“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
―
The duality of soul mates and family obligation
Light To Right Love is one of my favorite short stories for many reasons. One of the main ones is because I got to use another of my galactic races/creations which I plan to use for another project. It’s something I especially like to do since, as I’ve stated before, all LGBTQ+ youths feel like aliens at one point in their life. Another reason for this short being one of my favorites is because of the openness and reality of the storyline. It’s also the first time that I use my twist ending for something good. But, alas, I’m getting ahead of myself because I haven’t told you the main reason why this story is one of my favorites.
Like every writer before me and every writer that will come after me, I can find story ideas in almost anything. As a science fiction writer, I’m always looking at something, accepting what happened, and then asking “What if…”. I always have to ask that question because it allows me to see the endless possibilities. Like a multiverse of thoughts. So, when I finally got the chance to watch Crazy Rich Asians, I got to ask one simple question: “What if I replaced Henry Golding with an equally handsome alien?” I knew which alien race I wanted to use and the story just…came together from that. But the LGBTQ+ themes didn’t come until later.
See, I was writing this during the timeframe of COVID-19 lockdown was lightening up in Chongqing. I was finally able to fully explore the city and actually get lost in it. No, seriously, I really got lost and had to spend around 50 RMB to get a taxi home. However, I wasn’t mad at myself. Quite the opposite, actually. I was enthralled by the scenery of my new surroundings. Because of the beauty that I was seeing, I decided to make Chongqing the setting of the story. It just made sense at the time…and it worked.
I’m not going to tell you the galactic race as it would be leaning towards spoilers. However, I will tell you that, like all my galactic races/creations, they have a very open mind about sex, and they never really bat their eyes at it. Instead, it’s like an everyday thing to them all. It’s a dream future of mine, you know? For my community to be looked at fondly as a fixture to the world. It’s a dream future for all of us.
So, despite Light To Right Love being the 36th short story being released in my Short Story Project, it’s actually the first photoshoot that was completed. I sat down with Martin, Ahmed, and, later, Katie, and we went over everything that we would need for this photoshoot and he walked me through every step of his process while I walked him through every step of mine. Honestly, it was the only photoshoot that went perfectly smooth. I wish I could say the same for the other ones. Well…there were some smooth photoshoots but not a lot. Nevertheless, it was an incredible experience and it was thanks to this little love story. And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.
You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.
You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.
