Gay Science Fiction Comes Of Age With A Vengeance

Buckeroo Bonsai

By Buckeroo Bonsai, reposted from NARC Central

 Since the 1970s, science fiction has been no stranger to gay action. There are numerous SF stories with gay characters (and this is much more true in books than in the Hollywood product. Mel Keegan talks about the gay SF genre right here). But the curious reader is soon asking a tricky question...

What's true gay science fiction ... and what is an SF novel with an occasional gay reference? Does a gay-friendly reference here and there make a novel into a gay book? MK has been asking this same question for some time; and the answer is so convoluted, each reader has to decide from him- or herself. For example, how much would it astonish you to learn that Moby Dick has been listed in the 'best gay novels of all time' category? We were surprised. We've read it! What did we miss?

Which is a good way of saying, if the gay 'subtext' is so subtle that even we didn't see it till it was pointed out to us ... are you absolutely positive it was a gay novel (film, show, whatever), or could you be reading into it something that isn't actually there? Carl Sagan coined the phrase, 'Where there are strong emotions, we are liable to fool ourselves.'

There is, however, no such doubt when Mel Keegan's imagination turns to the science fiction genre. There is nothing subtle about these novels. The up-front, 'in your face' treatment of gay heroes, lifestyles, themes, issues, is like the proverbial breath of fresh air.

The NARC series is not written for younger readers; and it's probably true that the mainstream SF readership probably still isn't quite ready for these novels either. The books are just a tad bit too forthright ... no 'pussy-footing' around any bush, no messing about with 'subtext' material which leaves you wondering if you actually saw what you think you just saw, or if it was all in your imagination!

(Mainstream SF readers are quite ready to accept gay characters; but what about the gay equivalent of the straight romance novel's love scenes? If you've taken a quick look at what's going on between the covers of the bodice-rippers these days, they're steamier than a lot of 'adult' novels were just a few decades ago; and SF has always had an erotic vein. Now, what happens when you replace straight steam with bent steam? This is an excellent question, and don't miss MK's discussion on the topic!)

If a novel is going to explore gay SF honestly, it needs to deliver on its promises, actually BE a gay novel rather than a straight novel with a gay character who appears now and then — on other words, the 'token gay.' (In American TV,some time ago, a series would have a 'token black,' a character who was somewhat gratuitously created as an African-American, so the series could legally claim to have to racial bias. Gay chatracters in the Hollywood product are still struggling to achieve that dubious status, but we can live in hopes. Plus, a decade or so after the 'token character' makes an appearance, mainstream shows start to get genuine characters, with genuine stories written for them. And that's something to hold on for.) In an unpredictable genre which often fails to deliver the goods, the NARC series over-delivers. Mel Keegan seemed to set up the scenario and characters on the first novel, and then let them off the leash, let them run. Readers are carried along with them at break-neck velocity, and when the action becomes intimate, your reading glasses will certainly steam up.

It's a twenty-fourth century that would conceivably give conservative old Gene Roddenberry a complex. This future is an era when men could be real women if they wanted to, and women could be real men, and no one would even notice what was going on, becuse gender liberation has happened, past tense, and there are bigger issues to worry about. Gay science fiction, more than any other genre, has the potential to examine alternative futures which might easily become real. Mel Keegan's work has a strangely oracular 'feel' about it.

Kevin Jarrat and Jerry Stone are very much products of their own century. Jarrat can swing both ways, but when he falls in love, his preference is Stoney. Meanwhile, Stone is less 'omnisexual' (it's that a lovely term? It was coined only recently, for Captain Jack), and luckily for readers, his fantasies run along the lines of Jarrat. The two are drawn together by an irresistible magnetism, but circumstances beyond your imagination conspire to keep them apart for just long enough that the reader is ready to throw the first book down and stamp on it when ... all is resolved, and revealed.

The series has run to five titles. The first, Death's Head, written around fifteen years ago, is the best-known to most readers, and the latest, Aphelion, is said to be the author's own favorite. Most readers couldn't choose a favorite if they were under the gun, but Aphelion beings the super-carrier NARC-Athena back to the solar system, Earth and Mars, and it is certainly the jewel of the series. This reviewer loves them all equally, and is hoping to see a sixth volume eventually!