“Many of the works I’ve published feature protagonists who come from my own race and cultural experiences. They come from the Bronx, like me, and most are queer, like me, too. I have often been asked if I felt pigeon-holed writing from those specific experiences, and I steal a response that James Baldwin gave when he was asked by a journalist if being poor, black, and gay had made him feel disadvantaged as a young writer. Baldwin said, “I thought I had hit the jackpot. It was so outrageous, you had to find a way to use it.” Although I relish the opportunity to create characters like me, in order to expand as a writer and to delve into other interests, I may choose to write from a different experience.” Charles Rice-Gonzalez