a work in progress — please be patient with me!
Hello! My name is Silas Kantor (they/them), a Jewish 30-year-old living in Philadelphia, PA. I'm a writer specializing in contemporary fantasy and moderate- to far-future science fiction. Many of my projects feature LGBTQ characters, but the focus is on the story while their gender identity and sexuality is in the background, the same way non-LGBTQ stories have been written for decades.This is my fun and sexy little guide to the various novels I have in development. Click on a title (or non-title, as the case may be, as I am still coming up with names for some of them, despite having written more than half of them) to learn more!
In 2002, a boy in Seattle was murdered in cold blood by his parents. If a person asked, their excuse would be that it was to quiet the incessant, torturous voice of the eldritch god that lives in their basement, who would only accept the slaughter of their teenage son — nothing more, nothing less. The problem is: the sacrifice didn't entirely take.In 2018, Kienan van der Buskirk is enrolled in Glenrose Community College in Whittier, Alaska. Her life is unremarkable, mostly due to her avoidant personality disorder, which keeps her from getting too close to other people... at least until Echotrance Saulnier bursts onto the scene in his bright light and technicolor. While most people on campus are drawn to him because of his ultra-charismatic personality and the dark circles around his eyes that make him look like he took part in the Russian Sleep Experiment, Kienan's fascination rings more genuine than most, and Echotrance becomes fast friends with her.But Echotrance has a secret. Several secrets, actually. And they may end up being more dangerous than Kienan could have ever anticipated.COMING WINTER 2023.
ECHOTRANCE SAULNIER
The protagonist (sort-of?) of the novel. Originally from Seattle, his parents' sacrifice of him kind of left a bad taste in his mouth, so now he goes to school in Whittier, Alaska.He's an extremely charismatic presence (despite suffering from severe anxiety) and people find themselves drawn to him regardless of the fact that his under-eye circles are so dark that he resembles someone who took part in the Russian Sleep Experiment. (He wears sunglasses a lot of the time to keep people from being too freaked out.)Because of the sacrifice, he is able to use telekinesis and to call on the god he was sacrificed to if he needs extra help, but has lost all ability to sleep, or to go unconscious in general.
KIENAN VAN DER BUSKIRK
The narrator of the book. Kienan has extreme AVPD and as a result stays away from people in general. The only people she allows close to her are the theatre majors, who were there for her last summer, which is a time she refuses to talk about and the reason she doesn't show her forearms in public.She has a chronic case of foot-in-mouth syndrome, and tries to avoid conversation with people, but something about Echotrance makes interacting with him easier than interacting with most. The two of them become fast friends, and Kienan ends up becoming the first person Echo shows his powers to.She's Jewish, the child of three dads in a loving polyamorous relationship, and made perfect challah on her very first try.
SYDNEY FALLON
Sydney is Kienan's best friend and one of the theatre majors that was there for her last summer. Her theatre major fits perfectly with her fascination with learning other peoples' stories and being able to tell them. Her friendship with Echo is perfect for that, too, but of course she'd never tell anyone his secret without permission.Her father is constantly trying to get her to move back to Lincoln, Nebraska, because he thinks theatre is a useless major; in Nebraska, she could "start her life over" and pick a more "viable" career path. The more she spends time with Kienan and Echo, however, the more confident she becomes in finally standing up to her dad and telling him this is her life's dream.She also has a crush on one of Kienan's dads, Czej, which isn't important to her character as a whole, but is extremely funny.
KATRINA "KAT" CARNAHAN
Kat is one of the theatre majors Kienan is friends with, and the most enthusiastic person you will ever meet. Though her wardrobe leans toward the witchy goth aesthetic, her personality couldn't be further from. She finds beauty in the simplest of things -- like double-sided tape, or window rooms in a hotel. (...They're all window rooms.)Compared to the rest of the cast, Kat has a great life, which probably contributed to her love of the world around her. Her parents are entirely supportive of her choice in career, and make sure to send her handwritten letters catching up on her college life, because they know how much she loves sending and receiving them.Echo, Kienan, Sydney, and Nick will defend her to the death. Do NOT make Kat sad, or you're going to experience the full wrath of everyone who knows her.
NICK SULLIVAN
Nick is your basic everyday business major. After fifteen years of working at a big-city job, he finally admitted to himself that something was missing, that this couldn't be all there was to life. After attending a play his ex-girlfriend's son was in, he took a leap of faith based on the twinge of je ne sais quoi he felt while watching, and enrolled in a few theatre classes at Glenrose Community College.Because he's the oldest of Kienan's friend group, at thirty-seven, he was worried he wouldn't fit in, or that it would seem strange for a full-grown adult to be hanging out with kids he's old enough to be a parent of, but Kienan & company don't mind at all, especially since he's the only person besides Echo who's old enough to rent a car, and the person they go to when they need to decipher lengthy terms & conditions, or any other time a white cishet adult man with a business degree is needed.
The year is 8043 A.D. Humanity is extinct; the only inhabitants of the planet are androids. It's in this world that Omnia, the last human, awakens, after spending six thousand years in stasis. And she's having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that there isn't a single human left.Luckily, she's got Refiner's Fire as a companion to help her navigate this new world. Unluckily, the two of them don't quite get along. Even more unluckily, someone is trying to kill Omnia, and has been doing so since she awoke in her vault underground. Who in the world could be trying to kill the last human... and is Omnia right when she insists that there must be some humans left, maybe in vaults just like hers that just haven't been discovered yet?CURRENTLY BEING RELEASED HERE