Queer Eye
Bouchercon 2025 is nearly upon us. You probably already know that I have a new Angel Dare book out now, but I’m also part of a unique and remarkable anthology coming out on September 2nd. It’s called CRIME INK: ICONIC and it's fucking aces. I’m so proud to be a part of it!
In 2023, a study of thirty major crime fiction anthologies revealed A disturbing figure: of the 517 stories published, fewer than one percent were written by LGBTQ+ authors. That statistic speaks volumes—not only about ongoing exclusion in publishing, but about whose stories are deemed worthy of telling. Enter Crime Ink: Iconic, a new anthology co-edited by award-winning novelist John Copenhaver and Bywater Books publisher Salem West. A vibrant and unapologetic collection of crime fiction stories inspired by queer icons—James Baldwin, Radclyffe Hall, Candy Darling, Oscar Wilde, Megan Rapinoe, Laverne Cox, and more—Crime Ink offers a necessary course correction for a genre that has historically sidelined queer voices.
The stories in this book are so compelling and so necessary, now more so than ever. We’re up against a regime whose primary and most devastating weapon has been the deliberate and systematic devaluing of empathy. There is a concerted effort underway to censor our voices, to restrict or eliminate access to our books in schools and public libraries and to label stories based on our lived experiences as “woke propaganda,” inherently obscene, or even pornography.
These two things are not separate, but intimately connected. Because nothing builds empathy like reading and sharing stories. You can’t see people as vermin to be eliminated if you’re allowed to see the world through their eyes.
I’m not talking about Manic Pixie Dream Gays who fart rainbow glitter and make “normal” people’s lives more fabulous, either. The characters you’ll find in this book are complicated, flawed, flesh and blood human beings.
So, if you’re queer and hungry for stories that resonate and make you feel seen at a time when it seems like the whole world is conspiring to erase you, this book is for you. But I really hope that people who don’t think they have anything in common with these characters will check it out too.
Speaking of sharing stories and reading outside your comfort zone, I hope everybody who’s coming to Bcon will join us for the big bash celebrating underrepresented voices in crime fiction. Meet and mingle with your favorite authors and discover some brand new ones! Also, games, prizes, and book givaways! Friday, September 5th at 9:30 pm.
I will also be on a panel on Sunday, September 7 at 9:30am.
Location, Location, Location: Place As Character - Setting often drives the story. Learn how the forest, small town, river, even someone’s backyard, are characters in the story as real as anyone.
With Scott Von Doviak T.M. Dunn Kristen Perrin Reavis Z. Wortham, and me. Moderated by Sue Anger.
Other than that, I will be, as always, in the bar. Or the book room. Come find me and say hi!
In other Bcon-adjacent news, I’m currently dealing with a hideous and horribly painful medical issue in my left eye that has cropped up just in time for this yearly event. I’ve got a gargantuan fluid-filled cyst under my eyelid that feels like a thumb pressing down on my eyeball and is blurring my vision on that side. It’s kind of like having a permanent low-grade migraine. I’m on meds to deal with it right now and it seems to be better than it was yesterday, but I may still end up needing to have it addressed surgically.
Naturally, the chances of it going away completely on its own before I leave for New Orleans are slim to fucking none. So if you see me in big sunglasses, or an eyepatch, or running around with a box on my head and screaming like Richard E. Grant in How to Get Ahead in Advertising, this is why.
Incidentally, I just rewatched this flick to distract myself from the body-horror of it all, and although there are some aspects that maybe don’t hold up (like all the fatphobic jokes) it’s still disturbingly prescient.
“The man who conceived of Big Brother never knew what was coming down the line. Thought his filthy creation was gonna be watching us. But it is us who watch it. There's one in every living room. The monstrous injustice of it is we stare at it of our own free will.”
Swap TikTok for television and, yeah, that part.
Anyway, please enjoy this photo of my excellent Torben Wöller cosplay and send all the queer eyeball mojo my way!
See you (with one eye at least) in New Orleans!