Sexual Preference and Gender Diversity in my books and On the Diversity Explosion in Speculative Fiction

In my Gladiatrix of the Galaxy science fiction/fantasy series, I am upfront about my heroine being pansexual.
That is, my heroine, Jegra Alakandra, is the only human character in a cast of over 200 characters and she's not against the idea of having intimate relations with other species from other worlds.

I mean, when you're the only human in the story, that makes sense, right?

Still, it seems to bother some people. Maybe they are more traditional when it comes to their views on relationship or gender stereotypes, but there's really no place for such human views in a universe where humans are the minority and their views are unimportant.

Jegra has had to adjust to being the only female human in a vast array of strange and exotic new species. In book 1, she is married to a blue-skinned, elf-like emperor of an entire galactic empire, Rhadamanthus Dakroth.
At the same time, she has a full-time, intersexual, transexual girlfriend who is also blue-skinned.

(Note: In my series all Dagon females -- or blue-skins, as they're commonly called -- evolved to be intersexual. Therefore the women are all transexual, containing both male and female anatomy. The traditional males, not needing to reproduce with themselves, didn't evolve the same intersex capabilities. Think of it like how human females evolved to have more color cone receptors in their eyeballs. The genetic variation is minute, but it gives females an advantage in certain areas. That's an idea I settled on when I was thinking about how small evolutionary changes in the genome affect an entire species when it came to sexual reproduction.)

At the same time, Jegra has an off again on again dalliance with a green-skinned alien woman from an entirely different species called the Bre'lal. A species of highly sexual women, like the Orion women of Star Trek, who have devoted their entire culture to the art of seduction and pleasure.

Finally, Jegra also has relations with a lizard-man known as a Dragonian. Basically, lizard people who evolved to be space-faring. The unique trait of these people are that sexual reproduction is not pleasant, so they rarely do it.

Another one of my alien races shuns sex altogether and has made it illegal. Reproduction for the Nyctan species involves a lot of highly ritualistic laws and ceremonies that tie into their ultra-religious beliefs (I loosely based them off traditional Islamic customs, but in an obviously exaggerated and fictional way so as to be familiar but still original).

Even as Jegra ends up marrying her blue-skin partner, making her polyamorous too, she is still allowed up to 17 consorts.

(Yes, alien cultures and genders work differently than human ones and monogamy wouldn't make much sense from an evolutionary, intergalactic, point of view. Maybe certain isolated species still depending largely on communal or tribal values would prefer monogamous relationships. But, ultimately, I felt there were fewer reasons for monogamy than polygamy where multiple species and customs were concerned).

She is primed to be married again to another consort in the near future. A longtime friend who is -- well, I don't want to give it away because...spoilers.

It's surprising to me how many people find this type of non-traditional view of relationships, gender identity, and sex offensive. In a science fiction novel. That's not even about humans.

A strange human hang-up, for sure.

If it's not heteronormative, guy/girl, human/human relationship -- or something anthropocentric, like a vampire or werewolf or shifter that can take the form of or resemble humans -- many people seem to shy away from it.

It's fascinating to me for a couple of reasons. First, I'm not talking Chuck Tingle level of inanimate object fetishism whereby I'm ramming my butt with my own butt while falling madly in love with a unicorn that is also my office stapler type stuff.

I'm merely writing characters who have feelings, goals, and aspirations that reflect actualized people's feelings, goals, and aspirations. Yes, they're aliens. Yes, that means they will view the world differently than we as humans do. Why wouldn't they?

If you choose to define everything according to your human values, then you might be in danger of discovering that your own imagination is limited. Yet, maybe that's why I enjoy writing sci-fi and fantasy. I can explore alternative ideas that most people don't really bother or worry thinking too deeply about. I do prefer to think about such things and explore them in my writing.

Science fiction has been getting more diverse over the past decade or so. That much is obvious to anyone who has stayed tapped into the mainstream. Many more people of color, of varying ethnic backgrounds, and many more women are writing speculative fiction today than ever before.

As of recent, I've really enjoyed the work of Kameron Hurley, Marjorie Liu, Gail Simone, Sarah J. Maas, Martha Wells, N.K. Jemisin, Mishelle Baker and the list goes on and on.

Gone is the era of the old white crusty male being the only ones writing noteworthy and award-winning sci-fi. (Please note that this was a symptom of a bygone time where, historically speaking, old crusty white publishers and editors preferred to publish stories mainly from their own social and racial demographics).

It's a new era. And I say this as an old white crusty male myself who writes sci-fi. The truth is, the diversity is healthy for us. And for the genre as a whole.

We are now seeing more and more voice join the "mainstream." An infusion of new blood, so to speak. New imaginative perspectives. New styles. New voices. No longer does gender, sexual preference, or your ethnicity prevent you from getting your voice out there. The playing field has been leveled (thanks in part to the self-publishing boom).

Whether male or female, whether or not they come from a minority class or a more traditionally published group of favored elites there's been an explosion of new blood in the realm of speculative fiction.

Instead of judging people's value on outmoded stereotypes, now we judge them on their imagination and storytelling chops. And that's the way it should be.

I think you'll find, the hallmark of any great sci-fi or fantasy author, regardless of their background, is that they dare to entertain us while pushing boundaries.

And that brings me back to my own work.

How does one stay relevant in an ever growing sea of diversity, style, and voice? How does one forge their own style and voice and still gain traction in this deluge of endless raw talent? And the truth is, you have to keep pushing.

Keep pushing forward, keep writing, and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible in both terms of storytelling and imagination.

At the end of the day, the only thing that will matter is how good of a yarn you can weave from the whole cloth of language and imagination.

You can get your copy of Jegra in e-book and paperback >>here<<. Audio book coming March 1st 2019.