SATA
ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: THE GOLDEN HOUR
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://niki-smith.com/
CITY: Munich
STATE:
COUNTRY: Germany
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Artist and writer.
AWARDS:Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Erotica shortlist, 2019, for Crossplay; Lambda Literary Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature shortlist, 2021, for The Deep & Dark Blue.
WRITINGS
Contributor to anthologies and comics collections.
SIDELIGHTS
Niki Smith is an artist and writer who nurtured her love for comics while growing up in Kansas. She eventually moved to Germany and focused her efforts on creating graphic novels that frequently feature stories populated by queer and diverse characters. Smith’s first two graphic novels, Crossplay and The Deep & Dark Blue, were both nominated for Lambda Literary Awards. Smith has contributed stories to a range of anthologies and comics collections.
In an interview in Geeks Out, Smith talked with Michele Kirichanskaya about changing attitudes about LGBTQ representation in books for kids and young adults. Smith admitted that “things have come so far since I was a kid, and it’s wonderful to see. Growing up, it was rare to see an LGBT character that wasn’t a two-dimensional stereotype, and even more rare to have that identity go beyond subtext. We still have a long way to go in many regards–particularly when it comes to diversity–but the graphic novels I’ve seen come out over the last few years give me so much hope.”
Smith also spoke with JoAnn Yao in an interview in We Need Diverse Books about her journey to becoming a writer and illustrator. Smith shared: “I always loved reading comics, particularly manga, and I found it endlessly fascinating to see the ways an artist could twist the format to tell a story. You could give a dozen artists the same base script to draw and end up with vastly different comics—the number of panels on a page, the shapes of those panels, … the way the lettering works alongside the imagery, the reveal that comes from turning a page…! There are so many inventive ways to tell stories through comics and I love discovering and trying out new techniques.”
In the erotic-themed graphic novel, Crossplay, a group of old friends meet up at a comics and anime convention, where they participate in its cosplay elements. The book explores the characters as they grow into their own identities while exploring connections with each other that had gone previously unexplored. A contributor to Publishers Weekly concluded that “Smith has crafted a love letter not merely to cosplay, but to healing, self-love, and acceptance.”
With the middle-grade graphic fantasy novel, The Deep & Dark Blue, twins Hawke and Grayce are refugees, fleeing in the after math of their cousin Mirelle’s coup. Their grandfather and his heir were murdered, leaving House Sunderlay in turmoil. The twins go in disguise as initiates of the Communion of Blue, a group of women whose thread spinning binds the world together. While Grayce takes well to joining the order, Hawke wants revenge. A contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked that “if her universe doesn’t feel entirely original, it is nonetheless carefully considered, and young readers will enjoy inhabiting it.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented that “while the story can stand alone, the world is built with a complexity that invites further exploration and adventures.”
In the contemporary middle-grade graphic novel The Golden Hour, Manuel Soto is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing the horror of gun violence at his school. After being paired with Sebastian and Caysha for a group project, he finds comfort in their growing friendship. He also finds it calming to take photos of Sebastian’s family’s cattle farm. Sebastian and Caysha convince him to join the local 4-H club that they are active in, which also helps him to cope with his anxiety. Although he gains the courage to enter some of his photos into a competition, he lacks the ability to openly discuss his anxiety issues with his mother. Instead, he turns to Sebastian as their friendship grows beyond simple a camaraderie. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that “strong, good-natured characters and an endearing representation of young queer love round out a mighty sweet tale.” The same reviewer found the graphic novel to be “exceptionally graceful and delightful.” Writing in School Library Journal, Elise Martinez called it “a stunning work of self-discovery, vulnerability, and finding beauty beyond tragedy.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2019, review of The Deep & Dark Blue; September 15, 2021, review of The Golden Hour.
Publishers Weekly, March 5, 2018, review of Crossplay, p. 56; October 28, 2019, review of The Deep & Dark Blue, p. 105.
School Library Journal, October 1, 2021, Elise Martinez, review of The Golden Hour, p. 92.
ONLINE
Comics Beat, https://www.comicsbeat.com/ (August 15, 2019), Avery Kaplan, author interview.
Comics Journal, https://www.tcj.com/ (June 22, 2018), Alex Dueben, author interview.
Frolic, https://frolic.media/ (January 4, 2020), Aurora Dominguez, author interview.
Geeks Out, https://www.geeksout.org/ (February 25, 2020), Michele Kirichanskaya, author interview.
Niki Smith website, http://niki-smith.com (April 19, 2022).
Roar Cat Reads, https://roarcatreads.com/ (October 25, 2021), author interview.
Smash Pages, https://smashpages.net/ (February 6, 2020), author interview.
We Need Diverse Books, https://diversebooks.org/ (October 25, 2021), Michele Kirichanskaya, author interview.
Artist, writer, lover of fine comics (and some pretty trashy ones too). Raised in Kansas, I now call Germany home, and I’m dedicated to filling the world with queer and diverse stories. My graphic novels Crossplay and The Deep & Dark Blue are both Lambda Literary Award nominees.
If you have any opportunities or would like to get in touch, you can reach me at niki@niki-smith.com
For licensing & rights inquiries, contact Charlie Olsen of Inkwell Management at charlie@inkwellmanagement.com
Niki Smith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Niki Smith is an American author and cartoon artist.
Contents
1 Personal life
2 Selected works
2.1 The Deep and Dark Blue (2020)
2.2 Crossplay (2018)
3 Publications
3.1 Adult novels
3.2 Children's novels
3.3 Short story collections
3.4 Anthologies
4 References
5 External links
Personal life
Although Smith was raised in Kansas, they currently live in Germany.[1]
Selected works
The Deep and Dark Blue (2020)
Main article: The Deep and Dark Blue
The Deep and Dark Blue is a middle-grade graphic novel published January 7, 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Accolades for The Deep & Dark Blue
Year Accolade Result Ref.
2021 Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Shortlist [2]
YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection [3]
Rainbow Book List Top 10 [4]
2020 Kirkus Reviews' Best Middle-Grade Books Selection [5]
Crossplay (2018)
Crossplay is an erotic graphic novel published May 11, 2018 by Iron Circus Comics. In 2019, the book was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Erotica.[6]
Publications
Adult novels
Crossplay (2018)
Children's novels
The Deep & Dark Blue (2020)
The Golden Hour (2021)
Short story collections
Your Hair (2012)
Anthologies
Yuri Monogatari: Volume 5 (2007)
Best Erotic Comics 2009 (2009)
Smut Peddler (2014)
Beyond: the Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology (2015)
Love in All Forms: The Big Book of Growing Up Queer (2015)
Food Porn: A Recipe for Pure Delight (2016)
Enough Space for Everyone Else (2017)
Mine!: A Comics Collection to Benefit Planned Parenthood (2017)
Oh Joy Sex Toy, Vol. 4 (2017)
Score!: A Hot Line-up of Erotic Sports Comics (2018)
Come Together: A European Anthology of Erotic Comics (2019)
“I WANT TO MAKE A HAVEN”: AN INTERVIEW WITH NIKI SMITH
Alex Dueben | June 22, 2018 | 0 comments
There are surprisingly few graphic novels about comics conventions, and the communities and relationships that are formed at shows and around fandom. For this reason alone Niki Smith’s Crossplay would stand out. The book is impressive for a number of reasons. Smith’s sense of composition and page design, the way she uses color – and the fact that the book is erotica. It’s a love letter to fandom, involving a circle of friends who come to the show for a variety of reasons, and have different relationships and ultimately different kinds of sex over the course of the weekend. It’s a story that’s erotic, but even discounting the sexual content, it is a deeply intimate portrait of friendship, of different kinds of relationships, and people rethinking their lives and identities. Smith portrays many genders, many races, many kinds of relationships and does so without fetishizing anything or anyone. It’s a story of twentysomethings in transition, coming into themselves in ways that are poignant and sweet and resonant.
Smith has been making comics for the website Filthy Figments for years including Friends, Eleven Days, and No Questions. Her comics have appeared online and in anthologies including The Nib and Smut Peddler, Oh Joy Sex Toy and Mine! Crossplay is out now from Iron Circus Comics and we spoke via skype about how she works and crafting a queer book that has “drama, but not trauma.” - Alex Dueben
I really liked Crossplay and I’m curious where it started.
Crossplay started as a few different short stories that I did for the website Filthy Figments, which is a collection of erotic comics by women and non-binary artists. It’s a subscription service, due to the nature of the site, which unfortunately means my work has been a bit harder to read than your average webcomic, but I worked for them for about ten years or so, and that’s where Crossplay was originally serialized. I wrote two short comics set in the same world and with some of the same characters, then pitched it to Spike at Iron Circus Comics. She liked the idea and we decided to expand it into a full graphic novel. We agreed to serialize it on Filthy Figments for the year leading up to the Kickstarter.
What were those two stories you initially made for Filthy Figments?
The first was about two best friends flirting with each other in character, using light-hearted role play to hide the fact that they had feelings for one another. The second is much closer to what eventually became the graphic novel, with a threesome between two cosplayers and the girl doing their photoshoot. The same characters show up in Crossplay, but the short story expands on their relationship a bit more.
So it wasn’t that you built the book around those two stories, the book emerged from that world and that idea.
Yeah. I had the whole idea of cosplay and crossplay and figuring out feelings and gender and sexuality and all of that through fandom. That was the starting point.
After you made those two stories and started thinking about the book, what did you want to do differently?
The first two stories were definitely more porn and less plot. [laughs] The final book does have quite a lot of that, too, but the ratio is pretty different-- the short stories skewed toward sex scenes rather than any kind of ongoing complex storyline.
So for the book you wanted less sex/more relationships.
Yeah. With an ensemble cast, I could have all of their various storylines link up and show how different people interact with fandom in different ways.
So this large Altman-esque cast was there from the start?
Yeah.
When you were thinking about it in this way, were you starting with the characters or their relationships or how did you structure the book?
Once Spike expressed interest in putting together a book version of it, I started writing down all the different ideas I had – experiences I’ve had, my friends’ journeys, all the ways fandom and flirting can overlap – and built a story out of that. I used the second short story as my main inspiration: Priya, a photographer, developing a crush on the cosplayer she’s shooting. I used that as my starting point and then overlapped all the other stories with that. Comic and anime conventions are rarely solitary events; friends meet up who may only get to see each other once or twice a year, only at cons. Everyone in the cast is at a different point in their life; some of them are old hat at this, traveling the country to sell their work. Others are still new to the world of conventions and cosplay. But for that weekend, the convention center is full of people who love what they love.
Because there are people who don’t know, maybe we should say, what is crossplay?
Cosplay was originally a Japanese term for “costume play,” when fans dress up as their favorite characters from comics and movies and TV shows. Crossplay is the same thing, but with a gender twist: girls dressing up as their favorite male characters, and every other combination. I’ve had a bunch of friends who saw cosplay as one of their first chances to explore gender. They were able to put on a binder for the first time, because they had the outside excuse of dressing up as a character. It was a way to take a first step, to dress a different way and see how it felt to be addressed by different pronouns for the day.
The book is very much about this dynamic of being able to experiment with gender and roles in this temporary space, even if they’re not all doing this temporarily.
Exactly. You’re surrounded by people who are doing the same thing and they’re all excited and supportive.
I have to say, you did a really good job in the book of capturing a convention and the people who attend shows.
That was a lot of fun, but also I don’t want to have to draw crowded convention halls ever again. [laughs] No more drawing rooms packed with one hundred different people – all in different costumes. [laughs] It was a lot of fun to capture that. I went to conventions as a teenager and then in my twenties when I was on the other side of the table selling my own comics. I wanted to show both sides of that. There’s a character who has a booth in artists alley and then there are characters who are just there to enjoy fandom and celebrate it with their friends.
You capture a lot of this feeling of a show and as I was thinking about it, there are not many comics about this experience.
Yeah. I think Oni is putting out one with Dylan Meconis about a comics convention. I’m looking forward to reading that.
I love Dylan, and will read anything of hers, but I think that book involves the apocalypse.
A little different from mine. [laughs]
Talk a little about some of the characters and their dynamics.
I wanted to have a diverse cast. That was really important. I wanted a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and it’s fandom that brings them together. There a character who is currently transitioning. Another is on the verge of it, not sure how to take the next step and not sure how to ask. They help each other along the way and have some honest conversations and some more private encounters. There’s characters looking for run, casual hookups, and then there’s a those who are experiencing their first real crush on their best friend. I wanted to show more mature, long-term relationships and also the butterflies of first love.
You gave Priya a great line, “Touching you makes me dizzy. I don’t want to stop.” That’s the first time.
Yeah, that’s first love. The constant “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I don’t want to stop.”
Then you have a couple like Tommy and Sierra, who the other characters call disgustingly cute, and they’re playing with gender and power.
They’re the token straight couple, I guess. [laughs] But at the same time, not necessarily. From the outside they may look like it, but I think they’re also pretty queer.
They’re straight-ish and flexible. She crossplays.
And Tommy is absolutely attracted to that side of her, in particular.
Then we have the couple of Lee and Samirah, and she’s not a significant character, but Lee is one of the central figures in the book.
Lee and Samirah are in an open poly relationship. Samirah is more of a secondary character, but she’s always there, supporting them.
Their dynamic and relationship is emblematic of one of the things you’re doing in the book which is to show but don’t tell, in a way that I think might confuse some readers.
I did get a few reactions that there are so many characters it’s hard to keep track of pronouns. I think that’s partially a side effect of telling a story in comic form; in prose you know every character’s pronouns, but in comics you only find them out through dialogue or assumption. I’m okay with that, though; Crossplay is all about blurring lines, with characters who don’t really know what labels to use for themselves yet. So some readers might be confused by that, or by Lee and Samirah’s relationship, but I think that’s okay.
You mentioned that you hated the crowd scenes, but besides that, what was most challenging part of making the book?
I think the thing I spent the most time on was gathering feedback. I hired a handful of friends and experienced consultants to work as sensitivity readers on the book, because I wanted to make sure I got the character arcs right, particularly those of the trans and non-binary characters. This is a book that is all about exploring gender identity; I didn’t want to write a story that was all about cis people. But I also know how easy it is to slip up and write something thoughtless or stupid; I hired sensitivity readers to make sure that didn’t happen.
I would imagine that for example, J’s story arc is easy to envision in broad strokes, but very tricky in the details.
Right. For example an easy way of confirming to the reader that J is trans would have been for Lee to say “he’s doing well.” But Lee wouldn’t do that – they wouldn’t walk out and suddenly refer to J with different pronouns, outing him to everyone. That decision and timing is up to J. There were a lot of small things things like that to consider.
One of my sensitivity readers suggested having the cis characters go a little too far when they’re teasing Lee early on about their voice breaking. Show that every ally is going to mess up sometime, and apologizing doesn’t have to be big and dramatic, amplifying the original offense. It can be natural and sincere.
You said that you wrote the book relatively quickly. Did you change much as you were working on it?
Not really! I wrote the full script, had it edited, and then worked in batches. We serialized it on Filthy Figments, so every month about ten finished pages went live on the site. At the end, Spike went over it and we decided to add some extra dialogue and a few more pages here and there to tweak the pacing. I think all of them were to make the sex scenes longer. [laughs]
Do you think serializing Crossplay affected the story?
Not much. Filthy Figments is a webcomic site, but it updates with batches of pages rather than one page a week, so readers were getting 5-10 pages at once. I think it still worked. Though I did realize it’s harder to follow an ensemble cast over the course of a year of serialization versus reading it all at once as a book. Serialized updates make it harder for the reader to remember what each character was last up to.
Did you know what you wanted from the sex scenes from the start?
I knew that I wanted the sex to reflect the characters. Tommy is really into seeing his girlfriend crossplay and so their scene develops into pegging. J wears a binder and strap-on for the first time, so that scene is entirely about him and discovering his body and being able to feel comfortable and confident in it for the first time. Priya and her best friend are passionate, but they’re also nervous and awkward and giggly, and have no idea what they’re doing. I really wanted the sex to reflect and continue the character arcs.
I’ve been drawing for Filthy Figments for ten years now, though right now I only have time to work as an editor for the site. I think I’ve drawn about six hundred pages for them, so I’ve got quite a bit of smutty comics experience under my belt. [laughs] I felt pretty confident about when to flip between story and sex scenes.
That brings me to one of the other things that will jump out to people, the colors. Just the first page has a number of really interesting choices that we see throughout the book.
How so? The pink?
Just on the first page you have two images sort of overlapping with no panel borders. The top image is pink and white. The smaller image at the bottom of the page is black and white with pink highlights. The black gives the impression of foregrounding.
Throughout the book I used shades of pink for almost all of the backgrounds. It helped keep the focus on the characters while still having a detailed setting for them to exist in. I worked with three different shades of pink and then black, white and gray… I really like working with limited palettes, and I’ve found that warmer colors work better for drawing sex scenes than something like a cool blue. So pink it is!
Also on that first page, the characters are in costume and the first shot is them in the world and the closeup is the photo that Priya is taking of them. The photograph has a different look, which plays into the theme of how the characters may be presenting or appearing differently at the con. In a sense the image sums up the book.
Yeah, it’s about what each character is focusing on, where their eye is drawn. I like using color to montage scenes together like that without panels in an open page.
Could you talk a little about how in a lot of scenes you’re interested in using montage instead of panels to construct a page.
There’s a photoshoot in the first chapter where they’re all in cosplay. I didn’t want it to feel so linear, so there’s a lot of overlapping shots of the characters posing, flirting with each other in costume. Their dialogue runs over it, mingling: Priya tells them to get in this pose or that pose, and others debate fanfic shipping and which character would be a top/ or bottom. Losing panel borders turns it from a linear scene into a montage of an afternoon.
In one page in that scene you have the logo of the fictional show they’re cosplaying.
I wanted that page in particular to look like an anime poster. I came up with a fake logo and everything. I hired Kori Michele to design a fake sports anime team for my characters to dress up as; we went with rowing entirely because it has a position called a “cox”. The logo, ROW, has katakana under it that says “fake anime”. I know taking Japanese to get better at reading manga is shallow, to say the least (particularly now that I live abroad and juggling language is part of my everyday life), but it’s a silly easter egg for everyone who spent their teen years memorizing kana like I did.
Have you been able to step back and especially now that you’re hearing from people about the book, think about how you feel about it after all this time?
I’m really proud of how it turned out. I wanted to make a book about queer friends figuring out who they are and who they love. There’s drama, but not trauma, if that makes sense. There are so many queer stories that focus on struggle and tragedy and I wanted to make a book that celebrates us and shows the found families that we can form. Right now I’m working on a middle grade book that’s just as queer. But no sex in that one. [laughs] It hasn’t been announced so I can’t talk about it too much yet.
Where your bio will read, this is Niki Smith’s first book. [laughs]
[laughs] So far there hasn’t been any talk about pseudonyms. Ideally I won’t have to use one, but I’m aware it may come up. It should be interesting. There are quite a few artists in the Smut Peddler anthologies and on Filthy Figments who have done kids and teen graphic novels, so hopefully it’s becoming more accepted. Acknowledging sex shouldn’t be taboo.
I think it is. I hope it is. There is this long tradition of cartoonists making dirty cartoons, but it was always quiet and sort of underground. You could get away with that a lot more before the internet.
[laughs] The only thing I worry about is that the cover of Crossplay looks pretty safe, so teens may pick it up and then be surprised by what they see. I don’t shy away from drawing any bits in the book.
With the middle grade graphic novel or your other work, is there something you want to do differently or approach your work in a new way?
All the books that I’m working on now or developing pitches for are just as queer. I’d like to focus more on middle grade and young adult books. I want to make books for LGBT kids to stumble upon, books I didn’t have a chance to see when I was a kid, books that show them as the main characters. With politics so ugly, I want to make a haven for everyone who’s been made to feel unsafe or alone. Queer friendship is incredibly important to me.
WRITTEN BY
Alex Dueben
POSTED
June 22, 2018
TOPICS
Alex Dueben, Interview, Iron Circus Comics, Niki Smith
Q&A With Niki Smith, The Golden Hour
October 25, 2021 by JoAnn Yao
By Michele Kirichanskaya
Today we’re pleased to invite Niki Smith to the WNDB blog to discuss her upcoming middle grade graphic novel The Golden Hour.
the golden hour book cover
First of all, welcome to We Need Diverse Books! Could you tell us a little about yourself and your upcoming graphic novel, The Golden Hour?
Hi, I’m Niki Smith! I’m a graphic novel author and illustrator, and my newest book, The Golden Hour, is a contemporary middle grade story about coping with PTSD, anxiety, and the quiet joys of queer first love in rural Kansas. There’s also an adorable baby cow.
How did you find yourself becoming a writer and illustrator? What drew you to the medium of comics?
I always loved reading comics, particularly manga, and I found it endlessly fascinating to see the ways an artist could twist the format to tell a story. You could give a dozen artists the same base script to draw and end up with vastly different comics—the number of panels on a page, the shapes of those panels (if they even exist at all!), the way the lettering works alongside the imagery, the reveal that comes from turning a page…! There are so many inventive ways to tell stories through comics and I love discovering and trying out new techniques.
As an artist, were there any comics or artists that inspired or influenced you in terms of style or themes?
For The Golden Hour, two of my biggest influences were Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki’s This One Summer and Melanie Gillman’s As the Crow Flies. They’re quiet and heavy and queer and beautiful, with spreads of landscapes you feel you can get lost in. Those books could not take place in any other settings; the world the kids walk through is intrinsically connected to the story being told. I wanted to do the same thing, but with the Kansas fields I grew up surrounded by.
From the description of the book, it appears The Golden Hour will be discussing some pretty tough themes in regards to mental health and gun violence. Could you speak about why you wanted to explores these ideas in your work?
Anxiety is something I’ve always dealt with, and the world has only gotten harder. I grew up with tornado warnings, not active shooter drills. But that’s what school in the US is now. As a teen, I spent countless afternoons just hanging out in my school’s photography room, developing pictures and learning Photoshop. And that classroom had a loading dock door, always propped open to let in fresh air. Students who had graduated would regularly pop by to say hi and just hang out—the back door was always available and welcome. But the world has changed, and a lot of The Golden Hour was born from thinking about that looming, threatening open door.
I didn’t want to tell a story about violence, though. The Golden Hour is about what comes after: the lasting trauma, the panic attacks, the nightmares. But more than that, it’s about a trio of close friends building their own support structures and looking out for each other.
In The Golden Hour, the main character Manuel Soto is said to use photography as a way to ground himself in a world filled with anxiety. What do you think about using art as a way of processing trauma and coping mentally?
I think art therapy can do wonderful things. I’ve seen so many friends, both kids and adults, escape into their phone as a distraction when dealing with anxiety. The image of Manuel clinging to his phone came from that. Manuel struggles with derealization at the height of his panic attacks and when things are bad he uses his phone’s camera to find something to ground himself with: a friend’s bright red sneakers, a wind turbine in the distance, or a cute boy named Sebastian with a newborn calf. His pictures will never judge him or ask anything of him. As the book goes on, Manuel’s love of photography grows and he learns to share the work he makes with those closest to him.
niki smith golden hour quote
Like your previous book, The Deep & Dark Blue, The Golden Hour also contains LGBTQ+ characters and themes. As a queer creator, what does queer representation in young adult and children’s literature mean to you?
It means so so much! I grew up finding practically no LGBTQ+ representation in the books I read. When I did find the rare queer characters, they were in novels far outside of my age range. I’m thrilled with how things have changed, especially over the last few years. There are so many new incredible middle grade and YA books with gay or bi or ace or trans characters, characters who get to live rich, complicated, messy lives. There is no one queer experience, and I hope the diversity of the voices getting to speak continues to expand.
Growing up were there are any narratives that sparked your love of storytelling or that you felt you could relate to?
I was an enormous sci fi/fantasy dork as a kid—my shelves were full of Tamora Pierce and Mercedes Lackey and every kind of dragon book I could find. My last book, The Deep & Dark Blue, was my queer love letter to the fantasy stories I devoured back then! If you also loved Mulan or Alanna but wanted to see a character who was actually trans having those adventures, that’s the book for you.
What advice would you have to give to aspiring writers/artists?
There is no right or wrong way to make comics. Draw what you love, write what you love, tell your stories! Share them online, trade zines at conventions, try something new every time. You’ll be amazed at how much you grow through play.
Are there any other projects you are currently working on and at liberty to talk about?
That’s the tricky thing about publishing—I’m collaborating on so many books I can’t talk about yet! I can say that I’m writing my first young adult graphic novel and I love it dearly… more will have to wait!
Finally, what are some diverse books you would recommend to the readers of WNDB?
For graphic novels, check out Snapdragon by Kat Leyh, The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen, and Stargazing by Jen Wang. And I listen to so many audio books while I draw– some of my recent favorites have been Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson, King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, and everything by Ashley Herring Blake!
******
niki smith headshotNiki Smith is the author/illustrator of The Deep & Dark Blue and is a cartoonist based out of Munich. She is a Lambda Literary Award nominated author for Crossplay, has been digitally published by DC Comics and The Nib, and has contributed to the Lambda Literary Award-winning Beyond anthology.
Meet the Author: Niki Smith
BY TRISH
OCTOBER 25, 2021
COMMENTS 0
Niki Smith Author Interview
Niki Smith (she/her) is the author of The Deep and Dark Blue, a beautiful middle grade graphic novel with a trans girl protagonist. Please enjoy this interview with Niki Smith:
[Twitter | Instagram]
As the author of graphic novels, which comes first? Do your stories originate with a picture, words, or some combination of both?
My books always start with a story hook I want to explore, but visuals play a big role in my research! I don’t start sketching characters or designs until much further down the line, but I make folders full of imagery I want to include. For The Deep & Dark Blue, those folders were full of natural dye pools, medieval tapestries of family trees, and depictions of spindles in mythology and fairy tales.
The Deep & Dark Blue is set in a fantastically creative fantasy world; I particularly loved the women who can cast magic by spinning. Where did your inspiration for the world and the story come from?
I grew up reading and loving so many fantasy stories that played with gender– girls who disguised themselves to live out their dreams of being knights or pirates or soldiers. I loved them, but I never encountered anything that was the inverse; being a girl was always boring and full of tedious needlework. I wanted to celebrate that instead, to write a world Grayce would long to be a part of! Spindles have been a part of so many myths throughout history, from Sleeping Beauty to the Three Fates and their thread of life. The women of the Communion of Blue spin magic thread with wool dyed a deep, mysterious blue, and can control the strings of the world around them.
It was incredibly satisfying to see Grayce’s gender validated not only by her family, but magically by the family tree. Why do you think that was important to include?
Over the course of the book, Grayce finds a place she belongs, but I didn’t want the home she’d left behind to be a source of painful memories of her dead name. The family tree is a tapestry woven from the same magic threads that Grayce learns to spin in the Communion of Blue– it’s a living tapestry, documenting births, deaths and the line of inheritance. It only made sense to have it reflect her new name once she was ready to share it!
What do you hope your readers will take away from your books?
That queer kids can have adventures too! That a little trans girl can learn to weave magic and save the day. 🙂
You have a new book coming out November 23rd. What can you tell us about The Golden Hour?
I do! The Golden Hour is very different book– it’s about a boy struggling with PTSD and anxiety after witnessing gun violence. Manuel keeps his struggles to himself, using his phone and photography to find anchors and keep himself grounded during panic attacks, but life is lonely and hard until he’s teamed up with his classmates, Sebastian and Caysha, for a group project. Sebastian lives on a grass-fed cattle farm outside town, and Manuel finds solace in the open fields and the antics of the newborn calf Sebastian is hand-raising. Manuel helps his new friends get ready for the local county fair, and he learns to open up and find the support he needs from the boy who’s always there for him.
I didn’t want to tell a story about violence. The Golden Hour is about what comes after: the trauma, the panic attacks and the nightmares. But it’s also about slowly healing, Kansas wheat fields, and a sweet first crush on a gentle boy!
In addition to all of your amazing work, do you have any queer books or media that you would like to recommend to our readers?
Absolutely! If you love graphic novels as much as I do, you should check out Snapdragon by Kat Leyh, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up with Me by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell and Mariko Tamaki, and The Tea Dragon Society series by Kay O’Neill!
Niki Smith: “I saw myself in them– girls who embraced ‘masculinity'”
5 Questions With...
Niki Smith
Aurora Dominguez
By: Aurora Dominguez
January 4, 2020
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[Note From Frolic: Our resident YA expert Aurora Dominguez got the opportunity to interview author Niki Smith and ask her five(ish) questions. Niki’s graphic novel ‘The Deep & Dark Blue‘ is out January 7th!]
The Deep & Dark Blue by niki smith
Aurora: What was your inspiration behind your most recent novel?
Niki: I grew up loving gender-bending adventures about girls disguising themselves as boys, living the lives they always wanted as knights and pirates and soldiers, getting into mishaps and saving the day. My copy of Tamora Pierce’s Alanna is well-worn from so many readings as a kid! I saw myself in them– girls who embraced “masculinity,” who hated dresses and got into trouble and happily defied what society told them they had to be.
What I realized as I grew up and came out, though, was that I never saw the reverse. The life of a girl was always dreary, tedious, something to escape… but did it have to be? What about a story about someone yearning for the chance to live that life? And what if it wasn’t just a masquerade or a disguise of convenience? I wanted to write a fantasy adventure about a trans girl forging her own path– and still getting to save the day.
What character do you most relate to and why?
That’s tough… Probably Grayce! She’s not a big social butterfly; we both prefer to keep to ourselves in crowds and let others do the talking. But even though she’s quiet, she’s in no way a pushover. Grayce has things she wants to accomplish, and she’ll always find a way to get there.
Why do you feel graphic novels are so popular and have such a voice right now?
We’re really in a graphic novel renaissance right now– the diverse voices and stories being told are incredible! For decades, all you could find were superhero comics and a few underground, self-published series. I grew up in the manga boom of the 2000s, and seeing stories that were aimed at me was incredible. Now we’ve grown up and are making our own books and telling our own stories; there are graphic novels for every age range, in every genre and art style imaginable.
Reading a graphic novel builds a different kind of visual literacy, with readers able to linger as long as they want on each page, taking in the drawn details and finding something new with every read. Panel size and shape and text all build to a climax you can’t get in prose or animation. It’s a wonderful mixture, but it’s something entirely unique, too.
And it’s inspiring! The only thing you need to make your own is some paper and a pencil– find a photocopier and a stapler, and you’re good to go! Some of my favorite comics are handmade minicomics and zines I found at local comic conventions.
Please describe the content of your latest book and what can readers expect from the read.
After a terrible coup usurps their noble house, twins Hawke and Grayson flee to stay alive and assume new identities: Hanna and Grayce. Desperation and chance lead them to the Communion of Blue, an order of magical women who spin the threads of reality to their will.
As the twins learn more about the Communion, and themselves, they begin to hatch a plan to avenge their family and retake their royal home. While Hawke wants to return to his old life, Grayce struggles to keep the threads of her new life from unraveling, and realizes she wants to stay in the one place that will allow her to finally live as a girl.
From Twelfth Night to Mulan to Alanna, there are countless stories of girls disguising themselves as boys to conceal their identities. The Deep & Dark Blue twists this: two siblings on the run, seeking refuge with a mysterious order of women… but for one twin, this is no disguise. It’s the chance for a young trans girl to live as herself for the first time.
What’s next for you in the book world?
I’m not sure yet! I’d love to continue Grayce and Hawke’s adventure and expand their story– it’s a world of magic inspired by textile arts, with The Deep & Dark Blue focused on spindles and weaving. It’d be great to dive into it more, and get a chance to write about cat’s cradle and knotwork and the mysterious blue dye at the heart of it all. But I’m also working on a contemporary middle grade graphic novel inspired by my years as a queer 4-H kid, growing up in Kansas. No matter what, I want to keep telling LGBT stories and give kids and teens the chance to see themselves.
Who is your favorite writer right now and why?
I will happily devour anything Ann Leckie writes. Ancillary Justice and the rest of the Imperial Radch trilogy are a breath of fresh air in science fiction, and the audio book narrator is really outstanding. (I do almost all of my reading as audio books while I’m drawing!) I’m definitely due for another reread. For graphic novels, Emily Carroll, Tillie Walden and Jillian Tamaki are all superb.
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Smash Pages Q&A: Niki Smith
The creator of ‘The Deep and Dark Blue’ discusses the graphic novel, its main characters, reversing tropes, the color blue and not owning a pencil.
Niki Smith’s second graphic novel, The Deep and Dark Blue, is a departure from her first book Crossplay. Blue, out now from Hachette, is a middle grade story of twin princes who, after a coup, have to hide out as girls in The Communion of Blue, an all-female magical order based around weaving and spinning and the magical properties of the color blue. The book plays with the trope of gender bending that has been popular for centuries, but for one of the twins, living as a girl isn’t an annoying burden, but offers her the chance to live as her true self.
The book is also a great medieval adventure as two sheltered children are given a crash course in the world around them that involves politics, conspiracies and magic. The book itself is designed and colored in a way that practically jumps off the page. Smith and I have talked before, and I was thrilled that we had the chance to discuss Grayce and Hawke, the color blue and not owning a pencil.
To start, how did you come to comics?
I always read them. I grew up in the manga boom of the early 2000s, but before that I read Elfquest and all sorts of things. I wasn’t ever a superhero fan. I went to art school wanting to be an illustrator or an artist of some sort, but in my second year, a few of my professors told me that my art had a sequential feel to it and asked if I had I ever tried making a comic. I always loved reading them, I had just never thought about making them myself. My first attempts were adaptations of short prose excerpts; I loved it, started writing my own work and never looked back.
Where exactly did The Deep and Dark Blue start?
I grew up reading the series Alanna, by Tamora Pierce, about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to become a knight. Mulan came out around the same time. All these stories about girls disguising themselves as boys to go have adventures, because being a girl was miserable and they were stuck inside sewing all day. I wanted to take this trope and reverse it. I also wanted to acknowledge that as much as these stories play with gender, flirting with other boys while in disguise as a boy, each character went back to her life as a straight, cis girl in the end. They went back to their old lives and their original names. I wanted to acknowledge how queer this trope could be and let trans characters have adventures and save the day, too.
This trope stretches back to Shakespeare and French comedies and beyond, and they see gender as playful and performative, but by the end things always go back to “normal.”
I think Shakespeare used the trope five times in his plays. It’s a well-founded trope. You just never see anyone end up queer, and I wanted to do my own twist on that.
Was queering and playing with trope part of the reason you have twins as the protagonists?
Exactly that; twins let me show both sides of the trope. Hawke is living as a girl because he needs to disguise himself; they’re being hunted after a coup and he needs to keep himself hidden. His twin, Grayce, has a very different reaction – as awful as the circumstances are, this is the first chance she’s had to live as herself, as a girl. She doesn’t want to focus on getting revenge and going back to the life she had. She likes being able to live as Grayce for the first time.
It’s unclear to what degree it is her first time. There’s a line early on when they’re trying to put on a dress and Hawke is saying, “I don’t know how to wear one,” but she says, “Mom showed me how to do this.”
There are a lot of small moments like that. The things she paid attention to, that her brother never even thought about. I think she has longed for it for a very long time, but never saw it as an option she could pursue.
Not to spoil anything, but it creates tension later on because Grayce helps her brother, believing that doing so will prevent her from ever being herself.
She’s torn between helping her brother and the risk of losing everything that she’s gained. It’s a tough situation for her.
As you were writing and playing with these ideas and shaping this world, did you know that you wanted to tell the story for younger readers?
The stories I grew up with, like Alanna and Mulan, were aimed at this middle grade audience and I really wanted to do the same. I was always a huge fantasy lover. I wanted to play with that and invent my own magic system. I decided not to do the standard kings and queens and princes royalty fantasy world, and instead went with something inspired by medieval Italy and the independent city-states, which were run by a council of nobles or merchant families. It’s a more unusual political structure than the average fantasy world, which tend to follow a British hereditary monarchy system, but I think it’s makes for a much more interesting backdrop.
Besides just the political structure, you have a system of magic that is centered around weaving and spinning and the color blue.
Because I wanted to twist the trope on its head – where rather than girls disguising themselves as boys to be knights, the twins have to disguise themselves as girls – I tried to think of a social structure that has historically exclusively been the domain of women. I kept going back to fiber arts. There were various orders of women – whether religious or not, like the beguines in Belgium – that lived on their own and were self-sufficient; they supported themselves through their weaving and spinning. This is where we get the word spinster, a woman who was unmarried, who supported herself by living in with other women, spinning thread. I kept thinking about fiber arts and developed this system from there. The Communion of Blue is separated into different factions. Four of them can manipulate this magic: There are spinners, weavers, dyers and healers. I only go into some of them in this book, but I would love to expand the story if I can. Grace is learning how to spin thread, and by doing so she learns to manipulate fire, water or the world around her. The magic all comes from a mysterious deep blue indigo dye.
The color blue was relatively rare and a recent development.
Yes, I did a lot of research into that. There are some extraordinarily expensive dyes you can only produce by crushing the tiniest snails, all to produce a tiny portion of purple dye. Blue was similarly rare, originally derived from lapis lazuli. Only royalty were allowed to wear certain colors of dye, because they were so expensive and highly prized.
I assumed you used it because blue was so hard to make and so rare.
Yes. We take intense dyes for granted nowadays because they’re so easy to produce artificially, but in the middle ages or throughout history it was very hard to make intense blues and purples—the average plant dye produces something green or brown. Paint pigments had the same struggle for centuries.
Besides everything else, Hawke and Grayce are sheltered kids who don’t know how the city works, learning about things for the very first time.
That’s exactly what I was going for. If I ever get to make sequels, my plan was for each book to expand their world. The Deep and Dark Blue takes place in their manor and in the Communion of Blue. The second book would take place in the city, and the third book in the larger world. Each one would broaden their and the reader’s understanding of the world around them.
Some of that would be about magic. Not to spoil anything but the final confrontation, it is startling because certain aspects of magic have been explained, but we haven’t seen it. And it is startling to see Grayce do it.
Writing fantasy, I think it’s very easy to just info dump and overwhelm your reader with too much information that they can’t parse. I wanted the reader to discover the world as the characters do. Hawke and Grayce come from this sheltered, privileged life and they’re encountering this magic for the first time. They’re still novices in the world and learn step by step, and it gives the reader a viewpoint to enter this world. I tried to find a balance of hinting at this wider world without dumping too much information on the reader.
Did you draw the entire book digitally?
Yes, I do everything digitally. I realized last year that I don’t even own a pencil. [laughs] I don’t sketch in sketchbooks anymore. I write each of my books as an outline first and then a script, which my editor reads and gives feedback on. From there I do rough pencils for the whole book. I think we added ten-fifteen pages during the revisions stage, to make sure things were clear for the reader. A panel here. Add a couple pages here. Some dialogue there. Then I ink it and color it. I tried to color the book with a limited palette, so you only see blues when the characters enter the Communion of Blue. There’s no blue paint or clothing anywhere else. Even the sky takes on a different hue, just to make the impact of this color that much more striking.
My art director at Little Brown decided to use a different ink when producing the final book. Normally books are printed using cyan magenta yellow and black inks – CMYK – but instead of magenta we used a different ink, Rodamine Red. It makes the colors pop even more.
Crossplay was a black and white book with some pink. I know you’ve done short work in color and what was the process of figuring out the colors? Obviously, you knew blue had to play a major role.
My original pitch was for a black and white grayscale book with spot blue colors. But because The Deep and Dark Blue is a middle grade book, and middle grade tends to be full color, we reworked it. We tried to find a way to still keep that emphasis on blue, but have the rest of the book full color. I’m happy with how it came together, after spending a lot of time playing with different palettes.
These two books are so different in so many ways and it sounds like you want to consciously want to keep doing something different.
Because I work digitally, I suppose I’ve always jumped from different brushes or coloring styles from project to project. I see it as a way to try something new. It can be exhausting wrapping up a 250 page book. You want to try something different, whether it’s a different inking style or digital brush, or anything really, and see how that works for your art.
I know some people love that freedom but I’ve talked to artists who see it as a flaw in their own work that they haven’t found a style that works so they just shift from style to style.
I don’t think of it as a shortcoming. I think most people have a recognizable style, no matter what tool they’re using. I can still recognize how someone draws faces or expressions, or their sense of timing and panel layouts. People have their signature style for how they imagine scenes. I see starting a new project as an opportunity to try something new.
You mentioned you have a contract for another book, but once a book is done do you have daily practice of writing or drawing?
I try to keep normal healthy work hours. [laughs] My wife leaves for work and I sit down and start working. When she comes home, I stop. At some point last year I was juggling drawing The Deep and Dark Blue and inking Chronin Volume 2, by Alison Wilgus, for Tor. I really notice the impact on my mental health and exhaustion when I work evenings or weekends, so I try to keep normal hours now. I’m not a night owl by any means. Generally, as I’m wrapping up a book I’m trying to pitch my next project; publishing can move very slowly, and you don’t want to be left with months of waiting between books. Different stages of the book process give me more time to think about projects; for example, when I’m coloring a book, I have the mental space to think about new stories. Whereas if I’m scripting a book, I can’t be thinking about another story at the same time. I keep a file with ideas, and jot down anything that strikes me as interesting. Sometimes it’s just a line or two, but I’ll revisit it and see if there’s a story in it, and wonder where it could go.
So the next book will be something different?
This one is not fantasy, but it is still for a middle grade audience. Still queer, most importantly.
So are you doing any events or book signings in Europe or in North America?
In April and May I’m going to do a tiny tour of festivals and signings. I’ll be at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May. I haven’t done a North American con since I moved to Germany, so that’ll be exciting. I’ll also be doing signings in Kansas, St. Louis and Rochester.
INTERVIEW: Niki Smith talks color, queer rep, & world-building in THE DEEP & DARK BLUE
The Beat explores world-building, queer rep in fantasy, and empowering symmetry with cartoonist Niki Smith
By Avery Kaplan -08/15/2019 10:30 am0
In the upcoming middle-grade graphic novel The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith, in order to elude their enemies, twins Hawke and Grayson are forced to assume the guise of Hanna and Grace and seek refuge among the women of the Communion of the Blue.
Ahead of the January 2020 release of the middle grade graphic novel, The Beat chatted with Smith via e-mail to find out more about The Deep & Dark Blue and the inspiration behind it!
The Deep & Dark Blue
AVERY KAPLAN: Is there any special significance behind the title, The Deep & Dark Blue?
NIKI SMITH: Color plays a big role in my book—blue in particular, in the form of a mysterious, magical indigo dye. I found my title in a line from a Lord Byron poem.
KAPLAN: Do you have a regular creative routine?
SMITH: I do! I try to keep to normal working hours; long hours and no vacations tend to be the norm for a lot of freelancers, but it’s healthier for my body and my mind if I let myself have weekends and evenings off. I know I’m lucky to be able to afford to do that, though. I’m usually at my computer and working by 9 a.m.; what I’m doing depends on where I am on my book—a month or two of scripting, a few months of thumbnails and sketches, then inks, then colors.
Altogether, it can take over a year to finish a graphic novel. More often than not I have some smaller projects that I’m working on simultaneously; contributing to themed anthologies is always fun! Side projects keep me from getting bored or too burnt out working on just one thing (and also help pay the bills in the meantime!). While I worked on my own book, The Deep & Dark Blue, I was also toning Conspiracy of Ravens for Dark Horse and inking Chronin volume 2 for Tor.
KAPLAN: What went into the process of world-building for this story? Were there any particular foundations for the world of The Deep & Dark Blue?
SMITH: Instead of a standard medieval land with castles and royalty, I decided to draw from the Republic of Florence for the world of The Deep & Dark Blue. The twins are nobles, but they live in a city-state run by a council of wealthy families and guilds. Citizens are much more involved in the running of the city, but it makes the coup and betrayal that much more harrowing—Hawke and Grayce don’t know who they can trust in the huge web of political alliances. So, instead, they go into hiding…
The Deep and Dark Blue
Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
KAPLAN: What was the process of developing the Communion of the Blue, the order of magical women with whom the twins seek refuge after the royal family is overthrown by a coup?
SMITH: The Communion of Blue is inspired by medieval religious sisterhoods and beguines. Girls from any background can join and pledge to spend their lives following the mother goddess, who wove the world on her loom. The women of the order have the ability to manipulate a magic blue dye, spinning the threads of the world around them. The Communion is self-sufficient and mysterious, living behind tall stone walls in the center of the city, and that only makes Grayce want to be a part of them even more: a sisterhood where no one knows her, where she can finally live as a girl.
Everything about the Communion is centered on fiber arts—spinning thread, weaving, things dismissed as “women’s work” in so many cultures, but it’s the source of their powers. Spindles and weaving were an enormous part of early folklore and religion all over the world, like the Greek myths of the Three Fates, or Sleeping Beauty. I really wanted to develop that into a system of magic—textiles, spinning and weaving, all powered by a mysterious, deep blue dye. The Communion of Blue grew from that.
KAPLAN: Was it important to have the protagonists be twins?
SMITH: The Deep & Dark Blue was inspired by the books I loved as a kid– stories that played with gender, girls disguising themselves as boys to live the lives they always wanted, as knights and pirates and soldiers! And many of books stories feature twins, the main lead disguising herself as her twin brother to go off and have adventures. I made Hawke and Grayce twins as a nod to those stories: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Tamora Pierce’s Alanna.
Drawing Hawke and Grayce as identical twins let me show just how different they are, too. Comics let you linger on body language, and my intention was that you never confuse the two, no matter how similar they look: Hawke is loud and quick to laugh, bold and cocky and ready to fight—but Grayce is quieter, wistful and aching for change. Her posture changes throughout the book as she gains confidence and steps out into the world.
The Deep and Dark Blue
Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
KAPLAN: Were there any plot points or character moments that were particularly hard for you to unravel?
SMITH: Hmm… that’s tough to talk about without spoilers! At the heart of the coup is a battle centered around bloodline, inheritance, and the deep blue tapestry that traces their noble family tree. Figuring out how those threads wove together took a while.
KAPLAN: Were there any specific inspirations for The Deep & Dark Blue?
SMITH: I grew up loving books that played with gender and identity—when I was little, finding queer and trans characters in young adult and middle-grade books was nearly impossible (or a sign that a Meaningful Tragic Ending™ was incoming).
With Mulan and Alanna, something about the blurring of gender roles struck a deep chord. And while I still love so many of these stories, they all had one thing in common: despite all the “gender-bending”, the queer undertones, the flirting while in disguise—each story ends with a main character that’s firmly cis and straight. Even as a kid, I knew I wanted something more.
I also never saw the reverse: it was always girls who yearned to live the life of a boy, never the other way around. The life of a girl was dreary and full of tedious hobbies; something to escape. I wanted to write a system of magic with its roots deep in “women’s work”, in fiber arts, spindles and weaving.
All of that led to The Deep and Dark Blue: Two siblings on the run, seeking refuge with a mysterious order of women… but for one twin, it’s not a disguise. It’s the chance for a young trans girl to live as herself for the first time.
The Deep and Dark Blue
Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
KAPLAN: Visually, symmetry plays an essential role at many key narrative moments in The Deep & Dark Blue. Was it important for you to include these visually symmetrical moments?
SMITH: I had to think about this! In many cases, I think the symmetry was my subconscious response to drawing a book about twins: they’re identical, but their responses to their adventures are in no way parallel. Drawing on symmetry was a wonderful way to contrast that. While Grayce is empathetic and sensitive, Hawke is a bit more dense, focused only on his own troubles. While Hawke yearns for revenge, Grayce wants nothing more than to stay in the place she now calls home.
The Deep & Dark Blue hits stores on January 7, 2020 and can be preordered now through Smith’s website. Follow Smith on Twitter @niki_smith for updates on her work, which you can also support directly through her Patreon.
FEBRUARY 25, 2020 BY MICHELE KIRICHANSKAYA
INTERVIEW: NIKKI SMITH
Niki Smith is the writer and illustrator of the fantasy graphic novel, The Deep & Dark Blue, her debut Middle-grade read. Known for her gorgeous illustrations and queer and diverse storytelling, Smith is also the Lambda Literary nominated author of Crossplay, a queer erotic graphic novel. Self-described “Artist, writer, lover of fine comics (and some pretty trashy ones too),” Niki Smith currently resides in Germany with her wife, Kiri.
Where did the inspiration for The Deep & Dark Blue come from? What were some of the some of its artistic influences? (Was Avatar the Last Airbender one of them?)
I’m sure it was! I loved both Avatar: TLA and The Legend of Korra (and though we didn’t get to see Korra and Asami’s relationship play out in the show, the subsequent graphic novels have allowed the world and characters to be so much more openly queer and I couldn’t be happier.) More than a direct influence, though, I think it’s a matter of shared influences– the styles and pacing of Avatar and The Deep & Dark Blue are both inspired by manga and anime, stories about kids and teens saving the day while still dealing with the day to day struggles of being a kid. There’s something about that mix of adventure, sincere friendship and inventive magic that will always appeal to me. Story-wise, The Deep & Dark Blue was inspired by characters like Mulan or Alanna– girls who took new names and disguised themselves as boys to have adventures, to learn to fight and save the day. But in all of those stories, the main character went back to a happily cis, straight life– I wanted more, and I know I wasn’t the only queer kid out there who wanted the same.
The Deep & Dark Blue features one of the first cannon trans protagonists in a book geared towards younger audiences? How do you feel the landscape of kids/ young adult comics is changing in regards to queer representation?
Things have come so far since I was a kid, and it’s wonderful to see. Growing up, it was rare to see an LGBT character that wasn’t a two-dimensional stereotype, and even more rare to have that identity go beyond subtext. We still have a long way to go in many regards– particularly when it comes to diversity– but the graphic novels I’ve seen come out over the last few years give me so much hope. Young adult books like The Prince and the Dressmaker and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me are winning awards and helping pave the way for the next generation of artists. The incredible reception that Molly Ostertag’s The Witch Boy received was part of what gave me the courage to finally pitch The Deep & Dark Blue— it looked like the world of publishing was ready, and I’m so happy I was right. We’re slowly moving beyond “coming out” stories. Authors like Sarah Searle, Melanie Gillman and Katie O’Neill are all creating wonderful queer graphic novels for kids and teens, where a character’s journey with gender or sexuality is an undeniable aspect, but it’s only one of part of a much richer and more complex story.
The comic also features one of the first nuanced non-stereotypical depictions of twins I’ve personally seen in general media? Did you take into account the fictional obsession about twins to counteract the stereotypes? How did you develop the twin siblings’ personalities?
I decided early on to make my main characters twins. The two find themselves in a situation they never expected, forced into hiding, living as girls to disguise their identities. Being side by side lets the reader see just how stark a contrast there is between their reactions– Hawke resents having to live in disguise, yearning for revenge, while Grayce blossoms. It’s the first time in her life that she’s been able to live as herself and she doesn’t want to lose it.
Since The Deep & Dark Blue is a graphic novel, the most important thing to me was that readers could tell the twins apart even if they were wearing the same uniform. There are no Parent Trap hijinks or speaking in unison, just two kids who happen to be identical. The two have wildly different personalities, and I wanted their body language to reflect that. Hawke is bold and hot-headed, while his sister Grayce is reserved; she has a lot on her mind and always thinks things through. Body language says so much about a person– a head lifted high in confidence, compared to someone who shyly averts their eyes– and I love drawing that difference.
As an LGBTQ+ artist and creator, how did you incorporate elements of your own identity or experiences into your comics?
I think most LGBTQ+ kids can relate to Grayce’s story in some way– a secret you’re not sure you can voice, that fear of feeling like you’re letting someone down, family who have expectations of you that you know you can never fulfill. I wanted to write about the strength it takes to come out, even when your hands are shaking. And I knew I wanted to write about found family, about surrounding yourself with people who love and support you unconditionally.
Do you have any projects you are working on right now and are at liberty to discuss?
I’m working on a new graphic novel for kids/teens, though this one will be a contemporary story, not fantasy. But still just as queer!
Finally, are there any LGBTQ+ authors and/or books that have inspired you and your own work? Can you recommend any titles or authors for other readers?
I listed some above, but there are so many! For graphic novels, Takako Shimura’s Wandering Son, Yuhki Kamatani’s Our Dreams at Dusk, Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam, Blue Delliquanti’s O Human Star, and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. Ashley Herring Blake’s middle grade novels are some of my favorites from the last few years.
* SMITH, Niki. The Golden Hour. illus. by Niki Smith. 256p. Little, Brown. Oct. 2021. Tr $24.99. ISBN 9780316540377.
Gr 4-7--In the wake of witnessing gun violence at school, Manuel Soto struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic attacks. When a teacher pairs him with classmates Sebastian and Caysha for a group project, the ensuing friendship takes him by surprise. Manuel discovers that taking cell phone photos of Sebastian's family's cattle farm and his new friends anchors him when anxiety seems overwhelming. He joins the 4-H club to help Sebastian and Caysha prepare to show their animals at the county fair and finds the courage to enter his photography into a contest. But he struggles to convey his anxiety and PTSD to his busy single mother, instead turning to gentle Sebastian, who seems to understand Manuel intuitively, as romance blossoms. Smith weaves a beautiful story of resilience and the sweet onset of first love. Scenes at Sebastian's farm rely on warm, comforting colors; when Manuel has panic attacks, the art turns dark and suffocating as artwork bleeds out of each panel. Smith knows when to let Manuel's burgeoning artistic identity speak, leaving whole pages free of dialogue to show him carefully framing a shot or considering how to capture a sunset. Manuel and Sebastian's queer first love subplot is affirming and positive. Manuel is Latinx, Sebastian is white, and Caysha is Black. VERDICT A stunning work of self-discovery, vulnerability, and finding beauty beyond tragedy, this is the perfect primer for younger readers not quite ready for the work of Tillie Walden and Kevin Panetta.--Elise Martinez, Racine, WI
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Martinez, Elise. "SMITH, Niki. The Golden Hour." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 10, Oct. 2021, p. 92. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A678583637/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0aa217f9. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.
Smith, Niki THE GOLDEN HOUR Little, Brown (Children's None) $12.99 10, 26 ISBN: 978-0-316-54033-9
After witnessing a brutal attack against his art teacher, young Manuel Soto struggles to cope with the trauma and anxiety that shadow him.
Bouts of panic attacks and moments of disassociation afflict Manuel, especially when reminders of the attack crop up unexpectedly. To manage these flashes of great unease, he uses his love of and skills in photography to anchor and ground himself. One day, he's paired with Sebastian and Caysha, a couple of classmates, for a school project. As Manuel becomes fast friends with them, he learns more about his newfound friends' plans to participate in the summer county fair. Spending time on Sebastian's family's cattle farm outside of town, as well as with Sebastian's newborn calf, Manuel finds the space and quiet he needs to experience relief and engage in reflection. Slowly, he begins to open up to his friends about his trauma, joining in with their joyful preparations for the fair (Caysha's fancy chickens are a hoot) and forging a deeper, more affectionate relationship with Sebastian in particular. Employing artwork that expresses sobering realism with hints of softly colorful catharsis, Smith provides a compassionate, gentle look at a young boy in the grip of PTSD and his hard-won path to recovery. Lightness lingers among the tightly paced, evenly formed panels, broken only by the dynamic, sometimes slanted, lines used to characterize Manuel's panic attacks. Strong, good-natured characters and an endearing representation of young queer love round out a mighty sweet tale. Manuel is cued as Latinx; Sebastian reads as White and Caysha as Black.
Exceptionally graceful and delightful. (author's note, resources, concept art) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)
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"Smith, Niki: THE GOLDEN HOUR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A675150025/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=50d2554d. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.
Smith, Niki THE DEEP & DARK BLUE Little, Brown (Children's Fiction) $24.99 1, 7 ISBN: 978-0-316-48598-2
A pair of twins seeks refuge--and revenge on the cousin to usurp his power.
On the day of the solstice, cisgender boy Hawke and his twin, Grayce, a transgender girl, flee for their lives when their cousin Mirelle stages a coup, murdering both their grandfather, lord of House Sunderlay, and their cousin Reyden, their grandfather's rightful heir. They disguise themselves as initiates of the Communion of Blue, an order of women who spin the threads that bind the world. Grayce discovers belonging, purpose, and power with the Communion, but Hawke grows restless, eager for the chance to fight for justice. In her middle-grade debut, Smith (Crossplay, 2018) steeps Grayce and Hawke's world in immersive color. The Communion's bright blue pops, drawing the eye whenever it appears and illustrating the magical energy that entices the twins to the Communion's mysterious and mystical activities. Dynamic panel layouts, particularly during high action sequences, give the story momentum and help communicate the tone. Characters' facial expressions and body language capture the intense emotional shifts, from Grayce's excitement at learning to the stabbing sorrow of sudden loss. Grayce and Hawke have beige skin and black hair, and the supporting cast includes a diversity of skin tones. Grayce's coming-out subplot is affirming; she is met with love and support by old family and new. While the story can stand alone, the world is built with a complexity that invites further exploration and adventures.
Woven with magic. (map) (Graphic fantasy. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Smith, Niki: THE DEEP & DARK BLUE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A604119631/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d4d5d543. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.
The Deep & Dark Blue
Niki Smith. Little, Brown, $24.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-316-48598-2
With capable world building and a positive look at transgender identity, Smith's debut middle grade novel is likely to win over young tans of queer fantasy. Twins Hawke and Grayson are the grand-children of the patriarch of House Sunderlay, a kingdom in a vaguely medieval world with a weaving-based origin story. Central to society is the Communion of Blue, a magical all-female monastic order. When one of the Sunderlay cousins stages a coup and captures the rightful heir to the throne, cousin Reyden, the twins flee for their lives. They find the perfect cover in the Communion as young initiates, where they go by "Hanna" and "Grayce." Respectively, they study weaponless self-defense, guardianship, and how to spin the sacred blue "threads of the world," while pondering justice and a return home. In doing so, their paths diverge: Hawke heeds a call to leadership, while Grayce discovers "This isn't a disguise... It's who I am." Smith's anime-inspired illustrations are smooth and beautifully costumed, with an open, cartoon expressiveness. If her universe doesn't feel entirely original, it is nonetheless carefully considered, and young readers will enjoy inhabiting it. Final arr not seen by PW. Ages 8-12. Agent: Charlie Olsen. Ink Well Management. (Jan.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Deep & Dark Blue." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 43, 28 Oct. 2019, p. 105. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A605790237/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0c8948e7. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.
Crossplay
Niki Smith. Iron Circus, $15 trade paper
(144p) ISBN 978-1-945820-14-4
Smut Peddler anthology alumna Smith presents an erotic graphic novel that's touching in every sense of the word. A group of old friends reunite at a comics and anime convention for a weekend of cosplay and geeking out, but fate has more in store for some of them. Smith displays an impressive economy of storytelling as she flits around each plot thread, allowing brief but enticing glimpses of a wide array of characters. In one luscious scene in particular, a quiet almost-threesome is punctuated by the sharp clicking of a camera. But what makes this collection of hot encounters exceptional is the book's honest emotional core: Smith explores the pain of growing into a new identity: while cosplayer Emi struggles with a crush on her presumed straight best friend Priya, Jillian grapples with both a broken arm and gender dysphoria. "What else is fandom for, if not to turn everyone totally gay?" smirks one character, speaking plainly on Smith's behalf--nothing and nobody in the book can be definitely identified as "straight," and therein lies its label-defying beauty. Smith has crafted a love letter not merely to cosplay, but to healing, self-love, and acceptance. (May)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
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"Crossplay." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 10, 5 Mar. 2018, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A530430295/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e5d0438b. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.