We chat with James Sie, author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist Still Life Las Vegas, and award-winning playwright of literary adaptions such as Island of the Blue Dolphins. We got to ask James all our burning questions about his upcoming YA novel All Kinds of Other, favourite classic movies and what he’s working on right now!
Hi, James! Thanks for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Okay, peeking my head out of my introverted shell… judging from my Instagram feed, you’d think I was a baker, but I actually make my living as a voice artist for animation and as an author. Most people get excited when they find out I’m the voice of Stillwater the Panda on the Apple TV Plus show Stillwater, and, of course, the voice of a certain purveyor of cabbages… I live in Los Angeles with my husband and son (who’s currently attending college on the east coast) and I definitely have nerd credentials, which you would know if you looked in my study and saw the giant bust of the Alien Queen I got from Sideshow Collectibles.
Lightning round: What was the last book you couldn’t put down, one that you wanted to chuck out the window in frustration, and one that you recommended right away?
The graphic memoir Solutions and Other Problems, by Allie Brosh, I read in one, greedy, euphoric sitting. Akwaeke Emezi’s YA book Pet feels like a modern classic, a descendant of A Wrinkle in Time, that I’ve gifted more times than I can remember. As far as chucking a book out of the window—I would never!
You are quite the busy man – author, playwright and voiceover artist! Can you share your personal highlights in these different jobs with us? What made you pursue all of these amazing jobs?
My whole life, acting and writing have been the twin poles of attraction for me. I was a theatre major in college, and, after graduating, did a lot of theatre acting and playwriting in Chicago. That experience was kind of like my apprenticeship for both disciplines. When I moved to Los Angeles, I was getting all sorts of one-line acting jobs, (lots of delivery men!) and then I was asked to audition for the title role in a new cartoon called Jackie Chan Adventures. I got the part, and it was like winning the Golden Ticket. I love voiceover work and getting to play roles like Jackie and Monkey in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and Stillwater has been so fulfilling. However, in Los Angeles, the writing side of me was getting neglected, and so I decided to try my hand at novel-writing. I sold my first novel, a prose/graphic novel hybrid called Still Life Las Vegas, and it was like another Golden Ticket! It’s been great having these two vocations; they complement each other really well.
Now, onto All Kinds of Other! What can readers expect when picking up this book?
A queer love story between two boys, told in alternating perspectives and interspersed with teen communication: texts, tumblr posts and YouTube transcripts. It’s set in 2015, but it definitely has echoes of classics like As You Like It and Pride and Prejudice, in that the characters need to get past their expectations, defensiveness and insecurities in order to see what they truly want.
What inspired you to write All Kinds of Other?
An actor friend of mine came to Los Angeles to try his luck in Hollywood for six months, and he brought along his son, who had planned on attending high school out here for a semester and go stealth (not disclose his trans identity), in order to experience what it would be like to be known as a boy and only as a boy. His position seemed remarkable to me—so full of exhilaration, but also with such potential for anxiety. I wondered what might happen if, during the six months, he made a close relationship? What would he do then? And—what if he fell in love? That was the origin of All Kinds of Other.
I loved the connection Jack and his dad have through classic movies. What are your top 3 classic movies?
Only 3? Aaaagh! Well, you can tell from the book that I’m a huge fan of Harold and Maude. Reaching further back, I’d say Casablanca (swoon for Ingrid Bergman) and Bringing up Baby (I do a pretty mean Katharine Hepburn). And… would you consider Alien a classic? Cause if so, throw it on the top of the list.
There’s this one scene in the book where a few characters discuss the title of the GSA (Gay-Straight-Alliance) and how it isn’t all that welcoming to anyone who doesn’t identify with either of these groups. That discussion really resonated with me – how did this scene come about?
You know, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the different groups within the umbrella of the LGBTQ community and the tensions that exist between them. For a lot of people, it’s generally assumed that the strides lesbians and gays have made in terms of equality have made apply to trans folks as well, but that’s not always true. The trans and non-binary community has its own identity, and its own challenges. Lumping everyone together doesn’t always work, and I’m so happy to see that the GSA organization has evolved into the Gender-Sexuality Alliance, which is much more inclusive.
Jack and Jules have quite the emotional connection that took my heart by storm. Without giving away too much, what was your favorite scene to write between the two of them?
Oh, I’d have to say both scenes at the Los Angeles River. They were rewritten so many times because I wanted to get the tone just right. The first meeting shows just how much distance there is between them, and the second— well, I have to say it still gets me verklempt every time I read it!
You’re obviously well-versed in the writing and revising as an author and playwright. What is your favorite part of creating a new story? What do you wish you wouldn’t have to do in the writing process?
My favorite part of writing is right at the very beginning, when you’ve gone beyond idea and journey and you’re imagining your characters, the flesh-and-bones realness of them, not just how they function in the plot. You try on different heads, different postures, different needs, until something hits and, poof! there they stand before you. It’s like the Frankenstein moment of “It’s alive! It’s alive!”
The worst part of writing? Heh. Writing is the worst part of writing. I am so very slow and so easily distracted, it takes me a long time to settle into a groove.
With All Kinds of Other releasing soon, are you already working on other projects? If so, can you share a bit about it with us?
The thing I’m most excited about at the moment is recording the audiobook for All Kinds of Other—It’s my two professions colliding in a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup way—so delicious in combination! I’m narrating the Jules sections, my friend, actor Shaan Dasani, narrates Jack, and the fabulous Rain Valdez gives voice to Evie. I can’t wait to hear out it all put together!
As far as writing projects, I’ve just started work on another YA novel about a grifter family, and also working with the illustrator of Still Life Las Vegas on a graphic novel adaptation of my stage show Talking With My Hands, which is about my growing up in a first-generation Italian and Chinese household.
Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?
Do I ever! So many to choose from… on the YA front, almost done Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas and I’m loving the ghost/brujo relationship, and am about to pick up Becky Albertalli’s newest, Kate in Waiting, because she’s always so good. We are Not Free is a powerful multi-perspective novel about the Japanese internment by Traci Chee. Dragon Hoops by Gene Luen Yang is a great graphic novel—and I don’t even like basketball! Oh! And Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo looks super interesting.
For middle grade—Pie in the Sky, by Remy Lai, is a beautiful illustrated novel about a kid who moves to Australia from Indonesia who has a complicated relationship to cake, and The Prince and the Dressmaker is a great graphic novel that introduces the idea of transgender life in a sweet fairy tale.
You can find James on Twitter, Instagram, and his website.
