Image: AP Quach/Harper Collins
Less than a year after they were first posted, the tweets you see above are now a children’s book. What started as a joke became an idea, then a collaboration, then some concept art, and ultimately a book deal—all contained on that Twitter thread.The plot of Santa’s Husband seems like it’s reverse-engineered from a homophobic racist’s nightmare. The story itself is the very innocent and sweet (and true, according to the book) tale of Santa and his husband and their life together, complimented by detailed and playful watercolor illustrations.
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Daniel Kibblesmith: The response, thankfully, has been overwhelmingly positive. Our Amazon listing, as of now, has only five and one star reviews. (note: There is now one 3-star review). It really is a quantifiable version of 'everybody either loves it or hates it.' There isn't a lot of in-between. That being said, more people seem to love it than hate it.I saw a one star Amazon review, where they say the book is a waste of money, but they were reading it at their chiropractor's office, which seems like a joke.
AP Quach: What a strange thing to have in a chiropractor's office!Kibblesmith: That's one of those details—you have to believe it because it's too weird to make up.Do either of you feel like you get worse backlash? Daniel's the author, but in general, online, people tend to be shittier to women, has that been the case for the criticisms you've gotten so far?
Quach: Ashwin was asking earlier if I went by AP on purpose, so that people wouldn't know I was a woman. When I first started putting comics online, that was absolutely part of me going by my initials. I can't say for sure what it would be like if I had gone by Ashley. When I get emails through my website, they usually think I'm a guy. I don't know why, I draw pictures of myself all the time.
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I was curious if you've had anyone deliver the book successfully to Megyn Kelly yet?
Kibblesmith: Unsurprisingly, we get this a lot. We talked to our publishers, and we have sent them copies, officially, as part of our media outreach, and I would be extremely interested in coming on her show, and having the actual conversation about it.
Quach: Lots of my friends have children, I'm at that age. This is by far, my favorite thing now, is when people send us pictures of their kids reading Santa's Husband. A reporter from Entertainment Weekly took this amazing video of her toddler reading it, it's the very first few pages, and the toddler goes, "this is Santa, and this is Santa's husband." It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!
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Kibblesmith: We were very careful not to have anything offensive in the book. The only way you can find the book offensive is if you find the premise offensive, which, we see as maybe a problem with the reader.It's like a racism/bigotry inkblot test.
Kibblesmith: I will say, in fairness, there are some weird exceptions that I've encountered. I had an email exchange with a man who was very upset about the book. We emailed back and forth, and eventually I just asked point-blank if he was upset about the idea of having a black Santa Claus and/or the idea of a gay Santa Claus, and he took offense to that. He explained to me his brother came out at a very early age, and was a huge part of their home and their life. At that point, I couldn't really conveniently explain his outrage.Quach: That's definitely an interaction that may be too complex for email.
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Has this book’s response changed the way you digest stuff online?
Kibblesmith: No. I think everything, as with all things on Twitter, happens really quickly and impulsively. I think when it comes to online arguments, I get more depressed when it's people I fundamentally agree with on most things, or people I think I could have a real conversation with, who maybe we're only seeing one tiny online sliver of each other. It's not just monstrous people who are angry, everybody is angry.There’s a blend now between what's a matter of taste and moral arguments online, where saying something like, "I think ranch dressing is better than bleu cheese for hot wings" will get the same amount of hate and intensity as an actual statement.
Kibblesmith: That happened to me when I slandered sweet potato fries and almost started the next civil war.AP: I remember that.This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity