I was super excited to learn through the comments on the article that there is a recent YA novel with an asexual character - Karen Healey's GUARDIANS OF THE DEAD.
MY PEOPLE ARE NEVER IN BOOKS. I AM SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY STAND IT.
$7.20 at Amazon? You just made a sale, ma'am.
In addition to the lists linked in the article, here's a nice list of adult SFF with LGBTQ characters. Meg's list is very impressive.
Malinda Lo's awesome post charting LGBTQ characters in YA is sobering and has been updated today with bibliographies. (Also? Gay Utopia is a fab phrase.)
The agent posted a response today. The comments are worth reading. (Rachel Manija Brown briefly responded in turn.)
The always amazing Tiger Beatdown has an article on why we shouldn't confuse books featuring minority characters with issue books. They may overlap, but they aren't the same thing.
This is another agent's response saying what you can do to help.
I too have been following this discussion. Commented it on myself because I had an issue with a publisher with my first book. Was asked to make a gay character straight. Just finished a novel about a girl who comes out in her sr year of high school and am planning to self pub it - not just because I want to do it *my* way but also because I fear no one will want to publish it traditionally - and that's really sad. Sad because it's the 21st century, sad because people are still afraid of the far right (which is a small minority, btw), sad because stories should be told that reflect the actual world, not the way we narrowmindedly believe it to be.
ReplyDeleteI still vote for trying to get your book traditionally published first. I'm in favor of pushing the system to change, so that consumers realize these books are there and by them, instead of continuing to produce them as niche products.
ReplyDeleteI think people should really buy more LGBT fiction. I try as much as I can, but I want publishers to realize it's wanted and needed and there should be more. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and did I ever tell you about this scholarship?
http://www.bridgethegapx.blogspot.com/
I suppose it's even more poignant now, if you want to apply or could spread the word.
-Lauren