Thanks to everyone who came to be part of the conversation in person! We had a fantastic audience, especially for ten in the morning on the last day of a con. Below, as promised, are links to everything people recommended during that session. Comments and further recommendations are always welcome, and if you’d like to say anything to me directly, my e-mail address is julia@juliarios.com.

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Notes:

JoSelle Vanderhooft’s Work
*Jo’s website.
*SteamPowered and SteamPowered II are the lesbian steampunk anthologies Jo edits with an eye toward diverse content and viewpoints. SteamPowered III will be accepting submissions in February.
*Sleeping Beauty Indeed is an anthology of lesbian fairy tales, which includes a story by Meredith.
*Heiresses of Russ is the best lesbian stories of 2010 Jo collected co-edited with Steve Berman. Jo says Steve’s contribution (a retelling of Swan Lake) is the best short story she’s ever read.
*Bitten By Moonlight is the lesbian werewolf anthology that came up during the horror and dark fantazy recommendations part of the panel.

Meredith Schwartz’s Work
*Alleys and Doorways is the anthology Meredith edited, which contains Jo’s butch werebunny story (why have I not read this yet?).
*Meredith is also running this year’s program for LunaCon.

Don Sakers’s Work
*Meerkat Meade is Don’s home page.
*Dance for the Ivory Madonna is Don’s all-inclusive “Meta Gay” book (though no one’s been able to explain what Meta Gay means without taking at least three pages, apparently). It was a finalist for the Spectrum Award, and almost made the final Hugo ballot as well.
*Curse of the Zwiling is Don’s dark fantasy, which came up during the horror and dark fantasy recommendations part of the panel.
*Don also has a regular column in Analog Science Fiction and Fact.

Raven Kaldera’s Work
*Raven’s website.
*Raven’s books (including Best Transgender Erotica, and Double-Edge: The Intersection of Transgender and BDSM).
*Raven’s list of Female to Male non-fiction and fiction books.

Other Recommended Works
*Everyone recommended Catherynne Valente (whose work was, at one point, described as “relentlessly queer”–there’s a quote for the next book cover). Jo particularly singled out Palimpsest and Silently and Very Fast.
*Don recommended Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series and The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins as examples of bestselling books with prominent and complex QUILTBAG characters.
*Meredith recommended Amanda Downum’s The Bone Palace, which she said she read first even though it is the second of a trilogy, and she believes it stands alone. This book was also on the Tiptree shortlist in 2011.
*When an audience member asked about Twilight‘s influence on YA, Jo mentioned Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely Things, and I mentioned Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan’s Team Human as books with protagonists who don’t think dating supernatural creatures is a very good idea.
*Jo recommended Steve Berman in general and Meredith recommended his YA novel, Vintage, in particular.
*Jo also recommended Erekos by A.M. Tuomolo.
*Don recommended Melissa Scott, particularly Trouble and Her Friends and Shadow Man. Meredith added that Trouble and Her Friends is a good example of cyberpunk that doesn’t feel dated.
*Don also recommended Open Your Eyes by Paul Jessup.
*Simoun was Jo’s anime recommendation, which she says will appeal to fans of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and which features supernatural aircraft powered by lesbian kisses.
*Meredith recommended Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner series and Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint (which is now also available as an audiobook with an exciting cast of voice actors as part of the Neil Gaiman Presents series).
*Melissa Scott and Jo both recommended the lesbian zombie novella, Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram. And this starts our run of dark fantasy and horror recommendations, which an audience member requested.
*Meredith and Jo recommended Ginn Hale’s Lord of the White Hell for dark fantasy fans.
*I recommended Lee Thomas in general for horror fans, and specifically mention The Dust of Wonderland, which won a Lambda Award.
*Meredith recommended A Companion to Wolves for fantasy fans, which led me to recommend The Bone Key for horror fans, and then all of us to recommend Sarah Monette’s work in general.
*Don recommended Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series for dark fantasy fans.
*An audience member recommended Joanna Russ.
*Adrienne Odasso recommended Clive Barker for horror fans.
*Another audience member recommended the television series Carnivàle for horror fans.
*And our final recommendation from the panel was Maureen McHugh’s China Mountain Zhang, which Meredith started and I jumped all over, and then Jo got in on it, too.
*Raven recommends Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series, particularly citing Bel Thorne and Lord Dono Vorrutyer as well drawn intersex and trans characters.
*Raven also recommends Steel Beach by John Varley.
*Raven also felt it worth mentioning Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series, and Mary Gentle’s Ilario series.

Finally, I noted on the podcast, and I’ll note again here that not all books work for all people, and that books might have problems, but still work for a lot of people, and be worth reading, considering and talking about. Opinions tend to vary greatly around books with trans and/or intersex content because every person experiences gender and orientation differently, and because there are so few of those books to begin with. All of these recommendations did work for the recommenders, but I do want to acknowledge that they may not work for everyone, and that people who disagree with these recommendations also have valid experiences and opinions. Individual experience is, after all, highly subjective. We’re open to discussion, and happy to collect more suggestions if you’ve got them.

Pi-Con is this weekend in Enfield, Connecticut. Hurricane Irene is heading up the East coast, but Pi-Con is still happening. If you’re in New England and feel like venturing out (or in New York and forced to evacuate…), you can come see several OA members like Jennifer Pelland and Shira Lipkin. I’ll be there, too!

If you’re near Austin, Texas this weekend, you might want to check out ArmadilloCon. It’s also got some OA members on the program, including JoSelle Vanderhooft, Lee Thomas, and Elizabeth Bear.

Dragon*Con is next weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be giant as usual, but if you’re there and want to hang out with some awesome LGBTQ people, Outlantacon is hosting a Rainbow Flag Party on Saturday night. You can meet all kinds of excellent queer fans and allies there, and get the chance to purchase a 2012 Outlantacon membership at a discount.

That’s it for this week. See you at Pi-Con if you’re there! And Congratulations to all the Hugo winners! We’re especially pleased to note that Lynne Thomas and Cheryl Morgan snagged shiny new rocket ships this year. Hurray!

In this episode, Catherine Lundoff, Jean Marie Ward, and Lisa Nohealani Morton talk to me about Hellebore and Rue, an anthology about lesbian magic users. After the interview, Catherine reads a selection of teasers from the book, and Jean Marie reads an excerpt of her contribution.

You can subscribe to the podcast RSS feed here or use this link to subscribe with iTunes. You can also hit play on the embedded player in this post and listen to the podcast on the web, or visit the individual episode page to download this episode as an MP3 without subscribing.

The Friends of the Genre Convetion (FOGcon for short) starts today in San Francisco, and several OA members will be in attendance. You can catch Chaz Brenchley, Jaym Gates, and Cliff Winnig on panels, and you’ll find Kyell Gold in the dealers room at the Sofawolf Press table.

The convention is geared towards literature and writing, and this year’s theme is The City in SF/F. If you’re in or around San Francisco, check it out. And if you want to get to know some OA members a bit better, join Cliff in the hotel lobby at 5:45 on Saturday for an OA meetup during the dinner break.

If you go, tell us about it! For those of us playing the home game, what are some cities you love in SF/F, and why do you love them?

How about a meetup? I’ll be in the lobby near the entrance to City Bar on Saturday at 6pm for anyone who wants to join me. I’ve got long purple hair, so you should spot me easily enough.

Several OA members on the Google group say they’re planning to attend Arisia and FogCon this year.

Arisia is next weekend, the 14th-17th, in Boston, MA. Cecilia Tan will be hosting a party for Circlet Press on Friday, night, Jennifer Pelland will be reading from her forthcoming novel (with a bisexual protagonist) on Saturday night, and Steve Berman and Connie Wilkins (AKA Sacchi Green, winner of 2010 Lesbian Erotica Lambda) will be hosting an afternoon tea for Lethe Press on Sunday. Catherynne Valente (winner of 2010 Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Lambda) will also be attending.

FogCon is the 11th-13th of March in San Francisco, CA. The schedule isn’t set yet, but potential attending members include Chaz Brenchley, Madeleine Robins, Malinda Lo, Cliff Winnig, and Kyell Gold.

There are a lot of other cons in 2011. Which ones are you planning to attend? Let us know in the comments or on the Google group!

At AussieCon 4, you might catch up with Sumana Harihareswara, Cheryl Morgan, and Catherynne M. Valente (and there are several other LGBTQI friendly people there, too!).

Sumana offers the following suggestions of panels which may be of interest to Outer Alliance members:

Academic Panel: Fantastic females: reworking feminism in women’s fantasy — Saturday 1630 Room 203
Delia Sherman (mod), Catherynne M Valente, Gail Carriger, Alaya Johnson, Glenda Larke, Tansy Rayner Roberts
Is fantasy the new vanguard of feminist politics in specfic? Fantasy authors discuss the role of gender issues in their work.

The case for a female doctor — Sunday 1200 Room 204
Tansy Rayner Roberts, Carolina Gomez, Kerrie Dougherty, Catherynne M. Valente, Paul Cornell
He’s transformed from an old man into a young one, so why not from a man into a woman? Doctor Who remains one of the most imaginative and open-ended science fiction programmes ever produced, but can the format extend to include a female Doctor? What other elements of the series are necessary? Does he/she have to have a TARDIS? Does there need to be a companion? Must the series be British? An examination of how far you can stretch the world’s most stretchable science fiction series.

The future of gender and sexuality — Sunday 1600 Room 219
Cristina Lasaitis, David D. Levine, Erika Lacey
What does the future hold for our ideas of gender and sexuality? How will we understand these concepts in 10, 50 or even 500 years? How have science fiction texts already predicted our understanding of gender and sexuality in the future – and how accurate do we find those predictions?

AussieCon 4 also marks the launch of Cheryl’s new magazine, Salon Futura! The first issue has just launched, and you can get it here.

On the other side of the world, in Atlanta, Georgia, there’s a bunch more LGBTQI friendly stuff going on at Dragon*Con. If you’re there, you might catch Outer Alliance founder Natania Barron, who just launched the new Geek Mom blog. Look out for Lee Martindale, C.D, Covington and Racheline Maltese, among others.

C.D. and Racheline will both be reading as part of Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading on Saturday at 11:30.

Lee will be on the Beyond Binaries 101 panel on Saturday, and Racheline will be on the Beyond Binaries 201 panel on Sunday (both exploring alternatives to m/f gender pairings in spec fic).

There are several other LGBTQI themed panels on the Dragon*Con program, and Outlantacon is hosting a Rainbow Flag party on Saturday night in the Sheraton Ballroom.

Happy Con Weekend to everyone in Melbourne and Atlanta! And for those of you playing the home game, don’t forget to check out Salon Futura #1!

January

*First, a convention that’s happening right now: Arisia. This Boston, Massachusetts area con is queer, pagan, poly, and kink friendly, and has a few Outer Alliance members on the guest list. If you show up, you might run into Rose Fox, Jennifer Pelland, and Cecilia Tan. Arisia’s Fan Guests of Honor this year are a queer couple, Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley, and there is even a Queer SF&F panel on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

*Coming up next weekend (22-24 January) in San Jose, California, you can catch OA member Kyell Gold at Further ConFusion, a Furry convention.

February

*In Boston, Boskone 47 is happening on 12-14 February.

*If you can’t make it to Further ConFusion, you’ll have another chance to see Kyell Gold in Dallas, Texas over the weekend of 19-21 February. He’ll be appearing at Furry Fiesta as the Writing Guest of Honor.

*On 26-28 February, Gallifrey One is happening in Los Angeles, California. This convention is devoted to Dr. Who fandom. (Thanks to LJC for the tip!)

March

*OA member Catherine Lundoff will appear at MarsCon 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the weekend of 5-7 March.

*Last week’s Spotlight subject, Angelia Sparrow will be a guest at MidSouthCon during the weekend of 12-14 March.

May

*OutLantaCon is an LGBTQ SF convention in Atlanta, Georgia happening on 1-3 May. Nicola Griffith and Cecilia Tan will both be guests there. (Thanks to Catherine Lundoff for the tip!)

*WisCon is a feminist SF convention that takes place in Madison, Wisconsin. This year it will happen on the weekend of 27-31 May.

*That same weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, Tanya Huff (whose books have been recommended by multiple OA members in Spotlights past) will be the Guest of Honor at Balticon.

*Imaginales is a book and original illustration fair in Epinal, France, which will also take place on 27-30 May. The chair, Stéphanie Nicot, is one of France’s leading trans rights campaigners. (Thanks to Cheryl Morgan for this tip!)

June

*Angelia Sparrow will be appearing at Hypericon in Nashville Tennessee on the weekend of 4-6 June.

*That same weekend in Dallas, Texas, Catherine Lundoff will be a guest at A-Kon.

July

*CONvergence is happening on 1-4 July in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Catherine Lundoff will be there, too!

*ReaderCon is yet another Boston Area convention, but this one eschews media other than books. Jennifer Pelland usually turns up at this one, and Cecilia Tan has in the past as well.

*Finncon is happening 16-18 July in Finnland, and will feature Ellen Kushner and Pat Cadigan. (Thanks again to Cheryl Morgan for the tip!)

August

*Diversicon hasn’t put up its 2010 dates yet, but this Minneapolis, Minnesota convention exists to celebrate diversity in SF fandom.

*Au Contraire is the New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention for 2010. It’s happening the weekend before this year’s WorldCon, so that people can go to both in one trip. 27-29 August in Wellington, New Zealand. (Thanks to Anna for the tip!)

September

*Memphit Fur Meet 2010 will be happening on the weekend of 3-5 September in Memphis, Tennessee. This is another small, Furry convention, and Angelia Sparrow may attend it if she isn’t traveling to Atlanta, Georgia.

*Dragon*Con (3-5 September in Atlanta, Georgia) is one of the larger convention in the US, and full of elaborate costumes.

*That same weekend, but on another continent,  the 68th WorldCon, AussieCon 4 is happening in Melbourne, Australia.

October

*Gaylaxicon, a con devoted entirely to queer speculative fiction, will take place in October in Montreal, Canada.

November

*OA member Elizabeth Bear will be the Guest of Honor at Darkover XXXIII in Timonium, Maryland on the weekend of 26-28 November.

This is just the tip of the convention iceberg, so please tell us about your favorite queer friendly conventions in the comments, and about which ones you plan to attend (I’m personally planning to attend Boskone and ReaderCon). I’ll be sure to update this page with more convention links if you tell me about them. With any luck, maybe we can all meet some of our fellow allies in person this calendar year!