So Wrong, it's Gotta be Right!

The cover of our first anthology!

I find that I’m often frustrated by queer representation within fiction. The way that “only the best” of anyone in such a marginalized community can be presented? Yeah, it sits wrong with me. It feels very limiting to development of characters as fully rounded people of a complex nature. Showing true humanity can be ugly, and queer representation should absolutely include the full spectrum of humanity, at its best and worst. Sanitized representation is better than zero representation, but I think we can do much better in making fulfilling stories with characters who represent reality at its best and its worst.

Let our humanity be a part of our existence. Let us make the big stupid mistakes. Let us be selfish and cold. Let us hurt the people who hurt us, and those who care for us for

just a minute in our own stories.

That’s the basic idea behind the “Queer Wrongs” Jam on Itch.io, which is being hosted by caede styles. Messy people being messy and queer at the same time. An absolute horror show, right? Not necessarily.

See, this project was presented to our community by the ever lovely Rambling Chantrix (hostess of a new sort of central smut locator site called None Website with Left Smut, which caters to linking to works by authors with a rebellious view of creativity in the current world of trying to make art, particularly queer art, apolitical, which it can never be.) and we answered her call to arms, so to speak. I don’t think anyone loses an arm, there is weaponry, though, from blades to guns, in the hands of queer pro and an tagonists.  (I’m aware that’s not a proper word, it’s a blog post, just deal with it for the style factor, yeah?)

We here at Erotically Inclined offer much thanks to both caede styles for hosting the jam, and our very own Anita for bringing it to our attention in the first place! But we’d be remiss to not thank Rambling Chantrix for leading the project and creating the fucking beautiful layout that is our anthology of works from our community members as well. Eleven of us feature in this collection of queer wrongs and the the wrongs vary so wildly. From problematic poly boundaries being pushed to all out murder, we have gathered it all and have lovingly accepted it into our anthology of wrongness.

Our collection, So Wrong, it's Gotta be Right, is being offered for free on itch.io and we are beyond excited to make this announcement. Join us in celebrating humanity in the most basic of ways: sex romps and political commentary on good and bad behavior of people centered around queer existence in today’s world.

In addition to the works featured in the collection, a few of our members decided to go big with stories released for the jam on their own!

Anita: The Color of Illusion

Lady Lovelace: For the Love of the Grift

And while not a direct part of the EI community, still a beloved author and friend of the server admins, thereby deserving a mention:

AwkwardMD: Mad World

With that round of boosts and thanks, let’s look at this jam for what it is: truth in fiction with representation of humanity of a queer nature unsanitized, presented proudly, and without a dusting of goodness to make their existence more palatable to the average heterosexual person.

Let us all know what you think over on the works pages!