Story time! In 2014 I had this idea for a story about “the last boyband in the world,” which involved every boyband in the world except one getting food poisoning at some sort of awards show, and suddenly the least-popular one was the only one left.

And then I thought, what if instead of all the other bands dying, it was one band, and someone was TRYING to kill them but failing. In sort of a Spinal Tap-ish way as they were on their tour.

And THEN I thought, what if someone was trying to kill the one who just came out as gay, and no one was sure if it was homophobia or something else or random chance.

Anyway I ended up writing a boyband murder mystery. It was terrible. In hindsight, I can say that it was pretty clearly me grappling with figuring out how to be an out queer man in my professional life at dayjob. But it was the start of something. I had ideas on how to fix it.

I finished a draft I was kind of happy with in March 2015. I remember this because I finished it on a Monday…and on Tuesday, Publishers Weekly announced a book called KILL THE BOY BAND and I was completely devastated. Like, lay on the ground and cry devastated.

But I was visiting my family for Nowruz at the time and I was like "What's a book no one but me could POSSIBLY write?" And that book ended up being DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY. So it all worked out! But that world and those characters stayed with me.

Fast forward to 2019! I have this epiphany that the boyband book isn't about murder. It's about what it means to be queer in the public eye. (Is this me therapizing myself as an out queer author? Probably.) And so I wrote it again. (There’s no murder this time.)

Sometimes your ideas need to evolve. Sometimes you're not the right person to write your story—YET. But with luck and grit you can grow into the author you need to be. And so I’m really excited to get to finally share this story with readers.

Also because titles are hard, I once jokingly suggested I WANT IT THAT GAY and @molly_oneill responded with QUEERLY CANADIAN.

Anyway I'm really proud of this story and I can't wait to share it with readers.