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(2002-09-30)Q. How personally do you take negative reviews? Do you believe that as a writer your ultimate validation comes in the form of critical success? RP: Reviews have driven me into depression, but only if they point something out that I know to be true. As for the rest, I have had to accept that my books are not going to appeal to everyone. They may seems obvious, but it is, surprisingly, something I have had to learn the hard way. Novels are written for readers, so of course it matters what they think. Still, one has to keep faith with one's vision. Q. Do you think that your sexual orientation has had any influence on the sales of your books? Though there has been a tradition in fantasy of authors utilizing gay and lesbian characters, it is not prevalent. Were you concerned that most readers of fantasy, who we all know are passionate about the genre, would be unwilling to accept gay relationships? Your books are certainly not sexually explicit in any way. Your characters are natural and human and either quite likeable or detestable, as the case may be. The fact that some may be gay is peripheral to the story and not any more or less important than whether they are male or female. Did you expect that your books would be perceived as being so controversial nonetheless? RP: I am gay. It seemed to me impossible to write my first book in such a way as to deny that. Of course, I worried about what the reaction of my readers might be. However, I had to be true to myself. The sexuality of my characters is as, you say, peripheral to the story, as it is to the lives of real people when they are not being subjected to prejudice. If readers of speculative fiction cannot handle this issue, then who can? As for controversy, I am vaguely aware that some people have got a little hot and bothered, but then others have complained about the violence in my books... to each his own. Q. Do you think that you would have a broader readership if Carnelian’s love interest was a woman instead of a man? Has your agent or editor or publisher ever pressured you to be more mainstream? RP: At this moment, perhaps, but I hope that in time the Stone Dance will gain the readership it deserves. Victoria and my publishers have never seen this aspect of the books as an issue. Q. Did you know that Carnelian was going to fall in love with another man when you began writing the first book, or did this storyline come to you as plot unfolded? Were you hoping that readers would accept this relationship as they would a heterosexual one or did you want to set yourself apart from most other writers of fantasy thereby? RP: The society of the Masters, like many others that have repressed women, lead to their young men finding love among themselves - with or without sex being involved. Left alone on his island, Carnelian might well have developed a relationship with some concubine, as his father did. In Osrakum, stultified by the restrictions of ritual, it was far more likely that he would be mostly in the company of his peers, all men. People fall in love with those that fascinate them. It is difficult to be fascinated by someone you never see. There are countless aspects of my created world that intoxicate me, that posssess me, that fill my dreams. It is immersion in this world, the movement of deep currents in the story that are what the book is about. If in the midst of all this, two men falling in love is offensive, well, so be it. 
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