Out Here

An Anthology of Takatapui and LGBTQIA+ Writers from Aotearoa

Emma Barnes, Chris Tse

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781776710775
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: LGBT Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

A remarkable anthology of queer New Zealand voices. We became teenagers in the nineties when New Zealand felt a lot less cool about queerness and gender felt much more rigid. We knew instinctively that hiding was the safest strategy. But how to find your community if you're hidden? Aotearoa is a land of extraordinary queer writers, many of whom have contributed to our rich literary history. But you wouldn't know it. Decades of erasure and homophobia have rendered some of our most powerful writing invisible. Out Here will change that. This landmark book brings together and celebrates queer New Zealand writers from across the gender and LGBTQIA+ spectrum with a generous selection of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and much, much more. From established names to electrifying newcomers, the cacophony of voices brought together in Out Here sing out loud and proud, ensuring that future generations of queers are afforded the space to tell their stories and be themselves without fear of retribution or harm.

Sam Brooks

from Riding in Cars with (Mostly Straight) Boys

20

Shane’s car.

Shane has picked Kyle up from home.

KYLE: Hug.

SHANE: Nope.

KYLE: C’mon.

SHANE: …

Nnnnnope.

KYLE: Hate you.

SHANE: Where’re we going?

KYLE: Town.

SHANE: Cool.

Shane starts driving.

Kyle watches Shane as he drives. He wants to tell him immediately.

Awkward silence.

KYLE: Shane.

SHANE: Yeah.

KYLE: Uh … um.

Huh. Haaaa.

I—

SHANE: How’s the flower store?

KYLE: S’good!

SHANE: And … Mary?

KYLE: Martha.

She’s good.

…

How’s school?

SHANE: Uni.

KYLE: Yeah.

SHANE: It’s uni.

KYLE: I know. How is it?

SHANE: So cool.

I live in this house with like six other people.

KYLE: Six?

SHANE: Yeah, like two guys and four girls. So cool.

My room is like the attic. Or it used to be, because it was a flat. Now it’s my room.

So cool.

KYLE: How are your flatmates?

SHANE: So cool—

KYLE: Sounds like everything is so cool.

SHANE: Well they are.

This girl, Victoria, introduced me to Tori Amos—

KYLE: Um, what?

SHANE: You know, Tori Amos.

KYLE: I introduced you to Tori Amos.

SHANE: No you didn’t.

KYLE: Uh, yes I did.

SHANE: I’m pretty sure you did—

KYLE: Pretty sure I did? Is that how that sentence ends? Because if it ends any other way, you are like, three thousand percent wrong.

SHANE: …

Are you okay? You’re being weird.

KYLE: I introduced you to Tori Amos. Ages ago.

SHANE: No, Victoria did. This year.

KYLE: No, I did.

SHANE: But—

KYLE: Look, it’s not important.

Drop it.

…

I’m sorry.

SHANE: …

Anyway, she introduced me to Manic Street Preachers too.

KYLE: Is she fifty?

SHANE: Have you heard them?

KYLE: They did a Kylie Minogue album. In 1997.

Shane snorts.

What?

SHANE: Nothing.

KYLE: No, what?

SHANE: Doesn’t really count.

KYLE: Fuck you it counts.

SHANE: Whoa—

KYLE: You just don’t like her because it’s Kylie Minogue.

You haven’t even heard the album.

SHANE: You only like her because you have the same name.

KYLE: Since when are Kylie and Kyle the same name? There’s like a whole extra vowel.

That’s like saying Shane and Shania are the same! Are they the same, Shania?

Shane goes to talk.

No, not the point!

It is such a fucking good album and you won’t even listen to it.

I gave it to you and you still won’t listen to it because it’s Kylie fucking Minogue!

SHANE: Wait, what—

KYLE: And you know what? Kylie Minogue is great outside of that.

She’s amazing.

‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ is one of the best pop songs ever.

SHANE: Kyle—

KYLE: Ever.

And even the rest of them are great. And you won’t even give her a fair try.

Yet you’ll listen to your folksy, indie, boring music shit for ages.

List...