Archive – Page 11

Interview: Eleanor Herman, author of the Blood of Gods and Royals series

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:35-05:00June 28th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Blogathon 2016, New Releases, Writers on Writing|Tags: asexual, Fantasy, Historical, New Releases, Queer Guys, Speculative|

Empire of Dust by Eleanor Herman In Macedon, war rises like smoke, forbidden romance blooms and ancient magic tempered with rage threatens to turn an empire to dust After winning his first battle, Prince Alexander fights to become the ruler his kingdom demands—but the line between leader and tyrant blurs with each new threat. Meanwhile, Hephaestion, cast aside by Alexander for killing the wrong man, must conceal the devastating secret of a divine prophecy from Katerina even as the two of them are thrust together on a dangerous mission to Egypt. The warrior, Jacob, determined to forget his [...]

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Interview: Caleb Roehrig author of Last Seen Leaving

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:36-05:00June 27th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Blogathon 2016, New Releases|Tags: Bisexual, Coming Out, gay, New Releases, Queer Guys, Realistic, Representation, Thriller|

One of the amazing authors I got to interview at BEA was Caleb Roehrig! Caleb and I were both slightly food-deprived and wholly overwhelmed by the massiveness that was BEA, so some of our questions and answers were a little off the wall (frex: after the interview, I learned some fun facts about the population living around Lake Superior). But we also discussed new narratives in LGBTQIA+ YA, how his debut book Last Seen Leaving fits into the mix, and our favorite LGBTQIA+ YA books. So I'm SUPER psyched to be able to share this interview! (Also apparently I cannot [...]

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There are no rules

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 26th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016|Tags: Representation, size|

by Mariko Tamaki I need a second to tell you this thing. Ready? There are no rules. Okay. Wait. Hold on. There are some rules. You can’t eat a grill cheese in math class. You can’t walk barefoot in places that have a sign that says you can’t walk barefoot there. Sure sure, I get that. I’m not here to get you in trouble. Allow me to clarify. There are no rules about who you can and cannot be. You think there are rules because people tell you there are rules. People say stuff like, “Girls wear make [...]

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LGBTQIA+ Books and Libraries: Helping Queer Kids Find the Stories They Need

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 24th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Representation|

by Amanda MacGregor I’ve worked in the book field for 16 years. I’ve worked as the children’s lead bookseller at Barnes & Noble; at The Children’s Book Shop, an independent bookstore in Brookline, Massachusetts; as a children’s librarian; in a high school library; and as a librarian in a public library. I’ve been reviewing YA books professionally for almost as long (and my list of places I’ve worked for is nearly as long—The Horn Book, SLJ, VOYA, the long-defunct KLIATT, & Children’s Literature). I recently left my library gig, as we’re moving, but while there also spent 4 [...]

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What My Queer YA Means To Me

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 23rd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016, Writers on Writing|Tags: Bisexual, Speculative|

by Erin Bow I will be honest. I didn’t set out to write a book in which girls kiss each other. As a novelist, I’m not much of a planner. Even the few things I do have planned don’t always work out, and that was certainly the case with my 2015 book, The Scorpion Rules. I came to it with some original equipment, some seeds from the writing gods: the character of my narrator, Greta Gustafsen Stuart, Duchess of Halifax, Crown Princess of the Pan Polar Confederacy, came to me with her smarts and braids and stoicism fully [...]

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If You Haven’t Seen

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 22nd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Asian, Black, Intersectionality, Latin@|

by Edith Campbell Back in October 2015 my daughter shared news with me about the book Large Fears by Myles Johnson and Kendrick Daye and I was so excited that I posted about it on FaceBook. I was easily engaged by the artwork and intrigued by the story of a young black boy who daydreamed about escaping to Mars where he could be free to love the color pink. Just above the image of the book, I wrote, “I'm really glad to know about this book! I would say there are so few books for queer black boys, but [...]

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Bury Your Cliches

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 21st, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016, Writers on Writing|Tags: lesbian, Queer Girls, Representation, Speculative, tropes|

by Kiersten White Although as the And I Darken trilogy progresses the stakes get higher (that’s a little Vlad the Impaler humor for you), here are two things I can promise you: 1. There will be no vampires. 2. No lesbians will die. Now, maybe that sucks out some of the tension (not literally, because again, no vampires). I don’t care. My lesbians are 100% guaranteed to make it out alive. The dead lesbian trope is one I’m fully committed to avoiding forever. But that’s an obvious(ly terrible) way that LGBTQIA+ characters are constantly done a disservice in [...]

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4 Wishes for YA F/F Romance

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 20th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Publishing People|Tags: Queer Girls, Representation|

by Kate Brauning I want to talk about nuance. I want to talk about sexy, and imperfection, and happily ever after. I want to talk about being a bisexual editor (and author) of queer YA and why every book I acquire is inclusive in some way, but I’m still looking for That F/F YA Romance. Or you know, twelve of them. The YA queer fiction I’m receiving right now is amazing. I’ve had the honor of acquiring several outstanding YAs centering queer characters, and had to pass on many more that were just wonderful but not for me. [...]

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A Particular Invisibility

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 19th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016, Writers on Writing|Tags: disability, Intersectionality, Representation|

by Kayla Whaley The first essay I ever submitted won an award. A group of writing professors at my university read the piece, described it as written with “delicate emotion,” and handed me a check along with the certificate. I called home as soon as I found out, literally breathless with the news. I told Mom I’d won a writing contest, and before she could even react, rushed to say she couldn’t ever, ever read the essay. A few days later my sister told me to call home. “Mom’s freaking out,” she said. “She doesn’t know why she [...]

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Never Am I Whole

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 18th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading, Teen Voices, Writers on Writing|Tags: Black, Intersectionality, Mental Health, nonbinary, Representation|

by Wesaun There’s nothing more exciting than the prospect of finally seeing myself in the books I read except, oh wait, I never do. I look and look and search and search and all that meets me is a gap, all that meets me is the laughter track as if I am on a comedy show and I am the queer character that has just had a cruel trick played on them. All that meets me is parts of my identity dismembered and separated into different stories but never am I whole. Because according to books, I do [...]

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