A short piece in today's Guardian by Damien Walter finds the universal in calls for science fiction literature to reflect post-binary gender and embrace the queer. He argues such novels have already established cross-over appeal. Two of the three below appeared on Thebes' annual poll.
"...However accurate a queer future might be, SF authors must continue to pander to the bigotry of conservative readers if they want to be 'commercial.'
"Which is of course nonsense. The science fiction novels of Iain M Banks [like Use of Weapons
] were bestsellers many times over, in part because the future they explored was openly queer. Citizens of Banks' future society the Culture have the ability to change their sex at will, and frequently shift between sexes and gender roles. Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312
became both a bestseller and multiple award winner with a vision of the future that included fluid non-binary gender. And Nicola Griffith's historical epic Hild, nominated for this year's Nebula awards by members of the SFWA, is built around a bisexual protagonist."
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