(You can also view this post on Buttondown.)
One thing I’ve always wanted to do for IGNORE is write character introductions, and now that the launch date is drawing closer, I’ve got one for you!
Kelli Reynolds is an autistic woman who has lived on Callisto all her life. She has always been fascinated by stories. As a child, she liked to sit alone and tell stories to her medically-prescribed companion robot – until her soon-to-be-best friend, Rowan di Pietro, swept her up into the world of communal pretend play. By telling stories that the rest of Rowan’s friend group could add to and act out, Kelli briefly became a social fixture – much to the consternation of her robot, which would have rathered that she make friends in a more typical way.
As Rowan and Kelli got older and social interaction got more complicated, Kelli withdrew again. After a bullying incident, she became fascinated by the idea of lesbians – a forbidden topic for minors on Callisto – and eventually, after covert research, realized that she might be one herself. She and Rowan retreated into a private, romantic world where they told queer stories just for themselves – until tragedy struck and estranged them from each other, leaving Kelli guilt-ridden and alone in the world.
Determined to mend her ways and play by the rules, Kelli went back into the closet and studied hard until she landed a coveted job supervising television scripts for the AI media corporation that runs Callisto. The job meant compromises: on Callisto, the only legal media is generated by the company AI, and it definitely can’t include queer characters or anything else controversial. But supervising the AI scripts is the only legal way for Kelli to pursue her love of stories, and she’s achieved success by sneaking elements of herfavorite childhood games into her show: a family-friendly pirate adventure story called Ship of Fools. Kelli lives an orderly life and tells herself that she’s happy, or happy enough. But she knows something’s missing.
Which is when Rowan unexpectedly pops back into her life, claiming to need her help with something questionably legal. It might be the end of Kelli’s career if she says yes. Or it might be the beginning of a thrilling, queer pirate adventure story in real life.
If you love Abed Nadir, but you also love repressed sapphics who are hiding a dark secret, you might love Kelli.
IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS is available for pre-order from all major retailers.
Here’s a few other book promo tidbits if you’ve read this far:
- Here’s the officialy IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS playlist on Spotify.
- And a Pinterest board that I made while I was writing the first draft, showing the contrasting aesthetics for each moon of Jupiter that we visit in the book.
- Plus an excerpt is up at the Civilian Reader
Take care,
Ada