YA LGBT Books discussion

The Xelrod Spiral Constellation...have you heard of it? Read about it at

http://rohini-singh.com/2014/09/08/xe...

That sounds cool - we need more LGBT SciFi.

I did move the thread to the Self-Promo folder, which is where we promote specific books like this. Do make sure it's on our New Releases lists, and on our bookshelf.

Thanks Kaje. I just added the book. Glad to hear you are interested in sci fi.

Rohini, I'm curious, which characters in your series are LGBT?

Hi Rainbow,
The book is targeted for teens to young adults with characters from a wide age group facing various challenges.

Please have a look at this press release about the book:
http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2014/...

Hi Rohini, thanks for the link. But I still can't tell which of the characters in your series are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender? There aren't many middle grade books with queer characters, especially science fiction, so that's why I'm curious.

It is an important question, Rohini, because as much as we love all YA books, this group does serve as a resource for finding books with at least LGBT secondary characters or themes.

Hi Rainbow,
I understand what you are saying. Although I can tell you the book is rated "G" so to speak, acceptable to the young readers. My 8yr old niece is reading it.

Rohini, it is good that the book is G rated.

That does not answer the question Rainbowheart and Kaje have asked.

In your book, are there characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, gender fluid...any of those things?

If so, which characters?

Being acceptable to young readers or G rated does not mean the book cannot have LGBT characters. And if the book does not have characters who are LGBT, this group may not be the appropriate place to mention it, since, as Kaje said, the group exists so that readers--particularly young readers--can find books with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc. characters.

Hi Jo,
No. There are no gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, gender fluid...any of those things.

The book is straight, clean, no sexual scenes, no obscene language.

Sorry about not being more specific!

Thank you for clarifying.

I'm having a slight problem with your implication that a book that has gay, lesbian, etc. characters couldn't be "straight, clean, no sexual scenes, no obscene language."

I write young adult books that have LGBT characters. All of them are "clean." None have sexual scenes. Only two have any "obscene language", because a character uses the "S" word to bullies.

Having GLBT characters doesn't mean the book can't be appropriate for younger readers, which unfortunately seems to be what you're implying. I hope that I'm just misunderstanding you.

Rohini wrote: "Hi Jo,
No. There are no gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual, gender fluid...any of those things.

The book is straight, clean, no sexual scenes, no obscene language.

Sorry about not bein..."

I hope your book does well, but the fact that there are no gay,lesbian, trans or other gender or sexual minorities in it means that it's one we wouldn't list on this group. LGBT is what our group is named and is for. That's not anything against your story, but simply the fact that if we start listing straight-character-only books here, the ones we are looking for, with LGBTQIA characters and themes, will get lost in the mass of other material.

I hope you'll stick around with us, but I will have to remove the book from our bookshelves to avoid confusing people who are searching. I'm sorry about not pointing this out from the beginning; most authors who seek this group out and promote are doing so because they have a book that fits our genre, so I missed seeing that yours was not.

We also have several other authors here who write mainstream straight YA, but who read and support the LGBTQ genre. We'd be delighted to have you around. Our kids and books need all the straight allies they can get. But just as I don't promote my own books, because they are adult, we ask authors not to promote theirs unless they fit the group designations.

Please PM me if you have any questions about this. If you also want links to other YA groups that do promo straight books, I can also give you a few of those, or look on the "Groups" listing.