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A review by ericawrites
Bending The Landscape: Science Fiction by Nicola Griffith
2.0
A real mixed bag and most of them not great. It is interesting to read queer stories after good HIV meds were available and before marriage equality, or perhaps evoking of my late teens. Visions of the future were also extremely different pre-9/11.
The best stories were:
"Time (g-slur)" by Ellen Klages - the downside is the title, the rest is intriguing and looks at time travel in the way only a marginalized person would.
"Silent Passion" by Kathleen O'Malley - which was my favorite as it's a romance, found family trope, and an exploration of disability (specifically deafness) as an advantage in diplomacy and study of different alien species on other worlds.
"Dance at the Edge" by L. Timmel Duchamp - perhaps one of the few metaphor manifestations of queerness that actually works, plus an actual f/f couple.
"On Vacation" by Ralph A. Sperry - what happens when a workaholic alien is dragged to P-town by his husband.
The anthology very much focuses on only G & L stories. There was one gender story, about an AI becoming a real girl that felt trans, but I don't think it was intended.
A big downside was that straight authors also contributed, which feels very 1999. Sometimes, it felt extremely awkwardly obvious that a story was written by a straight person. Especially if homophobia came up and felt like a fun house mirror reflection of homophobia.
There were a few tacky homophobia focused stories and one where an enslaver falls in love with the man he's enslaved. Gross.
I probably would've enjoyed this more if I'd read it when I bought it years ago. I've had it on my shelf since at least 2003.
The best stories were:
"Time (g-slur)" by Ellen Klages - the downside is the title, the rest is intriguing and looks at time travel in the way only a marginalized person would.
"Silent Passion" by Kathleen O'Malley - which was my favorite as it's a romance, found family trope, and an exploration of disability (specifically deafness) as an advantage in diplomacy and study of different alien species on other worlds.
"Dance at the Edge" by L. Timmel Duchamp - perhaps one of the few metaphor manifestations of queerness that actually works, plus an actual f/f couple.
"On Vacation" by Ralph A. Sperry - what happens when a workaholic alien is dragged to P-town by his husband.
The anthology very much focuses on only G & L stories. There was one gender story, about an AI becoming a real girl that felt trans, but I don't think it was intended.
A big downside was that straight authors also contributed, which feels very 1999. Sometimes, it felt extremely awkwardly obvious that a story was written by a straight person. Especially if homophobia came up and felt like a fun house mirror reflection of homophobia.
There were a few tacky homophobia focused stories and one where an enslaver falls in love with the man he's enslaved. Gross.
I probably would've enjoyed this more if I'd read it when I bought it years ago. I've had it on my shelf since at least 2003.