When I was about fifteen, I read Mercedes Lackey’s trilogy The Heralds of Valdemar. It was the first time I read a fantasy book series featuring as the main character a gay person who was like me—closeted, misunderstood, yearning for something he didn’t understand, and possessed of talents he didn’t yet recognize or grasp.
Those books saved my life.
And yet in the years since then I have not read a single fantasy novel offering an LGBT protagonist of any variety that wasn’t a special interest story, a romance, or non-fiction. They don’t normally get published, and on the whole fiction is composed of classic ‘marketable’ heroes (read: straight, usually white, men and women.) When I first set out to write the Adam Saint series, I worried that this was because the world just didn’t want those books.
But I remembered how I felt reading The Heralds of Valdemar. Such a diverse cast of characters, such a meaningful storyline, such a brilliant work of fiction; such a meaningful impact on my life. I couldn’t not write this book.
The Adam Saint series is an urban fantasy series that features the titular character of Adam Saint—a brash, inexperienced, flawed young man in his twenties who is thrust into a role that he is woefully unprepared for. In his very first week ‘on the job’, he makes a decision that will lead to a world reborn in blood, fire, and magic.
This fifteen book series of full length novels (as currently planned) is part speculative fantasy as it explores how the world copes, changes, fails, and succeeds in the wake of the catastrophic emergence of old magic into a new world, as seen through the eyes of Adam as he journeys through the roles of Student, Vigilante, Advisor, Leader, Criminal, Villain, and Savior while the world around him struggles to survive and adapt. He is joined initially by Vanessa Moreno, a latina detective with a murky past and Cole Sheppard, a shifter with his own hoard of secrets—two allies who become the guiding lights in Adam’s dark journey.
It is time for a gay hero in genre fiction. I don’t wish to write a romance; this book is about relationships—all heroes have them—but it isn’t about a relationship. It is adventure, heroism, failure, mystery, discovery, war, horror, and love. I aim to write a series that explores the true diversity we find in the world around us, and that tells a story of how the world transcends cataclysmic adversity by embracing a diverse cast of heroes and villains, saints and sinners.
The goal for this project is small. I’m working with my editor, Karlie DeMarse, a godsend and guardian angel and a portion of the funds will go toward paying her a living wage for the hard work of editing my books. Another portion will go toward marketing the book, spreading the word to LGBT resources in particular, cover design, and promotion. The research is done. The Manuscript is written. Now is the time to thrust this story into the world and give those people seeking to connect with heroes that reflect their own experiences and spirit a series equal to other popular stories like the Dresden Files and Kate Daniels books.
Adam Saint is suitable for young adults, grown-ups, and readers of all types.