Kimberly Reason

Novel, We Are the Love Gods

 

Set in Seattle during the unrest of the post-civil rights era and vanity of the pre-recession economic boom, We Are the Love Gods chronicles the stormy but enduring interracial friendship of two ambitious men (David and Stephen), and how their lives change through their affair with the same woman (Zoe).

 

Love Gods is timely, not only because polyamory has edged to the forefront of social dialogue, but also -- and more importantly -- because the plight of African American males and permanence of a growing underclass are at crisis proportions. Love Gods poignantly explores the race and class dynamics that contribute to the hobbling of African American men, and how one such man, David, used his cunning and individuality to overcome the odds.

 

The story was inspired by two business partners with whom I once worked. Both men were young, handsome, and spectacularly successful, exuding the perfect measure of male conceit that hopelessly hooked me. Fascinated by their charisma, I watched as they worked their preternatural magic, wondering what it would be like to infilitrate their virile duo.

 

Since both men were married, I was left to my own devices (by that I mean typewriter). I composed a short story that burgeoned into 1,200 pages of material. During that mystical process, I was like Hermes in flight, breathlessly channeling my characters and their incendiary, improbable tale. When at last I finished, I fell to life utterly spent, intimidated and overwhelmed by the specter of paring down my massive work.

 

In between the impossible stresses of an executive job, a well-intended marriage and its eventual dissolution, I intermittenly chipped away at editing Love Gods. Years of dormancy followed while I decided to explore my other voice and launched a singing career. In time, divine intervention enabled me to leave corporate life, recharge my batteries, and take a sabbatical to pursue music and literary work.

 

With the voices of my characters, David, Stephen and Zoe, insistently calling out to me, and the help of a savvy group of beta readers, I completed editing Love Gods this past December. I am now seeking agent representation.