IN THE SEA of female-centric young adult novels filling bookstores around the world, Proxy definitely stands out. Written by American author Alex London, Proxy is a sci-fi novel featuring two lead male characters — and one of them happens to be gay. The book narrates the friendship that is formed between Knox, a “patron” who gets everything he wants and his “proxy,” Syd, who takes all the consequences and punishments of his actions.
“I did not want to write a ‘gay’ book, or even a book about that relationship. It was just a fact of life. I wanted to write about action heroes. So I started writing about two action heroes, coming from two different points of view. If one of them happens to be gay, that does not change the fact that he is still an action hero,” Mr. London told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“Syd is poor and deep in debt, but also resourceful, hard-working, honest. He’s gay, but his sexuality doesn’t limit what he can do. For him, it’s not the struggle with his sexuality that defines him. It’s no big deal to be gay. Knox is straight, but it doesn’t limit the kinds of friendships he can form either. He is trying to be his best self, while everything he knows of the world is telling him to be a heartless jerk,” he added.