Man O’War and Sea Creature Facts, with Cory McCarthy (episode 24)
What a treat! In this episode, author and recovering bluebottle Cory McCarthy joined us to talk about research holes from his latest novel Man O’War, a coming-of-age YA about a trans swimmer growing up near Sea Planet, a marine life theme park in small-town Ohio. I fully expected us to mostly talk about sea creatures, and then we had a heart-to-heart about the nuances of writing queer YA, parallels between growing up trans and animals in captivity, and who coming out is really for (*cough dinosaurs cough*). But don’t worry—there are still sea creature facts! Cory gave us tidbits about the inherent plurality of Portuguese man o' war, upsetting shark sex, and joyful penguin interactions, and more. Bonus game: count the times Cory and I laugh semi-maniacally about queer kidlit writer stuff, or the amount of times I say “that’s so real.” Remember, kids: it’s not that it gets better; it’s that straight people get less important.
SHOW NOTES:
The New York Times article “Boys Don’t Cry’ 20 Years Later: For Trans Men, a Divisive Legacy” gives an overview of the many complex responses to this movie. I personally like the piece “Fighting to Thrive: Reflecting on Boys Don’t Cry 20 Years Later” by William Horn on Bitch Media, which reminds us that the project of the movie is educating straight, cis people, and was not necessarily made for queer and trans people. Here’s a quote from Horn: “Boys Don’t Cry is powerful, but it’s traumatizing. The movie is intentionally designed that way: It pulls you into Brandon’s story so that you feel his fear and his pain. Good movies do that, and Boys Don’t Cry remains important viewing for a cis audience. For people like me, it’s a fear and pain that we already innately know.”
The other trans YA novels I mentioned (published before 2011) were Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger and Luna by Julie Anne Peters.
the Portugese man o’war
The two documentaries Cory mentioned are Blackfish and My Octopus Teacher.
I asked Cory where he got his sea creature facts. He said many of them were from the science tomes of his youth, but he is also a lifelong fan of National Geographic for inspiring random research holes to go topple down into.
This was the “preorder perk” extra Cory made for anyone who ordered their book early.
From “Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Enduring Fame: Why the ’80s Art Star Remains Relevant Now” by Tessa Soloman in ARTNews: Jean-Michel Basquiat was a Neo-Expressionist artist who was famous in the 1980s, before dying of a heroin overdose in 1988 at 27 years old. He started as a graffiti artist, spray-painting walls around SoHo and the East Village with his friend Al Diaz, under the pseudonym SAMO, short for “same old shit.” He blew up after displaying work at a “New York/New Wave” show at P.S. 1, when viewers called him the new Rauschenberg.” His iconic works include Dustheads (1982), a seven-foot-tall canvas featuring two vibrantly colored, chaotic figures against a black background, and the sculptural painting Ten Punching Bags, a collaboration with Andy Warhol.
The article Leah sent me was also from ARTNews, titled “The FBI Seized 25 Contested Basquiat Paintings from the Orlando Museum of Art.” I can’t really summarize it because it seems to deal with issues of authentication and theft specific to the high art world. But I’m glad it lead me to learn a bit about Basquiat!
You can learn more about Cory McCarthy by following them on instagram at @cory__mccarthy or visiting their website https://onceandfuturestories.com/.
Follow me on instagram @val.howlett or support me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/valhowlett for bonus clips, extras, and more.