Lost Inside the Maze

Official announcement!! Me and my friend @friedricecomic are making a teen romcom graphic novel with an asexual protagonist!

The Publishers Weekly blurb doesn't completely explain the vibes of the story, so:

Bee has never been asked out. Yet everyone around her seems to already be in relationship or is in the process of getting one. Though Bee loves all things romantic - the tropes, the thrills, the flairs and fireworks - she has never fallen in love, and has no idea how to even begin.

When one of Bee’s best friend asks for her help to secure the affections of the most popular boy in school, Bee finally has had enough of playing pretend and decides to get some real world experience to back her advice. Relying on her encyclopedic knowledge of romantic tropes, she randomly chooses a boy to crush on and undertakes a year-long experiment to win his heart, documenting it all on her Tumblr.

It works. Except Bee is slowly gaining feelings for her lab rat. When the relationship starts becoming physical, Bee begins to realise that there are some forms of romance that she cannot reciprocate.

Will Bee find her happily ever after, or will the fantasy come crashing down?

Bee is demiromantic asexual. I myself am demisexual, and my editor is a-spec. This comic is for us aces who long for the dream of love and to be recognised for who we are.

Most of the main cast is queer! Bee's best friend is aroace to balance out the sap, but the others... are B-plot spoilers. :)

The main cast is entirely AAPI.

Applied Romantics is inspired by late 90s - early 00s romantic comedies, and my youth pouring through teen magazines, blogs and shows. I really enjoyed the cozy whimsy of Y2K rom-com (my favourites: 13 Going on 30, Sleepless in Seattle, Pushing Daisies), and noticed how so many of them were epistolary i.e using the technology of the time, like e-mail, diaries. So I set mine during the hipster peak Tumblr era of 2008-2012, incorporating the ask box, MSN, text messages and blog posts.

“Freedom always has a price.”

Cover artwork for Ork by the late British artist Richard Clifton-Dey. Psygnosis released Ork in 1991 for the Amiga and Atari ST.

The artwork, entitled Behemoth's World, was flipped and zoomed in a bit when it was originally used a decade earlier for Blue Öyster Cult's 7th album Cultösaurus Erectus.

you know what that means

original art by @kustar-ryumi