Y/A fantasy fiction writer Aaron Pacheco creates books he never had as a kid
By Nina Livingstone
Growing up in a small town in the late-1990s, Aaron Pacheco remembers what it was like to be young and gay. “I didn’t really have access to stories with young LGBTQ+ characters, either on TV or in print,” he says. “The closest I had were Will & Grace and Queer as Folk, but neither was really geared toward a closeted teenage or pre-teen audience.”
In part, Pacheco was able to change that with the July 2021 release of his first novel, The Trials of Ildarwood: Spectres of the Fall, young-adult fiction that tells the story a 10,000-year-old tradition that banishes the children of Ranewood into the spectral forest, where they must navigate their way to safety.
“I wanted to include LGBTQ+ characters from the very first page, but in the process, I challenged myself to do it in a way that would not lead to them being ‘othered’ quite as much as we often see in popular media today,” explains the Raynham native, who uses the pen name S.C. Selvyn.
Selvyn’s book found immediate success, hitting the No. 1 spot as a new release in the ebook category on Amazon.com. “Surprisingly, my biggest audience has been adults who grew up reading books like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games,” says Selvyn.
When asked if his coming out experience factored into his decision to write “The Trials of Ildarwood,” Selvyn was quick to respond. “Absolutely.”
“One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn’t come out in high school or earlier,” he says. “In truth, the kids that did were a whole lot braver than I was, and to this day, I still wonder if it actually would have been easier for others to come out sooner if only there had been more of us to show them that they weren’t alone in their struggles.
“In many ways, I’m trying to make up for that with aspects of the story in this series,” he says. “For example, the culture at the center of this series has a long history of not just welcoming LGBTQ+ individuals, but actually celebrating them for having souls that are, from their perspective, ‘more perfectly balanced than all the rest.’”
With “The Trials of Ildarwood” still finding its way onto bookstore shelves, Selvyn already has four separate stories in the works, all of them based around “The Trials of Ildarwood.” His main project is a brief prequel that will help prospective readers ease into the world of Ildarwood without having to commit to the 776-page epic that is Book One. He hopes to release it sometime this summer.
“I would love to write full time, especially since I have so many stories to tell, but I suspect I’ll need to write at least a few more books before I can officially quit my day job,” admits Selvyn, who is a product manager for a Boston tech company. “Until then, I make progress on my stories little by little with whatever free time I can find throughout the week. That typically means wrapping up work by 6 p.m., figuring out dinner, then trying to muster enough energy to work on even a single scene, if not more.”
Selvyn, who has been with his partner for 14 years, divides his time between Raynham and Provincetown. “When I’m in Raynham, I can visit almost all of my close relatives with a quick drive down the street, so that has allowed me to remain a part of their lives and the lives of my young nieces, nephews, and cousins, who consistently fill my heart with joy,” he says. “When I’m in Provincetown, though, it feels like I’m surrounded by family in an entirely different way. I still can’t believe how truly welcoming and inspiring our community in Provincetown is.”
So what has been the most rewarding part of the Ildarwood experience? “Hearing that my story either changed someone’s perspectives on life, or that it helped them cope with some particularly difficult trials of their own. After all, that is precisely why I created the Ildarwood, and why writing this book has been a dream come true.”
This originally appeared in Boston Spirit Magazine’s March-April print issue. For a free print subscription, click here.
