The Paradox of Love and Death
by Artemis Glass
Released: Feb 05, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Why this book and why now?
I lost both my parents when I was young (my father died when I was a teen, and my mother died when I was thirty,) and so in some ways, I am always writing about love and loss and moments of intense transformation and growth. The idea for this particular book has been a percolating work-in-progress since 2016, which in some ways feels like another lifetime ago.
I started writing PARADOX immediately after I attended the funeral for my mom’s childhood best friend that late spring 2016. I cried so much that day. I cried like I did at both my parents’ funerals. I loved my mom’s BFF – she was a bright, joyful, loving soul, and I was so struck by how supportive her funeral felt, the time I was able to spend in community, and that the shared space of remembering my mom’s best friend invited stories of my own parents. I felt them closer than I had in years.
And it felt so good to cry.
It was cathartic.
I started writing the very next day.
2016 was also the year that I first came out to my closest family and friends, and as those who have come out know, the journey can be at once liberating, joyful, celebratory as well as terrifying, hurtful, confusing, and lonely. Then life hit – multiple health crises, the pandemic, the impacts of the hatred-filled violence and terrifying policies that present daily challenges for my little LGBTQ family.
I know I’m not alone when I say that I have often felt overwhelmed during this intense time of heartache and pain. Writing itself has always been a source of healing for me. Over the past eight years, writing has been a veritable lifeline.
THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH is a book about finding love in the aftermath of shocking loss and seemingly interminable grief. It’s a book about authentic hope, even during the darkest of times, which is a thing I think we all need right now.
It’s also a book that centers a sapphic love story, which is a thing I most definitely needed twenty-five years ago.
THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH came back to me like a gift when I dove back in, post-pandemic. I’m delighted it’s finally out in the world, and I hope it resonates with you as a gift from me. Thank you for reading.
Would you and your main character(s) get along?
Yes! I think my main characters, Noemi and Amara, as well as their friends, Francis and Gael, are just so great (it feels weird to say that, lol!) I love their joyful way of navigating a strange and often sorrowful world. Noemi, the narrator, has a particular softness about her that I enjoyed exploring as a writer, even as she digs herself deeper into the tangled web of lies she weaves around her.
What’s your main character(s)’s favorite book and why?
Noemi and Amara bond over poetry, including Whitman, Grimke, Dickinson, and more. If they were to recommend a current favorite, it would be All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women. As Noemi and Amara learn about their bodies and how to make space for feeling even as they grieve, they are also learning about somatics and pleasure – and this collection is, simply put, fire.
What 3 things would your main character want with them if they got stranded away from civilization, and why?
Noemi would want:
All of the instruments and ingredients to bake Red Velvet Cookie Pops (she’s a baker.)
Massage oil (she’s studying for her Massage and Bodywork Licensing Exam, and she’s going to assume that Amara will be stranded along with her.)
Hiking boots
Amara would want:
Her DVD collection (and the TV/DVD player to watch her favorite films)
Her Rubik’s cube collection
Hiking boots
(P.S. Amara’s in full support of Noemi’s #2. 😉 )
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.
Noemi’s a baker, so she would definitely want to test out a new recipe like this one: Boozy Glazed Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Covered Potato Chips.
What song does your character put on to start your book launch party?
I am currently obsessed with Lucy Dacus, especially her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” I imagine Noemi and Amara leading the party in dance, and we all shake the world off our shoulders, finding relief and hope in this tender, steamy, and sapphic HEA.
Noemi & Amara: A playlist inspired by The Paradox of Love and Death
