A New Defiant Writing Project
As a queer writer and a lifelong fan of LGBTQ romance, my answer to the fascist push in the US to ban queer books and erase trans people is simple: I’m going to write more queer stories. More joy. More love. More unapologetic representation.
Along the way, I’m going to celebrate Mexican Americans, especially our Indigenous roots. And then I’m going to leverage the whole project to create a platform for other queer Latine voices!
For decades, I’ve studied the Nahua peoples of pre-Invasion Anahuac — their language, their customs, and yes, their love lives. Anahuac, “the land by the waters,” was the great central basin of Mexico — now Mexico City — before the Spanish invasion. In the early 1400s, it was a glittering tapestry of lakes, canals, chinampas (floating gardens), and powerful city-states like Tenochtitlan, Xochimilco, Tetzcoco, and Chalco. That’s where my new romance series takes place.
Lakeside Loves is a cycle of a dozen queer historical romances set during the first decades of the Triple Alliance — what most people now call the Aztec Empire. Each novel spotlights a different set of lovers across the spectrum of gender, sexuality, and social class, using the tools of queer romance to explore Nahua social relationships as no one has done before.
Here’s a taste of the first three:
- Amid the Floating Gardens — A sapphic romance between a juridical scribe and a widowed weaver in Xochimilco.
- Spark the Rain — A love story between two male boxers in the Confederation of Chalco.
- Monarch of the Near and Nigh — A con artist–to–lovers tale about a cacao counterfeiter posing as a noble, and the xochihuah scribe he tries to seduce into helping him claim a duchy.
These are adult romances, with explicit queer intimacy alongside rich historical detail. They’re very different from the YA novels I’ve published under my legal name. That’s why I’m releasing them under the pseudonym Aeron Zaldívar — not to hide who I am (clearly, I’m the one telling you!), but to signal to younger readers that these books aren’t meant for them.
I’ve already drafted the first three novels, and this winter, the first will be published by Nekissoh, a new imprint of indie Latine publisher FlowerSong Press that I will be managing. But over on Patreon, you can get them months early — two chapters a week — plus extras like novellas and short stories at least a year before they’re released anywhere else.
If you believe in resisting erasure with beauty, desire, and truth…welcome to the lakeshores. The water’s warm.
