A Fix of Light

Cork born YA debut author Kel Menton is a non-binary, neurodivergent youth theatre professional. A Fix of Light is an astonishing expression of feelings manifested in magic. First conceived when they were 16, this remarkable dual voiced novel explores sensitive topics like suicidal thoughts, transphobia and complex mental illness, juxtaposing the darkness with the lyricism of beautiful language. Sensory and visceral, it was inspired by Kel’s teen experiences with ‘big emotions and their studies of monster theory and queer theory at University College Cork. Set in an atmospheric Irish village named Skenashogue, with diverse characters, it is a blend of trans romance, Celtic mythology and other worldliness. Protagonists Hanan and Pax shine at its heart destigmatising the trans experience by empowering each other, bonding and celebrating the power of love overcoming adversity.

Through their emotive words, Kel challenges the idea of otherness and offers the reader an intense journey ricocheting through disturbing, nightmarish and surreal images towards hope and light on the other side. They explain their cathartic vision as a way to make human psychology visual through the eyeglass of fantasy,

‘With Hanan, I wanted to take something invisible- that is, what borderline personality disorder or complex post-traumatic disorder feel like- and make it the most visual thing on the page. It can be extremely difficult to translate what’s going on inside your mind, and I wanted to try to bridge that gap in communication.’

Hence a mermaid becomes a siren among a gamut of other magical events, blending the symbolism of Tarot cards and the moon with the otherness of the riddles of the faerie realm, the primal power of ancient earth magic through ley lines and the cawing of corvids. Irish phrases and colloquialisms are interwoven throughout giving the reader a sense of place and inviting them somewhere where all is not as it seems.

Kel said of their studies in literature, ‘We approached pieces like archaeological dig sites and found treasures layered between each line. I’d been told for years that everything writers include is deliberate, but it wasn’t until I learned how to delve deeper into a piece that I could fully appreciate what that meant.’

A Fix of Light will appeal to young adults looking for trans representation and fans of O’Donoghue’s All Our Hidden Gifts series and Deirdre Sullivan’s Perfectly Preventable Deaths, but it remains its own voice, layered with the tangled web of the human psyche, the drama of teen relationships, the fantastical world of shapeshifting, the ugliness of prejudice and the search for identity.