TJ Klune, bestselling author and Lambda Literary Award winner, delivered a spring 2024 LJ Day of Dialog keynote address on the advent of his forthcoming novel, Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Tor). Kristi Chadwick, LJ's SFF co-columnist introduces Klune.

Kristi Chadwick: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Library Journal Day of Dialog. My name is Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal Science Fiction and Fantasy columnist, and I am introducing the opening keynote today. First, a big thanks to our many sponsors for helping make today happen. Do make sure to stop by the exhibit hall to see what they have on display and to download the free resources. Remember that all of today's sessions will be recorded and available soon in the live sessions area. And now I am pleased to introduce bestselling author, TJ Klune, who will be transporting readers back to the wonderful island orphanage and our favorite caretakers, Arthur and Linus, in Somewhere Beyond the Sea, coming from Tor: Macmillan in September. Welcome, TJ.

TJ Klune: Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here to finally be able to talk about this book. So, I am TJ Klune. I am the author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets, the “Green Creek” series, the “Extraordinaries” series. And wouldn't you believe it? A bunch of other books. Thank you for listening to me blab on about things that are important to me and things that I think should be important to all of us.

As such, let me start with some statistics from the National Institute of Health. 41% of transgender persons in the United States attempt suicide at least once in their life. 31% of transgender persons in India end their life by committing suicide, and 50% of them have attempted suicide at least once in their life before their twentieth birthday. 50% of transgender persons in Australia have attempted suicide at least once in their lives. In England, 48% of the transgender young people have attempted suicide at least once in their lives. In going down and getting a closer look at those statistics, let's take a look at some place like San Francisco. In San Francisco alone, among young people under the age of 25, that number is 50%.

Why do I bring this up? Obviously, those statistics are horrifying, especially when we live in the quote unquote, far-flung, futuristic year of 2024. The fact that these numbers are so high should be a call to action for so many of us. 50%, think about that number, 50%. We’re just supposed to sit here and believe those numbers are acceptable? That is half the trans population in those countries. Half have attempted to take their own lives. These are our children, our friends, our family members, our colleagues. These are people who are going through something transformative to find their true selves, only to be met with violence and hostility. And then there's how it relates to my work.

Why did I mention this? For two reasons.

First, it comes with the idea of legacy. Last year I was asked at an event what I thought my legacy would be after I was gone. Me being me, I gave a pithy retort. What do I care? I'll be dead. It won't matter to me if people remember my name 50 or 100 years from now, but I've since realized that's not quite true. I do want to be remembered for something, and it is very specific.

I want you to stick with me here on this. I want to be remembered as the Anti J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling, the billionaire author, which, by the way, billionaires should not exist, who, instead of using her wealth and reach to better our world, has decided to spend her days on Twitter attacking trans people for having the audacity to exist. Imagine you are one of the biggest authors the world has ever known, writing books about standing up for what's right only to turn into the villain you warned about. What a slap in the face that is! What an absolute betrayal! People like that, people who think that they are somehow better than others, more human, deserve to be shunned from society. No ifs, ands, or buts, and nothing less than just that.

At the end of the day, Rowling has no idea who I am, and that's okay. I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing, writing for my community who deserve to see themselves in books. Our stories matter, important stories that show all the different facets of our lives. Stories where we get to be the heroes, stories where we get to be the villains, stories where our truths are put down on page. Trans and nonbinary authors like Ryka Aoki, Anna-Maria McLemore, Andrew Joseph White. Those authors are telling trans stories in a way that no one has ever done before, putting trans characters front and center where they belong in stories that defy imagination.

The second reason and the biggest reason Somewhere Beyond the Sea exists. Over the last few years, numerous individuals from the trans community, including trans people, parents and guardians of trans youth, medical professionals who provide gender affirming care, testified in hearings in front of the government. Our government, the United States. In these hearings, these amazing people spoke their truths. Their bravery was extraordinary, something that I don't know that I could do, quite honestly, at least not without getting arrested for flipping off every single politician in those chambers, while also demanding to know how they got so rich doing what they do. Those people testifying, the trans people, parents, guardians, people providing gender affirming care—they were met with hostility, especially the trans people testifying, or the guardians and parents of trans youth. In fact, most of the politicians who were present fell into two camps. Either they smiled and nodded, and said, we see you, we hear you. Then they turned around and voted against pro trans legislation. Legislation meant to protect trans people. They voted against it.

The other camp to me was worse. They questioned trans people about their bodies, about their minds, about their rights to exist. Parents and guardians of trans youth were accused of indoctrinating their children, in other words, transing them. But here's the thing. That's not how that works. That's not how any of this works. In this country and around the world, trans people are facing extreme attacks from people who quite frankly don't know what the hell they're talking about, and aren't qualified to speak on matters, or even at all. In the novel Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Arthur says something I've been thinking about for a very, very long time. He says hate is loud. He's right.

People have a tendency to love quietly and hate loudly. But here's the thing about those loud people. They are shouting because they are desperate to be heard. Deep down, deep, deep down, they know they're wrong. They know how history will view them. But they are so far down the rabbit hole that it doesn't matter. All that matters to them is that they think they're right. They're not. They're the exact opposite of right, yet they scream and shout like they're the ones who are under attack.

Have you noticed something a little interesting, too? Have you noticed how the focus seems to be on trans women, especially in sports, and I'm not just talking about swimming or soccer. I'm talking about playing pool. I'm talking about dart competitions. In both of those sports, trans women have been pulled from competition because they are trans. I was absolutely unaware that males had a biological advantage to things like darts and playing pool. Wow! Is there anything us men can't do?

Speaking of men, we don't hear anything near the amount about trans men versus what we hear about trans women and girls. Why is that? It's very simple. Transphobia is deeply, deeply rooted in misogyny. It has never been about protecting children. It's about controlling them. It's about ensuring they turn into what society deems as normal, and they won't stop.

It's trans people now. But what about others? Gays, lesbians, bisexuals? Do we really think if they succeed with their vendetta against the trans community that they'll stop and not come for the rest of us? If you believe that, well, maybe take a look at history and see how that worked out, or you could take a look at our own Supreme Court, where more than one justice has signaled that they think Obergefell, which was the right for same-sex marriage passed in 2015, oversteps and should be overturned just like they did with Roe v. Wade. We were told abortion rights would never fall in the U.S. Look where we are now. Do you really think they'll stop there?

So, I say, and forgive my language. Fuck that. Fuck that right in its stupid face. Hate may be loud, but you know what? I'm also a loud motherfucker, who frankly doesn't give two shits. I don't have a single solitary shit left to give. Trans people deserve to be treated with grace, empathy, and respect just the same as we would treat most everyone else, except for transphobic, homophobic, racist, and misogynistic people. They can all die mad about it for all I care.

So, what does all of this have to do with Somewhere Beyond the Sea? I wrote this book in direct response to those hearings involving the trans community. I was even fortunate enough to speak to some of the people involved in testifying. An answer I got really stuck out to me. I asked, knowing what you know now how the reception was going to be from the politicians that we elected: Would you still have gone through with it? I asked this question multiple times. The answer I got back, every answer was all the same, unequivocally, yes, and that's what I decided to focus on. That strength, that purpose, that hope, that power.

I didn't stop there, however. In addition to speaking with those amazing people, I also got back into contact with the social workers I'd spoken to when writing The House in the Cerulean Sea. I spoke again with people who have been adopted or fostered, or who are adopters or foster parents. As it turns out, social work hasn't gotten any easier. In fact, it's gotten that much harder, especially, and this is something I was told repeatedly, especially with all the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that permeates our culture. And because social workers, like teachers and librarians, are overworked and underpaid. But something I heard repeatedly hit me like a ton of bricks, something that became the focal point of the sequel. All these decisions are being made on behalf of children. But why is no one asking these children what they want?

The youth of today are smarter than we ever were at that age. They are more worldly, more present, more knowledgeable, and it's all because of the little magic box they carry with them—their phones. They have access to anything a human can think of, and they pay attention. In my travels across the U.S., Canada, and abroad, I've had the opportunity to speak with hundreds, if not thousands, of kids. They know what's going on. They know about the books being taken from their schools. They see how their trans peers are being treated. They know about wars and genocides that are occurring as we sit here. And guess what? They're pissed off. They're angry, and they are right to be because people are trying to take away not just their safety, but their identity. Without our identity, who are we?

I'm sure that you're all aware that the American Library Association every year releases a top 10 list of the most banned and challenged books in the United States. If you go back years, what do all these lists have in common? All of the banned and challenged books are by and about queer people, about trans people. Authors of color are listed on there because they write about the queer experience along with the Black experience. Those books are under attack as well. It's very interesting that those specific books are the ones that we're seeing be challenged and banned more and more and more.

And, though I wish it didn't have to be this way, it is, and I hope those children are paying attention. I know they are, and I hope they use that anger. I hope they hold onto it tightly without letting it consume them. I hope they grow up to be the change they want to see in the world, because let's face it, and I'm going to be blunt about this. So, a few of you might get offended, and I don't apologize for that. One day, and one day soon, all of those old white people in power will die, and it will be up to the generations that follow ours to make the world as it should have been from the beginning, one that is welcome to all. They'll do it. I know that they will. Let's face it, our job is to protect them. Our job is to encourage them. Our job is to ensure that they succeed.

There should be an entire generation of queer people above me. An elder, queer generation who can impart the wisdom and the history of our community. But they're gone. They were mostly killed off by Reagan and AIDS in the 1980s and ’90s. So, it has fallen to a lot of people of my age to be the quote unquote queer elders even though the word elder next to me just does not fit well. Because look at my face. I have a very beautiful skin routine, and I'm just absolutely gorgeous. Mwah. But those are the people that we have to hope for. Those are the people that we have to encourage, because those are the people, the younger generations that are coming up who will make this world a better place.

Which leads me to Somewhere Beyond the Sea. I started writing this book in the summer of 2022. It had been a while since I'd been to the island of Marsyas. You see, I wrote The House in the Cerulean Sea, Under the Whispering Door, In the Lives of Puppets back-to-back-to-back all before Cerulean came out in March of 2020. So, Cerulean at times felt almost like a distant memory. I'm sure I could have told new a new story in a new world based upon what I wanted to do. But here's the thing. I had a choice, I think. I could have grown up to either be a writer or be psychotic. Why? Because I hear voices in my head. Characters who demand that their story be told, and there is one character above all others who lives rent free in my brain. You might be thinking, Oh, it's Lucy! Oh, it's Linus! Oh, it must be Arthur, because Arthur is the one who narrates the story. No, it’s Chauncey. Yes, Chauncey, the green blobby boy, who wanted so badly to become a bellhop that he read dozens of books about it. I adore him. He is one of my favorite characters I've ever written, and, dear God, he does not shut up.

So I figured, hey, why not? Why not see if there's another story to be told. Because there wasn't supposed to be. Those first three books were all meant to be standalones. I wanted to try something different. I wanted to work in different worlds and move on to the next. But Chauncey wouldn't let me. He said that there was another story to be told, and he was absolutely right. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is about resistance. It is about fighting for what's right.

In the first book, Marsyas was a place of healing, a place of discovery. While it still is that, it has turned into something so much more. These children, these remarkable children who aren't real, but are real to me, are growing up. They have a home. They have a place to be free. So, what comes next? What does it look like to fight to keep that home and not only that, but what happens when that fight comes to your doorstep? What if the children refuse to be passive in the face of ever-increasing odds?

What if? And stick with me here because this might be radical. What if we ask the kids what they thought? Yes, we get to see the family of two dads, the gremlins, and their queer sprite protector. But we also get to see what happens when these kids decide they are done with being told how they should look, how they should act, how they should exist. We get to see Sal become the leader I always knew he'd be. We get to see Talia stick it to the man quite literally. We get to see Lucy decide what being human means. We get to witness Phee come into her own as one of the most powerful beings in existence. We get to see a new, fiery side of Theodore. We get to see Chauncey be Chauncey. What that entails, well, I'm not going to tell you now. You'll have to wait and see.

In addition, we also get to meet David, a boy hinted at during the final pages of Cerulean Sea. David, who comes to the island with his own history, his own trauma, his own hopes and dreams from the future, and my God, does he fit right in with the rest of the family. Also, yetis, they frickin’ rock. We also get to meet the villain of the story, a woman on a quest for power, named Jeanine Rowder, who is based explicitly upon J.K. Rowling.

Some of you might be thinking, TJ, is that the wisest move? She's a very powerful person. And you may be right, but I don't care. What's the point in having a platform like I do if I'm not going to fight for my community? What's the point of doing what I do if I just told stories. Whether or not people like it, my entire existence has been made into a political talking point, much like they are doing with the trans community, only to a much harsher degree. If we do not call out hate, if we continue to let it fester, then we have already lost. So yes, the villain of the book is J.K. Rowling’s stand-in, and I regret absolutely nothing. And you know what? Maybe she'll even read it one day and get super pissed off about it that I called her out on her bullshit. If she does, I'll be ready and waiting. She's going to find out that I don't have a single, solitary fuck left to give, and I will do my best to make sure she knows she's wrong, even if she never realizes it herself.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea was supposed to come out in 2025, but I asked that it be moved to 2024 for one very specific reason. I'm very sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but unfortunately, we have an election this year between two men who are somehow against all odds still alive.

I'm not so high on my own supply that I think this is the most important book I've ever written. But at the same time this novel is a product of our times. You might get the impression while reading it, as you might be getting while listening to me now, that I'm angry. You'd be right. I'm furious. How dare all these people in power, people elected to promote the rights of their constituents? How dare they? How dare they become disgustingly rich all while hurting those who are already beaten down. How dare all these people in power use their religion as a shield? Religion that, by the way, usually teaches one to love thy neighbor, not to weaponize the manmade words. Somewhere Beyond the Sea is for anyone who wants to read it, but I wrote it for those who have been told all their lives that they don't matter, that their existence is offensive, that they've been indoctrinated, groomed, forced into being a queer and/or trans person. I wrote this book because something's got to give. I wrote this book as a love letter to anyone who has ever been othered simply for being who they are. I know what that's like. So many of us do, and I think it's our turn to show the world that different isn't bad. It's just that, different. Differences make us unique. Differences are what bind us together. Differences are what unite us.

You should know that whatever happens when this book comes out, it is not my fault. I say that for a very good reason. The House in the Cerulean Sea released on March 17th, 2020. Imagine, if you will, getting that release date, oh, I don't know, like a year in advance, getting more and more excited the closer it comes, getting ready to go on my first nationwide book tour, only to have the pandemic explode across the world the week the book came out. So, while all of y'all were out buying toilet paper and wiping down your cereal boxes for reasons I still don't quite understand, I was sitting there going, hey, do you want to read a book about kindness and the Antichrist? Promise it’s really good.

And then, eight months later, The House in the Cerulean Sea appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for the very first time on January 6, 2021. Do any of you remember anything else happening on that date? Hmm, hmm. So please be aware that when Somewhere Beyond the Sea releases on September 10, 2024, whatever happens on that date, it is not my fault. I'm kidding. Mostly.

There are some people that I've met on my journeys talking about books. As I wrap this up, I'd like to share some of those people that I've met. And I want to tell you about them because I think that they're important.

Deep in the pandemic in 2021, when all of us were still at home, we couldn't go out, couldn't do much of anything. A large part of my job at that point was to do book clubs, online stuff, and stuff like that. So, I spent a lot of time online. I don't like being online. I do not like the Internet. I'm totally fine if I don't have to check social media ever again. But one day I was randomly on Facebook, and I never check direct messages. I just don't. I don't have time for that. And some people send some very weird things in direct messages, so it's better for me not to look at all. But a notification popped up for a direct message, and for some reason I clicked on it. I can't tell you why. Maybe it was just an accident. Maybe I just thought I'll get rid of the notification, but I clicked on it, and it opened a message, a very, very long message.

At the top in brackets: Hello! My name is fill in the blank. I am the father to fill in the blank. Me and my husband recently read The House in the Cerulean Sea with our son. He would like to talk to you about the book. He's 7 years old.

What followed was a stream of consciousness. This huge, huge block of text that was basically this kid giving me a book report on my own book. He talked about Chauncey and Lucy and Talia, Phee, Sal, Theodore. He talked about his favorite parts of the book. But it was at the very end that I realized just how important this book was to him. Because at the end he wrote that he had been very, very sad because of the pandemic. He hadn't been able to see his friends for a very long time, and it made him sad. But when he read The House in the Cerulean Sea, it was like he had friends again and that he could be there with his friends. And would I like to see his Chauncey costume?

Forgetting that I was speaking to a child, I responded. Hell yes, I'd love to see your Chauncey costume. Thankfully, the father, who was typing in response, was very accepting of me, saying, hell, yes, to his child and uploaded this picture, this picture of this remarkable kid who his father called theatrical, artsy.

If you were a queer boy of a certain age, you were probably told that at some point or heard that about yourself. It's basically a different way of saying, maybe this kid will be queer when he grows up. You hear about how much your work affects people. I'm so very fortunate and so very humbled to have spoken with so many people, but that moment, something hit me so differently that I burst into tears. Obviously, I'm having a little hard time right now, because of the fact that this kid, this wonderful child felt sad because he couldn't see his friends, and then he picked up a book and found friends.

I next want to tell you about a boy I met in West Virginia. I got asked to go to a very rural area in West Virginia to go to a school. At this school, which, by the way, is kindergarten through twelfth grade, one school for all grades. I was asked to speak to the upper grades, sixth through twelfth.

I got on stage and gave my spiel, talk about queer this, queer that, queer books, queer lives matter, queer everything. And afterwards the librarian who spoke to me said, “I think we're going to get in some trouble.” And I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “Some of the school board was in the audience, and they did not like the use of the word queer. They did not like how you use that word.” I said, “That is my word. That is how I describe myself. What would be the issue?” She said she didn't know but that she expected to be pulled into a school board meeting at some point over this. I felt bad. I felt horrible because if there's one thing I never ever want to do, it's to make a librarian get in trouble, to put more work on their plate. Librarians quite literally saved my life when I was a kid, and I have long championed and fought for libraries and librarians. So, the idea that I made a librarian's job harder was horrible to me.

However, after this assembly, after speaking to these kids, a 12-year-old boy who'd been in the audience came up to me and said, “You know what? I know all about that gay stuff.”

I said, “What do you mean, tiny little 12-year-old boy?”

He looked me straight in the eye, and he said, “Last year I had a girlfriend. She came out as trans, and now he’s my boyfriend.”

Think about that! If it's that easy for a 12-year-old, then what the hell is wrong with adults? It was that easy. It was that easy for him. Girlfriend came out as trans. Now he's the boyfriend. It’s that easy.

There was a girl in Idaho, a trans teenager who lived in a bad home, and she read The House in the Cerulean Sea, and she told me, when she met me, that it was her kick in the butt, her realization. That book helped her realize that she needed a way out, and she got one. Currently she is working and going to school in a different state. She has found friends, she has found community, and she has found family, and above all else, she is safe. She is healthy, she is happy, and she is whole.

I'll leave you with this—a question I already mentioned, a question I ask myself constantly. If we are so concerned about the future of the youth, why is no one asking them what they want?

Thank you for listening to me today. Thank you for doing what you do. Like so many people, the only reason I survived my terrible childhood was because of the library. I found myself in books, and I wouldn't change that for anything.

Hopefully you get to see the fruits of your labor within your lifetimes. Trust me, even if you don't, it is there, and it will continue to grow and grow and grow, until one day those old people in power will be gone, and we can finally feel what it's like to be free. Thank you again.

Kristi Chadwick: Thank you so much, TJ, for that amazing talk, and I know that people will be having conversations for a long time about it. Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning and got to hear TJ's words. Next, we are going to have two concurrent panels: Twists and Turns and The Power of Positive. Have a wonderful Day of Dialog. Thank you.