Note: We do not truly believe Last Boy on Earth can be spoiled. But if you, dearest traveller, wish to avoid story particulars, read on with caution!

Q: What is Illyrial?
A: Illyrial is the transformative island of Shakespeare’s imagination, from The Tempest and Twelfth Night, the shipwreck magnet and a site for transformation and beauty and foolishness.

Q: Where is Illyrial?
A: I do not know. Many leagues under the sea.

Q: Is it inspired by Shakespeare’s Illyria?
A: Yes. Inspired by– NOT a retelling. Books are inspired by many, many things.

Q: Is your book about resisting…?
A:If you wanted a narrative about resist/re-act (and the complications of making that a binary narrative) maybe Infernas is better for you– the epic poem chronicling the rise of modern Western Fascism and comparing it to Historical Italian Fascism and classical modes of literary resistance and homoerotic epics. It has had a home at this press for a little bit now. LBOE is a book that takes a note from dialectics of love and oral storytelling (both first nations/Shakespearean– based, of course, on the very real and lived experiences of the drama work our dedicated and talented theatre group participates in.)

If you want easy and easily churned out narratives about resist/re-act dynamics that have flooded the market today and bore us, the same way narratives about “living under capitalism” should clearly excuse our actions and tie our hands from helping others – try someone who loves money more than stories aka not us. I do not wish to recreate the language of oppressors. I never do and never will!

Q: Why do you say it is Julian’s narrative?
A: Each book I had planned for this idea revolved around a specific character–hence, the first one! The first book is Julian’s because in the highly publishable, commercial version of The Last Boy on Earth, he would be a supporting player at best. And because it is his narrative, he shows up a chapter too late and then…includes everyone to come with him!

Q: Does what Julian and Vern do in the above…?
A: Covers. Like 16th Century spy and counter-spy Globe type covers. Because poetry doesn’t exist in The Above; and so, poets cannot either. The Above banned poetry. But, I also did (and do) want readers to think about that critically; what does it mean to have a world with no poets?

Q: What’s up with the pronouns?
A: Pronouns are ostensibly modeled after Anne Leckie’s Ancillary series, where a single pronoun set is more or less universal as a cultural convention. However, versus the Roman future of the Ancillary series, which is militarized, utilitarian and honour-driven to a fault, I use a nurturing and loving environment instead; focus on an identity label versus lived experience causes a lot of modern bigotry and hatred in spaces where it should not. Additionally, this is a translation of a fantasy world–who knows if it is all just an approximation. 

There are people in this world who are too in love with labels instead of each other. This book is not for you. Investigating which characters are what and how you should read them is an ugly practice that needs to die screaming. Hope that clarifies everything. 

Q: Is there a ship name for the central romance?
A: The main group of lovers is referred to (by me) as The Illyrian Quartet; conveniently, that is also the name of the series. IF you tag your fics and ships with that it will be so helpful to us—and the princes of Illyrial, which would certainly not want you to limit it to those four alone :’)

Q: Is there a ship name for the central romance?
A: Physically, that is also The Clarel. It is Adrian’s ship that sails under the sea! It has sails like flower petals and lanterns made of magical fire.

Q: Is Illyrial’s society monogamous or polyamorous?
A: Technically neither, although there is no modern monogamous reading of this book that is correct. It would be an act of violence. It is a label-less society that is closer to classical conceptions of queerness, but has no true earthly rendering. Like many modern concepts oriented and churned out to conform to a hashtag, we can only hope you approximate correctly, but do not appropriate the language of this queer little boykingdom. 

Q: Is this a utopia?
A: Maybe. Maybe it is about a colloquial paradise where nothing happens but art and love; or rather that, everything happens through the lens of it. For those who wish for a more violence filled and action packed adventure there are many streaming services to glut yourself on. Those who may not experience a direct background of government violence related to your own existence may not get that not all of us wish to re-live a nightmare each time we pick up a book–or worse, fetishize it. 

Q: So is this a story about violence?
A: Peace movements are often reviled even when they don’t hurt anyone and generally want the best. They are also complicated as they do not fit neatly into one category (for example could a peace movement be categorized as solely political or radical joy or—you get the idea, it’s about going beyond easy, digestible ideas.) Idealism without compromise is often met with criticism and ridicule. They also tend to fall outside of the neat binary of queer political and queer joy— Notice how there are sections of the book that seem to not give power over to something horrible that might have happened prior to the events of this book (whatever was going on in The above) or some pivotal scenes including but not limited to; the trading party at the border between The Above and The Shallows; the rich who are there to party are oblivious that there is a literal detention centre where creatures are being held and sold off. 

Would it be true to the story or Illyrial’s customs to focus on fighting or violence in that manner? No, it would not.

Q: What was chapter eighteen??
A: A mystery and a riddle. But if you do not get it— it is fine with me. Just know there is no Illyrial without it.

Q: And the ORGY???????
A: Yup, couldn’t get there without. Load-bearing orgy.

Q: (SPOILERS) Eric never sleeps with Vern and Adrian?
A: No, because, admittedly, he does not know how to. If you remember in [interview here] it is a world that is devoid of Poetry and Love. I think the threat of whatever is there, is there, obviously—but just…no. Also, neither Adrian nor Vern are interested so it is never consensual either. The Above has a lot of weird customs— and I think Eric, like The Above, knows of sex but not love–and so has a huge block around having it. 

Q: Why is The Above like that?
A: Because it is a world where censorship took over and books were thrown into the sea– pieces of ash in the glittering rain of a planet too few cared about. And where would all those old, beautiful words go? They would quite literally go into the abyss of the sea with creatures the world also did not want.

The censoring of books and bodies…are not that different. 

Q: Are your characters cis, trans, or non-binary?
A: It is a society that does not use those words. I really think a book [or any narrative] where you focus on the characters’ genitals and/or gender and try to build a personality from there on up and then generalize is fetishistic and immoral. Even with the best intentions!

Q: There is no concept of family in Illyrial. Why?
A: There is no concept of a normative anything. And thank goodness for that.

Q: Why are boys referred to as boys? 
A: I mean, why not? In today’s society, there’s a pervasive double-myth that even queer men don’t need to be in queer spaces because they’re men thanks to bio-essentialism and radical feminism. then people start fighting about whether cis men or transgender men or nonbinary men or intersex men have it worse there. Think of the children and women! Cries a heteronormative society…but to be honest, so does a queer one. Queer men can be outcasted in a lot of these spaces and once more become the ‘dirty’ scapegoat for both who they are and who they love. Who has it worse? Is a question only asked by tone-deaf people. People all around the world, regardless of lifestyle or politics or whatever, are so angry that they cannot stomach the sight of someone with a different way of life than them, let alone a label. Admit you need help more than someone else or someone else clearly needs more help than you? Then you cannot play the privilege game anymore. So obviously, all those people who think it’s so great to keep talking over you, will…without ever offering any real help or form of community. Because it is easier to invent a new monster in the helpless ones then realize each day is only worth as much as we put into it. 

Also, Shakespeare was terribly subversive and is all the time. People on all political leanings and with all sorts of terrible agendas use whatever words they can to erase that; Shakespeare was an old fag who worked with brilliant, multiplicitous and universally queer boys. There is always so much possibility in not forgetting the bodies and minds and hearts that went into performing their work historically.

Q: How is this work informed by queer forebears like Mary Renault?
A: It is not hard (sadly) to imagine a world where identity is meaningless to camaraderie, where solidarity and community are words that only exist in the form of people clinging to each other out of fear and desperation while not liking anyone because they feel lost amidst a warring world…oh wait. 

Renault, while consistently writing about classical and queer societies and was a brilliant writer did not live near the epicentre of a capitalist hub and had to  move three or four different countries to find a community that accepted them and their partner; to me that is a gentle reminder that the world is not something we should talk about in simple binaries and it is only our own actions and words which change anything–if mine focus on love, so what?

Q: Is it a monstrous society?
A: It is a society where creature-human is not a hybrid but a totally blended, holistic concept. Monstrous too, I guess. Magical, I guess. I guess they are all a bit of everything outside the restrictive binary of The Above– which means monstrous and human and creature do not have the same meanings (notice how a character observes this in relation to The Above, and then never brings it up again? Maybe it just isn’t relevant!)

Q: How does ruling a boykingdom work? Can it be a paradise if there is a ruler?
A: The rulers are, in a topsyturvy way, because they are very young— very knowledgeable and with open-hearts. Think how in the original Twelfth Night, Orsino keeps Cesario around because he knows music and he has wit. The wily eunuch/grand vizier is a trope for a reason, that kind of intellectual companion seems to transcend culture. The ascension to the throne is also a type of bildungsroman informed by Mark Twain’s Anglophilia. Everyone is free to go and come as they please—Julian and Vern both frequently leave as well–perhaps it is more about a sense of being somewhere for a time, perhaps that place without borders around land or hearts…it is more like the land cannot be separated from the Illyrian quartet and its twin princes. They’re inextricable from it even if they can leave and explore.

Q: What genre is this book? Why don’t you like the approximation system used to explore books today?
A: I am writing compositions of the air, mostly. Music that returns to a page…eventually. I am also always writing poetry and literary fiction—a genre that is treated awful as of late– it also does not mean something that is literary fiction cannot be genre and vice versa. 

Books are now approximated for pages upon pages as “if you like this, try this” its an algorithm system that’s driven into the market. It’s not good for reading. It’s not good for thinking deeply and critically and creatively. It’s good for money and robots–not creatives!

Q: But surely, the people who are successful with all those followers from nothing, those earnest reviews through various social media platforms?
A: Money, industry plants, wealth of all different kinds. I do not know what to say. Those are the wealthy in something too, even if they claim they are not!

Q: Finally, you don’t post a lot of writing, but it is clear there is a lot of writing going on and art– is that purposeful?
A: Sadly, the rise of AI means that me and others I work with are becoming cautious about what we can post–if a machine eats our writing/image…what kind of integrity is that as an artist? If you have a better idea how to get this book into more hands, let us know. I know we had some spectacularly fun videos planned that we are rethinking because well…esh, the digital world is a mess! I am happy to be a writer at a press where someone else is the editor in chief. I really do not have the wherewithal physically or work-load wise to be online all the time. I do not know a lot of people in my field who do. 

Q: So, does that mean you are an old curmudgeon who—
A: I am young! Come check out our socials, emails, hand-written letters, etc., I love to discuss writing, music, nature, anything really. I love to answer questions about what I write (even fun and silly ones, especially those– I even have characters’ favorite bubble teas and pizza slices scribbled down!) 

That being said, I also love reading books and finding ways to make opportunities for people as stuck to the arts as myself. So if you are ever like oh my god I don’t know who will read this or who wants someone who acts or juggles or paints gothic stained glass murals all day long— I am so excited to have those conversations. They are about art and doing what you love. And at the end of the day, that’s all you can really hope goes into this world we make for one another; big big big artlove— if I had my way, that would go on forever.  

Q: Why do characters have no last names?
A: Because this is a society that does not need them. This was a VERY deliberate choice. 

Ex:   ___ of Illyrial, giving characters no concept of heterosexual/nuclear family units nor borders/arbitrary restrictions of passports while belonging. They pass through other places that do as a title, suffix, origin, and/or last name.

Ex: Thomas of Illyrial once lived in a fortress where there was only fighting. He was betrothed to a boy he never touched Thomas is a baker now, and has 76 boyfriends. 

Ex: Batiste of Illyrial is a courtly and daring dressmaker. He once lived in a kingdom that has crumbled to sand. He spent several years in a tiny cargo ship, hiding. He does not wish to share that. His whole life is in Illyrial. 

Ex: Adrian of Illyrial is one of the ruling Prince’s favourites. He is not a sickly outcast from the Guyot, where fire was first invented. He trades in The Shallows on tenuous terms. He is his own creature. 

Ex: Julian of Illyrial rules in delicacy and dreaminess. Do not ask of his dreams– they are delicate, too. 

No one of Illyrial has any status in The Above, and in The Shallows The Princes are worse than commoners in how they are treated because their bodies are commodities only. Adrian disguises himself well, and truthfully I do not think Dimitri has been around The Shallows long enough to understand them well. 

Q: Why do you refer to the four main characters as The Illyrian Quartet?
A: It is lovely for them to have a name, but there should mean something I often thought while writing this. 

So, because Illyrial is a world of music (“if music be the food of love, play on…”) and I come from a music background (and want to share music from this world one day with others) it seems to make sense. 

There’s also ways in which characters interact where it is fitting, and is so in future books. 

Are the four main characters together?

Yes, absolutely. And not exclusively, either. 

Q: Then why no double wedding like in Twelfth Night?
A: Much like Twelfth Night there IS a double wedding (triple depending who you ask), just not in the way readers expect. Instead of it being Adrian/Julian and Vern/Dimitri or Adrian/Dimitri and Julian/Vern* it becomes about allowing all of their appetites and desires to be free in Illyrial and have no restrictions as is true to the land they will be living in. 

Julian, if anything, is betrothed to his kingdom. 

And Vern, to the stars…

And so, each are allowed their freedom forever. 

*Author accepts subversive interpretations of this one though. 

Q: What is life like in Illyrial?
A: Peaceful, artistic, thriving. 

Adrian, when not sailing, acts as a plumber and a furniture builder-– a fix-it sort of man 

Julian is always looking for ways of knowledge (hence, his love of the library) to help his people, and anyone who wanders in. Julian and the rest of the Quartet regularly discuss events, aid, rose-gardening, and planning– so many ways to make Illyrial a bit kinder and more amorous each day.  

Vern loves public relations. Foreign relations and funding, too. And he is great at them! He is the true extrovert to Julian’s introvert. 

Dimitri thrives in public infrastructure and urban planning/city mapping. To make sure no one gets lost from their hearts home is no small task.  

People in any form of title kind of function as only there to help. In other societies maybe it would be considered the lowest of jobs, or some of? But then again, Illyrial is a tiny, magical collection of shells. 

Palaces to Illyrians are not recognizable to human greed.

Q: What is going on with The Shell Bed?
A: Giant squid wishes for pearl. Playwright wishes for boyplayers, or something like that. 

The pearls are the boys. 

The outer layers represent the rough intrigue of Adrian and Dimitri. 

They form their own creation. 

Make of that what you will! 

On another note, maybe a little shakesqueer essentially, a working critical theory we have here is as follows: playwrights cannot do what boyplayers do– a playwright is not the sole author of a Shakespearean work, but rather the queer and multiplicitous bodies of young and diverse actors who embody and live out these experiences. Studying that phenomena and using phenomena as a weaving theory (i.e. a term here that is a thread to connect all other forms of theory) makes it possible to see that connection. 

Creation is not done in a vacuum, but it is also super strange and transgressive and totally queer. People are afraid to imagine a queer Shakespeare because it destabilizes images of heterosexual families and creation; one needs to be fearless to study, research, and create the idea of a queer society that might come about from these non-family/non-heterosexual relations not in spite of but as necessity to make long-lasting, undefinable, and beautiful plays for stage. 

Q: Why is the land/nature and elements so important in/to Illyrial?
A: This is a long, complex, and rich history to this. One everyone here loves talking about. It also kinda just… bubbles up to this:

Say yes to the eco-tender and  indigi-queer narratives of the world more often,  to all the different and diverse voices yes, but also don’t forget:

Every culture has a strong language of the land no matter what, it is not about pitting everyone against one another but bringing them together. 

The phenomena of our lives and our art, our loves and our natural world, is so vital and yet…it is a thing beyond words. In this world long past our own that draws heavily on Twelfth Night (Shakespeare plays are not only always focused on the elemental but they are all quite nearly forces of nature themselves…) that is honoured and explored in a way that centers and prioritizes a multiplicity of experiences.  

Everything we are is in wind and air, fire and water— to say I am making characters that are crossing some line between human and creature is rudimentary. Each are purely elemental. Each are well and truly of the earth. 

Q: What happened to books in The Above?
A: Various political movements banned books. 

So the remains of the books became ash, turned into rain and the weird hybrid monstrous creatures that live in the sea retain it now in praxis, but practice, in living… 

Q: Is this why Adrian is seen as pirating aka because he is collecting illicit materials to make, preserve and keep books?
A: Books. Paintings, too. Other materials I cannot talk about for it may be too big of a spoiler. 

Yes, more or less. Adrian is just a bit of a bad boy with a heart of pearl. 

Q: I like the cover for Last Boy On Earth – BUT is it true you are looking for a house artist?
A: I enjoy the current cover, but it is not my first pick. I want to do a special edition with the painting that inspired it one day. A limited run. I am also hoping to lecture on the art history connection of the painting/book soon. Very excited!

And then yes, the head of the press (and myself, too) are always looking for house artists or artists we really connect with. It is an organic process and never one to rush. 

Q: So…they are all boys?
A: Anne Rice once sagely quoted playboy with the following. This is one of the many winds or waves my art begins at. Think of me as a tiny gust expanding, exploring upwards from here. For Rice, characters “have a polymorphous sexuality. They see everything as beautiful.” A lot of people focused on the sexuality part, and not the ‘seeing everything as beautiful’ – I am in the latter. 

We also currently have a terrible climate in the real world on boys. Everyone wants men to disappear for a different reason– does not matter if they are marginalized in any way– it makes them a scape-goat. It is also the rhetoric of eugenics that is grafted directly marginalized bodies in favour of a straw-man. 

So yes, in the same way Moby-Dick or The Vampire Lestat, these are wild, monstrous creatures. These are lovely artistic boys. Their lives are high melodrama! And we are an audience amongst the stars. 

*More Questions, but Spoilers below, steer with care*

Q: Will there be other books?
A: Absolutely. At the time of writing this it is not about this being wildly popular but getting it made and finding people who enjoy this type of thing. It is a very project I am thrilled to work on when I have time, or when I am called back there. There is a fearsome kingdom called Vinesdam that is influenced by Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon and another called Snideshead that takes all the Jane Austen and Samuel Richardson whimsy from my school days and turns it on its head in the best day. There is also lots of magical ink…but more on that later. 

Q: Chapter eighteen  what is it about? (Spoilers)
A: This is a chapter about non-human characters who are stuck in a detention centre being denied access to their home. The shift in emphasis is purposeful. Rather than it being a scene about torture or queer joy (bleh) it becomes about the tenderness of discovery, the sensuality of possibility. This is an antiquities inspired eco-gothic in many ways, in other ways, it is poetry and music. It is about exploration, understanding, and love. 

(…And yes, when I say ‘there would be no Illyrial without this chapter’ it means a few things! :’))

Q: What is going on with the sword language? (Spoilers)
A: Many of those who work on these sea-worn pages fence professionally and study the blade. Rather than separating queer identities into some weird dichotomy, we made it about stage-craft and tenderness. 

For too many years bigots have cherished reading the sword fight at the end of 12th night as the sign of legitimacy through genitalia. I wanted to turn it into a powerful metaphor about transgender and intersex bodies * Instead, it’s about the two twin’s choice (and their favourite hobbies) and how they influence one another through their shared love of the kingdom, to ultimately find a way to stop one of the characters from hurting them. 

Elements feature heavily in this work— and a bit of that really alchemizes what the characters do and are about when they come together. Working together as lovers is more important than anything. 

* No one in the book is cisgender or of any one ‘origin’ because everyone is mixed. 

Q: Does that mean classic literature is wild and we should be reading more of it?
A: I will be honest, there are sexier books than this, smuttier ones that are just as well written and some that are not currently. And historically, of course, too! Sensuality, intimacy, and sex in literature is by no means a modern invention. As long as there have been ways to write down our desires, there has been ‘smut’ to read. That the published word is more reserved is an accident of shame more than a commentary on the reserve of past eras.

My work is based on years of classics and antiquity studies, gothic studies, too, and a ton of stage-work.  Interpret that as you will, but my answer is… we certainly should! Classic literature is wonderful. Books should be complicated and interesting and original to read. They should take readers on journeys with no easy answers and leave us knowing even less than we thought when we close the pages, but learning, thinking, and feeling so much more than before. 

Shakespeare and many other classic authors deserve to be remembered for their queerness and the young people who made the Shakespeare stage should not be excluded from his life because people think that there is any true artistic power in trying to position his domestic, heterosexual life as more important. 

Books are for everyone. Let everyone read as they wish. 

In university I had the privilege of being around people who believed they truly knew everything and felt nothing at all. They fought over who was more/less privileged each day in linguistic taxonomies in endless circles yet cared little for the students that made almost nothing and did all the ‘laundry work’ for their classes. Words lost meaning to them, as words do on social media platforms and in over circulation. 

But Illyrial is not like that.

Q: So…is this book about artistic liberty, peace movements, and freedom?
A: It is an expression of all of those things and more. It is inspired by the ways the free love movement disavowed borders just as surely as they declared allegiance to their own desires and those of others. While it is called a kingdom, Illyrial is kingless and its princes do not rule so much as embody the wants of those who live around their palace. With love as a guiding force, the Illyrians are part of a terrestrial tradition of unestablished outsiders, but protective of all they love and all they could love. Even as visitors, it can be possible to take on Illyrian characteristics and to hold it in one’s heart. It is not a secret, but it is a tightly held hope.

Q: Is it true there is music hiding in this book?
A: Oh yes. And I think of the currents of the narrative as ‘movements’ rather than hiding. Every living thing has music within it. 

The stop and start nature of some of this is influenced by music BUT also the rhythmic (and physical) placements of the original play. Staying true to that was SO important. 

Now, if you ever hear an aria from Illyrial, I am sure it will be bubbly and beautiful and bold. Utterly exquisite!