The Nerd Daily had the pleasure of sitting down with Kacen Callender, whose magnificent YA novel Felix Ever After released on May 5th 2020. We got to ask Kacen all our questions surrounding art, identity and, of course, books!
Hi, Kacen! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us. Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Thanks so much for having me! And sure, I’m originally from St. Thomas of the USVI and moved to New York when I was eighteen. I currently live in Philly where I spend a lot of time playing RPG games and watching way too much reality TV. I use they/them pronouns and sometimes he/him pronouns.
Now, coming to Felix Ever After. What was your writing process like for this book? Did it differ from your previously released novels?
Felix was different because it was a second book already under contract, so I felt a lot of freedom writing the book of my dreams instead of being bogged down by fear of the manuscript not selling to a publisher. I think that because I didn’t have to worry about whether it would sell or not, I had a lot of fun writing this one, and instead of meticulously trying to outline every scene like I normally would, I had an ongoing list of scenes I knew I’d enjoy writing (along with some scenes that wouldn’t be as fun because they’d be emotionally challenging, but were still needed).
You tackle a lot of important topics in Felix Ever After but what I loved most were the discussions of gender and sexual identity and how we sometimes feel boxed in by labels, believing we have to ‘stick’ to one whereas in reality, it’s constantly changing for a lot of individuals. Can you talk a bit about your thoughts on the subject?
This is a topic that hits home for me, because like Felix, I initially came out as one label and then began to question my identity after I’d begun transitioning. I thought that I was nonbinary, but there were days when I would feel more like a binary guy. I eventually landed on the label of demiboy, also like Felix, but I did want to make the point that it’s okay to also go on questioning, or like Ezra, to decide labels just aren’t important for you. Questioning sexuality and gender identity caused me a lot of stress when I was younger, and I don’t think this necessarily has to be the case for everyone. It’s okay to not have an answer.
With International Transgender Day of Visibility just a few weeks ago, are there any #ownvoices books that you could recommend readers who loved Felix Ever After?
Yes! I love Mason Deaver’s I Wish You All the Best, Anna-Marie McLemore and CB Lee’s work, and there are so many books I’m ridiculously excited for, including Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve, May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor and more.
Felix paints self-portraits during the narrative (and spoiler alert: the cover is one of his favorites). They are fierce and vulnerable and described so vividly! How did the cover come to pass? Did you have some say in determining what it would look like?
Thank you! I knew that I wanted the cover to feature a self-portrait of Felix to put a Black, trans, queer protagonist front and center, wearing a flower crown as a nod to one of Marsha P. Johnson’s most iconic photos. But, that was the extent of my influence! I can’t take much credit. The publisher found the amazing illustrator Alex Cabal, and the cover was designed by Chris Kwon.
Your most recent release was King and the Dragonflies – do you think King and Felix would get along?
Haha, great question! Yes, I think they would. King would probably be a little shy and intimidated by Felix at first, and Felix might be a little unsure of how to handle a quiet but powerful kid younger than him, but they’d definitely get along eventually.
The way Felix Ever After was written felt very cinematic – I could picture the characters and places so easily! If Felix got the movie treatment, who would you love to portray Felix and Ezra?
Thank you! The narrator for the audiobook edition is actually a young actor himself, and I think he weirdly looks a lot like the Felix I was imagining, so I would definitely say Logan Rozos at Felix!
And for Ezra, I think Karan Brar would be perfect.
Felix Ever After is very much a story about love and loving yourself. The world is in a bit of an uproar at the moment so could you share some self-love tips on how to put yourself first in these times?
Everyone’s different, but I personally love jamming out to Lizzo, especially her song “Soulmate”—just to remind myself that I love myself, and am worthy of love and respect from myself first and foremost, and from everyone else in the world around me, too.
I remind myself that any and every feeling I have right now is valid. It’s valid to be frustrated and anxious and worried about the future. Trying to suppress those feelings only makes it worst. I don’t shame myself for doing absolutely nothing several days in a row. I force myself to take days off.
I’m also putting time into therapy (virtually!) and continuing to learn more about myself and my own growth.
You mentioned on Twitter that you are currently working on four books at the same time – how do you manage to juggle so many different projects while also promoting your releases? And are there a few tidbits you can share about those projects?
I jump around from project to project pretty naturally. I guess a good metaphor would be bingeing several TV shows at once. When I’m stuck or frustrated with one project, or if I feel more excited about one book one particular day, I jump to another manuscript. It’s easy to do now because I only have one book under contract, so I’m not tied down by multiple deadlines.
And sure! I recently posted this “WIPs in 5 words” tweet:
queer polyam gods vs. godhunter
bodyguard betrays his LI prince
nonbinary MC discovers parallel universe
actors forced to fake relationship
gods’ champions fight to death
As for promotion, I make sure to schedule time in the day to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
And on that note, with Felix Ever After releasing in May, what’s next for you?
The sequel to Queen of the Conquered, King of the Rising, will be coming out in December of this year!
The Nerd Daily is starting a Book Club and Felix Ever After is our first read! Do you have any discussion questions for it that you would like us to add to the mix?
Thank you for choosing Felix! Since the theme is self-love, I’d love for you to start out by naming at least one thing you all love about yourselves.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Definitely! The sequel to Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Darius the Great Deserves Better, is coming out later this year in August. Adib Khorram is such a thoughtful writer, and the sequel really tugged at my heart in a beautiful, moving way. I also love Rahul Kanakia’s We Are Totally Normal, which perfectly portrays what it’s like to question your identity in a really raw, honest, vulnerable way. Both are so beautiful!
