Book Crushes - Anticipating Sequels

There's a certain incomparable joy in anticipating the release date of a novel, particularly a sequel. It's a feeling that my generation - whom I call the "Harry Potter generation" - is well acquainted with. It's a little like being in love, or at least like having an overwhelming crush. Unexpectedly throughout the day the thought will occur to you that this book which you are looking forward to will some day exist in the world and you will get to read it - in much the same way one might thrill at the thought of seeing that dark-haired nail-biting snorts-when-he-laughs boy in geometry again.

The great thing about book crushes is that they end in much less heartbreak. Here are some of my current book crushes:

Rip Tide, the sequel to Kat Falls' Dark Life, is scheduled to be released this August. I picked up Dark Life thinking it would be a fun, easy read, and while it is that, it is also a fantastic work about a dystopian future and the mysterious consequences of our desperation for survival.

Patricia C Wrede's Across the Great Barrier is also coming out this August. It is the sequel to the absolutely fantastic alternate history, fantasy novel The Thirteenth Child. Wrede has always been one of my favorite authors, ever since I read her Enchanted Forest series years ago. It's always awesome to see a new book out by her, and this new series is mind blowing. It has all her usual amazing fantasy elements and superb writing, but with the fresh twist of being set in the American old west.

Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan is also an alternate history story, this time of the steampunk variety, and the final book in the trilogy, Goliath, will be released this September. I cannot praise this series enough, and would recommend it to anyone who geeks out over giant robots and/or has a soft spot for huge genetically-engineered abominations of nature. My anticipation of this book is actually mixed with a fair amount of sorrow to see this series end. So while I'm thrilled by the thought of reading it, I'm also saddened to think that the stories of these characters whom I have become so invested in is drawing to a close.

Pride Month: Thoughts on Gay Literature

I thought Pride Month would be a good opportunity to talk about my love of gay literature. I couldn't say why, exactly, I enjoy gay literature enough that I actively seek it out. Perhaps the explanation is in the fact that I love all forms of love stories, and am fascinated by the particular difficulties that homosexual love must endure. Love overcoming odds is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most pervasive theme in literature and media, and the modern addition of homosexuality has made the subject fresh and relevant. And perhaps that is why gay literature, particularly for young adults, has seen a huge amount of growth in recent years.

And yet despite my interest, I have never been comfortable with the term "gay literature", because it has always sounded to me as though my books are sexually attracted to books of the same gender. If one follows that thought to the next logical conclusion, what if they start breeding?

Come to think of it, maybe that is not such a bad idea. I don't know of any other way to get free books.

Joking aside, it is a good question. What is gay literature? Can all literature that features gay characters be considered gay literature? Harry Potter is not considered gay literature, despite that Dumbledore was rather famously outed several years ago. Are the requirements, then, that the main character must be gay? Or perhaps that homosexuality have a direct effect on the plot and the actions of the characters?

By that reasoning, would books that feature straight characters whose heterosexuality directly effects the plot appropriately be called "straight literature"? If so, than the entire genre of romance would be straight literature, because in my three years of paging I have yet to see a book about a gay couple categorized as romance. Even those romance books featuring biracial couples are shockingly few, and they make a tediously big deal about it. I swear, when Harlequin publishes a gay story, I will start consuming pulp romance.

In the meantime, I will stick with the infinitely more well written books I am already reading. Perhaps the best "gay literature" I have read would be Sarah Winter's Fingersmith, though I hesitate to call it gay literature at all, because the romance is secondary to the intrigue, subterfuge, espionage, and mistaken identity. In fact, I'm not sure I would recommend it anyone looking for gay literature; rather I would recommend it for readers that are attracted to the image of morally questionable characters skulking in the grimy, fog-filled streets of Victorian London.

If you would prefer something more traditional, Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters deals with the issues facing a lesbian couple in high school as they overcome homophobia from their peers and relatives. Also relating to GLBT issues, Peters' Luna portrays the struggles of a transgendered youth from the perspective of her sister, and exceeds Keeping You a Secret in writing quality, in my opinion.

Also one of my new favorites is Maureen Johnson's Bermudez Triangle, though I consider this more a moving story of friendship than romance. And as always, Johnson is an incredibly funny writer.

But if a picture book is what you are looking for, I suggest Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah S Brannen. It is exactly what you think it is. A little girl participates in the wedding of her favorite uncle Bobby and Bobby's new husband Jamie. Oh, and they are guinea pigs. So cute!

Happy Pride Month!

Wall Street Journal article "Darkness Too Visible"

The following is a response to an article in the Wall Street Journal that has ignited a fire in the young adult literature community. You can read it here.

There is a lot I don't need to say about this article and the ongoing criticism of YA literature, because the incredible backlash it has garnered is both eloquent and ubiquitous. But there is one point I would like to make: YA literature, like all literature, is a vital reflection of life.

I've always had a problem with the idea of grade school as a preparation for "real life", because that implies that real life does not start until a young person graduates high school. Which is an idea that I'm sure the thousands of students who are bullied, raped, depressed, angry, and dealing with issues such as divorce, drug use, and physical or mental abuse would have some contention with. Real life starts when you exit the womb. And literature, savior of souls, is there to meet you. YA literature portrays "kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings" because life contains them. I couldn't disagree more with this quote: "If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is." Hideously distorted? No. Hideously accurate.

YA lit forty years ago - or what would be now called YA lit, because as the author rightly points out, the genre didn't exist forty years ago - didn't contain the dark images that Gurdon seems to have a problem with. This is not because these issues didn't exist or that it wouldn't have been helpful to bring them to light, it is because no one had done so. Young adults and children at this time, were even then dealing with horror and emotional turmoil, but instead of having an outlet for these problems, they were told to suck it up. Domestic problems were swept under the rug in favor of presenting an "acceptable" facade. How much pain would have been alleviated for the children of this time, had today's YA literature existed? Dark images in YA literature is not a disease, it is a symptom - and a salve - of life.

If Gurdon wants to change the literature that young people are reading, I suggest she change the world, and render these books unnecessary.