This week, our focus is on submissions!

First, Bart and Kay over at Crossed Genres have teamed up with several awesome judges to put on the Science in My Fiction contest. Submissions opened on the 1st of April, and will run until the 30th of June. They’re looking for science fiction stories inspired by recent science news.

Second, Hellebore and Rue (edited by OA members, Catherine Lundoff and JoSelle Vanderhooft) is still open for submissions of lesbian magic user stories. Submissions close May 15th.

Third, Megan Arkenberg is looking for articles, fiction and poetry exploring the ways in which  speculative fiction and politics interact. Her anthology, Crimethink, has a tentative deadline of May 15th.

And finally, on a non-submissions note, the Ursa Major Awards are open for voting until the 18th of this month (that’s just over a week from now!), so if you like anthropomorphic animal stories, movies, and art, the time to express your preferences is now.

That’s all for this week. Next week will bring us back to interviews as usual. Happy Spring!

First, Outer Alliance member Angela Korra’ti is leading a Drollerie Press Blog Tour for the month of April, all about fools and tricksters. One of the  other contributors is Angelia Sparrow, too, so it’s awash in OA goodness.

Second, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sexual assault affects people of all orientations, and it’s all too common. If you’re interested in learning more, or helping educate others about this, check out some of the resources at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s SAAM site.

Third, to help spread awareness and raise funds for rape crisis centers, Jim C. Hines is giving away a signed advance reader copy of his book, Red Hood’s Revenge. Jim is asking for people to donate to RAINN, or a local rape crisis center, but donations are not required in order to enter his drawing.

Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.

That’s all for this week! The Spotlight will return next Friday with more Springtastic links, and then we’ll go back to our usual interview schedule.

Shelf Check is a webcomic set in a public library that frequently touches on GLBTQ issues – see for example the strip on ‘transgender’ in the Library of Congress subject headings and a recent blog post asking “As a GLBTQ library patron, I feel welcomed when…” [complete the sentence].

Politics
Got an iPhone? You can now use it to sign a petition to repeal Proposition 8 in California. Sign the petition at http://restoreequality2010.com/ipod.htm or signal boost this article about it.

Benjamin Solah writes about a protest for same-sex marriage in Melbourne.

Kei Kei has created a sourced timeline of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

And of course, remember to Queer the Census!

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

Books and bookstores

After 35 Years, Lambda Rising [bookstore] to Close (that is, in the January that’s just been).

Chris / M-Brane SF  reviews Wired Hard 4, an anthology of m/m erotica “packed with terrific speculative fiction”.

The Science Fiction for Lesbians Website “is a list of science fiction books with lesbian characters or by lesbian authors” (specifically excluding fantasy). The site is divided into categories for:

• Lesbian Authors
• Lesbian/Bi Female Characters
• Female/Gay Dominated Worlds
• Other Books of Interest

Politics and religion

Chris / M-Brane SF writes that [Senator Inhofe (R-OK)] needs to be removed from office regarding his involvement in Uganda and its anti-gay laws.

News worth celebrating: Fiji’s new decree says gay sex is now legal. The article quotes (among others) Christian church ministers both for and against the law change, and so I segue neatly into an essay describing the way Jesus affirmed a gay couple (from the Would Jesus Discriminate? collection extracted from The Children Are Free: Reexamining the Biblical Evidence on Same-sex Relationships by gay Christians Rev. Jeff Miner and John Tyler Connoley).

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

Inspired by the Writers of Color 50 Book Challenge, the Queer Authors 50 Book Challenge has been created to encourage reading books by queer authors. The FAQ includes links to lists of queer sf authors and to zahrawithaz’s list of More than 50 books by Queer People of Color for inspiration.

Richard Norton, a scholar of gay history, has a website of essays on Gay History and Literature – there’s a particular focus on the 18th century (including a sourcebook of hundreds of primary documents from 18th century England) but the essays range from centuries BCE through to the 20th century.

Writing Gay Characters by Megan Rose Gedris covers topics including:

• Why write gay characters at all?
• “Gay Characters” vs. “Characters Who Just Happen to Be Gay”
• Avoiding cliches.
• Romance: How Much is Too Much / Not Enough?
• Gay characters in children’s/ young adult fiction
• Books with Excellent Gay Characters

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

A recent conference in New Zealand brought together leaders and youth from sexual minority communities across the Pacific; the article touches on Fa’afafine in Samoa and New Zealand.

On gay literature
Michael Stevens writes about the change in how important gay literature has been to him: “Now there are hundreds of books, by many different authors available. And yet I feel little compunction to follow the latest trends in gay fiction or poetry. It just doesn’t seem to matter to me any longer. Yet once it was central to me discovering who I was and how to negotiate the world.” and “By reading I learnt what it was to be a gay man.”

On LiveJournal community 50books_poc are three recent reviews of LGBT-focused writing:

• M+O4EVR by Tonya Cherie Hegamin, along with a general introduction about LGBT fiction, YA lit, race, and the few other books about African-American queer girls;
• Southland by Nina Revoyr
• “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” by Jin Haritaworn, with Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem

And GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources “provides an opportunity for readers to express their thoughts regarding fantasy and sci-fi with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered protagonists through book reviews, essays, and reading lists in a non-commercial environment”.

Gay characters on TV
In the Bay Area Reporter, “Going, going, gone!: the case of the missing LGBT characters” looks at the dearth of gay characters on US television. [Though personally I'm disappointed that they describe Thirteen on House as "previously queer" and "now heterosexual" when the show itself has made it clear that she is and always has been bisexual and just happens to be dating a guy at present. The show does plenty else wrong, but - at least as far as I've seen - it doesn't deny her bisexuality.] An interview with writer/director Alan Ball discusses directions for gay characters (both existing ones and new ones) in season 3 of True Blood.

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

President Obama has added gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people to those protected by US hate crimes law; other promises about gay rights remain in progress or outstanding.

Religious settler comes to aid of gay Palestinian: a young Palestinian man who lives with his partner in Israel visited his parents in West Bank and was subsequently not allowed back into Israel. For fear of his life he couldn’t return to his own village, but a religious Jewish settler agreed to shelter him in his settlement.

Crash director Paul Haggis quits Church of Scientology after 35 years as a member, in protest against its opposition to gay marriage.

Crossed Genres has released their LGBTQ issue (Issue #12)

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

• One last money push for Maine is fundraising for the “No on 1″ message to defend Maine’s same-sex marriage law. The Bangor Daily News reports in Money fueling battle over gay marriage that “No on 1 tops $4M, Yes at $2.6M” – and that “No” has has 22,000 donors, as opposed to about 700 for “Yes”.
• Scholastic Censors Myracle’s ‘Luv Ya Bunches’ from Book Fairs due to language and homosexual content (it remains available in their book clubs). If you live in the US or are willing to fake a zip code, you can sign a petition to ask Scholastic to stop censoring gay-friendly books.

Newly published

• Lacuna: A Journal of Historical Fiction premiers with a table of contents that includes two stories with queer elements.
• Things We Are Not, an anthology of queer science fiction, has been published by M-Brane SF.
• And as reported here earlier, Hayden Thorne’s The Twilight Gods (on the publisher’s site and on Amazon) “is a retelling of Native American folktale called ‘The Girl Who Married a Ghost,’ set in Victorian England, it’s an alternative perspective on a gay teen’s coming-out process”.

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

But first, on a brief related note: USans can get your free Queer the Census sticker from CREDO Action partnering with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Coming Out Day posts culled from the mailing list:

• Alex Jeffers posts an excerpt from chapter three of his work in progress the unexpected thing (blog banner mildly NSFW)
• Kyell Gold posts an excerpt from “Waterways”
• Inanna Arthen posts an excerpt from forthcoming novel “The Longer the Fall”
• Katherine Beutner posts on bisexuality in response to Malinda Lo’s essay in “After Ellen“
• K L Richardson posts an excerpt from “Heart Sense”
• Sophie Gail posts an excerpt from her work in stasis
• Hayden Thorne posts a light-hearted excerpt from “Masks: Evolution”
• Mel Green posts on current events in Alaska
• Jarla Tangh posts about her friendships
• Chris / M-BraneSF writes about “a few times in my life where I basically outed myself by other behavior short of a “formal” coming-out”
• Drew talks about Philly Outfest and queer bookshop Giovanni’s Room (image heavy)
• Kevin shares about the night of his Senior Prom
• Natania Barron writes about discovering her POV character was gay
• Alan Yee writes about being semi-out of the closet
• Keffy writes about coming out as trans and his mixed feelings about “Coming Out” day

And more Coming Out Day posts found with a blog search:

• yond_cassius writes a short piece of Coming Out Day spec fic
• Cheryl Morgan posts a roundup of news that has caught her attention this week
• John Coulthart posts a couple of art pieces he’s been working on (mildly NSFW)

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks”.

The passage of Proposition 8 in California last year established a terrible precedent. The forces of bigotry were emboldened because, yes, it turns out that voters will, in fact, vote to take away people’s rights. This is a relatively rare concept in this country. Generally, once civil rights are conferred they are not taken away. But now it’s routine to try to do exactly that.