Authors:
Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthoarne
Publisher:
Loose Id
Publication date:
Dec 29, 2015
word count:
~72k
buy links:
The blurb:
Stronger, Better, Faster, More
When
he gets super-endurance powers out of nowhere, being a culinary student
and kids’ soccer coach isn’t enough for Beau Warren--he has to be a
superhero too. A sweet, hardworking trans man from a close knit family,
it’s important to Beau to use his new abilities to stand up for people
who can’t protect themselves. When he runs into a speedster at a fire
rescue, he doesn’t expect it to be his high school crush, Vel
Chandrasekhar. Turns out Vel got superspeed when Beau go his endurance,
so they decide to make their single supe act into a duo.
With
their immediate attraction and superpowered libidos, it’s not long
before Beau and Vel are roommates-with-benefits. That’s the idea,
anyhow, if only Beau can keep from falling back into his old crush hard,
since Vel’s self-esteem issues have left him skittish about
relationships. Just when things are at boiling point between them,
though, their search for their own superhero origin story leads them and
their families into mortal danger. The only way to survive the truth is
to depend on each other--and admit they’re a lot more than friends.
Guest Post:
Thanks
so much for having us here at Diverse Reader! Today, I--Katey--am going
to take a step back and give my friend and co-author Carlin the stage
to discuss something important to both of us. So without further ado,
here's Carlin:
While
both Katey and I came up with the story together and had input on all
aspects of the book, we split the load when it came to fleshing out
characters and backstories. Katey was responsible for Vel and his
family, while I took on Beau and the rest of the Warrens. One creative
choice that meant a lot to me and is an important aspect of Beau, as
well as the book as a whole, was the decision to make him a trans man.
Transgender
people are a little more well known to the mainstream thanks to shows
like Orange is the New Black, as well as high profile trans people in
recent media, such as Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, and Laura Jane Grace.
However, I’ve found there’s still a lot of confusion and
misunderstanding surrounding the subject. With that in mind, I thought I
might share some of the reasoning behind some of the choices I made for
Beau.
One
thing that was always part of the plan was that, while Beau has had
chest masculinization prior to the surgery, he does not and never plans
to have ‘bottom’ surgery. The reason for this was that there is such a
huge focus on what surgeries trans people have had, and the common
assumption is all trans people plan to get them. In reality, surgery can
be prohibitive for many reasons including cost or being medically
unfit, some people worry about it affecting sexual function, and many
people simply just don’t want it. Phalloplasty is especially rough,
requiring additional surgeries every ten years. I don’t know many people
who would want to sign up for that, and yet there’s this idea
surrounding the whole thing that surgery equals legitimacy as a trans
person, a trial by fire to prove you’re really trans. I wanted Beau
offer a counterpoint to that, and show a trans man who, while he still
experiences dysphoria, is more or less at peace with his body.
Tied
into that same idea of the common narratives regarding transgender
experience vs the lived experiences of trans people was the choice to
have Beau have (and very much enjoy!) sex involving his genitals.
There’s this idea that dysphoria and being transgender involves hating
your body, to the point where, while researching, I came across several
young trans men doubting themselves because they’d been told if they
wanted that kind of sex, they weren’t really trans. That really upset
me, because this wasn’t just an idea causing other people doubting trans
people, it was causing trans people to doubt themselves. So, while
there is a wide range of experiences and preferences (just like with any
group of people!), it was important me that Beau was in the group that
didn’t mind.
One
last choice that I wanted to touch on is the fact that Beau’s original
given name is never mentioned. Because Vel and Beau went to high school
together, we used the habit of athletes to call each other by their last
name to mitigate any awkwardness in the text, but even if we hadn’t
been able to, it was important to both of us that his birth name not be
mentioned. There tends to be this fascination with trans people
pre-transition -- wanting to know what someone’s birth name was, what
they looked like, and so on. In addition to being invasive and often
offensive, it once again treats trans people as a before and after,
rather than a full, complete person. While Beau mentions things about
himself in high school, and the fact that he’s glad he no longer looks
like he did in high school, there’s no mention of another name, and very
little description of how teenage Beau differs from adult Beau. No
matter his name or what he looked like, he’s always been Beau, and
that’s all that was necessary for this story to be told.
Author bio and social media links:
Carlin
Grant is a queer writer who likes to put the focus on LGBTQIA+
characters and has a sweet tooth for romance. Growing up in backwoods
North Carolina left them with a love for the characters, culture, and
folklore that is common in the rural South, and these themes often show
up in their stories. When they're not writing, Carlin enjoys reading,
video games, superheroes, mixtapes, and visiting the beach. They
currently reside in coastal NC, where they spend most of their time
chasing after their toddler.
Katey
Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of superpowered romance, even
though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or,
possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.)
Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she
currently lives in Ohio. In her spare time she enjoys comic books,
B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills.
GIVEAWAY
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