ANNOUNCEMENT
Hey everyone!
I received a note from a reider who is reading an ARC (advance read copy) of ‘Homecoming King’ about a word used in the book and that its interpretation / usage may cause harm (see message from the awesome, helpful reader below).
Here is the excerpt (the troubling word is “asexual”)
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EXCERPT
He is your boss. Boss. Boss. Boss.
Bosses do not have luscious bodies.
Bosses are asexual stick figures in business appropriate attire.
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BACKGROUND
Asexual has a few definitions according to Merrium Webster, as follows:
1: lacking sex or functional sex organs
asexual plants
2a: involving or reproducing by reproductive processes (such as cell division, spore formation, fission (see FISSION entry 1 sense 2), or budding (see BUD entry 2 sense intransitive 3)) that do not involve the union of individuals or gametes
asexual reproduction
an asexual generation
b: produced by asexual reproduction
asexual spores
3a: not involving, involved with, or relating to sex : devoid of sexuality
an asexual relationship
b: not having sexual feelings toward others : not experiencing sexual desire or attraction
In general, an asexual person does not feel or otherwise experience any sexual attraction, according to The Asexual Visibility & Education Network (AVEN). Basically, it is an inborn absence of sexual desire.
— Lindsay E. Mack
4: not having or showing a particular sexual identity : neither male nor female
… parents who first encounter the world of Pokemon through their youngsters may have no idea what this land of soft, rounded, asexual creatures is or what drives it.
— Vince Horiuchi
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I used “asexual” in the context of the book using the very first definition “lacking sex or functional sex organs” (this was the intended usage and the definition in my brain as I wrote).
But (as you can see from the message below) the use of the word asexual might be interpreted by readers as a different definition.
Therefore, those of you who receive the pre-order will have the above excerpt language in your book (unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about that now as the files are locked). Those of you who decide to purchase the book after release date will receive a book with corrected language, as follows:
—————
EXCERPT
He is your boss. Boss. Boss. Boss.
Bosses do not have luscious bodies.
Bosses are amorphous stick figures in business appropriate attire.
—————
That is all 
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.
People are exhausting. Most people I know would use the term the exact way that you did. Fun read. The only frustration I have, (noting this is probably not something that has much to do with you) in regard to Audible and doing a clip of a new book at the end of your or any authors book….why don’t they say what book the clip is from? You listen to part, think, ‘oh, that sounds like a good read’…then, it cuts off and you have no idea what you just listened to. Am I missing something?