We chat with Steven Salvatore about their latest release, No Perfect Places, which follows twins whose incarcerated father dies and leaves behind a life-changing secret.
Hi, Steven! Welcome back! We last spoke with you in 2021 for your debut Can’t Take That Away! How has the past two years been for you?
Oh my god it’s so nice to be back! The last two years have been pretty intense. A bit of a whirlwind, if I’m honest, full of lots of highs and some unexpected personal lows, but I’m still here and writing. If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from the last two years is that I still have so many stories left to tell. There’s a lot brewing right now, which makes it easier to breathe through the struggles.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve always loved storytelling in some form. The story I tell the most is that when I was six or so, I would write The Lion King fanfiction on stationary I found around the house because I needed to know what happened to my favorite characters after the end of that movie. I did similar writing for years as a kid. Everything I did was always about storytelling. I used to sketch my own “animated” characters and write backstories for them. I would videotape everything with my camcorder as a teen. I used to make my younger sister dress up in cute costumes and perform our favorite songs for the family on vacations. I just wanted to showcase my voice to the world in some form.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First book I remember reading is Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! By Dr. Seuss, and the lesson within about how everything has a ripple effect, unintended or otherwise, still has an impact on my life. The book that made me want to become an author was probably David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. Or Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. Or Naked by David Sedaris. I can’t decide, which is on brand for me, but those three stick out the most in my mind. A book I can’t stop thinking about will forever be Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue and I make zero apologies about it.
Your latest novel, No Perfect Places, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Messy, raw, emotional, moody, imperfect.
What can readers expect?
Messy characters experience complicated emotions and trying their best to navigate impossible situations where the people they love the most constantly let them down. If you like family dramas like Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun about the fracturing of a sibling relationship, you’ll love No Perfect Places!
Where did the inspiration for No Perfect Places come from?
To preface what I’ll say, being able to write fiction has been incredibly therapeutic for me. I love being able to make up stories and explore real, raw emotions in a hyper-fictionalized sense, especially in the contemporary genre. To that end, as a child of parental incarceration, I really wanted to explore what it’s like to grieve what was while navigating what is. I had so many complicated feelings while I experienced what I went through—sympathy, empathy, sadness, depression, anxiety, anger, rage. Sometimes I was numb. Sometimes I forced myself to not think about the reality of what my family was going through. But mostly, I was trying to navigate my own role in the absence of my father, and how my own actions impacted those around me. Outside of that, I really wanted to explore a relationship between siblings because there are so few sibling-centered stories in young adult, which is wild to me.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
My favorite was the relationship between Olly, one of the main characters, and his boyfriend Khalid. I wanted to write a stable gay relationship with zero drama: They’re together from the start of the book, and the drama and tension and conflict in the story does not stem from their relationship at all, beyond the typical, “What happens to us once college starts?” type of stuff. I love Khalid, and I love how he loves Olly.
What do you hope readers take away from No Perfect Places?
That sometimes we all get lost, we all make mistakes, but you are not the mistakes you make; it’s what you do with what you’ve learned that really matters. Nobody is perfect, life is messy, and sometimes you just have to fumble your way through until you figure it out.
With this being your third published novel, what are some of the key lessons you have learned when it comes to writing and the publishing world?
I would say “patience is key,” but I am the opposite of a patient person in practice, and I have control issues. But in publishing, everything moves at a glacial pace and everything is out of your control EXCEPT the words on the page. So I’ve learned to keep my head down and write what I love, and then put it out there and see what happens. Once it’s out there, whether it’s an idea I send to my agent, or a manuscript my editor is considering, or something brand new that goes out on a wide submission, I have zero control over what happens next. I’m still making peace with that, and sometimes it becomes frustrating and I have to fight the urge to become despondent, which is when my agent steps in, gives me the pep talk of the century, and lifts me back up. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve learned to be hopeful and sit with my impatience. Plus, it’s so damn cool going into bookstores and seeing my work on the shelves. It’s what I’ve always dreamed, come true, but to quote my favorite 90s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, “Dreams come true, not free.”
What’s next for you?
I have some potential young adult books in the works, so cross fingers! I do have a two-book adult romance deal, the first book of which, titled The Boyfriend Subscription, which is a very gay retelling of Pretty Woman with a financial flip where the sex worker has all the money and power, and that is scheduled for March 2024 from a new line at Harlequin!
Lastly, are there any 2023 book releases our readers should look out for?
SO MANY! James Acker’s The Long Run; Nicolas DiDomizio’s The Gay Best Friend; Abdi Nazemian’s Only This Beautiful Moment; Daniel Aleman’s Brighter Than the Sun; Erik J. Brown’s Lose You to Find Me; TJ Klune’s In the Lives of Puppets. I could go on and on especially because queer books are experiencing quite the renaissance right now!
