The Uber Abode : Talk with the Authors

Author #15: Jane Fletcher



Sobbie : Hi Jane
Jane Fletcher : Hello World
Savmut : Hi Jane
Jane Fletcher : Or would you prefer that in green?
Sobbie : green please
Jane Fletcher : How's that?
Sobbie : wonderful
Sobbie : my favorite color
redbackredback : lol
Savmut : looks good
redbackredback : hey Jane
Savmut : You're just picky, I think the green is nice
Sobbie : you would
Savmut : well I have a black background it nice and bright.
Sobbie : so Jane you finally got the last of Lorimal's Chalice posted
Jane Fletcher : Has everyone read the end of Lorimal's Chalice?
redbackredback : Yes, well done with posting the last of LC..... *S*
redbackredback : yep...
Sobbie : I did
Savmut : yes thank you for getting the last parts up. I was waiting for it
Jane Fletcher : Did you read the appendix?
Sobbie : yup
Sobbie : well done with the rumor story
Jane Fletcher : Some of the feedback I've had complains that I cut the ending too short
Jane Fletcher : What do you think?
Sobbie : actually the last parts posted were the first things I was successful at d/l to my new ebook
Sobbie : well.... kinda
Sobbie : seemed like you spent chapters and chapters going over one week or so
Savmut : I would have liked to see them actually give the Chalice back. Just to see her mother's face.
redbackredback : and her sisters......... *S*
Sobbie : and less than half a chapter on the happily ever after parts
Savmut : yeah.
Jane Fletcher : It was hard to know what to put in
Jane Fletcher : I sometimes read stories that go on way too far after the climax
Jane Fletcher : and they fall flat
Jane Fletcher : So I settled for the irony of the appendix
Sobbie : maybe something like the confrontation at the beach... like in the beginning with the enemy stuff
Sobbie : yeah the irony was good
Sobbie : but then you are talking with voracious readers
Sobbie : who want it ALL
Jane Fletcher : I also felt that Tevi had outgrown the island. I wasn't sure what she had to say to her family
Sobbie : yeah true
Savmut : hehehe yeah. Well she could have taken Jem's idea and kissed her in the middle of the island.
Jane Fletcher : Dangerous - they were totally out numbered
Sobbie : or taken their clothes off and went to town on each other
Jane Fletcher : I did feel there could be an interesting conversation between Jem and Tevi's grandmother
Savmut : It wasn't needed to write more, but it kinda left you wondering "hmmm...I wonder..."
Sobbie : hey speak for yourself....... I always want MORE
Savmut : LOL okay a kiss they might have gotten away with, but I think going to town would have gotten 'em killed
Sobbie : lol kidding
Jane Fletcher : Well, maybe in a year or two I might manage a sequel
Jane Fletcher : I'm not a quick writer
redbackredback : now that would be good........ *S*
Sobbie : hehe
Savmut : ahh, but you are a very good writer and we're all thankful.
Sobbie : too bad we are quick readers
Savmut : a sequel would be good...very good.
Jane Fletcher : I alway rewrite stuff before posting
Jane Fletcher : LC has been completely rewritten 5 times
Savmut : 5 times? wow.
Sobbie : wow
Sobbie : well the effort you put in really shows
redbackredback : I agree, it was very good..... *S*
Sobbie : I am actually working on Celaeno now
Sobbie : 30 pages to go
Jane Fletcher : You got the book
Sobbie : yup right in front of me
theotherjoycetoo : I've done Trail Knife & Celaeno & am now in the Sorcerer part of Lorimal
theotherjoycetoo : I'm going crazy worrying who's going to die.
Jane Fletcher : Celaeno can be hard to get outside the UK
theotherjoycetoo : I had to wait for Celaeno but Amazon got it eventually
Jane Fletcher : They told lots of people that it was unavailable
redbackredback : LC only gets better and better Joyce........ *S*
theotherjoycetoo : RRB- thanks.
Savmut : Yeah well if you stick with Amazon long enough they will eventually get you the book you want.
Jane Fletcher : It goes on and on - ask Tolkien said, it grew in the telling
redbackredback : the last book I ordered from Amazon took about 6 weeks to get.....
theotherjoycetoo : I'm glad it grew. I'm not even halfway through & I wouldn't mind it being twice as long. I just love your characters
Sobbie : I actually ordered Celaeno while waiting for the end of trail knife
Jane Fletcher : LC was the first thing I wrote
Jane Fletcher : It's all my partners fault
Sobbie : hehe
theotherjoycetoo : howzat?
Jane Fletcher : She would let me tell her the story and insisted that I wrote it
Sobbie : got tired of listening to you?
redbackredback : which was a very good idea!.... and we thank her for doing so ........ *S*
theotherjoycetoo : bad sobbie
Jane Fletcher : I used to talk her trough ideas for stories, but one day she refused to listen
theotherjoycetoo : It's amazing that LC was your first.
Jane Fletcher : The first draft was dire
theotherjoycetoo : What's your background, day job, that sort of thing if I may ask?
Jane Fletcher : Software engineer
theotherjoycetoo : what really changed from the first draft?
Jane Fletcher : From the first draft - lots
Jane Fletcher : Names, Tevi was originally called Migg
theotherjoycetoo : I'm jumping right in because dinners waiting
darsarge : Ooooo good change
theotherjoycetoo : Tevi is better than Migg, good call.
Jane Fletcher : Klara was just about the only one to keep the same name throughout
theotherjoycetoo : where do the names come from?
Jane Fletcher : Playing with letters
darsarge : How do you come up with names anyway?
Jane Fletcher : LC was difficult to get viable gender neutral names
theotherjoycetoo : How long ago did you start LC?
Jane Fletcher : In fantasy it's almost an unbroken law that female names end on vowels
darsarge : Gender neutral can be hard, then again are there really any "guy" names left?
Jane Fletcher : In the Protectorate it wouldn't make sense
Jane Fletcher : Some. There are certainly female type names- I don't think I could get away with a man called Tanasia
darsarge : Frankly you're just about the only fantasy writer I like
Sobbie : why do female names end in a vowel?
Jane Fletcher : Softer and more dainty sounding
Sobbie : oh
darsarge : that makes sense I guess
Jane Fletcher : Even Xena ends in 'A'
darsarge : So have you started your next story?
Savmut : I'm trying to think of a girl's name that doesn't end in a vowel...I can't think of one.
Sobbie : true
Sobbie : Susan
Jane Fletcher : And I think a boy names after her (cradle of hope) was call Xenan
darsarge : Shannon
Savmut : thanks
Jane Fletcher : Meryl
theotherjoycetoo : Darn. Gotta go. I really love your writing & your characters & your plots & I hope you keep writing for a long time.Everybody ask good questions I'll be checking the transcript. bye!
Jane Fletcher : Which is where Jemeryl finally came from
tyroarcher : Edell
darsarge : have you got another story in the works yet?
Jane Fletcher : So what was the next question - I think I missed a few back a bit
Sobbie : oh that makes sense for her name
Sobbie : um so far we have 2 questions missed
Sobbie : when did you start LC
tyroarcher : Haven't had a chance to read LC just yet.
Sobbie : and have you started on your next book
Jane Fletcher : It was in winter, ten years ago
darsarge : Ten years?? wow
Jane Fletcher : The first draft took 6 months
Jane Fletcher : The second draft took 5 years
koachonee : Sorry if this is a repeat. Where do you get your fantastic story ideas from?
Jane Fletcher : the third draft took 2 years
darsarge : You're not going to make us wait that long for another are you???LOL
Jane Fletcher : I write a lot quicker now
tyroarcher : where or did you attend college?
darsarge : that's a relief
Jane Fletcher : The World Celaeno chose took 6 weeks for the first draft
Jane Fletcher : I alway put a story aside for 6 months after finishing the first draft
darsarge : fresh eyes and all that hey?
Jane Fletcher : Then I re draft
Sobbie : wow 10 years vs 6 weeks
Jane Fletcher : The reason that LC took so long was that at first my writing style sucked
darsarge : I hope you've got one that's been put aside for about 5 1/2 months now
Jane Fletcher : afraid not
darsarge : Damn!
Sobbie : lol
Jane Fletcher : I've got a couple of ideas
Sobbie : where do you get your ideas from
Jane Fletcher : One is for a science fiction story
Jane Fletcher : Then I have a very vague idea for a sequel to LC
darsarge : Well get on it woman! You're adoring fans are waiting!
Jane Fletcher : I also hoping to catch up on reading (g)
darsarge : An LC sequel would be cool. I'd have liked to have seen Tevi kick her sister's butt for one
Sobbie : nope no reading just writing
Jane Fletcher : It makes me a more balanced person
darsarge : She's got a point there sobbie
Sobbie : who cares about balance...I want to read.
redbackredback : lol
Savmut : lol
darsarge : Okay, you've got a point too..
Jane Fletcher : Ideas - I usually start with an image
darsarge : an image?
Jane Fletcher : For LC it was a blind warrior meeting a sorcerer in a castle
darsarge : Ahh, gotcha
Jane Fletcher : I didn't know who they were or how they got there
Sobbie : good place to start
Jane Fletcher : I spent a lot of time working out their history
darsarge : so you had write the story to get them there..
Jane Fletcher : which put them in the middle of a story, which I then had to resolve
darsarge : well it sure paid off
Jane Fletcher : Once I'd worked out all the plot i went to tell Lizzy about it
Jane Fletcher : and, as I said above, she refused to listen
darsarge : why?
Jane Fletcher : It was about the 15th idea for a story I'd told her
Jane Fletcher : she insisted I write it
darsarge : OH Okay
Sobbie : lol
darsarge : Good for her!
redbackredback : Which is good for us!
darsarge : great for us
Jane Fletcher : For Celaeno the start was 2 women standing in a stable kissing, who shouldn't have been there
Jane Fletcher : And again I had to work out the back story and then resolve the issues
Jane Fletcher : Some writers have a beginning and just dive into the story
Sobbie : and did trail knife come out of that back story?
Jane Fletcher : I'm at the other extreme, and don't write a word until I have the whole plot worked out
Jane Fletcher : Trail knife came while I was proof-reading Celaeno for publication
Jane Fletcher : There's an exchange between Kim and Lynn that got me thinking 'why?'
Sobbie : so chip made herself known
tyroarcher : Have not been able to find Celaeno on the net, is it only available in book form?
Jane Fletcher : Afraid so
Sobbie : its worth the purchase
Jane Fletcher : I wrote it before I had internet access
tyroarcher : that's cool,where can i get it
darsarge : it's on my x-mas list
Sobbie : I read it when trail knife came out and am about 30 pages to go on a reread
Sobbie : I went to my local bookstore and had them order it
Jane Fletcher : If all else fails Libertas in York have a lot in stock
Jane Fletcher : You might even get a signed copy
Sobbie : but its a UK publication so not easy to find in US
tyroarcher : thanks
Jane Fletcher : I signed a few for them when I was at a UK lesbian book festival a couple of weeks back
Jane Fletcher : But my signature is not very pretty
Sobbie : are there any UK lesbians?
Savmut : You mean in the room right Sobbie?
Jane Fletcher : I used to wonder that in my youth
Sobbie : lol
Sobbie : I thought all the lesbians were deported to australia
redbackredback : lol
Jane Fletcher : I remember being 18 in a restroom, some one had written 'Lesbians are everywhere' on the wall
Jane Fletcher : some one else had written 'So why can't I find one'
Sobbie : hehe
Savmut : lol
tyroarcher : i still wonder about the people in my hick town, so closed minded
Jane Fletcher : I didn't know whether to laugh or cry
Sobbie : the nearest lesbian to me is 45 miles away
Jane Fletcher : Luckily, the nearest lesbian to me in next door, and had just made me a cup of tea
Sobbie : wow
Savmut : cool
tyroarcher : lucky u
Jane Fletcher : The book festival was great
Jane Fletcher : just like being a proper writer
koachonee : I live in a neighborhood with three households in a row and two more across the street.
tyroarcher : what else do you do besides writing if you have the time?
Jane Fletcher : software engineer
Sobbie : wow koa thats a wonderful neighborhood
Jane Fletcher : cook
Jane Fletcher : read
Jane Fletcher : play with my cat
koachonee : Do you work from home?
Jane Fletcher : yes
Jane Fletcher : it's great, no company dress code
Jane Fletcher : and the coffee is better
koachonee : lol
Sobbie : ahhh going to work in your jammies
Jane Fletcher : only in winter
Jane Fletcher : summer is too hot for jammies
tyroarcher : wish i could
tyroarcher : so your swimsuit?
Sobbie : ahhh naked programmers
tyroarcher : lol
Jane Fletcher : what was the other questions I missed?
koachonee : Did you do any research for the magical aspects of LC or did you just pull that out of your imagination?
Sobbie : have you got any thing in the works now?
tyroarcher : what does a software engineer really do, not to up on the whole computer thing
Jane Fletcher : the magic in LC is totally my invention
koachonee : Wow! Awesome.
Jane Fletcher : It's not even magic as you find in most books
Sobbie : I was talking with a straight woman about books yesterday
Jane Fletcher : I think my science background shows
Sobbie : she saw I was reading LC and was really interested
koachonee : That's why I asked. My sister was into magic for a while until she got freaked out.
Sobbie : she said she is tired of boring romances and loved a good mystery
Sobbie : when I said it was fantasy as well as murder mystery I almost got her to read it
Jane Fletcher : Does it also show that I'm a fan of Agatha Christie?
Sobbie : till I told her it was lesbian
Sobbie : and only available on the computer
tyroarcher : she freaked huh?
Sobbie : it was the puter that stopped her
koachonee : Was she a techno phobe?
Sobbie : no she didn't freak she just doesn't have or want puter access
Sobbie : yep techno phobe not homophobe
Sobbie : I suppose I could be nice and print it out for her
Jane Fletcher : I will probably submit LC to RAP books when the Silver Dragon imprint is accepting them again
Savmut : You could be
Sobbie : but I am a print phobe
Savmut : LOL, whimp
redbackredback : that would be great Jane....... *S*
Sobbie : what...... I like my techy toys
tyroarcher : but printing is easy
Sobbie : sounds great
Jane Fletcher : It's not a small book - it would be a lot of printing
koachonee : I know what you mean. My partner will probably be receiving an EBook from me this year, so I can save a few (thousand) trees.
Jane Fletcher : about 400 sheets
Sobbie : ebooks are the best invention I have ever seen
Savmut : wow, lots of printing. I think my printer hasn't even printed 400 sheets ever, and I've had it for over a year.
rachpena : especially for fan fiction readers
Savmut : you are addicted to your ebook though Sobbie
koachonee : She's been begging me to print out LC because of all the comments I've made about it. Perhaps I'll just get the EBook and download it on there for her.
Sobbie : yeah i did end up having to print most of part 3 and it was 58 pages at 8 point font
Jane Fletcher : 240,000 words (give or take a few)
koachonee : A lot of words, but they're put together so well!
rachpena : and I think it ended to soon
Jane Fletcher : Other people have said that
Sobbie : yes but its a better drug than crack
Sobbie : though almost as expensive... and when internet or ebook is down I go through physical withdrawls
Jane Fletcher : I'm thinking of making my own web site - I've got no excuse not to, except that it's what I do for work
koachonee : The ending was a bit abrupt, but I'm not sure if it's because I was so disappointed that it ended or what?
Sobbie : would the web site be for you fiction?
Jane Fletcher : If (when) I do I might put up a page or two from the first draft so people can see how my writing has changed
Sobbie : ohhhhhh scary
Jane Fletcher : It's got better
koachonee : That would be great. I love looking at humble beginnings.
Savmut : cool i'd love to see that.
Jane Fletcher : It's more semi-illiterate beginnings
Sobbie : hey thats why they invented grammar checker
koachonee : I find that most difficult to believe. What did you do to change that?
Jane Fletcher : All the writing I did at school, but it was only when I started writing that I learned how to put prose together
Sobbie : and you do it very well
Jane Fletcher : has anyone read 'the queen of magpies', it's the story that has had the least feedback
Sobbie : well that was the plan when I bought it... a year ago
Jane Fletcher : it's the only first person I've ever written
Sobbie : I think I did... about the time trail knife came out
Sobbie : do you have a thing for magpies?
Savmut : I think I have also, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Sobbie : My TBS is in full force and I cant remember
Jane Fletcher : now you mention it, yes
Sobbie : what is a magpie?
Jane Fletcher : It was a lot of fun to write
Jane Fletcher : our last cat was part magpie
Jane Fletcher : she used to steal anything shiny
Sobbie : hehe
Jane Fletcher : she had little treasure stores around the house
Savmut : lol
Sobbie : my cats leave treasures around
Jane Fletcher : it was quite touching when you came across he store of worldly wealth
Sobbie : but they are never fun to find
Jane Fletcher : silver foil, wire, Christmas decorations, coin
Sobbie : ahh my cats leave me body parts
Jane Fletcher Lizzy had just out done herself and brought me both a cup of tea *and* a glass of whiskey
Sobbie : wow
Sobbie : I never get that kind of treatment
Savmut : you don't drink
Jane Fletcher : and she's got dark hair
Sobbie : yeah that might be it
Sobbie : dark hair is a good thing
Sobbie : but I can do without whiskey and tea
Savmut : yeah...I know gatorade and coffee
Jane Fletcher : how can you do without tea?
Savmut : I over-dosed on it as a child
Sobbie : tea is for wimps
Jane Fletcher : surely it comes second only to air?
Sobbie : nah thats coffee
Savmut : 7-up
js82640 : all are mistaken... it's dr. pepper
Jane Fletcher : wimps? you could skate mice on my tea
Sobbie : eww now that is a description I know I don't want to use on anything I put in my mouth
Savmut : haha how strong is that?
tyroarcher : I like tea hot and cold brewed strong
tyroarcher : but i love Mountain Dew
Sobbie : dr pepper is one of those southern things
js82640 : pure texas
Savmut : Mountain dew is okay once in a while It's a bit to sweet for me.
Jane Fletcher : I remember a friend describing some awful biscuits as the second worst thing she'd ever put in her mouth
tyroarcher : dr pepper is good also
Sobbie : and the first?
Jane Fletcher : She recently come out as lesbian, but she had been married. We used our imaginations
Sobbie : lol
tyroarcher : lol
Savmut : lol
Savmut : but..eww
Sobbie : hehe
tyroarcher : plenty of mouth wash, huh?
Sobbie : lol
Savmut : mouth wash? I'm thinking Lysol rinse
tyroarcher : that would work too
Sobbie : so when did you come out Jane?
Jane Fletcher : when I was 19 or so, back in the 70s
Jane Fletcher : It struck me today that in Xena fanfic my tendency to assume that everyone is lesbian, but they aren't
Savmut : hehe yeah it's a shock sometimes to learn who isn't.
Jane Fletcher : it throws the normal preconceptions on their head
Sobbie : yeah it has come to my attention that a lot of the authors are actually men
Sobbie : and many of the women are straight married types
Jane Fletcher : I wonder if finding out that a given writer is straight is a bit like a straight person finding out someone is gay
Savmut : not a lot really, just a lot more than we assumed
Sobbie : The first time I found out that one of the authors I liked was male...
Jane Fletcher : I'm not exactly shocked, but I have some mental re adjustment to do
Sobbie : my reverse prejudice kicked in
Sobbie : and i still have not read anything else by him
Sobbie : I think I have matured some... but it still irks me when the name they use to write by is not gender specific so I know in advance
Jane Fletcher : I'd always assumed m/m slash was written by gay men
Sobbie : and if I am "fooled" I wont continue reading
Sobbie : I will read male authors if I know before hand they are male
Savmut : oh no I've read m/m slash and almost all of it was written by women
Jane Fletcher : so I've learned
Sobbie : you have Savmut
Jane Fletcher : was it any good?
Savmut : Yeah by far the one I liked the most was...actually a Aries/Joxer fanfic
Sobbie : god not joxer
Jane Fletcher : I can see the possibilities for humour
Savmut : heheh hey she wrote Joxer like a real person not comic relief. let me find the link for you Jane
Savmut : it was the War God series: http://members.tripod.com/~AiR_WSW/Athea2.html
Jane Fletcher : writing Joxer like a real person must take some doing
Sobbie : yeah
Savmut : It was very very well written. I sorta fell into reading the first one (I was starving for something to read) and then I *had* to finish the entire series
Sobbie : had to finish?
Jane Fletcher : I can't imagine writing straight stories
Savmut : When I started reading it there were 39 parts to it
Savmut : there are no 41 (I haven't read the newest two)
Sobbie : oh ok
Jane Fletcher : You put so much effort and imagination into a story
Sobbie : I cant imagine wanting to read straight stories anymore
Savmut : I've written *a* straight story. I deleted it after a while, because I just didn't like how it turned out.
Jane Fletcher : I find hetrosexuality tedious
tyroarcher : but Joxer
Jane Fletcher : I think I'd get bored writing
Sobbie : I'd get sick writing joxer
tyroarcher : i find it boring as hell
Sobbie : and I wouldn't know how to write a het relationship
Savmut : yeah well I kinda rushed the ending on it because someone wanted me to finish it, but I wasn't into it.
Jane Fletcher : I'd have to write is as lesbian and change one character to male in the final draft
Savmut : heheh I didn't know how to write one either I just kinda wrote what sounds okay, and let the straight girls that were reading it tell me if anything was off or not.
Jane Fletcher : I don't know if you've heard of the writer Val MacDermid - UK lesbian crime writer
Sobbie : I haven't
Savmut : Yeah that would work Jane, but then... I don't know if you start it as lesbian i'd think you'd have to leave it that way. you can't really change I'd think it would feel weird.
tyroarcher : no
Savmut : nope haven't
Jane Fletcher : she was at the festival, and was talking about writing a male protagonist
Jane Fletcher : she said she had to be doing it right, because no man has come up to her and said
Jane Fletcher : "You've got it wrong, impotence isn't like that."
Savmut : lol
tyroarcher : funny
Sobbie : lol
Jane Fletcher : it got a big laugh at the festival as well
tyroarcher : Libertas did have your book btw
Jane Fletcher : they got a lot into stock for the book fest
Jane Fletcher : I read a quote form Helen Mirram the actress along the lines of
Jane Fletcher : "Script writers say they have trouble writing for women. It's easy, write for a man and call him Jennifer"
Jane Fletcher : It was the principle I used for the appendix to Celaeno
Jane Fletcher : I wrote in first person as for a woman, and called her Peter
Sobbie : actually I just got to the appendix there
Sobbie : was wondering cause I didn't think men wrote diaries
Savmut : men don't. they write "journals"
Savmut : sorta the same way boys don't have dolls they have "action figures"
Jane Fletcher : My boss is a guy, and he read it and didn't say it felt wrong
Sobbie : ok
Sobbie : must have made trail and Celaeno a bit easier to write
Sobbie : basically no men at all
Sobbie : till the appendix
Jane Fletcher : I have a good gay male friend. He had two action figures. He remembers hid brother asking if you could really fire a machine gun it that position
Sobbie : hehe
Jane Fletcher : he was only about 8 at the time, but they could have seen what was coming
Savmut : lol
Jane Fletcher : having no men makes it more fun to write
Sobbie : you still deal with prejudice in a lot of ways though
Jane Fletcher : a lot of women-only-world still have men as outsiders and the enemy
Jane Fletcher : but women make the best villains - like Callisto
Sobbie : yeah when I first read Celaeno I was almost expecting the western place to be a haven for males
Jane Fletcher : in Celaeno and trail knife because there was no issue about being lesbian
Jane Fletcher : I could write about lesbians as people, rather than as lesbians, if you know what I mean
Sobbie : yeah everyone was lesbian so the conflicts were more about the person instead of the orientation
Savmut : yeah.
Jane Fletcher : it was interesting, especially in trail knife, to have lesbian relationships as the conventional bedrock of society
Sobbie : yeah but they still had a hell of a time getting together
Jane Fletcher : Even in Lorimal, once Tevi has left the islands, being gay is not an issue, although it takes her a time to realize
Sobbie : ahh ok
Jane Fletcher : I like making issues out of other things, it's what science fiction does best
Jane Fletcher : does anyone here read much science fiction?
Sobbie : I thought it funny that she could not tell the difference between men and women off the island
Savmut : I used to, but not as much now
Sobbie : I used to .... before I discovered FF which is what I read now
Sobbie : not much lesbian oriented Sci fi around
Jane Fletcher : have you read much by Samuel Delany
Sobbie : not I
Savmut : nope
tyroarcher : not really, used to read mainly horror, now i read ff
Jane Fletcher : his last couple of books aren't so good, but his earliest stuff is the best I've ever read
tyroarcher : so much better
Sobbie : titles?
Jane Fletcher : start with Babble 17
Sobbie : yeah ff works better with my lifestyle
Sobbie : oh ok
Sobbie : but most popular books are straight and ya know... I could care less about whether or not the boy gets laid
Jane Fletcher : there's a short story by him 'Aye and Gomorrah'
Sobbie : sounds pretty bible based
tyroarcher : i do subscribe to the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction but I have about 20 issues that I have not read yet, just not enough time in the day
Jane Fletcher : in it spacers are neutered before adolescence
Sobbie : oh
tyroarcher : ouch!
Savmut : that mag is really good for Sci-fi reading. one of the few i would consider a subscription to
Sobbie : my dad had a subscription to it
Jane Fletcher : the spacers are high status people - unlike gender indeterminate babies today
Sobbie : had vol 1 num 1 through about a year ago
tyroarcher : yeah i enjoyed the story How to Make Unicorn Pie
Sobbie : he decided that it wasn't worth it anymore.
Jane Fletcher : and, having created a third sex, he creates a group who are attracted to them -the frelks
Sobbie : he lost total interest in it
Sobbie : sounds like a really interesting premise
Savmut : sounds very cool.
Jane Fletcher : the thing about the story, is that you read it without any preconceptions about the spacers or the frelks
Jane Fletcher : unlike any existing 'deviency' you've never heard jokes about them
Sobbie : true
Jane Fletcher : what you're left with is a rather bleak story about sex, love, what you want, and what you can get
tyroarcher : sounds like a good story
Sobbie : is bleak good?
Jane Fletcher : it was when I read it, aged 17
Sobbie : well usually bleak story and good story are not very compatible
tyroarcher : i didn't read much at that age i was more into sports
Sobbie : I have read about 10 hours a day since I was like 5 years old
Savmut : I was reading a lot by that time, almost a book a day or more
Jane Fletcher : there's a list of alternate sexualities in science fiction
tyroarcher : i don't get to read much now a days because of work 12 to 14 hours a day
Jane Fletcher : at http://www.mamohanraj.com/
Jane Fletcher : there are masses of books listed
Jane Fletcher : not all are gay, but there's usually a note to say why it's in the list
Sobbie : sounds like a good list
Jane Fletcher : ie, lesbian characters, sex with plants, bi sexual aliens etc
Sobbie : but does gay mean boy boy or does it distinguish
Jane Fletcher : I rather likes the sound of the book with a tri-sexual protagonist - he'll try anything
Sobbie : hmm I guess I am prejudiced
Sobbie : I don't mind reading F/F and a little M/F but don't wanna know how the boys do it
Jane Fletcher : as long as the writer can make me care about the characters I'll read virtually anything
Jane Fletcher : it's just easier to care about lesbians
Sobbie : true
Jane Fletcher : I think I'm going to have to pack it in about now
Sobbie : ok
Jane Fletcher : It's been nearly 4.5 hours
Sobbie : Thank you for coming Jane
Jane Fletcher : is that a record?
tyroarcher : ok been fun, thanks
Jane Fletcher : thanks for inviting me
Sobbie : and Thank you for sharing your insight into the stories
Jane Fletcher : I've really enjoyed it
Sobbie : not even close to the record
Jane Fletcher : what's the longest?
Sobbie : um I think it was around 10 hours
Jane Fletcher : eek
Sobbie : lol
Jane Fletcher : thanks again, and bye
Sobbie : night Jane

 

We would like to thank all the people who participated in this chat ...
and especially the author who was willing to talk to us all ...Jane Fletcher ...
thank you

 

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