demand for literature that represent us has equally grown. Like Gondor, we’re calling for literary aid, and like Rohan, these authors have answered. Here are the 10 best queer fantasy books for adults.
It’s a wonderful list. I’m proud to be on it. To my delight, I know only about half the books listed, and I look forward to reading the rest of them, because I will definitely take advice from someone who says of my novel, “This story is essentially what would happen if Romeo never met Juliet and instead fell for the volatile Mercutio.”
I should in all fairness point out another Pride Month Best list that does not include me: TJ Klune’s Queer Fantasy List in - gasp! - the New York Times.1 He leads with an ode to Lynn Flewelling’s celebrated Luck in the Shadows.2 Am I sad not to be on this list? Well, a little. I want to be on ALL the lists!! It is my nature. But now I have another great list of novels to pursue. I like the way Klune talks about prose, and am inclined to trust him.
The coolest thing, which I was not at all expecting, was that my book was one of the clues in LibraryThing’s 2025 Pride Treasure Hunt - in the form of one of the poems!
This fantasy novel and first of a series,
Is a swashbuckling tale that subtly queries,
The meaning of honor and nature of love,
Full of duels, adventure, and all things thereof.
The Hunt Clue books are not limited to SFF - how many of them can you get? I think I got 9 out of 12.
Want to hang out with me? And support the arts?
SFF is incredibly lucky to still have many lively and active markets for short fiction.3Paying short fiction. There is no other genre (including the ever popular Domestic Realism) that can say the same. Instead of the last century’s magazine model of using paid advertising and subscriptions to fund them, publication has mainly moved to online, and much of the content is free. How, then, to pay writers and editors?
Uncanny Magazine does a Kickstarter every year, with a range of Rewards. One of them is a 30-minute private chat with a writer. I signed up to do this last year, and enjoyed a wonderful talk with author Kimberly Bea, whose debut novel The Changeling Queen is coming out this fall from Erewhon Books.4
So I’m offering a 30-minute Zoom or whatever talk again for Uncanny’s Year 12 Kickstarter. It’s over in the righthand column under Uncanny Hangouts. (Mine says 20 minutes, but that was a mistake. I’ll give you the full 30.)
And now, the first of the two tangents I had to cut for space from my last newsletter:
LONDON THEATER TANGENT
We are super-thrilled for our dear friend the playwright Liz Duffy Adams: Her witty, sexy Shakespeare/Marlowe Write Henry VI Together play, Born With Teeth, has its London premiere in August (August previews! cheaper seats!) produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Ncuti Gatwa & Edward Bluemel. The show runs to November 2. 5
They’ve just begun the intensive rehearsal process. Here they all are on the rooftop of the RSC theater in Stratford, Day 1:
The RSC’s sending the stars out to do a lot of interviews to get the buzz going! Here’s the latest in The Guardian - I’m really pleased with how much it focuses on the script & the playwright. Not that I don’t love all the RSC’s sexy shots of the stars, but the play is so much more than that.
Even if you can’t see the London production, you can get the published script of the original US production to read. Matthew Amendt and Dylan Godwin created the roles at the Houston premiere, and went on to play them at the Guthrie in Mpls, and in Sarasota, Florida.
Delia & I flew down to see the first performance in Houston, and then Just Happened to be visiting friends & family in those other two cities when Born With Teeth was playing there. . . We loved it every time.
Want to hang out with my friends?
I wish I were able to take advantage of this August Writing Retreat with two of my favorite colleagues. Mary Anne Mohanraj's Chicago house (and garden) are legendary - and she has saved my life more than once with her wisdom and fair-mindedness when I’ve been a little over-bumptious on a panel. Benjamin Rosenbaum once explained my books to me at a level that had me reeling, and I've loved him ever since. They are both, as the French say, incredibly sympathique and smart and comfortable and supportive and wise and creative. They’re offering 2 options for the week; as Ben says: “It's a workshop if you want a critique circle; it's a retreat to hang out and write if you want to come chill, write, chat, inspire and be inspired!”
If you've taken all the beginner writing workshops you can stand, you should consider this 5-day Workshop. If you just want to hang out with like-minded creative types, and have not already foolishly filled your summer schedule, go - with my envious blessing. Here’s the link for both.
And now, the second of the two tangents I had to cut for space from my last newsletter:
SINNERS TANGENT
I went to the movies and saw Sinners. I have literally never been to a horror movie before - but I’d heard so much about its containing things I love passionately - roots music, juke joints, layers of time consorting with each other, great acting, Americana - that I decided to give it a whirl.
There is a reason I’ve never been to a horror movie before.
And I had asked people, “Is it super scary?” and they’d said, Oh, no, it’s not bad.
That movie is plenty scary. And heartbreaking, too - the thing I can never forgive horror for is that it hurts the people love in irredeemable, irrevocable ways. I spent the whole second half questioning my life choices (and trying to pick holes in the plot to calm myself down).
But then, when I got home, all I wanted to do was talk about it. From there, it was a short jog to endlessly watching videos clips of the Good Bits, then the ones about all the Historical Easter Eggs, and, well, you know.
I might be preparing to watch it again. Maybe.
Meanwhile, here’s a little secret.
If you want to watch a movie with all of the juke joint and none of the gore, get ahold of Honeydripper (2007, John Sayles). Danny Glover took a pay cut because he felt so strongly about playing the lead. Honestly, I’d be surprised if Ryan Coogler hadn’t seen it. Here’s the trailer - what do you think?
Stop me before I Tangent again!
Well, we’re off to Massachusetts for Readercon in the morning. I should probably be going over my packing instead of sending off a newsletter I haven’t really proofread - but I really want to get this done before I go, so please forgive any infelicities.
I’m really glad that so many people who didn’t know about Readercon learned of it from my last letter, and are hoping to come to next year’s con. Hope to see you there in 2026. May we all be alive and well and full of opinions!
And that’s a good place to stop.
Your pal,
Ellen
These Queer Fantasy Novels Make TJ Klune Feel Seen:
The author of “The House in the Cerulean Sea” recommends captivating books that cast L.G.B.T.Q. people as the heroes, the villains and everything in between.
Luck in the Shadows was written about 10 years after Swordspoint, and also features a moody queer protagonist named Alec. BUT Lynn had never heard of my book! I guess it’s just a hot name. (Cassandra Clare’s Alec, however, is an homage, she says, bless her.)
Uncanny has published two stories of mine: “Immortal Coil” & a revised & much-improved version of “The Duke of Riverside.” They’re both available to read online for free there.
It was an exhilirating conversation: Bea began by telling me me her novel was influenced by my book Thomas the Rhymer, and we went from there!
We’re seeing Born with Teeth in October before proceeding to the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, October 29 - Nov. 2.
Ellen! So glad I found you here! Thanks & wonder! ❤️
"Swordspoint" is one of my very favorite books, decades after I first read it. I have the 1987 paperback and a hardcover copy you signed, I think for a Clarion West auction at Potlatch one year. When I helped a friend's bookstore move locations in Oakland, I earned the right to populate a bookshelf with some of my favorite books, and I very happily put "Swordspoint" there. On my own bookshelves, you're between P.C. Hodgell and Mike Ford.