 |
|
Why 'No on 8' Failed and Other Stories
By Lyn Jensen
What went wrong with the “No on 8” campaign in 2008? Thank J Bloglandia, an anthology of blogs edited by Ginger Mayerson, for providing Bruce Hahne’s answer to that question. In a piece originally posted online at Daily Kos, Hahne, a “No on 8” campaign volunteer, first picks apart the problems with the effort, ranging from over-reliance on focus groups to failing to get out the vote on Election Day. He then makes several recommendations for future campaigns and includes useful references to other resources, both online and hard copy.
J Bloglandia is published by Mayerson’s own Wapshott Press. This is the third in the series, and — unfortunately — the remaining blogs collected here are of comparatively less value: “There is No Right Answer” by Sara Aye is a Cosmopolitan Magazine rip-off, a trivial personal essay on shopping for hair-care products. Librarian Joshua Finnell offers an intriguing, professional treatise on bookmobiles — if you’re into bookmobiles. The remainder of the blogs beg even less description.
Better that the reader move on to another Wapshott Press anthology, The Tagger and Other Stories, also edited by Mayerson. It’s her second collection of gay-themed short stories, following Chase and Other Stories.
Stories collected in The Tagger vary widely in genre and sexual content. The most explicit is Logan’s “Fast Forward,” a realistic view of the San Francisco gay scene. If it were a movie, it’d likely be rated NC-17. In contrast, Chad Denton’s “The Unsent Letter” is almost entirely implicit, as much about what the author’s letter doesn’t say as what it does.
Mayerson’s own contributions are also realistic romances of gritty, contemporary city life. There’s her title story, as well as the concluding one, “You Know You Should Be a Better Person (But You’re Not),” written under the penname Karmen Ghia. Both pieces appear inspired by her Lincoln Heights neighborhood just outside of downtown Los Angeles, inhabited largely by graffiti “taggers” and junkies, some of whom are gay.
Other contributions, including Laura Dearlove’s “Across the Universe,” are part of a still-developing gay subgenre in science fiction and fantasy.
Since debuting with Chase, Wapshott Press has established a niche as an alternative online publisher, dealing mainly in gay and feminist books. “We don’t publish things that are going to sell, we publish things that should be published,” Mayerson said.