So, if you’ve been around this blog at all this year, you may have heard just a teensy bit about two little books called The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries.

Okay, so I may be a tad bit insufferable. I know it. But have you all read them both yet, hmm? No. So my work is obviously not done.

I’m so excited to have had the opportunity to chat with T.J. Klune about his recently released book The Extraordinaries, the first book in a YA queer superhero trilogy.

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’ve absolutely loved his 2020 releases. But I reeled in my fangirl just a little bit so I could ask all the hard-hitting questions you’re all dying to know. Like the exact recipe to make a philosopher’s stone and where all the dragon eggs are being kept.

Unfortunately, I can’t share the answers to those questions with you. Duh. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You’ll just have to settle for these questions, instead, where we dive into queer superheros, family bonds, ADHD, mad props to fanfic writers, and just what type of superhero T.J. Klune would be.

So many thanks to him for taking the time to answer my questions, and to Saraceia, for arranging this interview.

You’ve got a long backlist of adult M/M fantasy romance under your belt, including The House in the Cerulean, released earlier this year. The Extraordinaries is your YA debut, so what made you decide to cross over into YA? Is there anything in particular you hoped your stories could bring to a younger audience?

Back in 2017, I was in a weird place when it came to my books. I was with a publisher that I wasn’t satisfied with, and I wanted to expand my craft in ways I hadn’t before. I’ll never be the best writer in the world, nor even something close to it, but I’m always looking for ways to push myself a bit further outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to go beyond what I’d already done, to see what else was out there in the publishing world. I thought, What if I tried a young adult book? And it only grew from there.

The Extraordinaries started with me wanting to see queer representation in the world of comics. Comic books themselves are a bit more diverse than, say, the movies based on them. It was strange to me, seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe filled with only straight characters. Where were the queer superheroes? It was made only worse when, a couple of years later, Marvel and Disney touted that the last Avengers movie would have the first official queer character. I’d been burned on that before, but I went in to the movie with some expectations, only to have them dashed when the “queer character” was on screen for a minute, and was weirdly played by one of the straight directors.

The Extraordinaries was born of me wanting to show queer people doing the same things as Iron Man, Captain America and all the others. I also wanted to delve into the world of fandom, which is such a wonderfully complicated thing. Nick Bell, the main character of The Extraordinaries, is deep into the Extraordinaries fandom, and I loved the idea of a superfan meeting the people he writes about, and wanting to emulate them. It…doesn’t exactly go well, but that’s what I love about Nick as a character. He’s a bit ridiculous, more than a little oblivious, but he has such heart in all that he does.

I want to start with Nick Bell, who is the protagonist of The Extraordinaries. Nick has ADHD, and it’s a big part of his life and character. The portrayal meant so much to me, as someone with ADHD, because it’s not seen often in YA, and certainly not in a positive light. Heck, Nick was almost 100% me as a teen (okay, yes, awkwardness and cluelessness included, I confess). Where did the inspiration for his character come from, and why was it so important to you to have a protagonist with ADHD?

Once I’d decided on writing a book about superheroes, Nick being neurodiverse was the next thing that came to mind. It wasn’t meant to be a plot obstacle for him to overcome. That’s not how being neurodiverse works. Nick isn’t happy having ADHD, but over the course of the book, he learns to love that part of himself, calling it his own personal superpower.

Which is what I went through when I was a kid. I have ADHD, and for the longest time, I hated that part of me. It felt like yet another thing that made me different than anyone else, and when you’re a teenager, “different” can feel wrong. It doesn’t help that even today, there’s a stigma when it comes to being neurodiverse. I didn’t see a lot of positive ADD/ADHD representation, or it was played for laughs. Though The Extraordinaries is a comedy, I never wanted it to seem like I was making fun of Nick, or that others in the story were doing the same. It’s important to me to show how difficult having ADHD can be for a sixteen year old, but also to show how those difficulties are merely obstacles to overcome. A child with ADHD becomes a teenager with ADHD, who turns into an adult with ADHD. It doesn’t go away, but if kids like Nick (or myself) are given the tools and the help to learn how to manage it, then they can do anything they put their minds too, even if their thoughts are still racing a bit quicker than everyone else’s.

One of the big themes of your work is found family, and you’ve talked in other interviews about how that stems from your queer identity and building your own found family. Another theme that I love about your work, though, is the one of self-acceptance, of characters learning that whoever they are is enough. This particularly struck me in The Extraordinaries, because just being a teen is hard enough in general. Does this stem from your own personal experience, and is this something you hope your readers will take away from the book?

It does, though perhaps it took me a bit longer to figure that out. Growing up, I was queer and neurodiverse, and I lived in a very rural part of the country. That combination wasn’t always a positive thing, and that was on top of being a hormonal teenager. I had to find others to teach me that I was enough as I was, that I didn’t need to be more to have people appreciate me and all my neuroses. I credit the queer community (especially a group of drag queens who took me under their sequined wings when I was a baby queer). They taught me that I needed to be my own person and how to do it, rather than what others wanted me to be. It was a hard lesson, but ultimately, the best one I could have been taught.

And that’s what I hope people take away from reading The Extraordinaries. That no matter what, you’re important, that you matter. I keep thinking about teenagers right now, queer kids with ADHD like me who’ve never really gotten to see themselves in fiction or media. I wrote this book for them specifically, to show them (and anyone else who wants to read) that while things might get tough, they’re just as important as anyone else.

In both House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries, the romance is a long, slow burn (which, if I’m honest, is the only kind of romance for me). What is it about this type of romance that makes you enjoy writing it?

Slow burn is my jam. It’s definitely not for everyone, and writing it can mean walking a fine line between anticipation and dragging things out far too long. My own personal taste (again, JUST ME) tends to shy away from insta-love type stories, as I want to make sure that if and when certain characters get together, it’s realistic, even in the face of the most fantastical of stories. Love can be both an ending and a beginning.

I also find that if characters get together too quickly, more often than not, a writer will attempt to add drama by way of THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, a trope I dislike intensely (and have been guilty of writing myself, so hurray hypocritical statements!). I think slow burn allows me to try and avoid that and leads to building a stronger foundation for a relationship, rather than creating drama for the sake of drama down the road. That being said, authors: write whatever the hell you want. I’m known to talk out my ass every now and then, so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt. You do you, and if that means the big misunderstanding, go for it!

The relationship between Nick and his father was both funny and fraught with tension (and what parent/child relationship isn’t, really). I loved this dynamic, which allowed both genuine parental feels and also an impressive amount of embarrassing Nick to take place (and I low-key hope to grow up to be just like Nick’s father in several years when my own offspring is a teenager). What inspired you to write their interactions this way?

I have a fondness for familial relationships, though it usually takes form in the way of found-families in my books. That being said, I have a soft spot for Father-Son bonding, and siblings who’ll do anything for each other.

After Nick, his dad—Aaron—was the next voice I heard in my head. I knew he’d have to be almost a main character too. Nick has a big personality, and I needed to have someone in his corner that wasn’t part of a friend group, someone who didn’t give two shits if his son was queer or neurodiverse. Nick is Nick, and Aaron loves him no matter what.

However, Aaron Bell is a complicated man. As the book opens, both he and Nick have suffered a recent loss, and they rely on each other in ways they maybe hadn’t before. Nick’s dad doesn’t always understand him, though not for lack of trying. It was important to me that while they might not always see eye to eye, Nick has someone to watch his back, someone who loved him without reservation, despite of (or maybe because of) all his faults. Nick has something similar in his friend group, but it’s not quite the same. Though they might have a hard time admitting it, Nick and his Dad need each other. They’re two halves of the same coin, so similar, in fact, that it can lead to them butting heads.

I’m not only a blogger, but I also work at a library (because every superhero has to have a cover), so I’m no stranger to this ongoing conversation about what should and shouldn’t be in young adult novels. The Extraordinaries touches on a lot of struggles unique to teenhood, like puberty, crushes, makeout sessions, awkward attraction, hero worship, swearing, erections, and sex … yet somehow manages to keep it clean and matter-of-fact. I’m impressed. I confess that my initial knee-jerk reaction was to think should kids read this … for about 30 seconds, until I realized Nick was me as a teen and I’m quickly growing into his father, and these conversations are important. Not just in the queer community, but especially there. What would you say to readers, especially older (potentially gatekeeper) readers, whose first reaction might be to wonder if it’s appropriate for YA?

Frankly, if people think teenagers don’t know about this stuff and more, then they’re kidding themselves. When I was sixteen back in 1998, we didn’t have social media. Hell, I didn’t even have internet until I was sixteen, and it was dial up. (*Cue grating modem noise*) Of course, one of the first things I did when no one was watching was look up…risqué images. And even though it’s so embarrassing, it wasn’t even porn. It was the website for the Chippendales Dancers. I…was a weird kid.

So think about how it is today. People can go online and look up anything they want to, the only limit being their imagination—for better or worse.  I understand the idea of protecting the minds and youths, but I think that sort of gatekeeping could be detrimental, especially for queer kids. If we could have frank, honest discussions about queer identities and queer sex, then it could help quite a few people avoid making mistakes they might end up regretting. Truth is always better than silence, even if it can lead to uncomfortable discussions. We owe it to those who come after us to give them the tools to help them make the best decisions for themselves. Will they still make mistakes? Hell yes. That’s part of growing up and learning right from wrong. But that doesn’t mean we have to shield them from everything.

The Extraordinaries is book one of a trilogy, which means we have two more books to look forward to. As I’m sure you’re familiar with, the wait for a sequel is arduous and painful, even if it’s ultimately worth it. So can you give us just three words to tell us what we can expect in book two?

It’s already written.

I watched the Goodreads Book Tour video you did, where you gave us a sneak peek of the laboratory where you concoct worlds and breathe life into characters (also known as your workspace). It cracked me up, because I too have my desk in my living room, because I fell in love with a corner desk which does not fit in the corner of my office (numbers are hard, okay?). It’s right next to a window, and I can 100% confirm that’s not a great idea for anyone with ADHD. So you love your desk. That’s important. What’s one other thing on your desk that you just have to have in order to write?

Yeah, having a desk in front of a window for someone like me is a recipe for disaster. I can’t have the distraction, otherwise I’d never get anything done because I’ve been staring at squirrels for the last hour.

Weirdly, the one thing I have to have when I’m writing is NPR. When I’m writing, I always have NPR on in the background. I don’t really listen to anything that’s being said—the sound is usually low—but for some reason, I’ve always had those murmur of voices going on when I write. I can’t write in absolute silence, and music can sometimes be distracting, so NPR is always playing when I write.

In The Extraordinaries, Nick is a fanfiction writer, and it’s clear you’ve spent time in the fanfic community. You nailed it, from the type of writing/plot often found in fanfics, to the author’s note, to the comments left by the community. So what advice would you give to fanfic authors who are still working on their craft, maybe with the ultimate goal of writing original fiction some day?

Man, I love fanfic writers. The idea of “fanfiction” gets a lot of crap; some of the literati see it as somehow…lesser, that it doesn’t count. That’s bullshit. When I was getting deep into the weeds while researching fanfiction and fandom, I found stories that were brilliantly written, so much so that I was stunned at how amazing they were. Of course there are stories that aren’t good, but the same must be said about traditional publishing. What works for one might not work for another.

But what sets fanfic writers apart, in my opinion, is that they do all of this for free. There are people out there writing 100-200K word epics and just…giving them away for the simple joy of writing and fandom. Queer people, especially, seem to have carved a place for themselves in fanfic, rewriting cannon to add the queer experience. And I can’t stress how important that is: if those who have the means do put queer characters in their media but don’t, there are plenty of people willing to correct that.

Fanfiction has an undeserved connotation behind it. It is a lovely, valid form of art, and who knows? A person cutting their teeth writing fics could turn around and write the next big novel that blows everyone away. It does not deserve the derision it sometimes gets.

Is there anything I didn’t ask about The Extraordinaries that you want readers to know?

While The Extraordinaries is a comedy about an obsessive fanboy and the superheroes he loves, it goes much deeper than that: it touches upon grief and loss, love and bravery, and what people are willing to do for those they love most. Superheroes don’t always need a mask and a cape to be heroes. Sometimes, all they needs is a billion thoughts all at once and idea to become something extraordinary.

And now for the most important questions:

Would you be a superhero or supervillain?

Superhero! (My villain laugh needs work.)

What would be your name and power?

I put my name into a Superhero Name Generator, and it came back with Bear-Man, so that’s what I’m going with. As Bear-Man, my powers would be claws growing from my hands, and a penchant for rubbing my behind against trees.

What’s your catchphrase?

“Dude. I’m a bear.”

Who’s your favorite superhero/supervillain?

Wolverine, because I have a  fondness for short, angry men with claws.

What’s your favorite superhero book (other than yours, obviously)?

Hero by Perry Moore

Three books you’d recommend for anyone wanting more queer romance?

Work For It by Talia Hibbert (Adult)
Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates (YA)
Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez (YA)

About T.J. Klune

TJ KLUNE is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author (Into This River I Drown) and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries. Being queer himself, TJ believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.

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