Tag: Music

Posted on

Interview with Linda Cheng, Author of Gorgeous Gruesome Faces

Linda Cheng was born in Taiwan and spent her childhood moving between cultures and continents. She received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and worked as an art director across South Carolina and Georgia where she developed a deep love for sweet tea, grits, and Southern Gothic stories. She currently resides in Vancouver, Canada with her family. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is her debut novel.

I had the opportunity to interview Linda, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you so much for having me! I’m Linda, I was born and raised in Taiwan, spent a good chunk of my adult years in the Southern United States, before settling back in Vancouver Canada. I write spooky love stories that are often served with a side of body horror.

What can you tell us about your debut book, Gorgeous Gruesome Faces? What was the inspiration for this story?

GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES is about a disgraced teen pop star who comes face to face with her estranged former groupmate and the demons of their shared past at a deadly K-pop competition. It’s also a deeply personal story about grief, and how to forgive and love yourself again after making big, terrible mistakes.  

This book was written in 2020 when I was going through a lot of personal hardship. I wanted a way to explore that pain, but also to throw myself into the things that have always brought me joy. GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES is my love letter to Asian horror, pop idol survival shows, fan culture, complicated female relationships, and queer girls.

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, specifically young adult fiction and thriller genre?

Like many writers of my generation, I started my ‘career’ writing fan fiction, and then progressed to original works. Having moved across multiple countries in my formative years, I naturally gravitated towards coming of age stories, usually ones containing themes of self-discovery.

The supernatural world and the spiritual beliefs surrounding it are intimately tied to daily life in Taiwanese culture. Growing up as a child I was both scared and fascinated by the plethora of ghost stories, which eventually evolved into a full on love affair with the horror/thriller genre.

As Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is centered on K-pop, I was wondering if you have any favorite artists of your own that you like to listen to, as well as any that influenced your book?

My favorite K-pop girl group is ITZY, and I listened to a lot of IU, Red Velvet, and BLACKPINK as well when I was writing the book. The music videos of Pink Fantasy also inspired some of the imagery.

Since Geeks OUT is a queer centered website, could you tell us a bit about the LGBTQ+ content featured in your book?

I like to refer to my book as a horror-romance, as the sapphic love story is equally as important to the plot as the horror and mystery elements. Like me, my protagonist Sunny is bisexual, and her relationships with her love interests run the gamut from friendship to lust to obsession to rivalry. I wanted Sunny to have plenty of opportunities to be messy and make tons of mistakes, because growing up and falling in love and trying to find your identity is a messy process!

How would you describe your writing process?

My stories are character driven, and so I typically start by creating the main characters first, and then build the plot and setting around them. I tend to be more of a plotter, and I like to do a detailed outline before drafting so that I have a road map to follow, even if I do usually end up changing things along the way.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

I really can’t recall seeing any Taiwanese-American protagonists in young adult literature back when I first immigrated, and there certainly were no queer ones. Malinda Lo’s Ash was the first young adult sapphic romance I’d read, and I remember being blown away. Seeing authors like Emily X.R. Pan, Cindy Pon, and Gloria Chao not only write about Taiwanese characters in their young adult books but also set their stories in Taiwan has been so inspiring, and was a huge motivating force for me to write my own.

As a writer, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general? 

Horror/thriller movies and television shows are some of my biggest inspirations when it comes to writing. GORGEOUS GRUESOME FACES was greatly inspired by Korean vengeance thrillers and classic Japanese horror movies like The Grudge.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

I love exploring flawed characters and the bad choices that they make, writing romances, and of course, coming up with good scares! I also enjoy creating unexpected plot twists that will take the reader by surprise. Developing the right pacing and figuring out when to deliver the scares and reveal the plot twists takes a lot of trial and error on the page.

Many authors would say one of the most challenging parts of writing a book is finishing one. What strategies would you say helped you accomplish this?

Having a critique group of other writers encouraging me and holding me accountable was what got me through to the end. Community support is invaluable.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

Despite loving horror movies, I can’t actually watch them alone!

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I love reciving and giving horror movie recommendations. My current recommendation is the Taiwanese folk horror movie Incantation.

What advice might you have to give for other aspiring writers?

Write what brings you the most joy, what makes you smile. Don’t put the pressure on yourself to constantly produce. If writing becomes draining and you’re finding a lack of enjoyment, give yourself permission to step away for as long as you need. Your story will be there for you when you’re ready again.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I am currently working on the second book in the GGF duology!

Finally, what books/authors (LGBTQ+ or otherwise) would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

The short stories of Alyssa Wong, Eugenia Triantafyllou, and Nathan Ballingrud

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran, I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea, The Witchery by S. Isabelle, Chlorine by Jade Song, Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado.

Posted on

Rebelle Re-Views: Go-To Music and Entertainment for Trying Times

The last few years have really hammered home the endless ways in which this life can dumpster fire. Fortunately, coping mechanisms exist. As the new year fast approaches and the idea of making resolutions feels more hilarious by the minute, we can at least take some of our favorite distraction strategies with us into 2024. Here are ten of mine:

1. Podcasts

Who needs self-examination or quiet time for meditation? Do we really need to let our thoughts roam free all willy-nilly? Instead, why not try drowning your thought-nadoes out with other people’s! We’ve got news (Mo News is a current less triggering fave)! We’ve got comedy (Handsome with Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin or Say More with Amy Poehler as unlicensed therapist Dr? Sheila)! And we’ve got conversations between people who feel like friends due to how often their body-less voices fill my studio apartment (WTF with Marc Maron, Onward with Rosie O’Donnell, This Might Get Weird with Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, and What Now with Trevor Noah)! All these radio wave strangers will make the voices in your head just another part of the droning ambience of being alive.

2. Iliza Schlesinger’s viral rhapsody imploring  Gen Z to give us Millennials a f*cking break already

Nothing has felt more cathartic than watching Schlesinger become the physical embodiment of the phrase “I’ve had it up to here!” Which I did probably a good 20+ times in a row. “We’re here to tell you that you are NOT NICE… and we have HAD IT!” After cheekily ensuring that her show was a safe space and thanking the two Gen Zers who publicly identified themselves for coming to the show, she launches into a beautiful history lesson of the millennial experience to give the “contextless generation” some much-needed perspective. From being raised on a diet of the mixed messages of our Boomer parents, not being able to buy homes, chastised for buying fucking avocados, to a reminder that we did the 90’s first. “You are angry and I get that… we are angry too but we have heartburn and our backs hurt but we are right there with you and you take it out on us,” Schlesinger says in an appeal with another important reminder, “Never forget we forged social media. Never forget we walked on Instagram so you could run on TikTok.” Nothing but respect for the Elder Millennial Queen.

Ruby Amanfu

3. Ruby Amanfu “Beautiful, You Are”

Ever made the mistake of listening to this song five minutes before your next Zoom meeting and finding yourself in tears? I sure have! And you can too. Let Ghana-born, Nashville-raised vocalist and songwriter Ruby Amanfu lull you and your inner child in with a soft drum beat and warm rasp that lands as gently as a whisper. With lyrics like “One look at you and I see stars that shine up over my head” to leave you warm and fuzzy like a hug from your best human friend and a cuddle from your favorite furry one. It’s a song that sees you even when it feels like the outside world doesn’t. 

4. Regina Spektor

According to my Spotify Wrapped, my #1 artist of the year was the Maestro of quirk and kitsch, Regina Spektor. I’ve been fangirling over her ever since I picked up a copy of “Soviet Kitsch” (which turns 20 next year) at Amoeba Records in, what feels like, another lifetime. I still feel as I did then that there is no one who sounds quite like Spektor, whose sweet soprano lifts songs inflected with lush orechestral melodies, jazz bends, and punk snark with lyrics that feel like poems or riddles that unlock deep heart-wrenching truths when you finally figure them out. Seeing her on tour this past July was one of the most moving experiences at a show I have ever had. She is truly a master of her craft and to witness her in action is a gift.

5. Redbone “Come and Get Your Love”

While I don’t remember the first time I heard this song, most likely on the oldies station on the radio in the car or possibly playing through the speakers of my dentist’s office, I do know that since that mysterious moment “Come and Get Your Love” has been one of my go-tos when I want to be in a good mood. Redbone was the first Native American band to reach the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100 in thanks to the song, released in 1974, which also went certified Gold selling over a million copies. If happiness was a song, it would be this one.

Mason Alexander Park as Emcee in Cabaret in London this past summer

6. Cabaret (2021 London Cast Recording)

Sometimes the world is a devastatingly dark place and can cast a frightening mirror on the darkness within ourselves. At times it’s important to bear witness and remember those parts within us. In London, The Kit Kat Club is in full swing and over the summer I got to experience the otherworldly talent that is Mason Alexander Park as our Emcee (Eddie Redmayne plays the role on the cast recording). Descending downward through a labyrinth of winding stairways lined with fringe and metal-stringed curtains, audience members, illuminated in a red glow, slink to a first bar in a basement. Drinks flow and performers materialize posing in the mirror, giving side-eye while playing piano, and interrupting the queue as they move through the liminal space between the present day and pre-war Berlin. By the time one gets to their seat the seduction of something eerie, and maybe a little dangerous, has set in. I won’t go in to the rest of the story except to say that it is terrifying in its prescience. How slow a burn hate can take to build and yet how breathtaking in its swiftness the descent of a society into the intoxication of violence and antisemitism. Life is a cabaret, old chum. What role will you play.

7.  Mike and the Mechanics “All I Need is A Miracle”

After spending time within the depths of despair, something’s gotta give and put some pep back in your step. This song randomly popped into my head one day and has been on repeat ever since. The lyrics belie the story of love gone wrong and the regret that follows, “And I know you were never right/I’ll admit I was never wrong… And though I treated you like a child/I’m gonna miss you for the rest of my life,” a sentiment that seems all too common right now. Whether it’s holiday stress or feelings of helplessness about the state of humanity, we could use a miracle or two that can bring us back together. 

8. Insight Timer App

If you’re like me and have been having trouble getting to sleep before 3am every night, might I suggest the Insight Timer Application. Try some floaty music against the backdrop of a storm. Or maybe a guided sleep meditation is more your speed. There are nearly endless options to create the perfect sleepy-time soundtrack while you snuggle up with a bag of Doritos because it got so late that you’re now too hungry to sleep and Doritos are more energy efficient and less dangerous than making something at that ungodly hour. Namaste. 

Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore and Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

9. Gilmore Girls

When Fall rolls around and all the cozy cues kick in it only means one thing: It’s Gilmore Girls season. Amy Sherman Palladino’s writing is music to my ears. Full of quippy comebacks, references to bygone Broadway, and cringey pop culture references that haven’t held up (and some that, surprisingly, did). Trips to Stars Hollow leave me aching for a time and place that never was but felt like it could be and relieved knowing (as long as the Netflix gods allow) I can drop into Friday night dinners and quirky town halls any time.

10. Pure Moods (1994 Original Release)

When distressed I start searching for things of comfort from my childhood: McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese, sleeping at odd hours of the day and night, shutting myself off from everything and everyone, and music compilations from popular infomercials from the 90s. For those who remember, Pure Moods was A VIBE and, more importantly, when I was introduced to the ethereal and Celtic musical stylings of Enya. Now you, like me, can listen to the New Age that took over the airwaves while reminiscing over it being “only $19.99 if you order now” all to just listen to one Enya song and maybe also that one by Enigma.

Happy New Year, everyone! Since we all need a break, may 2024 be boring and just ok. 

Posted on

Interview with Author Anna Meriano

Anna Meriano is a writer, teacher, and former band nerd from Houston, Texas. She was a member of the MOB scatter band at Rice University and earned her MFA in creative writing from the New School in New York. She lives in Houston with her dog Cisco and her husband Ariel. She is also the author of This Is How We Fly and writes about magical pan dulce in the Love Sugar Magic series. You can also find Anna online on Twitter.

I had the opportunity to interview Anna, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi! Thanks for having me! I’m Anna Meriano, I’m an author of middle-grade and young-adult novels including the Love Sugar Magic series and This is How We Fly! In addition to being a book geek and a grammar geek, I’m also a theater and marching band geek. My multicultural heritage can best be described as Tex-Mex, and I work as a reading and writing tutor in Houston. 

When did you know you were first interested in writing, and what drew you specifically to young adult and middle-grade fiction?

I’ve been writing books since before I could spell! I always loved to have my parents read to me, and it seemed natural to want to create books when I loved them so much. When I grew old enough to choose my own reading, I went for middle-grade and young-adult books. Those are the books I fell most in love with, and I’m definitely not over that love yet. I think the kid lit community is an exciting and innovative space because we keep our audience in the front of our minds, don’t take ourselves too seriously, and try to imagine how our books will fit into (and shape) the future.

What can you tell us about your upcoming book, It Sounds Like This? What inspired the story?

It Sounds Like This is a loose retelling of Snow White set in a contemporary Texas high school marching band one year after a devastating hurricane, where Yasmín, an ambitious flute player, is exiled from her section and has to join the low brass (tuba and baritone) section with seven freshmen boys. The story is definitely inspired by my days in marching band, including plenty of band gossip, music puns, and instrument stereotypes, and on a deeper level, it looks at the effects of toxic friendships versus healing ones.

Like the main character of your book, have you ever had any experience with marching band or music in general, or was this something you had researched for the story?

Both! I was in marching band through high school (and college), but I ended up doing quite a bit of research to write the low brass side of things, and I tried to make sure my recollections lined up with what today’s readers would expect to see. But for the most part, my research was confirming or tweaking details, not starting from scratch. I’m still sad that, because I wrote the majority of this book during 2020, I didn’t get to visit my old band halls or play the tuba myself, but I loved watching YouTube tutorials filmed by high school section leaders and their often goofy section mates. 

Growing up, were there any books or authors that touched you or inspired you as a writer, or made you feel seen? Are there any like that now?

Way too many to choose from, but I do think that for this book, I have to mention Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series, which features a large cast of boys in a school setting and a main character who is incredibly passionate about her field of study. And, as a bonus, Kel has been post-canonically identified as likely ace and aro. 

Modern writers who make me feel seen and extremely excited about the direction of kid lit include Texas authors Jonny Garza Villa (Fifteen Hundred Miles From the Sun) and Joya Goffney (Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl), and Skye Quinlan, author of Forward March—another ace marching band book! With a sapphic main romance!

As an aspec reader, I’m always excited to see more aspec/queer fiction in the world. Could you talk about your motivation to write this kind of representation, and what queer representation in general means to you?

As an educator in Texas, I’m unfortunately hyper-aware of the way that queer media and queer people are not always supported or even safe. I guess I have a pattern of writing questioning main characters now, and it means a lot to me to leave space for those kids (and adults) who might not have it all figured out yet, who might even be avoiding figuring it all out because of the implicit and explicit threats in the world around them. At the same time, I wouldn’t be writing a truly contemporary book if I didn’t include teenagers who are out and proud, teenagers who have done deep work to understand and love themselves even in the face of those threats. I work with those kids every day, I admire them deeply, and I never want them to doubt that they belong in the world of my books.

I always knew this book would be about friendship, and so it made sense to introduce Bloom, an ace/aro character who has absolutely hyper-fixated on the exact dimensions, boundaries, and possibilities of friendship in order to understand his own feelings, as a foil to Yasmín, who absolutely has not done any of that and is very confused about what she is feeling all the time. 

How would you describe your writing process? What are some of your favorite/ or most frustrating parts of writing?

My writing process changes drastically with each book I write, sometimes because I’m learning and growing, and sometimes just because a pandemic shuts down all my coffee shops! I tend to be a chaotic writer, but I have learned to embrace outlines and plotting to make my life easier during revisions, even though it doesn’t come very naturally to me—that’s why I steal my plots from fairy tales! I still write scenes and snippets of dialogue totally out of order, especially when I’m starting a new project and trying to capture the voices of my new characters, which is my favorite part of the process. 

As a fellow student of the New School MFA Program, I’m curious about your experiences in the program. Could you describe it and some of your favorite parts of the program? Would you say it helped you grow as a writer?

Going to the New School was a huge privilege, and I’m very grateful that I had those two years to focus on reading and writing kid lit full time along with so many incredibly talented students and teachers. The workshops and literature seminars absolutely pushed me to do more work on my craft than I would have been motivated to do on my own. The most valuable part of the program for me, though, was absolutely the people I met, who are still my best friends, my collaboration partners, and some of the authors I admire most. Of course, academia is far from a perfect system, and an MFA is not required to be an amazing and successful author! 

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, and reread. Consume media of all kinds critically and intentionally to learn what your favorite creators are accomplishing and how they’re doing it. You absolutely don’t have to write every day, but you do have to spend a lot of time writing to get to the end of your stories. Follow a schedule that works for you, however chaotic or consistent it may be, but make sure that you’re putting the time in somewhere. And find the people who will support what you’re doing, because it’s a very hard thing to do alone. 

Besides being a writer, what are some things you would want your readers to know about you?

Hmm… This question is really stumping me! I used to have an easy fun fact prepared for this type of question, which is related to the unique sport that’s featured in my first YA novel, This is How We Fly. Unfortunately, that sport that has become a wonderful and supportive community for me and so many of my queer friends is associated with a transphobic children’s authors and franchise, so I can’t comfortably chat about it anymore without a lot of caveats and context. So I guess, if my readers look at my old work and see the ties to that franchise, I would want them to know that I am aware of the harm it does to my trans family, and I am committed to fighting for trans liberation here in Texas and around the world. 

Uh, but if you were hoping for this answer to include more fun facts: I have a small brown dog named Cisco, I like to knit and crochet, and I love taste-testing all the weirdest HEB chip flavors (mixed berry lemonade is my most recent purchase, and I regret nothing).  

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but wish you were (and the answer to that question)?

Anna, who is the fan favorite of the low brass boys, and who was your favorite to write?

I’m so glad you asked! The fan favorite is overwhelmingly Lee (an extremely valid choice), but my personal favorite to write was Elias, particularly the scenes where he, Caleb, and Yasmín are just off in a corner forming their own mini-Mexican group within the section.  

Are there any projects you are working on or thinking about that you are able to discuss?

Oh no, unfortunately almost all of my projects are up in the air right now, which means that if I talk about them, I’m afraid I’ll jinx them and they’ll never sell… but I have quite a few dream projects I’ve been outlining or starting this year, so hopefully I will have something announceable sometime soon. I’m hoping to go back to middle-grade fantasy for at least one project and try out a few new genre/age combinations as well. 

I am involved in a very exciting (currently untitled but officially sold) anthology of Latinx retellings, for which I’ve written my own version of Pride and Prejudice in space! That was an extremely fun project, and I can’t wait to see what the other authors have created for the anthology!

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

ALL OF THEM!

And more specifically, please please read Fifteen Hundred Miles From the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes, A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy, absolutely every book by Anna-Marie McLemore, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson, Forward March by Skye Quinlan, and everything but especially Pet by Akwaeke Emezi.