Tag Archives: Flatiron Books

Inside an Anthology: At Midnight ed. by Dahlia Adler

Today on the site, we’re looking inside an anthology that’s edited by none other than yours truly! At Midnight is a collection of reimagined YA fairy tales (with the original source material in the back) authored by some of the category’s best and queerest, and it released today from Flatiron Books! Check out more about the volume and some of the queer stories within it below: 

At Midnight: 15 Beloved Fairytales Reimagined ed. by Dahlia Adler (22nd)

Fairy tales have been spun for thousands of years and remain among our most treasured stories. Weaving fresh tales with unexpected reimaginings, At Midnight brings together a diverse group of acclaimed YA writers to breathe new life into a storied tradition.

Fifteen celebrated authors reclaim classic fairy tales for a new generation:

Dahlia Adler, “Rumplestiltskin”
Tracy Deonn, “The Nightingale”
H.E. Edgmon, “Snow White”
Hafsah Faizal, “Little Red Riding Hood”
Stacey Lee, “The Little Matchstick Girl”
Roselle Lim, “Hansel and Gretel”
Darcie Little Badger, “Puss in Boots”
Malinda Lo, “Frau Trude”
Alex London, “Cinderella”
Anna-Marie McLemore, “The Nutcracker”
Rebecca Podos, “The Robber Bridegroom”
Rory Power, “Sleeping Beauty”
Meredith Russo, “The Little Mermaid”
Gita Trelease, “Fitcher’s Bird”
and an all-new fairy tale by Melissa Albert

Once upon a time . . .

Buy it: Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

“Sugarplum” by Anna-Marie McLemore

Sugarplums. Glittering snow. Really snappy uniforms. Fabulous shoes used as weapons. It’s not like I had to make a huge leap (grand jeté?) to make The Nutcracker gay. But while my story got real gay, it also got real about what it means to have to perform for the audiences in our lives. A Latina dancer feels wound up like a music box ballerina. A soft butch girl with a chip on her shoulder and a spectacular curling throw can’t say what she really wants to say about the Christmas party going on downstairs. Two queer girls who always have the perfect insult for each other are quiet for once, leaving space for the conversations they’ve never had. And cake. Because sometimes enemies to lovers starts with cake.

“Say My Name” by Dahlia Adler

What if Rumpelstiltskin were a cruel Sapphic coding genius in love with her best friend? That’s the heart of “Say My Name,” which is actually a semi-repurposing of an idea I had for a different anthology to which I was asked to contribute but unfortunately didn’t sell. My main character in that story was a catfish who kept the game going a little too long when she got feelings, and naturally when I think catfish I think of the ultimate identity-hider of yore! And so Rumpelstiltskin became [redacted], and this became the story of a girl who would do anything to impress the girl she loves, even if it kind of turns her into a monster.

“HEA” by Alex London

HEA is a modern m|m reimagining of Cinderella, turned on its head. Asher (as in Aschenputtel–the little ash girl of the Grimm tale) is a teen social media star, who lives in service to his brand. Constant balls and parties and opportunities to create content. He longs for one night not to be a brand, but just to be a boy. So he disguises himself in sweatpants, ditches the Met Gala, and hides out at a coffee shop. Of course, it’s there that he meets his prince, the barista, and has to flee, back to his fabulous life and the endless churn of content. But he’s left something behind, more than his heart, and his prince is going to track him down…

“Mother’s Mirror” by H.E. Edgmon

When Dahlia asked me to join a fairytale retelling anthology, it was a no-brainer. I’ve been compelled by fairytales since my earliest days—I currently own three copies of the exact same Grimm Brothers collection, with different covers. My only question was which fairytale to make my own. And when I remembered that the original Snow White featured the protagonist’s own mother, not an evil step-mother, as the villain, I had my answer.

The often-fraught nature of mother/daughter relationships is one many of us are already familiar with. But what happens when the eldest daughter, the one expected to twist herself until she becomes a reflection of the mother, comes out as trans, instead? That’s the story I explore in “Mother’s Mirror.” The contemporary retelling features a narcissistic single mom as the evil queen, a main character who’s more huntsman than Snow, and the choice to cut out one’s own heart rather than face the slow poison of living a lie.

“A Flame So Bright” by Malinda Lo

I first encountered the little-known story of “Frau Trude” in an academic book called Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms, which includes an essay by Kay Turner titled “Playing with Fire: Transgression as Truth in Grimms’ ‘Frau Trude.” I was inspired by Turner’s queer reading of the very short tale of “Frau Trude,” and I loved the metaphorical possibilities of fire, especially because it has been connected closely with witchcraft. I lived in Salem, MA, for about a year and a half, and I’ve been fascinated by beliefs about witches since I was very young, so retelling “Frau Trude” gave me the opportunity to over-research witchcraft in colonial America and bring some local Salem-inspired flair to my story. I also loved this chance to return to what I call “fairy tale voice,” since I haven’t written fantasy in quite a while.

New Release Spotlight: Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

Allllways feels good to get to talk about how much I loved a book I feel is going way too far under the radar, so here I am to shout about Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min, which releases from Flatiron Books on the 26th! I personally bill this book as Radio Silence by Alice Oseman meets All Kinds of Other by James Sie, and it’s half narrated by cis pansexual Filipino-American Santi and half by trans gay Japanese-Korean Suwa. There’s anime and music and friendship and Tokyo and a great cast and so much to love, so check it out when it releases later this month!

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min

58724791Santi has only had his heart broken one time, and it was all his fault. When he accidentally leaked his internet best friend Memo’s song, and it became an overnight hit, Memo disappeared—leaving their song’s cult fame, and Santi, behind.

Three years later, Santi arrives in Los Angeles with a mission: get over the ghost of Memo. Thankfully, his new school and its wildly-talented Sunshower marching band welcome him with open arms. All except for his section leader, the prickly, proud, musical prodigy Suwa. But when Santi realizes Suwa is trans, then Suwa realizes Santi takes his identity in stride, both boys begin to let their guards down. Santi learns Suwa’s surliness masks a painful, still raw history of his own, and as they open up to each other, their friendship quickly takes on the red-hot blush of a mutual crush.

Just as Santi is feeling settled in this new life, with a growing found family and a head-over-heels relationship with Suwa, he begins to put together the pieces of an impossible truth—that he knows both more and less of Suwa’s story than he’s been told. Their fragile fresh start threatens to rip apart at the seams again when Suwa is offered the chance to step into the spotlight he’s owed but has always denied himself. Now, Santi and Suwa must finally reckon with their dreams, their pasts—and their futures, together or apart.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

February 2022 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction and Poetry

Haley Jakobson‘s OLD ENOUGH, a coming-of-age novel about a bisexual college sophomore who is reveling in the joy of discovering and being embraced by a queer community—and nursing a face-burning crush on someone in her gender and sexuality class—while grappling with the tumultuous history between her and her childhood best friend and the promises they made to each other long before they realized how hard it would be to keep them, pitched as for fans of ONE LAST STOP and QUEENIE, to Pilar Garcia-Brown at Dutton, by Ayla Zuraw-Friedland at Frances Goldin Literary Agency (world).

Continue reading February 2022 Deal Announcements

November 2021 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Russian poet, artist, and feminist activist Oksana Vasyakina’s WOUND, following a young queer woman on a journey across Russia to Siberia, where she has promised to take her mother’s ashes, woven through with memories of a traumatic and impoverished childhood, experiences of the sublime, her sexual and artistic awakening, and the pains and joys of life as a lesbian in Russia, to Katharina Bielenberg at MacLehose Press, in a nice deal, at auction, by Rachel Clements at Abner Stein on behalf of Marleen Seegers at 2 Seas Agency, for Catapult.

Victoria Lee’s A SHOT IN THE DARK, a contemporary queer romance featuring Elisheva Cohen, a now-sober young artist who returns to New York to study photography after nearly a decade in Los Angeles and has an unforgettable one-night stand with a gorgeous trans man who turns out to be her teacher, the legendary Wyatt Cole, to Shauna Summers at Dell, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.

Sophie Burnham’s SARGASSA, a queer speculative novel set in contemporary North America in a world where the Roman Empire never fell, following the high-and low-born children of a murdered politician as they are swept up in a revolution and race to find a powerful artifact, to Joshua Demarest at CatStone, by Maria Napolitano at Bookcase Literary Agency (world English).

ACLU-NJ honoree and LGBTQ activist Robyn Gigl’s next two books in her Erin McCabe legal thriller series, featuring a transgender attorney, to John Scognamiglio at Kensington, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2023 and 2024, by Carrie Pestritto at Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).

Author of NYTBR Editors’ Choice THE RECENT EAST Thomas Grattan’s IN TONGUES, a coming-of-age novel set in New York City and Europe in fall 2001, following a gay 24-year-old Midwesterner as he gets swept up in the charm and desires of a powerful older couple, examining issues of social class and queer desire, the pursuit of religious and physical ecstasy, and the complicated relationships between fathers and sons, both biological and chosen, again to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG, for publication in fall 2023, by Jody Kahn at Brandt & Hochman (world).

Argentinian author Marina Yuszczuk’s THIRST, a queer Gothic vampire novel set in Buenos Aires, following two women in different time periods who confront desire, fear, violence, loneliness, and mortality, pitched as having echoes of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN and for readers of Samanta Schweblin, Carmen Maria Machado, and Samantha Hunt, to Pilar Garcia-Brown in her first acquisition for Dutton, by Elianna Kan at Regal Hoffmann & Associates (world English).

Hell’s Library series author A.J. Hackwith’s HOLLOW ROAD HOME and its sequel, pitched as a queer, millennial AMERICAN GODS, about a fae working at a truck stop in Kansas to hide from her past, until she’s blackmailed by a self-taught magician to guide him and his sister—a girl born with a changing map on her skin—across the strange backroads and forgotten spaces of the gothic American Midwest in search of a powerful treasure, to Miranda Hill at Ace, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2023, by Caitlin McDonald at Donald Maass Literary Agency (world).

Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellow and UMass Amherst MFA/PhD Shastri Akella’s THE SEA ELEPHANTS, a queer bildungsroman set in 1990s India, following a young gay man who, after the sudden death of his sisters, flees his father’s threats to send him to a conversion center by joining a street theater troupe; pitched as reminiscent of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS in the way it blends the personal and the political to tell an epic story of forbidden love, to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books, in a pre-empt, by Chris Clemans at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

Author of A TIP FOR THE HANGMAN Allison Epstein’s LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD, a historical novel in which the arrival of a mysterious woman at the 19th-century Russian court divides the second son of the tsar and his lover, a captain in the imperial army, when one of them believes her to be a creature out of myth, setting all three on a collision course with revolution, again to Carolyn Williams at Doubleday, in a very nice deal, by Bridget Smith at JABberwocky Literary Agency (NA).

Young Adult Fiction

Author of SWEET & BITTER MAGIC Adrienne Tooley’s THE THIRD DAUGHTER and THE SECOND SON, pitched in the tradition of Three Dark Crowns and Girl, Serpent, Thorn, a dual PoV series featuring a crown under siege, an enchanted well of sadness, a ruthless antiheroine, and a slow-burning romance, to Jessica Anderson at Christy Ottaviano Books, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Jenna Miller’s OUT OF CHARACTER, a queer, fat-positive contemporary romance that follows a girl who escapes the stressors of the real world by roleplaying online in secret—but after falling for her roleplay bestie, she must decide if she can be honest about her double life, to Alyssa Miele at Quill Tree, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Michaela Whatnall at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Author of THE MYTHIC KODA ROSE Jennifer Nissley’s THE RULES OF US, pitched as the intersection between Becky Albertalli and Nina LaCour in a queer YA love story about longtime couple and best friends, who have dated throughout high school only to come out to each other on prom night, challenging their meticulously planned future as they try to disentangle their lives and identities, explore their sexualities, and learn not only a new way to be together, but how to be alone, to Liesa Abrams at Labyrinth Road, for publication in summer 2023, by Danielle Burby at Mad Woman Literary Agency (NA).

University of Cambridge student Sarah Underwood’s LIES WE SING TO THE SEA, pitched as a sapphic, feminist reclamation of the story of the hanged maids in THE ODYSSEY in a YA CIRCE, in which a failed oracle and a vengeful immortal must break the curse on their kingdom by killing its prince, to Stephanie Stein at Harper Teen, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Catherine Cho at Paper Literary (NA).

Dan Clay’s BECOMING A QUEEN, about a teenage boy who turns to drag performance to overcome his grief when tragedy strikes, to Mekisha Telfer at Roaring Brook Press, in a very nice deal, for publication in spring 2023, by Brent Taylor at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world).

LGBTQ+ romance and fantasy author Lauri Starling’s POISON FOREST, pitched as HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS meets Holly Black, featuring a mage who joins two teens with powerful abilities to track down the magic-stealing sorcerer who kidnapped her royal ex-girlfriend, braving a cursed forest and a betrayal that leaves them at the sorcerer’s nonexistent mercy, to MaryBeth Dalto-McCarthy at Sword and Silk, for publication in October 2022.

Screenwriter and NYT-bestselling coauthor of FIVE FEET APART and ALL THIS TIME Mikki Daughtry’s untitled lesbian love story, unfolding over two sets of lives, 100 years apart, to Stephanie Pitts at Putnam Children’s, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2023, by Liz Parker at Verve Talent & Literary (NA).

Non-Fiction

Men’s Health sex and relationship columnist Zachary Zane’s BOYSLUT: A MEMOIR-MANIFESTO, a series of essays told through a bisexual lens, exploring the author’s coming-of-age in a world riddled with harmful messages about sex and sexuality, moving toward a place of embrace and celebration unencumbered by shame, to Zachary Knoll at Abrams Image, at auction, by Katherine Latshaw at Folio Literary Management (world).

Prince Shakur’s WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO BE GOOD, a memoir that mines the author’s many eras of radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings, to Hanif Abdurraqib at Tin House Books, for publication in October 2022 (NA).

Author of A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD Martin Padgett’s PRIVATE MATTERS, an exploration of the 1986 Supreme Court case Bowers v. Hardwick, which Laurence Tribe lost in the Court’s ruling that allowed Georgia to prosecute private homosexual acts (and which was not overturned until 2003), showing how the case ignited the gay rights movement of the 1980s while upending the life of Michael Hardwick, to Amy Cherry at Norton, in an exclusive submission, for publication in summer 2023, by Beth Marshea at Ladderbird Literary Agency (world English).

Book Giveaway: That Way Madness Lies ed. by Dahlia Adler

Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of LGBTQReads, but today we are celebrating a different creation of mine (because really, why run your own space on the internet if not to celebrate yourself as often as possible): That Way Madness Lies: XV of Shakespeare’s Most Notable Works Reimagined!

Of course, though I’m the editor of this one (and also wrote a story), anthologies do not happen without the brilliant authors behind the contributions, especially the queer ones! Here’s the copy including the official lineup:

Fifteen acclaimed YA writers put their modern spin on William Shakespeare’s celebrated classics! West Side Story. 10 Things I Hate About You. Kiss Me, Kate. Contemporary audiences have always craved reimaginings of Shakespeare’s most beloved works. Now, some of today’s best writers for teens take on the Bard in these 15 whip-smart and original retellings!

Contributors include Dahlia Adler (reimagining The Merchant of Venice), Kayla Ancrum (The Taming of the Shrew), Lily Anderson (As You Like It), Patrice Caldwell (Hamlet), Melissa Bashardoust (A Winter’s Tale), A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy (Much Ado About Nothing), Brittany Cavallaro (Sonnet 147), Joy McCullough (King Lear), Anna-Marie McLemore (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Samantha Mabry (Macbeth), Tochi Onyebuchi (Coriolanus), Mark Oshiro (Twelfth Night), Lindsay Smith (Julius Caesar), Kiersten White (Romeo and Juliet), and Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka (The Tempest).

Bookshop | Indiebound | Target | Amazon | Apple | Barnes & Noble

***

No purchase necessary. The giveaway is open internationally to entrants 18 and older. Entry period begins at 12:00 p.m. EST on 3/16/21 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on 3/21/21. Void where prohibited.

***To enter, tell us your favorite queer retelling in the comments!***

New Release Spotlight: Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Is anyone on earth still unaware of how much I loved this Persian mythology-inspired bisexual f/f YA fantasy? Probably not, but if you thought I was going to miss a huge chance to recommend it every day of the month, you were sorely mistaken! If you are at all into YA fantasy, Sapphic books, mythology, or Things That Are Very Good, I think I’ve said all I need to say. Go do yourself a favor.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

There was and there was not, as all stories begin, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch. But for Soraya, who has lived her life hidden away, apart from her family, safe only in her gardens, it’s not just a story.

As the day of her twin brother’s wedding approaches, Soraya must decide if she’s willing to step outside of the shadows for the first time. Below in the dungeon is a demon who holds knowledge that she craves, the answer to her freedom. And above is a young man who isn’t afraid of her, whose eyes linger not with fear, but with an understanding of who she is beneath the poison.

Soraya thought she knew her place in the world, but when her choices lead to consequences she never imagined, she begins to question who she is and who she is becoming…human or demon. Princess or monster.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | Book Depository | Kobo

New Release Spotlight (+Interview!): If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

This month’s new release spotlight is one of my absolute favorite reads of the year, and if you haven’t already heard me gush to death about it, well, here I am doing it again! 

Russo’s debut centers around Amanda, whose new life at her new school sees her finding cool friends and a great boyfriend, none of whom know her secret: that she used to be Andrew. One of my favorite things about the book is the way flashbacks are integrated, taking the reader back through the milestones of Amanda’s emotional and transitional journey, but the present day is excellent too. Rather than me babbling on and on about it, though, I’ve asked Meredith Russo to answer some interview questions, so, here she is to do just that!

23947922If I Was Your Girl is your debut novel; what have been the coolest and most surprising parts of your debut experience so far?

The coolest thing by far has been the people I get to talk to. I’ve become friends with one of my idols because of this book, for one, and I’ve met loads of other amazing people I never would have met without the book. I think the most surprising thing is that a lot of my job right now isn’t writing fiction! I’m always thinking about promotion, I just finished recording some things for the audiobook, I’m making travel plans for conferences, and, well, doing interviews.

What’s the first queer representation you saw in any medium that really stuck with you, for better or for worse?

Lieutenant Einhorn in Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. In case you haven’t seen it (don’t see it), Einhorn, the villain, is a trans woman who used to be a pro football player and had a nervous breakdown after losing the Super Bowl, after which she transitioned and went stealth. She kills someone because they discover her “secret” (watching it now I guarantee it was probably self defense because a guy freaked out or whatever) and then when Ace reveals she’s the killer at the end of the movie he tears her clothes off, exposes her genitals in front of all her employees (while the song from The Crying Game plays and the men she slept with puke), and beats her senseless. Needless to say that movie screwed me up as a kid.

What’s something you’ve seen in LGBTQIAP+ lit that’s really stuck with you, for better or for worse?

A huge number of trans books I’ve read aren’t really about the trans character but, rather, about a cis narrator’s feelings about the trans character’s transition or existence, and I hate it. Maybe it’s because I’m trans, but I care way more about how the trans character feels than any cis characters.

You’ve got a gorgeous cover, the first I know of in YA to feature a transgender model. What was the process of creating that cover like?

I wasn’t super involved, but when I met with Flatiron they actually asked for my advice on ways to make the book as positive as possible, which blew my mind, so I suggested we keep trans people as involved as possible at every step and they actually listened, which is how we got Kira Conley for the cover and Samia Mounts for the audiobook!

What are your favorite writing snacks?

I’m a total pickle lesbian (well, bi, but whatever). Look it up, it’s a Thing.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

Parenting, of course, but I also play a lot of video games, board games, and D&D, as well as consuming way too much anime when I should be, you know, reading like a real grown-up.

What are your favorite LGBTQIAP+ reads?

Two of my favorite books of all time are Nevada by Imogen Binnie and A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett. They’re both adult fiction, so maybe not appropriate for my audience, but if you want to know what it’s like to be trans in your twenties these are the books you read.

What would you still love to see in LGBTQIAP+ lit?

I want to see queer trans people. I feel like we’re still in a place where people are only ready to grapple with the idea of trans girls who like boys and trans boys who like girls but, I mean, trans people self-identify as bi much, much more than cis people do, and that’s way underrepresented.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on two new books! They’re both about trans girls; one is a YA romance, while the other is a darker, more adult examination of what it means to be bitter, lonely, and burned out as a trans woman in her early twenties.

If I Was Your Girl releases May 3rd! Buy it:

Amazon * B&N * Indiebound * The Book Depository