Editor’s Note
The word, “geek” means different things to different people. Merriam-Webster defines it as: “An enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity.” Mac Millan defines it as: “Someone who is boring.” Oxford defines it as: “An unfashionable and socially inept person” and “A knowledgable and obsessive enthusiast.”*
“Queer” is even more nebulous a term, if that’s possible. Formerly signifying the mere difference of a person or group from the norm, it has evolved to apply to specific differences of sexuality and gender-identity. Despite this distinction, however, an enormous overlap obviously exists between the two terms.
Many people who self-identify as queer also self-identify as geeks. For that matter, so too are many people labeled queer by others also perceived as geeks. The commonality, if it can be pared down to a single factor, is a lack of belonging. Being queer and being a geek are each belonging to a group distinguished by its failure to belong, or to fit the dominant paradigm. In their own realms, they—we—are each, alone, together, living in society’s margins.
The Urban Dictionary defines “geek out” as: “The act of becoming emotionally and physically aroused by the sight or the thought of a technicality of a certain topic of major interest. It resembles an ‘orgasm of the mind’.“ For the writers and artists here, it may be science fiction, fantasy, fairy tale, westerns, fanfic or experimental poetry. It may be opera, drag, synesthesia, urban planning or board games. For all of us involved in this book, it is also a play on words, suggesting queer geeks coming out as both. So what do you geek out about?
This book and all subsequent volumes in this series are dedicated to all the wild and wonderful geeks, freaks, nerds, dweebs, outcasts and, yes, queers out there in the world. This means you.
—Sage Kalmus, Editor
Table of Content
Editor’s Note
About the Cover
Storybook | Sandra Odell
Red Riding Hood | M.C. Stylos
Poems by Robert Beveridge –
Traversing the Eastern Slope of Faimon Volcano
You Must Build a Boat
31, 9, 17
Anon | Sara K. Ellis
The Hyperheels Devour | Elly Bangs
Wonder | Sravani singampalli
“Oh No She Betta Don’t” – The Problematic Nature of Contemporary Drag Performance | Andres Caravantes
Two-Way Communication | Annie Percik
Poems by Catherine Krause
dragonbears
Anemone of the People
He Moved Astonishingly Fast
It
white noise
Pirate Girls | Emmalia Harrington
War of Brothers | Brandon Cracraft
From Nostalgia, Through Now & Beyond | Stephen Mead
Outbound Access | Jack Miller
To Klaatu | Marie Vibbert
To Free a Genie | Jessica Goodman
I Wish People Would Stop Pretending Mario Kart is Fun (It’s Not) | M. Shaw
The Temptation Machine | Lisa Timpf
Small College, Greater Problems: The Status of GLBTQ in Rural Higher Education | Jason K. Smith, Ph D
Waterfront | Fred Simon
“O terra, addio!” | Joseph Tomaras
Tape | Will Bernardara Jr
Review of We the Animals by Justin Torres | Juanita Tovar Mutis
Hypermorphic | Nicholas Jordan
Fallen Sun | Nicolas Johnson
Out of the Closet | Ari Koontz
About the author
Sage Kalmus is cofounder/co-CEO of Qommunity LLC and senior editor of its publishing imprint, Qommunicate Media. He teaches writing magical realism in Lesley University’s MFA Creative Writing program. He’s been an editorial intern for Dzanc Books and a three-time reader for Salamander Magazine’s summer fiction contest. Sage’s short story, ‘The First Lo’ihian’, published in the Darkhouse Books anthology, Sanctuary, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His fiction has also appeared in Whisperings Magazine, Carnival Online Literary Journal, and Rose Red Review. His nonfiction has appeared in The Writer and The Hampshire Gazette. He wrote and directed three plays in San Francisco, including a one-man show in which he started. He earned a MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and a BS in Broadcasting and Film from Boston University. He lives in western Massachusetts with his loving husband-fellow Qommunity cofounder/co-CEO & Qommunicate Editor, Curry Kalmus and their resident zoo.
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