Gemini (21 May - 21 June)

Symbolized by two Corinthian columns supporting an awning which does nothing for neighboring property values, Gemini is a different breed of writer. Ruled by the planet Mercury—which Ancient Romans knew as the god of multi-colored pens, melatonin brownies and the filibuster, these signs are at times the most extroverted of writers, while other times they are dramatically introverted.

 These writers are prone to hand injuries more than most, such as arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome, most likely spurred on by their thumb-twiddling restlessness and endless button-pushing.

Geminis don’t mess around with their puzzles and mysteries. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s (May 22, 1859) A Study In Scarlet, which first introduced Sherlock Holmes, also set the standard for the mystery genre, while later, Ian Fleming’s (May 28, 1908) Casino Royale gave the world James Bond, arguably the greatest literary spy of all time.

Habitually in touch with their inner children, these air signs make for natural children’s book writers, as seen in Maurice Sendak’s (June 10, 1928) Where the Wild Things Are and within the anthropomorphic illustrations of Richard Scarry’s (June 5, 1919) Best Word Book Ever.

Always duplicitous, Geminis also led the charge of the so-called “Kmart Realism” of the 1980’s. Also known as “Dirty Realism,” or written off as “low-rent tragedies,” these stories center on people struggling to reach middle class. Examples include Raymond Carver’s (May 25, 1938) collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Joyce Carol Oates’s (June 16, 1938) Them, and Tobias Wolff’s (June 19, 1945) The Night in Question. In fact, Geminis have been sticking it to the ruling class as far back as Dante Alighieri’s (circa May, 1265) The Divine Comedy, where the poet depicted his least favorite politicians and critics suffering ironic damnation.

Associated with the Third House of the zodiac, these writers embody translation, research, editing, public speaking, and early education. Basically, all things under the broad umbrella of communication, which incidentally carves them out to be natural contrarians.

Simply put, they calls it like they sees it.

Jamaica Kincaid’s (May 25, 1949) collection At the Bottom of the River challenged gender politics and post-colonialism, while Harriet Beecher Stowe’s (June 14, 1811) Uncle Tom’s Cabin would stoke the political fire of the American Civil War, and Salman Rushdie’s (June 19, 1947) The Satanic Verses earned the author decades of death threats and some very close calls.

Ever the tricksters, Geminis often have their protagonists transform in exciting ways. Characters don costumes to frolic with wild things, use resources provided by MI6 for debonair new aliases, or end up possessed by archangels. For Geminis, writing is a costume party within a costume party.

When not playing dress up, these writers specialize in giving voice to the voiceless. Allen Ginsberg’s (June 3, 1926) Howl laments his generation’s rising insane asylum numbers, Louise Erdrich’s (June 7, 1954) The Round House reports on crimes left uninvestigated in Native American reservations, and John Hersey’s (June 17, 1914) Hiroshima restored some of the humanity stolen from innocent Japanese bystanders of World War II.

If Gemini writers can occasionally go on airplane mode, stop chatting up the barista at the local cafe, and stop trolling Reddit, they might just write that next great detective series or spy adventure they’ve been talking about ad nauseum.

 Notable Mentions
Ralph Waldo Emerson, May 25, 1803
Walt Whitman, May 31, 1819
William Butler Yeats, June 13, 1865
TH White, May 29, 1929
Anne Frank, June 12, 1929

-Forest Oliver