I have a confession to make.
I never intentionally sought out diversity in my publishing
house. Not in the authors, anyway. I certainly looked for diverse stories, for
unique characters and different spins on old ideas. But as far as the faces
behind the stories go, I didn’t go to any great lengths to ensure that our
publishing house represented various races, cultures, religions, or sexual
orientations. I never once put out a call for stories from or for a specific
group of people. I have never signed, or rejected, an author based on the color
of their skin or what they believe. It wasn’t that diversity wasn’t, or isn’t,
important to me, because it is. Understanding, respecting, and allowing
yourself to be influenced by those whose experience is not the same as yours is
necessary, not only to be a viable part
of an industry known for pushing boundaries and challenging conventional thought,
but even more importantly, to be a compassionate, intelligent, and all around
decent human being. However, I believed, perhaps idealistically, that if I were
open to whatever may lie out there, conducted my business in a forward-thinking
and honest manner, and accepted the good stories that came my way, diversity
would happen on its own. I’m not saying that this happens in every situation. I
am ecstatic that, in this case, that is exactly what happened.
We now represent authors from six different countries. Six!
Our authors are African-American, Asian-American, Caucasian, Indian, Italian,
and Hungarian, among others. We work with authors who are Wiccan, Christian,
Atheistic, Hindu, Agnostic, and Muslim. This, to me, is incredible on so many
levels. We are a small press. We don’t represent a gigantic number of authors, so
while I understand that we still have a long way to go, I am proud of what we
have done. While I struggle with technology, and mourn the fact that so many
people use the instant, worldwide access that we have to bully and harangue
others, I have to admit that living in a time in which I can communicate in
real time with authors halfway around the world, who I would have never had a
chance to meet otherwise, is amazing. More than that, so much more, is the fact
that we are able to not only reach out to a larger number of people, but to
show them the world in a way that they may not have seen before. Because we
meet everyone, often quite literally, where they stand, we are able to give
people the chance to achieve their dreams, who may not have had such. I am so
proud that this is what we Lions stand for.
But, this saddens me as well. This saddens me because this
dynamic seems fairly rare in the world as a whole. The recent #oscarssowhite
controversy, as well as all of the rhetoric and platforms being spewed by
various parties in this election cycle shows me that we have so, so much
farther to go as a people. I was curious, and decided to do some research to
figure out what the variable was in this situation.
My first thought was that perhaps it was the genres we
favor. While we are purveyors of outsider fiction, fiction that doesn’t fit
nicely into any one genre, we tend towards speculative fiction. I know
firsthand that, infighting and squabbling aside, geeks do tend to be a rather
inclusive group. So, I thought perhaps that was how we’d encountered this
phenomenon. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In a blog post
written in 2014, Jason T Low reviewed the top 100 grossing science fiction
movies to discover ridiculous amounts of underrepresentation regarding gender,
sexual orientation, race, and physical differences. Layne Haymont of FantasyBook Review discussed a similar trend in Fantasy books. So, it appeared that my
first hypothesis was incorrect.
My second thought was that it is possible that the world,
suffering as we do from “Not in My Backyard” Syndrome, allows for minorities to
have voices, but perhaps not faces. In other words, perhaps the masses are more
comfortable in those not in the majority are heard but not seen. Understand,
please, that I am condemning, not condoning this mindset, I have known the
race, culture, and religion of most authors before I signed them and was
encouraged and excited to add new voices to the group, but I understand that,
as incredulous as I am at this concept, this is not an approach universally
held. However, a brief look at The Hollywood Writers Report and The HollywoodDiversity Report show that while small gains in both pay and representation
have been made in some areas, ground has been lost in others. So, it appears
that wasn’t the case, either.
I finally gained a little bit of insight in this article originally
published in “The Guardian.’ In it the author, Kavita Das, speaks of
“formalism.” Formalism is the process in which authors, particularly minority
authors, are expected to follow a particular formula in their writing, and to
avoid themes or styles that are specific to their identity, experience, or
situation. This can be problematic, as many publishers will either not be able
to understand or identify with the story being told, or will feel that the work
will not appeal to a large enough audience.
And that’s damned shame. It was one of the most poignant
examples of majority privilege that I’ve seen. I’m not sure how people can
accept worlds of elves and orcs and robots but not black elves and orcs and
robots. And while Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and most recently the screen
adaptation of the Gunslinger have gone a ways to introduce characters of
various races and sexual orientations , even then the authors were Caucasian and
so the story has the majority perspective built in. What is literature for if
not to expose us to ideas and situations that we have never experienced?
I understand that we have a long way to go. Not just we as a
house, but we as a society. In this moment, though, I’m proud to be a Lion.
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