An Indies Introduce Q&A with Emily Hamilton

Emily Hamilton is the author of The Stars Too Fondly, a Summer/Fall 2024 Indies Introduce adult selection. 

Arden Harris of A Seat at the Table Books in Elk Grove, California, served on the bookseller panel that selected Hamilton’s book for Indies Introduce.

“A super fun and queer space opera that follows a group of late twenty-somethings on a journey they never anticipated,” said Harris. “This was a fun, engaging, and quick read. Any queer person out there will be able to see the roots of a found family in Cleo’s group — and the U-Haul lesbians U-Hauling at light speed. This was the book I needed to get out of a reading slump, so thank you Emily Hamilton for that and the group of queers that will be living rent free in my head for a while.”

Emily Hamilton: Hi!

AH: Emily Hamilton is a science fiction writer who writes about women kissing in space. She's also an award-winning staff writer at the alt-weekly newspaper Seven Days. She lives in Burlington, Vermont, with her wife and their tiny dog, Mimi. And The Stars Too Fondly comes out June 11. It’s an absolutely amazing space oddity, romcom blend that I didn't know I needed in my life until I picked it up and read it. So yeah, let's talk about it!

EH: Oh, I'm so excited! Great.

AH: What was the writing and querying process like for you as a debut author? I know it's different for every person — that journey is different for every person. And is there any advice you'd give to aspiring writers based on your own experience?

EH: Yeah, totally. I think my experience is pretty unique, because my first job out of college was working in the publishing industry. I was an assistant to two agents at an agency in New York City called Janklow & Nesbit, and I quickly learned that publishing was not for me. Around the same time I started that job, I started writing The Stars Too Fondly and it very quickly became clear that I wanted to be working on my own book instead of other people's books. And so, when I left that job my friend and fellow assistant, Roma, made me promise to send her my book when it was done, and I did when I finished the book in 2021, and now she's my agent.

So I feel very lucky for the connections that I made when I was working in publishing. It's not something I'm ever going to take for granted. And I love to tell writers, if I have any advice, it's to just ruthlessly exploit your contacts. I don't want you to feel any shame about that, you know? ‘Cause publishing is such a weird, completely nepotism-based industry. And so whatever contacts you have, work them out because there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

AH: Community aid. That's what it is.

EH: Exactly.

AH: You're relying on your community.

EH: Exactly, mutual aid. It’s what we need.

AH: Yeah. Let's all boost each other.

EH: Exactly. Yeah.

AH: Actually speaking of — that's perfect. One of my favorite parts of the book was actually just the cast of characters. There was something really wholesome and validating and almost healing, seeing a cast of queer characters of all different identities that have these really, really deep bonds with each other. And that also were like, just in their late twenties or early thirties with these advanced degrees.

And I just feel like that's something we deserve to see more of in fiction. Not just queer struggle or queer angst, but queer joy and queer connection and queer success. So, I want to know: How did the core group of friends come to be? Were they always as they were? How did they develop? (Especially Kaleisha. I love her so much.)

EH: I love Kaleisha, too. She's her own character, but she's, in many ways, an amalgam of some of my best and oldest friends who have been there for me through everything. I think the main friend group, Cleo, Kaleisha, Abe, and Ros, they kind of sprang fully formed into being at the same time as the plot of the book. There was never any question in my mind that the story was going to be centered on a queer friend group that is like my own.

My best and oldest friends are from high school. We all came out as gay in college. You know, that kind of thing, and I think that's true for a lot of a lot of queer people. It was never any question in my mind. Some of the characters were more fully fleshed out in the beginning. Kaleisha was always very much who she is. But Ros took a little bit longer to figure out just because they are so complicated. The way they react to the events of the story is so different from anyone else, and it was kind of figuring out where they were coming from, and why they are the way they are took a little bit longer, even though I always had the idea in my head. It was more of a process to make that clear on the page.

And then Abe was kind of the least developed for several drafts, and my agent, Roma, was the one who pushed me to develop him as much as I did. He was really in the background for the first few drafts. But getting more out of him, developing him more, was such a joy because he is such a delightful character, and now he's like one of the best characters in the book.

AH: Sure. He almost acts a little bit as the glue at times.

EH: He's the himbo mom friend.

AH: Yes!

EH: But I have been referring to him as he's [the] gender neutral mom friend.

AH: You know, every group needs one.

EH: Yeah, exactly.

AH: Someone's got to keep us in line and remind us to take our medicine.

EH: Exactly.

AH: What has been your favorite part of releasing The Stars Too Fondly into the world? I know we're not quite at publication yet, so it could change later. But has it been, like, connecting with readers or advanced readers? Was it the writing journey, the publishing journey?

EH: I think that the thing I am most excited for is to connect with even more readers than I already have. Obviously, I've already connected with some advanced readers on Instagram and…I don't read Goodreads. My wife reads me the good reviews.

AH: I love that.

EH: I sneak a glance every now and then, which I shouldn't. But the reaction has been so amazing to see because I wrote the book that I wanted to see in the world. It's really a book that's so infused with me and everything I love, and so to have it out in the world, and to have it be connecting with people, and to even see a few reviewers and advanced readers say that this is the book of their dreams is so special, and I can't wait to go on book tour. I'm like so excited to meet readers in person.

AH: Always a fun time.

EH: Yeah.

AH: I think that this sort of cozy, inclusive fiction is: 1) where we're headed just in general, but 2) what we need, especially with everything going on in the world and in our own homes. Just seeing a cast that’s unapologetically themselves. And it's not the butt of the joke or anything, but is celebrated throughout the whole story. It's just really important, especially right now.

EH: Yeah, aww. Thanks.

AH: So it's, again, just really touching. And, again, just seeing the friend group was my biggest part cause I was just like, “Oh, my gosh! That's just so what we need!”

EH: Thank you. I'm already working on my next project. But, I can pretty much promise right here that I am never going to write a book that is not A) space, B) gay, C) about friends.

AH: Well, I’ll be here to read all of them.

EH: Oh, thank you!

AH: There’s no worry about that. So our second to last question — I believe, because I think we're just speeding through these — is kind of related. If there's one sentiment or theme that you want readers to take away, what would that be? Because we all read differently.

EH: I started writing this book at a very, very rough point in my life that I don't need to get into all the details of, but the upshot was that I was 22, and I was learning that the way I had related to and experienced and expressed my feelings — the way I had been taught to do that my whole life — was terrible and not working. I was going through so much rough family stuff, and it took me years to tell any of my friends what was going on with me, because I was so scared of my darker, more difficult feelings.

And so I wrote this book where learning to process and express your feelings is, I think, the most central theme. Feelings of all kinds, whether they're negative, like anxiety, or positive, like love. Where embracing your feelings eventually saves the fucking universe. And so I hope that helps even literally one person. If there is another emotionally-repressed lesbian out there who was raised in a — I don't know — Christian household where nobody ever talked about their feelings, just, I hope this connects with them in that way.

AH: I think you see that a lot throughout the book as Cleo's journey through processing her emotion, and not just that, but being able to talk about that with her friends and coming to realize she's got a lot more support than she might realize.

EH: Yeah.

AH: Yeah, that's a beautiful sentiment to take away. Yeah, I'm just really grateful you wrote this book.

EH: Aww!

AH: All I can say, I just had a great time.

EH: Good.

AH: So for a bit less of an emotional one, and more of some silly, goofy times…

EH: Yes.

AH: Because we gotta do the emotional whiplash, right?

EH: Oh, yeah, yep, yep.

AH: So I’ve seen you talk about Cleo and Billie's star signs and your own. So, I was wondering if we know, like, all the cast’s signs, or like their Big Three? Or, how wild are we going?

EH: Oh, yeah, we've got their Big Three.

AH: Oh, I love that.

EH: This is my favorite question. Okay, should I give a tiny rundown on what the Big Three even means?

AH: Yeah.

EH: Okay. And I am not. I'm so far from an expert.

AH: Same.

EH: Like, astrology gays, don't come for me. But, so your Big Three is basically your sun sign, your moon sign, and your rising sign. Your sun sign is sort of the core of your personality. The moon sign is how you experience emotions, your emotional life. And then your rising sign is sort of the persona that you project out into the world. That's the quick and dirty explanation.

So, Cleo is a Sagittarius sun. Which means that she is adventurous. She's silly, she doesn't take anything too seriously for better and very much for worse, and she's like always on the move. She's always on to the next thing. She is a Capricorn moon, which means she's the most emotionally repressed bitch you've ever seen. And then Leo rising, which means she projects a very fun, sort of attention-seeking persona, but that's maybe not who she is, like down in her bones.

Okay, Billie is an Aries sun. She and Cleo are both fire signs. That is why they fight so much. Aries suns are impulsive, they are passionate — sarcasm is their love language, like that kind of deal. She is a Cancer moon, which means that underneath all that Aries brashness she has just an absolute Mariana Trench of feelings going on under there, and she's a Capricorn rising, which means she's projecting a sort of alpha bitch vibe.

Okay. Kaleisha is a Taurus sun. She —

AH: Clocked it.

EH: Yeah, yeah, yeah! Which means that she is just so into her own little routines, her plants, her chocolate covered hazelnuts. Tauruses! I love Tauruses so much. They are obsessed with pleasure and comfort. And that is Kaleisha's vibe. She has a very soothing, calming vibe. She's a Virgo moon, which means her emotions are a little anxious.

AH: Oh, Virgo moon.

EH: A lot anxious. She needs to have everything planned out. She needs everyone to be on board. And she's a Scorpio rising, which means that she likes to make fun of people. But she is not mean at all.

Okay, Abe is a Cancer sun. What I was saying earlier: mom friend. Cancers are the mom friends, always caretaking, nurturing. They love it. He's a Taurus moon. So, in his emotional life, he likes everything to be stable, comfortable. And that's why he and Kaleisha are together. And he's a Pisces rising, which means loves to talk about feelings. He's the only one in the book that doesn't need to go on some sort of journey about talking about his feelings. He's already doing that. 

AH: Yeah. He’s a facilitator. Like, “Guys? Hello? Can we talk?”

EH: Exactly. Yes. Okay. And finally, Ros — Virgo sun: anxious, stressed, puts so much pressure on themselves constantly, always. Gemini moon means emotions are all over the place. This is a no-Gemini-hate zone. But it does mean the emotions are up and down, up and down, because Gemini is about duality. And then Aquarius rising, because in the book this falls away very quickly, but Ros does try to project a sort of like, cool, unbothered, just funny chill vibe. They do not succeed at it because they are a Virgo. But yeah, Aquarius rising.

And that's it! There is one character who I think it would be a spoiler to talk about, but they are a Libra — very much biggest Libra around. Do you — do you know who — ?

AH: There are two in my head that I'm wondering about. Whether it's the brother or the scientist.

EH: Oh, no! It's the brother.

AH: Ok, I was like, that'd be interesting for the scientist. But the brother, that tracks.

EH: Yes, the brother is a Libra. Which my Libra agent would want me to mention. 

AH: I love that. That explains why I was like, yeah. All that Virgo energy.

EH: Yes!

AH: On that ship.

EH: Exactly.

AH: I don't know if we rushed through this too quickly or not, but it has been a pleasure talking to you, and thank you for spending some of your time here today with me.

The Stars Too Fondly comes out June 11, so I don't know when this interview is going out, but hopefully around then and we will get to meet all of the space gays, and hopefully everyone loves them just as much as we do. It's been an honor helping to get this book onto the list and talking to you and just getting to be part of this process.

And I hope that your publishing journey just continues to go really, fantastically well, and The Stars Too Fondly is super well received, and anything you publish in the future just gets even more success.

EH: Aww, thank you so much, Arden, this has been such a delight.

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The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton (Harper Voyager, 9780063320819, Paperback Science Fiction, $18.99) On Sale: 6/11/2024

Find out more about the author at emilyhamilton.net.

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