Johann Bandecroft- This is Johann Bandecroft. His grandparents, (of English origin) originally lived in British Columbia, but his parents (both of English origin too!) moved to Toronto. Johann’s family are very rich and high class, but they abandoned him when he was caught as a homosexual and forced into the Adam Blocks. Johann resents his family for this, but he is a proud gay man and won’t be beaten down. Johann and Francis are best friends. Johann is one of Francis’s only friends in this dystopian society. They are very close, Johann often stays over at Francis’s apartment and vice versa. Johann is older than Francis but not by much. When Johann was growing up in Toronto, he hoped to get into male modelling. (Which his family did not approve of.) But his dream was cut short when the major political shift began and he was segregated. Johann is a very kind, humorous, good-natured, rebellious party-animal. He acts as a sort of older brother figure to Francis. Johann has a friend named Bernard, (or just Bernie) who is a Jamaican immigrant. Johann and Bernard are complete opposites. Johann tries his best to survive in the Adam Blocks.

So that’s Johann!!

I’ll add more about Bernard in a later post,



The general story is based in dystopian 1980s Toronto, Ontario Canada. The Sappho Complexes were created after a major political shift in Canada and the wider North America in the early ‘80s. They were created alongside the Adam Blocks (for Homosexual men) to house and segregate Queer people from the public. Francis and Amber live there in the Sappho Blocks.

The Blocks are harsh, they are patrolled by a military group called “The Agents”. Who are former, traumatised Vietnam soldiers from the U.S. They are employed under “The Sexual Regulations Commission”, which is a commission run by the corrupt political party. The Agents are not shy to brutal punishments if a woman is caught out of line.

Some women (Like Francis) are allowed to leave the District occasionally. But they must have a “travel card” approved by The Sexual Regulations Commission. Francis was able to get hers by applying under religious exemption. Since she is a Roman Catholic and uses it to leave the District to attend mass and worship. Despite it contradicting her sexuality. But Francis really uses it to study Filmmaking in downtown Toronto. However, if a person leaves the Sappho Complexes, they are required to have a tag on them at all times. A double Venus rests on their shoulder to indicate that they are Queer. This stops many of them from getting a job or studying.

The Complexes also have a very special vocabulary with names for certain types of Queer women. For scruffy, young, dark haired butches, they are labelled as “Panthers”. And for young femme women, they are labelled as “Lionesses”. Lionesses also goes for older butches and older femmes as well. These names stem from Queer women and people being treated as animals by the dystopian environment.

Okay so.. I’m not sure what worse to really write about.. but I hope this explains a lot of it. I’ll most likely edit this post in the future to clear plot holes..