Welcome to the Riptide Publishing/L. A.
Witt blog tour for the transgender science fiction novel, Static!
Every comment on this blog tour enters you
in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks
off my backlist (excluding Static)
and a $10 Riptide Publishing store
credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern Time, on January 26th,
and winners will be announced on January 27th.
Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.
Rating:
After two years together, Alex has been dreading the inevitable moment when Damon learns the truth: that Alex is a shifter, part of a small percentage of the population able to switch genders at will. Thanks to a forced implant, though, Alex is suddenly static—unable to shift—and male. Overnight, he’s out to a world that neither understands nor tolerates shifters . . . and to his heterosexual boyfriend.
Damon is stunned to discover his girlfriend is a shifter, and scared to death of the dangers the implant poses to Alex’s health. He refuses to abandon Alex, but what about their relationship? Damon is straight, and with the implant both costly and dangerous to remove, Alex is stuck as a man.
Stripped of half his identity and facing serious physical and social ramifications, Alex needs Damon more than ever, but he doesn’t see how they can get through this.
Especially if he’s static forever.
Static is available January 20st from
Riptide Publishing.
The
world of sci-fi doesn’t meet the path of a trans theme often – what inspired
this genre cross?
I was playing with
the idea of writing about shapeshifters, since that’s been a popular subgenre
for a while, but I didn’t want to do the same thing everyone else had been
doing. It occurred to me that it would be cool if people could shift into other
people, like doppelgangers, and then I thought, “What if they could shift
genders?” That got me thinking about how someone might think and feel in a body
that could shift back and forth, and the story immediately went from a
paranormal/urban fantasy idea to something entirely different from what I’d
originally had in mind.
Why did you want to explore the theme of bi-genderism?
My good
friend M. Jules Aedin, another M/M author, had been giving me an education on
gender identity over the past year during our frequent conversations via IM.
Prior to that, I knew next to nothing. I knew transgender people existed, but
had never heard of genderqueer, genderfluid, third gender, or anything else on
the gender spectrum, and didn’t understand any of it. After everything I’d
learned through our conversations, I think I needed a way to process all of it
– to really understand it – and as a writer, it was only natural I’d turn to
writing. While I didn’t set out to do it consciously, and didn’t realize it
until after the fact, I firmly believe Static was my mind’s way of really
making sense of and understanding everything Jules had taught me.
There
are a lot of overlapping issues within the sci-fi scenario is situations that
occur for trans people – what research did you do for both the science and the
biology?
I read a lot about the transitioning
process, trying to understand both the physical and psychological stages,
effects, etc. I focused primarily on the
psychological effects, though, since most of the biological issues in the book
were unique to shifters.
L.A.
Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer currently living in the glamorous and
ultra-futuristic metropolis of Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two cats, and
a disembodied penguin brain that communicates with her telepathically. In
addition to writing smut and disturbing the locals, L.A. is said to be working
with the US government to perfect a genetic modification that will allow humans
to survive indefinitely on Corn Pops and beef jerky. This is all a cover,
though, as her primary leisure activity is hunting down her arch nemesis,
erotica author Lauren Gallagher, who is also said to be lurking somewhere in
Omaha.
L.
A.’s backlist is available on her website, and updates (as well as random thoughts
and the odd snarky comment) can be found on her
blog or on Twitter (@GallagherWitt).
Post your comments and questions below and LA Witt will respond on Friday 24th at 6.30pm.
Looking forward to hosting a question and answer session in 1 hour
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to answering! ;)
ReplyDeleteL.A.
Which book was the easiest to write and why??
ReplyDeleteEasiest to write? Hmm. I would say Quid Pro Quo, which I wrote with Aleksandr Voinov. It's just a smutty little short, and we wrote it in an afternoon while he was at work.
DeleteL.A.
how did you think about developing the Alex character in both the male and female form - were there differences you wanted to indicate?
ReplyDeleteNot really. I wanted Alex to essentially be Alex, regardless of gender in a given scene.
DeleteL.A.
I think that comes across quite strongly. It's more about other characters' reactions to the gender shift - and it's interesting to see the contrast between the mother and the boyfriend
DeleteAnd welcome Lori to Planet London's first Virtual Book Tour hosting. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to our readers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me!
DeleteL.A.
And don't forget, to all those asking questions please either register or leave contact details if you want to be added into the prize draw
ReplyDeleteWe've been collecting a few questions throughout the week, so I'll post these as well
ReplyDeleteQ - how easy is it to combine genres - sci fi and m/m in this instance? And for a Sci-fi genre, the theme of gender shift is intense - what did you do to not compromise on either genre?
ReplyDeleteI've done genre mashups before -- I even have a couple of M/M vampire cyberpunk books out there -- and enjoy the heck out of them. The worldbuilding can be a challenge, but hey, I enjoy a challenge. lol
DeleteAs far as mixing M/M and sci-fi, to me, it's no different than hetero and sci-fi. I pair (or group) characters in their particular universe and see what happens. I've written transgender historical, gay sci-fi, you name it.
L.A.
How hard was it to find a publisher? Do you think it's easier or harder with genre writing?
ReplyDeleteBy the time Static came along, I was established with several publishers, so it just came down to deciding which was the best fit. Shortly after the first edition of Static, Riptide came onto the scene, and I eventually decided to move the book to them because they were a better fit for such a niche genre -- both science fiction and transgender.
DeleteIn general, I don't think it's easier or harder to find a publisher with genre writing. I'm not going to find many big New York publishers who will publish M/M romances -- though I've heard rumors that things are changing -- but there are numerous smaller publishers who will. The more specialized a book gets, the harder it is to nail down a publisher, simply because not every (for example) M/M publisher will also cater to the cyberpunk or paranormal markets, and not every science fiction publisher will cater to M/M. So yeah, it does narrow the choices a bit, but I've been pretty fortunate to find good, solid houses for most of my work.
L.A.
the characters' discussions around the difference between gender, sexuality and sexual orientation are very close to some of the discussions I've had with people from the LGBT community & others about trans issues. How important to you was it that gender-shifting reflected those issues?
ReplyDeleteAfter having a lot of facepalm-worthy conversations with people who assume that gender and sexual orientation are inextricably linked, it was very important to me. People have a lot of assumptions about sexuality and gender identity, and I wanted it to be absolutely clear that shifters like Alex were shifting ONE of those things, not the other.
Deletethe dialogue is really good in that first discussion Alex and Damon have exploring that.
DeleteThanks!
DeleteThere's something really refreshing about making the shifting science issue - about what body a personality is in, and that nurturing is taken out of the equation. In reality this might be how many trans people feel, the idea of being in the wrong body, but it can't be looked at as just a science thing as emotions and psychological impact are always going to be evolved
ReplyDeleteSomething all writers get asked, all the time, I'm sure - what is your writing process - when you sit down to write, what needs to happen?
ReplyDeleteI have a word count quota. I sit down in the morning knowing that by the end of the day, I need to have written 5,000 words. Sometimes a particular scene is calling to me, sometimes I flit from chapter to chapter, doing a little bit here and there, and sometimes I struggle to write anything, but that quota is my carrot on a stick.
DeleteWow, 5000 words a day - that's a lot. SO how long does it take to complete a novel?
ReplyDeleteWhat book would you like to see made into a film??
ReplyDeleteIf you could do a crossover with any book, film, or show, what would it be?
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com