Woo! 103 backers and 126 pre-orders!
A Beast Requires is the Write Out Loud Syndicate’s selection for October, which also happens to be LGBTQIA+ History Month! You have no idea how much this means to me. When I was a tiny little queerling, my life was an absolute mess. The late 80’s and early 90’s weren’t particularly kind, especially to a kid growing up in the suburban sprawl of Cincinnati. There weren’t a whole lot of LGBTQIA+ people in media, especially positive ones. Most of the time they were either stock villains, AIDS patients, or some sinister force serving as an antagonist. Of course, there was Divine, but at 8, I had no clue who Divine was, let alone had even seen a John Waters movie.
As I got older, and was able to find queer cinema, it improved, but there was still a lack of a LGBTQIA+ presence in fantasy and scifi, which were my go to genres of escapism. It wasn’t until the revival of a popular British tv show that I saw an actual representation of me in the media, someone who wasn’t 100% straight or 100% gay, and I fell in love with Captain Jack the moment my baby blue eyes first saw him.
Diversity does not exist in a vacuum, and any character’s defining characteristics should never be their race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. When I started A Beast Requires, it was without question that the city of Aurum would be a diverse place, and part of that diversity was having LGBTQIA+ characters. Deputy Rilley, resident alchemist and mail order academic, is a trans man, and in a world where dragons are bankers and wizards use magic to grow pineapples in winter, no one bats an eye. Diversity in Aurum is a part of life, and when the nice troll drag queen asks you if she looks pretty in her dress, you say yes.
Then there’s Priz, who openly states with pride that he, in fact, loves everybody. Having a pansexual character, who loves without limitations, wasn’t difficult for me to write. Hells, Priz himself wasn’t difficult for me to write, since I was Priz for most of my life pre-2010. Out of all the things Priz is, and trust me in that there are a lot of them, his sexual orientation is the least interesting thing about him. I could have gone the entire book without mentioning it, but I had to. Agency is important, and by having that one line, he becomes a visible member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Being selected by the Write Out Loud Syndicate means the world to me. It’s an absolute honor, and I am damn proud to be part of the community.
- Jay
Thank you everyone that has been following Human Resources here on Inkshares. Today I received some exciting news. Actually, "exciting" doesn’t cut the mustard in this circumstance.
Today, The Launchpad Manuscript competition announced its Top 75 finalists -- and Human Resources is in the list! I am humbled, excited, and a little intimidated -- but I am strapped in and ready for the ride now taking off.
If you don’t know about the Launchpad Manuscript Competition -- it is one of the "Inkshares" competitions, but a little different to their others. This one is run independently in conjunction with Energy Entertainment and Scott Free Productions
Apart from being a partnership, this competition differs from Inkshares regular fair by having an expert judging phase -- entrants had to submit a traditional synopsis and up to 50 pages of manuscript for industry judges to assess.
The Top 75 have been selected by that panel.
You get to pick the winners (hint -- pick me).
At some point there will be a more traditional Inkshares crowdfunding competition -- I’ll be reaching out to you when that happens. For now, I’m just too excited not to share the news!
Robert
(