My name is Joe Chianakas. I’m a professor, author, and husband living in Peoria, Illinois. I teach communication and creative writing, and I’ve been fortunate enough to win Teacher of the Year at three different colleges I’ve taught at (I’m currently fulltime at Illinois Central College). I write stories about outsiders, resilience, and chosen family. I love to write about queer characters navigating identity, courage, and community.

I’ve written several and published over ten. I’ve written several novels, including Singlets and Secrets, Pride and Persistence, Darkness Calls, and others currently in progress. (I have several novels under a pen name, too, that I don’t promote– that’s just fun fun.) My most recent work is usually my favorite! But if I had to pick my personal #1, Singlets and Secrets will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s a story that has connected me with hundreds of groups and readers around the country, and I’m so grateful for the opportunities the book has brought my way.

I wish I were the kind of writer who could focus on one book at a time, but my brain doesn’t really work that way. I often have multiple projects going at once. One might be in drafting mode, another in revisions, and another in the early “idea storm” phase. The way I keep everything straight is by giving each project its own creative lane– and sometimes a creative season. I work on horror when it’s cold and gray out. I work on my inspiring stories when the sun shines. Besides the “season,” it’s my music playlist that keeps me organized. I have dark music for horror. I have love songs and breakup songs when I’m writing in Aiden’s world (Singlets and Secrets).

Good old Times New Roman because I have a publisher with a style guide I have to follow

For me, authenticity starts with remembering that LGBTQ characters are people first. Our identities matter, but that’s not the only thing that defines us. We have humor, flaws, fears, ambitions, friendships, and messy emotions like everyone else. I also draw from real experiences. My own life, the stories students share with me, conversations within the community, and the environments many queer people grow up in. I want my characters to feel layered and real, not symbolic or simplified. And if nothing else– I write from a queer perspective because I AM queer. And when I write from perspectives that are not part of my identity, I test my work with beta readers and use real research to help develop my characters.

One moment in LGBTQ history that always resonates with me is the story of Harvey Milk. Milk was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States, serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s. At a time when many people were afraid to live openly, he encouraged LGBTQ people to “come out,” believing visibility was one of the most powerful tools for social change. What inspires me most is how he connected politics with hope. Milk often reminded people that they weren’t alone and that their voices mattered. I also love highlighting contemporary voices shaping LGBTQ literature today. One powerful example is George M. Johnson, the author of All Boys Aren’t Blue. Their memoir blends personal storytelling with reflections on identity, family, and growing up Black and queer in America. What makes the book so impactful is its honesty. Johnson talks openly about vulnerability, masculinity, and belonging in ways that resonate with many readers, especially young people trying to understand themselves. For me as a writer and educator, books like All Boys Aren’t Blue show how storytelling can create empathy and give people language for experiences they might not have felt safe expressing before.

That’s a tough one. There are so many great stories now. One book I absolutely love recommending is The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It’s one of those rare stories that manages to feel both whimsical and deeply meaningful at the same time. The novel follows a caseworker who is sent to evaluate a mysterious orphanage for magical children, and what unfolds is this beautiful exploration of acceptance, chosen family, and learning to see people for who they truly are. What I appreciate most is how naturally the LGBTQ representation exists within the story. It’s not forced or reduced to a single message. Instead, it’s woven into a larger theme about compassion and belonging. The characters are quirky, funny, and deeply human, and by the end you feel like you’ve been invited into a warm, strange, magical little world that reminds you kindness still matters. As a writer, I admire how the book balances heart, humor, and imagination. As a reader, it just made me happy. And sometimes that’s exactly the kind of story we need!

Oh, I use receipts, bills, concert memorabilia, once even a student’s paper I hadn’t finished grading!

YES!!! I have so many playlists, and I match my music to the emotion that I’m writing. When I wrote Darkness Calls, I used the score from Stranger Things as well as John Carpenter’s Lost Themes (highly recommend both to my horror writers!). For Aiden’s story in Singlets and Secrets, I remember creating a playlist of the most heartbreaking songs I could find to get my emotions pumping!

Aiden, the protagonist in Singlets and Secrets, hates horror movies and makes fun of a horror book called Rabbit in Red. Which is my first horror book 🙂 It’s healthy to poke fun at ourselves!