Invisible 2

Last year, I posted an open call for guest blogs about representation in science fiction and fantasy. The resulting essays were, in my opinion, both important and powerful. I was hopeful when I first put out that call, but the stories people chose to share exceeded my expectations in so many ways.

So I’m doing it again. Because, to quote from last year’s call, “it’s one thing for me to talk about this stuff. But let’s face it, it’s not exactly difficult for me to find characters like me in books, TV, movies, advertising, video games, etc. And there’s a painful irony when conversations about representation end up spotlighting some guy who’s part of the most overrepresented group in the country.”

Once again, I’ll be looking for personal, first-hand stories between 400 and 1000 words, talking about what it’s like to not see yourself in stories, or to see yourself misrepresented, or the first time you found a character you could really relate to and what that meant, and so on.

Last year, I collected those essays into Invisible, with the proceeds (roughly $600 so far) going to support the Carl Brandon Society’s Con or Bust program. I hope to do something similar this year.

Here are some of last year’s essays, to give you a sense of what I’m looking for:

• Parched – Mark Oshiro
• Boys’ Books – Katharine Kerr
• Clicking – Susan Jane Bigelow
• The Princess Problem – Charlotte Ashley
• Autism, Representation, Success – Ada Hoffmann
• Gender in Genre – Katie
• I Don’t See Color – Michi Trota
• Evil Albino Trope is Evil – Nalini Haynes
• Options – Joie Young
• Representation without Understanding – Derek Handley
• Non-binary and Not Represented – Morgan Dambergs
• The Power of Representation: SFF Saved my Life – Nonny Blackthorne

Please contact me by February 7 if you’re interested, and let me know what, in general, you want to write about. If last year is any indication, I may not be able to use everything, but I’m hoping to showcase as broad a range of stories from a new batch of readers, fans, authors, etc. that I can.

I can’t offer payment for the blog posts (though I’m happy to include a bio, link, and/or photo if you’d like). If we make Invisible 2, then there will be a token payment with proper contracts and such.

I think that’s everything, though I reserve the right to edit the post if I’ve forgotten something important.

Please feel free to spread the word.