Taking Flight
by T C Parker
Released: Jan 06, 2023
Genre: Romance: Comedy
Why this book and why now?
Taking Flight is actually the first and only romance/romcom I’ve written. Though everything I write is queer/sapphic, I generally focus on horror and crime fic – so this was very new territory for me!
It started life years ago, as fanfic I uploaded to AO3 and promptly forgot about – this was long before I’d produced any original fiction. Nine books later, I stumbled onto it in the dusty archives of my hard drive, re-read it… and it made me smile. So I played around with it a little, reworked and rewrote it until liked where it netted out, and decided – after much deliberation – to release it.
I’m still nervous as hell about it, truth be told. It’s very, very different from my usual stuff!
Would you and your main character(s) get along?
Hard to say: I think I’d find them both a little exasperating! They’re both smart, and talented in their own ways, which I’d enjoy, and Eva and I could probably talk about books until the cows come home. But something tells me being around them would be like being stuck in an episode of Frasier, and I like a quiet life!
What TV show would your main character(s) most likely binge watch and why?
Though Felicity doesn’t have a TV, which feels very on-brand for her, and Eva lives in what might as well be a home library, I suspect they could both be coaxed into a movie marathon of Ealing comedies, or something similarly slapstick. Possibly they’d also sit through Working Girl and/or The Secret Of My Success, the twin inspirations for what turned into their story… but those two might cut a bit too close to the bone. I can imagine the awkwardness in the living room building to a crescendo with every new comedic misunderstanding.
What’s your main character(s)’s favorite book and why?
I doubt you could get Eva to commit to any one favourite – the woman’s a textual omnivore. She’d likely object to the whole idea of choosing a ‘favourite’ anything, book-wise.
Felicity would probably go non-fiction: maybe something to do with architecture, art or design. I can see her being a fan of the Bauhaus, so maybe something on (or by) Frank Lloyd Wright or Bruno Adler, the latter probably in the original German.
Publishing a book is a huge accomplishment and it’s time to party! Choose a celebratory beverage for one of your main characters to toast the release of your new book.
Coffee, for both of them: they’re both chronically sleep-deprived, and they’d need the caffeine, if anyone’s expecting them to party. And English though Felicity may be, she’s got a very clear position on tea.
