Something from my biographer ...

My ass says fuck you!

Just wrote a book – The Roswell Discrepancy: a human romance in three parts.  I’ve had several reactions to it recently, none of which do I understand completely.  My so-called straight family/friends have had a mixture of shock and admiration, even after I tell them that that means nothing if it doesn’t sell.  I figured that what I wrote should have the sales and/or critical acclaim of any of today’s recognized authors.  I don’t think this is too much to ask.  Others seem to think that I’m being ungrateful.  My response is no, just perfectionistic.

Then three other things happened.  First, I got grief from the people at the local LGBTQ newspaper – questions of what made me a spokesperson for the queer community, what made this book worthy of inclusion in the LGBTQ canon, what is the book contributing to gay literature or teaching us about life, and, most importantly, who was I?  The second thing was a negative review – I had had bad ones before (the other two were like bad dates; you know, it’s-not-you-but-me variety) but this one was just annoying because it required that I justify the snarky, sometimes nasty tone and vocabulary used by my protagonist.  The third thing was my partner’s return from a longer than expected hospitalization. 

The last I will not discuss for I think smart, sensitive writers can appreciate the impact this can have on someone.  The first deserves some answers: I am not a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community nor does my story teach anything.  It simply is the story of one man’s life, some parts fantastic while other parts quite normal.  It will teach nothing but serves as an unPhotoShopped picture of human lust and romance in light of childhood sexual abuse.  It is real but not what folks expect - or maybe need – and I’m not sorry about that.

As for the second – the bad review – oh, well.  As I said just above, this is based on real people and, rightly or wrongly, regular folk don’t use proper, sensitive language.  Maybe we should change our words, examine our motives, and explore our privileges constantly.  And the reality is we don’t.  This is a novel in first person using his thoughts and feelings – how he sees life, unfiltered.  I would hope the world has room for this otherwise we are being politically correct simply to be polite.

I’m not deterred.  I believe in this story.  It is a matter of finding the right audience.  This is a relatively new requirement for writers – used to be we had publishers do this but then again that was back in the bad old days when they decided who read what.  We have freedom now.  Yipeee!