Behind the Book: Harvest

I wanted to live up to the newfound success as a writer, especially one being a series writer. The Blasphemer Series was almost finished with Maxwell Demon. I knew I had more stories in me, I had already been working on them along with poems that had funny enough begun getting started up again in the margins of notebooks. Harvest almost didn’t happen. I stepped back from writing to focus on another part of my career in the independent industry and freelance arenas.

Dante Angeloft the first character I ever fully developed in my youth was screaming from the back of my thoughts to come out. He was the character I worried about the most. When I originally developed him, it was the turn of the millennium. The late ’90s and early ’00s were hard times. Homophobia was all throughout my school years and in the community, I grew up. Complimenting a classmate for having nice shoes would’ve been an indicator of being called a slur. It wasn’t right then and isn’t right now.

Dante, a bisexual male character, grew out of this. I felt for him and wanted to know about him. I wanted to go against the ‘norms’ I had grown up in. I was an outsider for many reasons, but most of all my never caring about what someone did in their bedroom. I always saw it then and do even now it’s no one’s business what someone does in their private life. If they’re not hurting themselves or anyone else, then leave people alone.

I’ve said before that of all my character Dante Angeloft is the character, I’ve created I related to the most. Readers of the books will understand deeper if they’re also listening to my interviews and appearances why I’ve said this.

Dante is my middle finger to the world my younger self grew up in. I am glad the world progressed farther since those days, with more acceptance. The journey he goes on is me asking more questions about myself. Abused in his youth, never accepted, and finally went into the world on his own terms. Harvest is all about the world growing bigger for Dante. Him discovering that there is more to the world than he ever expected and him dealing with the damage done to him in his life before.

Though he becomes more damaged in the series, he finds a way to live and continue in it. He is a trooper.