Finding Books with Asexual Characters!

 For Asexual Awareness Week this year, I decided to see if I could find other asexual authors and/or authors writing asexual characters. I posted in my Queer Sci-Fi group and got a number of responses from the authors.

This list includes the authors who reached out to me. I tried to divide loosely by category. Some of these authors have multiple books with asexual representation. A few of the authors are using #ownvoices.

As I was compiling this list, I was referred to The Aromantic and Asexual Characters Database! It's a bit overwhelming, but once you've checked out the authors below, you should go there to find more matches.

The categories below include:

• Science Fiction
• Speculative Fiction
• Fantasy
• Urban/Contemporary Fantasy
• FantasyRomance
• Romance

SCIENCE FICTION

In my psychic sci-fi book, the Qinali Virus, Amber is aromantic and asexual. It’s not a plot point, but she does have a conversation about it with some of the other characters.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085WGLZQY

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From YA Sci-fi author Hawthorn H Wright:  In my story A Boy Alone, Charlie, while not the protagonist, is non-binary and ace and is one of several people in a large poly household who contentedly move along completely outside any such dynamics.

https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Alone-Proxima-Alliance-ebook/dp/B07RS1KVNP

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From Sci-fi author SI Clarke: Devon, one of the central characters in my science fiction series, is ace. In book 2, Devon gets married — but I wouldn’t call the relationship a romantic one. They love each other deeply, but they’re not romantic.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48902524-devon-s-island

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SPECULATIVE FICTION:

From Pulp Mash-up author Cynthia Ward: Dr Krüger, the villain in my Miss Lucy Harker Adventures, is an aromantic asexual. There are a few secondary ace aro characters. The Adventures are pulp mash-ups, so, with the exception of my Renfield character, Miss Margaretha Rudolph, the ace aro characters are 'as received.' Their ace and aro orientations are relevant to their characters and behaviors but the plots do not hinge on them.

Book 1 is The Adventure of the Incognita Countess -  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X3T8DWB/

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From Paranormal Mystery author Jenna Rose: John Tilney, one of the leads in the Kanaan & Tilney series is a biromantic asexual! 

http://kanaanandtilneyinvestigations.com

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From Dystopian Fiction author Jack Archer: Several characters are asexual and aromantic. The main character is asexual but enters a romantic relationship with another character. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0881C9VS6

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FANTASY

From Fantasy author Minerva Cerridwen: My novella "The Dragon of Ynys" came out September 15. The main character, Sir Violet, is aromantic and asexual - and very fond of cinnamon rolls. I wouldn't call his asexuality a plot point, but to me it's very much a part of who he is and how he interacts with other characters. I'm aromantic and asexual myself, so the representation is own voices. There are also lesbian and trans characters in the supporting cast. And, of course, the dragon!

https://atthisarts.com/featured/the-dragon-of-ynys/

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From Fantasy author Ava Kelly: Havesskadi's main protagonist is an asexual panromantic dragon. The asexuality is not the focus of the plot, although it does play a role in some points of it, especially in how dragons understand love, affection, and intimacy. 

https://ninestarpress.com/product/havesskadi/

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From fantasy author Bey Deckard: In Kestrel’s Talon (fantasy), one of the three MC’s is ace. I don’t know if it would be considered a main plot point. 

http://geni.us/KestrelsTalon

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From YA Fantasy author D.j. Ruggiero: The lead of my YA series has always known she's romantic but discovers she's asexual while navigating a whole host of other problems at Hawthorn Academy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B084JFXKW7

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From Fantasy author Heather Rose Jones: I didn't specifically write Antuniet in The Mystic Marriage to be demisexual, but that's what she ended up. And writing her helped me figure out my own asexuality. 

https://alpennia.com/books/mystic-marriage

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From Fantasy author Sara Codair: Mel, one of the two main characters in Life Minus Me, is demisexual and panromantic. Her orientation is more incidental than a plot point. There is no romance or sex in this story. 

https://amzn.to/3gPN4rX

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URBAN/CONTEMPORARY FANTASY

From Urban Fantasy author Gus Li: This is an older one of mine, but there are two asexual characters. As an urban fantasy and not a romance, it's not a crucial plot point, but it does come into play. 

https://www.amazon.com/Incubus-Honeymoon-Arcana-Imperii-Book-ebook/dp/B07CQQ2N22/

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From Contemporary Fantasy author Dawn R. Schuldenfrei: Tara is an asexual human in my contemporary fantasy, Liminal Hearts. Working on finishing up the next book, which will have an ace/aro protag.

https://www.amazon.com/Liminal-Hearts-Rules-Chaos-Book-ebook/dp/B07TJJVT8S

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FANTASY/ URBAN FANTASY ROMANCE

From Urban Fantasy author Alex Silver: The third book in my urban fantasy series, Psions of SPIRE, has an ace protagonist (the second book has an ace side character as the protagonist's best friend). Finn, the protagonist of book 3, identifies as ace. They are romantically attracted mostly to masc presenting individuals and they end up in a relationship that includes some sex acts, mostly from a place of enjoying physical touch/sensual connection with their partner. 

Www.amzn.com/B07VGTF3NB

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From Urban Fantasy author Angel Martinez: An urban fantasy romance - the character's asexuality (homoromantic asexual) does play a part in navigating a growing relationship with an allosexual person:

https://www.amazon.com/Uncommonly-Tidy-Poltergeists-Angel-Martinez-ebook/dp/B01MRZV0P8/

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From Fantasy author Antonia Aquilante: I have demisexual main characters in three books published so far. All are fantasy romance, and I'd say the character's demisexuality plays some role in navigating the romances in the books. 

Start here: http://www.antoniaaquilante.com/the-merchants-love.html

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A.L. Williams

In my paranormal romance, there is a non-binary gray-sexual panromantic. Their sexuality is a major plot point.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089G8N99X

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ROMANCE

From Comedy Romance author Rosalie Jardin: My book is a romantic comedy. The main character, Kay Glenn, is demisexual. She discovers that she is a demi throughout the course of the book. She is originally written as ace since she comments that she isn't interested in sexual activities, but as she emotionally bonds with her former locker mate, she realizes that is changing. They even discuss her feelings toward the end of the novel.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CVVCL94

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From Contemporary Romance author Grace Kilian Delaney: Dancing with a Star is a sweet contemporary romance between Xander, a movie star, and Quinn, an asexual fashion model. Quinn's sexuality is not the main focus of the story though it is discussed with Xander.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084RRMS31

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From Paranormal Historical Romance author A.L. Lester: The Flowers of Time is set in 1780 and is a f/enby paranormal historical romance. It's very slow burn. Jones, the enby MC is grey-ace. If you'd like more info you can find it on my website at 

https://allester.co.uk/find-books/the-flowers-of-time/

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Thanks for reading! Please support these amazing authors and tell them I sent you!

Finding my truth in writing my own voice

By the time I set out to write The Qinali Virus, I had been an out and proud aromantic/ asexual for many years. I debated whether I wanted to write a character who was too much like me. But since there are so few people like me in the books I read, I went for it. People shouldn’t have to choose between a handful of books for representation. There should be so many that people can actually choose their favorite and feel safe to dislike some without derailing the genre.

The Qinali Virus features an aromantic asexual astronomer who learns she has the ability to astral project. Amber grew up in a utopic society, and one of the features is that gender identities are not thrust on young children. People get to choose.

The notion to use gender-neutral pronouns in the story came from a podcast I listened to, where I heard the salutation “Mx.” used for the first time. Mx. is the gender-neutral form of Mr./Mrs./Ms. I am sound oriented. I have seen Mx. used in writing in various queer safe spaces on the internet, but hearing turned it into something real for me. I have a PhD, but being called Doctor Mikles never did anything for me. I know other people feel euphoric about the achievement when they hear it. I’ve read that when some women get married and they hear themselves called Mrs. Husband’s Name, they get euphoric. In my case, Mx. is the salutation that stirs emotion. It makes me happy to hear it spoken out loud. And so I decided all the adults in the story would use it by default. 

It wasn’t until I finished my first draft and started editing that I realized Amber might be agender. There’s a discussion about how people choose pronouns in her world, and she mentions that she wished she’d stayed neutral. Her realization, and the fact that she’s very much a picture of me, helped me realize that I am agender. Over the years, I had started to assume that my lack of attachment to my gender was related to my asexuality, but in the last year, I’ve started being able to acknowledge it as a separate, but important part of my identity. 

While this book was intended to be a stand-alone, I've started percolating ideas for a sequel, and in it, I hope to explore more of Amber's desire to shed her gender.

I must be an alien (an asexual's perspective)

 

I wrote a song!

I didn't know I was ace growing up. All I really understood was that the people on TV who were most like me were not human. They were missing out on the "core of the human experience." But as a sci-fi fan, I was always sort of okay with my alien identity.

I was once doing a twitter Q&A for queer scientists, and I remember saying something about how asexuality defines something I'm not. Sure it's an identity label, but it's a label that has ruled out all other labels in its category. The same with aromantic and agender. It doesn't describe something I feel, but rather the absence of a feeling that seems pervasive in others.

I can honestly say that it was only in the past few years, when I started to embrace nerdy music about fandom, anxiety, cats, dinosaurs, and soda addiction that I started to realize that I share so much more of the human experience than my childhood led me to believe. I can be human. (I'm working on a song about that, too, but music is not my main writing.)

So in the last verse of this song, I talk about all that I am and what defines me as a human being. And if all that isn't enough, then I want to be an alien. So take a listen!

SALE - Trade Circle is on sale for $0.99

 

As we're leading up to asexual awareness week, I'm having a sale on my books featuring asexual characters. I wrote in a previous post how writing this book helped me understand my identity. I was so thrilled that one of my reviewers loved the ace character in this book. I hope you love it, too!

Discovering my queer identity: I wrote aces before I knew the word...

Before I ever took on the label of asexual, I drafted a book called “Trade Circle.” I wrote about a girl whose childhood friend had fallen in love with her, but she didn’t feel that way about him. She had never even thought of him in that way, and she tells him so. When my editor read that line, he asked me “why would she lie.” From his perspective, of course she’d thought of him that way. Of course, she must have considered it. Fortunately, in the time between the draft and the publication, I learned about asexuality, and I could put a name to my character's truth. She wasn't lying. It hadn't occurred to her any more than it had occurred to me. In the final draft of the book, I use the label, so that there is no doubt.

Another example… before I got knee deep into my novel writing, I was writing lots of fanfic. Mostly Firefly, but I have Chuck, Torchwood, Big Bang Theory, and a few others… Not all of it is G-rated, because after writing a few episode-esque Firefly novellas, I learned that adding romance got me more attention and comments. As I had no real experience, I was going mostly on things I could research or learn from other people's writing. (My experience with college boys started making a lot more sense once I learned what non-aces fantasize about.)

Anyway, in the Big Bang Theory, Sheldon made it very clear in the early episodes that he wasn’t interested in relationships. When he finally met up with Amy, it became clear that he was not interested in a physical relationship. It really bothered me (1) that Amy flipped the script and suddenly wanted more from him, and (2) that she kept pressuring him to be physical when he made it clear he didn’t want to. I was very happy when they broke up, because it became clear they were incompatible in this manner. And it made me sad, so I wrote, because I thought she needed to listen and respect him. I didn’t realize I’d head-cannoned him as being like me—being asexual. I’m sad the writers decided not to go that way.

It kind of struck me how important it is to address identity (even lack of identity) in a clear way. People can make their own head canons and deny what you wrote. (Fan pairings in fanfic is enough to prove that.) For me, calling a character asexual isn’t just about identifying what they feel, but in confirming 100% to readers like me that what they feel is real and valid, and they are in fact seeing themselves.

Guess What? I'm Asexual!

 Asexual Awareness Week is coming soon! Why do I care? Well, because I am asexual. I do not experience sexual attraction. I’m also aromantic, meaning I don’t experience romantic attraction. I discovered these labels when I was 32, and was so relieved that I wrote a story about it. A screenplay, actually. 

You can check out my comedic web series “Aces” about a group of asexual friends surviving in a hyper-sexual world. Check out the whole channel. “Aced It: Human Studies” is one of my favorites. I have a few more scripts in the queue, and I’d love to make more as soon as we’re out of quarantine and can safely gather in groups again.

I started with the screenplay, because realizing you’re asexual can be very isolating. As a novelist, even if I filled my novel with asexual characters, I didn’t think I’d capture the feeling of community in the same way. When I made my films, everyone working there was asexual, knew about asexuality, or learned about asexuality. (The learning was awesome.)

Here it is: Human Studies!