Celia Laskey's work has appeared in Guernica, The Minnesota Review, and other places. She has an MFA from the University of New Mexico and was a finalist in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers. She lives with her wife in Los Angeles. Under the Rainbow is her first book and she recently agreed to talk about it with Daryl Maxwell for the LAPL Blog.
What was your inspiration for Under the Rainbow?
Everyone who knows me considers me to be the biggest lesbian whoever lesbianed, and people are really surprised when they find out that I didn’t realize I was gay until I was 23—they assume I shot out of my mom’s vagina and was like, “no thank you, men.” The reality is that realizing my sexuality was a really long, sad journey and for most of my life I was so closeted, even to myself, that it literally didn’t occur to me that I could be gay. Naturally, it had a lot to do with a lack of queer visibility in my young life. I grew up in a small town in Maine, and while I don’t think it would have earned the title of “most homophobic town in America,” it definitely was lacking in that queer visibility. If a task force had come in—even just to show that queer people exist and that it’s *okay* to be queer—I think I could have realized who I was much sooner. So I suppose in a way, I wrote the book for my younger self who needed a version of the task force.
Are any of the other characters in the novel inspired by or based on specific individuals?
I think there are tiny parts of people I know, or tiny parts of me, in each character, but on the whole they are completely made up!
How did the novel evolve and change as you wrote and revised it? Are there any characters or scenes that were lost in the process that you wish had made it to the published version?
There was so much that changed over the course of editing the book. I’d say that making the whole feel greater than the sum of its parts was the biggest thing I worked on with my editor after selling the book—we deleted entire stories, wrote new ones, added way more linkages between all the characters, added plot points that would hopefully urge the reader to keep turning pages (like what happens at the end of Zach’s story), and we added Gabe’s final story as a way to bring everyone back together. In the end, I don’t think I miss anything we got rid of—it all served the larger purpose!
In Under The Rainbow, you include extreme examples of both the best and worst behaviors people can exhibit. If a small town in the middle of the US was identified as being “the most homophobic” and a task force from a group like Acceptance Across America was sent in for two years, would you volunteer to go (either as an LGBTQIA person or an advocate)?
Absolutely not! I’m at a point in my life where I don’t want to “reach across the aisle”—we can just stay in separate aisles. I think a lot of marginalized people feel this way currently. We’re tired. Tired of explaining ourselves and arguing for our humanity and usually getting nowhere. I started writing this book six years ago when I was less tired, but I still think even then I wouldn’t have gone to the most homophobic town in America. So that was a challenge with writing this book: I had to put myself in the mindset of people who would.
What’s currently on your nightstand?
I’m currently reading The Leavers by Lisa Ko and loving it. I just read Real Life by Brandon Taylor and thought it very much lived up to the hype, and I also just read Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout and thought it was just as good as the original. Olive Kitteridge is one of my absolute favorite books and functioned as a bible for me while writing Under the Rainbow.
And some books coming out soon that I can’t wait to read: Godshot by Chelsea Bieker, Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby and Kept Animals by Kate Milliken.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I’m not sure if this counts as “child,” probably more like teen, but The Great Gatsby was the first book I ever read that knocked me on my butt, language-wise. (I always think about this passage: “The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.”)
Also, a book about a man obsessed with another man appealed to me in some way I couldn’t articulate. To a straight reader, Nick is simply interested in Gatsby because he represents the American Dream, but to a queer reader, Nick is interested in Gatsby for other, more private reasons.
Was there a book you felt you needed to hide from your parents?
If I had even known of any queer books when I was younger, then I probably would have hidden them! But sadly I just read what everyone else was reading.
Can you name your top five favorite or most influential authors?
Well it would have to start with our lord and savior Alice Munro, followed by Amy Bloom, Alexander Chee, Margaret Atwood, and James Baldwin.
What is a book you've faked reading?
Probably Swann’s Way in college.
Can you name a book you've bought for the cover?
I don’t know that I’ve ever actually done this! I’m very scrupulous and cheap and I tend to want to know everything about a book before I buy it.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Oh man, I don’t think I have a good answer for this one either. As I mentioned above, The Great Gatsby was the first book that really awed me in terms of what language can do, but I don’t know if it changed my life? I’ve had experiences that have changed my life, but I don’t know if any book has, even though I love books deeply.
Can you name a book for which you are an evangelist (and you think everyone should read)?
I think Edinburgh by Alexander Chee is the perfect novel on every level: structure, character, language, etc. I definitely evangelize for it.
Is there a book you would most want to read again for the first time?
Probably The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner.
What is your idea of THE perfect day (where you could go anywhere/meet with anyone)?
To make this a little easier on myself, I’ll probably narrow it down to the perfect LA day: it would start with a hike in Elysian Park with my wife and dog, followed by going to see a really good queer movie at the Hollywood Arclight and eating at a delicious restaurant (Botanica in Silverlake is one of my favorites).
What is the question that you’re always hoping you’ll be asked, but never have been? What is your answer?
I love silly questions, like what is my order at McDonald’s? I usually get the 10-piece chicken McNugget meal with barbeque and honey mustard sauce and a water because all I ever want is a few sips of soda. My wife will get the two cheeseburgers meal with a Coke and thus I get my few sips of Coke plus a few bites of her cheeseburger, and she gets a few of my nuggets. Perfection.
What are you working on now?
I finished a second novel a while ago that’s sort of a dark satire of the wedding industrial complex, and I’m now almost done with a lesbian romcom-style novel. I wish publishing could move a bit faster because I have lots of ideas!
