Hi everybody and welcome to Outward, the show from Slate, where we try to expand the LGBTQ conversation outward.

Get it?

Hey.

To as many queer perspectives and people as possible, except for George Santos.

I'm Brian Lauder and editor at Slate.

And if you're hearing my voice, it means that we somehow got a podcast made in

the midst of one of the most heinous Mercury Retrogrades of my life. I'm Christina Kauderucci,

a senior writer at Slate. And I'm sad to say that our usual third co-host, Jules Gil Peterson,

can't be with us this month, but she will reemerge for some extra

spicy Pride episodes next month. That's right. Episodes with an S. Yeah. Bringing bonus

content for Pride. I'm really excited about that. Yeah, that's going to be wonderful. But for now we have

the month of May, the lovely springy month of May. And for this episode, we've got a tale of

two topias for you, both the U-kind and the dis? Did that make sense? Utopia? Dysopia? Anyway,

first up from the pile of exciting new books out this month in the lead

up to pride, we've selected what I think may be the most beautiful and original to share with

y'all. It's a collection of speculative stories called Uranians that uses queer difference

and divestment from the normal as an engine to drive five fascinating tales, including a gripping novella that follows a spaceship full of queer doze divesting from Earth entirely with no plans of returning.

We'll be joined by the author of that book, Theodore McCombs, to talk about it as well as a fabulous essay that he wrote for Slate

about why he still values queer utopian thinking in times of cultural backlash and state violence,

like the ones we are very much living in today. Then we'll peer into what, at least for me,

feels like a particularly dark corner of our times. The reality dating show The Ultimatum

Queer Love on Netflix, which this season follows a cast of queer women and non-binary folks

...