Patchworld has a blind young man and his gay older brother. The younger has a seizure disorder, the elder has PTSD. They are mixed-race. There is a trans or genderfluid senior chaperone as well. I didn’t intend it as a statement or anything, but the villains are largely unethical doctors and pseudoscientists and other institutional entities. The pilot character is a lesbian.

It also has an intelligent bug, a talking ape, an ornithopter, aliens, psychic instruments, demons, teleportation, and (sort of) time travel.

That there are people who will read this and find the demographics the unbelievable part is truly bizarre. My own circle of friends is roughly this diverse.

Eastern White Pine has multiple bisexuals, a lesbian trans girl with ADHD, a blind girl, Black people, Chinese Americans, an autistic boy, trauma survivors, and so on. And, you know, a house that exists in multiple dimensions (oversimplified explanation).

The upcoming novel Impulse Controlled features a young man with bipolar disorder trying to survive an apocalypse. It also has a good doggy (that will survive). Two of them in fact. And some lesbians, and an autistic boy, and a preacher and an assortment of races and genders and ages and dis/abilities.

Other works-in-progress are similarly diverse.

And the Chunnel Surfer II novels are just all over the place.

Is this just shotgun tokenism? Hell, no! A lot of these are based in part on actual people I know! And when I write a new character, I sort of go with vibe for a while, then sit down and have a conversation with them about who they are. I find some stories get more interesting the more diverse the cast — just as a diverse array of settings make for a more interesting story. The lesbian pilot started as a Han Solo clone, and I think you’ll agree she’s much more interesting now, even though lesbianism isn’t part of the story.

The upcoming story Archie’s Shadows has a character that wants you to know they are not a boy or a girl, they are Krazy Kat. They/them pronouns can be a challenge to write, but it’s no harder than writing a scene with two he/hims in it. You’ll love Krazy Kat when you meet them.

But first, the werewolf nun short (for the CSII third collection), which I will post to Patreon.