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Interview with “everafter” co-authors Nell Stark and Trinity Tam

Let’s face it, vampires are made of cool. Possessing super-human strength, irresistible seductive powers and a jaded worldliness that only comes from immortality, vampires got it going on. From Anne Rice’s epic The Vampire Chronicles, to camp-cum-cultural legend, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to teen treacle, Twilight, the mutability of vampire mythology offers something for everyone.

And no one loves vampire mythology more than lesbians. What else feeds our obsession with relationships that last forever, allows us to fantasize about a sexual abandon we wouldn’t dare in real life, and for some of us, indulges our love of black leather and staying out all night?

Trinity Tam, co-author of everafter, the new lesbian vampire novel from Bold Strokes Books, understands the appeal: “Dark, brooding, tortured, possessive, dangerous — [these] are elements that are kind of hot in a chick.”

Trinity Tam is actually Jane Chen, producer of the award-winning, offbeat 2005 film, Red Doors. With veteran lesbian romance writer, Nell Stark, Chen makes her fiction debut with everafter, the tale of a lesbian vampire, her mortal lover and their fight to stay together against all odds. From publisher, Bold Strokes Books:

“When medical student Valentine Darrow is bitten by a Vampire on her way home to propose to her lover, Alexa Newland, her life becomes a nightmare. She is consumed – both by a craving for human blood, and by an obsession to find her attacker and bring him to justice. Alexa is determined to be everything that Valentine needs, but when Val’s appetite outstrips Alexa’s ability to nourish her, Alexa risks her life to save her lover.”
Far less harrowing is Stark and Tam’s relationship – in addition to being writing partners, they are a happy couple. AfterEllen.com talked to Nell and Trinity about how they came to write their first novel together, the autobiographical nature of its story, and who would win in a fight: a werewolf or an angry feminist?

AfterEllen.com: How did you come to collaborate on everafter? Trinity Tam: The idea came to me one day and I posed it to Nell as a hypothetical premise: “What if you were a vampire and I was the only thing preventing you from losing your soul?”

Nell Stark: Trin wondered what our relationship would be like if I were a vampire. Nice of her, huh? By the end of the conversation, we had the premise for everafter.

TT: Nell encouraged me to write it and when I balked, she offered to co-author it with me. It never would have gotten done if we didn’t collaborate. NS: Trin had only written short fiction and screenplays up until that point, so I promised to lend her my novel-writing experience.

AE: It’s a good thing the question wasn’t, “What if you were a hot warrior princess and I was your cute little blond side-kick?” I guess that’s a different kind of conversation. TT: How cool would it have been if we could’ve claimed that the premise to our novel was a naughty pickup line? I was an [X-Files fan fiction] Scully Slash writer, so it would have gone more like, “What if you were a hot FBI agent and I was the bug-eyed alien that abducted you?”

AE: Well, lesbian vampires are sexier than bug-eyed aliens, so thanks for going with the vampire question. In everafter, the first half of the book is told from vampire Valentine’s perspective and then switches to her lover, Alexa’s voice. Did you each write your own section? NS: The original plan was for me to write Valentine and for Trin to write Alexa. Trin is an amazing conceptual thinker – most of our plot points originate with her, and I help to refine them during our conversations. My strong suit, on the other hand, is cranking out 500-1000 words per night. We’re complements in that way. I write significantly faster, so I also wrote the second half of Alexa’s section.

AE: So, you were writing simultaneously? NS:Indeed we did. As soon as one of us finished a chapter, she would show it to the other. It felt like Christmas!

AE: Did you ever disagree about what or how the other one was writing? TT: You know, the writing process was really smooth. I think the biggest debate we had was over how powerful the vampires and werewolves would be in our universe. Nell wanted the vamps to be really badass and I wanted them to be very human. We ended up compromising and I think the end result is an interesting blend of power and vulnerability.

AE: You’re not just writing partners, you’re also a couple. How did you meet? TT: We met in Azeroth. Just another pair of cross-server lovers. She was a wholesome human paladin from the farmlands around Stormwind. I was a scoliotic undead mage from the gutters of Undercity. It was love at first sight.

AE: I have no idea what you just said. But I love that you used the word “scoliotic.” TT:That was a World of Warcraft reference; I was letting my geek flag fly.

AE: Nell, why is she messing with me? NS:Because she likes to flaunt her geek cred. Our romance did indeed unfold in the World of Warcraft — questing across Netherstorm together, owning noobs in battlegrounds, virtually making out on the floating islands above Nagrand. AE: You guys are meant for each other. I see that now. NS:Actually, we met through our publisher, Radclyffe, whom Trin has known for many years. When Radclyffe picked up my first novel (Running with the Wind) Trin started ‘net stalking me. After two years of ogling my photos without my realizing it, she finally introduced herself.

TT: “Stalked” and “ogled”? For the record, she posted a short story in response to an author’s Warcraft challenge on Radclyffe’s Yahoo list. I replied with some encouragement because, well, one doesn’t often see Warcraft, lesbians and erotica, all in one place. And I’d seen a picture of Nell from a book signing. Guess I made the mistake of telling her, (after we were together) that I had thought she was cute.

AE: What do you think of the current vampire craze? TT: I think it’s crazy. I’ve seen a Twilight t-shirt for sale that says, “Your scent is like a drug to me.” Who wears that crap?

AE: Um, the progeny of the people who wore “You complete me” t-shirts? TT: Where do I get one [of those]?

NS: [Twilight’s] Edward Cullen is a total creepazoid. And why are none of Stephenie Meyer’s vampires queer? You live forever and you don’t try batting for the other side for a while? Seriously?

AE: Riddle me this. If you were immortal, would you bat for the other side? Ever? NS: [laughs] Had I not already given that a try and found it to be decidedly not my thing, I bet I would. If only out of boredom. Forever may sound romantic, but really, isn’t it bound to get monotonous at some point?

AE: That’s what wigs are for, Nell. Why are lesbians so drawn to vampire mythology? NS: Because vampires suck. And so do lesbians.

AE: [laughs] What are you saying? NS: Color me too literal. I was referring to, you know, sex. Do I need to get more specific?

AE: I like specifics. Maybe later. But yes, lesbians do suck. In the very best way. Trinity? TT: I think the defining characteristics that make vampires so attractive – dark, brooding, tortured, possessive, dangerous — are elements that are kind of hot in a chick. Edward Cullen annoys the hell out of me, but if he were female and a character on The L Word, she’d still be annoying but she’d fit right in. I think a lot of famous male vampires – Lestat, Angel, Spike – would make great L Word cast members.

AE: That’s pure genius. Can you give me a brief character breakdown and arc for each? TT: It would go something like this: Angelique is the new girl who blows into town in her battered, black Mazda RX-7. She’s a loner, prowling the LA club scene like a revenant or vigilante. She’s tormented by a secret past that compels her to search for oblivion in the bottom of a whiskey bottle or in the beds of nameless femmes.

There’s something about the way she looks at Tina that creeps Bette out. Can Bette protect her girlfriend from Angelique’s predatory advances or is she just jealous that she isn’t the object of her attentions? On second thought, I think we should pitch a reboot of The L Word as a vampire series. We could call it The V Word.

AE: And the “V” could stand for a lot of things. While we’re on the subject of titles, why is the book called everafter and not Everafter? TT: Everafter has the connotation of the beginning (of a sentence) or the end; where you go when you die. The book, everafter, is a love story between two women that starts in the middle.

NS: Maybe because I subconsciously giggle when I contemplate e.e. cummings?

TT: Giggling? Oh, her butch card is so revoked. AE: Seriously. Nelly, you’re the author of two previous books. Was writing everafter with a co-author a huge adjustment for you? NS:Co-authoring with Trin has been awesome. I’ve fallen even more deeply in love with her as a result. My writing is better than it has ever been.

AE: How do you think younger lesbian readers differ from older ones? NS: This will certainly be a generalization, but I think that younger lesbian readers tend to be less hung up on categories and labels. The butch/femme dichotomy is not as relevant, for example. I also think that younger readers may be more interested in contemporary coming-out stories than older readers are, since the average age at which people self-identify as queer has been dropping.

AE: They’ve been predicting the death of publishing for forever. Where does that leave smaller lesbian imprints? NS: Publishing won’t die, but it will apotheosize in reaction to new technologies. Smaller imprints, whether queer or not, have the potential to pave the way in this transformation. If they don’t, they’ll need to follow the trends or risk going under.

AE: What’s your next book going to be about? Any ideas in the works? NS: Trin and I have had a pretty epic romance thus far. I might adapt that to fiction. Or maybe I’ll write a story I’ve had in my head for years now, about angel-human hybrids.

TT: Oh, but [our] story is just getting to the good part.

AE: Nell, your bio says you like sailing and cooking. What kind of meal can you whip up on a boat? NS: Anything, if you have a nice enough boat! I prefer sailing smaller boats, though, and have traditionally brought along cans of beer and a bag of soon-to-be-sodden kettle corn.

AE: Beer and kettle corn sounds perfect. Can we be more gay? NS: Oh, I hope so. Because I strive every day to become just a little more queer.

AE: Trinity, why did you decide to write under a pen name, and not Jane Chen, your real name? TT: I’ve written in a lot of genres and formats – everything from film scripts to TV pilots, to lesbian fiction, to business journal articles. I wanted to create a singular identity that would be associated with lesbian speculative fiction. That way, someone could pick up a novel by Trinity Tam and have a sense of what they are getting. My day job is in the marketing world so this approach appeals to me.

AE: Do you now go by Trinity in all aspects of your life, except for your day job? TT: Within the publishing world, I’m adjusting to calling myself and responding to Trinity. Nell only calls me Trin online and at book events.

AE: How is Trinity different from Jane? TT: She wears a lot more leather.

AE: Nice. Can we talk about your film, Red Doors? Did you feel the timing – released around the same time as Saving Face – could have been better? And why can’t we have two films starring and by Asians? TT: It could have gone either way. If Saving Face or Better Luck Tomorrow had made closer to $10 million in the box office, we would have had a very different experience in selling our film for distribution. Nobody’s cracked the code yet on how to successfully market an Asian-American film. Hollywood is risk-averse and lemming-like in that way.

AE: Maybe it’s just hard to make money on a “chick flick.” Jackie Chan and Jet Li aren’t Will Smith and Tom Cruise, but they aren’t exactly hurting either. TT: There’s a difference between Asian films and Asian-American films. Jackie Chan and Jet Li may be big stars but Grace Park and John Cho aren’t quite household names yet. Chick flicks should be easier to make profit on because they don’t have huge CGI budgets. Marketed correctly, they can be blockbusters too. Witness: My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

AE: Red Doors had a development deal at CBS. What happened with that? TT: Georgia Lee, Mia Riverton, and I wrote the pilot script and delivered it to CBS in the fall of 2005. We met the CEO of CBS, Les Moonves, at a Christmas party right after we submitted our final draft and he asked us point blank, “Do you think America is ready to watch an Asian-American family on primetime?” We thought so, but we never made it to pilot. The official word we got back was that they loved our writing but there was no place in their procedural-heavy lineup for a family drama. AE: Why are Asians so underrepresented in film and especially, television? I interviewed Margaret Cho and she was adamant it’s racism. TT: Margaret is probably in a better position to know than I am since she’s been working in and around the system much longer. My sense is that Hollywood is run by suits making safe choices rather than visionaries making groundbreaking ones. A few more breakout hits on the magnitude of Slumdog Millionaire and we just might get their attention.

AE: Getting back to the plot of everafter, have either of you had personal experiences choosing between leaving a relationship or staying in the face of life-altering changes? NS:Yes. How did you know to ask this question? Spooky.

TT: This book is quite autobiographical in that way. I had the choice of breaking things off with Nell and maintaining the status quo, or staying, coming out, and affecting my relationships with friends and family. Acknowledging my relationship with Nell officially and openly was the culmination of my coming out process.

AE: When did you come out? TT: I came out to my parents in February after five years worth of self-discovery and soul-searching. I guess I’m a late-bloomer.

NS: And my ex and I drifted apart during the psychological beat-down that is graduate school. We each ended up meeting other people who were better partners for us, given how we’d changed.

AE: Last question. Who would win in fight: A werewolf or an angry lesbian feminist poet? TT: The lesbian feminist poet. The werewolf would devour her but then choke to death on her piercings and the bitter, venomous bile that runs through her veins. In the angry lesbian feminist poet’s world, that’s a win.

NS: Angry lesbian feminist poets are werewolves. Duh.

AE: What does that poetry slam look like? NS: Pretty much like your standard poetry slam, except a bit hairier.

AE: Are you sure about that?

Visit the official website for more information about everafter.

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