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kiwisue
Last weekend was super fun, my reenactment group did a performance and display at a local Medieval Faire. I was the main shopper and cook as well as trailing my pike, so I ended up too busy to take photos or make notes. This pic was borrowed from an organiser who took it on his camera phone on Sunday, when we had a smaller crew than Saturday (which may have contributed to a snappier drill - also, mine's the green plume).
Next week I'll be at get_together in Wellington, and catching up with some rels (yes, passport arrived, finally, despite TOLL's best efforts - I don't want to talk about their dysfunctional delivery system - and it was very pretty again *g*).
Possibly bad timing, definitely late, but I was preoccupied last weekend when the big reveal happened. So here's the Very Short Version:
Josh Lanyon (orjgraeme2007, or JGL in Pros fandom) revealed that he is actually a woman, a writer with multiple aliases (as well as Josh, there's Diana Killian, DL Browne, Colin Dunne and Louise Harris). Diana Killian, a female writer of detective mysteries, is the one I'll use here for what will shortly be obvious reasons.
Josh Links: The 'Coming Out' post; a follow-up, and an interview.
Other perspectives (am lazy, so left links as is):
https://apostrophen.wordpress.com/2015/09/19/pseudonyms-vs-identities/
https://marshallthornton.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/branding-or-catfishing/
https://bradvanceerotica.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/a-response-to-josh-lanyon/
I really don't want to get far into the exceptionally tangled M/M side of it: I think "Josh" was always openly a pseud, it's the other aspects of identity (gay,male) that are being argued against or supported in that sphere that I'm not touching with a ten foot pole. I'm only slightly more a fan of M/M than I am of het romance and the latter is a genre I have practically zero interest in unless it's a decent historical or SF.fantasy story. In other words my primary genre is never romance, of whatever hue. I've bought and enjoyed Josh's books, chiefly for the detecting believe it or not, and I don't think that will change. My tastes run more to Rankin and Paretsky, but a Lanyon is good company on a plane. Not a great fan of Adrien English, but I did like the "All's Fair" and "Dangerous Ground" series.
So the point is...
From the fandom perspective I've had a clue about Josh's identity since shortly before this was posted, when I stumbled across a webpage and recognised a name.
.
Dr Lyle is the medico who gave me the material for a post on Doyle's DIALJ injury and is the owner of the website, although his forum for questions seems to have been taken down a few years ago.
My concern, and the only reason I'm writing this, is that something happened to us: Pros fandom essentially played host to someone who carried themselves off as male, who did not disabuse anyone who assumed from “public knowledge” that they were male, and who was a loudish voice within Pros for enough years to affect the dynamic of the fandom. Presumably most of the fandom, apart from the small number who made it to the second Close Quarters con*, or received the news afterwards, and a similarly small number who questioned the JL identity, didn't have a clue. Probably there were a few fans for whom the idea of a gay male Pros fan who was also a writer represented a sort of wish fulfilment – at least a couple of the conversations I had during that period pointed in that direction.
On reflection I think it would have been a far, far better thing for, let’s say, Diana Killian - who also exhibited what I believe was a genuine fannishness on the RL author’s part - to have joined Pros fandom. The reason that didn't happen is presumably tied up in what Josh offered up as part of 'his' persona: self-promotion to a target audience; insights into writing m/m (and a book, a back catalogue, and a career starting to emerge); an authority on "being" a gay male, for those who believed, or wanted to; and forthright opinionating (often downright prickly in response to all but the mildest challenges) which tended to reflect back badly on the few who bothered to question credentials.
I like Pros fandom because it’s full of lovely people, many of whom I’ve met personally. I also like Pros fandom because it’s full of smart people. Sometimes bolshie people, and that’s absolutely fine with me. Yet it is my impression that Josh’s authoritative pronouncements were unbalancing, often enough, where Diana’s might not have been – IMO. Now with one exception I've seen nothing on lj/dw from anyone else in Pros fandom on this, and I'm basically curious: do you agree with any of the above? Does it say something about our fandom? Answers on a postcard**…..
*Am assuming that the “Pros Con” mentioned on Josh’s Goodreads page is actually CQ – either that or there’s another one I don’t know about!
** Yes, that’s a quote (not Josh).
Also, OTW elections are pretty important, guys. http://transformativeworks.org/how-you-can-help/support
You need to join as well as donate in order to vote. Membership period is October 6 2014 to October 6 2015, elections will be held on November 6-9 (time zones are UTC). More info here: https://elections.transformativeworks.org/
Next week I'll be at get_together in Wellington, and catching up with some rels (yes, passport arrived, finally, despite TOLL's best efforts - I don't want to talk about their dysfunctional delivery system - and it was very pretty again *g*).
Possibly bad timing, definitely late, but I was preoccupied last weekend when the big reveal happened. So here's the Very Short Version:
Josh Lanyon (or
jgraeme2007, or JGL in Pros fandom) revealed that he is actually a woman, a writer with multiple aliases (as well as Josh, there's Diana Killian, DL Browne, Colin Dunne and Louise Harris). Diana Killian, a female writer of detective mysteries, is the one I'll use here for what will shortly be obvious reasons.Josh Links: The 'Coming Out' post; a follow-up, and an interview.
Other perspectives (am lazy, so left links as is):
https://apostrophen.wordpress.com/2015/09/19/pseudonyms-vs-identities/
https://marshallthornton.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/branding-or-catfishing/
https://bradvanceerotica.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/a-response-to-josh-lanyon/
I really don't want to get far into the exceptionally tangled M/M side of it: I think "Josh" was always openly a pseud, it's the other aspects of identity (gay,male) that are being argued against or supported in that sphere that I'm not touching with a ten foot pole. I'm only slightly more a fan of M/M than I am of het romance and the latter is a genre I have practically zero interest in unless it's a decent historical or SF.fantasy story. In other words my primary genre is never romance, of whatever hue. I've bought and enjoyed Josh's books, chiefly for the detecting believe it or not, and I don't think that will change. My tastes run more to Rankin and Paretsky, but a Lanyon is good company on a plane. Not a great fan of Adrien English, but I did like the "All's Fair" and "Dangerous Ground" series.
So the point is...
From the fandom perspective I've had a clue about Josh's identity since shortly before this was posted, when I stumbled across a webpage and recognised a name.
. Dr Lyle is the medico who gave me the material for a post on Doyle's DIALJ injury and is the owner of the website, although his forum for questions seems to have been taken down a few years ago.
My concern, and the only reason I'm writing this, is that something happened to us: Pros fandom essentially played host to someone who carried themselves off as male, who did not disabuse anyone who assumed from “public knowledge” that they were male, and who was a loudish voice within Pros for enough years to affect the dynamic of the fandom. Presumably most of the fandom, apart from the small number who made it to the second Close Quarters con*, or received the news afterwards, and a similarly small number who questioned the JL identity, didn't have a clue. Probably there were a few fans for whom the idea of a gay male Pros fan who was also a writer represented a sort of wish fulfilment – at least a couple of the conversations I had during that period pointed in that direction.
On reflection I think it would have been a far, far better thing for, let’s say, Diana Killian - who also exhibited what I believe was a genuine fannishness on the RL author’s part - to have joined Pros fandom. The reason that didn't happen is presumably tied up in what Josh offered up as part of 'his' persona: self-promotion to a target audience; insights into writing m/m (and a book, a back catalogue, and a career starting to emerge); an authority on "being" a gay male, for those who believed, or wanted to; and forthright opinionating (often downright prickly in response to all but the mildest challenges) which tended to reflect back badly on the few who bothered to question credentials.
I like Pros fandom because it’s full of lovely people, many of whom I’ve met personally. I also like Pros fandom because it’s full of smart people. Sometimes bolshie people, and that’s absolutely fine with me. Yet it is my impression that Josh’s authoritative pronouncements were unbalancing, often enough, where Diana’s might not have been – IMO. Now with one exception I've seen nothing on lj/dw from anyone else in Pros fandom on this, and I'm basically curious: do you agree with any of the above? Does it say something about our fandom? Answers on a postcard**…..
*Am assuming that the “Pros Con” mentioned on Josh’s Goodreads page is actually CQ – either that or there’s another one I don’t know about!
** Yes, that’s a quote (not Josh).
Also, OTW elections are pretty important, guys. http://transformativeworks.org/how-you-can-help/support
You need to join as well as donate in order to vote. Membership period is October 6 2014 to October 6 2015, elections will be held on November 6-9 (time zones are UTC). More info here: https://elections.transformativeworks.org/
