Handout
Novelist Seth King
Seth King is a beloved author who first won over readers’ hearts with his breakout novel, “The Summer Remains,” which was inspired by the tragic, real-life passing of his own brother.
Known for his emotional prose and heartbreaking stories, King once again pulls from his own experiences to create his masterful new release, “Honesty.”
An ode to first love, “Honesty” is his first male/male romance.
– Mara White
A SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS FROM SETH KING:
Who we love shouldn’t matter. Humans are all the same, just bags of skin and bone and water on a blue planet, all trying to reach out and connect and find somewhere to land that feels safe and good and warm.
As a writer, the “Who” part of the equation is incidental to me — I want to know the where, the why, the how; all the little details that make love such a triumphant and extraterrestrial and redemptive experience for us down here on Earth.
I want to know about the scarf you left at your first love’s house and never got back; the way you sighed when you first realized you’d fallen for your best friend; the way you cried when you knew you would never see your soul mate again.
The Who of the parties involved means nothing to me, and although it shouldn’t matter to anyone else, the reality is that it does.
People will talk, so here’s something to talk about: My new book “Honesty” is about a guy I fell in love with a decade ago.
So now that we’ve gotten the Who out of the way, now for the where and the why and the how…
On a clear, cold afternoon when I was 13, I walked to the top of a mountain and thought about jumping off of it. I was being mistreated by someone very close to me for having “feminine qualities,” and so I slipped out of the cabin we’d rented for Christmas, tiptoed to the edge of a cliff, and peered down at the jagged rocks and swaying trees below.
I was in love with a golden-eyed boy from my science class and part of me wanted to die for that love, because he couldn’t admit he loved me back and I knew it would never work out and the world was built against us.
What stopped me was imagining a new world where it wouldn’t matter who I dreamed about, where I wouldn’t be insulted or belittled for being different, where a boy could love me back and not have to run from it.
I didn’t want a future where I could scream from the hilltops about my love — that wasn’t really my style — I just wanted a world where the news about me would be met with a shrug. What kept me on firm ground was envisioning that place.
Today is Dec. 22, 2015, and I’m back. Back in this town that almost served as the end of me, back in this same struggle I faced a decade ago, but hopefully not for much longer.
I lost the love of the boy with the golden eyes, or maybe I never had it all — but still it changed me forever.
I had to watch from the sidelines as he flourished and became a famous athlete, but I think I’m finally becoming myself, too. I’ve loved women and men since then, and I’ve felt them love me back. All of it has gone into the story of who I am today. I have known I had to write this book ever since that day on the mountaintop, and when I knew I couldn’t run from Coley and Nicky anymore, I sat down and took a breath. “Honesty” drifted out of me like an orphan that had looked for a home all its life, flowed out of my fingertips like small galaxies. I am so proud of this book.
At the same time, I’m not stupid. The world is so different now, but much the same. We are closer to the utopia I imagined in some ways, miles away in others.
Technically speaking, I am one of the most prominent young male authors in the country, and the news that my first love was a guy could change everything. I am famous for writing books about men who fall in love with women — which is just as much a part of my past as this book is, to be fair — and I operate in an industry where heterosexual love stories count for more than 90% of sales.
Handout
King’s latest novel “Honesty,” released Feb. 26, is the acclaimed author’s first male/male romance.
I know I am a canvas on which a lot of my readers splash their expectations, and I know I have female fans who probably want me to write the same hetero love story ad infinitum.
I will be the first to admit that a novel about two male teenagers falling in love one bright, brutal summer might not be what they’re looking for from me. I know who it is for, though: It’s for all the little kids like Coley and Nicky and me, all the kids who have ever been told by classmates and parents and society that they are dirty and inadequate and tainted; all the kids who have ever climbed something and thought about jumping out of hell.
More than that, though, it’s for the ones who did jump. It’s for the lost ones, forever silent, that I remained after. I can still try to be brave enough to change this world I live in — they can’t.
So as I sail into a new world alone, I do it with the wish to both speak for the ones who left before me and improve things for the ones who stand on the edge today, uncertain if the future is something they even want to see.
So help me walk them back. We’ve done so much, but we still have so much more to accomplish. In this gleaming new future we think we’ve created, people are suffering everywhere. Nobody else needs to die for this, especially children.
According to the Educational Researcher, 44% of bisexual teens are seriously considering suicide, and that is a statistic our society should not accept in 2016.
This is “Honesty,” and honesty is my declaration of independence. I was born to write this book. I know it could derail everything, but if one attempt to help humanity ends my career and puts me in the poor house, save a street corner for me.
Kids like me are still killing themselves every day, and with visibility comes responsibility. I am committed to writing about subjects that may help some folks out there, and not just pacify my fans and maybe buy me a yacht.
History tells me I am naïve to expect this to not be an issue. I dare you to prove me wrong.
To my family: I love you. To my brother’s kids: I live for you, and I hope you’ll grow up one day and understand this and be proud of me. To everyone else who has ever supported me so far: thanks.
And to the boy with the golden eyes: thank you for showing me what love felt like. I won’t forget the way we laughed when we stole those oranges from your neighbor’s tree, the way you cried when you crashed my dirt bike, the way your leg felt next to mine when we fell asleep on my trampoline under a blanket of stars that just weren’t in our favor.
Even that morning when I indirectly asked you to admit that you loved me and your eyes filled with tears and you walked away and said you were late for church — every moment of that year we spent together will stay alive in me forever.
Even though our story is over and you haven’t spoken to me in years, even though those two kids who existed on that trampoline are long gone, you’re with me still. You are engraved in me, and I carry you with me everywhere. I even wrote a book about what could’ve happened if the world had let us love each other. Here it is.
As I write this note and finish this book and close this chapter of my life, I do it looking out of my window at the exact cliff I peered over as a kid, with wind whistling in my ears and dread settling into my stomach and all the fear in the world pulling down at my young bones.
Something new is ringing all around me, though. It sounds like freedom.
Seth King
Beech Mountain, N.C.
Dec. 22, 2015
Seth’s novels can be found at all major online retailers. You can read more about him and his work here.
His latest novel, “Honesty,” was released Feb. 26.
Mara White is a contemporary romance and erotica writer who laces forbidden love stories with hard issues, such as race, gender and inequality. She holds an Ivy League degree but has also worked in more strip clubs than even she can remember. She is not a former Mexican telenovela star contrary to what the tabloids might say, but she is a former ballerina and will always remain one in her heart. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children and yes, when she’s not writing you can find her on the playground. She is the author of “The Heightsbound Series,” a tale of forbidden love that takes place in New York City’s Washington Heights.
For more DAILY VIEWS, The News’ new contributor network, click here.
Tags:
daily views ,
dating
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
Lifestyle – NY Daily News