Welcome to the blog tour of Read My Mind, the first book of the Under the Empire series! I hope you’ll check out all the stops, where I explore the craft that goes into creating a fantasy series set in a contemporary era.
Long ago, a pantheon of ten gods gifted magic to the people of our world, changing the course of history as we know it. The Flavian Empire now reigns over what would have been America, led by a royalty of fire weavers. Frannesburg, the city by the bay, is a haven from the empire’s encroaching dictatorship, and its university is bustling with people of all magics, sexualities, genders, and races. As students study toward their degrees, they hope to find friendships across majors, and maybe even love under the fog and city lights.
Read My Mind follows two freshmen, Scott and Nick, who have just started at the University of Frannesburg. Magic, attraction, and too much homework await them on their journey to figure out who they are now that they are on their own, and how they fit into this magical world.
About Read My Mind
Scott Kensington lives happily without magic; prayer is all he needs to worship the gods. Then he starts his studies at the University of Frannesburg, and not only is he suddenly surrounded by eccentrics—those gifted with magic—but his own latent ability begins to surface, with consequences that could tear his soul and family apart.
Nick Barns is grieving for his lost mother and desperate for distraction—usually in the form of limited-edition action figures. As a telekinetic, he’s no stranger to magic, so he offers to help Scott adjust to his new powers. They quickly learn how their magics interact, their shared passions soon growing beyond superheroes and immortals. But Nick’s not taking his studies seriously, and his father threatens to pull him from the university. Overwhelmed by his own crumbling family, Scott’s convinced he can’t handle a relationship, but he doesn’t want to let Nick go.
With grief, guilt, and magic complicating everything between Nick and Scott, it seems that not even the gods—or a new comic book—can save their relationship now.
Sometimes, even reading someone’s mind won’t help you understand what they want.
Research, Research
Some of you may know I grew up in San Francisco. That is one of the reasons why Read My Mind takes place there. I went to schools that were ~80% Asian American, most of whom were Chinese. My elementary school had big Chinese new-year parades and an ESL program for Chinese children still learning English. I grew up with Chinese language and Chinese friends and Chinese food all around me, and wanted to bring some of my experiences to Nick’s character.
As I was writing the first draft of Read My Mind, I figured out pretty early that Nick would be biracial, and knew that isn’t as simple as it sounds. I researched the biracial and Chinese American experience across blogs, #ownvoices novels, youtube accounts and twitter handles, as well as talking to some of my friends about some specific experiences of growing up Chinese or biracial in California.
Even with all of this research during the course of writing, even with working with a sensitivity reader in the early drafts, I still don’t think I have the biracial experience totally right. I don’t think anyone outside of that experience really could. But I’ve done what I could to give Nick the conflicted feelings of not belonging, but deep respect and love for his culture, that he needed for the story.
In Read My Mind, Nick’s culture is tied deeply to grief, due to recently having lost his mom. That brought an added sad tone to all of his reflections of his family and his life growing up within Chinese culture. It was a difficult arc to write, and I do hope readers enjoy his reflection and inner journey.
Finally, I wanted to share my favorite resource for authors writing outside their lane in regards to race. The blog writingwithcolor.tumblr.com is absolutely full of advice, tropes to avoid, resources, and writing tips, and is staffed by people of many races to address the wide range of topics that people ask about. My favorite part of this website is the advice page for how to describe various skin colors. If you’re an author, or just want a better vocabulary to describe the world around you, I highly suggest you check it out.
About Kelly Haworth
Kelly Haworth grew up in San Francisco and has been reading science fiction and fantasy classics since she was a kid. She has way too active an imagination, thus she channels it into writing. Kelly is genderfluid and pansexual, and loves to write LGBTQIA characters into her work. In fact, she doesn’t know if she’s ever going to be able to write an allo-cishet couple again. Kelly has degrees in both genetics and psychology, and works as a project manager at a genetics lab. When not working or writing, she can be found wrangling her two toddlers, working on cosplay, or curled up on the couch with a good TV show or book.
Connect with Kelly:
- Website: kellyhaworth.com
- Twitter: @KHaworthWrites
- Facebook: KHaworthWrites
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Read My Mind, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 7, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
congrats and enjoyed the blurb
ReplyDeletejmarinich33 at aol dot com
Thanks for the insight into you writing process.
ReplyDeletejlshannon74 at gmail.com
It sounds like you put much thought and care into writing a cultural/ethnic experience outside of your own, and I'm sure people will appreciate the effort and time you took. Knowing it mattered to you makes me very excited to read your work. Thank you!
ReplyDeletefidele1922 AT hotmail DOT com
Thank you for sharing about yourself and talking about your research.
ReplyDeletehumhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Congrats, Kelly, and thanks for the research. Really, thanks for the research. I swear some authors who write outside of their race haven't done a their job, but I know it's a tough one. Shoot, it's tough to write about anyone not you, whether it's race, gender, age, sexuality. - Purple Reader,
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
Thanks for the post about research.
ReplyDeletelegacylandlisa at gmail dot com
Interesting post. I would have loved to grow up there.
ReplyDeletedebby236 at gmail dot com
Congratulations for the release of your book, Kelly!!
ReplyDeleteamie_07(at)yahoo(dot)com
I can't wait to read it! I have it in my TBR list. And thanks for the interesting post.
ReplyDeleteserena91291@gmail(dot)com