Today’s author interview rings the changes yet again, for we’re very pleased to be welcoming back that fine chap Brian Barr – and getting his thoughts on writing, marginalisation and all sorts of interesting stuff. Brian is a young black American writer who seems to be hyperactive – every time we plan to have him on here, we find that he’s written something new, and we’re behind again. We first looked at his Empress comic back in 2016, and have mentioned his Carolina Daemonic series a few times, but it’s good to get to grips with him at more length.
In a sense, it was Carolina Daemonic which made us think, oh yeah, Brian Barr is likely to have something to say about LGBTQ+ writing and representation. Book One, Confederate Shadows, is an enjoyable read as the twisted alternate history novel that it is, but along the way it also contains its fair share of political and gender commentary. As it’s described:
It’s 2020. The South won the Civil War and achieved manifest destiny in the United States. Great Britain, known as Victoria, and China, have maintained their empires. American slavery was abolished in the late 20th century instead of the late 19th century. Steam powered machinery and electricity make up the bulk of modern technology. In the shadows of the Confederacy, there is magic. Esoteric sciences arcane and archaic survive from forgotten times, and strange demonic creatures wander through the slums of Charleston… Enter Carolina Daemonic. In an alternative timeline, see a dark world not too far removed from our own- religio-political cults, racism, sexism, homophobia, corporate takeovers and corruption are abound. Witness the strange and mysterious beyond the familiarity of our ordinary world as well- godly avatars, lustful demons, necromancers, and the undead.
NOTE: There’s a short extract from Carolina Daemonic later in this interview.
So here is the man himself…
Brian Barr
greydog: Brian, welcome to greydogtales again. Obviously we’re going to ask a bit about LGBTQ+ writers and characters in strange fiction this time, but let’s set the scene. How do you describe the bulk of your own work – horror, weird fiction, magical realism, speculative, or what? Would you find ‘horror’ an uncomfortable or inappropriate label?
Brian: I’m a speculative fiction author. I write science fiction, horror, and fantasy in the formats of novels, short stories, and comic books. The majority of my work is horror and dark fantasy, usually a mix of the two. Science fiction and fantasy follow those genres, though I love to write all three. Many of my stories incorporate weird, cosmic, and occult elements. When it comes to science-fiction, I mostly write cyberpunk. I’ve published one magical realism story called ‘TV Casualty in a Static Age’, with the story title inspired by song titles from The Misfits, and it’s probably the least speculative fiction I’ve written, even with the fantastical elements in that story. I love the horror label and find it appropriate when I write horror.
greydog: And what’s your preferred format and length as a writer – flash fiction, short story, novella, novel, or even book series?
Brian: I like diversity so I like going between long and short lengths. Novellas are probably my favorite to write because I like to mix the complexity of the novel with the blunt execution of the short story. I experienced this with the latter books of my 3 H’s Trilogy, The Head, The House and The Hell. The Head was a straightforward short story, then the following books increased in length, which demanded more in background and explanation of the elements behind the stories. They’re fun and not too time-consuming, and there’s still the fun of worldbuilding without overloading an audience with too much detail.
greydog: Were there key books and films that influenced and helped you develop as a creator? Did they include LGBTQ+ works and/or characters – and if not, did this bug you?
Brian: Yes. The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoyevsky, and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess all influenced me as a creator far before I started publishing for different reasons. Clive Barker is the main author who made me realize how natural of an interest it was for me to mix horror and dark fantasy. The Brothers Karamozov taught me how I wanted to approach my characters on a psychological and behavioral level. A Clockwork Orange made me wanted to approach language, story themes, social issues and political subjects within storytelling. Walter Jon Williams also had a powerful effect on me with his Aristoi novel when it came to science fiction, adventure, and experimental writing in speculative fiction.
After I had already started to publish, George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, along with Tad Williams’ Otherland, had a huge effect on me when it came to approaching epic stories and multiple characterization.
greydog: How did you discover authors who wrote about characters whose identities/positions you could relate to? By accident, word of mouth, or actively hunting their work down on your own?
Brian: Clive Barker came through curiosity. I found The Great and Secret Show in a bookstore when I was in high school and he was the first queer author I knew about. His work resonated with me on a deep level because it related to what I was already writing on my own- dark work with an imaginative, fantastic lens. It connected with me on a deeper level than the Stephen King, John Saul, and Dean Koontz novels I was used to seeing as a kid. After that, I read a novel by Steven Harper called Dreamer, around the same time I was coming to understand my personal identity, about a queer aboriginal space explorer who often worked in a digitalized dreamland. I still need to finish that series, but that particular novel had a positive effect on me.
greydog: That last’s a new one to us – we’ll look it out. So, being realistic, there are times when many of us compromise, and times when we lose our cool. Have you ever dialled down the queer aspects of a piece to try and draw in a wider audience? Or dialled it up on purpose, to hammer a point home?
Brian: Not at this point. I’ve always written about what I wanted to write about and what I felt comfortable with writing. I like to connect with audiences who like my stuff and I don’t like having to switch up for anyone.
greydog: This is a bit direct, but do you feel you’ve ever had work rejected because of your own sexual identity, or that of the characters portrayed?
Brian: Not yet.
greydog: And have you ever had negative reader reactions because of those factors, to your knowledge?
Brian: I’ve had negative promotional reactions a couple of times on Facebook groups, and some minor things, but not a lot so far.
greydog: What’s the most heartening response you’ve ever had to portraying/including LGBTQ+ characters?
Brian: I’ve gotten a lot of support and help from Queer Sci Fi, Paula Ashe, Hank Cannon, and many others who liked my characters and my stories. Hank gave a heartening response to my Tamed Tiger comic, which is set in my Carolina Daemonic universe.
greydog: When it comes to LGBTQ+ characters in your work, do you tend to depict particular identities – lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transsexuals – any primary group that comes up in your writing more often than others?
Brian: I tend to portray bisexuals as I am bisexual and identify with them the most, but I’ve also had lesbian and gay characters.
greydog: We were at an interesting panel during the 2018 UK Fantasycon, which included discussion of asexuality in fiction as part of the diversity spectrum. Have you ever covered characters who specifically identified as asexual?
Brian: Yes, I have, as well as trans characters. I’d like to include more of these characters in future works.
greydog: Which piece of your own work are you most proud of, and why?
Brian: The 3 H’s Trilogy. It’s been my most read series so far and I feel like it flowed so naturally. It all started from a dream and I feel as if I was gifted with that story, be it from my subconscious or something else. I’m just thankful to write it and share it with the world, to have as many people enjoy reading it as I enjoyed writing it.
LGBTQ+ AND THE FIELD
greydog: The most common phrase you hear when people object to active movements which encourage diversity in fiction is “I don’t care about the sexuality, gender, colour, etc. of the writer. I only care about good stories”. How would you respond to that?
Brian: People mean well when they say things like this, but they don’t see how stifling those intentions really are. We should be proud of and celebrate identities, especially identities that have often made people face discrimination, even to the point that they’ve been harmed or killed. We should care enough about people’s identities to know that everyone comes from different walks of life and faces different societal issues or circumstances due to their backgrounds. To ignore that actually enables the same prejudices and hardships people under those identities face, especially as marginalized people.
Greydog: Are many readers basically scared of overtly queer fiction (which would be ironic in the horror field especially)? Or do you think that they just don’t come across enough good examples to get into it?
Brian: It’s a mix. There are always people who are afraid of an “other” or “others”, people they automatically feel distant from, or even disdain or disgust towards, because they are different. These individuals do not feel comfortable dealing with fiction that portrays these individuals, and can even take it to the point where they feel it’s a personal affront to deal with such people.
On the other hand, you may have people who are open to different types of people but have limited exposure and don’t know how to acknowledge or approach those who are different from them. These individuals may be well-meaning but pose statements or questions that are born from their own misunderstanding, and even take offense when someone tries to educate them on why what they say or how they approach a subject is limiting or insulting.
For both the bigoted and the uninformed, people can try to educate or even help someone understand marginalized creators, characters, or subject matters, but in the end it’s a personal responsibility to check one’s own bigotry or ignorance. When it’s exhausting, or even dangerous, for the person who’s trying to educate these individuals, it’s best to just leave them alone. When I’m around people who try to laugh off explanations of societal privilege, or get mad when they’re called out for politically incorrect jokes and attitudes that attack marginalized people, I don’t waste any time on them. I keep it moving and do what I need to do, connect with the people I feel comfortable with, and live my life. I’ve just learned how some would rather tokenize minorities and have no desire to learn from their mistakes, and I don’t have time to entertain those situations or people like that at all.
greydog: ‘Straight’ is a silly term in many ways, but we’ll use it for shorthand. A number of straight creators utilise LGBTQ+ characters in their work. Do you see any inherent problems with this, or is it a good way of getting audiences to broaden their minds and reading scope. Are there any common misconceptions which get transmitted by straight creators?
Brian: It depends on how they write those characters. If they write them like regular, empathetic characters, sure. If they become caricatures without any point, even to point out the caricaturization of societal figures, then it can be an issue. But I think there have been a number of great straight authors who have portrayed LGBTQ+ characters in relatable, realistic, and positive ways.
greydog: Are such niche fields as gay and lesbian dark erotica, and the more explicit side of paranormal romance, useful for advancing the presence of LGBTQ+ writers and characters, or detrimental to a balanced portrayal?
Brian: I believe they are beneficial. Like African American fiction, Asian fiction, or any fictional category that’s worked to highlight marginalized or minority characters, these genres were born out of a need to share stories that are often overlooked by major vehicles and audiences. Niche fields weren’t created to be elitist, they were created to help those often ignored or suppressed. So I find them useful in advancing the presence of LGBTQ+ authors, characters, and stories. They’re very important.
greydog: And do you think LGBTQ+ fiction is more acceptable to the broad public when it comes from ‘nice middle- class white people’ than when it comes from additionally marginalised groups such as queer black writers?
Brian: Yes, because we live in a classist and racist world. Anything that can relate more to a mainstream audience is going to stand out more than something that’s more removed. At the same time, that’s the reason why stories with characters who are outside of the norm are so important and need to be told: they are a window to worlds outside of the mainstream experience. They also allow people to see others who they would think of as outsiders as humans, characters who are more relatable to their experience than not. And in seeing through their eyes, it can spread awareness in the importance of equality and respect for different kinds of people.
Television opened up audiences’ eyes to the plight of blacks living under Jim Crow in a way that had never been exposed before. Seeing black people getting sprayed by water hoses and being attacked by police dogs made a secret world enter the living rooms of white people who didn’t even know how oppressive Jim Crow had been in the South. It’s the same thing for queer people and other minorities. Seeing a story through a transpersons’ eyes can highlight how discriminative it can be to tell a transperson what bathroom they should use, or how terrible it is to blame transpeople when they are victims of violent assaults. The same for the entire queer spectrum.
greydog: Getting work noticed at all is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve. Do you think there are more barriers for LGBTQ+ writers in general?
Brian: Yes, which is why I think those niche audiences are so important and should be embraced, not insulted or ignored. At the same time that we celebrate and support the niche audiences, we should also push our work to other audiences and markets, to celebrate and spread awareness. The barriers are there, it can be hard, but we should share our work as much as possible since writing is our passion. Sharing our experience with others is a part of that passion.
greydog: How should the big publishers and larger independents be fostering LGBTQ+ fiction and portrayals? Or is it purely up to readers to express a demand?
Brian: Big publishers first need to be open to the fact that different people have different ways of life, different identities, and different experiences. From there, they can cater to various audiences and creators. They can be open to learn in order to foster to LGBTQ+ fiction and characters. The biggest mistake a publisher or company can make in promotion is ruling out a public interest. I watch a lot of music documentaries and I can’t remember how many times a music company passed on a musician because they thought there wasn’t a demand for what a musician was doing, only to find that the artist went elsewhere and created a vast fanbase and became commercially successful. The companies or presses willing to do something different and to connect to audiences in a variety of ways can tap into so many markets they don’t even know are out there, or even create markets that attract a new demographic.
greydog: There are a number of presses dedicated to LGBTQ+ fiction. Do you view these as a good thing, or do you think they risk perpetuating exclusion from mainstream presses?
Brian: Positive. We need these presses to a great degree.
greydog: In recent years, it does seem there has been a slow but gradual diversification within the weird and horror genres. Are there any new writers we should be paying attention to?
Brian: Yes. I’ve noticed a gradual diversification within weird and horror genres. I’m happy to see it as well. The main authors I’ve enjoyed discovering over the past few years are Paula Ashe, Lydian Faust, and Greg Anderson Elysee. I eventually want to read Hank Cannon and Emma Johnson’s work as well.
greydog: Do you have a favourite line or passage from your own work, or from that of another LGBTQ+ creator, that you’d like to share?
Brian: I’d like to share a passage from the kindle version of my first Carolina Daemonic novel, Confederate Shadows, which is available on Amazon.
greydog: Cool. And what have you planned in the way of work for 2019?
Brian: The second novel of my Carolina Daemonic series, Rebel Hell, will be out this year. I’m always publishing new short stories so check me out on Amazon. I have a lot of work there.
greydog: Many thanks for taking part.
Brian: Thank you! Really appreciate you guys for the interview and showcase.
We mentioned more about the Empress comic and Brian’s work here:
You can find Brian Barr through various links at the end of this article. He has also been interviewed by Ginger Nuts of Horror as part of the weird and horror LGBTQ+ Month. His The 3 H’s Trilogy will be FREE from January 25th through January 29th 2019, so you can check it out then, if you haven’t already done so.
Brian Barr: Author Page
Amazon Carolina Daemonic- First Novel and Short Story Collection: Novel One (2nd Novel Rebel Hell coming 2019)
Collection: Carolina Daemonomaniac I
Brutal Bazaar Collection: Brutal Bazaar
FOR A WHOLE RAFT OF LGBTQ+ ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS ALL MONTH, HEAD OVER TO GINGER NUTS OF HORROR, AT:
https://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/index.html