Seed of Rage
Page 33
In Silverlegs, Constanter and her companions wholly embrace this ambient machismo. Victrix, Hastius, and Vatluna have simply never known anything else, and their awkward efforts to overcome a life of prejudice shines in their acceptance of Constanter as one of their own solely on the merit of her fighting skills, even though they believe her to be a spado—a eunuch, and therefore half-a-man at best. Constanter herself grew up internalizing this strict social hierarchy dominated by free men, and in which women and molles sit above slaves, yet beneath eunuchs, whose lack of sexual role in society is equated with neutrality and reliability. To quote Clearchos to Constanter: “They’re [emperor] Manicus’s favorite aides.”
So... Am I saying that my main character is homophobic? It’s complicated. To a certain extent, yes, I suppose.
Throughout Silverlegs, Constanter shows no active dislike of “molles”, and even takes it upon herself to avenge her friend Nerie after he is raped by another soldier. Moreover, impostor syndrome weighs too heavily on Constanter’s shoulders for her to ever comment on the perceived lack of virility of a man—she spends every waking moment aware that she is a sheep wearing a wolf’s pelt.
Her initial views on the subject of homosexuality are simplistic and matter of fact: having grown up in a rural area of the most conservative half of the Lorian empire, she’s been taught that men don’t bed men, and that “a mollis is no better than a woman.” Even so, she harbors no personal feelings toward molles, ill or otherwise; rather, she passively accepts society’s judgment that they belong in the camp of the weak, just like herself, at least until she joins Clearchos’s legion. It is then, however, as she tears apart her old self and allows Silverlegs to progressively take over her mind and body, that we see Constanter start to absorb the pervasive culture around her and allow it to change her.
Now a young man, and well on her way to become a legend, she rejects her old feminine self and, along with it, any suggestion that she might be less than a man’s man. This is why Victrix’s attempt at a kiss outrages her: the possibility that he might genuinely think her a mollis carries with it the threat of annihilating the new and stronger self she painstakingly rebuilt in the wake of her rape by Servilius. The same applies to Clearchos’s plan to pass her as a spado to avoid arousing suspicion among his men: having fought hard to reinvent herself as a man, Constanter is infuriated to be socially relegated by Clearchos’s lies.
Or I could have summed this entire wall of text to this: systemic homophobia in Silverlegs boils down to a matter of individual and social power. There’s no apology of homophobia to be found in this book, only the fictional depiction of a homophobic society, anchored in historical and contemporary reality.
Acknowledgments
This book would not exist without the exceptional talent, unyielding support, and inhuman patience of Tiffany Yates Martins, my developmental editor, who, upon first reading Silverlegs, declared it a “raging, bitching feminist manifesto.” I have held onto these words throughout the many hours spent rewriting and editing it; I remembered them when I wanted to give up on the project, and I believe that they ultimately carried me to the finish line.
An equally large debt of gratitude is owed to my readers, who were kind enough to beta read Silverlegs and offer me their support even though it wasn’t Spotless (see what I did there?) Regina, Sandira, Alisia, Swati, Shalini, Michelle, Sarah, Padmini, Alex… and of course, the most important reader of all, Jennie Goloboy, my agent, who fought hard for an entire year to find a home for Silverlegs.
Next, and oddly enough, I do want to thank the twelve publishing houses who turned down Silverlegs, because I ended up hiring the outrageously gifted Cassandre Bolan to paint the cover, and man… To quote that legendary possum who broke into an Australian bakery: “I regret nothing.”
And, of course, I want to thank B, for always being at my side and listening to my author ramblings at dinner table. On t’aime.
About the author
Camilla Monk is a French native who grew up in a Franco-American family. After studying business and advertising in Paris, she taught English and French in Tokyo before returning to France, where she spent eight years building rickety websites for financial companies.
Today, she lives in Montreal, where she keeps a close watch on the squirrels and complains on a daily basis about the egregious number of Tim Hortons.
www.camillamonk.com
Other works by Camilla Monk
Island Chaptal—nerdy IT engineer by day, romance novel junkie by night—just walked into her messy New York apartment to find Mr. Right waiting for her. No, wait…Mr. Clean.
In a fresh, witty series that blends fast-moving action with romantic suspense, a romance book–addicted computer engineer and a charming, cleaning-obsessed professional killer team up to take on the bad guys…and forge a highly unconventional working relationship. With a splash of James Bond’s sophistication and a heaping helping of Stephanie Plum’s spunkiness, Camilla Monk’s Spotless series combines high stakes and plenty of humor with lushly exotic settings and a funny, relatable heroine readers can’t help but cheer for.
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Emma is on a vacation in Rome, up against titans and sketchy archeologists to save the sister she thought she hated… And her only ally is a blind hobo. It can't go well.
Twenty-year old Emma just landed in Rome, to find the father who walked out of her life more than a decade ago and was too busy eating pizza to call. Traveling with her is a secret she’s carried alone since childhood: sometimes, around her, time stops. People and cars freeze, rain hangs still in the air and there’s only her left in the silence.
To make things worse, instead of her dad, Em runs into a past she’d rather forget in the person of Lily, her estranged step-sis. As the two of them reconnect, Em starts to pick up some creepy vibes from Katharos, the mysterious archaeological foundation Lily works for—and more specifically the ancient stone table they’re digging up near the coliseum…
Faust, the blind hobo Em keeps running into, might be the key to piercing Katharos’s secrets. Actually, he might even have something to do with that pesky time-freezing thing…