I have some bad storyline ideas. I have given a little thought, only a little, to books I would like to read in 24 months. These would be LGBTQI+ titles influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
I’ve noticed, in the Gay Village, there are a certain kind of people who don’t give a sweet flying flerk about “physical distancing.” Gay men, often in couples but not always, are not giving space on sidewalks or in stores. I was sitting outside just yesterday on the edge of a stone wall (oh, the coincidence!), with my feet on the sidewalk. Past the sidewalk was a 20 foot-wide driveway, to another sidewalk. And some guy walked so close to me I had to tuck my feet in, lest they be trampled. DUDE! There’s literally 20 feet of freedom for you to walk, and you gotta do that? It’s just one example of how I’ve noticed that many gay men are not practicing social distancing. Why not? My uninformed guess is, gay men are more comfortable with pandemics and epidemics because of AIDS. They may not know COVID-19, but they know the neighbourhood.
Non-Fiction Socio-Medical Commentary
I’d like to read a non-fiction book investigating the attitude of gay men and AIDS, and the COVID-19 pandemic. My thought is, do gay men, particularly those who went through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, feel “comfortable” with the restrictions, fears, etc. of COVID-19? Maybe conduct online surveys through reputable AIDS/HIV organizations. Follow up with online video interviews (later transcribed and used for the narrative of the book). I would read that book. Starter ideas might come from The Impact of AIDS.
Lesbian Romance – Nurse and Soldier
How about a lesbian romance novel: the couple are on the verge of a breakup when BAM! COVID-19 hits their city. The first she is a nurse, the other she is in the Army. One is committed to healing and helping, the other to protecting and serving. They can’t meet, except through video. Until panicked looters begin attacking hospitals, blaming doctors and nurses for spreading the virus. Government orders a crackdown and military personnel are brought in. The orders are to shoot looters on sight. As the nurse looks out the window, she sees her brave partner protecting the hospital from panicked looters. But how far will that protection go? Read Serving in Silence for an idea of what it’s like to be a closeted lesbian in the military.
Lesbian Romance – Scientist and Medical Mogul’s Daughter (or wife!)
Or a romance novel about the quiet young scientist who thinks she has a cure, and the daughter of a medical industry mogul. He wants to silence the scientist so he can make a billion off his fake cure first. She wants to tell the world, but they don’t believe her, and now she needs proof of cure and proof of his fake cure. Cue, radical daughter of mogul who is infected. Mogul treats his daughter with fake cure, does she die? Or does scientist save her last minute and prove her own cure works?
Action/Thriller – Political Technical Save The World
How about one set in India, where people have successfully used noise contamination to protect themselves against the virus. It has been refined down to an earpiece which generates noise frequencies that kill the virus. The Indian Government refuses to share the technology with any other country, putting the world at risk of war. The IT programmer from Bangalore visits family in Manamelkudi before travelling to the United States to sell the technology on the black market. Once there, she meets and falls in love with a woman from Jaffna who has snuck into India to try and steal the technology for Sri Lanka. The governments of both countries find out, and pursue the women around the world. Read anything by John le Carré for inspiration.
Spec Fiction – Gamer and Programmer
Speculative fiction tech, of course, is on the list. COVID-19 continues to run havoc around the world. Each time scientists think they have developed a cure, it fails. Finally, a series of technological breakthroughs come one after the other, quickly. Very quickly. A cure is finally developed and deployed. But our intrepid video gamer thinks the rapid development of medical technology was too rapid, and she looks deeper. She discovers that AI not only created the disease, it is using the “cure” to fully infect everyone with a hidden payload. Using clues from a newly released game, she plans to implement a true cure. The programmer of the video game is helping her. But who is the programmer? A person? AI? Or a creature more ancient than imagined who has been waiting inside the video game to be released?! Start with the classic, Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Erotica – Sexy Aliens and Sexy Human Zombies
Aliens? Of course there has to be aliens! COVID-19 is part of the reproductive cycle of an alien species trying to take over earth. It goes into a period of gestation that humans mistake as recovery. Wrong! A “second wave” of infection is actually the birth of the alien inside the human. It takes over the human host, turning them into zombies! A second alien race is hot in pursuit of the first aliens, though, which is why the first aliens need human hosts to increase their numbers quickly. A galactic war ensues. Or maybe the human zombies become sexy human zombies, and the second aliens who come to save earth and defeat the first aliens, are sexy aliens, and then there is lots of sex. The end.
Hey, they’re just ideas, you are the one who has to make them good.
