Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure

GayLinkNews.Com: Degranon Rewritten for Gay Audience That Embraced It

Movie review: Saved!

A student at a Christian high school wants to save her gay boyfriend by having sex with him. Another student there seems to see herself as God’s head cheerleader. Right away, this film shows its irreverence and its outlandish humor.

However, despite what the previews and the first half of the film suggest, this movie isn’t anti-Christian at all, but rather anti-hypocrisy and anti-bigotry. Too much prejudice parades around in the cloak of religion, and this little comedy tears that cloak off.

With a brilliant and mostly young cast that includes Jena Malone, Macauley Culkin, and Mandy Moore, Saved! calls us to laugh at our arrogance and ultimately feel more compassion toward those who might not fit into our world view…as well as those who mistreat us.

Some will dismiss Saved! as simply an attack on religion in general, while some others will see it as a specific attack only on fundamentalist Christianity. I wouldn’t call it either, and I speak as someone who attended Christian colleges and immersed himself in the culture this movie depicts: a culture of often-tacky Christian merchandising and a culture that centers around the constant politics of exclusion.

I would call Saved! a funny, enjoyable satire that might challenge us to show a little more love. And isn’t love the one virtue that Jesus stressed the most?

Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure: Reading Group Questions. I wrote down the following questions to possibly spark discussions, for reading groups, etc., or just anyone who likes talking about books.

What are the central themes of this novel?

If you read Degranon’s limited, first edition, how is it different from the second edition, Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure?

How are the planets Degranon and Valchondria alike or different?

In which ways does this novel relate to real life?

How do Degranon’s themes of race and racism matter when all of the characters are people of color? How would this novel be different if all, most, or even some of the characters were white (Caucasion), or would it have no impact?

How do the characters’ religious views differ from or relate to each other’s, and to your religious views? What about their values and ethics? How closely connected are their values and ethics to religion?

Within the novel, which groups face discrimination, and why?

How does being colorsighted relate to being gay? How does being gay in the novel differ from in real life?

Are Valchondria’s laws and Degranon’s laws believable? Could those laws pass any place on Earth? Have they?

Which of the characters do you like the most or identify with the most? Why?

Can you point out the allusions to Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451? How does that novel relate to this one? Can you find allusions or parallels between Degranon and any other books?

How does Degranon relate thematically to The Acorn Stories? To Holding Me Together?

What is your favorite scene in Degranon, and why?

Which of the romantic storylines is your favorite?

Please mention and discuss other books or movies with gay or diversity themes.

Discuss Degranon at GoodReads.

Keywords: science fiction, scifi, gay science fiction, science fiction adventure, multiculturalism, diversity, fanaticism, God, religion, religious freedom, religious right, liberty, civil rights, gay, lesbian, queer, racial, people of color, racism + homophobia, racism, homophobia, weight discrimination, discrimination, prejudice, bigotry, Utopia, terrorism, Middle East, American history, free speech, romance, love, family.

Top Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

Tuesday, May 4, 7 PM (central): Len Rodgers, founder of the gay organization and website StoneWall Society, will interview me for the Internet radio program Q'd Up w/Len, on StoneWall Society Internet Radio. Listeners should follow that link ahead of time, to download a free player from Live365. Please tune in!

Special thanks to Hastings, 5005 50th Street , Lubbock, Texas, for hosting my book signing with Shawna Chandler. They might still have some signed copies of my books in stock.

Judge Rules Against Lubbock High’s Gay Straight Alliance

Here’s news about anti-gay discrimination going on in Lubbock, from a variety of perspectives.
Texas Triangle: Unexpected Ruling Slams Lubbock Students.
Gay.Com: Texas judge nixes school's gay-straight club.
Lubbock Online: Cummings rules in favor of LISD in Gay/Straight Alliance case.
Lubbock Online: LISD triumphs in Gay Straight Alliance lawsuit.
ABC 28: Judge Rules In Favor of LISD.

Visit my Rainbow: Lubbock newsletter at DuaneSimolke.Com to read more about Lubbock’s gay community.

This is my 150th blog entry, but I have even better news!

Author William Maltese has just posted reviews of The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer!

Read Maltese’s review and other reviews of The Acorn Gathering at Amazon.com.

Read Maltese’s review and other reviews of The Acorn Gathering at Barnes & Noble.Com.

Track The Acorn Gathering On the Web With All Consuming.Net.

Preview or Order The Acorn Gathering at iUniverse.Com.

I edited and co-wrote The Acorn Gathering, a fiction collection. My talented co-authors and I are donating all the royalties to cancer research. Please read about The Acorn Gathering. As Maltese points out, it isn’t some depressing book about cancer, but rather a unique and important project.

Book review: The Brentridge Gold: The Pleiades Portals Series by W. Lambert III

While I usually won’t read Westerns, the idea of one involving “Ancient Astronauts” intrigued me, because I love science fiction! The science fiction and adventure elements keep sneaking into the narrative, along with hints of possible supernatural activity. Still, author W. Lambert III stays tightly focused on the Western-style hero, David Brentridge.

In fact, David takes up most of the ink in this book. We often see only him, or just him with brief appearances from the other characters. Fortunately, Lambert makes David a unique and fascinating character who slowly reveals more and more about himself and his family through his actions, dialogue, and thoughts.

The people who keep crossing David’s path in one way or another might want the Brentridge gold, and he rarely can decide which of them to trust. Lambert even holds back from the readers why the gold involves so many secrets, far beyond any obvious fortune, but he gives us fascinating hints and glimpses through David and an ancient shaman. He also gives a fast-paced, unpredictable read.

Gay romance, gay relationships

Gay men, please read Home, a gay love poem from my book Holding Me Together: Essays and Poems. Just above Home, you’ll find a link that says “Email.” You can use that link to send Home to your partner and/or your friends, as a free e-card (electronic greeting card). It would make a great gesture, for Valentine’s Day, or any day. Please tell others about that poem! With certain people trying to pass legislation and even a constitutional amendment to discriminate against gay couples, we need to remember the love that exists within gay relationships.

Another honor for my books!

My publisher, iUniverse, recently added Holding Me Together and Degranon to their “Editor’s Choice” series, thanks to the StoneWall Society awards those books received. The Acorn Stories was already a part of that series.

Articles About Fred Phelps’s Westboro Baptist Church visiting Lubbock in Jan. 2004.

Some of the best and earliest coverage came from Fox 34, but their website is under reconstruction.

KCBD.Com: Kansas Church Brings Protest to Lubbock

Lubbock Online: Picketers Only Want to Provoke

ABC 28: Tech Radio Station To Ask For Donations Amidst Protests (Note: that event was cancelled, due to possible FCC problems.)

ABC 28: Controversial Minister To Demonstrate In Lubbock

The Austin Chronicle: Beyond City Limits

HubStuff: Hate is NOT a Family Value (In PDF file of Volume 2, No.3: January 9, 2004. May require free download of Adobe Acrobat. A follow-up article appears in Volume 2, No.4, January 16, 2004.)

KCBD.Com: Anti-Gay Group Schedules Protest in Lubbock

My Announcement from Rainbow: Lubbock

Texas Triangle: Boise Rejects Phelps’ Monument of Hate, Lubbock Next (Scroll to bottom of page.)



My comments:

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church marched with anti-gay signs (God hates fags, etc.) or anti-American signs (God hates America, Thank God for September the 11th, etc.), with at least one member literally stepping all over an American flag while dragging it on the ground. Pastor Fred Phelps, who kept bragging about his plans for Lubbock, didn’t even show up with his followers.

Though the invaders made themselves look bad, Lubbock made itself look good. The Westboro Baptist Church invasion only brought more unity and visibility to the local gay community, as well as more unity between the local gay community and the larger Lubbock community. RAINBOW Project outnumbered WBC tenfold (about 150 to about 15), protesting peacefully and sanely.

Metropolitan Community Church, PFLAG, Queers & Allies, and various others raised money for charities such as South Plains AIDS Resource Center (SPARC), the South Plains Food Bank, and the United Way, transforming all the attention on WBC into attention on more important matters.