You can expect stolen kisses at balls, magic, and even cake in Lisa Tirreno's "Prince of Fortune" book.
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
The very first spark for "Prince of Fortune" came from a dream I had, of two teenage boys chasing each other around in a night market. I was working on something else at the time, but I couldn’t get those two out of my head. Their dynamic — one impish and gleeful and ready for anything, the other shy and awkward and having trouble believing his luck, to have the other one’s attention — really stuck with me. I just … wanted good things for them lol.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
I feel like this sort of concept is always in conversation with its opposite: shame. When I was growing up, queer characters in mainstream media were so often only the comic relief or the villains. Sympathetic depictions were often tragic, but mostly they were non-existent or hidden. You had to get really good at picking up subtext, and having to do that just reinforced the message that these were parts of you that no one should be able to see openly.
I still remember my joy in discovering that we had an LGBT+ bookstore in my city, and the thrill of visiting it the first time, except that the experience was tinged with annoyance at how sorely it was needed, and that I was there because I hadn’t been able to find what I was looking for anywhere else. Only the biggest bookstores ever had a “gay and lesbian” shelf (inclusive language wasn’t really big in the '90s, and that didn’t help; I always felt a bit like as a bisexual, I was intruding). To make matters worse, this shelf was usually next to the sex guides, as though that’s where we belonged: segregated in a shady little corner with everything else that wouldn’t have even been published 20 years earlier, and still needed to be hidden away.
Seeing books with queer protagonists on bestseller lists these days, and in front window displays, and being adapted for the screen is important, as is seeing whole sections marked “LGBTQIA+” in bookstores — not to warn people that here be dragons, but so that readers can simply find what they’re looking for. I look forward to the day when it’s nothing to think twice about, but we’re not there yet.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Oh, gosh. A gentle answer to this question would talk about how vital it is for people to read about other perspectives, and how it strengthens communities and increases empathy, and how important it is for minorities to see themselves in the media people are consuming, but frankly: we all know. We know.
The real reason, which should be enough, is that books should include a wide variety of characters because a wide variety of people exist. The mind boggles as to why this should be a controversial idea, in this day and age.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
"Prince of Fortune" is about Saben’s shy Crown Prince Edmund, who has rare magic that hasn’t been seen in centuries and who is buckling under the weight of his country’s expectations. It has been prophesised again and again that he will be a great king one day and if that wasn’t bad enough, he is expected to make a marriage befitting of his station, as the country’s next king. And then he meets the charming Lord Aubrey Ainsley, who doesn’t even have a proper title, and he officially has A Problem, because he falls head over heels.
Aubrey is absolutely here for it, but as one of Saben’s Seers, he thinks Edmund — and everybody else, for that matter — should be more worried about the war that’s coming, with their hostile neighbour to the north, than what their relationship might mean for their country’s future. He’s not wrong, except he underestimated how far some people will go, for power and control.
When I started working the story out, I was incredibly angry about the “debate” my country was having, over marriage equality. The Australian government dragged their heels for years over the issue, and the whole thing gave certain media outlets a lot of excuses to run opinion pieces about the sanctity of the institution. These always seemed to have pictures of wedding cakes with two grooms on top of them, as though this was the most nightmarish concept they could come up with: two men loving each other, and expecting their relationship to be respected and supported by the community.
Angry as I was, I didn’t want to write an angry story. I wanted to write something comforting, that people could escape to. I felt like we all deserved something nice, given [gestures around at everything] so I wrote the warmest story I could, set in a homophobia-free world where both my lead characters had loving, supportive families. I’ve had multiple people tell me the whole thing feels like a warm hug, which was a relief, since that is what I was going for! I think that it’s important to try and carve out some space for joy. That in itself can be a radical act of defiance, sometimes, as well as a way to try and recharge your energy, so you can continue to get on with [gestures at everything].
What can fans expect from your book?
Stolen kisses at balls. Wicked sorcerers and forgotten magic. Murder scarecrows. Boyfriend shirts. Also cake, and cravats.
It's set in a fantasy version of the late Georgian era, partly because I was just hungry for more non-medieval fantasy, but also because the Regency is a good fit for a marriage plot.
It’s basically about a couple of cinnamon rolls who are just trying to do their best in difficult circumstances. That was something I’d been thinking a lot about, for some reason.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I have a few projects that I’m working on! The one that’s getting most of my attention right now is another young adult fantasy novel, about an orphaned heiress in a fantasy version of the 1930s.
It has cross-dressing nightclubs and best friends who fly biplanes in jodhpurs and a missing goddess. It also has cake. I love cake.
