I have a story out in a brand-new queer anthology called Queers Who Don't Quit! My story is called "A Government-Sanctioned Marriage," and it's a young adult sci-fi story about an 18-year-old cis man named Arzner who lives on a spaceship in a society where young adults have their spouses chosen for them by an algorithm that is nominally inclusive of LGBTQ residents. However, he soon learns who the system really prioritizes when he unexpectedly finds himself married to another man, Francis, who is trans, and Arzner's parents disapprove.
Physical copies of Queers Who Don't Quit are available to order now! The ebook is coming out this Wednesday, on July 15th, and is available for pre-order now! You can find both here!
I wrote the first draft of this story in 2015, I believe, around the same time I was writing my first draft of "Phaser" that went on to be published in 2018 in a Capricious anthology. Both stories struggled to become their ideal forms and have a track record of rejections, and I'm happy that "Government-Sanctioned" has the best draft of it's life and found a home in Queers Who Don't Quit!
Both stories have teenage protagonists who are oblivious to (at least parts of) their LGBTQ identities, and both are set on spaceships. Both also deal very directly with transgender masculinity, which has become more subtle in some stories of mine that I wrote since ("Super-Luminous Spiral" and "Whale Fall".) So I especially encourage you to check out "Government-Sanctioned" if you liked "Phaser!"
Oh yeah, and this anthology is published by Queer Pack, and who previously published another anthology I was in, Queerly Loving vol. 2, which is another story about queer adventures on spaceships! I've found my brand, apparently, ha ha.
