Right and Freedom

I don’t often do this, but it’s important to me to be visible and clear about what I believe…and why I write (aside from being compelled to do so). There’s an ideology brewing that merchants should not be involved in discussions and ideas about morality, ethics, and squishy things like social awareness. I fundamentally disagree with this, so I want to make a few things clear about my writing: I feature a lot of LGBTQ+ characters throughout my work. Know that as an author, I’m not alone in the belief that the words we put out into the world matter, and can make a difference.

That’s what I try to do in my writing: make a difference. Not in a heavy-handed way. Trust me, I’ve done that before. I’ve been writing for over thirty years, so I’ve gotten that out of my system. I do it by featuring members of marginalized communities. The protagonist of my Virtual Wars series, is Larken Marche, and even at sixteen, when the story begins, she knows it. She’s not confused, or being misled by anything she may have read or watched. She’s absolutely, one-hundred percent, into girls. So much so that it doesn’t really get discussed much.

Let me tell you a side-bar. If you check my bio, you know I’m originally from small-town Texas. So, as you can imagine (this generality, I’ve found, tends to hold), there are people in my original family a community who came at me with a sense of righteous indignation when they found out about that minor detail. A year of passive-aggression and therapy later, I’m to a point that I can now discuss this openly. I should say, I never considered changing that character. I’ll do another post at some point on why, but suffice it to say, that’s simply who Larken is to me, and nothing I do is going to change her.

I realized during this ordeal, and from talking to my author friends, that I’m not alone in having this experience. Authors, I generally find, are open, accepting individuals who are genuinely fascinated with people. Many writers, to the point that I might even be open to saying every writer I know, have had the experience of being ousted by family members or friends who didn’t realize until it was in print exactly how accepting we are.

Recently, I attended the Author Alchemy Summit in Portland, Oregon (my home base). I met so many great speakers and writers, and one in particular inspired me to be more clear about who I am…and to be authentic. This blog post is a declaration that I intend to do that, and it starts by confessing my unwavering and complete support for people in marginalized communities, and a firm belief in equity and equality.

In fact, I believe these things so much, that I co-host a podcast called Right and Freedom. Take a gander over there, and you’ll begin to understand exactly how fervently this ex-Texan believes what I believe, and why. Trust me when I say it was a long road to get here, and many mistakes were made.

That’s another thing I want to talk about, but perhaps that’s another blog entry. I’m not even fully down the road of internalizing what equality means. I haven’t yet evolved completely into what I consider to be the pinnacle of humanity, something I describe as the Equitable Person in this Right and Freedom blog post (I write all of the Right and Freedom blog posts, by the way). But I’m working on it, and that’s got to be good enough for now.

Back to the point. Silence, as I have maintained in the past, is aggression. That’s why I have characters like Larken Marche (who is both mixed and prefers women), or Lincoln Montague (who at first isn’t sure what she wants, but eventually figures it out). That’s why I feature Liu in Southern Highlands, the warlord of Mars who transitions as part of her story, and all the bigotry she faces. She’s the antagonist, so not exactly the best person, but she’s classy, powerful, and strategically minded.

Now, I know you didn’t come to my blog to be preached to. You came to be entertained. Don’t worry, my stories aren’t textbook lessons on morality. They’re just about people, real people, trying to survived in a messed up world—exactly like you and I. Except, perhaps, that you and I don’t live in a future with actual flying cars, devices that create black holes, or genetically-altered clones roaming the streets. I’m also not usually so direct about my beliefs, as I’ve come to learn (within the last year) that very often, those fights that I’ve had are useless. The mind of the bigot isn’t easily changed.

So…I know this blog post probably’s going to cost me a couple of readers. It was important to me to be very clear about what you can expect from me, and if that bothers some people, perhaps I’m better off without catering to them anyway. You can expect people of all stripes, shades, and colors. And usually, if I do it right, their identity won’t define them. They will be, as true to real life as I can, just people.

In other words, my stories don’t revolve around someone’s minority status. There are no savior stories among my works. Most of my stories tend heavily toward the morally gray and aren’t necessarily pick-me-ups or affirmations (I think I’m about 50/50 for happy endings). If this appeals to you, and you’re comfortable with the idea of a complex world with all sorts of humans, then you’re in the right place.

Thanks for reading, friend. I intentionally haven’t linked any of my books in this blog post. If you’re looking to dig deeper, I encourage you to hop over to Right and Freedom and start reading.