I ‘d like to welcome author O. E. Tearmann to the blog or #ThisorThatThursday.

O.E. Tearmann is a pen name for a writing duo: Olivia Wylie and E.S. Argentum.

The ‘O.’ in O.E. Tearmann, Olivia Wylie (she/her), is a professional horticulturist and business owner who specializes in the restoration of neglected gardens. When the weather keeps her indoors, she enjoys researching and writing about the plant world, the future, and the complexities of being human. Her solo work is in illustrated non-fiction works of ethnobotany, intended to make the intersection of human history and plantevolution accessible to a wider audience. She lives in Colorado with a very patient husband and a rather impatient cat. Her works can be viewed atwww.leafingoutgardening.com

As the ‘E.’ in the O.E. Tearmann writing duo, E.S. Argentum (they/them) brings to a life a cast of eccentric, loveable characters. They bring the same passion for diverse, character-driven stories seen in Aces High, Jokers Wild to their solo work. E.S. Argentum’s fantasy and scifi romances center on GLBTQ+ relationships with the emotional comfort of your favorite puff piece, layered with rich, unique twists. They have short stories published in multiple anthologies under the pseudonym of Emily Singer, including Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Crossing Colfax and Ultimate Power, from Northwest press. When they’re not writing, they’re generally found playing video games, having existential crises, or napping with their cat. Their work can be viewed athttps://argentumbooks.com

Things you need for your writing sessions:

E.S. Argentum: Hot tea, coffee shop ambience sounds, and my fountain pen.

O.W.: Hot tea in the early morning and good music (read, rock music with some punk thrown in)

Things that hamper your writing:

E.S.: A cat on my lap or keyboard! I also really struggle to write when my mental health isn’t

great.

O.W.: Physical tiredness after a couple days out in the garden. No writing happens in a week like

that. Only resting.

Things you love about writing:

E.S.: Worldbuilding and character development.

O.W.: Interpersonal relations and finding believable ways for the tech to be really, really cool.

Things you hate about writing:

E.S.: Editing (as of this interview, I’m currently editing my first personal novel, so I have a bias).

O.W.: Finding a typo in a book that’s already gone to print. Seriously, after all the passes from us, the beta readers, the sensitivity readers, the editor and the formatter, how?! Just HOW?!

Things you never want to run out of:

E.S.: Is it cliché to say friendship and love? I’d be totally lost without my found family.

O.W.: Friendship, tea and 90% dark chocolate. I need all three.

Things you wish you’d never bought:

E.S.: I’ve had some run-ins with disgusting pumpkin spice products. They always sound so good and then taste terrible.

O.W.: Eggplant. I mean Eugh-plant! People told me if you cook it right it’s delicious. People were wrong.

Words that describe you:

E.S.: Introverted, nerdy/geeky, loyal, nearsighted.

O.W.: Passionate, energetic, diligent, driven.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:

E.S.: Anxious, unorganized, bad at decisions.

O.W.: Klutzy, fearful, faking the making it.

Favorite music or song:

E.S.: I will always be a sucker for Broadway show tunes of any stripe. Musical theatre is my not-so-secret guilty pleasure.

O.W.: I have a list! But my top are: S.J. Tucker, Frenchy And The Punk, The Interrupters and Bon Jovi.

Music that drives you crazy:

E.S.: I’m not a fan of the really heavy metal/screamo rock. If there are English lyrics in a song, I like being able to understand them.

O.W.: Skrillex and any Country music that is mostly glitz and tw-a-a-ang!

Something you’re really good at:

E.S.: Listening to and supporting my friends when they’re struggling.

O.W.: Putting plans and complicated step-by-step initiatives together.

Something you’re really bad at:

E.S.: Household chores, especially laundry and dishes.

O.W.: Handling other people’s frustration and anger.

Something you wish you could do:

E.S.: Pay off debt for random people and donate to more crowdfunding campaigns.

O.W.: What they said! Also, play the violin in a way that doesn’t sound like a cat sliding down a chalkboard.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do:

E.S.: Put my own needs aside to cater to others.

O.W.: Hide my emotions so well that even I don’t always know when I’m overloaded.

The last thing you ordered online:

E.S.: The Final Fantasy XV Official Works limited edition set.

O.W.: Really awesome reusable cloth menstrual pads from Sacred Spiral Creations on Etsy.

The last thing you regret buying:

E.S.: A container of edible cookie dough that’s not nearly as tasty as it sounded (I’m sensing a theme with my regrettable purchases here; whoops).

O.W.: Cookies that turned out to be Way Too Sweet. Regretted it after two bites, and I still had a box. Can’t give them out to friends who come over right now, either :(

Things you always put in your books:

E.S.: Queer romance! I generally lean toward the sweet and fluffy side, but occasionally get into some pretty steamy scenes, like we have in the Aces High series.

O.W.: Agreed! Also, found families and adopted-sibling shenanigans. I love interconnected communities supporting one another.

Things you never put in your books:

E.S.: Sexual violence. There’s too much out there and, in my opinion, it’s lazy, misogynistic writing.

O.W.: Sexual violence, or any sort of ‘purity’, whether that be genetic ‘purity’ in sci-fi or ‘blood purity’ in fantasy. That’s a holdover from Eugenics that we can put right in the trash. Give me the multi-species kids who are stronger because of hybrid vigor, the multicultural kids pulling their disparate parts into a whole and the people with a foot in more than one world.

Things to say to an author:

E.S.: “I left you a review on Goodreads and Amazon, and I’m telling all my friends about your book!”

O.W.: “I had so much fun with this!” or “I wanted to slap This Character when She Did A Dumb Thing” or “thank you for writing characters I can connect with!” If you really want to earn undying love, “wow, this book really opened my eyes/got me thinking about things in a different way.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:

E.S.: To this author duo, at least: “Is this series related to the G.R.R. Martin Wildcards series?”

O.W.: Oh groan, I HATE it when we get asked ‘did you borrow that idea from Martin?’ People. Nothing against Martin, but the people in this duo are in their early 30s. The series was popular before either of us were born. By the time we were aware, it had fallen way out of public discourse, and everyone was talking about his fantasy work. We didn’t hear of the work in question till our second book was already out! *Loud sigh*.

Oh, that and, if you call my writing partner ‘little lady’ or say ‘I don’t see many ladies writing this kind of thing’, I WILL base a side character off you and kill them. Gruesomely.

Favorite books (or genre):

E.S.: Fantasy will always be my home, and even better if it’s got great GLBTQ characters.

O.W.: Charles de Lint’s urban fantasy saved me in high school, and Terry Pratchett got me through college. I will always love them both for it. Beyond that? Anything affirming and well written; I’m pretty eclectic in my reading. I have soft spots for fantasy, sci fi and nonfiction narrative history.

Books you wouldn’t buy:

E.S.: Anything by someone I know is a bigot in any way, shape, or form.

O.W.: Anything bigoted, and the majority of procedural or thriller style stories. Weirdly, I get bored.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done:

E.S.: I went to Ireland on my own when I was 20 for my junior practicum in college. It was my first time traveling internationally on my own, and I didn’t know anyone in the country beforehand.

O.W.: I started my own business with $500 in the bank and some tools strapped to the roof of a Mazda 3. Worked out great!

Something you chickened out from doing:

E.S.: Telling my parents about my gender identity. Not sure I’m ever going to get the guts for that one, unfortunately.

O.W.: I really wanted to do a trip abroad in high school, had the required GPA and was invited to do all the fundraising, but I couldn’t get up the courage to ask my cash-strapped, overworked mom if I could try to raise the funds. She and I both regret this.

Thanks for having us on!

About O. E. Tearmann:

O.E. Tearmann (they/them) is the author of the Aces High, Jokers Wild series. Their books include strong themes of diversity and found family, providing a surprisingly hopeful take on a dystopian future. Bringing their own experiences as a marginalized author together with flawed but genuine characters, Tearmann’s work has been described as “Firefly for the dystopian genre.” Publisher’s Weekly called it “a lovely paean to the healing power of respectful personal connections among comrades, friends, and lovers.” Tearmann lives in Colorado with two cats, their partner, and the belief that individuals can make humanity better through small actions. They are a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, the Colorado Resistance Writers and the Queer Scifi group. In their spare time, they teach workshops about writing GLTBQ characters, speak and plant gardens to encourage sustainable agricultural practices, and play too many video games.

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