Collin's first novel
Conquering Venus, is a nominee for the Lambda award, a finalist in the Predators and Editors Poll, and a heck of a good read.You may know Collin as a poet, as an editor, and as the go-to guy for all things American Idol, but here's a little more about
Conquering Venus that you don't know.
What's
Conquering Venus about? In the summer of 1995, young American writer Martin Paige agrees to chaperone a group of high school seniors on their graduation trip to Paris as a favor to his best friend, teacher Diane Jacobs. Diane hopes Europe will act as a catalyst to lift Martin from his grief following the suicide of his lover, Peter. But the trip proves to be more than either of them bargained for. Martin finds himself falling in love with one of her students, David McLaren, who is unprepared to cope with his burgeoning sexuality. He also meets a mysterious Parisian woman, Irène Laureux, who is debilitated by agoraphobia and spends her days spying on the hotel guests across from her apartment. Martin and Irène discover they have a logic-defying connection: a small tribal tattoo on their left hands that means “equal but opposite.” This is same tattoo that Martin’s lover and Irène’s husband had inked into their skin. All the characters lives are irrevocably changed in a horrifying terrorist attack on a Paris metro station. Liberated by the blast, forced from her own self-imprisonment, Irène learns her husband’s death was not an accident, and dares Martin to acknowledge the role he played in Peter’s suicide. Diane, harboring her own secrets and a hidden agenda, takes a drastic step to force David out of the closet and admit his feelings for Martin. From America to England to France, the globe-hopping story places fictional characters amidst historical events such as the Nazi occupation of Paris, the student/worker riots of 1968 and the terrorist bombings of Paris in 1995.
Hooked? Check out the trailer
here .
When you're done there. come back for five questions!
1. You're an award-winning poet and are very active in the Atlanta performance poetry scene. You're also the managing editor of a monthly arts and community newspaper in Atlanta. How was writing a novel different for you?
I tried writing my first serious novel in the early 1990s, but I could never sustain the narrative. I had been writing poetry, plays and screenplays – writing short, so to speak – and I enjoyed the economy of those mediums. Conquering Venus began as a screenplay, but I knew there was a more expansive story to tell. I could dig deeper into the characters than a screenplay would allow. The novel has been the most rewarding writing I’ve ever done.
2. At the
Conquering Venus launch event at
Outwrite Books in Atlanta, you joked that the real-life model for the character of Diane in the novel was in the audience. What were your experiences and inspirations behind
Conquering Venus?
My friend, who was a teacher in 1995, asked me to help chaperone a group of students on their summer trip to Europe. That’s the only true thing in the novel. It was my first trip out of the country, and the sights, sounds and atmosphere of Paris overwhelmed me. We were in this little hotel on Rue Rampon and there was an apartment building across the way that always had the balcony doors open, but I never saw anyone there -- just a big desk and walls of bookcases. I started imagining who might live there and the character of Irène was born. When I came home, I started watching all the old French New Wave movies from Louis Malle and Francois Truffaut starring Jeanne Moreau. I used her as the model for Irène, and I was off and running. Since Venus was originally a screenplay, I took inspiration from films like Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire and Until the End of the World and Kieslowski’s The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colors trilogy. When I turned Venus into a novel, I tried to keep those filmic aspects intact.
3. What's one surprising thing - in a surprising novel - that a fan of
Conquering Venus should know?
Although the novel is categorized as “gay/literary fiction,” two of the Venus’ main characters are straight and the plot does not completely revolve around sex and sexuality. There’s also a mystery and thriller element that runs through the story. I think one of the reasons it took so long for Venus to find a home is that publishers could not put it into one box or category to market it. It is literary fiction, it is gay, it is a mystery, it is a thriller and it’s even got a touch of the paranormal. I poured all the things that I love to read into the story.
4. Are you tuning up your Parisian accent for the audio book version?
I do want to do an audio book version, but I think if I can just get the pronunciation of the French words and places I’ll be happy. We hope to have it done in the near future and make it available exclusively on iTunes.
5.
Conquering Venus is book one of a trilogy. What can you clue us in to about what's next for Martin, David, Diane, and Irène?
The second book begins two years later, the night Princess Diana dies in Paris. Irène and Martin, with the help of a detective, have been trying to track down her dead husband’s lover, but they keep running into roadblocks. Diane is back in Memphis living with her parents after traveling around Europe for a year and David has, literally, disappeared. One of the big cliffhangers from Venus is answered, but new mysteries are created that won’t be solved until the third book.
