When Vasily Korsokovach sprung to life many, many years ago, I only had the vague contours of the character. A few things were certain: he was always intended to be a swimmer, and he had an intellect that was equal to his then-partner, Sean Colbeth. I knew he would be quite conscious of his appearance, and that age was something he would become increasingly acutely aware of; what I’d not thought about — or consciously intended — was for Vas to slowly become something of a social justice warrior. But as he has grown as character, it’s become apparent to me as the author his views on society — especially in the realm of how we treat each other — are a key component of his personality.
Masks was partially born as a result of my curiosity surrounding how Vas might handle having to deal with a segment of the Rancho Linda population that would just as soon see those they don’t care for simply disappear from the face of the planet. While I’ve often hinted that Vas spends a ton of time volunteering for causes that he believes in, rarely have I shown him actively advocating for those who have no voice. Partly that’s due to my own growth in that area; as things have shifted in the real world over the past decade, I’ve begun to find my own voice and have become far braver at using it. Vas hasn’t had the same restraint, of course; he’s only suffered from having to wait for me to get to a spot where I feel comfortable letting him lead the way.
I don’t profess to be at the level of those authors who have done a phenomenal job of tackling this particular issue; my goal was to present an uncomfortable reality within the normally cozy confines of my universe, and then make it far worse as the novel progresses. It wasn’t an easy story to write, for it forced me to bury my own natural proclivity for inclusiveness in order to portray just how possible it is for any of us to live in willful ignorance of what might be going on around us. I think I succeeded, but it cost me a lot in the process of getting there.
I promised to do some Tidbits for Masks, and though I’m a week beyond launch, these will hopefully still be fun (and maybe informative). Here they are, presented as a Q&A:
Did Alex really go “full Vulcan” for his costume?
Why yes, yes he did — right down to shaving his eyebrows. Vasily was both horrified and impressed.
I see there are chapter titles in this book. That’s a new look for you.
I’ve long had informal titles for each chapter, though they generally don’t survive into the final manuscript. This time around, I thought it might be fun to hint at what is within each chapter — without, of course, giving away the store. There are some wild puns in there, not to mention a few inside jokes that don’t make sense until after you read the chapter.
Okay, so which chapter title is your favorite?
I think it’s a tie between Chapter Fifteen (Nights of Wine & Rosie) and Chapter Twenty-One (Alex Lays Down the Law).
Hang on, what happens in–
I’m going to stop you right there. No spoilers!
Fine. Can you at least confirm the wedding finally takes place in Masks.
I can confirm… it does not. But a date is finally set. Kind of.
That’s the same answer you gave in Mirage.
Did I? (Looks embarrassed.) Well, like I always say, I don’t actually control these characters. Not one bit.
One Last Thing Before You Go
I’ve had a few questions about the availability of an audio book version of Masks. I’m happy to report that as of this writing, it has finally appeared in the Audible store. While I’m not entirely enamored with the virtual voice narration, Amazon has made some tweaks to the process and improved the tech quite a bit since launching this option a little less than a year ago. The upshot to doing it this way is that it does allow me to make my works available and accessible to more people; if I ever hit the big time, though, I intend to get them professionally redone.
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