im a trans woman and a big fan of your work, & i want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. ur writing helped me articulate, & come to terms with my dysphoria. David's stress related to testosterone helped me go forward w/ my transition. so, are you thinking of writing stories w/ queer characters in the future? also, i relate to ur works so much i was wondering if youve everquesstioned ur own gender/sexuality?

David Wong Yes those characters will definitely be there, the key for me is I often chicken out because I don't want the readers to think that the inclusion of a trans character is supposed to be part of the horror. "Look at this scary world in which MEN become WOMEN and everyone is okay with it!!!" My books exist in a universe in which everyone is kind of a mess and I don't want them to be a mess BECAUSE of their gender identity. On the other hand, if those characters are just universally accepted by the other characters in the book, that's not being true to the trans experience in the real world -- I don't want to sugarcoat what they go through.

Representation gets screwed up because writers often don't put enough thought into how it comes across, and trying to do it in what they think is a "positive" way (where the LGBTQ character is portrayed as perfect and flawless) doesn't help, because then you've robbed that character of their humanity. Humans aren't flawless, especially not in my books. I owe it to those characters to make them just as ridiculous as everyone else.

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