I've decided to unpublish The Sunken City. Rereading it, I decided that I wanted to focus on stories that create hope, love, magic, and growth. I will look at editing it in the future, but for now I'm putting it back in a drawer.
I once responded to a Tumblr post, which asked, “Why don’t books, movies, and shows always have happy endings?” I replied, “There’s nothing sadder than a happy ending that you can’t envision happening for yourself.” I watched in horror as my response was shared over and over again. These were not the written words that I wanted amplified.
Later in 2018, I was confronted again by the idea of happy endings vs. sad ones. I went to the Hans Christian Andersen museum in Denmark, and one of the exhibits was a room full of H. C. Andersen’s unrequited loves. Beautiful poems and long letters were displayed below portraits of men and women. There were explanations of the stories these unfulfilled loves inspired. I cried that this room could exist. I recalled all of the unreturned affections of my own life. I wondered if we as artists focused on the possibility of a happy ending if there would be a room in this exhibit or at least one portrait of a love realized.
Later that month, I wrote my first short story with a happy ending. A fling had ended, but instead of focusing on how I felt in that moment I focused on how a future relationship — the relationship that I wanted — could be. This short story now hangs up on the walls of my home and will be published on GayFlashFiction.com in late December.
Happy endings and hope matter. Gay fantasy and all fiction should lift us up and allow all of us to reconsider what's possible for us. I hope you continue to follow me as I post more work aligned with this vision. I am hoping to start a Quarterly Literary & Arts publication online that will also further this vision and create a space for gay fantasy for our community.
