Nominations for April 2014 - not G and not L - Feakboy wins

[Kaje]

I'm opening this thread early, because I want time to get a bunch of nominations for our next book. I'd like the group to read something that isn't gay or lesbian in its LGBTQIAP content.

So please nominate your favorite trans or bi or poly or intersex or other rainbow YA book, for our April poll.

We have read Parrotfish, Golden Boy and Luna so far.

Nominations are closed; the poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1... Vote through midnight April 3.

And the winner is Freakboy - discussion is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jo]

Can I nominate myself? I haven't done that in a while. LOL.

My novel Where No One Knows is about a 16-year-old female-to-male transgender teen who is kicked out of his house for having psychic powers. (Note that it's only available in e-formats, though.)

[Kaje]

Yeah, I was thinking a bunch of yours fit in here :)

[Jo]

Not really a bunch... Most of my YA is cis-het, though I'm doing more GLBTQ as time goes on. I have 2 shorts with a bisexual polyamorous main character; 1 with an asexual main character; and then Where No One Knows with a trans* main character. My other GLBTQ stuff is gay boys (though I have a short story about two girls falling for each other under consideration).

Oh, and one of my series has a bisexual secondary character, but he doesn't come out until book 4...

[Rainbowheart]

I guess Freakboy didn't win, but that would be my nomination again for April. The two MCs are both transgender, one (Angel) is MTF (pre-op, but fully transitioned into living as a female) and one (Brendan) is in high school and still figuring out where he is on the trans spectrum.

If that one doesn't get picked, then I also think Beautiful Music for Ugly Children would be a good choice. The MC is a transgender teen. Gabe is FTM and the book isn't as issuey as some other trans books. Gabe does deal with transphobia and getting his parents to accept his identity, but also there's a lot about music and romance.

I read a couple other books I really liked with trans characters, but they are only side characters, not MCs. So probably not enough queer content for BOTM.

[Kaje]

I do want to read Freakboy, so I'm going to assume that's your nomination for this month again?

[Rainbowheart]

Yeah, I'll nominate it. Can you nominate more than one? Of the two I mentioned, I did like Freakboy best so would prefer that book. I think it would also be better for discussion just due to more characters and more diversity.

[Kaje]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Yeah, I'll nominate it. Can you nominate more than one? Of the two I mentioned, I did like Freakboy best so would prefer that book. I think it would also be better for discussion just due to more c..."

We've tried to keep it to one nomination per member per month.

[Rainbowheart]

Thanks, I'd definitely choose Freakboy then. It did come in third place in the poll, so I think it might have a good shot at winning.

[Kim]

It was tough to narrow down the nomination possibilities, but I'm going with:
a + e 4ever, by i. merey.

Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he's developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she's starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her. . . . a + e 4ever is a graphic novel set in that ambiguous crossroads where love and friendship, boy and girl, straight and gay meet. It goes where few books have ventured, into genderqueer life, where affections aren't black and white.

[John]

Pantomime by Laura Lam



R. H. Ragona’s Circus of Magic is the greatest circus of Ellada. Nestled among the glowing blue Penglass—remnants of a mysterious civilisation long gone—are wonders beyond the wildest imagination. It’s a place where anything seems possible, where if you close your eyes you can believe that the magic and knowledge of the vanished Chimaera is still there. It’s a place where anyone can hide.

Iphigenia Laurus, or Gene, the daughter of a noble family, is uncomfortable in corsets and crinoline, and prefers climbing trees to debutante balls. Micah Grey, a runaway living on the streets, joins the circus as an aerialist’s apprentice and soon becomes the circus’s rising star.

But Gene and Micah have balancing acts of their own to perform, and a secret in their blood that could unlock the mysteries of Ellada.

I actually really hate the blurb for this book because it's purposefully misleading. I won't spoil much else, but this book is about an intersex character, the most-ignored of all the LGBTQIA acronym.

[Wren]

apparently shes bi

[Rainbowheart]

Yeah, the MC in Adaptation is definitely bi. And Pantomime would also be a cool choice. I'd be excited to read either of those if my nomination doesn't win.

[Sammy Goode]

Just bumping this--unfortunately have nothing to add but any of these look great!!

[Kaje]

Adaptation

The blurb

Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now.

Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the United States government grounds all flights, and millions of travelers are stranded.

Reese and her debate team partner and longtime crush David are in Arizona when it happens. Everyone knows the world will never be the same. On their drive home to San Francisco, along a stretch of empty highway at night in the middle of Nevada, a bird flies into their headlights. The car flips over. When they wake up in a military hospital, the doctor won’t tell them what happened, where they are—or how they’ve been miraculously healed.

Things become even stranger when Reese returns home. San Francisco feels like a different place with police enforcing curfew, hazmat teams collecting dead birds, and a strange presence that seems to be following her. When Reese unexpectedly collides with the beautiful Amber Gray, her search for the truth is forced in an entirely new direction—and threatens to expose a vast global conspiracy that the government has worked for decades to keep secret.

[Kaje]

Nominations are closed; the poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1... Vote through midnight April 3.

[Kaje]

And the winner is Freakboy - discussion is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...