"a gay book about killing Nazis" - if you needed any more encouragement to check out Tom's latest book, there it is!
Lindz McLeod - THE MISEDUCATION OF CAROLINE BINGLEY is out now!
Yep. There's a reason The Knight Watch isn't being published in the USA at the moment. My US editor never explicitly told me to cut the queer characters, but he did tell me to cut the chapters that contained queer content 😑 I think they were worried that a gay book about killing Nazis wouldn't sell.
Dr. Thomas D. Lee
I have heard from writer friends that editors have directly told they don't want queer books right now, or have asked them to alter/remove queer characters, etc—a state of affairs which is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. Queer audiences exist and need to see themselves reflected in literature!
Lindz McLeod - THE MISEDUCATION OF CAROLINE BINGLEY is out now!
I really appreciate Erik bringing this topic, as I have learned more and more about it from talking to other writers, creatives, and publishing professionals over the last decade.
The censorship and BS standards for queer authors are not happening in a vacuum:
bookriot.com/queer-books-...
Authors, agents, publishers: every part of the industry is seeing the strain of five years of escalating anti-LGBTQ censorship.
everyone in publishing knows the little codes--"audience size" and "not sure how to break this out to readers" and "didn't connect with the protagonist" and countless others. it's horseshit and publishing needs to look in the mirror about it
