MISC/HCC: The Queen's Roast, a fairy-tale

[Adrian McClure]

On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 8:54 PM, Tom Russell <joltcity at gmail.com> wrote:

> This is intentional on my part, and it really has to do with being much more aware >of trans and non-cisgendered folks-- of even being aware of what "cisgendered" >means.

I'm pretty sure the first time I heard that word was... like, 2014?
Sometime after I'd realized I was genderfluid (when someone sent me an
ask on tumblr about my clothing style and I realized I was
uncomfortable revealing my gender and then realizing why). And after
I'd decided Victoria was trans. (There were hints of that in
Looniverse Y #14.)

>Partially it's also a reaction to the fact that, in my youth which was spent as a right->wing religious loon (yay parenting) I was very close-minded and parroted bigotries >and assumptions that were handed down to me, both in terms of gender roles and >race. (There are number of things I wrote in the nineties that I'm deeply ashamed >of.)

Yeah, I know that one. I grew up being super-Catholic. What's weird is
I absorbed a lot of conservative stuff but also a lot that made me
question that, since my mom was an ex anthropology grad student and I
wound up in English. I had a lot of toxic beliefs for a long
time--even during my early LNH writing. For a while I was against gay
people and gay marriage, then I changed my mind on that and decided
that God didn't approve of gay marriage but still was against
persecution of gay people. (Which is more or less the official
doctrine of the Church still... Many people do not hold to that.)

I had doubts about that and other Catholic doctrines for a long time,
but I didn't fully let go of all that until 2012 or so, partially as a
result of meeting Drew and the big flamewar we had back then. That was
part of why I reacted as vehemently as I did. There were definitely
aspects of that I could have handled better. But that was when I
realized that I didn't want to be on the side of the bullies, and then
that led to me completely change my beliefs and sense of self. A lot
of which I worked out (and still am working out) through LNH writing.

And now where the themes of The Liminals in general and Masterplan
Lad's arc in particular came from should be a lot clearer.

> I got better as a person, and I think as a result my writing has become more >inclusive and features more empathy and understanding. At least I hope I have >and it has. I know sometimes that that endeavor can be overshadowed by some of >the darkness and depression that seeps in for my characters. Cal Morgan, for >example, is very much not well-adjusted, and is very much not very happy. Not >because she's trans, but because she's human and has the misfortune to be >written by me.

I think dealing with difficult/fucked up emotions and facing up to
that has been one of the strengths of your work since I've been
writing here. I also feel pretty depressive and a lot of my stories
are about facing up to that stuff and trying to find joy on the other
side. Not surprisingly, that's particularly marked with Victoria. A
lot of my work for her has been about her trying to find some kind of
happiness and community while also dealing with issues that can't be
easily overcome.

> I very much envy Drew's ability to write rad queer characters without ever >wallowing-- and to write young people generally. That's one reason why I tapped >him to do KAIJU KORPS (hi Drew!), because I know if I wrote it, the whole thing >would collapse pretty quickly.

Drew's ability to channel unrestrained queerness and joy has been a
continual inspiration for me.

-- 
Adrian "The Dark Spaceknight" McClure, now with sig