It’s still August 31 in Anchorage, but in some parts of the world — most of it by now, in fact — it’s already Outer Alliance Pride Day. That means that around the world, Outer Alliance members are already posting excerpts from their fiction, opinion pieces, and other writings related to the Outer Alliance pledge, which reads:
As a member of the Outer Alliance, I advocate for queer speculative fiction and those who create, publish and support it, whatever their sexual orientation and gender identity. I make sure this is reflected in my actions and my work.
Since I live in one of the last time zones to experience September 1, my Pride Day post will be one of the last posted — to be exact, at the stroke of 1 minutes after midnight, Alaska Standard time.
But the Outer Alliance Twitter feed has already announced publication of several Pride Day posts, so I’m collecting them here. (And will update later this evening before I go to bed… before my post is posted, probably.)
Here they are so far:
- Anna Caro — Wellington, New Zealand
- Sam Fleming — Edinbugh, Scotland
- Lynne Jamneck — a South African living in Wellington, New Zealand
- Christopher Fletcher (M-Brane SF) — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He also has an “adult content” Pride entry at his LiveJournal blog.
- Cesar Torres — Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Mari Kurisato — hikkimori
- Paul Evanby — Dutch writer living in (I think) Iran
- Benjamin Solah — Melbourne, Australia
Outer Alliance also has a list here — but note that some of them (including mine) aren’t live yet. (Unless you’re reading this post a few hours later than when I’m posting it.)
What is the Outer Alliance? Per its inaugual post:
Welcome to the Outer Alliance. So far, the idea is that the blog functions on three levels: education, support, and celebration of LGBT contributions in SF/F writing.
Who is invited into the Outer Alliance? Anyone who supports the community’s tenets and is committed to engaging in intelligent discussion about LGBT issues in SF/F. This is a group founded in the belief that the best course against bigotry and discrimination is by rising above it, not stooping down to it.
This group is open to all writers (professionals and fledgelings alike) of SF/F (speculative, horror, paranormal, etc)–and their friends–of any inclination. The idea is that this is an alliance, so as long as you uphold the tenets of the Outer Alliance (see below) you’re welcome in.
- The Outer Alliance is a group of SF/F writers and friends dedicated to LGBT advocacy through education, support, and celebration.
- As a member of the Outer Alliance I pledge to uphold the tenets of education, support, and celebration of LGBT contributions to the science-fiction and fantasy genres through my actions and work, online and in print.
Things we hope to accomplish: blog articles, guest posts, community shout-outs, web-badges, newsletters, mailing lists. This is in no way meant to be a group that bombards you with information every ten minutes; I’m thinking a monthly newsletter, and biweekly mailing list announcements (we’ll cross post to the blog, as well, with celebrations of stories sold/published, important news, etc.)
If you’d like to join the Outer Alliance please visit our GoogleGroups page and fill out the form.
