Science fiction is famous for characters, behaviors, and ideas that venture way beyond the envelope of conventional storytelling. These are well-known realities celebrated by science fiction writers and readers alike.
Yet, I came across prejudice from within the community of science fiction writers of the present day stemming from my choice to write science fiction for gay men. A search took me to a young blogger who claimed that he would, for a small fee, help promote science fictions works using his online presence. Paying for promotional consideration is a standard way of doing business today, and this guy seemed to be legitimate. His online presence boasts an established track record as a writer and commentator in science fiction, horror, and comic books. But, he refused service to me, specifically. The reason? He told me outright in an email that he would not take my money in exchange for promoting my gay science fiction writing on his blog because he felt his blog readers would find my gay science fiction writing objectionable.
This experience proved to be a turning point for me as a writer. I responded to such overt anti-gay prejudice with Baja Clavius: Moon Men Deep Inside.
I chose to push the boundaries far beyond what I imagined some readers would find objectionable in science fiction written with gay male themes and characters. The men in the fictitious world of tomorrow that I created are far more violent and preoccupied with sex compared to what we know to be true today. The time travel agents I created find gay sex pleasurable, yes, but they sexually manipulate men as part of their secret mission to change the past.
Languages change over time and perhaps a couple of hundred years from today there will no longer be words in everyday use such as gay or homosexual or straight or heterosexual. However, I expect that male sexual behavior is not likely to change over the next few centuries. There will always be men who function well in sexual contact with other men and who are credible and convincing in such sexual contact. Men develop skills and talents to enable them to functions well, credibly and convincing in sex with other men. In the fictional universe I created for Baja Clavius: Moon Men Deep Inside the time travel agency (MMDI) only hires men to travel in time whose skills and talents enable them to functions well, credibly and convincing in sex with other men. Men like this can pretend to enjoy having sex with females by fantasizing during sex that they are with a man rather than a woman. Such a simple trick is one that gay men of today learn from personal experience whenever they are concealing their true sexual orientation.
In contrast, men in the fictional universe I created who have skills and talents that enable them to be credible and convincing in sexual behaviors with women are not be hired by the agency. This is because of the mission-critical need for time travel agents while they are in the past to manipulate men sexually. A man (regardless of the words used to describe him) who is unable to function well, credibly and convincing in sex with other men would have varying degrees of difficulty in man-with-man sexual activities. The need is for a time travel agent to be 100% functional, credible and convincing in his sexual activities in man-with-man intimacy. Any difficulties a straight man has with man-with-man sex would ensure that the mission he was on would fail.
Sometimes it is important to go where no man has gone before, as you’ve heard it said. I interviewed Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in Los Angeles decades ago when I was producing a radio documentary. He admitted to me that he had deliberately toned down the depictions of human sexual behavior and moral codes of Captain James T. Kirk and other characters in the original Star Trek. Roddenberry was not hesitant to tell me that he wanted the audience in those days not to be put off. But, here’s what he as a writer believed would in the future become acceptable sexual behaviors and moral codes: People will have sex with whomever they chose and not have to deal with societal guilt trips.
I chose to be more fluid with depicting human sexuality than Roddenberry allowed with Star Trek from the 1960s to his death in 1991. I depict gay male characters who enjoy sex with men and put them in storytelling situations in which they behave in ways we today would consider to be sexually immoral and in direct violation of many current laws.
The controversial and explicit nature of my illustrations for gay men has drawn attention since 2008. You either like what I do or are turned off by it. I produced Baja Clavius: Moon Men Deep Inside with a format to reveal very early on to readers whether my explicit illustrated science fiction storytelling is something they will find appealing.
I promise a very wild ride to all who venture out into the stunning near-future world that I created.