PRIDE INTERVIEW: 2025
jeza belle
Abomination
ABOMINATION
Written by Jeza Belle
Out Now.
Sept, 24, 2025
David, a shepherd from Bethlehem, and Jonathan, the son of the Israelite king, come face-to-face after the death of the Philistine giant, Goliath. Their encounter stirs the soul, and the two become one in a way that many believe but few have dared to write about. This love story follows the tragic journey of two bisexual men who are deeply connected, and yet whose destinies ultimately do not align. One is reckless and ascendant, while the other is loyal and shackled to the sins of his fading father. Abomination explores the definition of love with a contemporary, yet historical, spin on the lives of these two biblical heroes.
The latest book from prolific author Jeza Belle hit the shelves this week and we’re honoured to have caught up with Ms Belle to talk about her new book, what drives her creativity, and her passion for historical fiction.
Hello, hello Jeza, a pleasure to get to talk with you again, how's your summer been?
So great to talk again! My summer has been an absolute whirlwind of work and play. On the work front, I have been attending a lot of Book Fairs and doing many interviews on my LGBTQIA+ Historical Fiction Collection, The Presence Collection. On the play side, my partner and I spent some time in Torremolinos, Spain, where we ate, drank, and floated in the water till we reached a state of bliss! The escape from all of the crazies happening in the United States was well needed.
The first time we met was during the LHI Film Festival in Barcelona where we attend your SNATCHED workshop (still one of the best workshops I've attended). What did you take away from that experience?
Oh wow! Thanks for saying that. That was also one of my favourite experiences. I enjoyed the research for the workshop that involved watching and rewatching some of the best representations of LGBTQIA+ characters in film. It reminded me how powerful we and our stories really are and how there is still to this day too little of our voices out there. Now especially, when they are trying to silence us at a fever pitch, we need to keep making our lives and experiences known. The ability to touch and even save lives through our visibility matters.
You're also taking part in the Love & Hope International Film Festival this year judging the BEST LGBTQ FEATURE and BEST LGBTQ SHORT FILM. What does it mean to you to maintain this creative relationship with the festival?
The Love & Hope International Film Festival is so special. First, because they provide opportunities for new and diverse voices to be showcased right alongside seasoned veterans in the industry. It all starts with the incredible leader, Darwin Reina, who has made it a priority to be inclusive, and by that act alone, he and this festival has my heart. It is taking place in Barcelona October 1-4 this year. Each time I get the privilege to be a member of the jury in the LGBTQ Feature and Short Film categories, I find myself amazed by the talent that is in the running. People from all parts of the world showcasing the best of humanity, even through the dark times. Watching their art is humbling and exciting.
I know you can't tell us much about the films but what have the stand of LGBTQ films you've gotten to see this year?
Oooo, some have given me chills! Personally, I love to really feel something when I watch a film. Crack me up, make me cry, or pull me in so that I’m not even aware that I exist anymore. That’s what these nominees have done. To top it off, I keep going back to this theme, but right now there are people in power who want nothing better than to shut us up by whatever means possible. I want to stand on my feet and applaud each and every artist from the crew to the actors to the writers to the editors to the make-up people because each time we represent, we tell them where they can shove their attempts to kill us off. We have been here forever and we will be here forever more.
I know that this is a tough one but is the an LGBTQ feature/short film that really had an impact on you? Mine are TREVOR (short) and Too Wong Foo (feature).
To this day, Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein, cuts me up and hangs me out to dry emotionally. Now, granted there are many great films out there, but somehow that still stands the test of time!
This week was also the release of your FIFTH novel, Abomination, before a books released do nerves ever set in?
I have a mixture of complete panic and ultimate peace. LOL The panic comes from a worry that either everyone will think it sucks. That’s imposter syndrome that I think artists of every ilk struggle with! I know everything I release somehow comes with a wave of love and hate so I prepare myself for the hate part especially, but it’s the hate over the talent vs the content that panics me. If they hate it, as they often do, because either it challenges their thinking or they loathe drag queens, etc. then that’s absolutely fine! If they think it sucks because I am a terrible writer, well that hits differently. But ultimately, even in that I have already learned that taste is subjective. The peace comes from knowing it is out of my hands. I am very spiritual and believe God has taken over from there and he has got me. No matter what happens with a release, he has me covered and all will be good and better than good. Accept those blessings!
What's that feeling like getting to hold a new book for the first time?
Magical. I’m always like, “I did this??!!!!” For real, I still can’t believe that not only did I get published, but I got it traditionally published. People have absolutely no idea what that means as many people have wanted to work with me but only if I dropped the drag name and I absolutely refused on principle. So I have had to bust my ass off and come through the side window with my heels broken, my bra unhooked, half a boob out, and my hair a hot mess. But I did it anyway because I refused to accept NO! My hope is that other LGBTQIA+ writers behind me won’t have to fight as hard to be taken seriously. Those who did want to publish me were interested first in camp. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I love comedy! But I have a lot to say and I don’t want drag to be reduced to camp only even though I am one of the most camp queens.
Can you tell me a little but about Abomination, what can your readers expect?
Abomination is the story of the biblical heroes, David, who went on to be King of Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Israel’s first King, Saul. It is grounded heavily in the biblical text, which I then breathed creative life into. Many people have suspected for eons that David and Jonathan were lovers, especially as David is quoted as saying he loved Jonathan more than women in the bible. It’s part love story and part biblical journey. This is the third book in The Presence Collection, four standalone historical fiction novels featuring LGBTQIA+ main characters in settings where our existence has been minimised or overlooked. Abomination is already making some people lose their minds, and I’m ok with that!
What is it about historical fiction that interests you so much as a writer?
You learn about who we are by looking backward so that we can figure out the best way to move forward. Books, films, television, is a way to see yourself and I believe it is important for all people to find representations of themselves in these things. The point for me is that we have been in every era that has existed and we need to highlight that, and that’s what I’m doing in this collection. The first book looked at a gender-fluid character in Berlin in the 1930s. The second book centred around an inter-racial couple in pre-Civil War America. The third in biblical times, and the fourth will be revealed sometime next year.
What inspires your writing?
If I had to narrow it all down, it really is the source of all that I do, including my drag, and that’s my faith. That always makes some people faint but that is the 100% truth! I started drag by writing a web series about drag queen superheroes saving the world and named the main character Jeza Belle because God often uses what we think are terrible people to further his message. That’s how I became Jeza and everything I have done since has had this at the roots. Even my comedy, as trashy as it is, is because I think God wants us to laugh our asses off. It has inspired my nonfiction work, as I am the first, and only drag queen anywhere in the world to write a traditionally published Christian Devotional, Jeza’s Jesus Juice. The book broke boundaries and made me the brunt of an enormous wave of conservative news media attacks and the recipient of lots of death threats. But, each time someone spews hatred toward me, it makes me more certain that I am doing the Lord’s work in all that I do, in and out of the bedroom.
Take me through your creative process, when writing an historical novel how do you avoid falling into a writers black hole?
I don’t do a damn thing they tell you to do, first of all. I have no background whatsoever in creative writing other than I just did it. I go with what interests me then I really try to inhabit the character(s) and think about the journey. Some things I plan for and other things evolve. If I hit a wall, I go back and reread what I wrote because that always gets me refocused, even if I have to go back quite a ways.
"I am very big on pacing in my writing because I think many writers torture readers with endless words to prove how smart they think they are."
As I mentioned Abomination is your 5th novel, what would you say has been the biggest change to your writing style since your debut novel?
Well, I would like to think I have left less work for the editors HAHA I can’t say that I have, but I would like to think that at least! What’s changed is that I have more confidence to trust myself and to go back and change things if I think they are not working. Just because I love something that I wrote does not mean it works! Chop that shit out and keep going! That’s a hard lesson I think for many artists in any medium. We get pig-headed and don’t want to accept when something isn’t working. But it all has to pay service to the bigger picture and for me that is the pace of the journey and the pay off at the end. I am very big on pacing in my writing because I think many writers torture readers with endless words to prove how smart they think they are. I’d rather have a great story than the perfect words that a college professor lauds but no one gives to turds about.
Do you have a favourite author?
In the words of my most beloved Mariah Carey, I’m gonna have to go with me! YES! It took me forever to say that I’m damn good and I am gonna stand on that! That said, there are too many for me to list because each day I am inspired by other LGBTQIA+ authors all around me.
If you had any advice to offer somebody wanting to write their own novel what would it be?
Find a story that you desperately want to tell. The Freedom to Love is about a white plantation owner who falls in love with his black male slave and it came out of the wonders of what my own relationship with my partner of sixteen years who happens to be black would have been like had we been born then. I had to tell that story because it burned in my gut. Find the one(s) that speak to you first and foremost. Then, take all of the advice you ever heard from a bunch of navel-gazing pricks and light it on fire and do whatever the fuck you want. Make it yours, but make sure an audience will love it not because you do but because it takes them somewhere.
And finally, what would you like your readers to take away from your books?
From my works of fiction and nonfiction alike, I want them to take away that we have been and will be right here. From people who lived in caves to ones who will live on other planets, humanity has different sexualities, genders, and identities. And that is a wonderful and glorious thing. Period. The end.