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The craft of a fantasy writer is building worlds, making the impossible possible. And when you land inside the worlds of writer T.J. Klune, you immediately encounter the wonderful possibilities of the genre. Maybe it鈥檚 when you meet Nick Bell, his YA superhero with ADHD (鈥渕y gay Spiderman,鈥� as Klune cheerfully calls him). Or when the very uptight Wallace Price, recently deceased and still trying to control his surroundings with the power of his mind, tries to change the sweatsuit and flip-flops he died in鈥攂ut finds himself in a string bikini instead. Perhaps it鈥檚 in the mystery of meeting 鈥渕agical youth鈥� like Talia, a juvenile gnome who鈥檚 a decade or so over 200, or her 6-year-old brother, Lucy, who likes to dance to 鈥淒ead People Music鈥� (oldies)鈥攁nd is also the orphaned son of Satan. Mostly, it鈥檚 about the quiet satisfaction that comes with realizing what鈥檚 missing: 鈥淚n my books,鈥� Klune told me, 鈥渢here鈥檚 no homophobia.鈥� 

In the philosophy of nonviolence, what Klune does is called 鈥減refigurative politics鈥� or 鈥渃onstructive resistance.鈥� We don鈥檛 just demand from others the world we ought to live in; we build and live it now, showing how that looks and feels. When it comes to literature, this kind of prefiguration has a dual effect: creating a vision of what can be, as well as offering a space within the novel where it already exists.

For Klune鈥檚 readers, it鈥檚 a safe space where we are invited to feel understood, celebrated, and whole: 鈥淚鈥檓 showing that queer people get to be happy. I鈥檓 showing that queer people get happy endings, get to be in love, get to be accepted by their friends, their families, their community, and they鈥檙e all the better for it.鈥� And while it鈥檚 a self-imposed limitation in worlds where anything goes, he鈥檚 up for it: 鈥淪omething I promise to my readers鈥攁nd I鈥檝e said this a lot, especially lately鈥攊s that I don鈥檛 care if it spoils the rest of the books I will write in my life. If there are queer characters in my books, they will get happy endings. And since I only write about queer people, my books will have happy endings for queer people, no matter what.鈥�

This 鈥渄efiance,鈥� as Klune calls it, may be less than a form of activism. But his defiance is not your run-of-the-mill surly or rude kind; it鈥檚 of another, more radical order altogether: He defies hatred and fear with belonging and kindness. Folks familiar with his writing say his works feel like a hug. And let鈥檚 be honest: Who doesn鈥檛 need a hug right now? 

As a kid growing up in the 鈥�90s in a small town in Oregon, Klune, who is neurodiverse with ADHD, kept his queerness to himself. It was a form of self-preservation, not only with his peers but with his family. He was afraid of the violence of socially accepted homophobia and the pain of being othered.

Libraries gave him respite: 鈥淭he one place where I felt comfortable looking up stuff about being gay, being queer, 鈥榟omosexual,鈥� what that meant, was at the library. But I didn鈥檛 want to ask the librarians, because even though I loved them, I didn鈥檛 know how they鈥檇 react. I would be sneaking into the card catalog system and looking through the Dewey Decimal System trying to find books about what it means to be gay.鈥� 

Probably not many people born after 2000 know what the Dewey Decimal System even is, but they still know homophobia. They still know what it鈥檚 like to hide parts of themselves from their friends and family, to be called names by strangers on the street, no matter what size town you鈥檙e in. They know what it鈥檚 like to feel alone, even with the digital world at our fingertips. One of Klune鈥檚 fans wrote him a letter asking him to change the book jacket for his YA series, because it had two boys on the front, and he was afraid of being found out by his dad. Klune sent him a plain book cover so he could read it and feel safe. 鈥淭hat basically bummed me out,鈥� he says.

These challenges faced by teenagers are in part why Klune wrote his YA series The Extraordinaries. It鈥檚 about four queer friends who have a lot of things to worry about other than being queer. These are not books about coming out. Even though Klune feels strongly that the coming-out trope has its place, he wants to go beyond it. These are kids who already have a sense of their self-worth and know who they are. Most importantly, they have plenty of support. They have parents, guardians, friends, and family who love them and support and celebrate their queerness instead of trying to change them or silence their experiences. 

Klune, like so many of us, regrets that he didn鈥檛 have these tools鈥攖hese stories鈥攊n abundance growing up. 鈥淚f I had had a book about a queer neurodiverse kid who loves comic books. Do you know how life-changing that would have been for me growing up? To be able to have that, to be able to point to a book and say, 鈥楬ere I am. Here I am.鈥欌�� 

Klune鈥檚 worlds show acceptance and mutual kindness as a protective force. That鈥檚 a sharp contrast to the parents and politicians who say they are trying to 鈥減rotect children鈥� through the removal and censorship of this kind of literature. As Klune says, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e OK with a prince and a princess kissing but not two princes, that鈥檚 not protecting children. It鈥檚 just homophobia.鈥� He told me that someone on the school board in the Virginia county where he lives even suggested a book burning. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing all the anti-trans legislation, anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. You鈥檙e seeing banned books where the books are by Black authors or queer authors, about the Black experience or the queer experience. Nothing else. They鈥檙e trying to remove tools. And these stories that can help kids.鈥�

The storyteller in Klune is watching the book-banning plot thicken, and thinks people forcing these decisions are poking a hornet鈥檚 nest. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 the thing鈥攆or the most part, there are two groups of people that you should never, ever tell who they can or cannot give books to: librarians and teachers.鈥� With a serious look, he adds a word of caution. 鈥淚 love librarians, and I love teachers. But I know that if you try to take away something from their students that can actively help them, oh Lord, you had better watch out.鈥�