VQ Library

 The final day of MerMay has arrived- and we hope you had as much fun as we did! We’re going to keep on reading merfolk books all summer long- of course, with an emphasis on those with LGBTQ+ themes. But to close out the May festivities, we have our final interview- a conversation with Morgan Dante (they/ them) about their book Providence Girls . This book is a sapphic Lovecraftian horror-romance, so… basically everything both Caitlyn and Remy adore. VQ: Why do you think we collectively keep coming back to the Lovecraftian stories? Morgan: Lovecraft generally was good at creating atmospheric works; he very much entrenched many of his works in a bleary New England setting that I personally enjoy. More than that, I think his works, such as “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, offer enough fascinating mythological details while also making an imaginative reader curious: What is it like thinking of the ocean as a place where, far below, there are ancient cities with beings we cannot truly fat...

Interviewing Jason June (he/ him) for our blog has been one of the highlights of Caitlyn’s May (and that’s saying something because her May has been jam-packed with activities that involve cute dogs)! Check out our conversation below!!  VQ: Can you talk to me about your passion for writing? Where do you think it comes from? Jason June: My passion for writing definitely comes from the worlds that grabbed hold of my attention as a kid and wouldn’t let go. My gateway was the Animorphs series, then continued with Redwall , Dinotopia , Goosebumps . I couldn’t get enough. I know someday I wanted to create characters and worlds that would provide such a sense of escape and excitement that those books did for me.  VQ: What was the inspiration for Out of the Blue ?  Jason June: Out of the Blue was inspired first and foremost by my love of merpeople. From the moment I saw Ariel singing in the waves as a little kid, I knew my dream was to someday become a merperson. I’m still wor...

 For our next MerMay interview, we had the opportunity to talk to Ann Claycomb, author of The Mermaid’s Daughter . This book is a well thought out, modern look at the story of the Little Mermaid- and there’s opera! Of course, this is one of Remy’s favorite books, so talking to Ann was an exceptional experience for them. VQ- The Little Mermaid has a long history of being a queer metaphor, from the theories about Hans Christian Andersen to the deliberate references to queerness in the Disney movie. How did that influence your decision to make this a sapphic love story? Ann- I definitely did research Andersen’s personal life as I put this book together.  He only appears as a character in the related short story that you can read at the end of the book, but that story was written first, as I sorted out how I wanted to mess with the idea of Andersen having created the Little Mermaid.  Because from the first stages of the book, that was a relationship that bothered me. He gets ...

  The final week of MerMay is upon us, which means the MerMay LGBTQ+ Readathon is almost over! (Though, let’s be honest, there are a lot of books on that list and we’ll be reading them all summer long.) We wanted to finish this event with a splash, so this week, we’re bringing you a series of short interviews with the authors of merfolk books with LGBTQ+ representation.  For our first interview, we talked to Rose Santoriello (they/ them), author of Haunt Me, Baby as well as other queer monster romance books. VQ: The monster romance genre seems to be growing in popularity. How would you describe it to audiences unfamiliar with it? Rose: Monster Romance kind of has two subcategories—scary and cozy. The scary monster romances often feel like a Romantasy, just with a very non-human love interest. The other size is much more cozy! And reads a lot like contemporary, but with cute monsters.  VQ: How does your own queerness influence the types of relationships you highlight in...