Outer Alliance Spotlight #6: Hayden Thorne October 23, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications , trackbackWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #6. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Hayden Thorne, author of The Twilight Gods.
Hayden Thorne is a straight ally, who looks at writing as a form of activism, and features queer teens coming of age in contemporary and historical fantasy stories. Her Masks series follows the journey of a gay teen in a city full of superheroes, while her historical novels, The Twilight Gods, Banshee, and Icarus in Flight, deal with darker and more realistic themes.
When she is not writing, Hayden divides her time between working in the fine art industry, and cycling. In addition to advocating for LGBTQI rights, she supports the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States.
All of Hayden’s books to date, including her latest novel, The Twilight Gods, are available now from the LGBTQ YA imprint, Prizm Books.
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The Twilight Gods is based on a Native American folktale, but set in Victorian England. How did you get the idea to retell it that way?
Firstly, I’ve always been enamored of folklore, and while I grew up reading Western European folktales, it wasn’t till I was in college (better late than never) when I discovered folklore from all over the world. What fascinated me the most was that there are a number of variations for certain themes, as classified by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Folktales from all over the world can be categorized according to their system, so that a simple tale like “Cinderella,” for instance, will find a number of similar stories from other countries.
I also happen to be a shameless Anglophile, having discovered Victorian fiction in high school. I *love* the social commentary and, at least in the case of satirists like Thackeray, the biting wit. I actually didn’t think much about retelling a Native American folktale and using Victorian London for its new setting. It just seemed to fall into place for me. It’s really nothing more than two passions melding, so that folktale motifs are juxtaposed with more practical day-to-day concerns of a struggling family. The result is a gothic, dream-like treatment of a boy’s journey of self-discovery.
Your historical fantasies seem to take a more serious tone than your contemporary superhero fantasy series. Why is that? Do you think you’ll write more lighter and comedic books in the future?
The one thing I try to do with historical fiction is to keep everything as real as possible, which means a pretty somber treatment of homosexuals and how they cope with living in a society where they’re outlaws. On the other hand, I’m not a huge fan of uber-angst, so I try to work in a little edge of hope for the characters. If they don’t get their happily-ever-after, they at least mature enough to understand their place and make decisions from there as to where they want to take things. Will they pursue their dream of finding other gay men who are willing to risk everything and be with them? Or will they decide to stay in the closet and follow the paths that have been set out for them by society? Either way, they’re still empowered with enough knowledge and maybe some experience to make their choice.
I’m definitely moving in the direction of more comedic historical fiction. I have a couple planned out, in fact – one a satire about artists and one a historical fantasy involving a family of “special” agents working for Queen Victoria.
The Masks series follows the adventures of a goth teen in a city full of superheroes and supervillains. What drew you to write about these types of people? Are you a superhero comics fan? Were you a goth in high school?
*laughs* Eric Plath is actually not goth though other characters in the books mistake him for one. He’s “being sixteen,” as he argues in the first book. He colors his hair blue and tried once to wear eyeliner to school till he was made to take it off, but he’s really just a normal kid who experiments with whatever happens to catch his fancy. No, I was never a goth in high school, but some of my friends were. Growing up in the early to mid-80s, I kind of fell in with the “mod” crowd, or those kids who dug alternative music.
My initial plan for the Masks series was to create a mini-world of superheroes and supervillains where being a “freak” becomes par for the course in the eyes of a snarky teenager. Being a superhero is usually the Mark of Cain, so to speak, and it’s pretty common for superheroes to be ostracized or welcomed but still treated as outsiders of some kind. I want to write about superheroes who, while doing all kinds of amazing things, still behave like regular teenagers either in costume or out. Using Eric as the odd man out gives me that platform.
All of your protagonists so far have been male. Have you ever considered writing a book with a female, trans, or intersex main character?
I’d *love* to be able to write trans characters, and I hope someday to do it. I’ll need to spend more time learning about them before I feel confident enough to write them in a story. I also would like to write female characters, and I hope to do something like a subversive Austen type of deal. Historical fiction, that is, tends to draw all kinds of romantic ideas from me, and I figure that the Regency and all its associations with Austen’s satires and romantic adventures make for prime material involving teenage girls who don’t fit the mold and subvert social convention. They could be magicians. Or adventurers in an alternate universe. Or I could just write a contemporary fantasy, with girls for the leads. The same can be said about transgender teens. The possibilities are endless.
Have you ever gotten reader feedback that made your day? What’s the best thing a reader could possibly tell you?
As I tend to get extremely rare reviews at sites like Amazon, I have a feeling that I tend to attract quiet types (hey, I’m pretty withdrawn in person, too). I’ve received a couple of very nice messages about my books, and simply hearing from readers is really good enough for me. I don’t expect high praise all the time. If they want to discuss things with me, I’m more than happy to do so. If they see anything they find objectionable, I’d like to know. So far, though, I’ve been told that these readers really enjoyed my books, with one saying that she wished she had books like these when she was younger. They were all very sweet, and I really appreciate their taking the time to write me.
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Thanks, Hayden! Join us again next Friday for another Spotlight. In the meantime, why not check out The Twilight Gods?
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