A few years back, my partner Eve Rickert and I wrote a book. You may, if you’re reading this blog, have heard of it. It’s about polyamory, and it’s called More Than Two.
In the book, we said, “We’re not experts on polyamory. We believe there are no experts. Polyamory is still too new for that.” The book did rather well, and as a result, a lot of people turn to us as those poly experts of expert polydom who can tell you how it’s done.1
Pigeon, meet hole.
We’re not poly experts because, err, there are no poly experts. As Eve likes to say, we’re artists: More Than Two resonates with people not because we’re the gurus on the mountaintop handing down the poly wisdom, but because we’re writers who can talk about our own experiences in ways that some folks connect with.
Did you know that we write about more than just polyamory? It’s true!
In fact, we have another book coming out this fall. It’s a novel, and it’s not about polyamory. Indeed, there’s not a whisper of polyamory in it.
So what is it, then? Well, imagine a quasi-steampunk alternate past in which Queen Victoria never existed, the Protestant Reformation never happened, there’s no British Empire, Dr. Frankenstein succeeded with his experiments (sort of), and the British don’t drink tea.
Then make it a comedy in the style of or Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books.
Only with a higher body count.
How’s that for jumping out of the pigeonhole?
Anyway, as we did with More Than Two, we’re crowdfunding this book. It’s called Black Iron. It publishes this fall, but you can get an early copy of it if you like. Plus, we have all sorts of other fun stuff, like posters and T-shirts and other goodies. And today, we’re repeating a stunt I did back in 2015 when we crowdfunded The Game Changer: from noon to midnight, Eve or I will write a blog post for every crowdfunding contribution we get in that window. We’ll keep writing as long as you keep backing, or until we drop. And for contributions over $100, you can suggest a topic. Follow along by RSVPing to our Facebook event or following the #WLAMF hashtag on Twitter.
There is, of course, a downside to not being pigeonholed. When you fit safely in your hole, people know what to expect of you. When you don’t, they don’t. “Well, yes, you can write a good book on polyamory, but can you write fiction?” I hear you saying.
It’s a fair question. I think the answer is yes. You can check out an excerpt from Black Iron and see if you agree.
We have a lot more books inside us. Some of them won’t easily fit into pigeonholes.
To be fair, we never intended to write Black Iron.
There’s a funny thing that happens when it comes to creation. Sometimes, it seems like the thing you’re creating wants to be created. It’s as if there is a universe of books out there, waiting to be written, and occasionally they find their way into our world through the head of some person somewhere.
That’s the way it was with More Than Two. Not to sound superstitious, but it feels like that book wanted to be written, and we were the conduits between that universe-space where unwritten books live, and the real world.
That happened with Black Iron. It pushed its way into this world even though we had other plans. So it goes.
There are a lot more books trying to be born right now. There’s a vast universe of unwritten books clamoring to be written. I invite you to explore with us.
1 Along the way, some folks have apparently started using More Than Two as a blunt instrument against other folks—”You need to do thus and such because Eve and Franklin say so!” Please don’t do that.
I wouldn’t say that I use “More Than Two” against people, saying this is THE right way to be polyamorous, ’cause that’s what Eve and Franklin is saying.
But “More Than Two”, and Franklin’s site, has been my guide in all of this, I again and again find myself thinking “Yes, offcourse, that’s the right way” or something like that, when reading the book and on the site.
So offcourse, when I’m discussing polyamory, I’m talking from my view about poly relationship’s, which definitely is influenced by “More Than Two”, no doubt about that.
And that’s totally fine! That’s how we intended More Than Two to be used: read it and take what helps you; discard anything that doesn’t. It’s just that we’ve heard stories about people calling on More Than Two, or us, as some sort of authority, and…that’s not what we intended. If you’re talking about what you think and how that was influenced by what we think, that’s cool 🙂
RE; the “Blunt Instrument” thingy, Ermmm Nopey, hadn’t heard that one till now. Odd To Me Anyone would call it that. It’s Full of Tons of HardWon Knowledge and Information, and Excellent Thoughts and Ideas, about Polyamory. Things that Work, Things that don’t, and the Why’s beyond> “because Y isa Crooked letter”. There Are No Mandates I’ve Seen . I Do Term the MoreThanTwo Book the> *Poly Bible Though*. Because that’s What It Is To me 😉
Still Like One Size Doesn’t Fit All and Won’t Ever (Most Likely), Its Up To Anyone How They Do It or Don’t ‘eh?
Meybe Someone is hitting their Partner over the head with it or something? . Everyone I Know Adores It!
In Love~Suni
Hi Eve, Franklin,
I remember you mentionned a book you were thinking of writing, a more « generalist » one compared to more than two which was a bit focussed on polyamory.
I also remember a blog post where you ended up burning your first draft 🙂
Do you still intend to write it ? Please say yes 😉
Looking forward to read your novel anyways !
Cheers
Eve and I are no longer coauthoring books. However, I do plan to return to that book. 🙂