Malinda Lo
Blog
Jan 2, 2013
Do you know of a 2013 YA book with LGBTQ main characters?
In June 2012 I ran a series of posts called YA Pride, highlighting 2012 young adult novels with LGBTQ main characters. In 2013, I’m going to do YA Pride again, which means I need your help in identifying books to be featured.
Here’s what I’m interested in:
- Young Adult books
- that will be published in 2013
- by traditional publishers (i.e., not self-published — I will do a separate call for self-published LGBTQ YA later)
- featuring a main character (not secondary or supporting) who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or intersex
- or has a central plot about an issue related to LGBTQQI identity, e.g., a straight character coming to terms with someone close to them who is LGBTQ (such as Happy Families by Tanita S. Davis)
- or is nonfiction about LGBTQ issues (such as Queer: The Ultimate Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Mark Biesche).
If you know of a book that fits these requirements, please tell me about it in the comments. Ideally, I would like to know the book’s title, author, publisher, publication date, and whether the main character is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, or intersex. If the novel is about an issue, or if it’s a nonfiction book, I’d like to know those details as well. (I will be double checking all of this, but I’d love as much info as you can give me.)
Finally, if you’re the author or publicist, I would really appreciate it if you would leave me some contact information. If you’d prefer to not post that contact information publicly, you can email me at mlo at malindalo.com, and please use the subject: YA Pride 2013.
Thank you all for your input! I can’t wait to find out about all the LGBTQ YA books coming out this year.
Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz, pubbed by S&S January 1 – The MC isn’t gay, though he’s perhaps questioning. He’s friends with a gay mermaid/fishguy.
I’m going to have to dig deeper for more.
J.H. Trumble’s WHERE YOU ARE (Kensington, Jan. 2013) about a gay high school senior dealing with the (looming) death of a parent, and who becomes involved with a teacher.
Oh, also:
This is MG, but Marco Impossible by Hannah Moskowitz, pubbed by Roaring Brook March 19 – MC is gay.
The Culling by Steven dos Santos, pubbed by Flux March 8 (does Flux count?) – MC is gay, I think.
Pantomime by Laura Lam, Strange Chemistry (imprint of Angry Robot), February 2013. The main character is intersex (and it’s a gorgeous, lovely book!).
I’m just going to leave 8000 separate comments:
The Sin-Eater’s Confession by Ilsa J. Bick, pubbed by Carolrhoda March 1: MC is gay? I don’t know. Haven’t read it or seen reviews yet, really.
That’s all I’ve got right now!
I would guess that the next volume in Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland series might qualify, given the Queer Physicks in this year’s book.
Tamora Pierce.- The Circle books based in Emelan. Two important main characters, sort of adoptive mothers Lark and Rosethorn. Lovely women who are magic users & love each other. There is a new book about a main character Tris soon. Not sure 2013 thou. Hope this helps x
My novel Kings of Ruin, written as Sam Cameron, is a YA science fiction adventure about two gay teenage boys in Nashville fighting aliens from another dimension. It’s being released in March from BSB Soliloquy, an imprint that focuses on GLTBQ YA.
Also being released in late 2013 is The Missing Juliet, the third book in my Fisher Key series, which focuses on GLTBQ teens in the Florida Keys. That one has a lesbian teen solving the abduction of a Hollywood actress.
I’ve got a novel coming out in March: Gold in the Clouds, which is a gay YA retelling of the “Jack and the Beanstalk” fairy tale from the point of view of Jack’s gay best friend. It’ll be published by Queerteen Press.
Steven dos Santos’ first novel, The Culling, features a gay teen as the hero in a dystopian society and is out in March: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12617286-the-culling.
David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing comes out from Random House October 8.
Hallo
The Glass Republic (Summer/Fall 2013, Quercus (UK)/Flux (US))by er, me, has a lesbian lead who has to solve the mystery of her missing sister in the city inside London’s reflections.
Good luck!
Best
Tom
Openly Straight comes out this June from Scholastic and has a gay protagonist — http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16100972-openly-straight
And I think I read that the Sweet Revenge of Celia Door has a gay main character but I’m not 100%.
I’m running my YA GLBTQ event again this year as well! Looking forward to celebrating all the great GLBTQ books!
A new website just went live, focused on LGBTQ YA lit. http://www.true-colorz.com. It was created by a trio of LGBTQ YA authors. It has a list of titles, authors and upcoming new releases.
Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle is out in February. http://daisyporter.org/queerya/?p=857
When Love Comes to Town by Tom Lennon is out in March.
TEETH by Hannah Moskowitz is a fantastic (and fantastical) story. Just released January 1st from Simon Pulse.
The Body of Evidence series by Christopher Golden and Rick Hautala has a gay character with an important role throughout all ten books of the series. The books are being re-released now as ebooks now.
http://www.christophergolden.com/bodyofevidence.html
Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler is a great upcoming YA memoir about a teen who questions his faith and sexuality.
Angela, from “Unspoken” by Sarah Reese Brennan. She is still coming out. I love her, she is my role model (ok she is a little lazy and aggressive, but very good friend).
TWO BOYS KISSING by David Levithan – fall ’13!
I see some people already beat me to the punch
My debut novel, THE CULLING, A Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic story featuring a gay main character will be released on March 8, 2013 by Flux Books.
http://www.fluxnow.com/product.php?ean=9780738735375
If you’d like to contact me, feel free to email me at steven@stevendossantos.com.
Thanks!
S
A few I don’t think have been mentioned:
Albert Whitman & Company is publishing a 20th anniversary edition of Tom Lennon’s WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN in March.
QUICKSILVER by RJ Anderson (Carolrhoda Lab, March) has an asexual protagonist.
PHANTOM EYES by Scott Tracey (Flux, Fall) is the third in the series so you’re probably already aware it’s coming out, but I figured I’d mention it.
BATTLE MAGIC by Tamora Pierce (Scholastic, October) seems to have Rosethorn (an LGBTQ character) in a starring role instead of her usual secondary role. At least, the summary gives equal billing to her, Briar, and Evvy.
So many! Start with mine…Hollow Pike is released worldwide (featuring a gay female couple) and my new one, Cruel Summer is out August ’13 with a gay male lead.
Also Undone by Cat Clarke, The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock, Pantomime by LR Lam…
Thanks for doing this, Malinda! It’s great to get the word out. Bold Strokes Books has a few titles coming out in 2013. Here are the titles up through August 2013. I’m sure more will be added.
Another 365 Days by KE Payne
Timothy by Greg Herren
In Stone: A Grotesque Faery Tale by Jeremy Jordan King
Wonderland by David-Matthew Barnes
Kings of Ruin by Sam Cameron
Swans & Klons by Nora Olsen
The Road to Her by KE Payne
Lake Thirteen by Greg Herren
Thanks for this opportunity, Malinda! My fifth book with Curiosity Quills — a YA adventure/mystery called EXTRA CREDIT EPIDEMIC — is scheduled for publication on April 30. E-galleys will be available a few months prior. My female protagonist is a self-confident student and budding epidemiologist. In the book, she builds her first serious relationship with a girl who is far less open about being gay. Here’s the description:
“When a brilliant yet reclusive high school student uncovers a small cluster of foodborne infections, she teams up with her science teacher and two fellow students to investigate, but as the cases start to multiply, she realizes that she’ll need more than just her sharp intellect to find the source of the outbreak.”
The paperback of Seth Rudetsky’s My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan is pubbing in January 2013.
One of my authors, Kelley York, over at Entangled Publishing, has a new novel coming out this year called Made of Stars, featuring a “questioning”/homosexual main character.
Description of Made of Stars:
18-year-old Hunter Jackson and his half-sister, Ashlin, have been summer-friends with Chance Harvey since they were kids. Chance, charismatic and adventurous, was everything from their first friend to their first kiss, always bringing their summers to life.
But when they’re reunited with Chance for the first time in years, they start to see Chance’s oddities in a whole new light. Like the bruises he tries to hide, or how he refuses to go home for days at a time. What the siblings used to think of as Chance’s quirks—the lies about his parents, his clinginess and dangerous impulsiveness—are now warning signs that something is seriously wrong.
Then Chance’s mom turns up with a bullet to the head, and all eyes turn to Chance and his dad. Hunter thinks Chance is innocent…he just has to prove it. But how can he protect the boy he loves when Chance keeps running away?
Thanks in advance!
~ Heather Riccio
Senior Publicist,
Entangled Publishing
SHATTERED SKY, the sequel to DEBRIS DREAMS by David Colby, slated for a Summer 2013 release from Candlemark & Gleam.
It’s a sci-fi YA novel, which follows the main character of DEBRIS DREAMS, Drusilla Xao, as she finds herself on Earth for the first time, dealing with a bad case of PTSD, a military tribunal, and coming face-to-face with her long-distance girlfriend, Sarah, for the first time…and also dealing with Sarah’s family, and what they think of their relationship.
Play Me, I’m Yours by Madison Parker will be released by Harmony Ink Press in April 2013. The main character is gay.
madisonparklove at gmail
Thanks for compiling this, Malinda! The sequel to my 2012 book “Green Fairy” is completed and slated for release in late 2013 (I don’t have a definite date yet). Title is “Red Devil” and it has a gay late-teen protagonist.
kyell at kyellgold dot com is my best contact info.
Hi Malinda,
I see someone already mentioned my forthcoming novel Openly Straight (June 1, Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic). Feel free to contact me at bkonigsberg@gmail.com if you want any more information.
Thanks!
Bill
I’m excited to see when you come out with this! The intersex one sounds especially intriguing – I can’t think of another book like that except Middlesex.
Bella Books just published one this month called Orphan Maker by D Jordan Redhawk that looks to be post-apocalyptic lesbian YA.
It’s middle grade: “My Mixed-Up, Berry Blue Summer” by Jennifer Gennari. I read about this book in the For Those About to Mock blog (a mock Newbery blog):
“Twelve-year-old June Farrell’s life isn’t complicated. She swims and boats in Lake Champlain with her friend Luke, helps her mom at the Stillwater Marina Shop, and plans to win this year’s pie-baking contest at the Champlain Valley Fair. However, when her mom’s girlfriend Eva moves in, June finds herself unwillingly drawn into the controversy over Vermont’s new civil union law — a controversy that divides communities, families, and even June’s own mind.
Set in the summer of 2000, when the Vermont law went into effect, My Mixed-Up, Berry Blue Summer tackles a tough issue head-on. June is a sympathetic character, fierce in her love for her mother, uncertain how to deal with some of her neighbors, and pained by the realization that her dreams of having a father are destined to go unfulfilled.”
http://abouttomock.blogspot.com/2012/12/2013-contenders-my-mixed-up-berry-blue.html
This sounds really awesome and I can’t wait to see what awesome books are listed!
I was going to mention my book, but SOMEONE decided to mention it before me.
*side eyes Kate*
Wandering Son by Takako Shimura is a continuing series of graphic novels w/ new volumes due out in 2013 from Fantagraphics. It features two tween transgender characters (one female, one male) who try to come to term with their gender identities as they enter puberty. it’s a sensitively-told tale that doesn’t sensationalize or over-dramatize their situation. The art is also lovely.
http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=665&Itemid=62
The other notable pick from Fantagraphics is Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio. An early, influential graphic novel from the 1970′s that is now available in English for the first time, Heart of Thomas touches upon themes of longing, gay identity in a world where the concept is only whispered, not shouted from the rooftops.
http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/the-heart-of-thomas.html
I have an action packed YA novella coming out this summer from Parker Publishing (for their YA Moxie Line) that I think fits what you’re looking for.
Entitled West of Sunset, the main protagonist is a young black gay wizard detective. In addition to wizard detectives,the story features witchy heroines, biker vamps all during a trip to Los Angeles.
If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
-Denny
The Elephant of Surprise by Brent Hartinger comes out in March.