It’s only one week until Displacement Day! But, since I can’t wait for you to read it and meet the characters, I’ve decided to tell you a little about them right now. Check out the bottom of the post for links to pre-order the book (now with an Amazon.ca link for Canadians!)
Jamie/Leigh
“Only Patton calls me James.” Jamie says, “and for that matter he only used to call me that. Now he calls me ‘And don’t come back until you learn to show some respect.’”
Jamie’s only Jamie for about twenty pages or so, and then (surprising nobody who’s read the dust jacket) he’s Leigh. Fashion and style are deeply important to him—almost as important as being an unrepentant punk. Despite being pretty fragile as human beings go, his typical solution to problems (his, or anyone else’s) is to throw himself at them, even when it’s a really, really bad idea. He’s awesome; he just needs someone to look after him. It’s a good thing he’s got family for that.
Class: queer disaster punk
Plays: formerly bass, now vocals
Likes: spiky hair, Joan Jett, soft scarves when he’s feeling tragic
Dislikes: censorship, boiled vegetables, the general concept of responsibility
“What? I got a new body, not a new set of preferences.”
“You already had the complete set. That’s not the issue.”
Lizzie
Technically she hadn’t broken any rules: it was officially only boys who weren’t allowed in the girls’ dorm rooms after seven.
Lizzie is Leigh’s older sister—older by about three months (they were adopted by Patton as little kids), but she acts like it’s a lot more than that. Fiercely loyal to family, she thinks violence absolutely is the answer, at least some of the time.
Class: social justice punk
Plays: drums
Likes: cooking, chess, punching nazis
Dislikes: hospitals, authority, adults who refuse to Step Up
Jack
He tries to think of the lessons his father had taught him, growing up. Every battle begins and ends before you even make it to the battlefield, and information is the deciding factor.
Jack’s dad and Patton went way back, back to his dad’s military days, so when he died, Patton took him in. Now he’s their tragically straight, super-serious, friend-slash-bodyguard whose full-time job (outside of studying) seems to be to keep Leigh out of trouble. It might just be the only thing he’s not 100% prepared for.
Class: reformed military subcontractor punk
Plays: electric guitar
Likes: judo, foreign languages, Lizzie’s homemade curry
Dislikes: wasting time, having to rely on others, a man named August Brenner
Tina
To be honest, she looks like a tiny clone of Amy: rosy cheeks, chestnut hair. The difference, aside from the mini-me thing, is that she’s so quiet she’s almost perpetually fading into the scenery.
Tina’s the latest addition to their weird little unit. Leigh put out the call for a punk bassist, and she answered. She’s autistic, quiet, really good with computers and tech, and fantastic at Noticing Things—especially things nobody else catches. She doesn’t tell anyone her middle name.
Class: direct-action punk
Plays: electric bass
Likes: patterns and systems, whispering quietly into microphones, the way Lizzie asks
Dislikes: hypocrites, the feeling of cotton balls, capitalism
***
Displacement drops in ONE WEEK! Here’s how you can preorder (so far):
US
Barnes and Noble
Prospective Press
Canada
Amazon
Check back again Friday for another post, and if you haven’t yet, check out the three excerpts “The Test,” “The Jenny Q Rule,” and “Vector Verification!”
