My Author Identity
I have mentioned this before that my books will not fall into a single genre. I want to further define my author identity with this: my focus is on writing diverse, LGBTQIA+ characters into stories and worlds where the hero roles are typically held by cis-gender straight characters. It is important for our community to see ourselves represented in all genres. While stories about coming out, coming to terms with gender and sexual identity, and things like the AIDS crisis are important, it is equally important for LGBTQIA+ characters to exist in stories that don’t make that the central theme or plot.
This reminds me of my favorite TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I watch this video at least once a year (though I think I’m up to three times this year alone). The presentation that Adichie makes regarding representation in stories is awe-inspiring. If you only show gay characters, for example, in stories about coming out and navigating friends, family, and first love, then people will come to believe that these are the only stories of gay people. On the other hand, if you show gay characters in diverse plots across the spectrum, people will believe that gay people can belong in a multitude of settings instead of a single story. If you haven’t watched Adichie’s TED Talk, I highly recommend you doing so. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
As providing this representation in stories is a huge passion of mine, I also want to highlight those books and writers that I’ve come across who exemplify these diverse stories. While I have characters across the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, my main focus tends to be on gay male characters (both cis and trans). These also tend to be my favorite novels to read, those featuring gay characters. On my website here, I am going to create a page inspired by my sibling Shadow’s blog to showcase my favorite novels featuring gay characters where the main plot is not solely reliant on the coming out story. For example, I just finished Michael Griffo’s Archangel Academy series and this trilogy did a great job of developing the main character’s sexual identity as an element of the plot without making the story about it. In fact, this story is about two distinct species of vampires clashing with each other as the antagonists threaten to destroy the deity of the other species.
I will absolutely call out books I come across that represent other identities well, too. In the future, I may expand my page to include sections for these other identities outside of small highlights. For now, as I get it started and off the ground, I am keeping my focus narrowed to the gay identity as I described. Under each title and author I mention, I will link to where you can buy their books, their books on Goodreads, and their author websites as available. I believe in authors helping authors and will do what I can to lift others up.
Reading Updates
As I mentioned, I just finished reading Unafraid, the third and final book in Michael Griffo’s Archangel Academy. I wrote a lengthy series review on Goodreads that you can check out for all the details. For you here, I will say that, overall, I did quite enjoy the series. The narrative style can be a little jarring at first, especially if you aren’t used to an omniscient type point of view. Despite this, the writing style was well done and the story and characters were engaging. I loved seeing Michael (yes, the main character has the name as the author) and Ronan’s romantic relationship develop through the trials and tribulations they faced while trying to protect their species of vampire.
Most of the side characters and side plots were well developed and interesting, especially the character Nakano who was Ronan’s ex-boyfriend. Nakano is hands down my favorite character and I do wish the ending had turned out differently for him. There’s a character, named RJ, introduced in the opening scenes in Michael’s hometown that the reader gets to reconnect with in the very last scene of third book. I must say, I love how Griffo brought the story full circle back to this and how he used the opportunity to show the reader a new depth to RJ. Hmmm, now if only Griffo could bring RJ and Nakano together…there’s a nice thought.
I did see that Griffo has another series set in Michael’s hometown of Weeping Water, Nebraska, so I have to wonder if the Archangel Academy characters will make cameo appearances in this new set. The first book in the new set is called Moonglow. While I already have an extensive backlog of books to read, I am definitely planning on picking up The Darkborn Legacy set soon.
Speaking of that backlog, what will I be reading next? I know, I’ve been saying for a while now that I will be getting back into my reread of The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. However, I want to continue to postpone this and instead jump into a few more of the gay series that I have piled up so that I can review them and post them on the new page of my site. To start off, I decided to go with Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan. This is a follow up to Will Grayson, Will Grayson by Levithan and fellow author John Green. I originally read Will Grayson, Will Grayson around when it first came out but I remember the story pretty well so I didn’t need to reread it to read Tiny Cooper’s story.
This set is a good example of books that I will not be including on my Showcase page, at least not now. I did enjoy the story of Will Grayson, Will Grayson but I don’t feel as though it does enough to exemplify the collection I am trying to highlight. You will likely see me read other books like this that are great gay stories but don’t make it on my showcase page. As my journey progresses and I am able to do more, I am planning on expanding my Showcase page into a Showcase section so I will keep these other titles in mind for that expansion.
