The following is an interview with co-editors Megan Praz and Meghan Kemp-Gee regarding their all-new comics anthology devoted to stories about the LGBTQ+ community and its relationship with sports. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Praz and Kemp-Gee about their open call for submissions is search of potential contributors to this groundbreaking book, their plans for returning to Kickstarter, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the recent announcement of your upcoming comic book anthology! What can you share with us about the premise of this comics collection, as well as its inspiration?
Megan Praz and Meghan Kemp-Gee: Thank you!
Here’s what you should know about us… We have three passions: sports, comics, and uplifting queer stories. And this project is the perfect storm of those passions.
Our goal with The Queer Sports Project is to celebrate LGBTQ+ athletes and create a beautiful, sexy, newsworthy collection that all sports fans want on their bookshelf.
In 2023, we completed our first graphic novel, One More Year, a 240-page sports comedy. We have so many more sports stories we want to tell together, but we also wanted to collaborate with a wider creative and athletic community! We’re both lifelong multisport athletes who love the weird intersections of competition, bodies, and community that can only happen in athletics. We’re continually inspired not just by our own experiences in sports, but by our sports heroes — people like Sue Bird, Billie Jean King, RK Russell, Chris Mosier, Wade Davis II… just to name a few!
Women’s sports is having a moment, but it’s a moment that’s been a long time coming. We can’t wait to share stories that matter with a wider audience of sports fans, comics readers, and our LGBTQ+ community.
BD: At this time, you are actively looking for creators and collaborators for this project. Are there any specifications or guidelines that you are able to share regarding the call for submissions?
MP / MKG: We want pitches from people who share a passion for sports and queer storytelling! But we want to be clear: This can mean a lot of different things. Send us YOUR stories! We want fiction, nonfiction, sports action, comedy, tragedy, slice of life… Sports can be exciting, sexy, heartbreaking, sweet, weird. We’d read everything from autobiography to romance to body horror. We want pitches that surprise and provoke us.
Special note to comics artists: If you’re an artist who loves drawing sports and you’re interested in being paired with an exciting writer or celebrity athlete, please reach out to us! We’re signing on some really exciting contributors who we think you’d love to work with.
For technical details, please review our call for pitches on Stacked Deck Press’s website.
BD: The anthology will be funded via Kickstarer, and you are no strangers to the crowdfunding platform, having successfully funded your graphic novel, One More Year. What encouraged you to utilize crowdfunding as a part of your production process, and what do you feel that crowdfunding provides in being a resource for creators?
MP / MKG: Crowdfunding One More Year was an absolutely amazing experience. We were funded on the first day of our official Kickstarter campaign, thanks in large part to the ultimate frisbee community, who have been our biggest cheerleaders and supporters for ten years!
That experience taught us a lot about the value of community. We love how crowdfunding can allow small projects like ours to take off, and we also love how they give communities a sense of pride, love, and ownership.
There’s never been a comics anthology like The Queer Sports Project before, and we know there’s a strong audience for it. We believe this is something people really want! The recent success of projects like Check, Please!, A League of their Own, Ted Lasso, and Challengers show us there’s a large and growing fanbase out there for stories like this. We want to make a history-making collection that does justice to this genre — and to this global community of fans.
BD: What makes Stacked Deck Press the perfect home for this anthology?
MP / MKG: Basically, teaming up with Stacked Deck Press means we’re in the best possible hands. Tara Avery brings a huge amount of knowledge and expertise in crowdfunding, publishing, and anthologies. We clicked with her immediately, and she’s been an outstanding collaborator who encourages us to pursue our most ambitious dreams for this project. Stacked Deck has won both awards and community acclaim for their work with queer and BIPOC creators, and we’re excited to join that roster!
BD: Are there any other projects on which you are working that you would like to share with readers?
MP / MKG: We’re still enjoying the success of One More Year! If you’d like to read a classic underdog sports story, check us out! Our book will be available on Amazon within a couple of weeks!
BD: Lastly, what would you like to tell fans who want to learn more about The Queer Sports Project and your other work?
MP / MKG: Get in touch with us! We’re @ContestedStrip and Stacked Deck Press on most socials. And if you’re fans of a particular athlete who you’d like to be part of this project, @ them! Let them know we’re looking for stories like theirs.
