Former Flame Fridays - Christina Bagni
12/6/24
The last month of the year is scary. Today we have Christina Bagni!
You were featured in volume 2, what has happened since?
Since Volume 2, I've worked hard to get my books out there! I've had one of my books published by Deep Hearts Press, a young adult contemporary book called My Only Real Friend is the Easter Bunny at the Mall. It follows a teenage girl who gets a job working the Easter Bunny photo set at the mall, and befriends the man behind the bunny mask—an ex-con with intense face tattoos who ends up helping her heal her fractured friendships, navigate her first queer romance, and talk through her depression. Like "Blue Raspberry," it has a focus on candy, and on things not being quite as sweet they seem on the surface (literally, the cover is a candy-coated hellscape). Since that, I have gotten a literary agent and am working on pitching my next book to publishers. Stay tuned!
BLUE RASPBERRY
Blue raspberry is so sweet
too sweet
brilliant manufactured blue
man-made blue
man blue
you’re meant to like it
you’re supposed to like it
it’s the best color in the box
the best, the most sought-after
jolly rancher
suck it for half an hour
tongue turning sore
tongue turning blue
teeth blue
man blue
How could you not like the blue ones?
The blue ones are always the best.
The sweetest
don’t you buy candy for the sugar?
Why wouldn’t you like the sugariest?
The sweetest?
The brightest?
The bluest?
Raspberries are pink, though,
soft to the touch
covered in tiny brown hairs
wrinkling skin, like lips,
a hole you can press your tongue into
and coax out the sweet juices
not too sweet.
just sweet.
sweet pink.
natural pink.
But even this experience
they had to color blue
What/who inspired Blue Raspberry? How does it fit into your style/body of work?
"Blue Raspberry" is about two concepts: compulsive heterosexuality, and feminism as a whole. Generally, it's about the idea that women are awesome but are sometimes talked over, passed over—in this case, colored right over—in favor of men. Instead of the soft, naturally sweet experience of pink raspberries, it's taken to the extreme with the too-sweet, artificially blue, candified experience you're "supposed" to like best. It's inspired by my own journey out of internalized misogyny and compulsive heterosexuality, realizing that I don't have to fall into the path people want me to (or the path marketed as "the best"), and that being "not like other girls" is a ridiculous thing to strive for, especially when "other girls" are so wonderful.
Why Troublemaker Firestarter? What compels you to submit your work? Why be a writer at the end of the world?
I love the rebellious nature of Troublemaker Firestarter and was honored to be included! Why be a writer at the end of the world? Well, I think I'd be a writer no matter when I was born. It's who I am, so I'm going to be it. And I also think the most radical thing a person can do right now is fight back against the idea that this is the end. Trying to create art that outlives you in a planet that is struggling to survive is its own kind of powerful art, and it's art I like creating. Understanding how bad things are and still daring to hold your chin high with hope and joy is a rebellious act, and it's an act that has been rewarded time and time again over history.
Even after all this, I believe in humanity.
Who are your current favorite writers?
My classic answer to my favorite books/writers is: Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles, Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, and Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre's Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, but Enough. But I also just read my first Stephen King book (The Shining) and...here comes the hottest take ever: Stephen King's pretty good at writing.
Are you a troublemaker, a firestarter, a heartbreaker, a lucky duck, a devil, a terror, or sad and horny?
A firestarter. I hope to be, anyway.
Where can people find you?
I have a handy linktree here, which links to all my various socials, as well as my book: https://linktr.ee/christinabagni On the linktree you'll find my website, which is where I post about all my latest publications and other news.
What would you want the lovely readers of Substack to do?
This will probably go up after this is relevant, but...vote, please, and no matter which way things turn, keep hope—no matter how hard it may be to do so. And fight back against AI. Don't let it consume us. Don't let anything consume us. We're the firestarters, not them.