My beloved readers, please enjoy unpacking the overt and subtextual messages of my title. If you missed my May Newsletter, I’m helping my mom through some difficult medical things. She just got home from rehab this Monday, so it is by the Grace of the Divine that I got stuff to the awesome Kendra this week.
In fact, how about a word from this month’s unofficial sponsor, Half Lucid Jewelry… (Imagine this is the commercial break where the Scooby Gang (Mystery Machine or Buffyverse flavored), Mulder and Scully, or Sam and Dean are in a tight situation they need to figure out…)
(Half Lucid Jewelry crowns in a recent Pride-themed photoshoot. All crown styles seen here are available on her website, and support a queer jewelry designer!)
Since you’re on my website, you may have noticed it’s in the process of changing. 😊 More on that later, but be prepared for a little website chaos until July. We’re discovering the best way to present our online identities.
Because it’s Pride month, I figure it’s a good time to clarify a few canon identity things as THE AUTHOR… (unlike other authors who claim things are in subtext that aren’t and then turn into nasty TERFS…) Ahem…
Pretty much everything I write has queer characters. In all senses of the word.
Specifically, in the 27 Kingdoms, a large portion of the characters are queer. In all senses of the word. But in the spirit of Pride, there’s a diverse representation regarding sexuality and gender identity. For The Princess and the Dragon Cycle, kicked off by the Children of Earth and Fire duology I’ve been talking about (Heart, Wings, and Fire + Hunter, Healer, and Earth), I wanted to give a shout out to Patch, who I’m telling you is canonically aromantic and asexual because she’s really busy trying to save her friends and adopted “kids,” and therefore never gets into any situation on the page where her sexuality or romantic inclination (or disinclination) has to be mentioned. She’s a magic-using, supremely bad-ass warrior on a mission. And she’s in her 50s, usually alone or escaping death or saving others from death while trying not to be noticed.
In these first two books, you also get to meet the folk hero, Between, who tricked a demon prince and now can move freely between the realm of demons and the realm of humans, who sometimes helps people with demon problems… or causes mischief. It all depends on her mood. Between is pansexual. (Omnisexual if you recall Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood.) Also, she’s in an open relationship with her demon-husband.
Demons, in general, tend to be pansexual. They’re also nearly all somewhat gender fluid. They kinda have to be for [spoilers!] reasons.
Patch and Between are opposites in many ways, but both identify as female, the gender they were assigned at birth, and both are very real, fully-developed women. As is [name redacted for spoilers], who was not assigned female at birth, but shows her badassery in yet another beautiful form of womanhood. (Okay, you meet this character in Children of Earth and Fire, but you don’t get her story until the next duology—or if you’ve read Shadow, Ash, and Prophecy.)
In my fantasies of copious amounts of free time (or even snippets), I write extensive blog posts and articles that are in-depth notes about characters and research. But that’s not my current 2AM (writing this) reality right now, so I’m happy to share these little tid-bits with you all instead.
And speaking of queer stories, if you like dark, queer, whimsical speculative fiction and poetry, I also have this really cool collection that has a lavender undead unicorn on the cover. I love it, and if you’re enjoying this newsletter, you probably will too.
Where Monsters Pray is still one of my best-selling titles, and I’m still hoping to get a “unicorn” of 50 reviews for it, so…if you’ve read it, you could help make this little dream come true.
Upcoming Events
Want to hear some cool news before anyone else?
On Saturday, June 14, from 12:00 – 5:00 PM, I’ll be at Taylor Brooke Winery in Woodstock, CT with the fabulous Marisa Wolf! I plan on having cool NEHW stuff, as well as my own books and swag and things, and since Marisa is involved, you can be sure there will be shenanigans!
And speaking of Marisa, she is one of the co-hosts and cofounders of the Feral Ladies podcast and the Feral for Fantasy Summer adventures. The show doesn’t have a permanent home yet, but you can catch the episodes here and here…
Trish! FuRbAbY NeWs?!
I haven’t made it out to the barn, and Bentley decided its “Let’s be lame” season, so Miss Kate was happy to let me ride–especially as it made Bentley jealous. I tried to make him feel better, but apparently toasted marshmallows offend his sensibilities. Calico is doing well, but when not covered in mud, is not a fan of sun or heat (I totally relate!), so literally none of my photo attempts were worth sharing.
You can catch a glimpse of her (along with Freckles) doing what horsed do best on hot days when they get hosed down… while Jazz watches…here, on the Whip-O-Will Stables Facebook page.
