So this was brought to mind by the most recent Titan novel, Sight Unseen. Ranul Keru has been the security chief on the USS Titan for its full run, an unjoined Trill man who happens to be gay.
Now, I’ve given him pride of place in the headline because he’s just about the only LGBT senior staff member or lead character in the novel line that I can think of at the moment. John Candlewood is senior science officer on DS9, and I’ve chosen to interpret one tiny line way back in Mission Gamma as proof that he is gay too, although it’s far from incontrovertibly established, and he has spoken about three lines in the last decade anyway. I think I remember the spiky-haired new helm girl on Voyager flirted with another girl once, maybe? But that’s all I can think of.
Perhaps it’s rose-tinted glasses, but I felt like when the current era of Star Trek books began in earnest (approx Avatar), the authors/editors made a concentrated effort to make sure that all possible variations of people all across the sexuality and gender spectrum were positively represented in regular and recurring characters across the line. Not-entirely-straight or not-entirely-gender-binary characters were all over the place, and playing major roles in the storylines.
It doesn’t feel like that anymore. I freely admit I don’t read all of the books that are released, so maybe I’ve missed some. I would love to be proven wrong. But I can’t think of any major storylines for any LGBT characters in quite a while. Nobody would even know that Keru was gay who hasn’t been reading the series since the beginning - I don’t think it’s been mentioned even in passing in the last three Titan stories.
Can we get some action for this poor guy? I know that romance isn’t the only storyline a gay character can have, but in a book in which there was plenty of heterosexuality on display - Riker/Troi, Tuvok/T’Pel, Ra-Havreii/Pazlar, Kyzak/Pazlar, a couple of the Dinac aliens - I couldn’t help but remember that Keru hasn’t had a single romantic relationship in fifteen stories set over seven years of in-story time.
I’m not looking for hardcore porn, and I’m not saying I need him flouncing onto the page wearing a feather boa and singing “I Will Survive”. I’m just looking for something that demonstrates to the reader that the only remaining LGBT regular character in the entire novel line is actually LGBT.
(I do realise that the same novel I’m discussing here had a character mention in passing that he keeps his options open, and I appreciated that. The author didn’t need to add that in, so it’s nice that he went ahead and did it anyway. The character still aimed for a hetero relationship, of course. Representin’ the B part of the acronym, I suppose, and the fact that bi people being in hetero relationships doesn’t make them not bi. But he’s not a senior officer, and he’s only been there for this one book.)
Does anyone else have this impression? Am I wrong? If there are more LGBT major characters out there in the current novels, let me know. But I really feel like this one aspect of the novel line has fallen away since the original “relaunch”.
.
Now, I’ve given him pride of place in the headline because he’s just about the only LGBT senior staff member or lead character in the novel line that I can think of at the moment. John Candlewood is senior science officer on DS9, and I’ve chosen to interpret one tiny line way back in Mission Gamma as proof that he is gay too, although it’s far from incontrovertibly established, and he has spoken about three lines in the last decade anyway. I think I remember the spiky-haired new helm girl on Voyager flirted with another girl once, maybe? But that’s all I can think of.
Perhaps it’s rose-tinted glasses, but I felt like when the current era of Star Trek books began in earnest (approx Avatar), the authors/editors made a concentrated effort to make sure that all possible variations of people all across the sexuality and gender spectrum were positively represented in regular and recurring characters across the line. Not-entirely-straight or not-entirely-gender-binary characters were all over the place, and playing major roles in the storylines.
It doesn’t feel like that anymore. I freely admit I don’t read all of the books that are released, so maybe I’ve missed some. I would love to be proven wrong. But I can’t think of any major storylines for any LGBT characters in quite a while. Nobody would even know that Keru was gay who hasn’t been reading the series since the beginning - I don’t think it’s been mentioned even in passing in the last three Titan stories.
Can we get some action for this poor guy? I know that romance isn’t the only storyline a gay character can have, but in a book in which there was plenty of heterosexuality on display - Riker/Troi, Tuvok/T’Pel, Ra-Havreii/Pazlar, Kyzak/Pazlar, a couple of the Dinac aliens - I couldn’t help but remember that Keru hasn’t had a single romantic relationship in fifteen stories set over seven years of in-story time.
I’m not looking for hardcore porn, and I’m not saying I need him flouncing onto the page wearing a feather boa and singing “I Will Survive”. I’m just looking for something that demonstrates to the reader that the only remaining LGBT regular character in the entire novel line is actually LGBT.
(I do realise that the same novel I’m discussing here had a character mention in passing that he keeps his options open, and I appreciated that. The author didn’t need to add that in, so it’s nice that he went ahead and did it anyway. The character still aimed for a hetero relationship, of course. Representin’ the B part of the acronym, I suppose, and the fact that bi people being in hetero relationships doesn’t make them not bi. But he’s not a senior officer, and he’s only been there for this one book.)
Does anyone else have this impression? Am I wrong? If there are more LGBT major characters out there in the current novels, let me know. But I really feel like this one aspect of the novel line has fallen away since the original “relaunch”.
.
I haven't read any of your ENT books yet Christopher, but I have them all waiting to be read. I'm a big fan of your earlier books though so I am expecting great things from them.
