'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 95
August 31, 2017
They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera
[image error]Before I say anything else about the book—I was lucky enough to get an ARC, along with what seems like a few hundred others—I want to say, clearly and primarily: I loved this. It was clever, and had feeling, and had me, to my core, resonating with the queerness of it all.
I also want to say that I don’t normally add my voice when there’s a massive release. I try really hard to shout about the titles that don’t have massive campaigns attached to them from big-five publishers with hundreds of ARCs and promos, as they don’t really need my help.
But I loved this so much.
Okay, now to the meat of it. This is spec fic (albeit contemporary) YA, so I want to talk about that a bit. It’s no surprise Silvera includes queerness in a spec fic world, because duh, but every time we’re included in a world that isn’t ours, it’s a reminder—and a celebration—that we do exist in this real one. Spec fic has long been a playground for queer writers, but so often when the writer isn’t queer, we just sort of vanish. Like, if the future has no queers, or this world has no queers, it’s rare anyone really notices, but as a queer reader there’s an obviousness to it that rubs painfully.
Now, in this world, the spec fic element is one thing: the technology (unexplained) exists so that is known what day you will die, with one day’s notice. Not how. Not exactly when. Just, the phone will ring, and the clock is ticking. Some time before midnight? You end. This is almost like a reversal of This is How You Die, and I couldn’t help but keep thinking about those stories at the same time. The fallout of this technology is all along a contemporary, real-world version of what Silvera imagines would come from this technology, and as far as I could tell, it was tone-perfect. People follow the social media of those running out their last-day clock. There are shows. Deals. Public scrutiny. Judgement. Matching services. It’s brilliant. In weaving in occasional POVs from other characters from the outside-in was a great way to display this interconnectivity of the fallout of the knowledge of death-days.
The characters? Puerto Rican Mateo, and Cuban-American Rufus, were done with great strokes. I believed them, liked them (and got annoyed at them), enjoyed their sometimes frantic, and sometimes lackadaisical pace through their last day. I’ve noted a few reviews said the pacing seemed to shift for them, and some of the down spots seemed a bit slow, and while I agree the pacing did slow, it made sense to me and never removed me from the narrative. From an emotional point of view, human beings can’t run on all-out all-the-time. Even in the midst of a crisis, we eventually adjust. Our brains can’t do 100% panic and sustain it. So I really quite found the “breaks” to feel organic, and I liked how—even on the last day of their life—they might just want to stop for a bit, eat some good food, and breathe. Also, it drew broader strokes around the characters families and cultures and added weight to the reality that life was ending for these two, but not for all the lives they were touching.
But, as I said before, it was more than that. I rooted for them in a queer way that I might have trouble explaining, but goes back to what I said about it resonating on a queer level.
So let me try.
The whole framing of the “seize the day” narrative around these queer kids was so spot-on. They had a day. One day. And in that day, they had some choices to make about how and what they would allow themselves to be, and most of those choices were about whether or not they would be themselves. It’s frankly a perfect analogy of a queer life reduced to a twenty-four hour period. This is every day as a queer person: a loop of choices about where, when, and how you can position yourself to be yourself. The notion of so many people watching them live this last day just added all the more authenticity to the allegory for me. When I’m existing in a queer space, like my own home, or Pride, or a queer club, being me is effortless. I can relax. I can be. But the moment others are watching—and boy, how people watched Mateo and Rufus—the more decisions have to be made. Is this a safe spot to touch my husband, or kiss him, or to even say the word “husband” or “queer” or in any other way out myself? Or is this a moment where the smarter and safer thing—even though it’s the diminishing thing—is to not touch, not kiss, not say, not be out, not be me.
These kids? They live all of that in one day. They choose, moment by moment, whether or not to be themselves, and that’s the brilliance of They Both Die at the End to me: Even with just one day? They know how important that is, and show the whole damn world.
August 25, 2017
Signing Tomorrow at Chapters Rideau
Hey folks! For those of you celebrating Pride this week here in Ottawa, I’ll be at Chapters Rideau tomorrow, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, with copies of all my books, including Light, which not so coincidentally takes place during Pride Week here in Ottawa.
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There’s also a really big and friendly dog, and a somewhat dismissive cat with mismatched eyes.
If you’re nearby, I’d love see you. Drop in and say hello. I’d love to see you.
August 24, 2017
Matches 6 – Pride
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It’s Pride Week, and while a tonne of my writing prompts have indeed been pretty queer regardless, I figured this week I’d offer up something I did at a convention once: make it all queer. It was a talk I gave at a Romance Convention, where I asked readers to quickly sum up the stories they loved, and then we queered them to highlight what had to change, what didn’t, what might, and what needed to be considered differently. It was a great way to highlight some of the things that make being queer different from being not-queer. Also, it gave a tonne of people plot bunnies, so that’s always a good thing.
If this is your first visit to my prompts (or ‘matches’) it’s in honour of a book called The Writer’s Book of Matches. It has 1,001 little prompts that are designed to give you something to work with. I often flip through it when I’m in the mood to just write without a specific focus. The book has three kinds of prompts: A single line of dialog; a scenario or situation; and assignment prompts where the book lists a series of three characters all reacting to a particular moment/event, and since I first got it, I’ve been noting my own prompts to myself the same way.
If you ever find success or just fiddle around with any of these ‘matches,’ please do let me know!
After a long campaign where his being single and not “a family man” was often used by his opponents, the newest elected Prime Minister announces he has indeed started seeing someone: he’s dating the man who helped run his campaign.
“The B isn’t silent, bitch.”
A organization known for thinly-veiled religious “freedom” intolerance holds a lottery-style fund raiser. A lesbian couple are entered without their permission by an ill-spirited relative, and they win. The sudden in-flux of public attention–and a nice check–is an opportunity the couple isn’t going to pass on.
During a city Pride Parade, a sudden downpour threatens to ruin the day’s celebrations, but just as people are about to give up, it ends, and the clouds part to reveal a rainbow–and a genderqueer kid at their first parade realizes not only is everyone strangely bone-dry, no one else but them has any memory of the rain at all.
A high school student puts on a re-written version of ‘Grease’ where Sandy is a gay boy, and the Pink Ladies are a lesbian and bi girl gang, and the T-Birds aren’t cool with Danny being gay. Write the scene from the point of view of these three characters: the student, who has a major crush on the actor playing Danny; the young woman playing Rizzo, who is bi and can’t wait to belt out ‘There are Worse Things I Could Do’ from the point of view of a bi girl dating a guy; and the principal, who knows many parents are going to freak the hell out.
See you next week, and by all means, drop any prompts of your own in the comments!
August 22, 2017
Signing this Weekend – Saturday August 26th, 2017; 1 pm to 3 pm at Chapters Rideau.
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The flag has been raised and Pride Week is on here in Ottawa, and come Saturday, if you’ve got a spare moment between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm, I’ll be at Chapters Rideau with copies of my books, making with the signing thing. Given that it’s Pride, I’ll definitely have Light on hand, as well as the Triad books, as, of course, Light is set during Ottawa Pride and takes place over the week.
Drop by. Say hello. Bring friends. And Happy Pride!
August 20, 2017
Book Review – “Triad Soul” by ‘Nathan Burgoine
Aw, and a follow-up! (And yes, I know, more sex would be welcome.)
There was not nearly enough sex in this book. That is my only complaint, and only because I love Luc, Curtis and Anders so much and because I know ‘Nathan Burgoine writes amazing sex scenes when he has a mind to (‘Nathan, we need to talk). And because I’m an admitted erotica slut.
However, I am utterly humbled by ‘Nathan’s plot skills and the way he manages to present us with a paranormal mystery and keep us guessing as his hot-as-hell supernatural sleuths try to figure everything out.
The relationship between Curtis (the wizard), Luc (the vampire), and Anders (the demon), continues to grow in their concern for each other and the way they annoy the hell out of each other at times. It is easy to see the development, and the one very graphic scene between Anders and Curtis does not disappoint (except that it is way too short…
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August 19, 2017
Book Review – “Triad Blood” by ‘Nathan Burgoine.
Aw, man. Something in my eye. *sniff*
When I attended the Romancing the Capitalconvention in Ottawa earlier this month I snagged a copy of my friend ‘Nathan Burgoine’s second novel, Triad Blood, along with its sequel, Triad Soul.
‘Nathan and I have been friends for a few years now. We met somewhat randomly at the grand opening of a renewed LGBT+ bookstore/gallery downtown just after my first novel, Beyond the Edge, was published.
We encountered each other again at the very first Romancing the Capital convention, thrust together as the only two authors of LGBT+ romance at the time. Then we discovered that we live quite near each other and now manage to get together frequently to discuss the ins and outs of the writing business and take part in joint writing sessions.
‘Nathan writes paranormal fiction. Occasionally it is romantic, as in his debut novel, Light. Triad Bloodand Triad Soul
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August 17, 2017
Matches 5 – AI
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I bumped into an article last week, Romance Novels, Generated by Artificial Intelligence, that had me grinning like a monkey on acid for days. I kept going back to it, considering, and deciding that yes, some of those titles need to be written. I mean, come on. “Cattle Me.” “Hating the Marine.” “Seeping Baby Man.” Dude. How could I not?
So, all the prompts this week come from those titles in some way, shape, or form. See if you can guess which is which.
If this is your first visit to my prompts (or ‘matches’) it’s in honour of a book called The Writer’s Book of Matches. It has 1,001 little prompts that are designed to give you something to work with. I often flip through it when I’m in the mood to just write without a specific focus. The book has three kinds of prompts: A single line of dialog; a scenario or situation; and assignment prompts where the book lists a series of three characters all reacting to a particular moment/event, and since I first got it, I’ve been noting my own prompts to myself the same way.
If you ever find success or just fiddle around with any of these ‘matches,’ please do let me know!
A woman discovers that while she is pregnant, getting angry gives her supernatural abilities.
“Wait. You investigate millionaires? For what?”
After an accident, a man starts to see images of strangers in his head the when he touches someone for the first time. Invited to a friend’s wedding he realizes the bride was the woman he had a vision of when he shook the groom’s hand, and starts to realize he has somehow gained the ability to “see” soul-mates. Then he shakes someone’s hand, and sees himself.
Sick of going to family functions alone and being criticized for “still” being single, a woman blackmails a good-looking co-worker to come with her for the holidays to finally shut her family up.
A group of co-workers get together after the funeral of their boss, who all generally agree was a wonderful person and a great employer. They stop to have a drink at a local pub where the boss often took employees after work. Write the scene from the point of view of these three characters: the bartender, who can hear them talking about the boss and who knows how often the boss came here alone, obviously isolated and sad and lonely for the last few weeks; one of the employees, who had an affair with the boss and hasn’t been able to openly grieve since they broke up a few weeks ago; and the employee who found the boss and decided to hide the evidence of suicide and frame it as an accident.
See you next week, and by all means, drop any prompts of your own in the comments!
August 12, 2017
Triad Blood flash sale at Bold Strokes Books
[image error]Hey folks!
I try not to do too many posts about ways in which you can buy my stuff, but right now Bold Strokes Books is having a flash sale (until the end of the weekend) which includes Triad Blood at 30% off in all formats.
So. That.
Also? You’ve heard me rave and wax poetic about Stephen Graham King’s Soul’s Blood (queer space opera!), Christian Baines’s Puppet Boy (creepy queer young adults doing terrible things to each other in a truly gripping manner), Fiona Riley’s Miss Match (awesome and smouldering lady romance!), Tom Cardamone’s Night Sweats (disturbing spec fic shorts!), and Jessica L. Webb’s Trigger (fabulous lady-love mystery!). Those are also included, so check ’em out if you’ve not done so already.
August 10, 2017
Matches 4 – Travel
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In honour of being in Toronto for the week, today’s series of writing prompts all come from travel. Mostly from things that have happened to me during travel, but also a few horror stories from others I’ve heard about their own trips, and, of course, a dash of the paranormal on top here and there.
If this is your first visit to my prompts (or ‘matches’) it’s in honour of a book called The Writer’s Book of Matches. It has 1,001 little prompts that are designed to give you something to work with. I often flip through it when I’m in the mood to just write without a specific focus. The book has three kinds of prompts: A single line of dialog; a scenario or situation; and assignment prompts where the book lists a series of three characters all reacting to a particular moment/event, and since I first got it, I’ve been noting my own prompts to myself the same way.
If you ever find success or just fiddle around with any of these ‘matches,’ please do let me know!
Due to a last-minute cancellation at the train station, travellers are shuttled by bus and given different connections. A man affected shrugs this off as no big deal, until he wakes up on the wrong bus heading somewhere he promised himself he’d never visit again.
“I really wish I’d read that emergency exit information card.”
A flyer makes it half-way to her destination due to fog and a missed connecting flight, and has to spend an overnight in a packed airport hotel. When she steps into her room, which the check-in desk said was the last available, there’s already someone there in the shower.
Waiting in line at airport security, a man realizes that the passport in his hand isn’t his own. It looks like him, but the name and information isn’t his.
After a long trip made even longer by delayed flights, a missed connection, and an unplanned overnight stay in an airport hotel, a couple arrives, finally, in Hawai’i. They meet up with the owner of the lovely little home they’ll be renting, albeit a day late. Write about the following three characters: The owner of the home, who is painfully reminded of their own late partner when looking at the couple; One of the married couple, who has been trying valiantly to keep both their spirits up throughout every problem the trip has had, but is at the end of their patience; the ghost of the home-owner’s late spouse, who realizes that one of the couple seems to be unconsciously aware of its presence, and might be the first real chance the ghost has to speak with their spouse since they passed.
See you next week, and by all means, drop any prompts of your own in the comments!
August 5, 2017
Bookfair today!
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Romancing the Capital today includes an open-to-the-public book fair, at the Holiday Inn Kanata, 101 Kanata Avenue, today, August 5th, 2017, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. I’ll be the one at the rainbow-flagged table.
