I Want to Tell You a Story

It's about two men. It's written by a gay man. That second point matters. A lot.

original artwork, designed by yours truly, to accompany an early version of my novel's manuscript

Hi, friends and new friends. My name is Brian Steppenwolf, and I am a pretty ordinary everyman—that is, everyone and no one in particular, all at once. I live in Ohio, where I was born and raised. I have two cats. I work a normal job outside of this writing thing, so I do that. I read. I was brought up to write (more on that later). I work out. Sometimes I'm social. Sometimes I'm not. You know how it goes, right? We all have our things—good and bad—and beyond those, we just kind of do.

Well, in my various doings this winter, I was reminded anew of something I've long noticed: A lot of gay fiction is written by straight women. By a lot, I mean a lot a lot. Nearly all "boys love" manga is. Nearly all commercially successful gay plots are. When I was in high school, the film Brokeback Mountain came out, which is a tragic gay love story written by a woman and played by two straight men.

Gay stories don't typically come from within—they just don't—and this is for many reasons, none of which, to me, involves shaming writers. You can be straight and write a gay novel, yes, absolutely. In the words of the very gay Oscar Wilde, "[t]he artist can express everything." Hey, I sometimes (reluctantly) write straight characters!

You get the larger point I'm making, though, right? A lot of gay stories do not come from gay voices. Well, I have a gay voice, and I decided to write a gay story.

The Lows, the Lewd, and the Light is an uplifting gay novel that I wrote for us and for these ever "unprecedented" times we're living in. It's a story of what happens after—after the big blowup, after the big "firsts" of early adulthood, after we've gotten some living under our belts. It's about two men, but it's not tragic. It's not about trauma, illness, or abuse. It's a story rooted in reality—including those gay realities—but that angles toward hope. We all need a little hope right now, and we deserve it.

I tried to write a gay novel the gays deserve. I hope you give it a chance, and I hope you end up enjoying it as much as I enjoyed writing it. 🖤

The Lows, the Lewd, and the Light releases later this summer and will be available exclusively here at bstepwrites.com.