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Eerie Pride: HIghlighting Callum Pearce

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What piece of writing are you most proud of and why?


I think i’m most proud of a short story that I did for Penumbric Mag (wings). Not because it was an amazing bit of writing or that it was deeply profound. It was just a short fun piece to translate the growing up gay experience into a fairytale world. I intend to make it better and follow up because the world started filling itself around my short silly story.


What tropes and genres would you like to see more of in LGBTQIA2S+ representation?


When I was growing up in England we had the section 28 law. I used to do issue based drama and workshops with young people. Officially we were gagged from saying anything other than LGBTQ+ relationships could only end in tragedy. You see this in all of the films and theatre from that time. Of course we ignored this. That law allowed children to be brutalised and teachers, even those that cared to turn a blind eye. It wasn’t worth the hassle to just tell one gay kid that he wasn’t a monster and things will be okay. So for me any and all representation is fan f....ing tastic


What are your favourite tropes in LGBTQIA2S novels?


I love an evil queen . When i grew up, gay or effeminite men had to be tragic figures or clowns. I adore evil vicious queens owning their evil and apologizing to nobody. The drag scene has really embraced the dark side lately and i love it.


As a society, we have come a long way in representation of LGBTQIA2S+ members, but there is still a long way to go. What would you like to see happen in the next few years and how do we get there in order to see that representation?


This is very simple and very hard at the same time. In my work, I try to have LGBTQ+ characters be just characters with the part of the rainbbow they are, being the same as the colour of their hair. Sometimes though you have to write something that shines a bright light on issues that havent been adressed. Just in the last couple of days a gay boy was beaten brutally outside of a bar I used to work in in liverpool, so you have to draw attention to that sometimes too.

As an author do you intentionally try to represent LGBTQIA2S characters in your stories?


Yes as often as possible. Some stories where the rainbow aspect is the focus and others when that is just part of their description.


What LGBTQIA2S trope in stories do you hate? Any representaion of characters that you think need to stop now and why?


Nope. I want to see all representations. Being a camp queen, i know that a lot of gay people would like to see my type ignored a bit. I wont play that game. I love my rainbow brothers and sisters.


What books did you read as a child that inspired you to become an Author?


Roal dahl, was the biggest inspiration all the way through. He made me want to read and write and then i found that i could grow up with different aspects of his work.


What are your favorite genres to read and write?


Fantasy and horror, I prefer a good mix of both in one box. The best horror has fantasy elements and the best fantasy has horror elements.for me no matter what i read , there has to be a bit of magic.


For horror authors: Do you have a best revenge story that you have written? i.e have you tortured your boss? Killed your MIL?


Never, which is odd because I am totally that kind of person. I dream up things for some arseholes but i would never act on it and I would never poison a good story with the people i think like that about.


What is one underappreciated LGBTQIA2S author we should all check out?


Me.... oh god ... i’m a big fan of william wellman and the world they are creating but I’m not sure that they’re particularly underappreciated


Do you have any writing rituals?


Mood music for the first trance mode of writing, silence for the edit. Gin for the acceptance


Any advice for young authors beginning their author journey?


Write anything and everything, read anything and everything. Nobody but you knows what you have to say or how you need to say it. You will find your home.


Tell us about the first piece of writing you had published and how that impacted you?


My first things were about coming out and being a camp queen for a gay lifestyle website. They were submitted on a copy and paste internet form and just terribly translated. I made mistakes in punctuation that i expected to be edited and the way it was copied and pasted to the site added more of those problems. I sent it thinking it would be tidied up before going online. I still proudly share them on my site as the sentiment is clear and i was happy to hear the responses from people who could see past the shoddy writing and editing.


It’s almost cliche that authors live on black coffee and hard liquor. What are you drinking right now?


Wine today. Gin is my go to drink but only for celebrations. Its too nice


Writing in a pandemic. Has it changed the way you write? Has it made an impact on your voice?


No. Me and my husband tend to live as if we are in a pandemic anyway. Nothing much changed for us. I work from home or work in the garden. Our adopted pets need a lot of care and attention so a sociial life is somebody elses dream. We were affected by people we care about being ill but our families and friends live all over the place anyway so we see each other when we can. So if you write from what you know I cant say that my voice was changed by stuff tlike that.



Fun question: If you could live in any ‘book world’ what one would it be and why?

Wonderland. Its a world that shapes itself around the reader/viewer/visitor. If you can control your mind yo can control that place and rule like a big evil queen :D



 

Callum Pearce is a Dutch storyteller, originally from Liverpool. He is a fiction writer published multiple times across a variety of platforms. A Lover of the magical as well as the macabre.

He lives in a foggy old fishing town in the Netherlands with his husband and a couple of cat shaped sprites. He writes for adults and young people.

Featured in lots of drabble collections and anthologies or online. He has also written factual articles for an LGBTQ+ lifestyle website. See his website for things that are available now, coming soon or free to read online.

Callumpearcestoryteller.com



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