A Balham resident celebrated the release of his debut young adult novel at the UK’s oldest LGBTQ+ bookshop.
Nick Coveney, publishing expert and author, announced his novel Everything Not Saved in an intimate Q&A session hosted by the bookshop, Gay’s the Word, and performer Venus Duffy.
Featuring elements of video game culture and folklore, the novel explores topics such as bullying, grief, sexual health and coming out with a sex-positive attitude.
Nick said: “I wrote this for anyone who grew up feeling lost and estranged and felt like the world around them wasn’t giving them what they needed, so they turned to video games for escapism.”
Venus, performer and creator of popular queer geek themed cabaret show Slaystation, hosted a Q&A session and explored some of the themes and events in the book.
Venus said: “When I first read it, it was just very apparent that this was something that was missing from my childhood, the story felt so applicable to me and my experiences.”
The novel could have turned out quite differently, as it was previously pitched to a US publisher, who had accepted the book under the condition that some of the more sex-positive content was removed, such as scene of a visit to a sexual health centre.
Unhappy to compromise on this bit of representation, Coveney successfully crowd-funded the costs of publishing the novel via Kickstarter.
Coveney and Duffy both talked about the importance of realistic and honest representation of queer adolescence and not shying away from the uncomfortable aspects of sex and sexual health.
Duffy said: “I’m so glad that queer people have a story to read that is authentic and might make them feel less alone.”
Nick said: “If I was young Nick reading this, I would have felt a lot more hope, more understood and seen in the world.
“I hope the book can offer that for people.”
Coveney lives in South London with his husband, fellow author Patrick Ness, with their overthinking Irish Doodle, Biscuit, and the extremely happy Cockapoo Oreo.
Everything Not Saved is available for purchase at Waterstones or Foyles.
Read more about Nick and his work via his website here.
Image credit: Stephen Daly photography
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