DESERT ISLAND CASTAWAYS: Kit Barrie | Never Hollowed By The Stare

Our favorite MM authors a.k.a. castaways are asked, what books, songs and luxury item would they take to a desert island?

This is a monthly series inspired by LezReviewBooks.com’s ‘Desert Island Books’, which in turn is based on BBC’s ‘Desert Island Discs’.

The rules are fairly simple:

List up to ten books, a playlist and one luxury item that you couldn’t do without on a desert island.

Any type of book can be selected, but I ask that at least half are LGBT+ books. Choices should be justified in a paragraph or two. Any number of songs and any type of music is allowed. The luxury item must be inanimate and of no use in escaping the island or allowing communication from outside.

Let’s welcome our January castaway, Kit Barrie!

DESERT ISLAND BOOKS:

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
I fell in love with the cover of this book before it came out, and once it did, it became, and still is, my favorite book! The prose is beautiful, the world-building is superb, and the characters are rich and intriguing. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea; the world-building starts like a punch to the face, and you have to learn everything along with Maia, the half-goblin whose life is turned upside down when he suddenly becomes the emperor of the elven kingdom. Highly recommend the audiobook, as it’s less daunting than the unfamiliar words on the page.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
If you’re wondering where the ‘Barrie’ in my pen name came from, it’s because I’m a huge Peter Pan fan! The boy who never grew up, who fights pirates and dances with mermaids and flies through the night sky has always been one of my favorite stories in any iteration.

The Lost Boy by Christina Henry
As mentioned above, I’m a huge Peter Pan fan. But I prefer the dark side of Peter Pan, when he’s not the innocent, carefree rapscallion, but instead is crafty and manipulative. I’ve read a number of ‘dark Peter Pan’ stories, and various Captain Hook origin stories as well, but The Lost Boy has been my favorite. Peter is cruel and vicious, and you really feel for those around him who don’t realize the dangerous game they are involved in!

Heartless by Marissa Meyer
In addition to Peter Pan, I also am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland, particularly the side characters. And Marissa Meyer’s book Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts, is absolutely the origin story I swear by! It has romance, drama, comedy, and heartbreak, and a queer Mad Hatter (my favorite Alice character) who fits so nicely into the narrative. And the audiobook of it, read by Rebecca Soler, is stunning! I could have understood the whole story just with the dialogue and character voices alone.

The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis
Queer Czech vampires with magic and alchemy? Yes, please! Just for sake of pronunciation, I recommend the audiobook of this one too, but the story is so good! Lamplighter/vampire hunter Domek teams up with widowed Lady Fischer to stop a vampire plot to be able to walk in daylight. It’s intense, has some political intrigue, lots of lore, and is just overall an excellent take on vampires.

Dr. Mutter’s Marvels by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
In addition to loving all things magic and fantasy, I am also a huge fan of circus and sideshow culture as well as human oddities and the history of medicine. Dr. Mutter’s Marvels combines all of that together to give an interesting story of the history of surgery and anesthesia, as well as him amassing a collection of human specimens that would become the Mutter Museum.

Mind Hunter by John E. Douglas
I’m a true crime junkie, and no one does true crime better than John E. Douglas! Any of his books are welcome in my hand any time; I love hearing about various cases he’s worked on, or his take on historical events from a modern perspective. Human psychology is fascinating, and I love getting information directly from the horse’s mouth.

The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman
Take the history of medicine and combine it with some true crime, and you get The Royal Art of Poison! It’s an interesting historical look at royal families who were surrounded by poison, both intentional and not. Any book on poisons is interesting to me, but especially so when it’s in a historical context.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield
This take on The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is a strange little slice of life story. It’s not super action-packed, but it still keeps your attention as you follow Bellman through his life and his strange bargains with the mysterious Mr. Black. It’s haunting but not scary, and the descriptions are amazing.

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
The Magpie Lord was the first book I read by KJ Charles, and she has become one of my favorite authors. Her characters are wonderful, the plot intense but not overly long and drawn out, and the relationship development between Stephen and Lucien is the perfect enemies-to-lovers story. Plus it’s Victorian London (already on my love-list,) and add magic and some hot schmexy times? Give it to me!

DESERT ISLAND PLAYLIST:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZh3hG_QUcMOKFC_SlKr4qULY3IPO8h2K&si=s3bwY1aZvqVd0_4i

I have become more than a little obsessed with Hazbin Hotel. I’m really looking forward to the new season where they will have even more songs. But as a musical theatre nerd, as well as an anime fan, Hazbin Hotel scratches that weird itch for me. The songs are so sing-and-danceable, and in a variety of styles.

LUXURY ITEM

Assuming I could have unlimited battery life, my Kindle. Between all of the ebooks and audiobooks I have, I would always have stories to entertain me. I might even be able to get through all of them before I die! (Doubtful, but hey, a girl can dream!)

ABOUT KIT BARRIE

Kit Barrie (she/her) was raised by pirates in a traveling carnival where she learned how to fly and to weave fantasy into reality. She identifies as chaotic bisexual, with good intentions and questionable methods. She lives in an utterly unfantastical state in the Midwestern United States with some food goblins who might just be cats gobblin’ food.

The Goblin Twins is Kit’s debut publication. She is a self-published independent author. She calls herself a “queer fiction” author, rather than an MM romance author, because while her books always have a positive ending, they do not necessarily follow the traditional “Happily Ever After” structure of romances, and the romance aspects of the story are often secondary to another genre (fantasy, action/adventure, etc.)

Outside of writing, Kit works a dayjob to pay the bills. She loves to read, listen to audiobooks, play board games, and do puzzles. She also fosters kittens for her own organization, Glorious Purrpose Animal Rescue.

Website | Goodreads | Amazon

A big thank you to Kit Barrie for joining us on this month’s Desert Island Castaways!

Check out our other Castaways:
Natalina Reis
V.L. Locey
J.P. Jackson
A.E. Wasp
Elle Keaton.
Elouise East
J.K. Jones
Colette Davison
B.A. Tortuga
Casey Cox
Amanda Meuwissen
A.M. Johnson
Becca Seymour
Alexa Piper
Rick R. Reed
C.P. Harris
K.L. Hiers
A.E. Lister
S. Rodman
Kaje Harper
M.A. Church
Karenna Colcroft
Aiden Ainslie
J. Hali Steele
Kristian Parker
H.L. Day
D.K. Girl
Jackie Keswick
Crea Reitan
Beth Bolden
Chloe Archer
Paulina Ian-Kane
Sam Burns
David Lawrence
Lance Lansdale
Marshall Thornton
Joy Lynn Fielding
Ellie Thomas
Megaera C. Lorenz

Hope you enjoyed this post. Don’t forget to check out next month’s Castaway.

What books would you take with you to a desert island?
What’s on your desert island playlist?
Who would you like to be the next Castaway?

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