lbmisscharlie

Is this semi-fantasy? I'm having a hard time imagining a book set in the past 20-30 years that doesn't give contextual clues about when approximately it takes place (technology, cultural references) unless it's on purpose. Regardless, I think for me attention to the ways any person's set of beliefs or behaviors are always going have some contradictions is important - some writers handle that with more skill than others, and some with better attention to prevailing norms w/i the community being discussed. Agreed with hbbo about the line btwn nostalgia and glorification -- it's an "I know it when I see it" thing for me, wrt authors handling well the contractions and difficulties of period attitudes while also building fully-fledged characters.

So, no! It really isn’t! I am scouring my brain (the book has since been returned to the library) for definite references to technology or current events or cultural touchstones, but am drawing a blank. It’s set in a punk squat, and the lack of devices or whatever would indicate a historical setting, but it also works for contemporary broke homeless anarchist kids.

littlemsfox

I missed the scene (I don't know if it was just barely age wise or, more likely, oblivious) but I couldn't finish this novel. There was something about it (perhaps some of the things referenced in the post) that i found really unsettling

I still can’t decide if I liked it as a novel. Like many retellings I worry it relied too heavily on the source material and spent too much time reveling in the cleverness of its adaptation. I definitely found it most compelling as a queer time capsule, and not at all as an actual story with actual characters.

havingbeenbreathedout

I haven't read this, but I'm wary of critiquing books that aren't written or marketed to teenagers on the basis of whether teenage readers will process them correctly. Surely there's a place for books written for and consumed by adults. (I'm not interested in writing for teens!) That said, even for adult readers I think the line between nostalgia (which needn't be logical or justified) and glorification can be a tricky one.

tumblr isn’t letting me reblog replies, so here. You are perfectly right and I could have done a better job of making that clear. I’m feeling uncomfortable as an adult reader -- or, honestly, as a reader at all --  with the sense of historical ideologies dragged into the present (sort of the opposite of my complaints about, say, Song of Achilles) while also feeling a complicated nostalgia for the same period of time I think ze’s writing about. At the same time, I’m curious about how this reads to a person who doesn’t have personal association with that time period. I wouldn’t pan the book simply because I don’t think it would be healthy for teens to read it; that makes my librarian-brain very upset. You are probably on to something though, and there’s a little bit of “every problem looks like a nail” going on here, so thank you for the reminder that stepping back is helpful.

Regarding recent history in queer fiction

I’m writing because of a book I read that isn’t young adult fiction. Sort of. It’s not going to take the form of my normal reviews, either. What is this blog even.

So: Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey. It’s a queer and trans contemporary (??) retelling of Peter Pan. I read another similar title earlier this year, Peter Darling by Austin Chant. Piracy and maritime radicalism and their intersections with queer identity and politics are on my mind these days, so it’s no surprise I was itching to read them both. Neither was published for a teen audience: Peter Darling imagines an aged Pan/Hook pairing; Lost Boi is largely about teenagers and young adults, but it’s also BDSM erotica so it’s sold in the adult market. Peter Darling I enjoyed but am not going to write about much: it was a very enjoyable romance novella, with a lovely metafictional bent. I’d skip a review of Lost Boi, but I have Feelings about it, for one, and also there are actual queer and trans teenagers out there who are into BDSM etc who might feel like picking this up even if it’s not being advertised to them.

I’m going to show my age here. For folks who were in or around far-left lesbian social circles in the early-2000s, this approach to queer community is going to be extremely, maybe painfully, familiar. I think this is a less-common thing now (god I hope so) but back in the day TERF-and-adjacent feminist ideology was rampant in the lesbian scene. Trans women and other AMAB trans folks were ignored or derided outright. Butch/femme was sometimes obnoxiously rigid. Trans men were considered extra-butch lesbians, and thus were fetishized without being respected (bois rather than men, etc). It was a dark time for some of us, and at the same time it was a part of our queer history and a lot of us lived through (and grew out of) it.

There’s no indication of the year in which Lost Boi is set, so even though there’s no reason it couldn’t be 2016, it feels like 2003 to me. Probably because its social world is comparable to my own 2003. There are queer open mic slam poetry nights at cafes, grimy queer/trans kids (almost all of them AFAB) dumpster diving and arguing about veganism and ignoring each other’s substance abuse problems. TMI, probably, but oh well. I can’t tell if this is nostalgia or not. I can’t tell if this is historical fiction, or if Lowry never left that subculture that fit so many of us so poorly. It feels like the latter.

Regardless, Lowrey’s not a teenager. Ze’s an adult writer who is likely writing about hir youth. And this is something I see frequently in teen fiction. Sometimes it’s done explicitly, like in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Sometimes it’s done clumsily, as in instances where teens in an apparent 2016 are still religiously devoted to U2 or Elliott Smith or Tupac or whatever (yes these are callouts, but they are mostly benign idiosyncrasies). But in instances like this, when a historical setting is not explicitly stated, and is implied not by its more nitpicky cultural artifacts (there continue to be collectives of crusty queer and trans punk kids and I continue to know and occasionally hang out with them) but by its gender politics, which are never interrogated at all, I feel a little bit testy.

Lowrey is obviously not interested in conventional morality. Hir BDSM scenes (“battles” in the parlance of the Lost Bois) are poorly negotiated, if at all, and often include extremely sketchy age-disparities. There’s a part of hir unwashed decadence that I can’t help but admire. But at the end of the day it feels like a glorification of a time I’m very glad has passed, and can’t help but wonder how it would be read by a younger person who hasn’t lived through that scene. Whether a young trans reader would feel the same alienation that I and many of my friends did back before we knew there was an alternative. As a (comparatively) older trans reader, I certainly finished the book with a sour taste in my mouth.

Tell me your feelings! Older folks and younger ones: the politics and rhetoric of gender and sexuality change so quickly that this becomes a really interesting question. Do these inconsistencies grate on you? Are younger readers able to recognize old and likely-outdated ideas when presented in an ostensibly contemporary context? Did you read this? Shout at me!

I'm about to post an actual original piece of writing, hold on to your hats! In other news, hello, I'm Morgan! The work memo is going out next week but I'm jumping the gun and telling a lot of library folks today anyway because I'm excited.

(Thinks about space pirates dating and performing daring acts of thievery to impress each other)

(Chokes up) I’m fine.

Somehow, the fall 2017 publication season is not that far away. Earlier in the year I did a diverse books for 2017 post, but I only covered the first half of the year, so now it’s time to take a look at the books going forward that sound amazing.

I’ve been psyched about most of these for quite some time. Because they sound incredible.

Without further ado, here are seven I’m looking forward to:

The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke (September 1)

YA Historical Fantasy

Goodreads summary:

“When sixteen-year-old Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon to 1988 East Berlin, she’s caught up in a conspiracy of history and magic. She meets members of an underground guild in East Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the Wall—but even to the balloon makers, Ellie’s time travel is a mystery. When it becomes clear that someone is using dark magic to change history, Ellie must risk everything—including her only way home—to stop the process.”

Diversity note: Ellie is Jewish (#ownvoices).

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (September 5)

YA Contemporary

Goodreads summary:

“On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.”

Diversity note: Mateo (and possibly Rufus?) are Latino, and I’m guessing they are queer boys too (#ownvoices).

Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller (September 5) 

YA Fantasy

Goodreads summary:

“Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class―and the nobles who destroyed their home.   When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand―the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears―Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.”

Diversity note: Sal is gender fluid.

27 Hours by Tristina Wright (October 3)

YA Sci-Fi

Goodreads summary:

“Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish. But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them. Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon’s darkest secret. They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth. During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.”

Diversity note: I’ve heard the representation includes characters who are bisexual (#ownvoices), gay, pansexual, asexual, trans, deaf, and POC.

Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee (October 5)

YA Fantasy (Graphic novel)

Goodreads summary:

“Bells Broussard thought he had it made when his superpowers manifested early. Being a shapeshifter is awesome. He can change his hair whenever he wants, and if putting on a binder for the day is too much, he’s got it covered. But that was before he became the country’s most-wanted villain. After discovering a massive cover-up by the Heroes’ League of Heroes, Bells and his friends Jess, Emma, and Abby set off on a secret mission to find the Resistance. Meanwhile, power-hungry former hero Captain Orion is on the loose with a dangerous serum that renders meta-humans powerless, and a new militarized robotic threat emerges. Everyone is in danger. Between college applications and crushing on his best friend, will Bells have time to take down a corrupt government? Sometimes, to do a hero’s job, you need to be a villain.”

Diversity note: Bells is a trans guy.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (October 10)

YA Fantasy

Goodreads summary:

“Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high? Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins–sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.”

Diversity note: This is an #ownvoices East Asian fantasy reimagining.

Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi

MG Fantasy

Goodreads summary:

“Our story begins on a frosty night… Laylee can barely remember the happier times before her beloved mother died. Before her father, driven by grief, lost his wits (and his way). Before she was left as the sole remaining mordeshoor in the village of Whichwood, destined to spend her days washing the bodies of the dead and preparing their souls for the afterlife. It’s become easy to forget and easier still to ignore the way her hands are stiffening and turning silver, just like her hair, and her own ever-increasing loneliness and fear. But soon, a pair of familiar strangers appears, and Laylee’s world is turned upside down as she rediscovers color, magic, and the healing power of friendship. ”

Diversity note: This is an #ownvoices dark Persian fantasy.

So that’s a sampling of the books I’m psyched for this fall. What diverse falls books are you looking forward to?

reasons to read the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue:

it’s the queer historical road trip novel you never realised you needed

the friends-to-lovers trope! the sharing-a-bed trope!! the mutual pining trope!!! the everyone-knows-their-feelings-are-reciprocated-except-for-them trope!!!!

basically monty and percy are the cutest and i can 100% guarantee they’re going to be everyone’s new otp

a super smart, no-nonsense girl who is basically the embodiment of a slytherclaw (and also seems very aroace after deciding that kissing isn’t really her thing)

main characters with disabilities! incl. a disabled love interest who adamantly doesn’t want a cure-all, and whose disability doesn’t make him any less desirable

comically inept and lovable pirates

tl;dr: a historical novel that acknowledges that queer people, disabled people and people of colour have always existed and puts them front and centre, while acknowledging the hardships they faced

also ALL YOUR FAVES LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER

[image description: a graphic with a collage of the book covers listed below. The text reads “Lesbian & Bi Books: New In May!”]

Riptide Summer by Lisa Freeman (YA)

The year is 1973, and Nani is firmly established as one of the top girls in the State Beach lineup. She’s looking forward to a long, relaxing summer of days spent in the sun with her surfer boyfriend, and to secret nights with Rox, the lineup’s queen supreme. But when surf god Nigel breaks her heart, and Rox reveals a secret that tears their friendship—and the lineup—apart, Nani is left to pick up the pieces. If she can’t recruit new Honey Girls to the lineup, the friends will lose their reputation as the beach’s top babes. With the summer spiraling out of control, Nani starts to question everything she’s always believed about how to rule the beach. Maybe it’s time to leave the rules behind, starting with the most important one: Girls don’t surf. 

What the Mouth Wants: A Memoir of Food, Love and Belonging by Monica Meneghetti (Memoir)

The redefinition of family values as seen from the eyes of a polyamorous, queer Italian Canadian obsessed with food. This mouthwatering, intimate, and sensual memoir traces Monica Meneghetti’s unique life journey through her relationship with food, family and love. As the youngest child of a traditional Italian-Catholic immigrant family, Monica learns the intimacy of the dinner table and the ritual of meals, along with the requirements of conformity both at the table and in life. Monica is thirteen when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes a mastectomy. When her mother dies three years later, Monica considers the existence of her own breasts and her emerging sexuality in the context of grief and the disintegration of her sense of family. As Monica becomes an adult, she discovers a part of her self that rebels against the rigours of her traditional upbringing. And as the layers of her sexuality are revealed she begins to understand that like herbs infusing a sauce with flavour; her differences add a delicious complexity to her life. But in coming to terms with her place in the margins of the margins, Monica must also face the challenge of coming out while living in a small town, years before same-sex marriage and amendments to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms created safer spaces for queers. Through risk, courage and heartbreak, she ultimately redefines and recreates family and identity according to her own alternative vision.

The Gift by Barbara Browning (Literary Fiction)

In the midst of Occupy, Barbara Andersen begins spamming people indiscriminately with ukulele covers of sentimental songs. A series of inappropriate intimacies ensues, including an erotically charged correspondence and then collaboration with an extraordinarily gifted and troubled musician living in Germany.

Large Animals: Stories by Jess Arndt (Short Stories)

JESS ARNDT’s striking debut collection confronts what it means to have a body. Boldly straddling the line between the imagined and the real, the masculine and the feminine, the knowable and the impossible, these twelve stories are an exhilarating and profoundly original expression of voice. In “Jeff,” Lily Tomlin confuses Jess for Jeff, instigating a dark and hilarious identity crisis. In “Together,” a couple battles a mysterious STD that slowly undoes their relationship, while outside a ferocious weed colonizes their urban garden. And in “Contrails,” a character on the precipice of a seismic change goes on a tour of past lovers, confronting their own reluctance to move on. Arndt’s subjects are canny observers even while they remain dangerously blind to their own truest impulses. Often unnamed, these narrators challenge the limits of language―collectively, their voices create a transgressive new formal space that makes room for the queer, the nonconforming, the undefined. And yet, while they crave connection, love, and understanding, they are constantly at risk of destroying themselves. Large Animals pitches toward the heart, pushing at all our most tender parts―our sex organs, our geography, our words, and the tendons and nerves of our culture.

Tremontaine (Tremontaine Season One) created by Ellen Kushner (Fantasy)

Welcome to Tremontaine, the prequel to Ellen Kushner’s beloved Riverside series that began with Swordspoint! A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; her husband’s dangerous affair with a handsome scholar; a foreigner in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a mathematical genius on the brink of revolution—when long-buried lies threaten to come to light, betrayal and treachery know no bounds with stakes this high. Mind your manners and enjoy the chocolate in a dance of sparkling wit and political intrigue. Originally presented serially in 13 episodes by Serial Box, this omnibus collects all installments of Tremontaine Season One into one edition.

Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country: And Other Stories by Chavisa Woods (Short Stories)

Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country paints a vivid image of the bizarre characters that live on the fringes in America’s heartland. They don’t do what you expect them to do. These aren’t typical stories of triumph over adversity, but something completely other. It’s “Murakami meets the meth heads” says National Book Foundation award winner Samantha Hunt. “Reader, you have never before seen anything like this.” The eight stories in this literary collection present a brilliantly surreal and sardonic landscape and language, and offer a periscope into the heart of the rural poor. Among the singular characters, you’ll meet: a “zombie” who secretly resides in a local cemetery; a queer teen goth who is facing ostracism from her small town evangelical church; a woman who leaves New York City once a year to visit her little brothers in the backwoods Midwest, only to discover they’ve been having trouble with some meth dealers and UFOs that trouble the area. In the backdrop of all the stories are the endless American wars and occupations, overshadowed, for these characters, by the many early deaths of their friends and family, that occur regularly for a whole host of reasons.

Pride & Joy: LGBTQ Artists, Icons and Everyday Heroes by Kathleen Archambeau

Stories of success, happiness and hope from the LGBT community Stories that comprise the best of LGBT history ─ Pride and Joy: LGBTQ Artists, Icons and Everyday Heroes tells the stories of queer citizens of the world living OUT and proud happy, fulfilling, successful lives. Diverse and global. Famous and unsung. There is a story here for everyone in the LGBT community who has ever questioned their sexual orientation or gender identity, or discovered it.

Award-winning writer and longtime LGBTQ activist Kathleen Archambeau tells the untold stories from diverse LGBT community voices around the corner or around the world. Not like the depressing, sinister, shadowy stories of the past, this book highlights queer people living open, happy, fulfilling and successful lives.

The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julie Ember (Fantasy YA)

Having long wondered what lives beyond the ice shelf, nineteen-year-old mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded on the merfolk’s fortress. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: Say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.

Determined to forge a different fate, Ersel seeks help from the divine Loki. But such deals are never straightforward, and the outcome sees her exiled from the only home and protection she’s known. To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.

[Warning for Seafarer’s Kiss: the villain (the God of Lies) is nonbinary and is the only nonbinary representation in the book.]

How To Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (YA)

    Grace, tough and wise, has nearly given up on wishes, thanks to a childhood spent with her unpredictable, larger-than-life mother. But this summer, Grace meets Eva, a girl who believes in dreams, despite her own difficult circumstances.      One fateful evening, Eva climbs through a window in Grace’s room, setting off a chain of stolen nights on the beach. When Eva tells Grace that she likes girls, Grace’s world opens up and she begins to believe in happiness again.      How to Make a Wish is an emotionally charged portrait of a mother and daughter’s relationship and a heartfelt story about two girls who find each other at the exact right time.

Nico & Tucker by Rachel Gold (Fiction, NA)

The decision can’t be put off any longer. A medical crisis turns Nico’s body into a battleground, crushing Nico under conflicting family pressures. Having lived genderqueer for years, Nico is used to getting strong reactions (and uninvited opinions!) from everyone, but it is Tucker’s reaction that hurts the most. Jess Tucker didn’t mean to hurt Nico, but she panicked. And after the worst year of her life, she’s hanging on by a thread. Forget recovery time and therapy, she needs to put the past behind her and be normal again. But when her relationship with Nico becomes more than she can handle, she cuts and runs. In this riveting sequel to Just Girls, comes a love story about bodies, healing, and knowing who you really are.

Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms: Erotic Lesbian Fairy Tales edited by Sacchi Green (Erotica)

In this sexy anthology of fantastical short stories, women are no longer just damsels in distress. Instead, strong, passionate females race to the rescue of their female lovers in this new collection of erotic fantasy.

The stories within Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms are masterfully crafted to lead your mind down unexpected paths to your favorite fantasy adventure, from the classic fairy-tales of Little Red Riding Hood to Rapunzel to the modern marvel of Game of Thrones. They will wash over you in an epic sea of words meant to entice and embolden your inner princess, heroine, or both.

Enter a time where you may be abducted by bandits or seduced by witches one second and find your heart spellbound by a dryad the next. But be warned, gentle traveler! With this new, provocative collection edited by Sacchi Green, the stories may begin with “Once upon a time”, but they will leave you coming back, time and time again.

Rough Patch by Nicole Markotic (YA)

When fifteen-year-old Keira starts high school, she almost wishes she could write “Hi, my name is Keira, and I’m bisexual!” on her nametag. Needless to say, she’s actually terrified to announce—let alone fully explore—her sexuality. Quirky but shy, loyal yet a bit zany, Keira navigates her growing interest in kissing both girls and boys while not alienating her BFF, boy-crazy Sita. As the two acclimate to their new high school, they manage to find lunch tablemates and make lists of the school’s cutest boys. But Keira is caught “in between"—unable to fully participate, yet too scared to come clean.

She’s also feeling the pressure of family: parents who married too young and have differing parenting styles; a younger sister in a wheelchair from whom adults expect either too little or too much; and her popular older brother who takes pleasure in taunting Keira. She finds solace in preparing for the regional finals of figure skating, a hobby she knows is geeky and “het girl” yet instills her with confidence. But when she meets a girl named Jayne who seems perfect for her, she isn’t so confident she can pull off her charade any longer.

Rough Patch is an honest, heart-wrenching novel about finding your place in the world, and about how to pick yourself up after taking a spill.

Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin (Fiction)

Set in the post-martial-law era of late-1980s Taipei, Notes of a Crocodile is a coming-of-age story of queer misfits discovering love, friendship, and artistic affinity while hardly studying at Taiwan’s most prestigious university. Told through the eyes of an anonymous lesbian narrator nicknamed Lazi, this cult classic is a postmodern pastiche of diaries, vignettes, mash notes, aphorisms, exegesis, and satire by an incisive prose stylist and major countercultural figure. Afflicted by her fatalistic attraction to Shui Ling, an older woman, Lazi turns for support to a circle of friends that includes a rich kid turned criminal and his troubled, self-destructive gay lover, as well as a bored, mischievous overachiever and her alluring slacker artist girlfriend. Illustrating a process of liberation from the strictures of gender through radical self-inquiry, Notes of a Crocodile is a poignant masterpiece of social defiance by a singular voice in contemporary Chinese literature.

Birdy Flynn by Helen Donohoe (YA)

Birdy Flynn carries secrets. There is the secret of Birdy’s dead grandmother’s cat. How the boys tortured it and Birdy had to drown it in the river to stop it from suffer-ing. There’s the secret of Mrs. Cope, the teacher who touched Birdy. The secret of the gypsy girl at school who Birdy likes. But she can’t tell anyone about any of these secrets. Because Birdy’s other secret is that while she fights as good as the boys, she is a girl, and she doesn’t always feel like a girl is supposed to. So Birdy holds on to her secrets and tries to become what others want, even it if means losing herself. BIRDY FLYNN is a beautifully nuanced and deeply felt portrayal of a girl growing up amid an imperfect family, and an imperfect world, to become the person she was meant to be.

Not One Day by Anne Garréta (Fiction)

Not One Day begins with a maxim: “Not one day without a woman.” What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire.

“For life is too short to submit to reading poorly written books and sleeping with women one does not love.”

Anne Garréta, author of the groundbreaking novel Sphinx (Deep Vellum, 2015), is a member of the renowned Oulipo literary group. Not One Day won the Prix Médicis in 2002, recognizing Garréta as an author “whose fame does not yet match their talent.”

Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman (Romance) (only $1.99!)

Small-batch independent yarn dyer Clara Ziegler is eager to brainstorm new color combinations–if only she could come up with ideas she likes as much as last time! When she sees Danielle Solomon’s paintings of Florida wildlife by chance at a neighborhood gallery, she finds her source of inspiration. Outspoken, passionate, and complicated, Danielle herself soon proves even more captivating than her artwork… Fluffy Jewish f/f contemporary set in the author’s childhood home of South Florida.

Queer Women Books Out This Month!

See more lesbian and bi women new releases at Women in Words, or more queer new releases at Lambda Literary.

If you liked this post, consider supporting FYLL and the Lesbrary on Patreon at $2 or more a month to be entered to win a lesbian/queer women book every month, as well as getting exclusive Lesbian Literature 101 updates! 

Or buy us a coffee on ko-fi as a one-time donation!

State-of-the-blogger update: I'm 100% settled in my new place, post-op and out of bandages and feeling great, just past 6 months on T and loving everything but the acne, it feels like summer and I just got a haircut. Things are looking up! I'm not reading a ton of YA right now, so things will stay somewhat quiet over here. If anyone has any queer Age of Sail recommendations, YA or otherwise, please do throw them my way, since that's the thing I'm super interested in reading and writing at the moment.

Welcome to a list of 100 must-read LGBTQIA YA books! Yes, these are all must-reads, and no, this is definitely NOT all the queer YA books that exist. For transparency’s sake, on this list there are: 32 books with lesbian characters, 33 books with bisexual+ characters, 30 with gay characters, 17 with trans characters, 5 with intersex characters, and 4 with asexual characters (yes, I know that doesn’t add up to 100 because some of the books have more than one LGBTQIA character in them!). I’ve marked the books with the letter of the rainbow alphabet that correspond to the content so you can know which one is which.

I’ve only included more than one book by the same author if they are really important and groundbreaking books. As far as I know, I’ve included all the YA books with intersex and asexual content that exist (in English, anyway). I’ve omitted some trans YA written by cis authors that has been flagged by trans readers as problematic but I aimed to include every trans YA written by a trans author. One last thing: this list includes 36 books by and about people of color (there are additional ones that feature characters of color but are by white authors), all of which have an asterisk next to them so you can easily spot them. Those books were EXTRA hard to find. This is my call on the publishing industry to PLEASE consider intersectionality when publishing LGBTQIA books and to prioritize queer and trans authors of color telling their own stories!

http://bookriot.com/2017/05/11/100-must-read-lgbtqia-ya-books/

List of the Week: Bisexual YA Books

As a bisexual teen, I can’t count that many times I’ve seen myself and my sexuality reflected respectfully in a YA book. Luckily, that number is slowly but surely growing, and there are more and more books published every year with bisexual protagonists. Still, a lot of them aren’t discussed and promoted as much as they deserve to be, so when Nicole asked me to write a blog post about it for YA Interrobang, I jumped at the chance.

I haven’t read all of these books yet, but am definitely planning to and have heard fantastic things about all of them. I’m including both released and unreleased books, so you have books to buy or check out from the library now as well as books to preorder and/or become excited for.

Adaptation by Malinda Lo Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Release Date: September 18 2012 Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Far From You by Tess Sharpe Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Release Date: April 8 2014 Sophie and her best friend Mina are confronted by a masked man in the woods. Sophie survives, but Mina is not so lucky. When the cops deem Mina’s murder a drug deal gone wrong, casting partial blame on Sophie, no one will believe the truth: Sophie has been clean for months, and it was Mina who led her into the woods that night for a meeting shrouded in mystery.

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis Publisher: Amulet Books Release Date: June 17 2014 Amara is never alone. Not when she’s protecting the cursed princess she unwillingly serves. Not when they’re fleeing across dunes and islands and seas to stay alive. Not when she’s punished, ordered around, or neglected. She can’t be alone, because a boy from another world experiences all that alongside her, looking through her eyes. Amara has no idea … until he learns to control her, and they communicate for the first time. Amara is terrified. Then, she’s furious.

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz Publisher: Simon Pulse Release Date: March 3 2015 Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown. Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?

The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books Release Date: January 5th 2016 Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule. But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Release Date: September 6 2016 Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo boy she can’t trust. The only way to get her family back is to travel with Nova to Los Lagos, a land in-between, as dark as Limbo and as strange as Wonderland…

Not Your Sidekick by C. B. Lee Publisher: Duet Books Release Date: September 8 2016 Welcome to Andover… where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef-up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship—only it turns out to be for the town’s most heinous supervillain.

A Darkly Beating Heart by Lindsay Smith Publisher: Roaring Brook Press Release Date: October 25 2016 After a failed suicide attempt, Reiko’s parents send her from their Seattle home to spend the summer with family in Japan to learn to control her emotions. But while visiting Kuramagi, Reiko finds herself slipping back in time into the life of Miyu, a young woman even more bent on revenge than Reiko herself. Reiko loves being Miyu, until she discovers the secret of Kuramagi village, and must face down Miyu’s demons as well as her own.

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley Publisher: Harlequin teen Release Date: January 31 2017 Fifteen-year-old Aki Simon has a theory. And it’s mostly about sex. So when Aki and Lori set off on a church youth-group trip to a small Mexican town for the summer and Aki meets Christa — slightly older, far more experienced — it seems it’s going to be a summer of testing theories, and the result may just be love.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde Publisher: Swoon Reads Release Date: March 14 2017 When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever. While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books Release Date: March 28 2017 Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside. But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.

How To Make A Wish by Ashley Herring Blake Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers Release Date: May 2 2017 All Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn’t have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on.

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate Publisher: Amulet Books Release Date: May 2 2017 Jordan Sun is an Alto 2, which — in the musical theatre world — is sort of like being a vulture in the wild: She has a spot in the ecosystem, but nobody’s falling over themselves to express their appreciation. Then the school gets a mass email: A spot has opened up in the Sharpshooters, Kensington’s elite a cappella octet. Worshiped … revered … all male. Desperate to prove herself, Jordan auditions in her most convincing drag, and it turns out that Jordan Sun, Tenor 1, is exactly what the Sharps are looking for.

The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember Publisher: Duet Books Release Date: May 4 2017 Mermaid Ersel learns of the life she wants when she rescues and befriends Ragna, a shield-maiden stranded  on the mermen’s glacier. But when Ersel’s childhood friend and suitor catches them together, he gives Ersel a choice: say goodbye to Ragna or face justice at the hands of the glacier’s brutal king.To save herself from perishing in the barren, underwater wasteland and be reunited with the human she’s come to love, Ersel must try to outsmart the God of Lies.

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books Release Date: June 27 2017 An unforgettable tale of two friends on their Grand Tour of 18th-century Europe who stumble upon a magical artifact that leads them from Paris to Venice in a dangerous manhunt, fighting pirates, highwaymen, and their feelings for each other along the way.

Shoutout to people who make an effort get their trans coworkers’ pronouns right. I know we’re not supposed to give allies cookies or whatever but idgaf I will make you all cookies and put them in the break room.

Adding my largely unrelated comments because I can:

I spent the weekend with my mom, whose passive racism is well documented in my head, if not on this blog. She saw that I'd just finished reading Angie Thomas's (brilliant, nuanced, heartbreaking) The Hate U Give, and was reading the dust jacket. "That's interesting that you're reading about this," she says. "I'm reading Jodi Picoult's new book." She goes on to describe the book, which I'm not going to bother looking up, but is apparently centered around white nationalism and the justice system. I told her that I was pretty uninterested in hearing what White Jodi has to say about those things, and my mom countered that a black author would be unable to accurately represent a white nationalist's position. I blew her off with something like "that position doesn't need representation, bye," and put it mostly out of my mind, because this is par for the course with my mom. But seeing this bullshit on my dash makes me want to toss out a reminder:

We don't need to empathize with powerful bigots. In history or in fiction.

Also you should read The Hate U Give.

Jordan April and Archer Shurtliff are high school students in Oswego, NY who took a brave stand against injustice despite the stunning moral failure of the adults tasked with educating them.

On February 15, 2017, Oswego County High School teacher Michael DeNobile gave his students an assignment he’s been giving for several years. He divided the class into two parts. One group of teens was assigned to oppose the Nazi genocide of the Jews, the other group was told to advocate for it. The students assigned to defend the Holocaust were expected to back up their work with sources from Nazi propaganda and modern-day Internet hate sites. Nobody had ever complained about the assignment before, but Jordan and Archer - neither of whom is Jewish - were deeply offended by the idea of making students justify the genocide of the Jews. They complained to their teacher, Michael DeNobile, who brusquely dismissed their concerns and insisted they complete the assignment. Archer was supposed to argue for the Holocaust, and Jordan was supposed to argue against. After DeNobile refused to retract the assignment, the kids approached other educators in their school, who also shut down their concerns. Jordan and Archer took their complaint all the way to the NY State Commissioner of Education, MaryEllen Elia, who shockingly defended the assignment and told them the purpose was to “understand all sides of the issue.“ Jordan and Archer, only 15 and 17 years old, refused to let it go. Their strong sense of right and wrong would not allow them to participate in an assignment that reeked of dangerous moral relativism. They contacted the Anti-Defamation League, where they finally encountered adults with a moral compass. The ADL issued a statement condemning the assignment for suggesting there are two equally valid sides to every issue, including genocide. Even after the ADL’s strong statement against the assignment, Michael DeNobile and MaryEllen Elia continued to defend it, and refused to let the students complete an alternate assignment. Only after media outlets heard about the story did the morally challenged high school teacher and Commissioner of Education back down. Jordan and Archer were allowed to do an alternate assignment, which did not involve justifying hatred and violence. Jordan explored America’s response to the AIDS crisis, and Archer wrote about the internment of Japanese-Americans. Both students’ parents supported them completely, but sadly, many of their classmates criticized them for speaking out. One student said that it was important to “become more sympathetic to everyone and to humanize the Nazis to see their side of the story.” This is the danger of teaching moral relativism to impressionable young people. Teacher Michael DeNobile and Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia finally offered a weak apology, but they have suffered no penalty for their appalling lack of moral sense. Hopefully they will not give an assignment of this nature in the future. Judaism teaches that we are to hate evil, not justify it. For bravely pushing back against morally challenged educators, despite community ostracism, we honor Jordan April and Archer Shurtliff as this week’s Thursday Heroes at Accidental Talmudist. Image courtesy of Syracuse dot com

Coming this October: “Not Your Villain” by C.B. Lee

Not Your Villain, Book Two in The Sidekick Squad series by C.B. Lee

Bells Broussard thought he had it made when his superpowers manifested early. Being a shapeshifter is awesome. He can change his hair whenever he wants, and if putting on a binder for the day is too much, he’s got it covered. But that was before he became the country’s most-wanted villain.

After discovering a massive cover-up by the Heroes’ League of Heroes, Bells and his friends Jess, Emma, and Abby set off on a secret mission to find the Resistance. Meanwhile, power-hungry former hero Captain Orion is on the loose with a dangerous serum that renders meta-humans powerless, and a new militarized robotic threat emerges. Everyone is in danger. Between college applications and crushing on his best friend, will Bells have time to take down a corrupt government?

Sometimes, to do a hero’s job, you need to be a villain.

About the author:

C.B. Lee is a bisexual writer, rock climber, and pinniped enthusiast from Southern California. A first-generation Asian American, she is passionate about working in communities of color and empowering youth to be inspired to write characters and stories of their own. Not Your Sidekick (2016) is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Bisexual Book Award.

Connect with C.B. Lee at  on Twitter @authorcblee and on Facebook at Facebook.com/authorcblee.

Cover art by C.B. Messer.

Find it on Goodreads.

From @duetbooks, the Young Adult imprint of Interlude Press.

Dahlia’s comment at the end really adds to the discussion.

I run up against this as a reviewer because there are some instances where I’m not sure how well an identity is being represented, and it matters to me whether or not an author is speaking from experience.

Some authors clearly market their work as own voices, and in those cases discussing the way that they represent a marginalized group in fiction is fair game. Same goes for those who are open about not writing from their own experiences.

I don’t know what to do, when reviewing books by authors who haven’t made a statement about the way their own identity relates to their work. Which no one should have to do if they don’t want to! So I make vague statements like “this sure sounds like it was written by a cis person but idk” and leave it at that. Help me out here, what are your best practices, reviewers?

I have never read a single thing Rick Riordan has written but he continues to sound like an awesome human.

Rick Riordan Presents

I am so excited to announce more details about my new imprint with Disney – Rick Riordan Presents! In 2018, we will be publishing three fantastic books by three wonderful authors, but if you’re a little confused about what this imprint business is all about, read on! I will do my best to explain.

If you missed it, here’s the original announcement from Publishers Weekly about why I decided to make an imprint at Disney.

And here’s the follow-up with Publishers Weekly talking about the three authors who we’ll be featuring in our first year.

Basically, our goal is to publish great books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage. Over the years, I’ve gotten so many questions from my fans: “Will you ever write about Hindu mythology? What about Native American? What about Chinese?” I saw that there was a lot of interest in reading fantasy adventures based on different world mythologies, but I also knew I wasn’t the best person to write them. Much better, I thought, to use my experience and my platform at Disney to put the spotlight on other great writers who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies better than I do. Let them tell their own stories, and I would do whatever I could to help those books find a wide audience.

So let’s go through some questions you might have!

What IS an imprint?

An imprint is like a brand, a subdivision within a publishing company that usually specialized in one particular kind of book. If we were talking about movie studios, for instance, you could describe Disney as the publisher, with various “imprints” under their umbrella – Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney Animation, etc., each making a different kind of film, but all part of Disney.

With publishing, Disney Worldwide Publishing is the main company I work with. They have published all my various mythology-based books. Rick Riordan Presents will be a small branch of that very large publishing house. Our hope is to eventually publish about four books a year under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, two books every fall and two every spring. All these will be books that my editor Steph Lurie and I feel will appeal to kids who like my books. In other words, they will probably be some type of fantasy, with lots of humor and action, and probably draw on myth or folklore in some way.

Are you writing all these books for the imprint?

No! My job is to help edit the books where it seems appropriate, to offer advice and guidance where I can, and to promote the great books we will publish, but I am not writing the books and I don’t tell the authors what to write. This is not like using a ghost writer or ‘assistant writer’ to write my ideas. These are original stories generated by the authors – their intellectual property, told their way, with their characters and their sense of humor. The worlds they create are their own. They are not extensions of Percy Jackson’s world.

The authors (and their agents) who choose to submit their works to the imprint negotiate a publishing deal with Disney the same as they would with any publisher. I’m not directly involved in those negotiations. Steph Lurie just shows me samples of the different works that are submitted and I let her know which ones I’m the most excited about. The three books we will publish in 2018 are the first batch, and I am stoked about each of them!

*Suspicious Sideways Glance* So what’s in it for you?

Disney is paying me a nominal fee to write an introduction for each book, help edit and promote it, etc., but that’s the limit of my monetary involvement. As I said above, the authors own their own intellectual property and negotiate contracts with Disney as they would with any publishing deal. I am not doing this for money.

Honestly, for me this is a way to give back for my success. I’ve been very lucky in my career. I want to use my platform to help other writers get a wider audience. I also want to help kids have a wider variety of great books to choose from, especially those that deal with world mythology.

Will you keep writing your own books, though?

Oh, yes! The imprint won’t affect my own projects at all. I’ll keep writing my own books. Not to worry.

So how do you choose which books to publish for Rick Riordan Presents?

My editor and I look for books that I could enthusiastically recommend to my own fans. If you like Percy Jackson, if you like Magnus Chase and all my other stuff, then I believe you will probably like these books too. That’s not to say the imprint’s titles are exactly like my stuff. These authors all have their own unique voices, senses of humor, plots, characters, etc. But the books are all great, highly accessible reads with lots of fun fantasy and mythology elements. And, as I said, we try to pick books about cultures you don’t hear enough about in middle grade books, by authors who know their mythology and folklore from the inside in a way I never could.

Okay, tell me about the first three titles, then.

I’m so glad you asked!

First up, in spring 2018, is Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi. (The author goes by ‘Rosh,’ and her first name is pronounced ‘Roshni.’ The ‘a’ is silent.)

You guys have been asking about a Percy Jackson-esque take on Hindu mythology, and let me tell you, Rosh does it better than I ever could. Aru Shah is a smart and salty middle school girl who just wants to impress her snooty private school friends. She takes them on a tour of the Indian-American Museum her mom curates, where her friends dare her to do the one thing she is forbidden to do: light an ancient lamp that will supposedly start the end of the world.

Aru takes the bet. You can guess what happens from there. All of Hindu mythology comes crashing down on her. Aru finds out the secret of her ancestry. She is plunged into new worlds. She meets new friends, lots of enemies, and a host of gods and demons on her quest to stop the chaos she’s unleashed. Oh, and there’s a talking pigeon and a ping-pong ball that shoots lightning. What else could you want? The book has been described as Percy Jackson meets Sailor Moon. Yup. This is going to be great!

Rosh is a rising star, for sure, but she is no stranger to publishing. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of young adult fantasies The Star-Touched Queen and A Crown of Wishes.

Here’s her website: http://www.roshanichokshi.com

And follow her on Twitter! @NotRashKnee

Next up, in spring 2018, are two more great titles!

Storm Runner by Jennifer Cervantes.

Zane is a lonely 13-year-old boy in New Mexico whose physical disability makes him feel even more like everyone at his middle school is watching him. But as he soon learns, his physical differences are merely the first clue to a family history that connects him to the Mayan gods–and puts him in mortal danger. As an ancient Mayan prophecy begins to unravel, Zane has to find the hero within himself.

Great premise, wonderful main character, and some seriously awesome mythology!

Jennifer’s first book was the middle grade novel The Tortilla Sun, which racked up multiple starred reviews and awards.

Here’s her website: http://www.jennifercervantes.com/home.html

And follow her on Twitter! @jencerv

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee.

Yoon Ha Lee’s debut novel was an adult sci fi book called Ninefox Gambit, which I absolutely loved. You can read my review here. A few weeks after I finished it, my editor Steph wrote me and said, ‘Hey, this author named Yoon Ha Lee would like to do a book for our imprint –”

And I said, “YES!” Then I read the proposal. And then I said, “YES!” again.

My elevator pitch for the book is simple: Korean fox spirits in space! (Echo: space, space, space.)  It’s a mix of sci fi opera and Korean mythology. This is not something you’re going to see every day, and no one could pull it off like Yoon Ha Lee does.

Our main character is Min, a teenaged fox spirit whose brother disappears, supposedly deserting the Thousand Worlds Space Forces to search for the legendary artifact the Dragon Pearl, which may have the power to save their struggling home colony.

Yoon Ha Lee has already been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and I anticipate he will be seeing a lot more accolades when people get to read Dragon Pearl next spring!

Here’s his website: http://www.yoonhalee.com

And follow him on Twitter! @motomaratai ‏