Dragon*Con

[rm]

I can has Dragon*Con schedule!

HP Fanfic for Adults Only- Friday at 11:30 PM

Alternative Sexualities in YA- Saturday 10 PM

YA Costume Contest- Sunday, 5:30

All of which means:

1. Come to my stuff.
2. Talk to me of queer YA.
3. What HP porn do I need to catch up on?
4. None of my shit conflicts with anythingi care about on Brit Track.
5. Friday: arrive, go to Torchwood panel, nap, talk about porn. What a life!

Comments

[ravenna-c-tan.livejournal.com]

I'm only dipping my toe into YA these days, but a couple of recs to give.

"Tithe" by Holly Black. It's a 14+ urban fantasy, main character is a teenage girl (16 yo) but the next most important character is a gay boy. It explicitly says in it that he reads boy on boy manga and him being seduced by an evil male character is an important plot point, so it's really quite present.

Francesca Lia Block always has gay characters in her books, though their importance varies widely -- she's written so much this isn't a drawback, really. And how gutsy was it 15 years ago to have a threesome in Weetzie Bat, her first big hit, for the purpose of having a baby, no less? Talk about "planned parenthood."

As for HP Porn, it just keeps growing by leaps and bounds. I wondered if we'd see a fall off after DH, but no, the fandom is still growing. The ranks of the slashers and het porn writers are right now being continually swelled by the boomer and gen-x mamas who are discovering the internet and that they want to grab hold of their own sexuality at the same time. More and more of them coming online all the time. Add to that the teens who are having more and more internet access and making more connections via the net than the previous generation of college age students did. Still on the rise.

Finding the best stuff often means making social contacts through LJ, for example, and getting recs from people whose taste you trust. Lots of dreck out there. Visiting the archives though, like Walking the Plank (for Snarry), The Hex Files (for Harry/Draco), and Skyehawke (for everything, not just HP!) and reading what's in the "most popular" lists is often a good indicator of the higher quality stuff...

The Old Fart asks

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

YA is what?

Re: The Old Fart asks

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing Young Adult. Teen-ish books.

Re: The Old Fart asks

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

"YA Costume Contest-" confused me, but that must be right.

[wyrdwriter.livejournal.com]

Alternative Sexualities in YA ...
YAY! That so ROCKS...
Not only are they being recognized as actually feeling sexuality, but that not everyone is The Same...how cool for the kid who knows s/he doesn't fit into the average hetro-box...you aren't weird/"a freak", you're just different. That's so important for kids!

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

But look! For just $150, you can be intimate with James Marsters and Gareth David Lloyd!

[rm.livejournal.com]

I am so entirely blocking out the existence of that.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

I love queer YA! Hell, I write queer YA, so I wish I wasn't on the other side of the pond or I would be there with bells on. :/

I second Holly Black, and there's also queer subtext in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. I still reread 'Boy Meets Boy' every so often because it's still hilarious and sweet, where sexuality is just fluid and really doesn't matter to most of the characters etc.

[tommx.livejournal.com]

If I were able to go to Dragon Con this year, you know I'd be at all of your stuff. Alas, I can't make it due to a previous engagement.

[saharafic.livejournal.com]

I too am only recently back into YA books (although the librarians love that I read it). Perry Moore's "Hero" was wonderful. Read like a movie, because, well, he mostly does screenplays. About a gay teen trying to hide his sexuality and his superpowers from his dad.

Also love anything by James Howe. I read his Bunnicula books as a kid, so I was thrilled to find "The Misfits" and "Totally Joe."

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the "Hero" rec, I'm going to try to read it before the con. It sounds like an awesome premise and, for lack of a better word, a "boy book" and I think there are fewer of those on this theme.

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

Hmmm,... I read some queer YA recently. I'll get the names for you.

Ekatarina

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole is about a teenage Latina developing a queer identity. She doesn't do so in a way I would consider a perfect role model for readers, but it's a great look at her cultural and emotional influences, funny and sweet, and written in a very readable but evocative dialect. It's not SF at all, but it is a fine YA novel. And have you read Parrotfish, about a transgendered high-schooler?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for these, as I really want to have some PoC- and trans- related stuff to talk about.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

In that case, I'll also mention Luna, the trans-themed YA novel I haven't read yet. Parrotfish is perhaps a little tidy but I kind of love that there's a tidy book about a teenaged transman.