Hemlock's Shadow (Hemlock, Part 1)
Donation protected
What if you were a teenage science genius, but depserately lonely and unhappy? This has been a significant theme in many young adult science fiction novels for generastions. What if you got your chance, like Marty in Back to the Future, to live it all over and make your life better? And what if that action fractured time itself?
The Hemlock saga is a planned four part seres of novels averaging 300 pages about a young, transgender girl named Amy Hawthorne, her closest friend Autumn Seraphin, and her reluctant companion, high school bully Kevin Sumter. Since birth, Amy has been tormented not just by feelings that she doesn't know who she really is, but also strange visions which traumatize her, yet give her the power to create technology far beyond 2002's capabilities. (The story is a restrospective on the impact of young adult power fantasies, so I've chosen to set it in the recent past.) When a mysterious stranger from Amy's dreams appears just in time to stop a robotic attack on her school, Amy learns that time has been fractured by the AI's tampering with reality, and that there are many timelines. Retreating to a hidden timeline where she was never born, she learns the harsh truth that she is destined to both create and destroy Hemlock, the AI.
When I was a young girl, I didn't know that I was a girl. Like many transgender women, I gravitated to fiction about people who could change who they were. I didn't understand why but I knew that I desperatly wanted to be somebody else. Unfortunately, corrupting influences such as the "nerd persecution narrative," exemplied by novels like Orson Scott Card's Ender series, left me and many others adrift in a power fantasy that could never come true.
Riight now there is a lot of controversy about young adult literature and its representation of young folks, especially marginalized youth, from people of color to transgender people. I think this is an important issue, but I also think that it's important for adult literature to reflect on the impact that toxic narratives had on our youth. My goal is not to call out books that, in many ways, changed my life for the better - but to write an adult-targeted fiction series (although appropriate for older teens) that addresses the systematic abelism, sexism, transphobia and more in the sff genre.
The story I've been working on has been brewing since 2009, when Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled. While not a perfect show, I thought it was a great adventure story and handled time travel wonderfully. Unfotuntely, stories about time travel can be traumatizing - I woke one day with a desperate longing for something I can't do in real life, and would be harmful if I could - return in time and adopt a younger version of myself, allowing her to attend high school as a girl. Slowly, this developed into the intended four-part Hemlock novel series, which I would describe as Terminator meets Harry Potter, with a bit of influence I must acknowledge from Dresden Kodak. With consultation with people with physical disabilities, it is very important to me to represent the impact of advancing mobility technology for good. Similarly, I want to challenge the advancing narrative in society that tech geniuses solve everything.
tl;dr it's kind of a political book with lots of nostalgia for 80s and 90s sf but it's also got lots of robot fights
So why am I crowdfunding? Why can't I just write a book? I suffer from ADHD and autism and focus is incredibly hard for more. Additionally, a financial disaster has left me in danger of hunger and inability to access needed psychiatric medications. This could be viewed as a blessing in disguise - if I commit to write this book in two weeks (even if I don't meet my goal), I consider it a sacred obligation to do so.
Anyone who pledges will receive a copy of the book in whatever format they want. I do not intend to market the first book in the series - it will be available perpetuablly. I've received sigificant expressions of interest in reading the book, and this may just be the trigger that makes it happen.
A note: I set a $1600 goal but I will finish the book assuming I receive enough basic funds to live on, and I will live as conservatively as possible in the coming weeks. Being able to afford food and ADHD medication is my highest priority.
I truly believe that this project can serve as a critique of Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, and other authors who have made important marks on fandom, but also to some extent promoted toxic attitudes. It's a chance to tell a story about a trans girl, and why maybe it's okay to NOT transition when you're 14. Most of all, it has exploding robots.
The Hemlock saga is a planned four part seres of novels averaging 300 pages about a young, transgender girl named Amy Hawthorne, her closest friend Autumn Seraphin, and her reluctant companion, high school bully Kevin Sumter. Since birth, Amy has been tormented not just by feelings that she doesn't know who she really is, but also strange visions which traumatize her, yet give her the power to create technology far beyond 2002's capabilities. (The story is a restrospective on the impact of young adult power fantasies, so I've chosen to set it in the recent past.) When a mysterious stranger from Amy's dreams appears just in time to stop a robotic attack on her school, Amy learns that time has been fractured by the AI's tampering with reality, and that there are many timelines. Retreating to a hidden timeline where she was never born, she learns the harsh truth that she is destined to both create and destroy Hemlock, the AI.
When I was a young girl, I didn't know that I was a girl. Like many transgender women, I gravitated to fiction about people who could change who they were. I didn't understand why but I knew that I desperatly wanted to be somebody else. Unfortunately, corrupting influences such as the "nerd persecution narrative," exemplied by novels like Orson Scott Card's Ender series, left me and many others adrift in a power fantasy that could never come true.
Riight now there is a lot of controversy about young adult literature and its representation of young folks, especially marginalized youth, from people of color to transgender people. I think this is an important issue, but I also think that it's important for adult literature to reflect on the impact that toxic narratives had on our youth. My goal is not to call out books that, in many ways, changed my life for the better - but to write an adult-targeted fiction series (although appropriate for older teens) that addresses the systematic abelism, sexism, transphobia and more in the sff genre.
The story I've been working on has been brewing since 2009, when Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled. While not a perfect show, I thought it was a great adventure story and handled time travel wonderfully. Unfotuntely, stories about time travel can be traumatizing - I woke one day with a desperate longing for something I can't do in real life, and would be harmful if I could - return in time and adopt a younger version of myself, allowing her to attend high school as a girl. Slowly, this developed into the intended four-part Hemlock novel series, which I would describe as Terminator meets Harry Potter, with a bit of influence I must acknowledge from Dresden Kodak. With consultation with people with physical disabilities, it is very important to me to represent the impact of advancing mobility technology for good. Similarly, I want to challenge the advancing narrative in society that tech geniuses solve everything.
tl;dr it's kind of a political book with lots of nostalgia for 80s and 90s sf but it's also got lots of robot fights
So why am I crowdfunding? Why can't I just write a book? I suffer from ADHD and autism and focus is incredibly hard for more. Additionally, a financial disaster has left me in danger of hunger and inability to access needed psychiatric medications. This could be viewed as a blessing in disguise - if I commit to write this book in two weeks (even if I don't meet my goal), I consider it a sacred obligation to do so.
Anyone who pledges will receive a copy of the book in whatever format they want. I do not intend to market the first book in the series - it will be available perpetuablly. I've received sigificant expressions of interest in reading the book, and this may just be the trigger that makes it happen.
A note: I set a $1600 goal but I will finish the book assuming I receive enough basic funds to live on, and I will live as conservatively as possible in the coming weeks. Being able to afford food and ADHD medication is my highest priority.
I truly believe that this project can serve as a critique of Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, and other authors who have made important marks on fandom, but also to some extent promoted toxic attitudes. It's a chance to tell a story about a trans girl, and why maybe it's okay to NOT transition when you're 14. Most of all, it has exploding robots.
Organizer
Eleanor Amaranth Lockhart
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
