#fox benwell

[the-final-sentence]

And standing in this moment, my knees shaking with the effort and emotion, I'm okay, even if this is my last.

Fox Benwell, from "A Play in Many Parts"

[queerafricans]

Books about LGBTQ Africans

[thebookishaustin]

ARC Review: Out Now: Queer We Go Again

Image from publisher’s website

Out Now: Queer We Go Again edited by Saundra Mitchell

Release: May 26, 2020

Publisher: Inkyard Press

*I received a free, digital ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Last summer, I published a review on my blog for All Out: The No-Longer-Secret-Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages (edited by Saundra Mitchell, published in 2018), so I was thrilled when NetGalley approved an ARC for Mitchell’s newest collection of short stories featuring queer protagonists: Out Now: Queer We Go Again. Mitchell delivers again, with an all-star group of writers representing a wide range of the queer community. I’m here for it, and you should be too. 

If you read my post for All Out, then you’ll already know my feelings about Out Now. The short stories were entertaining and great, they varied across multiple genres including contemporary, romance, and fantasy (my favorites), and the representation is on point. SO, instead of rehashing all those details, I’m going to let you know that I’m giving this new collection 4-out-of-5 Awesome Austin Points, because this collection delivers in the same way. Why only a 4, you might ask? Well, every collection of short stories comes with narratives to which each reader can connect, but there are also some that may not be favorites. There were many I liked and a few that didn’t quite reach me, so overall it didn’t quite make it to a complete 5.  

With that said, I want to highlight this collection with a few of my favorites that you can hopefully enjoy as much as I:

“What Happens in the Closet” by Caleb Roehrig: Roehrig definitely gives a nod to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this short story about a town prone to vampire violence. The question becomes whether or not the protagonists can survive their high school prom? 

“One Spell Too Many” by Tara Sim: Ever since Tamora Pierce enraptured me with the “magic in ordinary wonders” in her Circle of Magic series (do yourself a favor and check those out) I have loved magic in simple contexts. Sim delivers in this short story of a young witch that specializes in magical baking (literally baking her spells into cupcakes, etc.). Unfortunately she mixes up two customer orders that could have disastrous consequences. It’s quirky, it’s fun, and I found myself loving the magical delivery. 

“Once Upon a Seastorm” by Fox Benwell: This story is all about finding one’s identity. It just so happens that Theodora Hearn is trying to figure out who he is, which is no small feat considering his mother claims to have found him in the foam of the sea. Benwell delves into what makes you you in the short story that will tug at your heartstrings. 

I would love to hear about your favorite stories from this collection so reach out to me here on Tumblr, my Instagram, or my Goodreads!

[lgbtqreads]

New Release Spotlight: Proud ed. by Juno Dawson

New Release Spotlight: Proud ed. by Juno Dawson

I’m so excited about this month’s featured new release, the Proud anthology edited by Juno Dawson! Yes, this is UK YA, but thanks to Book Depository, you can buy it in the US as well! Not only are the stories in this collection wonderful and adorable and full of glorious representation all over the LGBTQ spectrum, but it’s also got stunning illustrations created especially for each story.

The…

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[canonlgbtqcharacters]

Neo Mahone from Kaleidoscope Song is wlw

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Kaleidoscope Song #OutOfContext

[cbcdiversity]

WE ARE UNBROKEN: YA Authors Get Honest about Disability

By Marieke Nijkamp

In the new YA anthology UNBROKEN, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp teams up with fellow disabled authors to create a collection of fictional stories that dispatch with the tired, broken stereotypes—and reclaim narratives and identities.

Below, Marieke and fellow contributors share what disability means to them and what they hope readers take away from their stories. You can view the full list of contributors here.

Marieke Nijkamp: Some days, I use a cane to walk. Some days, I use a cane to keep standing. I wear braces to keep my joints together, a back brace to keep my back straight. Some days, I’m more support than own strength. And on those days, I’ve found, people stare a lot. (When I’m lucky, staring is the worst thing they do. Staring, and quickly turning away when you try to meet their gaze.) I do not fit with their preconceived notions of disability. I’m too young. Too seemingly able-bodied. Too blue-haired and sharp-tongued.

I began to decorate my cane the moment I realized people stared. I used insulation tape and wound it around the length of the cane in different colors, obnoxiously, wonderfully rainbow. I figured, if people stared anyway, I would give them something to stare at.

Next were multicolor braces and slings. A cane with an eagle’s head. One decorated with leaves and birds. Colors and shapes and pieces of me.

It began as a means to challenge unwanted attention, but it soon turned into something more. A way to personalize assistive devices, extend my style, and to reclaim myself. Another step on the path from internalized ableism to disability pride. It was the moment I realized a thousand stares couldn’t define me, but how I chose to handle them, did.

Every disabled person I know has experienced moments like that, of (continuously) discovering what it means to be disabled, personally and in the context of the world around us, for better or worse. It’s certainly true for the contributors to UNBROKEN: 13 STORIES STARRING DISABLED TEENS. Which is why I brought them all together. Because those moments deserve to be shared. In their stories. In these blogposts. And in doing so, hopefully showing other disabled readers they’re not alone and we’re all in this together.

I’ll let some of my fantastic contributors share with you their moments, and what they hope readers will take way from UNBROKEN:

“I remember once upon a time, when I was young and freshly diagnosed, thinking that I had to find a solution to my bipolar. A cure or a medication or some kind of fix to the way I was. It took a while and a lot of ups and downs (ha), but these days I realize that I don’t need a solution, because my bipolar is not a problem. It creates problems, for sure, and those need handling. But the illness itself is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s just a part of who I am. I wish I’d known that sooner, but I’m happy to know now. That’s what I hope readers will take away from this collection. Honestly, the stories are beautiful, but if there is one thing for any disabled teen to remember about the book, it is the title.”

-Heidi Heilig

“Being a wheelchair user in elementary school sometimes made socializing tricky. Sleepovers, field trips, Girl Scout camping trips—all logistically difficult. But sometimes my disability made me queen. Like at Sparkles, the local roller skating rink, where I would lead a chain of my peers, the first holding onto my power chair's handlebars, the rest holding onto each other and whooping as I sped around the rink full-speed. The slick floor offered no resistance, no drag. When the chain behind me was long enough and my speed great enough, I'd turn, sharp and sudden, to see how many people I could send flying off, their joyous screams echoing back to me at the head of the party.

What I most hope people get from my horror story is a thrill, a tension, and the unique pleasure of something's not right here. But what I most hope people get from the book as a whole is a beautiful glimpse of all the many stories we have to tell. I hope people leave the book hungry for more.”

-Kayla Whaley

“My kid's first steps were suitably adorable, but that's not what we're here for. Try not to infantilize her efforts, even though she was a literal infant at the time. Her legs wobbled. She held the edge of an oval-shaped coffee table and taught herself new ways to negotiate with gravity. I used a walker and a cane rather than a coffee table when I relearned how to walk, so I knew exactly what my kid was doing, and how it felt, when she launched herself away from that table.

This is not a story about overcoming adversity with pluck and grit. I still use a cane. In all likelihood I always will. I've also written a cane sword into every single one of my novels so far, and I’m particularly fond of the one in my contribution to UNBROKEN. This memory is a moment of kinship and recognition. A small human taught herself how to walk. I bore witness to those first steps while remembering my own.”

-William Alexander

“When my doctors started trying to figure out what sudden pain and sleep-all-day exhaustion were about, I was sent to a specialist clinic. Their advice was that ‘pacing myself’ meant doing no more than 5 minutes of activity (including personal care/ cooking etc) in any given day, for weeks, and maybe gradually build it up to ten if I could cope. Along with ‘you should get used to the idea that you might only ever manage an hour’. I sat through one session and I quit.

It wasn’t going to work for me. My first book had just come out, there was promo and another book to write. I had a day job. Bills to pay. A home to maintain, a body to feed and care for. Friends whose lives I wanted to be part of. All the usual life stuff.

I…probably see-sawed back and forth between having energy and spending too much of it more than was wise, in those early days. I definitely tried ignoring advice from friends who’d been there. But I’ve got better at knowing limits and when and how to push them. Generally there’s still a trade-off somewhere – a bargaining for the next (or biggest) curtain call. We all do it, I think, disabled or otherwise: some of us just have to haggle better. Which is where A Play In Many Parts comes in.

With UNBROKEN, disabled readers have a collection which could very well hold several iterations of themselves (I know there are several separate pieces of me I can see in here). That feeling – the feeling of being seen – is huge. And abled folks might catch their first glimpse of us all as (messy, human) heroes instead of cautionary tales.”

-Fox Benwell

“I live with cerebral palsy and I didn’t always like or love myself because of it. In fact, I hated myself. I thought I was ugly and unlovable for most of my life (I’m 27). UNBROKEN is an anthology of stories starring teens and I spent all of my teenage years being terrible to myself. I think this experience is worth talking about because I know firsthand that it’s not easy to see our worth sometimes. We question why we don’t see ourselves in mainstream media in a positive light and why we aren’t good enough. The thing is, we are good enough. I was good enough back when I didn’t like myself and now, that I do. The only difference is that I didn’t know it then. I believed I had to hate myself because I was different. We shouldn’t hate our differences, we should celebrate them! They’re beautiful, messy, & complicated.

My story, Mother Nature’s Youngest Daughter, is about a young girl named Millie who is being bullied. She is also trying to find her place in the world and in her family. Millie fights back. That was important to me, she’s a young girl who loves herself in a way I did not. I wanted to let readers know they didn’t have to wait until adulthood to love & fight for themselves. I wanted them to see a black girl with a disability be loved, be strong, be angry, be happy, and bold without apology.

In the collection as a whole, I know that readers will get to see themselves in a vast amount of characters who share experiences they don’t often get to see in other literary circles or mainstream media. These kids are heroes WITH disabilities and not despite them. I hope that encourages them as much as it has me.”

-Keah Brown

Marieke Nijkamp is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends and Before I Let Go. She is a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, and geek. She currently resides in her home country, the Netherlands.

[libertyreads]

Book Review #1 of 2019:

Unbroken edited by Marieke Nijkamp. Rating: 3.4 stars average.

Read from January 1 to January 3.

The first book of the year! I rated each story individually and then averaged out for an overall book rating. I was so excited to pick up a book starring disabled characters. However, a lot of this anthology was what I call “Inspiration Porn.” I wanted to see characters with disabilities living their lives and I got a lot of stories about how they “overcome” their disabilities to do what able-bodied people do on a daily basis. The story that got the highest rating from me was “Dear Nora James, You know Nothing About Love” by Dhonielle Clayton at 4.5 stars. The lowest rated story was “A Play in Many Parts” by Fox Benwell at 1.75 stars.

It was great to see so many stories with disabled characters especially since they’re all Own Voices by the authors. However, I felt like a few were trying way too hard (i.e. “A Play in Many Parts”) or were like I said “Inspiration Porn” (I.e. “Britt and the Bike God”). I struggled with this collection because I didn’t want to see Inspiration Porn that appeals to able-bodied people so they can feel good about themselves. I feel like I’m definitely not explaining this part well at all.

It was a good start to my reading year and I enjoyed so many of these stories. I just wish there had been more stories about living life with a disability and less about “overcoming.” I think it’s a collection that a lot of people should read.

Note: photo is from my Instagram page--LibertyReads789