Steven Rowley (Photo by Afonso Salcedo)

The Guncle author Steven Rowley talks about the sequel for DMA’s Arts and Letters Live

RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com

The Dallas Museum of Art gets a bit of Pride in next week when author Steven Rowley drops by for a visit. The gay author of The Celebrants, Lily and the Octopus and — perhaps most notably — The Guncle will be featured in DMA’s Arts and Letters Live series on Tuesday, June 18. In a conversation with Brad Pritchett, chief experience officer at the DMA, Rowley will talk about his brand new tome and sequel, The Guncle Abroad.

At the time of this interview, Rowley was still a couple of days out from the book’s release date.

“It’s always exciting, but publishing is a long-lead industry,” he said. “It takes a while to write the book, then finish the cover and then the sales team and librarians.

“It’s all sorts of that fun stuff, but that culmination leads to this excitement each time.”

The Guncle Abroad marks Rowley’s first sequel. In The Guncle, Palm Springs recluse Patrick takes on the role of guardian after a tragedy strikes his niece and nephew, Maisie and Grant. But as he spends time with them, he learns more about himself while also imparting his own wisdom to his wards.

“There were not a lot of expectations with that book. I wanted to launch something new into the world and hoped readers would love it,” Rowley said. “But I was really touched how readers embraced that book and the character.”

In The Guncle Abroad, it is now five years later in the lives of Patrick, Maisie and Grant. Patrick is nearing 50 and newly single while his brother just announced he’s remarrying — much to the displeasure of Maisie and Grant, the niece and nephew who lost their mother in the first book.

So Patrick and the youngsters head to Europe for the destination wedding while learning to navigate family bonds that are getting more complicated.

Writing a sequel with beloved characters was new for Rowley, who approached the novel with some trepidation.

“I didn’t want to interfere with anyone’s feelings about the first one,” he said. “I didn’t want to affect readers’ goodwill who were protective of them. I’m very protective of them so there was some fear.

“I had to wait until I found just the right story to figure out what I wanted to say.”

Rowley says there is a lot of him in Patrick and that readers assumed he missed writing the character. He said Patrick is fun to write, but, really, the kids are the driving force.

In many of his books, there are some undertones of grief and Rowley stated that the children’s grief journey was just beginning at the end of The Guncle. He wanted to see if they were OK.

But also, they were older, 14 and 11, with different perspectives — or maybe just in the throes of that youthful rebellion.

“They are not charmed by Patrick anymore, and he’s given them the ability to push back. Maisie had to grow up quickly, and Grant has this delayed adolescence. I wanted to see how each was affected by grief,” he explained.

In The Celebrants, the characters attend a living funeral. In Lily and the Octopus, Ted’s elderly dog’s health is compromised. And again, in The Guncle, the death of a parent reshapes everyone’s lives.

Rowley seems so obsessed with grief.

“We don’t discuss it, and people are so particularly bad at it,” he said. “It seeps into the fabric of who we are, and it should be a more uniting experience.

“If we’re lucky to love, chances are, we’re gonna lose someone. But anyone who’s worried about my books being too sad should know I approach grief with humor.”

By all appearances, life is pretty good for Rowley right now. The Celebrants just came out in paperback this March. The Guncle Abroad dropped last month. He’s married to fellow author Byron Lane, who’s Big Gay Wedding, debuted in paperback in May. For an added cute quotient, both The Celebrants and Big Gay Wedding came out on the same day last year in hardback.

Plus, it’s Pride Month, and Rowley’s serving literary realness.

“So all my books come out just in time for June. You know, we are still queer people the other 11 months, but I’m happy to show up in Dallas and be back there during Pride,” the 53-year-old author said. “All my books have a queer bent, and I like writing characters who are gay or queer that are my age and ask ‘What does it mean to grow older as a gay man?’”

For more information and tickets, visit DMA.org/programs/Arts-and-Letters-Live.