The feisty and fabulous Melissa Moorer has weighed in on Always, and I don’t want y’all to miss it. So consider this a brief Always Week revival. Among the things she has to say is:
So, since I’m in a brain cloud, I’m going to do what shouldn’t be done and talk about the queer thing. I realize that this is a no-no. There’s the fear that this will somehow ghettoize these books (and therefore doom them to mediocre sales) and Yes, I know, we’re supposed to be talking about the writing, the structure, the characters, but Aud’s gay! And strong! And this is (surprisingly) not a combination I see very often. In fact, I’ve seen the argument repeatedly that we shouldn’t want strong female characters to be gay (I’ve seen this argument most around Starbuck, and typically made by lesbians) because that would somehow stereotype all strong women as lesbians. Why is this so terrible? Apparently it is. Most of the lesbians in media are very…well, they certainly couldn’t kill anyone with a flashlight. In fact, I’m pretty sure they couldn’t change a tire or make a fist either. They’re almost always stripped of strength, power, and anything that signifies butch and or even queer. They read as straight girls (and I mean that in the worst possible, hyper-feminized way)…who just happen to like other girls. And the tough women? They’re almost always straight (Starbuck, Ripley, The new Bionic Woman, Faith, Buffy, Sydney, Veronica Mars). I’ve even seen people argue vehemently that Vasquez in Aliens was straight, which completely breaks my brain, but it’s not like there’s any concrete evidence to the contrary.
You’ll really, really want to go read the rest.
Meanwhile over at the LBC, Levi Asher has taken over the discussion reins and is doing some fun stuff in honor of Katharine Weber’s Triangle. Don’t miss: this excellent interview, her 5X5 books, and some thoughts from Scott Esposito.