YA sff with LGBTQ characters

[rachelmanija]

Can you please tell me the titles of YA science fiction and fantasy novels which feature main or major characters who are explicitly LGBTQ?

By “major,” I mean that they have a POV and/or a storyline of their own and/or lots of page-time.

By “explicitly,” I mean that, for the purposes of this list, Diane Duane’s Tom and Carl, awesome as they are, don’t qualify. They are never shown kissing or stated to be gay/a couple, and could easily be read as close platonic friends.

THE BOOKS MUST HAVE BEEN MARKETED AS YA, NOT AS ADULT FANTASY. Lackey's Valdemar and Duane's Tale of the Five were marketed as adult fantasy.

Books I have so far:

Vintage (Steve Berman)
Tithe; Valiant; Ironside (Holly Black)
Dangerous Angels; The Rose and the Beast (Francesca Lia Block)
Demon’s Lexicon series (Sarah Rees Brennan)
Mortal Instruments series (Cassandra Clare)
A Strong and Sudden Thaw (R. W. Day)
The Dark Wife (Sarah Diemer)
Kissing the Witch (Emma Donoghue)
Sweet Far Thing series (Gemma Doyle)
Eon; Eona (Alison Goodman)
Gone series (Michael Grant)
Unnatural (Michael Griffo)
Shadow Walkers (Brent Hartinger)
The Shattering (Karen Healey)
Guardian of the Dead (Karen Healey; is it correct to count an asexual character under the banner of Q?)
Liar (Justine Larbalestier; complicated, but I think it qualifies)
Silver Metal Lover; Don't Bite the Sun; Drinking Sapphire Wine (Tanith Lee)
Boy Meets Boy (David Levithan)
Ash and Huntress (Malinda Lo)
Wicked Lovely series (Melissa Marr)
Hero (Perry Moore)
The End (Nora Olsen)
The Will of the Empress (Tamora Pierce)
Tripping to Somewhere (Kristopher Reisz)
Heart Sense; Heart's Price (K. L. Richardsson)
Water Seekers (Michelle Rode)
The Tenth Man (Tamara Sheehan)
Cursebusters! (Julie Smith)
Banshee; Masks series (Hayden Thorne)
Witch Eyes (Scott Tracey)
The Obsidian Man (Jon Wilson)

I know that countries outside of the US have their own systems of genrification; for this purpose, I'm thinking of any book aimed at teenagers.

Comments

[gramina]

Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price, Lackey
Door into Fire, Door into Shadow, Door into Sunset, Duane (not sure if that counts as YA or not, but it seems pretty YA-accessible to me)

[rachelmanija]

I'm looking for books which were marketed as YA, not just books which are accessible to teenagers. But thanks!

[ambyr]

I'm guessing ex cathedra statements about characters being LGBT, a la Dumbledore or Lalasa (in Pierce's Protector of the Small quartet), don't count?

There's one in Pierce's Provost's Dog trilogy, I'm told, but I haven't read it so I don't actually know who.

[rachelmanija]

For my purposes, in the text itself or it didn't happen. ;)

There's a transgendered character in the Pierce books, but in too small a role to qualify.

[gramina]

OK -- I'm pretty sure the Lackey was - it's a follower to the Arrows books which definitely were, and the protagonist begins in his mid? (maybe early) teens.

[staranise]

Lalasa's definitely not a major character, though. (It was the fan response from such a tiny bit part being explicitly lesbian that made Pierce make it a major plot thread in Will of the Empress)

[batdina]

older stuff okay? Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden comes to mind. It's 80s though. Very explicitly lesbian coming of age story.

Nancy Garden has written a few others, but I can't remember titles right now (take that as you may?).

Allyson had a line of YA books in the late 80s/early 90s that might be worth taking a gander at too. I'll see if I can track down a link for you.

[rachelmanija]

Science fiction and fantasy only. ;)

[batdina]

ah. in that case I shall be a consumer of your list, and not a producer.

[dancesontrains]

is it correct to count an asexual character under the banner of Q?

Hah, that is...an ongoing discussion. It certainly counts as part of the GSM (gender and sexual minority).

[ambyr]

On the anthology front, are you looking for anthologies with all/primarily GLBT content, or will collections with one or two relevant stories do? In the latter category, Zombies vs. Unicorns and Kiss Me Deadly both come to mind.

Joan D. Vinge's Psion, which was published as both YA and adult fiction at different times, has a bisexual villain and a secondary character. However. The YA edition was bowderlized, and I'm not sure to what extent these aspects were taken out.

[ambyr]

. . .that would be "a [gay] secondary character." Look at me, bowderlizing my own comments!

[torachan]

I don't think the YA genre back then included fantasy at all, just Sweet Valley High and Lurlene McDaniels. :p

[gramina]

*Shrug* I think that A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind In the Door both pre-date Lackey, and were certainly YA, but it may be that there's some industry-specific meaning to that beyond "marketed to kids old enough for some complex ideas and too young for Wuthering Heights. :)

[torachan]

Hmm, I would have called them children's books. Maybe it was just where I lived (which, mind, is Los Angeles, so not like some tiny town), but there wasn't really a YA section except for a small spinning shelf or two of stuff like Sweet Valley High.

[l_elfie]

i'm not sure how useful this will be but i just found this list while googling around for other things:
http://www.leewind.org/2009/11/gay-fantasy-bookshelf-teen-sci-fi-and.html

(frankly i'm still baffled that the vanyel stories aren't young adult. i can't imagine reading them now, and all of my friends - we basically amounted to the gsa and the anime club - were reading them in middle school and high school.)

[rachelmanija]

For this particular purpose, regardless of who was actually reading them, the marketing is the important thing. It will all become clear in a couple days: watch this space.

[erika]

Wait, there's a transgendered charact...? OH YEAH. Yeah. There is.

That's how small a part it is. I just re-read those books too.

[l_elfie]

will do!

[alexseanchai]

This is why I use the acronym QUILTBAG. Queer, questioning, intersex, lesbian, trans, bisexual, asexual, agender, ally, gay, genderqueer.

[coffeeandink]

Were the Tanith Lee books ever marketed as YA? I've only seen them put out as adult sf/f.

I'm not sure I'd call the Levithan sf or fantasy, unless musical comedies are.

[tool_of_satan]

I was wondering that too. I read the most recent version (I think) of the omnibus of the Sun books, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't packaged as YA.

[rachelmanija]

Sovay thinks they were. I've also only seen adult editions.

I haven't read the Levithan, but doesn't it take place in an AU America in which homophobia doesn't exist?

[holyschist]

It shows up a lot in YA library sections, but despite Vanyel starting out in his teens, I suspect the relatively graphic rape bars it from YA (then again, I would have thought that of Arrows, which I also would not have classed as YA).

I've never seen Valdemar in a *bookstore* YA section, which I think says something about the marketing.

[holyschist]

A trans character who is repeatedly misgendered by the protagonist after she explains that she is a woman and Beka apparently understands. :-/

I do love the potential of Okha, but not so much the execution.