Mason Stokes is the author of the new young adult novel All the Truth I Can Stand. He also has written the novel Saving Julian. He is a professor of English at Skidmore College.
Q: What inspired you to write All the Truth I Can Stand, and how was your novel inspired by the life and death of Matthew Shepard?
A: Matthew Shepard was a gay University of Wyoming college student who, in October of 1998, was lured into a remote area by two men who beat him and left him for dead. His death ignited a national push for LGBTQ rights, and Shepard has since become an iconic figure.
His death hit me hard. As a gay man, I felt an intense and intimate connection to him, even though we’d never met. For years, he stayed in my head as an emblem of our vulnerability as queer people—a reminder of the violence that lurks around so many corners.
Some years later, I stumbled across new and credible reporting that told a more complicated story about what happened to Shepard. This new reporting called into question the story so many of us clung to in the wake of Shepard’s murder: the story of an angelic young man who was killed simply because he was gay.
It struck me that a novel written for young adults might be the perfect way to work through this tangle of violence, legacy, and historical memory. I let my characters learn things they wish they didn’t know, and I let them struggle with what to do with this new information.
The result, I hope, is a testament to the fullness of Shepard’s humanity, a reminder that being flawed doesn’t make you any less deserving of love, and sympathy, and grief.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic between your characters Ash, Shane, and Jenna?
A: Ash is a gay high-school student struggling with the recent death of his mother. Shane is the charismatic but troubled star of a local production of Oklahoma! Jenna is Shane’s best friend and a college journalist who’s also struggling with the loss of a loved one.
When Ash and Shane fall for each other, it feels like new life for both of them. Maybe they can help each other heal. But Shane’s wounds are deeper than Ash had imagined, and they come layered in secrets.
Shane’s sudden and brutal death leaves Ash and Jenna bereft, with more questions than answers. As they bond over their shared loss, they’re drawn deeper into a world they knew nothing about, a world that Shane had been unable to escape.
Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: Steven Jimenez’s The Book of Matt: The Real Story of the Murder of Matthew Shepard was essential to my process. Gathering over a decade of research and hundreds of interviews, Jimenez’s book offers a detailed account of the days and years leading up to Shepard’s murder and of the subsequent investigation.
In addition, I read every book about Shepard I could get my hands on, including his mother’s wrenching memoir, The Meaning of Matthew. I also spent a lot of time researching gay life in Wyoming in the 1990s.
The most surprising thing I learned was that this story was as much about as Wyoming’s drug problem as it was about homophobia. At the time of Shepard’s death, Wyoming was experiencing a plague of methamphetamine use. This was especially a problem for young gay men, who found in meth use a temporary defense against the homophobia they encountered regularly.
Research was a crucial part of my work on this novel. It was essential for me that the novel stay as close to the historical record as possible, even as I allowed myself the artistic freedom to fill in the gaps in that record.
Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “Keen prose meditates on the nature of violence fueled by bigotry and its effects, making for a layered and provocative telling that will encourage readers to critically examine their own behaviors and perceptions.” What do you think of that description?
A: I feel seen by that description. I’m happy, of course, to receive praise for my prose, but I’m even more gratified to have the novel described as “layered” and “provocative.” I was trying, at every moment, to avoid black-and-white thinking when shades of gray might lead to something both truer and more interesting.
Through the process, I’ve definitely questioned my own perceptions. I hope readers will do the same.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Without giving too much away (a writer has to keep some secrets!), I can say that I’m working on another YA novel that explores the pernicious effects of so-called “don’t say gay” laws on young queer folks. Beyond that, I have a glimmer of an idea about a gay AI chatbot running amok. I can’t wait to see where that glimmer leads.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: One early reviewer called the novel “controversial,” and I guess it might be. Some might wonder: why dredge up unseemly details from the past, especially involving such a beloved and iconic figure? Why speak ill of the dead?
But I don’t think I’m speaking ill of the dead. Shepard’s death was no less tragic because of the murky circumstances surrounding it. Shepard was no less of a victim. I think what I’m trying to do is to restore some humanity to someone who had been turned into a symbol. This strikes me as an act of love and respect. I hope others will agree.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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