Interview with Steve Berman, author of gay teen ghost novel, "Vintage"

Gay teen fiction goes goth!

Gay teen fiction just keeps getting better and better — and increasingly diverse! And what's more appropriate for Halloween than a gay teen ghost story? We recently caught up with Steve Berman, the author of Vintage, a creepy yet somehow sweet book that is currently making a splash in the ever-expanding pool of gay teen lit.

AfterElton.com: So a gay ghost story! What was the inspiration?

Steve Berman: Back in '97, I was in L.A. on a freelance gig and met this goth boy. We did the number/e-mail exchange, so back in New Jersey, I started writing a story that I thought he'd like to read. The opening scene in the graveyard in the book is very close to what I wrote a decade ago.

AE: I've been saying for a while now that the next wave of gay teen lit will be "genre" books — mysteries and fantasies and ghost stories, but ones that feature gay teen characters. And here you are! Was this conscious on your part, a way to write something fresh? Have you been a fan of this genre all along?

SB: I've always been a fan of speculative fiction — fantasy, horror, scifi. I wrote and sold genre stories before I ever wrote anything gay. I'm actually a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. These days I love combining queer and fantastical elements in fiction. And, yeah, I agree that gay readers are really hungry for stories that aren't just about coming out or being the outsider.

AE: I think one of the biggest challenges in writing gay teen lit these days is writing stories that aren't just about "being gay" (which has been done to death and kinda boring anyway), but rather stories that are about something else entirely, but where the gay-ness sort of informs the theme. I thought you did an excellent job on this. Thoughts?

SB: Some readers might say Vintage is a coming-out story and while, yeah, there is that element, I'd always thought of it as a story about love — how people romanticize the emotion, confuse it, lose and gain it. Not all the couples in the book are gay (or gay men) and so I tried to make the themes more universal.

I've also come to feel that gay sensibilities are more than just about being attracted to the same sex — it's also an artistic and cultural mindset, a way of perceiving the world. That especially seems true in the way that the character of Second Mike is written.

AE: Who are you readers so far? What's surprised you about how people have reacted?

SB: The readers have ranged from teens to seniors, male and female. I'm probably most surprised by the fan e-mails from men in their 50s and 60s who tell me how much they wish they had a book like Vintage back when they were a teenager. That means a lot to me. I'm left flattered and also a bit saddened because it suggests a rough isolation that I understand.

AE: What was your book-to-publication journey?

SB: A rocky one filled with near-misses over a decade. Several times I came so close to being published by a large house. I grew frustrated and stopped writing several times or stopped shopping the manuscript around to agents and publishers. Lawrence Schimel, an author friend, told me that Haworth Press was looking to start a specific line, so I sent the manuscript there and was thrilled when they bought it.

AE: I hear you're friend with Holly Black, the teen fantasy author of Tithe and The Spiderwick Chronicles. Did she have any good advice for you?

SB: [laughs] Yeah, we're really good friends. When we met, we both were just starting out and working for a medical publisher in NYC. We'd spend our lunch breaks talking about writing. She started Tithe around the same time I started Vintage — if you look closely, we both have our characters reading each others books. And we still read and critique each others work all the time.

AE: So you're donating a portion of your royalties to charity? Tell us about that.

SB: While I was working on the next-to-last revisions, a 14-yr old friend of mine was reading the chapters. I never new how lonely he felt, how much the local homophobia bothered him. I was devastated when he committed suicide — ironically, before this ever happened, I had written that Vintage's narrator develops his ability to see ghosts based on a botched suicide. I felt I had to do something, so I arranged with my publisher than 1/5 of my royalties go to two non-profits that help troubled gay teens.

AE: What's next for you? More scares? More boys in danger?

SB: So Fey, an anthology of LGBT-themed fairy stories I edited featuring some terrific writers (like Holly), just released. I'm working on a Victorian-era novel, a historical fantasy with gay characters (it's a sequel to a story I wrote for The Faery Reel). I've got a few more queer stories in upcoming books. So yeah, I plan on putting gay boys and girls in danger for years to come.