By Sophia-Joelle McDowell
Art by Maddy Best

K.R. Quill (they/them) has been a writer for over a decade, but only recently started self-publishing their books. As a queer person with ADHD and autism, writing and advocacy work are two of their biggest passions, and they do everything they can to advocate for their queer and neurodivergent communities. 

Throughout their childhood a love for reading blossomed, one memorable read being The Tale of Despereaux which they received in second grade. While reading has always been a passion of theirs, they didn’t discover a desire to be a writer until around twelve years old. 

After their dad retired from the military, their family settled in a small rural town. This was a tough adjustment as they were used to getting moved around between larger cities like Seoul, South Korea, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. “I will be the first to admit that it was a tumultuous time for my family,” says K.R. Quill. “Being undiagnosed autistic and ADHD made it hard to fit in a small school where everyone knew everyone’s business, so I felt like an outcast for the majority of my time at that school, especially in my class.” 

With low self-esteem and a complicated home life, they turned to writing. “It started out as a way to feel accepted and loved within my own worlds, and was a huge coping mechanism for me at that time,” says K.R. Quill. One of the first pieces they wrote seriously turned into their recently published book The Century Soldier.

They like to explore heavier topics, such as mental health and trauma, within the stories they create. These topics are explored in a very realistic way so as with any read, it’s important to check the trigger warnings. 

There tends to be a big focus on how people heal because they don’t believe in putting in graphic or traumatic elements for shock value. “Creating a story where the trauma isn’t being created, but being healed is something I really needed from my own books,” says K.R.Quill

The casts and main characters that fill their pages are diverse. Most of their characters are some combination of neurodivergent and queer because that’s what they know. “The Century Soldier especially was a book that I took great care to show as much representation as I could. Because the world is diverse and books should be too,” says K.R. Quill.

We spoke with K. R. Quill about The Century Soldier and their queer experience.

Catcall: Outside of Austin, TX which is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly cities in the country, we understand it can be a bit scary living in Texas as a queer person. Can you tell us about your experience? 

K. R. Quill: I live in a university town, so it’s a little more friendly than you would expect. It is terrifying sometimes to be queer in Texas, especially with the legislation that’s being pushed. However, that doesn’t stop a lot of people in Texas from attempting to be queer-friendly. 

I’ve worked as an LGBTQIA+ educator in the area for a couple of years now, and in my over two years of this work, I’ve only ever received one question that has been mildly hateful. Ignorance is a lot more common. A lot of the older folks in Texas are uncertain because it’s new for them and they don’t want to make a mistake. But I do think being queer in Texas is a lot easier in cities than in the rural areas. 

In my area, rural towns are also typically highly religious, and there are many queer people, myself included, who have complicated relationships with religion. Because I was raised in a rural area, I didn’t realize I was queer until my senior year of high school. There was only one person in my class who had come out as gay to the class at the time, and I remember that she had been bullied by the guys and made into a “gay best friend” by the girls. She has since transitioned (I’m so happy for her!) and there has been a bigger outpouring of support than even I expected. And to be honest, it wasn’t until I was about 23 that I had fully discovered myself as a queer person. A lot of that delay was due to the experience that my friend had when she came out.

On the whole, being openly queer in Texas is a range of experiences, of which I have fallen somewhere in the middle. I have known queer people that have gone through oodles of trauma from family, peers, religion, etc., and others who have never had a hateful comment directed at them in their life. In my experience, you have to find your group (usually other queer people) and stick with them. That makes the experience of the state government constantly being against us that much easier—plus, you can make gay jokes and they’ll actually laugh. 

As a queer author the existence of your writing is an act of rebellion on its own. How does your work challenge hate?

I think the biggest way it challenges hate is just having explicitly queer characters. One of my books out right now is a queer romance, with a bisexual woman who is a witch and a genderfluid vampire. The Century Soldier, my recent release, has a prominent character that explicitly uses they/them pronouns, and the MC herself uses she/they pronouns. 

In my books, I also love to put in interactions that are typically less common in my day to day as a queer person. For example, I have characters asking for pronouns and introducing people with their pronouns like it’s completely normal to do that. I know I have to feel out situations as a queer person right now before I introduce myself with my pronouns (in most situations). To me, it would be amazing if I was just asked my pronouns every time I met someone new. 

Something that I think is really important about my books is that I like to ask the question “What if the world was different?” and not just in the terms of advanced technology. What if queer people were treated as normally as everyone else? What if people asked for your pronouns as if it was the normal and respectful thing to do? And, what if when people asked, others didn’t get upset about being asked what their pronouns were?

My stories also give a lot of queer characters the ability to be normalized in the sci-fi and fantasy worlds. To me, queer people are just as normal in a fantasy or sci-fi world, and the idea that an android is more believable than queer people is astonishing to me. So I treat queer people as a normal part of sci-fi and fantasy, because they should be and I believe that it contributes to the societal shift of believing that queer people are just people, and not some boogeyman. 

Tell us about the new journey you’re taking us on with The Century Soldier.

The Century Soldier was written at a time in my life when I was at my lowest, and I needed a hero that I could relate to. Eryn in The Century Soldier comes into her story with the loss of her memories and being a hundred years into the future, and has been tasked with trying to recover herself while also learning this new world. You walk alongside Eryn as they begin to regain their memories and trauma from their past life, and because of her abilities, she’s shoved into a leadership position that she doesn’t want—and has to save the world while she’s at it. 

I was raised in a generation that tends to be more nihilistic because of all of the events we’ve lived through, plus all of our own individual traumas. Eryn is the representation of that struggle, where they’re trying to find themselves and heal from trauma while dealing with a world-ending crisis. She’s also my own representation of what it feels like to be late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD and the aftereffects of that realization. 

I wanted to answer some other what-ifs in terms of science and policy, which is a special interest I can go on about for a really long time, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. One of the things that people will notice when they read my book is that there is zero mention of cars in the city—people walk, take the train, or literally canoe down a street that is also a river. Which, side note, is conveniently named River Street because people are great at naming things. 

I wanted to see what a world without cars would look like. Especially since the future that everyone is trying to push is electric cars. But you’ll see those kinds of things scattered throughout this book alongside the main story—because what kind of sci-fi author would I be if I didn’t take the opportunity to critique current policy structures?

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K.R. Quill is currently basking in the glow of publishing The Century Soldier, but readers can expect more fun books in the future. After a much deserved break is over expect to see the next book in the trilogy, Safety in the Stars. This book will follow Eryn’s journey and healing when she’s no longer battling an apocalyptic crisis. 

K.R. Quill also has a fantasy series and very spicy romance book in the works, a retelling of the Persephone/Hades story. Expect delicious smut and a couple kinks. To keep up with K.R. Quill check out their Ko-fi, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and their podcast coming soon!

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