[SERIES Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR!]
HI THERE, COLE HERE. I get a lot of questions about the series, so let’s answer some of the most common ones!
Q. I don’t quite get the “seasons/episodes” thing.
A. The general story arcs are structured less like a book series and more like a television series. Every full-length novel is akin to a TV episode in a series, where you get a single episodic story arc with a conclusion for that particular plotline while continuing the overarching storyline driving the entire season—and getting to know the characters and their developing relationships a bit at a time.
Q. So how many episodes will there be per season?
A. Thirteen, just like with TV. Most TV series have either 12-13 episode seasonal arcs, or 26-episode seasonal arcs. I’m following the hour-long episode format with 13-episode seasons so that each novel has the same feel of a more in-depth hour-long show.
Q. Thirteen. Thirteen actual novels per season. Not novellas. Not chapters. 50,000-70,000 word novels. You’re kidding. And you’re releasing one per month?
A. Yep.
Q. How?
A. I have issues.
Q. So how many seasons will there be?
A. I have five loosely planned, but that’s not concrete. I may realize halfway through Season Three or Season Four that we’re nearing the end of any viable plot and anything else would be reaching/stretching. If that happens, no matter when, then I’ll make that season the final season.
Q. Do I have to wait all the way to Season Five for Mal and Seong-Jae to get together?
A. Nah. I won’t tell you exactly when in Season One that they get together, but it’ll happen. That doesn’t mean subsequent seasons won’t bring some rocky times, but we’ll get them into a relationship in Season One.
Q. But I thought these were kissing books!
A. They are. :) But because it’s structured like a television series instead of a normal romance novel, you won’t get a complete beginning-to-HEA romance arc in a single book. Instead it’s like those partner shows where you watch all season as they flirt with and deny the sexual and romantic tension between them, hoping for every intimate moment until it finally happens, watching their relationship deepen (and occasionally fracture) through the work they do together. It also means now and then as long as they’re not tied to each other they may get involved with other people to further complicate their romantic entanglement, but it’s just part of the arc to help them realize their feelings toward each other.
Q. I’m getting tired of waiting for Mal and Seong-Jae to finally hook up in Season One, though.
A. Then these probably aren’t the books for you, sorry! =^.^= May I recommend Cordelia Kingsbridge? She has a truly excellent series where the relationship development happens more along the structure of traditional romantic suspense arcs, with great characters and much faster progression.
Q. I don’t like that you show Seong-Jae experiencing sexual attraction as an asexual person.
A. It happens, though. Asexuality is a spectrum, and different asexual people experience it to different degrees. Some never experience sexual attraction at all; some experience it only infrequently, which is where “gray-ace” comes in, or in conditional circumstances requiring emotional investment, which is where “demiromantic/demisexual” comes in. Some never experience physical desire at all, with or without attraction; some experience desire, physical arousal, etc. but just not in the context of being aroused by physical attraction to another person. Some are sex-repulsed; some aren’t. You can have an active and frequent sex life and still be asexual; you can never have sex at all and be asexual; you can have sex infrequently and only in conditional circumstances, and still be asexual. It’s not about sexual activity or capability unless a specific asexual person wants it to be. It’s about sexual drivers (or lack thereof).
In Seong-Jae’s case, frankly I’m writing him from my experience; he’s gay demigray-ace, while I’m bi/pan demigray-ace. That means sexual attraction to someone is a rare, infrequent, conditional thing generally requiring some emotional investment first, and when it happens it’s so unusual it becomes an annoying and highly unwanted distraction that would very much inspire a punch to the face (as if that would make it go away). Because it’s so out of the ordinary it can take a prominent and highly intrusive place in focus, especially with the shock of noticing and responding to things about someone, until it either becomes part of the norm with a partner or else fades with time and familiarity—but it’s still possible. And even if it can seem to parallel allosexual sexual desire and attraction when a demigray person is attracted to someone, it’s still going to play out differently and will become a factor that impacts Malcolm and Seong-Jae’s developing relationship even once they’ve settled into a sexual comfort level with each other.
And it’s still irritating as fuck, though I (and Seong-Jae) may be the minority in finding it so, when other people on the grayer side of the asexual spectrum may welcome it. We’re all different, and our asexuality is generally nuanced and highly specific/personal to us. If you’re asexual and feel this portrayal doesn’t represent you as you’re farther away from the gray or demi ranges of the spectrum than Seong-Jae, I’m sorry! But I do write a lot of queer characters in various series, so it’s very likely that at some point I’ll introduce a character whose asexual experiences are closer to yours.
Q. Why does Anjulie keep mentioning issues with romantic love?
A. Anjulie is openly and firmly aromantic, which means she doesn’t experience or want to experience romantic love. She’s not in denial, not “hasn’t found the right one yet,” not suppressing her feelings; she just is who she is. She loves people as friends or family and in that is a very deeply loving, compassionate, kind person, but romantic love is off her spectrum. It can complicate her sexual relationships with people who develop feelings for her, especially long-term partners, when they expect more from her than the kind of love she’s comfortable giving them—but she’s also capable of deeply fulfilling, strongly bonded relationships with people who understand her and respect her needs.
Q. What’s this “allo” thing she mentioned a few episodes back, then?
A. “Allo” is often shorthand slang used by aromantic and/or asexual people to refer to alloromantic and allosexual people. It refers to people who experience romantic love and/or sexual attraction in way that’s defined as the normalized expectation by society. (I say “defined as” as I don’t like classifying different types of expression, emotion, and attraction as normal or not normal, but normalized expectations are at least a baseline for comparing what society expects as the default vs. the reality that exists for many non-allo people.)
Q. You write a lot of unprotected queer male sex.
A. Yes, I do. This isn’t real life. There’s a massive stigma in real life toward queer men in which people treat us like disease bombs waiting to go off, unclean and deadly, along with the subtle insinuation that it’s our fault anyway because of societal shaming of the assumed promiscuity of the stereotyped queer male lifestyle plus a deep misunderstanding of the AIDS crisis. While it’s a shitty stigma that treats us like we’re disgusting and subhuman, safe sex in real life is still important regardless of gender or sexuality.
Fiction, however, provides a safe place to flip the middle finger at that stigma and very pointedly ignore condom usage. Believe me, as a queer man, with me it’s entirely political, utterly deliberate, and a rather firm statement in defiance of the outrage that screams “how dare you, unclean creatures that you are, even fantasize about unprotected sex?” It’s also a kink for some people—the fantasy of skin to skin and the sensations involved, and one that can often only be indulged either in fiction or with a long-term partner, allowing for a certain sense of intimacy. If you’re waiting for mention of a condom, 8/10 with me you’re going to be disappointed. I throw them in now and then, but more often than not I don’t. Unprotected sex is always mentioned in the trigger warnings, so you can be forewarned and choose not to read it if it’s something that upsets you.
Q. What’s the deal with the Nameless Man?
A. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Q. Will every book have super-gory, gross, extreme crimes?
A. No. Although this is a rather graphic series, I really want people more focused on the slow development of the character interrelationships and intrigue with the cases as the framing for that, and as an opportunity to find out how our leads’ minds work in various situations. Besides, if every crime is super-graphic that leaves nowhere to go as overarching plots escalate to a head—so some things will end up scaled back to make the truly plot-critical ones more impactful. While I will likely always include some explicit detail of every crime scene, for the most part the details are there more to give readers clues to the evidence informing the detectives’ thought processes, and less for shock value.
Q. What made you choose vinyl gloves over surgical nitrile when Mal’s allergy means he can’t use latex?
A. Personal preference. While I don’t have a latex allergy, I do have OCD germophobia and sensitive skin; I use disposable gloves in certain situations to keep from tripping off my OCD, and the second my hands start to sweat in the gloves I’m likely to get rashes, irritation, and cracked skin on the backs of my palms and knuckles if I use latex. (Which…actually may be an allergy, I’m not sure, I just know I don’t like it so I avoid it.)
So I started using both vinyl and nitrile as alternatives before dropping the nitrile unless I have no other choice. Vinyl doesn’t get as sweaty as quickly, so it stays comfortable longer; vinyl gloves are also a more comfortable fit for larger hands, when nitrile gloves often feel like they’re choking off my circulation at the wrists. The looser wrists on vinyl gloves also make it easier to take them off quickly without dirty portions of the gloves possibly making skin contact. Since Mal has large hands like mine and a need to keep from contaminating himself with the things he touches (such as crime scene blood), I gave him my preference just as one of those little quirks I often share with my characters. The only downside to the vinyl is that it tears more easily if it snags on something or is stretched to its limit.
Q. …why does nearly every single person in these books use some model of Android phone? Are you shilling? iPhones are a thing, you know. (Yes, someone asked me this. I actually really love how observant y’all are with the little details like this.)
A. So. Though iPhones are hugely popular, I’ve never had one. Ever. I’m not really a fan of Apple interfaces or hardware as far as my particular preferences for usability and utility, or maybe I’m just holding a grudge from being forced to use really old Apple computers in art school. Point is, I don’t know iPhone interfaces, what apps are or aren’t supported by the platform, mobile security, user navigation flows, capabilities, etc. Which means I can’t write about using them with as much confidence or ease as a more familiar Android phone. Considering the integration of mobile technology into many of these investigations, I’d rather not slip on those details. So everyone gets Androids.
Q. Why don’t you always translate foreign language words, such as the Persian or Korean slang Malcolm and Seong-Jae sometimes use?
A. That’s a complicated question with an even more complicated answer that involves an in-depth look at privileged expectations—and it’s tied into the reason why many authors and readers who speak languages other than English are increasingly against italicizing non-English words, too. To keep it short I will say that I translate when it’s relevant to the dialogue or plot or when another character asks about things said aloud, but for minor words I don’t because in a character’s POV they normally wouldn’t stop to define the word they just thought/said in English.
I’ll also say that while the gist is often apparent from context (for example, we knew “jot” was an insult long before Seong-Jae told Malcolm what it meant), in general non-English speakers reading English language books don’t have the luxury of having every word translated and explained directly to them. They have to learn the language. So. Again: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Take from that what you will. You won’t lose any of the plot by not knowing those little bits of slang.
Q. Why does Sade use they/them pronouns? Are they male or female?
A. Sade doesn't identify as either male or female. They identify as two-spirit, which is a rather complex concept that differs between Indigenous nations and isn't something to be lightly discussed here. The closest analogue in non-Indigenous western culture is genderqueer, which is a nonbinary expression that may figure in masculine traits, may figure in feminine traits, or may eschew gendered traits altogether.
Not everyone identifies explicitly with the male/female gender binary, whether they're cis or trans, and identifying as genderqueer, genderfluid, agender, neutrois, genderbend, demiboy, demigirl, or many of the other identities along the nonbinary spectrum may be more comfortable. That can often mean ditching the gendered pronouns, too. While many nonbinary people default to using "they/them/their" in the singular, others use pronouns such as "xie/xer" or others depending on what suits them best. I will likely never reveal what gender Sade was assigned at birth. It's just not necessary to their story, and can cause people to start unconsciously gendering them.
Q. Why don’t all the Q&As in each book have the same questions?
A. I add new questions and answers as people ask them as the series progresses, but I don’t always go back to update the previous books every time as it can take a while to do that with every new release each month. So newer books will have longer Q&As with more/updated questions. Eventually, though, I go back to refresh the back matter of older books, and end up adding the latest version of the Q&A.
Q. …your avatar is wearing cat ears.
A. Yes, yes it is.
Q. Why?
A. …
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯