Queen Horizons is a bi-monthly exploration of some of the queer fantasy, science, and speculative fiction found within The ArQuives collection.
Curiosity is at the very foundation of speculative fiction. Through imagined pasts, presents, and futures, author and reader become explorers of alternate thought paths, unseen possibilities, and inquisitors of the status quo. Likewise, queerness is suffused with curiosity and questioning, the pursuit of a new path, rejection of the expected road, and a deep wonder at “what else could be?” This natural kinship of exploration and inquisitiveness opens up a fascinating and wondrous alchemy of ideas and possibilities, pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve. Journey with us into the far reaches of The ArQuives as we explore a universe of possibilities, predictions, and wonderful strangeness.
“…we’d have gotten nowhere, been rammed fast by prejudice into some fatally constipated cul-de-sac, if we hadn’t kept all data, all sensa open to that curiosity-arousing field of wonder…”
From AE: The Open Persuader
Deep within the outer fringes of this belaboured framing device floats AE: The Open Persuader by Auctor Ignotus (generally acknowledged as the pseudonym of Gerald Heard), one of the first works of gay transhumanist utopian fiction. Framed as an anonymous work “discovered” by the publishers, AE charts an eccentric, erotic, tedious, offensive, and deliriously campy path towards the author’s vision of a perfect humanity.
Utopian fiction is often more a reflection of the author’s biases and predilections than a legitimate blueprint for a better, progressive future, and it is important to note that here AE falters into the depressingly common conspiracy tropes of antisemitism, racism, and a deeply 19th-century colonial mindset. Odious and unforgivable as these sections are, they do point to the book’s vision of societal perfection through uniformity. And what form does this homogenous wonderland take? Why a society of tall, tanned, hermaphrodites, whose bulging groins rival in size only with their heaving bosoms, of course.
It’s here in this tonal whiplash that AE finds its mesmerizingly and (unintentionally) campy “what if?” A roadmap to human perfection so singular in its conception, it’s hard not to marvel at its conviction. For as the book boils down, all ailments can and would be cured in this perfect society with “the only price … simply to be made an hermaphrodite.” Truly a miracle solution, with the “added double bonus” of two new erogenous zones for males, and no longer a need for shaving. Diving deeper down the wormhole, a hypnotizing rhythm emerges where characters drone on about the ills and ailments of the world and the philosophical truth of their solutions, with copious breastfeeding and copulation interspersed throughout. This mix of eroticism and political science is further embellished with a series of intricate pin-up illustrations, ensuring that the underwear size of the person disparaging the Irish is never far from your mind.
“What if things were different?” is a question with tantalizing power that never diminishes, and equally so are all the possible answers. No less so the answers offered when we look out through a queer lens, still susceptible to prejudice and bias, but able to provide another tantalizing angle on what could be; what could be better. Who knows what idea will be the key to humanity’s utopia? SPOILER ALERT To AE: The Open Persuader, the path to enlightenment inevitably flows through suckling the gargantuan mammalian teat of a baleen whale, a testament to the endless creativity of human thought and the unifying cosmic pull of boobies. Well… maybe just for Gerald Heard.
Author bio: Chris Yurkovich (she/her) is a trans film producer based in Toronto, ON. She once saw Phillip Seymore Hoffman in an elevator, but turned out to be mistaken.