Tell Us Something About Yourself
My name is Cameron Van Sant and I live in Sacramento, California, which according to one Wikipedia page, is the sixth gayest city in America, and easily the gayest American city you’ve never heard of.
Who is a character from a TV show or a book that you’ve always resonated with?
When I was a kid watching Sailor Moon, Sailor Uranus was my butch ideal. I shipped her and Sailor Neptune long before I knew what shipping was. Since I later figured out I am a man, it cracks me up that my childhood hero worship was turned up to 11 for androgynous women like Sailor Uranus rather than male characters…
Now that I think about it, Sailor Moon was the series that got me interested in space, as it literally personified the planets for me. It’s probably thanks to that show that I’m writing science fiction.
Where is your favorite place to go on a weekday afternoon when you have no plans or obligations?
My enbyfriend and I still play Pokemon Go, so we can often be seen strolling our neighborhood, staring at our phone screens, and standing awkwardly in front of our neighbors’ houses.
If you could trade lives with one person for an entire day who would it be and why?
If I am allowed to spend my day on time travel, I would like to spend a day as a trans man in a pre-Christian Scandinavian culture. I don’t know very much about the subject, and I’m sure a lot has been lost to history, but according to this cool article about LGBTQ people in Scandinavian history and religion, it’s possible that at least some trans men and women performed important religious jobs. I want to live a day in that role just to learn what exactly was going on.
Tell us about your short story in Queerly Loving
“The Mermaid and the Pirate” is about two butch women—one mermaid, one pirate—who meet on a pirate’s spaceship. Obviously, a romantic space adventure ensures.
My friend Nina Boyd is writing a fantasy series with intricate worldbuilding and lots of fantasy people, including mermaids. Nina and I decided to exchange fanfiction of each other’s work, and in that fanfic I made up a cocky butch mermaid named Adair. I had so much fun writing Adair that I decided to build her own world for her to explore and, you know, hit on women.
By day, Cameron Van Sant transcribes stories of pestilence, war, famine, and death. (Okay, he types up insurance reports.) By night, he writes fiction. He is a pansexual transgender man and uses he/him pronouns. His published and forthcoming work can be found in You&Me Magazine and Capricious Magazine. He lives in Sacramento, California, with his enbyfriend and cat.
If you want to read Cameron’s thoughts or see his cat pictures, find him on Twitter: @CameronVanSant