QueeredFiction Blog

QUEER LIGHT

2009-12-01T16:40:00.009+02:00

Call for Submissions: Queer Legends Series QUEER LIGHT (GBLT Urban Fantasy)

Open call for submissions for Queer Light to be published by QueeredFiction where genre is queered. Deadline is 31st January 2010

Angels, fallen angels, nephilim (half human and half angel), and demons; devas of light and darkness. An urban contemporary fantasy anthology featuring queer angels of all shades and hues. As with our first anthology in the Queer Legends Series, Queer Wolf, we'll be looking for tales set in an unnamed and location non-specific city, but this time involving queer angels, the good and the bad.

Your submission should be an URBAN FANTASY short story between 3,000 and 20,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and in Print format. Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer Light Anthology submission in the subject line.
Complete guideline details available at: http://www.queeredfiction.com/queerlight.htm

Distribution of this call for submissions is appreciated.

Image Credit: Angels Rolling away the Stone from the Sepulchre by William Blake
Keywords: GLBT, LGBT, Anthology, Books, Submissions, publisher, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual

Love & Fables...

2009-09-21T11:24:00.005+02:00

A QUEERED FICTION PRESS GBLT ANTHOLOGY

Call for Submissions: Love & Fables (GBLT Fantasy Romance)

Open call for submissions for the Love & Fables Anthology to be published by QueeredFiction where genre is queered.
Submission period is now open.
Deadline is 30th November 2009.

A collection of tales featuring fable (legend/myth) elements in a uniquely queer way; stories about mythical , lengendary or supernatural beings or events combined with Romance...and a HEA (Happily Ever After).

Your submission should be a short story between 3,000 and 20,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and in Print format. Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Love and Fables Anthology submission in the subject line.

Complete guideline details available at: http://www.queeredfiction.com/loveandfables.htm

Distribution of this call for submissions is appreciated.

Image Credit: Manipulated photograph of Joseph E. Renier's "Speed" at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Keywords: GLBT, LGBT, Anthology, Books, Submissions, publisher, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual

QUEER GOTHIC

2009-06-02T18:21:00.005+02:00

Call for Submissions: Queer Gothic

Open call for submissions for a Queer Gothic Anthology to be published by QueeredFiction where genre is queered. Deadline is 31st August 2009. We're looking for gothic tales of horror and romance. Your submission should be a short story between 3,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and in Print format. Full guidelines here.

Submissions open: 1st June 2009 to 31st August 2009

As a queer publisher, QueeredFiction would like to have an emphasis on the queer community as a whole, rather than by segments. So ideally the perfect submission would have 'queer characters' in the forefront and in the background ... just mainly prominent!

Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance.
[...]
Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.
[...]
The term "Gothic" came to be applied to the literary genre precisely because the genre dealt with emotional extremes and dark themes, and because it found its most natural settings in the buildings of this style — often spelled "Gothick", to highlight their "medievalness" - castles, mansions, and monasteries, often remote, crumbling, and ruined. It was a fascination with this architecture and its related art, poetry (such as Graveyard Poets), and even landscape gardening that inspired the first wave of gothic novelists.

Reference Wikipedia Gothic Fiction.

Horror Anthology DEADline Looms

2009-05-16T15:22:00.004+02:00

Deadline is 31st May 2009.Queer, dark, macabre tales of horror, (blood and gore and rotten fruits welcome) are sought by QUEEREDFICTION. Chill us with your horrifying, sensual tales of gay and lesbian terror.

Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology. For full details view the official guidelines. Queries welcome.

Your submission should be via email to the editor (editor @ queeredfiction . com) with Blood Fruit Anthology submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split of eBook sales between contributors.

Image credit: insertinanename on Flickr

It's Full Moon Tonight...things can get a Little Crazy

2009-03-11T20:52:00.002+02:00

AVAILABLE NOW: eBook

“Their world lies between the shadows and the moonlight, between man and animal…and in the city under neon moons and through iron-treed streets, the queer wolves run.”

Bound within QUEER WOLF is an exciting collection of contemporary, urban and sensual werewolf tales; a gathering of queer wolves presented by exciting, new and established authors.

“The debut anthology from James EM Rasmussen's QueeredFiction is an entertaining and varied collection, boasting such talents as Charlie Cochrane and Ginn Hale. Lovers of the lycan will find much to slaver over here: from the werewolf wanabee to the lovers-through-time, to waifs and strays. From the carnal to the violent to the passionate, this anthology will wag your tail, I guarantee it.”
Erastes author of Standish

"Overall, I enjoyed reading this anthology. There were a good range of stories from authors who mostly did interesting things with what many people are calling a tired genre. It was refreshing to see f/f stories amongst the m/m, and even more refreshing was the consistently high quality of the writing from all the authors - even if some worked better than others. I may have had some quibbles with plotting, but the writing itself was excellent. I'm going to give this anthology a grade of 'Very Good' as I will definitely be reading many of these stories again when I'm in the mood for something with a bit of bite." Well Read

There is a pink moon rising...and it is rising tonight!

QUEEREDFICTION - out between the pages
www.queeredfiction.com

Call for Submissions :: BLOOD FRUIT

2009-03-02T19:50:00.004+02:00

Open call for submissions for a QUEER HORROR ANTHOLOGY - BLOOD FRUIT - to be published by QUEEREDFICTION where speculative genre is queered. Deadline is 31st May 2009.

Queer, dark, macabre tales of horror, (blood and gore and rotten fruits welcome) are sought by QUEEREDFICTION. Chill us with your horrifying, sensual tales of gay and lesbian terror. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology. For full details view the official guidelines. Queries welcome.

Your submission should be via email to the editor (editor @ queeredfiction . com) with Blood Fruit Anthology submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split of eBook sales between contributors.

Submissions open: 1st March 2009 to 31st May 2009Reading period begins: 15th May 2009

As a queer publisher, QUEEREDFICTION would like to have an emphasis on the queer community as a whole, rather than by segments. So ideally the perfect submission would have 'queer characters' in the forefront and in the background ... just mainly prominent!

QUEEREDFICTION
http://www.queeredfiction.com/

QUEER WOLF March 2009

2009-02-25T14:15:00.001+02:00

“Their world lies between the shadows and the moonlight,
between man and animal…and in the city under neon moons
and through iron-treed streets, the queer wolves run.”

It's the first release for QUEEREDFICTION, an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal anthology within our projected series, the QUEER LEGENDS Series. Right now...QUEER WOLF is in post production and will be releasing March 2009. In the meantime, sign up for the READINGQUEER blog/newsletter and get QUEEREDFICTION in your mail and stand a chance to win yourself a copy of QUEER WOLF.

Enter your email address:
Delivered by FeedBurner

QUEEREDFICTION - out between the pages
www.queeredfiction.com

Run up to Closing Date for SF Submissions

2009-02-15T14:51:00.002+02:00

You have only until the end of the month (February 2009) to submit your short to:

Queer Dimensions
Among Queer Stars...

Exotic queer futures unfolding before alien eyes, queer cyborgs and androids in love and at war, augmented queer humans seeding the far flung stars … hard science fiction or realms of lighter pseudo-sciences where queer flowers bloom on strange new worlds; even if that world is our own. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology.

Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer SF Anthology submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split between contributors.

Queries welcome at info@queeredfiction.com or post a comment here.

Submissions open: 1st December 2008 to 28th February 2009
Reading period begins: 15th February 2009

The Reading Period has opened.

A line up of Queer Wolf will be forthcoming soon as well as announcements of our publication dates. Keeping watching this space.

GBLT Science Fiction

2008-12-09T18:55:00.003+02:00

Homosexuality in speculative fiction
Homosexuality in speculative fiction refers to the incorporation of homosexual themes into science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres which together constitute speculative fiction (SF). Such elements may include a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual (LGBT) character as the protagonist or a major character, or exploration of varieties of sexual experience that deviate from the conventional.

Science fiction and fantasy have traditionally been puritanical genres aimed at a male readership; they can be more restricted than non-genre literature by their conventions of characterisation and the effect that these conventions have on depictions of sexuality and gender. However, speculative fiction also gives the freedom to imagine societies that are different from real-life cultures, making SF a useful tool to examine sexual bias and forcing the reader to reconsider his or her heteronormative cultural assumptions. It has also been claimed that LGBT readers identify strongly with the mutants, aliens, and other outsider characters found in SF.

Prior to the 1960s, explicit sexuality of any kind was rare in genre speculative fiction. For many years, the editors who controlled what was published attempted to protect their perceived key market of adolescent male readers. As the readership broadened it became possible to include characters who were undisguised homosexuals, but these tended to be villains; lesbians remained almost entirely unrepresented. In the 1960s, science fiction and fantasy began to reflect the changes prompted by the civil rights movement and the emergence of a counterculture. New wave and feminist SF authors imagined cultures in which homo- and bisexuality and a variety of gender models were the norm, and sympathetic depictions of alternative sexuality became commonplace.

From the 1980s onwards, homosexuality gained much wider mainstream acceptance, and was often incorporated into otherwise conventional SF stories. Works emerged that went beyond simple representation of homosexuality to explorations of specific issues of relevance to the LGBT community. This was helped by the growing number of openly gay or lesbian authors and their early acceptance by SF fandom. Specialist gay publishing presses and a number of awards recognising LGBT SF achievements now exist, and blatant homophobia is no longer considered acceptable by most readers of speculative fiction. Homosexuality has also seen increased coverage within other SF media, although inclusion of LGBT themes in comic books, television and film continues to attract media attention and controversy, and lack of sufficient representation, along with unrealistic depictions, provokes criticism from LGBT sources.

QueeredFiction's Call for Submissions

Queer Dimensions
Among Queer Stars...

Exotic queer futures unfolding before alien eyes, queer cyborgs and androids in love and at war, augmented queer humans seeding the far flung stars … hard science fiction or realms of lighter pseudo-sciences where queer flowers bloom on strange new worlds; even if that world is our own. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology.

Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer SF Anthology submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split of eBook sales between contributors.

Queries welcome at info@queeredfiction.com or http://queered-fiction.blogspot.com/

Submissions open: 1st December 2008 to 28th February 2009
Reading period begins: 15th February 2009

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Queer Science Fiction".

Call for Submissions SF Anthology

2008-12-01T16:38:00.004+02:00

Open call for submissions for a Science Fiction Anthology to be published by QueeredFiction where genre is queered. Deadline is 28 February 2009.

Exotic queer futures unfolding before alien eyes, queer cyborgs and androids in love and at war, augmented queer humans seeding the far flung stars … hard science fiction or realms of lighter pseudo-sciences where queer flowers bloom on strange new worlds; even if that world is our own. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking fiction with positive images of queer characters. We’re not looking for clichés. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and possibly in Paperback format.

Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer SF Anthology submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split of eBook sales between contributors.

Queries welcome at info@queeredfiction.com or http://queered-fiction.blogspot.com/

Submissions open: 1st December 2008 to 28th February 2009
Reading period begins: 15th February 2009

Image credit: Fatlum on Flickr

Queer Wolf Submissions Now Closed

2008-12-01T14:04:00.007+02:00

The QueeredFiction anthology, Queer Wolf has now closed for submissions. If you were working on something and your Thanksgiving festivities got in the way of completing it, please send in a query.

For those of you with submissions being processed - good luck! Look out for more details on when Queer Wolf will be published at www.queeredfiction.com. This title will release in early 2009 and a fixed date will be announced as soon as it is available.

Thank you to all of you who submitted your Queer Wolves to the anthology. The submissions call for QueeredFiction's next anthology will be released shortly. Keep your eye on the blog!

Image credit: Alicia J. Rose on Flickr

It's not too late for your Queer Wolf!

2008-11-19T00:47:00.004+02:00

It's not too late. You've still got ten full days remaining for a submission to QueeredFiction's Queer Wolf Anthology.

Anthologies make excellent opportunities for new writers, introducing them to readers in a market that is currently a popular one with audiences. There are a number of anthologies catering for almost every flavour of literature and grouped around a variety of themes. They are also excellent vehicles for published authors to introduce NEW readers to their writing.

:::Queer Wolf:::
Once in a pink moon ...

Do you have a queer wolf rummaging around in your imagination, just waiting to get OUT and between the pages? Then QueeredFiction has a home for your werewolf.

Queer Wolf (Queer Legends Series) is an anthology of gay werewolf tales and we're looking for contemporary, urban fantasy set within a fictional city (unnamed and not location specific) centering on a community of gay werewolves.

Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking sensual fiction with positive images of gay characters. We're not looking for clichés. We do not want horror or science fiction. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and Paperback.

Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer Wolf submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split between contributors. Submission period closes 30th November 2008.

Queries welcome at info@queeredfiction.com or http://queered-fiction.blogspot.com/ (aka here!)

:::Editorial comment on Queer Wolf:::
What are we looking for? Aside from queer characters, queer community and queer relationships - we're looking for a great fantasy story about werewolves. Red ones, white ones, grey ones and black ones but most certainly queer ones - living together in a community.
We'd like to see a community of gay and lesbian werewolves, a queer community background with the emphasis up to the author/story/characters as to whether there is a predominant lesbian or gay main character (or whether that role is dually shared by two).
As a queer publisher, QueeredFiction would like to have an emphasis on the queer community as a whole, rather than by segments. So ideally the perfect submission would have 'queer characters' in the forefront and in the background ... just mainly prominent!

:::About QueeredFiction:::
This small press venture will be focusing on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Speculative GLB Fiction releasing a number of Paperback and eBook projects each year beginning with the werewolf anthology project Queer Wolf. This anthology will be released in early 2009 as the inaugural publication for QueeredFiction.

Know Thy Trade

2008-11-08T12:27:00.004+02:00

I have had a couple of people say - these are usually I note people who use the sobriquet of horror author - that they find it impossible to think of a werewolf story without horror. It flabbergasts me ... and I really can't imagine where such a narrow minded view comes from.

I do not consider Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, or Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels (now not a horror television series) to be in the horror category and they all contain plenty of werewolves and vampires for that matter. Frankly it really surprises me to have the whole black and white, werewolf = horror cry being raised by some in response to this submissions call. Is a ghost story automatically a horror story? Jonathan Carroll's novel, The Ghost in Love is a magical fantasy. I don’t think anyone is calling it a horror. Is Stephanie Meyers writing horror or is she writing romantic fantasy with her novels of vampires and werewolves? Is it not the treatment of the material by the author that dictates the genre? Or has everyone else been reading and writing these stories wrong?

Lately one such comment included "And you bill yourself as a publisher focusing on horror and speculative fiction?" Well your blind spot is obviously showing; unless I missed the part where Science Fiction and Fantasy were sub genres of Horror. QueeredFiction is a market for Queer Genre, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror. These are not considered a single genre and generally people are quite happy to read their literature neat without necessarily commingling them. I fail to see how this focus conflicts with a call for a ‘contemporary urban fantasy’ that isn’t looking for science fiction or horror submissions.
Am I missing something?

Image credit: urbanshoregirl on Flickr

The Anthology and Q&A

2008-11-04T15:34:00.005+02:00

Anthologies make excellent opportunities for new writers, introducing them to readers in a market that is currently a popular one with audiences. There are a number of anthologies catering for almost every flavour of literature and grouped around a variety of themes.

"An anthology, literally a "garland" or "collection of flowers", is a collection of literary works, originally of poems. In genre fiction and especially science fiction, anthology is used to categorize collections of shorter works such as short stories and short novels, usually collected into a single volume for publication."

QueeredFiction’s Queer Wolf is themed around werewolves and urban fantasy, popular among audiences today and combines these with strong, appealing queer characters. QueeredFiction welcomes submissions from aspiring and established writers for this anthology.

Q&A

Can I submit a reprint?
We are not looking for reprints. The stories you submit for Queer Wolf must be original, unpublished works.

Can I query on the progress of my story?
If you have not heard from us within 15 days of submitting your short story you may write us a short query email to confirm receipt of the submission.

I have a question.
You may ask any question you have by submitting a comment here or if you prefer email your query to us at our info email address.

www.queeredfiction.com

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "anthology".

Open Call for Submission - Queer Wolf Anthology wants your queer werewolves!

2008-10-22T17:08:00.011+02:00

Open call for submissions for the anthology Queer Wolf published by QueeredFiction where genre is queered. Deadline is 30 November 2008. Publication in eBook & Paperback format in early 2009.

Our Second Call for Submissions has gone out to ensure widespread distribution and an eclectic mix of submissions.
Please forward, blog, link and distribute:

:::Queer Wolf:::
Once in a pink moon ...

Do you have a queer wolf rummaging around in your imagination, just waiting to get OUT and between the pages? Then QueeredFiction has a home for your werewolf.

Queer Wolf (Queer Legends Series) is an anthology of gay werewolf tales and we're looking for contemporary, urban fantasy set within a fictional city (unnamed and not location specific) centering on a community of gay werewolves.

Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking sensual fiction with positive images of gay characters. We're not looking for clichés. We do not want horror or science fiction. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an eBook and Paperback.

Your submission should be via email to editor@queeredfiction.com with Queer Wolf submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be a 50% royalty split between contributors. Submission period closes 30th November 2008.

Queries welcome at info@queeredfiction.com or http://queered-fiction.blogspot.com/ (aka here!)

:::Editorial comment on Queer Wolf:::
What are we looking for? Aside from queer characters, queer community and queer relationships - we're looking for a great fantasy story about werewolves. Red ones, white ones, grey ones and black ones but most certainly queer ones - living together in a community.
We'd like to see a community of gay and lesbian werewolves, a queer community background with the emphasis up to the author/story/characters as to whether there is a predominant lesbian or gay main character (or whether that role is dually shared by two).
As a queer publisher, QueeredFiction would like to have an emphasis on the queer community as a whole, rather than by segments. So ideally the perfect submission would have 'queer characters' in the forefront and in the background ... just mainly prominent!

:::About QueeredFiction:::
This small press venture will be focusing on Science Fantasy horror and speculative GLB Fiction releasing a number of Paperback and eBook projects each year beginning with the werewolf anthology project Queer Wolf. This anthology will be released in early 2009 as the inaugural publication for QueeredFiction.

www.queeredfiction.com

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Live on the World Wide Web

2008-10-21T19:02:00.003+02:00

Our website www.queeredfiction.com is up and live! We're building our presence in preparation for our 2009 publishing debut in the queer genre market.

And with that news up, take a brief overview of just what Queer Fiction is, check out Queer Fiction at the Wikipedia!

Homosexuality in speculative fiction (SF) refers to the incorporation of gay themes into science fiction or fantasy fiction and related genres. Such elements may include a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transexual LGBT character as the protagonist or a major character, or exploration of varieties of sexual experience that deviate from the conventional.

Science fiction and fantasy have traditionally been puritanical genres orientated toward a male readership; they can be more constrained than non-genre literature by their conventions of characterization and their effect on depictions of sexuality and gender. However, speculative fiction also gives the freedom to imagine societies that are different from real-life cultures, making SF an incisive tool to examine sexual bias and forcing the reader to reconsider his or her heteronormative cultural assumptions. It is also claimed that LGBT readers identify strongly with the outsider status of mutants, aliens, and characters who lead hidden or double lives in SF.

Prior to the 1960s, explicit sexuality of any kind was rare in genre speculative fiction. For many years, the editors who controlled what was published attempted to protect their key market of adolescent male readers. As the readership broadened it became possible to include characters who were undisguised homosexuals, but these tended to be villains; lesbians remained almost entirely unrepresented. In the 1960s, science fiction and fantasy began to reflect the changes prompted by the civil rights movement and the emergence of a counterculture. New wave and Feminist SF authors imagined cultures in which homo- and bisexuality and a variety of gender models were the norm, and sympathetic depictions of alternative sexuality became commonplace.

From the 1980s onwards, homosexuality gained much wider mainstream acceptance, and was often incorporated into otherwise conventional SF stories. Works emerged that explored specific issues of the LGBT community, instead of simple representation. This was helped by the growing number of openly gay or lesbian authors and their early acceptance by SF fandom. Specialist gay publishing presses and a number of awards recognising LGBT speculative fiction achievements now exist, and blatant homophobia is no longer considered acceptable to most readers of speculative fiction. Homosexuality has also seen increased coverage within other SF media, although inclusion of LGBT themes in comic books, television and film continues to attract media attention and controversy, and lack of sufficient representation, along with unrealistic depictions, provokes criticism from LGBT sources.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Queer Fiction".

Werewolf Myth & Fiction

2008-10-19T16:30:00.002+02:00

Considering QueeredFiction's first and forthcoming anthology release, let's talk about werewolves. Despite their prevalence in horror movies, werewolves haven't always been the spawn of night terrors and in fact modern fiction has been increasingly portraying them in less damning hues. For those of you finding the idea of fantasy werewolves a little more tricky, consider the following:

Werewolf Myth
Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to shapeshift into wolves or wolf-like creatures, either purposely, being bitten by another werewolf or after being placed under a curse. This transformation is often associated with the appearance of the full moon, as popularly noted by the medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury, although it may have been recognized in earlier times among the ancient Greeks through the writings of Petronius. Werewolves are often granted extra-human strength and senses, far beyond those of both wolves or men. The werewolf is generally held as a European character, although its lore spread through the world in later times. Shape-shifters, similar to werewolves, are common in tales from all over the world, most notably amongst the American Indians, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves.

Werewolves are a frequent subject of modern fictional books and films, although fictional werewolves have been attributed traits distinct from those of original folklore, most notably the vulnerability to silver bullets. Werewolves continue to endure in modern culture and fiction, with books, films and television shows cementing the werewolf's stance as a dominant figure in horror.

Literary origins
In medieval romances, such as Bisclavret, and Guillaume de Palerme the werewolf is relatively benign, appearing as the victim of evil magic and aiding knights errant.

However, in most folk tales, (influenced by medieval theology) the werewolf was demonic, part of Satan's army of darkness, inimical to the human race and having a craving for human flesh. This appears in such later fiction as "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains": an episode in the novel The Phantom Ship (1839) by Marryat, featuring a demonic femme fatale who transforms from woman to wolf.

Sexual themes are common in werewolf fiction; the protagonist kills his girlfriend as she walks with a former lover in Werewolf of London, suggesting sexual jealousy. The writers of Wolf Man were careful in depicting killings as motivated out of hunger.

In the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, the figure of the werewolf is more ambiguous and subject to an allegorical or Freudian interpretation. These tales are the inspiration behind modern fiction such as The Company of Wolves (1979) by Angela Carter (filmed asThe Company of Wolves (1984)) and the film Ginger Snaps (2000) which address female sexuality

Nineteenth century
Nineteenth century Gothic horror stories drew on previous folklore and legend to present the theme of the werewolf in a new fictional form. An early example is Hugues, the Wer-Wolf by Sutherland Menzies published in 1838. In another, Wagner the Wehr-Wolf (1847) by G. W. M. Reynolds, we find the classic subject of a man cursed to be transformed into a werewolf at the time of the full moon: representing the split personality and evil, bloodthirsty, dark side of humanity itself. Other werewolf stories of this period include The Wolf-Leader (1857) by Alexandre Dumas and Hugues-le-Loup (1869) by Erckmann-Chatrian.

A later Gothic story Robert Lewis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) has an implicit werewolf subtext, according to some commentators. This has been made explicit in some recent adaptations of this story, such the BBC TV series Jekyll (2007).

A rapacious female werewolf who appears in the guise of a seductive femme-fatale before transforming into lupine form to devour her hapless male victims is the protagonist of Clemence Houseman's acclaimed The Were-wolf published in 1896.

Twentieth century
The twentieth century saw an explosion of werewolf short stories and novels published in both England and America. The famed English supernatural story writer Algernon Blackwood wrote a number of werewolf short stories. These often had an occult aspect to them. American Pulp magazines of the 1920–50s such as Weird Tales include many memorable werewolf tales, written by such authors as H. Warner Munn, Seabury Quinn and Manly Wade Wellman. The most renowned werewolf novel of the twentieth century was The Werewolf of Paris (1933) by American author Guy Endore. This has been accorded classic status and is considered by some to be the Dracula of werewolf literature. It was adapted as The Curse of the Werewolf in 1961 for Hammer Film Productions.

The first feature film to use an anthropomorphic werewolf was Werewolf of London in 1935 (not to be confused with the 1981 film of a similar title) establishing the canon that the werewolf always kills what he loves most. The main werewolf of this film was a dapper London scientist who retained some of his style and most of his human features after his transformation.

However, he lacked warmth, and it was left to the tragic character Talbot played by Lon Chaney Jr. in 1941's The Wolf Man to capture the public imagination. This catapulted the werewolf into public consciousness. The theme of lycanthropy as a disease or curse reached its standard treatment in the film, which contained the now-famous rhyme:

Even a man who is pure in heart
And says his prayers each night
May become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright.

This movie draws on elements traditional folklore and fiction, such as the vulnerability of the werewolf to a silver bullet (as seen for instance in the legend of Beast of Gevaudan), though at the climax of the film the Wolf Man is actually dispatched with a silver headed cane.

The process of transmogrification is portrayed in such films and works of literature to be painful. The resulting wolf is typically cunning but merciless, and prone to killing and eating people without compunction regardless of the moral character of the person when human.

Lon Chaney himself became somewhat typecast as the Wolfman and reprised his role in several sequels for Universal Studios. In these films the werewolf lore of the first film was clarified. In Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) it is firmly established that the Wolf Man is revived at every full moon. In House of Frankenstein (1944) silver bullets are used for the first time to dispatch him. Further sequels were the House of Dracula (1945) and the parodic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

The success of Universal's The Wolf Man prompted rival Hollywood film companies Columbia Studios and Fox Studios to bring out their own, now somewhat obscure, werewolf movies. The first of these was The Undying Monster produced by Fox in 1942, adapted from a werewolf novel of the same name by Jessie Douglas Kerruish, published in 1936.

In 1981, two prominent werewolf films, The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, both drew on themes from the Universal series.

More recently, the portrayal of werewolves has taken a more sympathetic turn in some circles. With the rise of environmentalism and other back-to-nature ideals, the werewolf has come to be seen as a representation of humanity allied more closely with nature. A prime example of this outlook can be seen in the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse (1992) in which players roleplay various werewolf characters who work on behalf of Gaia against the destructive supernatural spirit named Wyrm, who represents the forces of destructive industrialization and pollution. Author Whitley Strieber previously explored these themes in his novels The Wolfen (1978), in which werewolves are shown to act as predators of humanity, acting as a "natural" control on their population now that it has been removed from the traditional limits of nature, and The Wild (1991), in which the werewolf is portrayed as a medium through which to bring human intelligence and spirit back into nature. The heroic werewolf has also returned via the paranormal romance genre, where wolf-like characteristics such as loyalty are shown as positive traits in a prospective mate.

Werewolves have featured a number of times in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its other media tie-ins. The first time a werewolf appeared in the television series was in the Seventh Doctor serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (1988). A wolf-man appears in the 1986 Sixth Doctor story Mindwarp, and the primords in the 1970 Third Doctor story Inferno are also lupine in appearance, but in both cases these are induced mutations rather than people who switched between human and wolf forms).

In the Harry Potter series (1997-2007) the most prominent werewolf is Remus Lupin who's portrayed as struggling with his curse and terrified of infecting someone, though repeatedly careless in ensuring his being safe when transformed. The series also includes a werewolf villain Fenrir Greyback, who fits more with the older image of werewolves. The Potter books, while showing the intense threat the humans transformed to bloodthirsty monsters pose to the population, essentially use werewolves as a methaphor for marginalised and discriminated against groups in modern society.

A very popular modern subgenre consists of stories that treat werewolves as separate race or species (either science fictional or magical) or as persons using magic in order to deliberately transform into wolves at will. Such current-day werewolf fiction almost exclusively involves lycanthropy being either a hereditary condition or being transmitted like a disease by the bite of another werewolf. The form a werewolf takes is not always an ordinary wolf, but is often anthropomorphic or may be otherwise larger and more powerful than an ordinary wolf. Sometimes the beast form of the werewolf will have some physical characteristics borrowed from an animal species other than the wolf, as can be seen in the boar-like werewolf of Wild Country (2006) and the cat-like werewolves of Underworld (2003). Many modern werewolves are also supposedly immune to damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only to silver objects (usually a bullet or blade). This negative reaction to silver is sometimes so strong that the mere touch of the metal on a werewolf's skin will cause burns.

Despite the recent upsurge in the motif of heroic werewolves, unsympathetic portrayals of werewolves as monsters also continue to be common in popular culture. This is especially true in movies, which are only slowly incorporating trends in written fiction. There are very few werewolf movies outside the horror genre.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Werewolf" and Wikipedia article "Werewolf fiction".

Image credit: rrikk on Flickr

Forthcoming 2009

2008-10-05T12:51:00.000+02:00

Keep an eye on www.QueeredFiction.com - our Website will be opening soon.

Editorial comment on Queer Wolf

What are we looking for? Aside from queer characters, queer community and queer relationships - we're looking for a great fantasy story about werewolves. Red ones, white ones, gray ones and black ones but most certainly queer ones - living together in a community.

We'd like to see a community of gay and lesbian werewolves, a queer community background with the emphasis up to the author/story/characters as to whether there is a predominant lesbian or gay main character (or whether that role is dually shared by two).

As a queer publisher, Queered Fiction would like to have an emphasis on the queer community as a whole, rather than by segments. So ideally the perfect submission would have 'queer characters' in the forefront and in the background ... just mainly prominent!

Queered Fiction Small Press

2008-09-16T15:04:00.000+02:00

Our website http://www.queeredfiction.com/ is under construction.

This small press venture will be focusing on Science Fantasy GLB Fiction releasing a number of print and ebook projects each year beginning with the werewolf anthology project Queer Wolf which will be released in early 2009 as the inaugural publication for Queered Fiction.

Remember to submit your queer werewolf stories 4,000 to 10,000 words to queerfiction@gmail.com with Queer Wolf submission in the subject line. Payment is a 50% royalty split among the contributors and the submissions are open NOW.

Queered Fiction Project

2008-08-28T18:00:00.000+02:00

Call for Submissions

Queer Wolf
A gay moon rising …

An anthology of gay werewolf tales for publication early 2009.
We’re looking for contemporary, urban fantasy set within a fictional city (unnamed and not location specific) centering on a community of gay werewolves. Your submission should be a short story between 4,000 and 10,000 words. We are seeking sensual fiction with positive images of gay characters. We’re not looking for clichés.

We do not want horror or science fiction. We do not want reprints. We are seeking first world rights for this anthology which will be published as an ebook and/or potentially as a print softcover.

Your submission (or query) should be via email to queerfiction@gmail.com with Queer Wolf submission in the subject line. Please embed your short story within the body of the email and provide a brief author bio. Payment will be through a royalty split between contributors. Submission period opens 1st September 2008 and closes 30th November 2008 (or until the anthology is full).