EDGE Boston

These days the Internet has become a valued and oft-turned to means of communication, especially for gay men who may face feeling isolated. Telling stories to comfort, to entertain, to thrill and allure, is not a new method of keeping a community together, and online magazines are the most recent expression. Few have had as much of an impact on current gay writing as VelvetMafia.com.

The name suggests not only the queer content but a sense of danger. This is intentional because many of the stories featured in the issues of Velvet Mafia are bold and take risks. Some are highly erotic, some have speculative elements, such as ghosts, but each is well written.

EDGE had the opportunity to speak with the founder and editor of VM, Sean Meriwether about his site and e-zine.

EDGE: So what motivated you to create Velvet Mafia?

Sean Meriwether: Back in the early 90’s, small bookstores, especially gay and lesbian bookstores, were closing due to the internet and big chains. There were already so few outlets available to queer authors to publicize or publish their work, so this loss was particularly upsetting. Our bookstores were a resource to our community, where we can gather, go to readings, etc, as well as buy books.

I couldn’t afford to open a bookstore, which would only have had limited reach, so I went online. At the time there were only two places to publish queer work; Blithe House and in porn markets. I wanted to bridge the two, as well as give a place to publicize the printed work of emerging authors.

In 1999 I launched Outsider Ink, which was a market to publish outsider fiction and poetry, but I didn’t know enough gay writers to fill the publication. If you look at the first two issues, it is primarily queer, but that quickly evolved into a broader venture for alternative literary fiction and poetry. I met Greg Wharton from Suspect Thoughts Press, and he and his partner, Ian Philips, brought in the gay literary connections I needed to launch. In six years we have developed an audience of over 1,000 reads a day, all by word of mouth.

EDGE: The first issue came out just after the attacks on 9/11. You’re a New Yorker. Did the timing have some effect on you?

Sean Meriwether: The project may have saved my sanity during those chaotic months. I focused all of my energy on the site instead of being afraid of what might happen next.

EDGE: And the name came from?

Sean Meriwether: The activist part of me wanted to take a gay slur and invert it, just like with the word queer, which I identify as. I have always loved the term Velvet Mafia, which may have been introduced into the gay lexicon in the 70s, though the concept dates back to the 20s. I liked the feeling of empowerment and community the term implied, and I was lucky to pick up the domain name days after it expired; someone else had let it go.

EDGE: So what sort of stories are you, as editor, looking for?

Sean Meriwether: My two main requirements are that it must be from a gay perspective and it must be well written. I try to publish a range of work covering everything from erotica to high-end literary fiction, with most of it falling in between those two points. I don’t shy away from publishing sex, even graphic hard core sex, but it must be integral to the story.

I particularly like erotica with a bit of violence. I’ve questioned my motives on this point; is it part of my own internalized homophobia that I enjoy work where one or more parties are physically abused or fighting, or even killed, via some sexual encounter? For me, reading and writing are ways to explore things that you might not in real life, that can expose you to worlds outside your range; this comes from my background reading science fiction and fantasy. Violence terrifies me, but there is something inherently masculine in it. Two men engaged in battle, whether it is a verbal or physical fight, is a turn on...but primarily on the page. These characters often populate the stories on Velvet Mafia, and have been collected into an anthology Greg Wharton and I co-edited, called Men of Mystery: Erotic Tales of Suspense and Intrigue.

EDGE: One can’t help notice the photographs accompanying every story. They are very evocative, to say the least.

Sean Meriwether: Gay men are very visual, so I roped in my partner Jack Slomovits and raided his collection to pair his erotic imagery with each piece; he benefited from it because it introduced his amazing photography to the literary community, and more than fifty books feature his work on their covers.

EDGE: Gay literature seems to be changing. With the Internet, people who would normally not have access to stories with queer content, especially explicit pieces, can now read in the comfort of their home. How have you seen the future of gay fiction?

Sean Meriwether: Writing for online readers has forced a condensation in fiction. It has given rise to sites catering to microfiction to meet for our ADD lives, but I tend to stick to work between 2,000- and 4,000 words for online publication.

An aspect that surprised me was discovering that a large segment of our readership is women who enjoy reading male on male action. A number of our authors are also female, and I love including their work.

Also, while I would say that about 30% of our authors are just beginning their careers, the majority of our contributors are experienced veterans.

EDGE: I hate to be crass, but online magazines are infamous for being money pits. I only know of one, StrangeHorizons.com, that offers a professional rate to contributors, and it is a non-profit site that depends on fundraising campaigns. So what about VM?

Sean Meriwether: Velvet Mafia is a free site to visit and read through; I make no money off of it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to pay our contributors... yet. One of the things I am looking into during 2007 is releasing a print anthology of VM stories and would use the sales of that book to enrich the site. Also, many contributors are very successful at reprinting their stories and earning fees from anthologies. I’m proud when they do and showcase the reprint announcements on the site’s splash page.

EDGE: So what is the future hold for VM?

Sean Meriwether: I would like to broaden the reach in the next few years. We have always included interviews, features, and book reviews. I would like to incorporate more elements relating to reading and writing and make the site more of a collective.

EDGE: So readers of this interview should be emailing you... after looking over the site of course.

Sean Meriwether: Sure. We need new reviewers and are always looking for content to enrich the site.

EDGE: My final question: how has VM changed your life.

Sean Meriwether: I have met more people online than I could ever have met in person, and I would never have developed my "harem" of writers and friends without this. I’m terrifically shy in person when meeting people for the first time, but through the Internet I can circumvent the initial awkwardness. The site has put me in touch with fans of gay fiction in South Africa, China, India. And in New York City, a community of "Velvet Mafiosi" has developed and encourages each other.

EDGE: Thank you, Sean. I know I’ve enjoyed past issues of VM and look forward to what you publish in the future.

Sean Meriwether can be found online at seanmeriwether.com and reached at editor@velvetmafia.com. All the issues, current and back, can be perused at VelvetMafia.com.