
Queer as Folk Tales
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$17.99
About
When I moved to Indonesia more than thirty years ago, I fell in love with its archipelago, its people, and its folk tales. Every island, every village, every tribe I visited had its legends, and they became for me souvenirs of travels in my adopted homeland. But most of the tales, especially when passed on to me orally by natives, were as fragmentary as an Aesop fable. I wanted to ask why a wizard would do this or why a goddess would choose that, but knew that the story-teller would have no way of knowing. When I did dare to be impolite enough to raise such queries, I would usually be told to "believe it or not. It's up to you."
I took on the challenge, and worked to understand characters and deities and the plots of folk tales. I rewrote them with the logic and sometimes the sensibilities and sexualities of contemporary fiction without, I hope, sacrificing the magic and fantasy and exoticism of the originals.
What I missed in the project, as a gay male, were LGBTQIA+ characters and plots. I found very few in the world of traditional folk and fairy tales, more in world mythologies. From those I did find, I set about adapting my favorites. You will find them—as well as my own original speculative stories—here in my new collection Queer As Folk Tales.
The not-so-subtle title reveals my target audience of course, but I am pretty sure even straight readers will enjoy the narratives and the characters.
Language - English
Publisher Name - Deep Desires Press
Publisher Year - 2025
ASIN - B0FR3PWYXL