Call for Contributors!
We are looking for 5 new regular contributors for GayYA.org.
Regular contributors are people who write monthly posts for us. The posts must be somehow related to queer characters in YA lit.
Contributors can go wide and talk about a lot of different things, or go deep and focus on one topic. Or they can do like a “Top 5 ___” type thing. They can be serious or fun, or anywhere in between.
We’re open to people of all ages! We’re especially looking for people who are able to commit for a long period of time. This call will be open till the end of October, but if you’re interested, get in touch quickly! We only have so many slots.
As a contributor, you’ll need to be able to send in a post a month without much prompting from us. A few exceptions can be made, but if you are routinely not performing to our standards, you will no longer be a contributor.
If you’re interested, please email victoria@gayya.org with a little bit about yourself, why you think you’d be a good choice, whether you’ve written for us before (and if not a link to your blog or somewhere else we can check out your writing), and if you have an idea of what topics/format you’d like your posts to follow. Feel free to point us in the direction of a post of yours you’re particularly proud of!
Thanks for your time! If you have any questions, please email me victoria@gayya.org, or send us a message.
Note: If you are interested in doing regular reviews for us, please see here!
Review of Searching for Grace by Juliann Rich
At the end of Caught in the Crossfire I was convinced I would not last until Searching for Grace… and the end of Searching for Grace has left me in the exact same state. I believe the email I sent Juliann said something along the lines of “I NEED TAKING THE STAND LIKE YESTERDAY.”
Like the first book in the Crossfire Trilogy, Caught in the Crossfire, Searching for Grace is an amazingly unique and honest portrayal of a teen walking the line between his sexuality and his faith. As some of you know, I have walked a similar path. The experience is not much talked about in queer literature. It was very validating to read Caught in the Crossfire, and I hoped that the quality of representation would not decrease in the second book: I was not disappointed. Most books where religion and sexuality collide, the queer character turns their back on religion and their religious community. Which is am important thing to have represented to be sure— but not everyone goes down that path. I admit, I was worried that this book would start taking Jonathon down that road. I was looking for a book that went even more into the complexity of this situation: and that’s what I got.
Searching for Grace by Juliann Rich (Bold Strokes Books, September 2014)
Spoilers for Caught in the Crossfire below (Check out my review of Caught in the Crossfire here):
At the end of Caught in the Crossfire, we leave Jonathon determined to come out to everyone back home. But when he gets home, he finds his resolve wavering. The bubble of camp has been severed, his mother refuses to acknowledge his identity, and homophobia runs rampant in his school. He remains silent, and closeted. But soon, rumors start spreading about what happened at Bible Camp.
Searching for Grace is a much harder book than Caught in the Crossfire. For me, the second book always cements my love for the characters, and this time was no exception. So when you add that love to them going through harder things… well.
Dawn and Simon, my favorite characters from the last book return, and the equally enchanting characters of Mason and Sketch are introduced. Nerdy and artsy and funny (sooo many Dr Who references…), I found myself grinning almost whenever they appeared on the page. Jonathon’s character grows, and the way he reacts to every situation seems completely honest and realistic.
The book was a balance between light and dark, humor and horror. Throughout the book, scenes are weaved in in which you have no idea what is happening, only that it’s something terrible, and Jonathon is in a hospital. Throughout the book I found myself unhappy with that, as I thought I knew what it was that had happened, and I really didn’t like it. But it wasn’t what I expected at all. And unlike most books that reveal a “twist” near the end, this one does not depend on it to make the rest of the story good.
Overall, Juliann Rich’s writing continues to ring with honesty in a difficult subject matter that has not been explored before. Readers of Caught in the Crossfire will not be disappointed with Searching for Grace.
On a side note, Kathleen and I were able to attend Julianns’s and Rachel Gold’s joint book launch at the fabulous bookstore of Addendum (aka the only place you will ever need to go to find the YA you want…and 50% of the time it’s signed) and well they had a TARDIS Photo-Op:
Getting our bowties on…
We had a final pose! But it is currently sideways right now. It’ll be in our re-cap of the event.
Also! We are now in possession of this TARDIS. Oops. 🙂
-Vee/Victoria, co-webmistress of GayYA.org
Buy Searching for Grace here, Visit Juliann Rich here, and keep up with me on twitter @rausicabklvr!
Check out Juliann’s Guest Post on how she chose a title for Taking the Stand, and The Intersection of Art and Advocacy.
Announcing our October Book of the Month: Pantomime by Laura Lam!
Every month we choose a book as our Book of the Month, one of our favorites that has contributed something great and unique to queer YA literature. We chose Pantomime because it is an excellently written fantasy/steampunk series with an intersex, nonbinary, and bisexual protagonist. There is also a large amount of diversity within the rest of the characters. All of these things are unique in queer YA, and when you put them all together, what you get is a wonderful and important read.
Shadowplay is the sequel to Pantomime. The third book, Masquerade is in the works. Unfortunately, Laura Lam’s publisher Angry Robot closed down, leaving the authors stranded. It was just recently bought, but authors from the YA imprint Strange Chemistry still don’t know what this means for them. Laura Lam is planning a Kickstarter project to raise funds for everything needed to get Masquerade published, but due to this recent development will be holding back to see if she can get the rights to all three of her books.
While we wait for news on that, check out the Vestigial Tales, short stories from the same world and featuring the same characters as The Micah Grey series, or buy up your own copies of Pantomime and Shadowplay. Make sure and keep up with lauraroselam‘s tumblr and Twitter @LR_Lam for the latest news (and fabulous posts!). We also had a great guest post from Laura about a year ago, which is definitely worth a read.
As usual, we’ll be interviewing Laura at some point within the next two weeks– so if you have a question you’d like us to ask her, drop it in the comments! We’ll also be hosting a mini book club for Pantomime, and having a giveaway of some Pantomime–related stuff later in the month, so stay tuned!
Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
by Laurel May
When I heard this book was about an interracial lesbian couple living in the 1950’s I immediately wanted it. I was just blown away by the idea of this story! Now that I have read it, I am blown away by the actual story. What an exceptional book!
“Lies We Tell Ourselves” is not an easy read. You only have to look at the time period to understand why that is. This book is set in 1959, after the desegregation of Little Rock School. Here, Sarah and 10 other black students are the first to walk into a previously all-white school. The opening chapter takes place right as this is happening. Robin Talley wrote this book with extreme honesty. The way she wrote about the violence, verbal abuse and assault experienced by Sarah and her friends made me cry several times but it also left me seething with rage at the mindless hate. It’s fact, not fiction, that white Americans were violently prejudiced against African-Americans. They were so utterly ignorant and they felt justified in their bigotry. It made me angry reading some of the beliefs they clung on to, but it’s important to read books like this one that show it as it was.
So this book is told from Sarah, one of first of three seniors to attend this all-white school and Linda, a white student at this school, who’s also the daughter of the town’s biggest segregationist.
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley UK edition (MIRA Ink, October 3rd 2014)
I loved how well-rounded Robin Talley’s main characters were. They felt so real, which made the story even more powerful and painful to read! I empathised with everything Sarah and her friends went through, and her feelings on her sexuality.
Sarah was an incredible character! She was so brave, resilient and strong. She faced horrific verbal and physical abuse each day she went to the integrated school but still, she kept going. I loved how fiercely protective she was of her little sister, Ruth. Linda’s point of view was frustrating to read because of how ignorant she was. She has all the bigotry she had been taught since she was a child and she quoted everything her father said. So it wasn’t easy to sympathise with her, but her gradual character development made me warm up to her in the end. I thought this development was realistic because she didn’t suddenly unlearn all the prejudice she had, but she was slowly getting there. She showed her own courage when she faced the person she feared the most and when she admitted to herself that what she believed in was wrong.
Sarah and Linda’s relationship was something else entirely. When I started reading it, I figured it would be star-crossed lovers kind of romance, but oh it’s nothing like that. Both characters were so afraid and confused and scared at what was happening and as the reader, I felt those things too! It was an invigorating relationship. It was intensified by being able to know both of their perspectives on the same things that happened. There’s that one scene in this book… I swear, that scene nearly killed me with feels. It was honestly amazing. I stopped reading a little just to digest what had happened. THAT SCENE!! (trust me, when you read this book you’ll know which scene I’m talking about).
When Sarah started thinking about her sexuality, I started crying a lot. I think it’s because I didn’t realise how much I took for granted how easily I can access information or support on my sexuality. Sarah is 17. She is black. She is a Christian. And now she realises her feelings for girls are what she’s supposed to feel for boys and she has nowhere to go and no support at all. Linda is also on that same boat as she realises that she likes Sarah in a way she isn’t supposed to. It was heartbreaking to read what both girls thought about themselves because they liked other girls. However, I am satisfied with that ending.
Ruth, Sarah’s little sister, was my second favourite character. She was just so awesome! My favourite quote from her is “If you’re going to stand up on stage in front of a crowd full of angry white people you might as well look pretty while you do it”. I also really liked Judy, Linda’s friend. You could tell she was lovely and kind-hearted, it’s just that she lived in a society that was the opposite of that.
Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley US edition (Harlequin Teen, September 30th 2014)
I’m not doing this book any justice! I couldn’t articulate how much I loved it and why it’s so significant. It’s beautifully written and so well-researched, that at times you forget that it’s actually fiction, not an autobiography/memoir. It gives you an insight that you may not ever get in a History lesson. I know I didn’t when I studied Civil Rights in America just last year. We looked at Little Rock School and we saw the pictures of the black students being spat on and yelled at by white people. But in “Lies We Tell Ourselves” we go into the minds of the students and understand just how awful and terrifying that experience was.
So, in conclusion, this is now one of my favourite books. I actually read this as an ebook, but I’m still going to buy the physical copy when it comes out on the 3rd of October in the UK. It’s an insightful and engaging read. At times, it’s utterly terrifying since you just don’t know what’s going to happen! You’re also constantly on edge and vigilant, just like Sarah and other African-American students. You almost feel that same fear and anxiety whenever they go into that school. This book will leave you feeling a lot of things. I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down! Then after I just wanted to lie down and digest this story that will always stay with me.
Favourite quotes:
“We punish ourselves so much in our imaginations. We convince ourselves everything we do, everything we think, is wrong”.
“Before I met her, I never knew it was possible to feel that way. That just being near someone could make your whole body light up. That having her look at you could make you lose your head”.
I’m a 19 year old A level student from England. I’m an avid reader of YA Fiction and a book blogger at http://thecaffeinatedbibliophile.wordpress.com. I tweet a lot @greywaren.
Interview With Alaya Dawn Johnson, Author of The Summer Prince
Part 1 of Interview:
Part 2:
Transcript to come!
Next month we’ll be interviewing Laura Lam, author of our October Book of the Month, Pantomime. Let us know what you thought of this month’s interview in the comments (because they are working again!!! *throws hat*), and drop some questions you’d like us to ask Laura Lam.