I thought I’d do something a little different with this.
Instead of compiling a list of questions, copy and pasting them here in bold, then answering them — I thought I’d just leave this page open as a discussion board.
- As with the rest of the site, these comments are moderated — unless you’ve had a previously approved comment your comment will not show up until it has been approved. There’s no need to submit twice.
- Be nice. I care not if you say it, “Love thy neighbour as thyself“, “An it harm none, do as ye wilt”, “Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law, and the law is love”, “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself”, “And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself”, “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful”, nor an hundred other ways be nice. I believe fully in free speech, and as such I will practice my right to freely speak my mind on rudeness, hatred, cruelty, etc, by pressing the magical and wondrous button labelled ‘ban’ or ‘delete’. Correcting people is fine (I’ve seen boards where this is considered rude, that’s preposterous and wrong on so many levels I could make a series of blog posts about it … don’t worry, I won’t), just be polite; hurting someone’s feelings is still hurting them, if you won’t like to be talked to in a certain way or called a certain thing don’t do it to someone else.
- While I will certainly be happy to discuss my thoughts on abstract matters such as general philosophies and theological topics, let’s keep the current media frenzies out of this and make some genuine effort (notice I’m not asking for success at this) to stay on topic of myself, and my writing. Anything else can be left to comments on any blog posts I might make on a particular topic — and if I don’t make one about Kate Middleton‘s baby, or Ke$ha’s latest album, or What Her Premier Said About Our President, or the latest disaster, etc. then assume that I’m keeping my thoughts to myself and leave it be.
- Likes have been disabled — at least for this page — because liking this page just seems absolutely ridiculous and pointless, yet someone (had I not disabled it) would do it. I wish I knew why.
Jaye Em Edgecliff 
Just to kick things off I will respond to something that is less a question and more a commentary I’ve seen:
Why are the girls in Love or Lust so young?
Flippantly, and in the end: because they are.
More detailed and philosophically: because there’s no reason for them not to be. There is no magical age when one is grown up enough to know what love is, all pop psychology aside. We grow up, one hopes, learning what love is and how to love from our friends and our families. Couples may fall in love at 5 or 50 — age is naught but a number. Sally and Lauren are 14 because they were born in 1996 and the story takes place between 2010 and 2011.
Do they seem a little mature? Is that a fault of the author or a fault of society and its perceptions?
They are mature in much the same manner as the characters of Harry Potter: they’re intelligent, educated, thoughtful, generally good, people. This, to most people, is maturity. By this measure a toddler can be more mature than many of the thirty-somethings I work with every day; and in fact I’ve met more than a few toddlers at least no less mature than some of these working adults (I leave it to your imagination if I’m complimenting the child, or insulting the adults).
Perhaps they are not the norm for 14 year olds in the United States, I couldn’t say. Most of the 14 year olds I knew — an entire graduating class of them — were quite mature and responsible people for the most part, but we were also attending a school with minimum academic and behavioural standards. And I’ve not met many teenagers lately who weren’t raised by attentive parents who were sure to teach their children how to be decent human beings. Maybe my perspective is somewhat skewed, but I shan’t apologise for it if that’s the case.
As teenagers we grow up. That’s the point. Puberty is growing us up in an all-fired hurry. The point of Love or Lust is that they are teenagers, one and the same time adults and children — we do call that age Young Adult in literature for a reason, and once upon a time that was the term for them in society as well — young men and young women. No longer children, but not yet wise in the ways of the world.
Yes, they fall in love at first sight — believe in it or not, that’s up to yourself. There’re true stories of, in essence, what takes place within the first two chapters of that book and at every age from 5 to 50 and beyond. The girls are exploring that feeling, testing it, examining it. Should it matter, then, if they optimistically refer to it as love? And by extension should it matter their age or how long they’d known each other when they choose to start saying it? Is it somehow more believable when it’s 20-somethings, 30-somethings, or older? If so, then I have a question in return: Why?
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Will there be a third book? And are you going to have any other books come out?
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Yes.
The third book is terribly behind schedule due to a lot of unavoidable circumstances, but it will happen. The series is four books.
After the Now & Forever set I’ve got a few ideas, Færie Patrol being the only thing I’ve thought of anything to call it.
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