The Giddy Death – Re-Edition Out May 28th!

No jokey intro here – I’m just beyond happy to announce that The Giddy Death of the Gays & the Strange Demise of Straights is getting a re-edition from Amble Press (an imprint of Bywater Books) with the release scheduled for May 28th!

The new edition features an afterword written by the wonderful Dr. Meg-John Barker, and a foreword written by myself. Here’s a brief preview:

It’s hard to convey how damaging it can be to your sense of self when everyone you see is straight, cis, binary, and monogamous—it’s like you don’t exist, or, worse, like you don’t deserve to exist. Without positive representation it’s easy to feel like a freak. Alison Bechdel once remarked on the importance of seeing yourself reflected in the cultural mirror, and for queer people of all kinds, that reflection is the surest antidote to shame and humiliation.

You are not a freak. There are many more of us out there, just like you.

And from MJ’s afterword:

This diversity of representation is deeply refreshing in a world where so few mainstream books include queer characters at all, and those that do often only include them in exoticising or tokenistic ways, while few queer books include characters who are not explicitly queer but who are also grappling with their gender, sexuality, and relationship style. As with masculinity/feminity, gay/straight, cis/trans, and dystopia/utopia, this is yet another binary that Redfern gently but firmly challenges in their novels.

Copies of the novel are already available for preorder from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all major booksellers.

Order one! Order twenty! Build a house from stacks of my books and you shall earn my everlasting gratitude.

– Redfern

A Late Review of 2023

Since we’re all apparently pretending that everything since January 2020 hasn’t been just one long unending year, it’s time for my slightly delayed rundown of everything that’s been going on with me in the past 12 months. I mean, everything that’s appropriate for reading in the workplace, at school, or while riding a stolen e-scooter through the middle of a busy shopping arcade (self-care is important).

Also this year, like every year, is sponsored by the colour pink.

Proud Pink Sky was released!

Surely the biggest news of 2023 came in March, with the release of my latest novel, Proud Pink Sky. I had a lot of support from my publisher (Amble Press, an imprint of Bywater Books) and love everything from the layout to the cover design. I was also extremely fortunate that several writers I know wrote some very kind quotes for the release. Thanks in particular to Meg-John Barker, co-authors Natasha Calder and Emma Szewczak, Gayathri Prabhu, Christian Baines, Brett Josef Grubisic, Paul Gallant, and ‘Nathan Burgoine.

The novel came out to some fantastic reviews from publications including Interzone, Strange Horizons, GScene, My Gay Toronto, Out in Print, and Siegessäule, as well as having been described as ‘gripping’ by Publisher’s Weekly. A particular highlight came in the form of a view review from YouTube channel CloudCuckooCountry, complete with delightful animations.

By the way, I should also mention that the novel came out while I was in the middle of moving to a new apartment, which is a combination of things I really wouldn’t recommend.

Interviews, Readings, and Screaming Rants in Public

The release of Proud Pink Sky also came with a lot of talking! Talking from my mouth! I did some talking here in Berlin, some talking in London, and yet more talking in Brighton. And people were forced to listen!

Special thanks in particular goes to to the Ledward Centre, the Centre for Transforming Gender and Sexuality, Lettretage, the Berlin Book Nook, and Daniel Aldridge at Radio Alex for hosting readings and discussions of the novel. I’m one of those people who finds public speaking both fun and exhilarating as well as completely terrifying, and it was fun to experience all those emotions at once.

Then there were the online interviews! I had lots of fun speaking with Alex Iantaffi, Christian Baines, Wayne Goodman, and J. Scott Coatsworth, all of which can be found on my interviews page here.

I Wrote Some Things!

Yes, sometimes I write! Some things in particular stand out in 2023, and I’m going to start with my article on ambitopia. I really believe this is a genre with a huge amount of potential, and I’m very pleased that the British Science Fiction Association published it in their magazine, Vector.

“I started writing ambitopia before even coming up with a term because it felt natural to me. I need optimism like a drowning person needs driftwood – it might not fix all my problems, but it keeps me from going under. Yet singular optimism feels hollow, akin to an offhand You’ll be all right or Things will get better, well-meaning and patronising at the same time. I want – need – hope for a better world, but for many of us the current world contains plenty of dystopia, and waving it away does us no good. Speculation needs darkness to be relatable.”

Among other pieces, I also wrote an article on ‘punching down’ and Proud Pink Sky called ‘The Nesting Dolls of Hate’ for D.C.-based LGBTQ publication Letters from Camp Rehobeth, alongside reviews and other pieces you can check out on my nonfiction page.

I was also delighted that my fairy tale-style story about age treatment technologies and fascism — ‘The Very Many Princes’ — was published in Andromeda Spaceways! It’s a heartfelt and twisted tale, and I especially recommend picking up a copy of Issue 29 and reading it over and over until your sense of reality is warped beyond any ability to function as a socially-responsible human being.

Also, not only did I get to write a list of my three favourite books of the year for the fantastic book recommendation site Shepherd.com, but Proud Pink Sky was listed as one of the three favourite books of the year for author Kevin Klehr! Thanks, Kevin!

Finally, I want to mention something that I wrote at the very start of 2023: a tribute to Maureen Kincaid Speller, author and head of reviews at Strange Horizons. Maureen passed away far too early, and I miss our email exchanges and complaining about politics together.

More Stuff is Coming!

I promise! For a start I’ve been working on a brand new novel, one I’m extremely excited about but will only tease for now because I’m just cruel like that. There will also be some more upcoming news and links next week, so stay tuned!

(By which I mean don’t leave this webpage. Don’t turn off your monitor. Don’t move. Just wait here until the update comes. I mean it.)

Until then, fellow 2024ians!

- Redfern

A Reading in Brighton, an Ambitopia Article in Vector, and a Review From Strange Horizons!

I didn’t go back to the UK for years due to COVID, and then in the past year I’ve been there so often I may as well be a visiting dignitary (we all have dreams!). This July I was invited for a reading and Q&A at Brighton’s Ledward Centre, hosted by the wonderful Eric Page. The questions were some of the best I’ve had so far (I’ve been waiting for someone to ask me about architecture in Proud Pink Sky, I spent so much time on it!) while the audience was lovely and supportive.

But that’s not all! I was delighted to find that fellow Amble Press author Orlando Ortega-Medina had travelled from London for the event! I was very pleased to meet Orlando and his partner, especially as I’ve just finished his wonderful new book The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants. It was an honour to meet in person.

Ambitopia Article in Vector!

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that my article ‘Ambitopia: Futures Beyond the Binary’ has been published in Vector, the British Science Fiction Association’s long-running journal! There’s been a very positive response so far, and the concept of ambitopia seems to be sparking people’s imaginations.

"Ambitopias form a careful balancing act, forming a cohesive and believable society that cannot be categorised as either good or bad, yet one which is still dramatically speculative.

In short, an ambitopia presents a world both distinctly better and worse than our own."

You can read the article for yourself at this link here.

Review in Strange Horizons!

Finally we have some great news: Proud Pink Sky was reviewed by the renowned science fiction magazine, Strange Horizons! I’ve written reviews for SH for several years now, so was thrilled that fellow reviewer Catherine Baker took on the novel, going into incredible depth.

“Every move in Barrett’s social and political worldbuilding is engineered to draw pointed illustrations of homonormativity, complicity with state power, and the roots of these flaws in internalised homophobia.”

The review is available to read here.

That’s it for now! Don’t forget that all true fans will immediately order 10,000 copies of my novel, and individually mail them to the offices of right-wing newspapers. How else will I see your devotion?

Until next time!

– Redfern

The Many Things of the Past Month: Readings, Interviews, and Reviews!

Has it really been six weeks since I last posted here? Time certainly flies when you’re desperately trying to work while fighting off allergens using mountains of ineffective pills and sprays. However, the outside being poison certainly does wonders for productivity, which is surely the only true measure of human worth – so let’s take a look at the past month and a half, while the incessant bleeping of a smoke alarm whose battery I’ve not yet changed endlessly shrieks in the background.

Reading at the CTSG

The 26th of April saw a reading of Proud Pink Sky at the University of Brighton’s Centre for Transforming Gender and Sexuality. The event was hosted by the wonderful Dr. Olu Jensen, and featured a fascinating and emotional discussion of both the book and issues faced by trans and nonbinary people. Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the event itself, but I did take a hotel room selfie of my makeup beforehand, which is surely all you wanted anyway.

Interviews!

It’s been quite a few weeks for lovers of my sultry voice, with a few different interviews coming out. First there was a lovely interview with radio host Daniel Aldridge for Berlin’s Radio Alex, complete with a fantastic sci-fi playlist Daniel put together specially. The interview aired April 21st, and I’ll post a link when it’s available online!

I was likewise thrilled to be interviewed by J. Scott Coatsworth, where I even got to talk about my absurdly colourful bedroom (which has now been relocated to another absurdly colourful bedroom due to all the excitement of moving apartments). The interview can be read here, but here’s a snippet:

Being a huge fan of dystopian fiction, I’ve thought a lot about utopia and dystopia, and I was very keen to explore the middle ground between the two. What can we learn from a society with very real extremes of both good and evil? The world always gets both better and worse, constantly shifting in different directions, and I wanted to represent that dramatic, ambiguous change. This is my first ambitopian novel, and I hope to write more.

But it doesn’t end there! I also had the opportunity to be interviewed by Christian Baines, a fantastic author whose dark yet innovative stories have really stuck with me (I recently read his new novel My Cat’s Guide to Online Dating and I still don’t don’t feel entirely comfortable around the animals…). Anyway, we talk more about Proud Pink Sky, and writing fiction in general:

I love reading nonfiction, only it's something very straightforward and linear: the writer has a message they want to convey, and they do so. Now, I'm an opinionated person with strong beliefs, but what I love about writing fiction that you're not doling out a single answer to the reader – you're presenting a whole multitude of possibilities, a lot of which you never intended, and letting the reader draw their own conclusions. You're presenting your worldview in a softer way, one which, I believe, engages with the reader on a deeper level. You work together to find the message.

The full interview is available here.

Finally, I was honoured to be interviewed by the lovely Alex Iantaffi for the Gender Stories podcast. We had a really great time talking about Proud Pink Sky (of course) and also connecting over nonbinary experiences. It’s very much worth a listen, and the episode is available on several channels which can be accessed here.

But for the full experience including my exciting purple eyeshadow, you can also watch the interview on YouTube! Simply click here.

To Be Reviewed…

Proud Pink Sky has been gathering several highly positive reviews, particularly on Goodreads, which surely warms my allergy-ridden heart. I was especially pleased with this review from author Kevin Klehr:

… important plot points are introduced slowly, skilfully, drip fed into scenes so the reader knows there is a more menacing side to this city. This, and the points I made in the previous paragraph, is why I admired Redfern’s storytelling style.

A great dystopian tale. Five stars.

For the full review click here.

Well that’s it for now! Join me next time for more sneezing, spluttering, and cursing the cruelties of nature with their filthy, poisonous pollen. Until then!

- Sneezefern

Reading at Lettretage Berlin, Review in Siegessäule, and an Interview on Radio Alex Tomorrow!

You know what you really want to do when you have a book launching? Move house! Or in this case, that most precious and rare of commodities, Berlin apartments. Who needs free time or taking care of yourself when you can have a never-ending list of things to accomplish all while forgetting to eat or sleep? And there’s been so much to do!

Reading at Lettretage Berlin

At the start of the month I was very kindly given a platform at Lettretage Berlin for a reading and Q&A on Proud Pink Sky – moderated by my handsome partner and literary host, Ismar Hačam. The audience was fantastic, and really kept me on my oversize toes when it came to questions. It was also the first time Ismar and I have done an event together!

Review in Siegessäule

I was absolutely thrilled to find that Proud Pink Sky received a wonderful review in Berlin’s biggest LGBTQ+ magazine, Siegessäule! Best of all is this fantastic quote:

“The ferocity of Barrett’s imagination gives the middle finger to regressive authors like JK Rowling with colourful characters and impressive world-building.”

The magazine is available in print, and the PDF can be read online here (review on page 37).

Interview with Daniel Aldridge for Radio Alex!

I had the delightful opportunity to be interviewed once again by my favourite radio host, Daniel Aldridge. We talked about the novel, punching down in LGBTQ+ communities, and coming out nonbinary – all interspersed with appropriately atmospheric sci-fi music. The interview will be aired tomorrow at 4pm Central European Time, and you can stream along here.

That’s all for now – but if you happen to be in the south of England next week, I have an event at Brighton University next Wednesday! Entry is free, but you need to register for a ticket before attending. More details are available here.

– Redfern

Proud Pink Sky: Reviews in Interzone, Queer Sci Fi, Out in Print – Queer Words Podcast – Reading at the Berlin Book Nook

Reviews! Good reviews! I’m delighted to say that Proud Pink Sky is being received extremely well, with the past few days seeing positive reviews in Interzone, Queer Sci Fi, and Out in Print:

“Proud Pink Sky is an impressively readable piece of work that captivates you early on and drags you effortlessly into a utopia that isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be. You’ll enjoy the charcter, the story, and the setting. What more could you ask for?”
– Jerry Wheeler, for Out in Print

“… an important, well-written, complex tale that will grip you, shake you, and give you a different view of what makes a utopia, and at what costs.”
– Lucy, for Queer Sci Fi

“Read it or regret it.”
– Eliza B., for Queer Sci Fi

“Like most utopian/dystopian novels, the main point of this novel is showing us a hypothetical universe – what would the world be like if LGBTQ people had defeated, or at least helped to defeat, the Nazis? What would a city-state run by and for LGBTQ people be like? … Utopian novels tend to be weak when it comes to having an actual plot, but Barrett dodges that problem”
– Kelly Jennings, for Interzone

I can’t say how much it means to have so many people engage with my work. If you haven’t yet, you can get your very own copy of Proud Pink Sky from the bookseller of your choice.

Queer Words Podcast with Wayne Goodman

A few months ago I had a delightful chat with Queer Words host Wayne Goodman, who interviewed me on my experiences as a queer writer and the creation of Proud Pink Sky – including a short reading from the text. Listen to my beautiful voice here, or by clicking the image below.

Reading at the Berlin Book Nook

The Berlin Book Nook is a wonderful boutique bookstore in Berlin’s Neukölln district. It’s also run by the lovely Alex and William, who were kind enough to host a reading of Proud Pink Sky. With more attendees than space, the reading took place outside the store, creating a wonderful street performance that even drew in passers by. What a beautiful way to spend a spring evening!

Another reading will take place at Lettretage on the 1st of April – tickets are available here.

That’s all for now! Join us next week when we’ll be promoting Proud Pink Sky using my exciting new technique: throwing copies from the Berlin TV Tower for pedestrians to catch/desperately avoid.

Until then!

– Redfern

PROUD PINK SKY LAUNCHES TODAY! Plus reviews, public readings, and articles!

It’s finally here! The day Proud Pink Sky is finally unleashed upon the world, ushering in a thousand years of darkne…

I mean, buy my book! It’s set in the world’s first gay state, exploring a city divided between its gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans, and nonbinary residents. Described as “gripping” by Publisher’s Weekly, the novel is already getting great reviews, and can be purchased from pretty much any bookstore. Here are some links:

AMAZON: https://a.co/d/c5ivSNy
BYWATER: https://www.bywaterbooks.com/product/proud-pink-sky-by-redfern-jon-barrett/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60392869
BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/proud-pink-sky-redfern-jon-barrett/1141092302
BOOK DESPOSITORY: https://www.bookdepository.com/Proud-Pink-Sky-Redfern-Jon-Barrett/9781612942537

The novel looks great in both print and e-book forms, though I have a soft spot for the beautiful matte purple cover of the paperback. And with that we’re…

ONTO THE REVIEWS!

MyGayToronto.com has an incredible review from Drew Rowsome, with an incredibly positive account of the novel, its characters, and its messages. My favourite passage has to be:

”As astute and frightening as Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, yet reads with the pace and energy of a modern action thriller.”

You can read the full review here. I’m still smiling after reading it!

Another wonderful review comes from YouTube channel CloudCuckooCountry. I loved seeing the animations from the characters, and you can watch the full review here.

‘THE NESTING DOLLS OF HATE’

My article for Camp Rehobeth has been published. Titled ‘The Nesting Dolls of Hate’, the article talks about the tendency for marginalised people to ‘punch down’, and how this relates to Proud Pink Sky. Here’s a snippet:

“In 2020 I came out again: this time as nonbinary. The truth was they were right: I didn’t really fit, not even into the neat categories of ‘man’ or ‘woman.’ ... It was that way ever since I was a child, spending time with groups of boys and girls and never fitting in with either. There was only ever myself. My curiosity, and my questions.”

You can read the whole piece here.

READINGS!

A few public readings and events for Proud Pink Sky are lined up for the next couple months, including a reading at the Berlin Book Nook this Saturday! Located in northern Neukölln, it’s a beautiful independent bookstore and well worth a visit.

April 1 will see another reading, introduced by my wonderful partner Ismar Hačam, at Berlin’s Lettretage. Details for the event can be viewed here. Entry is €5, and I’m more than a little excited for it!

Well, that’s all for now. Be sure to recommend Proud Pink Sky to your friends, neighbours, strangers, especially that stranger over there, the one who’s running away! Don’t let him get away, he needs to hear about the book! HURRY, CATCH HIM.

– Redfern

Andromeda Spaceways and the Upcoming Book Launch!

Just a short post this week, as I appear to have angered ChatGPT. Now it’s churning out slanderous content and posting it everywhere like I’m (a much more glamorous) Sandra Bullock in a shoddy 21st-century remake of The Net.

So, onto the news!

Andromeda Spaceways

I’m delighted to announce that my speculative story ‘The Very Many Princes’ is being published in Andromeda Spaceways issue #89! This one’s a pretty dark story, based in some difficult experiences, yet it’s one that’s also filled with a lot of love.

More details are available on Andromeda Spaceways’ website.

Proud Pink Sky is almost here!

We’ve less than two weeks to go until the release of everyone’s favourite novel set in an alternate Berlin that’s the world’s first gay city state. There’s already been some mentions of the launch, not least by Lambda Literary, who’ve included it in their list of ‘March’s most anticipated LGBTQIA+ books’.

I’m also honoured that Proud Pink Sky has been included in Sci-Fi X Fantasy’s list ‘12 of the Best New Sci-Fi Books in March’, alongside mentions on other sites and blogs. I’m incredibly proud seeing how much love the book has gathered so far, and there’s even more to come, because I have readings lined up both here in Berlin and on some remote island called Britain. More info on those to come!

Proud Pink Sky releases 14 March, and is available for preorder on all your favourite and most despised book buying websites.

– Redfern

The Proudest, Pinkest Sky

It’s been a busy time here at Redfern Enterprises, where our employees don’t/won’t/can’t leave until every last potential scrap of work is definitively finished forever. In the meantime there’s plenty of exciting news, from print copies of Proud Pink Sky, to excerpts from the novel, to book recommendations. Follow me as we take you through our latest exciting updates, and please try not to make eye contact with our industrious workforce. Reminders of human interaction will only upset them, thus harming productivity.

Print Copies of Proud Pink Sky!

The print copies have arrived, and they’re absolutely stunning! I love the matte cover, how well the map was reproduced, and the imaginative use of formatting — with different sections of the novel using different layouts and fonts.

It made this colourful giant extremely happy.

Read an excerpt from the novel at Stadtsprechen

Following the reading of Proud Pink Sky at the Brotfabrik, the fantastic Berlin-based magazine Stadtsprechen has published an excerpt from the novel — in both English and German! The German translation is extremely well-done, and you can take a look for yourself here.

The Bay Area Reporter

Proud Pink Sky has made the Winter Books Picks from the Bay Area Reporter! Here’s an extract:

This is a wild, colorfully imaginative tale of unrest and coalition in a city with its own vocabulary and secret historical gay slang (Polari), all meant for paradise, but only for a conforming citizenry.

People really seem to be connecting with the novel! You can pre-order a copy for yourself at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and many other places.

I also write a list of recommendations for Shepherd.com, a really great website where authors recommend their favourite books. I really like that this is curated rather than algorithm-based, which we need much, much more of to counter the absolute clinical dystopia which is the internet in 2023. You can read my recommendations — titled ‘The best sci-fi and speculative stories depicting queer lives’ — at this link.

Hold it right there, we’ve received reports that one of you has been illegally sneaking potable water to one of our interns, and that this basic display of human dignity has led to them trying to unionise. Please hold while we usher them back safely into their corner using the hose.

-Redfern