Guest Post: Dennis Upkins Reviews Witch Eyes October 5, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : reviews , add a commentIn the recent conversation about LGBTQIA characters in YA specfic, several people mentioned Scott Tracey’s book, Witch Eyes. Here’s OA member Dennis Upkins with a review:
***
A boy who can see the world’s secrets and unravel spells with just a glance.
Braden’s witch eyes give him an enormous power. A mere look causes a kaleidoscopic explosion of emotions, memories, darkness, and magic. But this rare gift is also his biggest curse.
Compelled to learn about his shadowed past and the family he never knew, Braden is drawn to the city of Belle Dam, where he is soon caught between two feuding witch dynasties. Sworn rivals Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe will use anything—lies, manipulation, illusion, and even murder—to seize control of Braden’s powers. To stop an ancient evil from destroying the town, Braden must master his gift, even through the shocking discovery that Jason is his father. While his feelings for an enigmatic boy named Trey grow deeper, Braden realizes a terrible truth: Trey is Catherine Lansing’s son . . . and Braden may be destined to kill him.
***
Ladies & gentlemen, it’s a wrap. The gauntlet has been thrown, the bar has been raised, the standard has been set. THIS is how it’s done! I haven’t been this excited about a novel featuring a gay protagonist since Perry Moore’s Hero.
Braden proves to be a strong protagonist. He’s a three-dimensional character. He makes mistakes, he’s fallible, he’s human and sympathetic. And even when he gets himself into trouble, this is still a character you can root for. While there’s angst aplenty, he has more than enough legtimiate reasons for said angst (which keeps him sympathetic) and Tracey does an excellent job not allowing said angst to pummel and warp Braden’s characterization and development. Tracey also avoids making him stilted and obnoxious like a lot of writers do with their characters.
Tracey’s description and prose is quite impressive. It didn’t overburden you with filler and purple prose. Between the descriptions and the first person narrative, you could easily place yourself in Belle Dam and easily visualize the town and its inhabitants. The mythos and the plot immediately sucked me in and I was dying to find out what happened next. Many of the characters have secrets and agendas, and you’re eagerly awaiting them to show their hands. And more than once I got impatient with intel the audience finds out early on and was wanting to scream, REVEAL ALREADY. The anticipation was killing me.
Forgive the vagueness of this review but I’m trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible.
And can I stress how much I love the book cover?
Braden’s orientation was also handled as-a-matter-of-factly, with nuance, with insight and respect. Witch Eyes could’ve easily have worked with Braden being a heterosexual and it was a relief to read a story that wasn’t a formulaic coming out tale or a tragic gay angst tale or Braden being the formulaic gay guy whose sole raison d’être revolves around his orientation.
What was also a relief was that the romance didn’t overwhelm the story like you see too often in countless YA, gay novels, and urban fantasy books. The romance was one (albeit important) part of the complex and interwoven plot. The romance was well-executed, as was the mystery, the action and the drama. But it was all well-balanced which made the story that much stronger and that much more enjoyable.
And speaking of romance and love interests, Trey’s a dick. Braden is too good for him and can do so much better. I’m down for Team Somebody Else. And that objective analysis has nothing to do with the fact that Trey reminds me of my ex. Nope, not at all.
[shakes head solemnly]
When it comes to storytelling, Tracey proves that he knows his craft and I found myself having to pace myself with the story because I didn’t want the book to end too soon. There isn’t much resolution at the end which I initially found distressing. But said distress was quickly relieved when I found out that Witch Eyes is the first of a series and the next book is scheduled to be released next year. Thank God. From what little I’ve researched, it appears that Witch Eyes only answered a few questions only to unlock more mysteries. Shorthand, to quote Jim Ross, business is about to pick up.
And if Tracey is this impressive in his debut novel, I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next.
It saddens me that it took three years for me to find another enjoyable book that features a queer male protagonist. The last one I read was Hero. When you stop and think about the number of books that get churned out each year which feature cis straight white protagonists, it’s all the more infuriating.
But hopefully Witch Eyes is a sign of things changing. We still have a long ways to go obviously but maybe novels like this will lead to more.
Witch Eyes is available now.
***
Dennis R. Upkins was born and raised in Nashville, TN. A voracious reader, a lifelong geek and a hopeless comic book addict, he knew at an early age that storytelling was his calling. His debut novel, Hollowstone, was released in June 2011 by Parker Publishing. More information on Upkins and his other projects can be found at http://dennisupkins.com/
Outer Alliance Spotlight #78: Jon Wilson May 23, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #78. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. This week we’re going to have two because that’s just how things worked out. First, for your Monday reading pleasure, an interview with Jon Wilson, author of The Obsidian Man.
Jon is a gay writer with two novels in two different genres under his belt. The Obsidian Man, his latest, is a YA fantasy, while his earlier work, A Hundred Little Lies is a romance/western. Jon recently started a blog, and he’s also active on GoodReads, where his publisher is holding a giveaway for The Obsidian Man this month.
***
(more…)
Outer Alliance Spotlight #70: Speaking Up March 25, 2011
Posted by juliarios in : Uncategorized , 11commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #70. The Spotlight features news about (and sometimes interviews with) allies who are active in supporting and celebrating LGBTQI speculative fiction. This week our focus is on speaking up for what’s right.
On Monday, Jessica Verday posted about her withdrawal from a YA anthology. The reason? The editor felt that because Jessica’s story contained a gay romance, the publisher wouldn’t find it appropriate for the YA market. Jessica chose to withdraw rather than to change her (non-sexually-explicit) story. Choices like that can be extremely difficult and upsetting, even when you’re sure you’re making the right decision. I’m so glad Jessica did make that choice, and that she chose to share her experience with the rest of us. It’s important to talk about these things when they happen–sometimes extremely interesting things come to light. In this case, we learned that apparently the editor never actually asked the publisher, who, when they learned of the situation, said it would have been no problem.
Today, Jessica posted an update on the situation, in which she explained that even though the publisher asked her to reconsider her withdrawal, she declined. The good news here is that we’re able to talk about this publicly, and more and more people are coming out with supportive comments. Jessica is not being heaped with abuse from every direction, which gives me hope. There is strength in visibility, and the more people feel safe supporting decisions like Jessica’s, the better. We’ve been seeing more YA with queer content in the past several years, and I think things like this, painful as they are in the moment, are blazing trails for yet more acceptance. The bottom line to me, and to Jessica, and to a lot of other people out there, is that falling in love with a member of the same sex is not a shameful thing. It’s not unnatural. It should not be taboo in our society, and I think the best way to break down taboos is to expose them, examine them, and speak up for what’s right.
The editor says that she made an assumption in error, and that the content would have been okay with her personally. As Jessica’s entries (and the comments that follow them) point out, this kind of outlook is very disappointing. But because I know too well how easy it is to make mistakes, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. It is my sincere hope that in the future she will consider LGBTQI content non-controversial, and be more receptive to including it if she continues editing anthologies. I don’t want vengeance. I want a better future. I want to live in a society where people don’t make these assumptions to begin with.
And as for Jessica’s story, I’m looking forward to reading it when it does become available.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. And special thanks to Corinne Duyvis, who initially brought this matter to the attention of the Outer Alliance Google group.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #19: Barton Paul Levenson January 31, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 3commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #19. Each Friday[1], the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is physicist and author, Barton Paul Levenson.
Barton is bisexual and has been writing queer speculative fiction for 24 years. His latest novel, I Will is due out very soon from Virtual Tales. Two earlier novels, Ella the Vampire and Parole are available through Lyrical Press. Two more novels, Max and Me, and Year of the Human are slated for release later this year through Lyrical Press and Hearts on Fire Books.
As a physicist, Barton writes atmosphere models when he isn’t writing fiction, and spends a lot of time trying to raise awareness about global warming. He is a born-again Christian, a liberal Democrat, and a lover of science. He hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
***
OA: You’ve written female/female, male/male and male/female relationships in your currently available works. What appealed to you about each of those? Do you anticipate writing more of any one type in the future?
BPL: I’m currently working on a novel which I think will involve two teen girls falling in love with each other. But generally I don’t target the sexual relationships involved from the beginning; they just flow out of the characterization.
What is attractive about each? Hard to say. I think the hetero thing feels good because you’re exploring a cuddly, warm body different from your own and designed by evolution to mate with–also because men and women in most societies have slightly different subcultures and ways of looking at things, so it’s a chance to get close to someone with a (somewhat) different psychology. The homo thing feels good, I think, because it’s reassuring to be with a body like your own, one you know, and it’s easier to know in advance what your partner will and won’t like. And if you’re raised in a heterosupremacist culture, it can be awfully liberating to throw away the demanded gender roles and just do what feels good to you, and the hell with what society thinks. That experience will fade with time as GLBT lifestyles become more accepted, God willing.
OA: I Will was released a few days ago. If you could really visit the space adventure universe in the book, would you want to go? Why, or why not?
BPL: Heck, yeah! It’s filled with all the cool SF stuff I craved as a kid–aliens, interstellar travel, strange planets, and a very comfortable, high-tech environment. Plus Earth in this universe (it shows up in the sequel) has incorporated a lot of the policy changes I recommend. When you’re creating the world, you can make it do anything you want!
OA: Your bio on the Lyrical Press site describes you as a born-again Christian and a liberal Democrat, and says that this combination confuses people. Do you think this confusion is unwarranted, or are there times when you find your spirituality and your political beliefs in conflict?
BPL: It hasn’t been a problem so far, aside from occasional frustration with fellow Christians who embrace politics I don’t, and fellow left-liberals who reject my religion or all religions. I can get along with anybody, but I have had a few occasions when I was told I couldn’t be a “real” Christian if I supported [pick an issue--free choice, gay rights, evolution...]. Also that I couldn’t “really” understand or believe science if I believed in God, and that as a Christian I undoubtedly embraced misogyny, homophobia, racism, creationism, and despoiling the environment. Sometimes it was honest ignorance; sometimes it was just prejudice.
OA: You have two more books coming out in the next year: Max and Me, and Year of the Human. Can you tell us anything about them? When can we expect to see them?
BPL: Max and Me is an SF action-adventure novel with a little speculative philosophy thrown in. The protagonist is Gunnar “Gunner” Dahlquist, a bisexual veteran of Beast War III who now pilots a freelance spaceship out of 1 Ceres. He lives with the bioengineered talking cat Max, who is even more cynical and foul-mouthed than he is. Things get strange when, twelve years after Beast War III ended, people suddenly begin pursuing Max, one faction wanting to kidnap him, another to kill him.
Year of the Human is a young-adult SF novel. Alien teen girl Throsu ka-Hohsh is a would-be astronaut and a nationalist; her planet fought a brief, inconclusive war with Earth years earlier. She is thrown for a loop when her parents inform her they will host a human scientist and her daughter for a year–the daughter to live in Throsu’s room! And soon that’s the least of her worries.
OA: As a concerned physicist, what (if anything) do you think the global community can do to successfully end global warming? If it doesn’t work, what do you think the consequences will look like?
BPL: If we make a massive switch away from fossil fuels to solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydro in the next five to ten years, and stop cutting down forests, we may just make it. Frankly, I don’t think we will. The human pattern is never to prevent a crisis; it’s to wait until the crisis happens and then react. This time that pattern is going to kill us. Global warming causes more droughts in continental interiors and more violent weather along coastlines. 12% of the Earth’s land surface was “severely dry” by the Palmer Drought Severity Index in 1970; by 2002 that figure was 30% and still climbing (Dai et al. 2004). I expect human agriculture to collapse completely some time in the next forty years, and when that goes our civilization will go with it.
***
Thanks, Barton! Join us again on Friday for another Spotlight, and in the meantime, check out I Will at Virtual Tales, or other books by Barton Paul Levenson at Lyrical Press.
[1] (Back to post): My apologies for the tardiness of this week’s Spotlight. A series of international travel (mis)adventures left me without internet access on Friday and Saturday.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #9: Lauren McLaughlin November 13, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews , 4commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #9. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is YA author Lauren McLaughlin.
Lauren is a feminist, and strongly pro-choice. She supports equality for women and LGBTQI people, and is especially interested in promoting the acceptance of gender queer teens. As a straight ally, Lauren is personally committed to making the world safe and lovely for people of all orientations, and her work reflects this. Her first novel, Cycler, is about a girl who turns into a boy for four days each month. Lauren uses this premise to explore what gender means, raising at least as many questions as she answers.
Lauren started out in the film industry, working her way up from production assistant to line producer and screenwriter, and eventually to helping Mike Paseornek open a New York production and development office for Cinepix Films (which later became Lions Gate Entertainment). She began writing prose full time in 2000. Cycler came out in 2008, followed by a sequel, (Re)Cycler in August of 2009. A third (unrelated) novel is on the horizon, but doesn’t have a formal release date yet. Though Lauren is not working full time in the film industry anymore, she has written a screenplay for Cycler, which will be produced by Don Murphy.
Cycler has a facebook page, and a YouTube trailer. (Re)Cycler has been nominated as a Rainbow Book for 2009 through the Rainbow Project. Lauren blogs on her personal site, and posts to Twitter under the name LaurenMcWoof.
Linkdump #6 – Gay literature and TV November 10, 2009
Posted by zeborah in : links , add a commentMiscellaneous
Chris/M-Brane SF comments on the Maine/gay marriage situation and on those who opposed the Matt Shepard law.
A recent conference in New Zealand brought together leaders and youth from sexual minority communities across the Pacific; the article touches on Fa’afafine in Samoa and New Zealand.
On gay literature
Michael Stevens writes about the change in how important gay literature has been to him: “Now there are hundreds of books, by many different authors available. And yet I feel little compunction to follow the latest trends in gay fiction or poetry. It just doesn’t seem to matter to me any longer. Yet once it was central to me discovering who I was and how to negotiate the world.” and “By reading I learnt what it was to be a gay man.”
On LiveJournal community 50books_poc are three recent reviews of LGBT-focused writing:
- M+O4EVR by Tonya Cherie Hegamin, along with a general introduction about LGBT fiction, YA lit, race, and the few other books about African-American queer girls;
- Southland by Nina Revoyr
- “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” by Jin Haritaworn, with Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem
And GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources “provides an opportunity for readers to express their thoughts regarding fantasy and sci-fi with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered protagonists through book reviews, essays, and reading lists in a non-commercial environment”.
Gay characters on TV
In the Bay Area Reporter, “Going, going, gone!: the case of the missing LGBT characters” looks at the dearth of gay characters on US television. [Though personally I'm disappointed that they describe Thirteen on House as "previously queer" and "now heterosexual" when the show itself has made it clear that she is and always has been bisexual and just happens to be dating a guy at present. The show does plenty else wrong, but - at least as far as I've seen - it doesn't deny her bisexuality.] An interview with writer/director Alan Ball discusses directions for gay characters (both existing ones and new ones) in season 3 of True Blood.
If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #7: K L Richardsson October 30, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications , 2commentsWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #7. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is YA author, K L Richardsson.
K L has been playing around with a fantasy world in her head ever since she was a child. As an adult, this has manifested itself in her Heart quartet, which features gay teens in an adventurous high fantasy setting. Heart Sense, Heart Song, and Heart’s Price are available now through Prizm Books, and she’s currently working on the fourth novel in the series, Heart’s Peace.
As a straight ally, K L makes a point of advocating for LGBTQI acceptance both in speculative fiction, and in real life. In addition to novel writing, K L is in the process of earning a PhD in Medieval Studies. She has a passion for hats, and all things Arthurian.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #6: Hayden Thorne October 23, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications , add a commentWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #6. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Hayden Thorne, author of The Twilight Gods.
Hayden Thorne is a straight ally, who looks at writing as a form of activism, and features queer teens coming of age in contemporary and historical fantasy stories. Her Masks series follows the journey of a gay teen in a city full of superheroes, while her historical novels, The Twilight Gods, Banshee, and Icarus in Flight, deal with darker and more realistic themes.
When she is not writing, Hayden divides her time between working in the fine art industry, and cycling. In addition to advocating for LGBTQI rights, she supports the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States.
All of Hayden’s books to date, including her latest novel, The Twilight Gods, are available now from the LGBTQ YA imprint, Prizm Books. (more…)
Linkdump #2 – Lambda Awards and Banned Books October 5, 2009
Posted by zeborah in : links, membership , add a commentI don’t have as many links as last week, so instead I’ll point to someone else’s linkdump – elf‘s Lambda Literary Awards linkspam, collecting posts about the controversy around Lambda’s new/clarified guidelines for their awards.
The American Library Association (ALA) celebrated Banned Books Week from 26 September – 3 October this year. Their 2009 list of challenged/banned books (PDF, 8.4MB) includes “And Tango Makes Three”, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding”, “King & King”, “Girl, Interrupted”, “The Joy of Gay Sex” and “The Lesbian Kama Sutra”, among others. (Speculative fiction books included “The Golden Compass” “The Great Tree of Avalon”, “Brave New World”, and more.) For the curious, past lists of challenged/banned books are also available.
If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks”.
Outer Alliance Spotlight #2: Malinda Lo September 25, 2009
Posted by juliarios in : interviews, publications , 1 comment so farWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #2. Each Friday the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction. Our guest this week is Malinda Lo, author of the YA novel, Ash.
Malinda is a Chinese American lesbian, who is active in LGBTQI and POC (People of Color) awareness efforts. She was managing editor of the lesbian entertainment news site, AfterEllen.com until September of 2008, when she began writing fiction full time.
In addition to keeping a personal journal, Malinda is a member of the 2009 Debutantes LiveJournal community for new YA authors, and a maintainer for The Enchanted Inkpot YA and Middle Grade fantasy community. She lives in Northern California with her partner.