A Girl Like Me
With more publishing options out there than ever before, and many stories of success and failure on every front, how do you know which path is right for you? Traditional, indie, and self-publishing all have their pros and cons. It’s important to know what to expect with each one, but it’s even more important to know yourself and your project.
Know your strengths, your limitations, and your relationship to the project. Each project is different. What is an ideal publishing route for one might not be for another.
In a feature I wrote on publishing, author Steve Almond said, “Do a self-inventory. Ask yourself what sort of publishing experience you want to have. If you’re determined to publish a book with a big New York publisher, then take your patience pills and go that route. The truth is, at this point—provided you have the necessary talent and patience—you get to choose the sort of publishing experience you want to have. And only the writer can know what that is.” Last year when indie publisher 215 Ink offered to publish my debut YA novel, A Boy Like Me, I remembered Steve’s words and did a self-inventory.
At the time 215 Ink offered to publish A Boy Like Me, my agent had the manuscript out to several traditional publishers. We’d only heard back from a couple at that point and their feedback was enthusiastic. However, even though they had very positive things to say about the writing, they passed on it, saying they had something similar, something else LGBTQ.
I could have waited to hear back from the other publishers, waited for the time that A Boy Like Me was that something else, but 215 Ink and I had already successfully published Flutter, Volume One: Hell Can Wait, the first of a graphic novel series. Working with 215 Ink on Flutter, I had a hand in every aspect of the publishing process, from selecting the release date to reviewing all press releases.
As much as I poured my heart and soul into Flutter, A Boy Like Me was even more of a labor of love. Part of the reason was that Flutter’s a complete 50-50 collaboration with artist Jeff McComsey. It’s as much his project as it is mine. Also, A Boy Like Me featured Peyton, a teen transgender boy protagonist. While my agent had it out with the big publishers, I had more than one sleepless night thinking about how the marketing of it would be handled. With a traditional publisher, I’d have little or no say in the cover of the book. They could slap a face of a boy on the cover, instead of letting the reader form their own idea of what Peyton looks like.
Also, I’d have no say on when it would be released. With a traditional publisher the wait could be months, even years. One of the many things I’ve always loved about comics is the fast turnaround on publishing work. Finally, the idea of not having a say in how A Boy Like Me would be marketed, how it would be described in press releases, for example, the terminology used or misused – just the thought had me tossing and turning.
Part of my self-inventory also included looking at the kind of girl I am. Flutter began as a self-published black and white comic series. Publishing that early version of Flutter myself led to a job writing nonfiction features for infoplease.com. It also led to working with 215 Ink on a full color graphic novel series.
Before I turned my focus full time to writing, I played in indie rock bands and worked with indie record labels. While playing in a band in Chicago, I helped organize Ladyfest Midwest. While organizing that four-day event, I began to truly understand what ‘grassroots,’ ‘indie,’ and ‘DIY’ meant. We held several benefits to raise money to pay performers and to keep ticket prices low. We turned down corporate sponsorship. All profits went to two local organizations, Chicago Women’s Health Center and Women in the Director’s Chair. Ladyfest Midwest was an offshoot of the original Ladyfest held in Olympia, Washington, which involved Sleater-Kinney and many other great bands.
Sleater-Kinney has long been one of my favorite bands, for their music and for their indie spirit, which is in everything that they do. Corin Tucker was even an inspiration for Tara, the girl who sees and loves Peyton for who he is in A Boy Like Me. During my self-inventory, everywhere I looked was indie, from previous choices I’d made to artists and musicians I loved. The path for A Boy Like Me became clear.
I’m not putting down other publishing routes. The website I write nonfiction features for is owned by a major publisher and self-publishing an early version of Flutter led to that job. The important thing is to explore all of your options and, when the work is ready, go with the one that feels right for you and the project. You’ll know because your gut, your self-inventory will tell you. Another sign will be that you won’t have to burn any bridges.
My agent supported my decision to go with an indie publisher for A Boy Like Me. In the end, after all the soul searching, it was the best decision for a girl like me.
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Jennie Wood is the creator and writer of Flutter, a graphic novel series. The Advocate calls Flutter one of the best LGBT graphic novels of 2013. Bleeding Cool lists Flutter as one of the 15 best indie comics of 2014. Jennie is also an ongoing contributor to the award-winning, New York Times best-selling FUBAR comic anthologies. Foreword Reviews named her debut YA novel one of the 10 best indie YA novels of 2014. Born and raised in North Carolina, Jennie currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with her girlfriend. She writes non-fiction features for infoplease.com and teaches at Grub Street, Boston’s independent writing center. Flutter, Volume Two: Don’t Let Me Die Nervous will be released in 2015. For more: jenniewood.com.
The (im)possibilities of Openly Straight
I first read Bill Konigsberg’s Openly Straight in April, 2014. Ten months later, reading it again, the questions it poses are as powerful as they were the first time.
How do I really feel about being gay? I always thought I was okay with it. Am I though?
Relative to many (most, even) members of the LGBTQ+ community, I have had something of a charmed life. I was never really in any doubt about my sexuality: like Paul from Boy Meets Boy, it just seemed obvious to me. I talk sometimes about my parents having two sets of friends: friends from school (both my parents are teachers), and their lesbian friends from the girl scout camp my mother attended and directed. As I noted in an earlier essay, it was my father who gave me Hey, Dollface. I attended the liberal private schools my parents worked at. My entire 9th grade class was required to take what was essentially an introduction to social justice, and although many of my classmates complained about it, it helped create a baseline dialogue about social justice issues that extended beyond this specific class. I was sorry to hear that we would be the last students to take it.
Openly Straight (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013)
When, freshman year, an installation art piece was defaced with slurs, it sparked a schoolwide dialogue. A significant portion of the upper school participated in the Day of Silence my freshman year, and the GSA followed up with a presentation on homophobia in schools. Things had changed somewhat by senior year, but it was still, on the whole, a liberal, safe environment.
I have never experienced physical violence because of my sexuality. Only once in my life, senior year of high school, have I been the target of a homophobic slur, and the student who called me and one of the other theater techs “faggots” was subsequently suspended. I deal with microaggressions, like any other gay person, but that’s about the worst of it.
And yet.
Sometimes I do actually listen to the things straight people say about their lives as straight people. I recently went to a reunion of drama students from my high school, where two of the people I was talking with spent part of the evening reminiscing about their high school romances (plural), and all I could think was
I didn’t kiss another guy until I was twenty.
High school romance was a passing fantasy. I asked a straight guy out senior year, embarrassing myself in the process, but that was it. The idea of there being enough people in my social circle of compatible gender and sexual orientation for me to not only date at all but actually go through multiple relationships just doesn’t quite compute. I would never want to be straight, and yet — sometimes it’s obvious how much easier things would be if I were. I hate it.
Straight people have it so much easier. They don’t understand. They can’t. There’s no such thing as openly straight.
Last summer, through a combination of chance and nepotism, I was able to go to Japan for four weeks in August. Thrust suddenly into a new group of people, I found my high school habits coming back. “I’ll tell them eventually,” I said to myself. “Just not yet. Maybe it’ll come up naturally.”
There are not a lot of contexts where “by the way, I’m gay” is a natural addition to the conversation.
For the first week and a half or so, I was Rafe: “I was elated. That was the feeling in my chest. Elation.” I never exactly said I was straight — if anyone had asked me outright (one person did), I would have told the truth. But it was assumed. I was deeply amused that people thought I was dating one of my close (female) friends. I made straight guy friends in a way I never really had before. The barrier came down.
The longer it went on, though, the more I hated not being able to talk about this key part of myself and my experiences. Every interaction felt like a lie. “When I put away the label,” Rafe says, “things were great for a bit because the burden of it all went away. But then it was like I went away too, and that part sucked.”
Not until my second to last night did an opportunity present itself, and I seized it: “This seems like a good time to mention that I’m gay.” And I was me again, more or less.
I wonder, though, how things might have been if I had been that comfortable in my skin from day one. If I could have been that comfortable.
After I came out during high school, one of my parents’ lesbian friends mentioned that there was an LGBTQ+ youth group at her church, if I was interested. I said I’d think about it, and I did, briefly. The idea of outing myself like that, even in a relatively contained environment, seemed impossibly daunting.
I don’t think being gay is a curse. Definitely not. But we all know that being open about it comes with a lot of things that make life harder. Even if you have great parents and a school where you’re treated well, it adds stuff to your life.
I can’t change the choices I made in high school, but I wonder, now, how things might have been if I had gone. How much the defense mechanisms, the straight-acting techniques I built up in high school have hurt, rather than helped, me. Part of me is angry with myself for not being a little braver, for denying myself that chance, for not taking advantage of my safe surroundings. Who could I have been if I had felt different about my place in the world?
Another part of me whispers, not unreasonably, that the homophobia I internalized, the microaggressions, the low-level heterosexual discomfort — in short, all the things that convinced me not to be open about my sexuality — none of these are my fault. The first question leads inevitably to a second one: who could I have been if the world had been different?
I’ll never get to know.
Nathaniel Harrington was born and raised in suburbs of Boston, studied (comparative) literature in college, and is currently improving his Gaelic on the Isle of Skye. He has been writing gay YA since 2008 and reading it since 2009; someday he hopes to be able to share it with others in a format that isn’t half-finished NaNoWriMo first drafts and miscellaneous fragments. He enjoys working out the details of magic systems, doing citations for academic papers, reading in several languages (although he has yet to read any LGBTQ YA in a language other than English; suggestions are welcome), and obsessively categorizing books he reads on Goodreads.
Exclusive Cover Reveal + Interview: Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz
We’re so happy to be revealing the cover of Pat Schmatz’s newest novel, Lizard Radio! Lizard Radio will be released September 2015. I could go on for quite awhile about how excited I am for this book, but I think you’ll experience the excitement yourself, as you learn more about this book, without any prompting.
First, here is the newly released blurb! FEAST YOUR EYES.
Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz:
Fifteen-year-old bender Kivali has had a rough time in a gender-rigid culture. Abandoned as a baby and raised by Sheila, an ardent nonconformist, Kivali has always been surrounded by uncertainty. Where did she come from? Is it true what Sheila says, that she was deposited on Earth by the mysterious saurians? What are you? People ask, and Kivali isn’t sure. Boy/girl? Human/lizard? Both/neither?
Now she’s in CropCamp, with all of its schedules and regs, and the first real friends she’s ever had. Strange occurrences and complicated relationships raise questions Kivali has never before had to consider. But she has a gift—the power to enter a trancelike state to harness the “knowings” inside her. She has Lizard Radio. Will it be enough to save her? A coming-of-age story rich in friendships and the shattering emotions of first love, this deeply felt novel will resonate with teens just emerging as adults in a sometimes hostile world.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddd………….
here is the cover!!!!!!!!
Eeeee! I love it a lot! For some reason I have always been a huge fan of circles, so this design pleases me greatly. And I LOVE the silhouettes and the colors and aaaaugh. I’m looking forward to having this on my shelf.
I also got the chance to ask Pat a few questions!
Vee: What can you tell us about Lizard Radio? What should we expect?
Pat Schmatz: In Lizard Radio, you can expect many blurred lines. Kivali Kerwin, the protagonist, duels with CropCamp authority on questions of independence, power and leadership. New friendships and feelings push Kivali to question everything about herself, her background, her nature and her future.
V: Talk to us a bit about the world of Lizard Radio– it seems pretty futuristic, but still maintains some things from our culture, like the gender-rigidity. There are also many terms in the blurb that are piquing my curiosity. Without giving away too much, can you tell us a bit about the world we’ll step into when we open this book?
PS: Lizard Radio takes place in “a world similar to ours, with some genetic twists and decisional turns.” It is not necessarily futuristic. It is one of the ways I can imagine our own world going, or having gone. In this world, it is mandatory for all teens to attend three months of an educational work camp between their 15th and 18th birthdays. Camp certification is their official transition into adulthood.
Kivali is a “bender” – meaning she landed between 48 and 52 on the mandatory gender-testing scale. She chose not to transition, and barely passed post-decision-gender training. Her guardian Sheila unexpectedly sends her to CropCamp just a few weeks after her 15th birthday, to learn about raising organic crops. What Kivali doesn’t bargain for are the extracurricular lessons in love, sex, loyalty and power.
V: Let’s talk about the cover! What are your thoughts on it? How does it relate to the book?
PS: I love the cover! Kivali and the Komodo dragon whisper to each other among shimmering circles that capture the essence of Kivali’s Lizard Radio – the fantasy-flavored hum, the shifting shadows, the chitter and moan. Waiting to see cover design is one of my favorite parts of the book process, especially when the designer comes up with something beyond what I could have dreamed.
V: Lizard Radio sounds like nothing we’ve ever seen in YA before. There are not many books that have nonbinary or gender-variant characters in them, and none of the ones that I can think of are in alternate realities?. How did the idea for this book come to you, how did the book start to take shape?
PS: There are many aspects of this story that have been roiling around in me for a long time – things I’ve been afraid to write about, or not sure how to start. Kivali snuck in some years back when I was doodling around between books. For several weeks, I drew pictures of a lizard. The lizard began to mutter about being a lone lizard dropped in a hostile world. I kept drawing. One day, the lizard appeared wearing headphones and saying “Hello – hello? Are you there? The signal’s weak.” I began to study lizards, especially Komodo dragons, and Kivali began to reveal herself – at first, mostly in poetry. From then on, it was a matter of learning to tune in and listen.
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DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY EXCITEMENT NOW???? I MEAN. YA’LL.
Make sure and add Lizard Radio on Goodreads.
New Releases: March 2015.
March 2nd (USA)
Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens (Huron Street Press, 2015)
Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens: Coming Out, Being Out, and the Search for Community by Michael Cart — (LGBTQAI+)
Goodreads Summary: “A summary of the 250 best books for LGBTQ teens, written by experts on the subject and addressed to teen book buyers. Identifying titles that address the sensitive and important topics of coming out, being out, and the search for community, this catalog spotlights the best gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning books written for teens. The authors cover fiction of all kinds, as well as graphic novels and general nonfiction aimed at readers in middle school and high school, and include recent publications as well as classics that continue to be read and enjoyed by 21st-century teens. Information on how to find library programs, services, and additional resources for LGBTQ teens is also provided, making this a one-stop sourcebook for LGBTQ teens, their families, friends, and classmates, as well as teachers and librarians.”
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository
March 3rd (USA)
GAY YA BOOK CLUB’S PICK OF THE MONTH!
Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz — (BISEXUAL)
Not Otherwise Specified (Simon Pulse, 2015)
Goodreads Summary: “Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown. Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). 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 latest powerful, original novel from Hannah Moskowitz is the story about living in and outside communities and stereotypes, and defining your own identity.”
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository
March 5th (USA)
I’ll Always Miss You (Harmony Ink, 2015)
I’ll Always Miss You by Raine O’ Tierney — (BISEXUAL, GAY)
Goodreads Summary: “Isa Zaman might forgive his parents for taking in a friend’s son if only he wasn’t the most boring teenager in the universe. Macklin “Mackie” Cormack’s only interests are reading and the outdoors. Yeah, right. Isa’s convinced Mackie is either a pyro or a klepto. Plus, as a white kid, Mackie looks ridiculous in the Zamans’ Arab American household. Forced to share a bedroom, the boys keep butting heads until an absurd fight finally breaks the tension between them.
Isa’s just starting to figure life out: this new houseguest, his cultural identity, school, and even girls, when the entire family is uprooted from their home for reasons Isa can’t understand. They move from their tiny city apartment to a giant, old house in a small town, hours away from everything he’s ever known. Oh, and the new house? It’s probably haunted, or so says the blank-faced ten-year-old next door. As if things weren’t weird enough, Isa’s friendship with Mackie suddenly takes a strange turn down a path Isa’s not sure he’s ready to follow. It turns out Mackie Cormack isn’t nearly as boring as Isa once imagined.”
March 10th (USA)
Read Between the Lines (Candlewick Press, 2015)
Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles — (GAY)
Goodreads Summary: “Does anyone ever see us for who we really are? Jo Knowles’s revelatory novel of interlocking stories peers behind the scrim as it follows nine teens and one teacher through a seemingly ordinary day. Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger—the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won’t be the last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a “big girl,” she fits in. A group of boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse—or so it seems. Over the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern. Unless, of course, one looks a little closer—and reads between the lines.”
Candlewick Press / Amazon / Barnes & Noble
March 12th (USA)
The Grim Life (Harmony Ink, 2015)
The Grim Life by K.D Worth — (GAY)
Summary: “Max Shaw is dead. Well, sort of. After dying on prom night, Max was recruited by a mysterious tattooed angel named Slade to join a group of teenage reapers. Cocky and sarcastic, Max thinks he has his afterlife together, but the moment Slade assigns him to his first suicide case, everything changes. Christian college student Kody Michaels is struggling to make sense of his life and his faith. After a failed suicide attempt at an antigay camp, Kody is determined not to fail again. Tired of disappointing his family and God, he is going to end his life once and for all. But in a split-second decision, Max saves Kody—defying the rules of a reaper. Max believes his only concern is convincing Kody that God loves him just the way he is, so he can save him from a hellish afterlife as a shade. Little does Max know, some shades have found a way to walk among the living as wraiths. These evil wraiths know Kody has been slated for death, and they have another, darker purpose for him. Max has only one night to save Kody before one of Slade’s team finishes the job Max lacked the courage to complete.”
March 17th (USA)
Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman — (LESBIAN)
Honey Girl (Sky Pony Press, 2015)
Goodreads Summary: “How to survive California’s hottest surf spot: Never go anywhere without a bathing suit. Never cut your hair. Never let them see you panic. The year is 1972. Fifteen-year-old Haunani “Nani” Grace Nuuhiwa is transplanted from her home in Hawaii to Santa Monica, California after her father’s fatal heart attack. Now the proverbial fish-out-of-water, Nani struggles to adjust to her new life with her alcoholic white (haole) mother and the lineup of mean girls who rule State Beach. Following “The Rules”—an unspoken list of dos and don’ts—Nani makes contact with Rox, the leader of the lineup. Through a harrowing series of initiations, Nani not only gets accepted into the lineup, she gains the attention of surf god, Nigel McBride. But maintaining stardom is harder than achieving it. Nani is keeping several secrets that, if revealed, could ruin everything she’s worked so hard to achieve. Secret #1: She’s stolen her dad’s ashes and hidden them from her mom. Secret #2: In order to get in with Rox and her crew, she spied on them and now knows far more than they could ever let her get away with. And most deadly of all, Secret #3: She likes girls, and may very well be in love with Rox.”
March 17th (USA)
Hold Me Closer (Dutton Juvenile, 2015)
Hold Me Closer by David Levithan — (GAY)
Goodreads Summary: “It’s Tiny Cooper’s turn in the spotlight in this companion novel to New York Times bestseller Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Jazz hands at the ready! Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) stole readers’ hearts when he was introduced to the world in the New York Times bestselling book Will Grayson, Will Grayson,co-authored by John Green and David Levithan. Now Tiny finally gets to tell his story—from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends—the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.”
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository
March 17th (USA)
Fifty-Yards and Holding by David-Matthew Barnes — (GAY)
Fifty Yards and Holding (Bold Strokes Books, 2015)
Goodreads Summary: “Victor Alvarez is in serious trouble. Now seventeen and flunking out of high school, he’s been chosen as the leader of the violent street gang he’s been a member of since he was thirteen. Riley Brewer has just broken a state record as the star of their high school baseball team. When Riley and Victor meet by chance, a connection begins to grow. When friendship turns to love, both young men realize their reputations contradict who they really are. Once their secret relationship is discovered, Victor realizes their lives are at risk. Refusing to hide in order to survive, Riley vows that only death can keep him apart from Victor.”
Bold Strokes Books/ Amazon / Barnes & Noble
March 17th (USA)
Trust the Focus (Intermix, 2015)
Trust the Focus by Megan Erickson — (GAY) + (NEW ADULT)
Goodreads Summary: “With his college graduation gown expertly pitched into the trash, Justin Akron is ready for the road trip he planned with his best friend Landry— and ready for one last summer of escape from his mother’s controlling grip. Climbing into the Winnebago his father left him, they set out across America in search of the sites his father had captured through the lens of his Nikon. As an aspiring photographer, Justin can think of no better way to honor his father’s memory than to scatter his ashes at the sites he held sacred. And there’s no one Justin would rather share the experience with more than Landry. But Justin knows he can’t escape forever. Eventually he’ll have to return home and join his mother’s Senate campaign. Nor can he escape the truth of who he is, and the fact that he’s in love with his out-and-proud travel companion. Admitting what he wants could hurt his mother’s conservative political career. But with every click of his shutter and every sprinkle of ash, Justin can’t resist Landry’s pull. And when the truth comes into focus, neither is prepared for the secrets the other is hiding.”
Amazon – KINDLE / Barnes & Noble – NOOK
March 19th (USA)
Ray of Sunlight by Brynn Stein — (BISEXUAL, GAY)
Ray of Sunlight (Harmony Ink, 2015)
Summary: “Russ Michaels has his whole life ahead of him but no plans beyond dropping out of school as soon as he turns eighteen. He’s been in and out of juvenile detention for the last four years and thoroughly expects to end up in an adult penitentiary at some point. He hates life and everyone in it, especially this latest community service that he earned in lieu of juvie yet again. CJ Calhoun has big plans. He wants to bring joy and happiness to sick and injured children for as long as he can by performing as a clown. The problem is, he has stage-four cancer and a horrible prognosis. When circumstances throw these two polar opposites together, they find they have more in common than they imagined. CJ discovers Russ’s talent for art and arranges for Russ to create a mural in the hospital foyer, which leads to a tentative scholarship to the Art Institute. As life changes in ways neither of them could have expected, Russ must work harder than ever to better himself as CJ struggles with his deteriorating health.”
Harmony Ink / Dreamspinner Press
March 26th (USA)
Life Beyond the Temples (Harmony Ink Press, 2015)
Life Beyond the Temple by Nikolai Joslin — (LESBIAN)
Summary: “Casey Kelley, a powerful young mage, has spent her whole life inside the walls of the Temple. The day she leaves to venture into the real world, the Old Ones task her with killing a dangerous necromancer who is gaining strength. She is joined by knight protector Regan Cartmell. Society may despise mages, but Regan never did, and she has sworn to protect Casey, even at the price of her own life.
Pickpocket Cameron is a mage whose father escaped the Temple, choosing to raise her in secret. After her parents were killed, she was forced to live on the streets, gaining a deep distrust for mages. She wants nothing to do with the Temple or magic of any kind.
The three friends must put aside their differences and defeat the growing evil before it spreads.”
March 31th (USA)
Playing a Part by Daria Wilke, Marian Schwartz — (GAY)
Playing a Part (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015)
Goodreads Summary: “In June 2013, the Russian government passed laws prohibiting “gay propaganda,” threatening jail time and fines to offenders. That same month, in spite of these harsh laws, a Russian publisher released Playing a Part, a young adult novel with openly gay characters. It was a brave, bold act, and now this groundbreaking story has been translated for American readers.
In Playing a Part, Grisha adores everything about the Moscow puppet theater where his parents work, and spends as much time there as he can. But life outside the theater is not so wonderful. The boys in Grisha’s class bully him mercilessly, and his own grandfather says hateful things about how he’s not “masculine” enough. Life goes from bad to worse when Grisha learns that Sam, his favorite actor and mentor, is moving: He’s leaving the country to escape the extreme homophobia he faces in Russia.
How Grisha overcomes these trials and writes himself a new role in his own story is heartfelt, courageous, and hopeful.”
Vitality Issue 1 (February 2015)
BONUS! Our friends at VITALITY, a literary magazine featuring LGBTQAI+ protagonists, have launched their first issue! Go check it out and buy a copy here.
More info from their website: “Vitality is a literary magazine publishing exciting, entertaining fiction featuring LGBTQ+ protagonists. What we hear people asking for, most often, is more stories featuring queer people – and not just serious, often difficult-to-read “issue” work dealing with the hard stresses of real life, but fun stories that happen to be about queer characters, and portray queerness in a positive way. In answer to this need, Vitality seeks to be an escape for the reader. A safe place full of wonder and awesome where the reader can see characters like themselves doing things like battling dragons, solving crimes, acting in a circus, or traveling the world. All genres and styles can be found in Vitality. The only limit is your imagination.”
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FROM PREVIOUS MONTHS:
January 29th (USA)
Fairy Tales for Modern Queers (Harmony Ink, 2015)
The Flywheel (Hardie Grant Egmont, 2015)
The Flywheel by Erin Gough
No Big Deal (Harmony Ink, 2015)
High Heels and Lipstick (Harmony Ink Press, 2015)
High Heels and Lipstick by Jo Ramsey — (LESBIAN, BISEXUAL)
Stealing Bases (Harmony Ink Press, 2015)
Stealing Bases by Anne Key — (LESBIAN)
At the Lake (Harmony Ink Press, 2015)
At the Lake by Geoff Laughton — (GAY)
5 Reasons to Love Benjamin Alire Saenz’s Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
by Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez
1. There’s an important discussion on a family member in prison One of the issues burdening Ari’s identity is the silence around his brother’s incarceration. While his parents refuse to speak about Bernardo and what he did to end up in prison, his presence is still very much palpable for Ari. His parents’ shame of having a son in prison dictates what they expect from Ari and this becomes too much of a weight for him. After Ari gets into a fight and sends another young man to the hospital it is revealed that Bernardo went to prison for doing something similar. Ari’s parents fear that he may be headed down the same path. Saenz’s discussion on a family member in prison complicates the novel and makes it more than a simple coming out narrative. Ari must contend with what it means to be a man of color in his present society and his brother is a constant reminder of the racism and discrimination that men of color face. Ari cannot fully embrace his sexuality until he comes to terms with what Bernardo represents about Latino masculinity and how those terms define Ari. The focus of the novel is certainly Ari’s coming-out; however, Saenz’s makes it evident that Ari’s intersectionality with race, ethnicity, and class are also contributing factors to understanding the character as queer. 2. You’ll wish Dante was a real person so y’all can hang out Dante first meets Ari at the pool and they bond over their rather unusual names. Dante is different than the other guy’s Ari knows and is estranged from. He is intelligent, kind, and vulnerable. Ari and Dante become inseparable that summer and spend much of their time reading, writing, and taking the bus around town. Dante’s romantic view of the world is new to Ari who has a darker vision of society. His positive outlook, though, sometimes gets Dante into trouble and Ari becomes protective of him. Dante forces Ari out of his comfort zone and into a special, almost magical, place of self-discovery. With Dante, Saenz has created an opportunity to talk about how class, ethnicity, and sexuality intersect. His father is a professor and his mother is a psychologist and while they are both supportive of his queer identity, he still feels like does not fit in with other Mexicans/Mexican Americans. Many readers will be able to identify with Ari because he can’t quite seem to find a place where he belongs and these readers will wish for a friend like Dante. Dante gives Ari hope and we all either have or need someone like that in our lives. 3. Ari and Dante’s passion for literature is contagious One of the subjects that Ari and Dante bond over is literature. The accessibility to literature that the boys and their families have is extremely important because it challenges many stereotypes about literacy and education in relationship to Mexican-American communities. While it certainly helps that Dante’s father is an English professor, and it says plenty about class, this accessibility remains significant because they use it as part of their healing process. The books that Ari and Dante share help them process much of what they understand about the world around them. Books also allow them to connect to their parents in ways they didn’t know was possible. For example, Ari learns that his father’s favorite book is Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Other literary references in the novel include Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, The Grapes of Wrath, War and Peace, and W.S. Merwin. Reading leads Ari and Dante to begin journaling and writing letters to one another. Writing allows Ari to process many of the nightmares he has and it allows him to stay connected to Dante. It is through these letters that the Ari and Dante talk about issues like kissing, smoking, and masturbating. Whereas the books and the letters promote a healing process in Ari and Dante’s life, they also encourage the novel’s readers to delve into a literary world with which they may not be familiar. 4. Ari’s genuine desire to have a relationship with his father It is likely that Ari’s father suffers from PTSD after serving in Vietnam. Mr. Mendoza’s silence about Bernardo and the war make it difficult for Ari to get close to him and this distance pains Ari. Throughout the novel, Dante becomes a catalyst through which Ari gets to know more about his father. By knowing his father he gains more knowledge about his family and about what it means to be a man. However, Mr. Mendoza recognizes his son’s inner struggle and is there to help him come-out. The father/son relationships in Aristotle and Dante are more supportive than those found in other young adult Latino gay novels. Most often the fathers either reject their son’s gay identity or are entirely absent from their lives as is the case in Alex Sanchez’s Rainbow Boys and Charles Rice-Gonzalez’s Chulito, for example. While Ari and his father definitely have some important issues to work through, his father is there to support him when it matters most. Ari’s desire to have a relationship stems from a desire to accept himself. By the end of the novel, Mr. Mendoza becomes instrumental in helping Ari see that he loves Dante and is able to go after him. In Ari’s coming out process, it is significant that he has relationships with the other men in his family. That he can have some sort of a relationship with them by the end of the novel is a beautiful gesture. 5. Because “I don’t think liking boys is an American invention” Aristotle and Dante creates a space to discuss the intersectionality of being queer and Latino. Ari struggles to come out because he has some unresolved issues with the other men in his family, who are essential in defining Latino masculinity for him. Dante is openly queer but he struggles with feeling a connection with his cultural identity. He feels that his class status and his sexuality separate him from the Mexican community around him. Dante’s fear is a real experience that many Latino youth face. Often times, queerness is constructed and understood as an identity only accessible to white people. In claiming a queer identity, Dante feels further removed from his cultural community. However, Ari and Dante, and other queer characters of color, complicate and challenge these misconceptions. Dante reveals to Ari that he does not feel Mexican because he likes boys and Ari replies that he doesn’t “think liking boys is an American invention.” Ari’s nonchalant reaction is powerful because he directly challenges notions about who can claim a queer identity while simultaneously creating a space where he and Dante can exist. Saenz’s novel contests many stereotypes about queer and Latino communities; in doing so, he further affirms to queer Latino youth that their experiences are legitimate. Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University of California Riverside doing research in Latina/o Children’s and Young Adult Literature. When she’s not reading or writing about Latina/o kids lit she spends her time reacquainting herself with her home city of Chicago. She is also a contributing blogger for Latinos in Kids Lit. Follow her on twitter @mariposachula8 [1] Saenz is the author of several young adult novels and children’s books including Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, Carry Me Like Water, Names on a Map, Last Night I Sang to the Monster, He Forgot to Say Goodbye, and A Gift from Papá Diego. Aristotle and Dante has won numerous accolades including a Pura Belpre Award, a Stonewall Book Award, and a Lambda Literary Award.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012) opens in the summer of 1987 in El Paso, Texas and follows Aristotle Mendoza’s journey toward self-discovery. Fifteen year old Ari is smart and witty but quite isolated from other boys his own age. However, after meeting Dante Quintana at the pool he begins to feel a renowned interest in life and an unfamiliar feeling for Dante. Benjamin Alire Saenz