In Conversation: Leigh Harlen & Eboni Dunbar

As part of the launch for Neon Hemlock’s 2020 fall novella titles, Stone and Steel and Yellow Jessamine, we are delighted to share two paired conversations between those authors and the authors of our spring novella titles.  Below, a conversation between Leigh Harlen and Eboni Dunbar.

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Eboni: Why the music scene? What drew you to this world as a backdrop to your story?

Leigh: Honestly, my biggest goal with Queens of Noise was to write a book that wasn’t literally about people I know, but you know, was definitely about people I know. Most of my friends are queer/trans punks and (pre-covid) a good show was one of the few reliable ways to get me out of the house. And if you’re going to set a story in the punk scene, well, there’s no better drama than rival bands. 

What about you? Did you have any particular inspirations, fiction or nonfiction, for the political world of the story?

This story started out of a mashup idea from FIYAH Literary Magazine’s Voice on FIYAH program. The mashup was Game of Thrones meets Broken Earth. So I think there is something of both of those in here. Politically, I’m sure there are a lot of influences that I can’t think of. Now let me ask you about one of my favorite things:  Shifters! This is a shifter story, how did you decide what you wanted to lean into with shifters vs. do your own thing with? Was it difficult to keep that balance throughout?

I was pretty intentional from the start that I wanted to write shifters with the parts I liked (Pack love and loyalty! Animal transformation!), but without the parts I don’t (namely the whole alpha thing which isn’t even accurate, wolves aren’t like that!) Then I played with some things I just thought were cool like the ability to do a partial shift in an effort to scare cursed chickens and trying to interplay personality and animal behavior in a way that felt right to me. Speaking of pack loyalty, I love Aaliyah’s found family. To me, it seems they’re held together by a combination of history, shared experience, and present need, but I never really doubt that they also love and trust each other. How did you balance all those elements in making a found family that feels both necessary to the situation and the inevitable result of their personalities?

I think I tried to design the found families I appreciate the most, which are ones that have these long bonds but can also sometimes be about just needing support from someone who knew you when. I wanted to let this childish history sit between folks because it’s there but also didn’t feel the need to spend time explaining it. Sometimes you look at people and you’re not sure why they are friends or family but they understand it. I tried to make these relationships as natural as possible. Packs are their own kind of found family and they can sometimes feel obligatory, like you can’t choose your pack. How did you play with that in Queens of Noise? I got the sense from reading that these people want to be together, rather than feel forced. Even though they think of themselves as the only werecoyotes in the world. A convoluted question for how did you decide to play with the pack/found family dynamic. 

In this, Queens of Noise is definitely a queer/trans book. With queer found families there’s this element of “we need each other because of what and who we are which is different than other people.” I grew up in a place where there weren’t many out queer and trans folks so if you wanted that community, your community was a whole six people and you had to work with it. No one was forced to be friends/family/lovers with anyone, but that “we’re the only ones” is a powerful motivator to make things work. So, some people have stronger relationships with certain people within the family and less so with others and the texture of the relationship between any given two people is different than another two people, but together they form a family. 

I have to say I love the way Stone and Steel sets up a comparison between Aaliyah and Odessa in how both leadership and love can be expressed in extremely toxic and harmful ways or in ways that are mutually beneficial and healing for all involved. Was that a comparison you set out to make in the beginning or did you start with focus on one or the other?

No, I truly wish I could say that I intended every word of it from page one but I didn’t. I knew Odessa was not going to be the great Queen she was supposed to be and that thats sort of mirrored in the way she shows up for Aaliyah. If Aaliyah hadn’t been so in love, she might have noticed it. But juxtaposing Aaliyah’s style of just being invested in the well-being of others over the power of herself came later. I think the dynamic sets up the ways that things can be dangerous without your realizing and the ways you can be blind to things that are clear to everyone around you. 

Can I ask you a craft question? There is so much humor laced throughout the novella and it feels really easy and earned. How do you do that? Teach me your ways :)

Ha, thank you! To be honest, I can’t even explain how humor happens. Some people are so incredible in their ability to see the inner workings of humor as a craft to make it happen intentionally. Mostly I just tried to imagine what my funniest friends would say to me in a given situation/if I was acting like Mixi and also let myself write whatever goofy thing tickled my fancy like a werecoyote getting mobbed by chickens. I wanted to ask you about stakes actually. You balance personal stakes and emotion with big picture stakes and tension really well, do you start with one or the either in your writing?

I always start with the personal stakes and build in the bigger picture concerns after. Stone and Steel started from this wondering about the relationships between Queen and Champion and the way that power can change that relationship. Then once I started digging in we ended up with these bigger stakes around the country and the people and how they suffer when that change happens. 

Ok, let's end on a fun question: I really love the burgeoning romance between R and Mixi, was that something you knew you wanted to do early on? 

It was! R and Mixi were very much the idea seed of what became Queens of Noise. Since we’re ending with fun, let's talk about character. I adore Mercy. Do you have a favorite character? And if so, was that person also your favorite to write scenes and dialogue for? 

Mercy is one of my favorite characters because she’s such a capable badass lying mess lol. The scenes with her in them are definitely some of my favorite to write. She has kind of two sides to her: playful madam and business baddie. I also really like Omar, the King of Galavera. He is a total smartass but also a super loving character. They are a little alike in that way.  They both want the best for the people they love but they can be a little bit rough about getting it for them. 

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Stone and Steel by Eboni Dunbar is out September 5th.  Queens of Noise by Leigh Harlen is available now.