Archive – Page 30

Review: Camp Carnage by Elliot Cross

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:27-05:00October 21st, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Horror, Queer Guys, Thriller|

In the summer of 1986, Billy Collins is sent to his own personal Hell - summer camp. The remote Camp Genesis offers desperate parents a place to "straighten" out their gay teenagers with the help of the puritanical Katherine Creevey. Besides the typical horsing around, campfire tales and summer games, the Genesis program forces gay and questioning teens into humiliating gender-based lessons. While Billy wants nothing more than to escape Camp Genesis, he can't help worrying that something even more sinister is hiding just out of sight. Unknown to Billy, two campers were murdered three years ago. Just [...]

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On Seasickness and Honest Sexuality in Witch Eyes

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:27-05:00October 20th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, gay, Queer Guys, Romance, Speculative|

GayYA is thrilled to welcome one of our new regular contributors Nathaniel Harrington! I'm going to do my best to keep this spoiler-free, which means avoiding talking about the main plot. Briefly, it's really good. The action is engaging, the villains are excellent, and the resolution is satisfying and still has real, long-term consequences for the main characters. Tracey balances the main plot with fantastic characterization, and that's really what I want to talk most about here. Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey (Flux, 2011) First, let's talk about the handling of Braden's sexuality. A lot of [...]

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Call for Asexual Guest Bloggers for Asexual Awareness Week

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 19th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Asexual Awareness Week begins on the 26th! We're looking for asexual guest bloggers to talk about asexuality in YA, or something related to it. You can talk about your own experience, a book with an ace character that you love, how authors can represent asexuality better, or anything else that you've come up with! We're really open to anything, provided it is in some way related to YA. We'd like to get things planned out by the 22nd so everything can be written, edited, and posted on schedule-- if you want to toss your hat in the ring, get in touch by Tuesday the 21st. [...]

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Why the Angst? Where’s the Gay?

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 17th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Teen Voices|Tags: gay, Queer Guys|

We're thrilled to welcome one of our new regular contributors, Karina Rose! If you’ve heard of the internet, or magazines, or television, or know a lonely female, then you’ve heard at least something about Fifty Shades of Grey, the Twilight fanfic turned best-selling novel that sold over 100 million copies, despite the fact that it is poorly written, misrepresents an entire subculture, enables suffering amongst female readers, and, I cannot emphasize this enough, is based off of Twilight fanfiction. I wish I were joking. The book itself has been called “a joke”. But I think it’s a joke that has [...]

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Halloween Reads

By Chris|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 16th, 2014|Categories: Archive|Tags: gay, lesbian, Mystery, Paranormal, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Thriller, Trans|

Looking for a good Halloween read? Fed up with the excessive cishetero-ness of most book lists? We've got you covered! To start you off, here are some realistic mystery/thriller novels with gay, bi, lesbian, and trans protagonists: Dark Tide by Greg Herren (Bold Strokes Books, 2014) For Ricky Hackworth, a summer job to save money before he leaves for college is a necessity. When he lands a job as a lifeguard at the Mermaid Inn in Latona, Alabama, on the beautiful Gulf Coast, it’s like a dream come true. But once he moves into the Inn, he starts [...]

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Book Review: Unicorn Hunting by A.R. Hellbender

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 15th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, Queer Girls, Speculative|

Reviewer: Leslie Rewis 3.5/5 stars 152 pages Unicorn Hunting by A.R. Hellbender was a very surprising read. Most of the YA fiction that I have read about queer characters tends to focus more on their coming out and what ensues because of it. If you are looking for a story with a queer character that has a plot line not revolving around coming out, Unicorn Hunting is a good place to start. This is the perfect book for a book lover of fantasy, action, and of course, non-straight crushes. Unicorn Hunting by A. R. Hellbender (BookCountry, 2013) [...]

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Review: Bottled Up Secret by Brian McNamara

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: gay, Queer Guys, Realistic|

Bottled Up Secret by Brian McNamara is out on shelves today! We received a review copy through netgalley. Brendan Madden is in the midst of his senior year of high school and couldn’t be happier. He has a great group of friends, his pick of colleges, and he has recently come to terms with his sexuality. One night, he meets Mark Galovic, a gorgeous, younger classmate of his. In a matter of minutes, Brendan is hooked. As the friendship between them grows, Brendan reaches his breaking point when he spontaneously confesses his feelings to him. Brendan is shocked [...]

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Call for Volunteers

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:28-05:00October 13th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

UPDATE AS OF 10/30/14 AT THE BOTTOM. In the past few months, we have been witness to GayYA’s explosion. It’s been amazing and incredible and shocking and in all honesty, we were not at all prepared for it! This started as a fun side project to bring together some people, and has grown into something we’re incredibly passionate about that has a chance to really make a difference in the world. Right now, we’re so busy scrambling to cover all of our bases that we’re not able to get to everything that needs to be done done. As [...]

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Welcome to Gay YA’s first ever Book Club!

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:38-05:00October 10th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Club, Updates and Announcements|Tags: Bisexual, Intersex, Non Binary|

We are reading our very first book, a steampunk/fantasy called Pantomime by Laura Lam. You can check your library, or order it online from Amazon US, UK, or Canadian, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Powell's, Book Depository, Waterstones, Hive, and Chapters. You can also buy the e-book from Kobo and The Robot Reader. (Consider grabbing a copy of the sequel, Shadowplay, too. That's next month's book!) Follow the book club on our tumblr, and in the #GayYA Book Club tag. We'll also be on Twitter, where you can keep up with the book club on the #GayYABookClub hashtag. Most of the action will be [...]

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Are Coming Out Stories Still Relevant in 2014?

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:38-05:00October 10th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: Coming Out, lesbian|

by Amy Dunne Are coming out stories still relevant in 2014? It’s a question that can divide opinion. A little while ago, I attended a literary event that was full of people I didn’t know. A little group formed and I was taking part in their discussion. When asked what I do for a living, I experienced the usual moment of panicked hesitation that I’ve come to expect and struggled to decide on my answer. Should I have been honest and upfront, or should I have given the half truth answer that avoids potential awkwardness. The dilemma I’ve [...]

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