Ask the Author: Brian Katcher
Answered Questions (19)
Brian Katcher
No, I just hate the concept. LGBTQ people should not be made to feel ashamed of who they are.
Brian Katcher
Only every day of my life. Unfortunately, Hollywood is too busy making movies like 'Dumb and Dumber 2' or films where animals play human sports. You don't happen to have Spielberg's number, do you?
Brian Katcher
Hi, and thanks for asking! Since my last novel came out in 2017, I've completed five new works. Unfortunately, none of them are under contract at the moment. My agent, Mandy Hubbard, is working to find a home for them.
IT'S COMPLICATED: Gordon, a lonely, disabled teen, is surprised when a strange girl announces that she is is girlfriend and drags him out of his comfort zone. But who is she and why does she refuse to tell him anything about herself, including her real name?
FOUR WAY STOP: There are two power couples in Eisenhower High: Gideon, the basketball star, is dating Eleanor, the class president. Hogan, the talented actor, is dating Shana, the future valedictorian. But things are not as they seem. The actual couples are Gideon and Hogan; Eleanor and Shana. Unable to come out for various reasons, the four kids are all covering for each other. But it's a house of cards, and one slip up will bring the whole thing down.
BECOMING: Shannon, an awkward boy, wins a chance to appear in a reality TV show where he'll spend the summer working his his celebrity crush. Unfortunately, the young producer thought Shannon was a girl. The two concoct a plan to pass Shannon off as a female, in a 'Tootsie' story for teens.
VIVAN LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas, Utah, is a dying desert community. Four teens attempt to draw in tourist money by spreading outlandish stories about the town: there's lost treasure out in the desert, there are repeated ghost and UFO sightings, and that celebrities secretly vacation there to get away from it all. Their plan succeeds a little too well. When a developer announces plans to turn Las Vegas into a high-end gated community, the kids must find a way to kill the monster they've created.
MARLEY'S GHOST: When their uncle dies in a freak accident, two sheltered cousins travel from Maine to South Carolina to find out what mysterious thing Uncle Marley buried down there.
IT'S COMPLICATED: Gordon, a lonely, disabled teen, is surprised when a strange girl announces that she is is girlfriend and drags him out of his comfort zone. But who is she and why does she refuse to tell him anything about herself, including her real name?
FOUR WAY STOP: There are two power couples in Eisenhower High: Gideon, the basketball star, is dating Eleanor, the class president. Hogan, the talented actor, is dating Shana, the future valedictorian. But things are not as they seem. The actual couples are Gideon and Hogan; Eleanor and Shana. Unable to come out for various reasons, the four kids are all covering for each other. But it's a house of cards, and one slip up will bring the whole thing down.
BECOMING: Shannon, an awkward boy, wins a chance to appear in a reality TV show where he'll spend the summer working his his celebrity crush. Unfortunately, the young producer thought Shannon was a girl. The two concoct a plan to pass Shannon off as a female, in a 'Tootsie' story for teens.
VIVAN LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas, Utah, is a dying desert community. Four teens attempt to draw in tourist money by spreading outlandish stories about the town: there's lost treasure out in the desert, there are repeated ghost and UFO sightings, and that celebrities secretly vacation there to get away from it all. Their plan succeeds a little too well. When a developer announces plans to turn Las Vegas into a high-end gated community, the kids must find a way to kill the monster they've created.
MARLEY'S GHOST: When their uncle dies in a freak accident, two sheltered cousins travel from Maine to South Carolina to find out what mysterious thing Uncle Marley buried down there.
Brian Katcher
Honestly, probably not. I envisioned Sage and Logan as a standalone story, and it would be difficult for me to hash out a new plot for them, other than 'Sage and Logan met up again after a couple of years, and Logan was much more mature and they lived happily ever after.' Also, I doubt I could get it published, sequels generally only happen a year or two after the original book comes out. I am working on a book with another transgender protagonist. Watch this space.
Brian Katcher
While I've been frequently asked for a sequel, I'm afraid my publishers are not interested. I can tell you this about how I see the futures of Sage and Logan:
Logan takes well to college life and has several girlfriends. However, they always end up breaking up. "If this Sage girl was so damn perfect, why didn't you stay with her?"
Sage, meanwhile, has moved to a big city, away from the influences of her family and Logan. She thinks about Logan, but he's honoring her request that he not try to contact her. Sage blossoms into a confident young woman.
After a couple of years, Sage decides to return to Missouri to finish her education and be near her family. She contacts Logan, asking if he'd be interested in meeting and maybe rekindling their friendship. The thing is, Sage no longer hides the fact that she is transgender. She's out and proud, and is kind of an important voice for transgender rights. She's no longer ashamed.
Logan, of course, wants to see her again, and they both kind of realize they have unfinished business with each other. Would Logan be willing to date a transgender girl who's not hiding her past? Would Sage even want to give him another chance? Maybe they're both dating someone else at the time.
At any rate, if I wrote a sequel, that's where I'd see it going. Thanks for reading!
Logan takes well to college life and has several girlfriends. However, they always end up breaking up. "If this Sage girl was so damn perfect, why didn't you stay with her?"
Sage, meanwhile, has moved to a big city, away from the influences of her family and Logan. She thinks about Logan, but he's honoring her request that he not try to contact her. Sage blossoms into a confident young woman.
After a couple of years, Sage decides to return to Missouri to finish her education and be near her family. She contacts Logan, asking if he'd be interested in meeting and maybe rekindling their friendship. The thing is, Sage no longer hides the fact that she is transgender. She's out and proud, and is kind of an important voice for transgender rights. She's no longer ashamed.
Logan, of course, wants to see her again, and they both kind of realize they have unfinished business with each other. Would Logan be willing to date a transgender girl who's not hiding her past? Would Sage even want to give him another chance? Maybe they're both dating someone else at the time.
At any rate, if I wrote a sequel, that's where I'd see it going. Thanks for reading!
Brian Katcher
I had just had my first book published and I wanted to do something original before people realized I wasn't really an author. I hit upon the idea of a heterosexual boy and a transgender girl. I first attempted it as a short story, but the people in my writers' group told me there was no way I could pull that plot off in fifty pages. When I turned it into a novel I did a lot of research, asking real life internet Sages to tell me their stories. And the more stories I heard, the more I wanted to write this book. I believe I was the second YA author to write about transgenderism. I know I failed in many ways, but I'm glad the story was as well-received as it was. Thanks for reading!
Brian Katcher
Trump reelected.
Brian Katcher
Winston Smith and Julia from 1984. Love in the face of opposition...while it lasted.
Brian Katcher
Hi, Erin! Thank you for your questions! Yes, I'm aware that 'transgender' is the correct term...at least I'm aware of that now. And I know I shouldn't have had Sage refer to herself as a boy...well, I know that now. I was trying to make it clear to both Logan and the reader what Sage was saying, but you're right, she wouldn't have phrased it like that. Actually, there's quite a lot I would have changed about ALMOST PERFECT. I wrote it about ten years ago, and while I tried to do my research, I did miss the mark in several places. That's no excuse for sloppy research. All I can say is I was honestly trying to write a book about the struggles of transgender people, a subject that was barely touched on in YA literature at the time. Through this book I've heard from many transgender readers who've both loved and hated what I've written. All I can say is the experience educated me greatly, and my errors were mistakes on my part, and were not meant to be insulting. Thank you very much for reading. Have you read any of the great YA books about transgender people that have come out more recently? I can send you a list of titles if you like.
Brian Katcher
Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed Almost Perfect, or at least liked Sage enough to want to know what happened to her. I don't think my publisher is interested in a sequel at this time. Like most authors, I still kind of mentally plot out my characters' futures...I'd love to see Sage (and Logan) have a happy future, apart or together. Thanks for asking!
Brian Katcher
Hi, Felicity, thank you for taking the time to write. I'm glad you enjoyed ANA AND ZAK, that was a fun book to write. My next book, DEACON LOCKE WENT TO PROM, will be out in May, 2017. Watch this space or visit my website www.briankatcher.com for more details as they become available.
Brian Katcher
Well, your first child is always your favorite (at least that's what I tell my younger sister), so PLAYING WITH MATCHES will always have a spot in my heart. As for being proud, I think that would be ALMOST PERFECT. I'm still surprised by the number of readers who wrote me to say that book helped them. Thanks for asking!
Brian Katcher
Hey, thank you for reading! If all goes as planned, I should have a new book coming out in January of 2017. Have a great weekend.
Brian Katcher
Probably because they want to make sure people are actually asking questions and not spamming. To answer your other question, Sage is the main driving force of this book, but it's told from Logan's point of view. I'd say she appears in about 60% of the scenes. Since this is a first person book, we never get into her head and only see which thoughts and emotions she chooses to reveal to Logan. I hope this helps.
Brian Katcher
You can count me in! I'd love to stop by.
Brian Katcher
Thank you! Yeah, Mom realized early on she hadn't given birth to a football star, so she took me to the library many, many times. It really paid off, and I'm forever grateful. We're getting together this Saturday for my book release party/mother's day. Hope you have a great mother's day as well!
Brian Katcher
Hello, and thanks for asking! My newest book, THE IMPROBABLE THEORY OF ANA AND ZAK will be available on May 19th, 2015 from Katherine Tegen Books. Here's a blurb:
Zak 'Duke' Duquette wants nothing more out of life than to play video games, hang with his friends, and attend Washingcon, the largest comic book convention in Seattle. This is especially true this year, now that his widowed mother has remarried and his stepfather insists on living with them.
Unfortunately, Zak has blown off a major assignment for a class and is in danger of failing...and by failing, not graduating. The only way he can make up the credit is to 'volunteer' as an alternate at a quiz bowl tournament...the weekend of Washingcon.
Ana Watson, captain of the quiz bowl team, is not thrilled with having Zak on the team, considering him a slacker and a loser. But she has more important things on her mind: the team, her grades, and her younger brother, Clayton, who's also on the team. Sure, Ana would like to take some time off, maybe not study or bend the rules a bit...
Ana used to have an older sister, Nicole. Nicole bent the rules. Ana doesn't have a sister anymore.
At the Friday tournament, Zak gripes nonstop about the convention he is missing: the wild parties, the crazy costuming, the nonstop fun. Clayton is intrigued. So intrigued, in fact, that under the cover of the Seattle rain, he sneaks out of the hotel to see this event for himself.
Ana and Zak have to drag Clayton back to the hotel before the sponsor realizes he's gone. Zak knows the con like Han knows the Kessel Run. He can flush Clayton out, no problem (and maybe score points with Ana). Ana, on the other hand, knows her brother can be very devious when he wants to, and realizes what will happen if her parents find out he ran off.
Together, Ana and Zak descend into a world of Klingons, furries, bronies, cosplayers, filkers, Wookies, drunks, geeks, and party animals. They run afoul of a angry girl with a longbow, a seven-foot-tall viking, a pack of zombies, and several of Zak's ex girlfriends. As the night wears on, they start to realize the only ones they can depend on are each other. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Zak 'Duke' Duquette wants nothing more out of life than to play video games, hang with his friends, and attend Washingcon, the largest comic book convention in Seattle. This is especially true this year, now that his widowed mother has remarried and his stepfather insists on living with them.
Unfortunately, Zak has blown off a major assignment for a class and is in danger of failing...and by failing, not graduating. The only way he can make up the credit is to 'volunteer' as an alternate at a quiz bowl tournament...the weekend of Washingcon.
Ana Watson, captain of the quiz bowl team, is not thrilled with having Zak on the team, considering him a slacker and a loser. But she has more important things on her mind: the team, her grades, and her younger brother, Clayton, who's also on the team. Sure, Ana would like to take some time off, maybe not study or bend the rules a bit...
Ana used to have an older sister, Nicole. Nicole bent the rules. Ana doesn't have a sister anymore.
At the Friday tournament, Zak gripes nonstop about the convention he is missing: the wild parties, the crazy costuming, the nonstop fun. Clayton is intrigued. So intrigued, in fact, that under the cover of the Seattle rain, he sneaks out of the hotel to see this event for himself.
Ana and Zak have to drag Clayton back to the hotel before the sponsor realizes he's gone. Zak knows the con like Han knows the Kessel Run. He can flush Clayton out, no problem (and maybe score points with Ana). Ana, on the other hand, knows her brother can be very devious when he wants to, and realizes what will happen if her parents find out he ran off.
Together, Ana and Zak descend into a world of Klingons, furries, bronies, cosplayers, filkers, Wookies, drunks, geeks, and party animals. They run afoul of a angry girl with a longbow, a seven-foot-tall viking, a pack of zombies, and several of Zak's ex girlfriends. As the night wears on, they start to realize the only ones they can depend on are each other. And maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Brian Katcher
May 19th, 2015!
Brian Katcher
Thank you! Well, I wanted to write a boy-meets-girl story that hadn't been done a million times. I eventually hit upon the idea of a heterosexual guy who falls for a girl who had to work to achieve her female identity. Could such a relationship work? I tried it as a short story, but my writers' group told me that I couldn't pull that plot off in 80 pages. Do it as a novel or don't do it. It took a lot of research, and the more I talked to real life Sages, the more I realized that this was a story that needed to be told.
As to publishing hesitation, not really. In fact, Almost Perfect was probably the easiest of all my books to have published. I was lucky to have an editor who was willing to take a chance on the topic.
Thanks for reading!
As to publishing hesitation, not really. In fact, Almost Perfect was probably the easiest of all my books to have published. I was lucky to have an editor who was willing to take a chance on the topic.
Thanks for reading!
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