May 2013
48 posts
1 tag
May 18th
17 notes
YA!flash: So about the so-called lack of boy stuff... →
yaflash: So I have a lot of feelings every single time I hear that people are “angry” or “annoyed” or whatever that they can’t find ONE SINGLE YA BOOK IN THE ENTIRE YA SECTION FOR BOYS TO READ and YOUNG MEN ARE FAILING BECAUSE GIRLS ARE TAKING OVER LITERATURE and HOW CAN BOYS POSSIBLY BE EXPECTED TO WANT… Word.
May 17th
913 notes
May 16th
98 notes
3 tags
“I don’t read reviews about myself, even in film and in television, so I wouldn’t...”
– Lucy Liu, who is apparently also an incredible artist in addition to be an actor, to Hunger
May 16th
55 notes
2 tags
Anthropology and writing | Malinda Lo →
A lot of times I hear people advising writers to observe strangers on a bus, or (since I write YA) to pay attention to the way teens act if you have the opportunity to hang out with them. But … to write something really true (and I’m including fantasy and science fiction in here, too, because truth isn’t limited to the real world), you have to go beyond external observation. You have to figure...
May 16th
12 notes
metteivieharrison: What is YA? →
metteivieharrison: 1. YA usually has a YA protagonist (13-19), but not always. 2. YA is usually shorter than adult fiction (60-80k, though fantasy can be longer). 3. YA is usually more quickly paced, with more dialog, less exposition, and fewer subplots. 4. YA tends to be in first person or very close third, and it… My favorite part: There is no ennui.
May 16th
49 notes
May 15th
12 notes
May 15th
746 notes
1 tag
“When people who aren’t of color create a show and they have one character of...”
– Shonda Rhimes, “the most powerful African-American female show runner in television,” to the New York Times Magazine
May 15th
63 notes
May 15th
11 notes
4 tags
“…VIDA isn’t calling for quotas. We don’t want quotas because that’s not...”
– Erin Belieu, poet and co-founder of VIDA, in a wide-ranging and excellent interview over at Lambda Literary, which you should totally read, especially in light of the recent Coverflip situation
May 15th
42 notes
On conspiracy theories | Malinda Lo →
May 14th
6 notes
May 14th
36 notes
May 13th
4 notes
May 13th
191 notes
May 13th
192 notes
I Make Up Worlds: COLD STEEL events →
kateelliottsff: To support the release of the third and final volume of the Spiritwalker Trilogy I will be at the following bookstores/events: Borderlands Books, San Francisco, CA: Thursday June 27 at 7 pm with Katharine Kerr who will also have a new book out, Sorcerer’s Luck. Mysterious Galaxy San…
May 13th
32 notes
3 tags
The Twelve Huntsmen by the Brothers Grimm →
Here’s another traditional European fairy tale that, while not exactly gay, does involve cross dressing and direct challenging of gender stereotypes. I think it’s ripe for a retelling. :)
May 12th
14 notes
The Girl Who Pretended To Be A Boy →
seananmcguire: queersuperteens: The Girl Who Pretended To Be A Boy, from The Violet Fairy Book compiled by Andrew Lang, on Project Gutenberg. Just.  You guys.  IT’S A CLASSIC FAIRY TALE ABOUT A PRINCESS WHO GETS TURNED INTO A BOY AND IS SUPER FREAKING HAPPY ABOUT IT AND THEN GETS TO MARRY THE PRINCESS SHE RESCUED.  Thank you, Seanan McGuire, for mentioning that a story like this existed....
May 12th
550 notes
Teh Awesome sauce: In Which I Have an Unpopular... →
justinaireland: I’m a huge feminist. Really. Most people who meet me understand this, but I’ve had more than a few people understand feminism in a different way than I do. See, I consider myself the best kind of feminist. Why? I don’t judge. You want to be a stay at home mom? Rock on with your bad self. A… This hits the nail on the head re: the coverflipping thing, which I enjoyed a lot, but...
May 10th
111 notes
2 tags
May 10th
11 notes
3 tags
In Our Own Words
emkokie: I’ve been struggling with something lately, and in effort to get it out and move on with the writing, I blogged.  If our YA male characters are allowed their experiences of desire, it seems wrong that our female characters are not afforded that same personhood, the same standard. The whole post is at: http://emkokie.com/attractive_nuisance/2013/05/09/in-our-own-words/ This post is...
May 10th
114 notes
See The Fascinating Evolution of Cover Art From 12... →
So cool! Looking back at a century of cover designs from all over the world for beloved queer books like Tipping the Velvet, Orlando, The Color Purple, Annie on my Mind, Rubyfruit Jungle and more.
May 10th
72 notes
2 tags
May 9th
6 notes
El Cinco de Mayo and other ethnic holidays in the... →
Thinking about the Americanization of holidays such as Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, and Chinese New Year …
May 9th
6 notes
2 tags
May 9th
21 notes
May 8th
6 notes
Diversity in YA: 5 Things Shana Mlawski Didn't... →
diversityinya: By Shana Mlawski Hammer of Witches is my first book. Though I learned a lot of things as I was writing it, it seems presumptuous of me to pretend they’re universal truths. So I’m not going to list five things I learned while writing this book. Here’s a list of five things I didn’t learn:
May 8th
41 notes
May 7th
31 notes
May 7th
46,674 notes
1 tag
Writing Time
satyrandsiren asked you: ’ello! Just curious. How many hours in a day do you spend writing? ’ello back! The number of hours I spend writing every day depends on a lot of things. When I’m in the rough drafting stage, I try to reach a certain number of words on the days that I write. Right now, I’m working on something that’s very different from any of the other novels I’ve written. It’s so...
May 7th
15 notes
May 6th
8 notes
Maureen Johnson: LET'S DO THE COVERFLIP  →
maureenjohnsonbooks: I had this little idea on Twitter today. I have lots of little ideas on Twitter. And I have no doubt that this idea has been had before, because it’s that kind of idea. But it’s also the kind of idea worth repeating. It started like this. I made a comment along the lines of, “Okay, Publishing. I… I can’t wait to see these coverflips!
May 6th
720 notes
4 tags
May 6th
11 notes
“At a workshop not too many years ago a newer writer began to condemn a best...”
– Tobias Buckell on “The fate of today’s book bloggers” The C.C. Finlay quote: “A novel doesn’t excite readers because you took all the bad stuff out of it, it excites them because of all the good stuff that’s in it, regardless of the bad.”
May 6th
842 notes
2 tags
May 4th
7 notes
1 tag
May 4th
4 notes
May 3rd
152 notes
4 tags
May 3rd
32 notes
"If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep...
Publishers Weekly: I wouldn’t want to be friends with Nora, would you? Her outlook is almost unbearably grim.
Claire Messud: For heaven’s sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn’t “is this a potential friend for me?” but “is this character alive?”
(From "An Unseemly Emotion - PW Talks with Claire Messud")
May 3rd
43 notes
May 3rd
69 notes
May 3rd
1,481 notes
1 tag
“I am on record (repeatedly) as being a huge fan of Malinda’s YA novels. In...”
– A really nice sneak peek at Inheritance from Heather Hogan at AfterEllen
May 2nd
16 notes
1 tag
“There is a story about a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs, and...”
– Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape
May 2nd
21 notes
What's your favorite YA novel about the Asian...
diversityinya: May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and to celebrate, we at Diversity in YA are going to be featuring some Asian American YA authors and books. But we’d also like to invite you to participate! Do you have a favorite YA novel about the Asian American experience? Tell us what that book is — why do you love it? How did it affect your life? You do not have to be Asian...
May 2nd
28 notes
May 2nd
104 notes
1 tag
On Word Count
endlessdreamer13 asked you: I keep worrying about word count and length. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help but worry that the finished product will be too short. It’s an upper middle grade that’s currently 25k with about 4 chapters left. How do you stop focusing on the finished product? and I have a short story, around 17k. It’s either too short or too long, so I have no idea what to do with...
May 1st
7 notes
1 tag
Lambda Awards Finalists reading at San Francisco...
Tomorrow (Thursday May 2!) I’m joining several of the 2013 Lambda Literary Award finalists for a reading of our nominated work at the San Francisco Public Library. Here are the details: May 2 at 5:30 p.m. Lammy Finalist Reading San Francisco Public Library Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A & B 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Finalists tentatively scheduled to read: Judy Grahn,...
May 1st
8 notes
1 tag
May 1st
1,649 notes
April 2013
71 posts
1 tag
The Largest Falcon Hospital in the World →
It’s in Abu Dhabi, and it has operating rooms, an intensive-care unit and an ophthalmology department. Click through for some incredible photos of biiiirds in a hospital.
Apr 30th
2 notes