ya fiction

What if Dragons were more like Vulcans who breathe fire?

There’s a lot to love about Seraphina, the new young-adult fantasy novel by Rachel Hartman. The book comes up with a cool new spin on a well-worn fantasy world, in the medieval-esque country of Goredd. It has an appealing heroine, the young assistant music master Seraphina who investigates a secret plot to undo 40 years…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs Sep 21

A young adult novel’s hero is allowed to remain gay, after all

Almost exactly a year ago, all right-thinking people were upset by the fact that a prominent literary agent told two beloved authors that they needed to remove a gay character from their young-adult novel — or just turn him straight. The good news? Now Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith has gotten picked…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 20

Young Adult Fiction’s Hottest New Trend: Mermaids?

YA books, like everything else for teens, are subject to the whims of trends and fashion. Remember when they were all about vampires? Or all about magical boarding schools? Or magical boarding schools with vampires? Or hyper-violent anti-authoritarian post-apocalypses? Those trends are all in the past — and they’ve been replaced by some sexy amphibian…

Books & Comics Michael Ann Dobbs Aug 21

Weird Tales Magazine faces a boycott after endorsing a “thoroughly non-racist book”

The new novel Saving The Pearls: Defending Eden sounds like something that someone made up as a prank. Victoria Foyt’s self-published novel takes place in a world where, due to global warming, most white people are dead. The world is ruled by black people, called “coals” in the book. The remaining white people, called “pearls,”…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Aug 20

It’s up to one pregnant teen to stop an alien attack in space

Teen pregnancy has probably existed as long as there have been people, so it was about time that young adult science fiction caught up to reality. Authors Martin Leicht and Isla Neal saw this gaping hole in the genre, and they’ve filled it with this quirky action-packed novel, Mothership: Book One of the Ever-Expanding Universe.…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs Aug 15

China’s Answer to The Hunger Games: Luoling’s Magic

Just like in the United States, young-adult and middle-grade novels about magic and strange worlds are selling like baozi in China. Among the most popular, according to a new article in China Daily: Luoling’s Magic, an eight-book series about “a 13-year-old alien girl who’s brought up on Earth.” These books have sold 1.5 million copies…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 26

The Most Interesting Fairy-Tale Adaptation of the Year

This is the year of the fairy-tale adaptation, from dueling Snow White movies to Grimm and Once Upon a Time. But quite possibly the most memorable take on fairy-tale archetypes isn’t on any screen yet — it’s Cinder, the cyborg Cinderella story by new author Marissa Meyer. Spoilers ahead… There’s a reason we’re not seeing…

io9 Michael Ann Dobbs May 14

Why Hunger Games Is The New Little House on the Prairie

At a recent New York panel on historical young adult fiction, a group of authors and moderators began by insisting that reports of the subgenre’s death were greatly exaggerated. And yet, the truism that historical fiction is dead to teenagers is widespread in the industry. Anyone who has walked into a bookshop lately knows that…

Books & Comics Michael Ann Dobbs Apr 26

Why Video Games Are the New Pulps

A couple of days ago, the esteemed Charlie Jane Anders looked at the dearth of new, sustaining pop culture heroes and villains. That, with the exception of Harry Potter, we haven’t seen a new character with the perceived permanence of a James Bond or a Captain Kirk or Spider-Man — and she blamed it on…

Books & Comics Marc Bernardin Jan 26

Angry Robot Books Launching a Young Adult Imprint!

Science fiction and fantasy are officially ruling young-adult books — so it’s no surprise that lots of science fiction publishers have been expanding into the YA niche, with often terrific results. The latest addition: Angry Robot Books is launching a YA imprint, Strange Chemistry, headed up by Amanda Rutter. They’ll launch next September, with five…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Nov 18

A New $5000 Prize for Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy in Canada

Canadian SF/fantasy authors, you have a new chance to get recognized for your children’s and young-adult novels. The Monica Hughes Award, named after the late author of 40 young-adult novels, will give $5,000 each year to the author of the best science fiction or fantasy novel for children. The prize is funded by HarperCollins Canada,…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Oct 7

The Next Hunger Games? Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking scores a movie deal

With the Hunger Games premiere date just around the corner, Lionsgate is already searching for the next big teen blockbuster. And they’ve chosen Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy. But will this dystopian society rival the blood splattered world of Katniss and friends? THR is reporting that Lionsgate has snapped up the rights to Chaos Walking…

io9 Meredith Woerner Oct 4

Top literary agent says it’s not okay to be gay after the apocalypse

After the apocalypse, the scariest thing could be one gay teenager. At least, that’s what one prominent agent who represents successful young-adult novelists seems to believe. This unnamed agent asked authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith to remove a gay character from their post-apocalyptic YA novel — or just make him straight. Top image:…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Sep 12

R.I.P. William Sleator, pioneer of young-adult science fiction

The current boom in dystopian fiction for young-adult readers owes a lot to William Sleator, who passed away in Thailand a couple of days ago. His books were creepy, scary, and also filled with a relatable sort of dread. His most famous novel, House of Stairs, involves five teenage orphans who wake up in a…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Aug 4

Kelly Link blows your mind all over again

Kelly Link’s latest short story sneaks up on you — at first you think it’s just a concentrated dose of weirdness, a jarring head-trip like being suspended by your ankles over the ocean. But then her strange world-building starts to make sense, and you think the whole thing is becoming a demented thought experiment. It’s…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jul 13

Bestselling YA author brings us the world after an alien invasion

With Falling Skies still doing well in the ratings, is a post-alien invasion world going to become our new favorite post-apocalyptic scenario? Let’s hope so, since it’s our best hope of getting a Tripods movie. One hopeful sign: Margaret Stohl (co-author of the bestselling young-adult series Beautiful Creatures) just sold a post-alien-invasion book series called…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jun 28

The Origins of Post-Apocalyptic Island America

When the continental United States becomes uninhabitable, the last survivors of America have to move to an island, in Anna North’s bleak, beautiful America Pacifica. Here’s an exclusive excerpt, in which some street performers reenact the end of our world. America Pacifica, out today, is the debut novel from Iowa Writers Workshop graduate (and Jezebel…

Books & Comics Anna North May 18

Read the first 6 chapters of Catherine Fisher’s Relic Master

If you loved the post-apocalyptic prison saga of Incarceron, then you’ll be excited to know Catherine Fisher has a new series, publishing monthly. We’ve got an exclusive excerpt for you: the first six chapters of Fisher’s Relic Master Book One. https://gizmodo.com/the-next-step-in-young-adult-fantasy-sf-monthly-serial-5737960 Here’s the blurb for the first book: Anara is a world mysteriously crumbling to…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders May 17

A teenager goes in search of his dead girlfriend’s alternate-universe duplicate

I Am Number Four didn’t exactly light the box office on fire, but that hasn’t stopped Hollywood believing in the power of young adult science fiction adaptations. Now in development: Through To You, a parallel-universe love story. The team behind the Sundance fave Like Crazy, Drake Doremus, Jonathan Schwartz and Ben York Jones, will reunite…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Mar 22

What would it take for grownups to love dystopian fiction as much as teenagers?

Our teens are living in horrible oppressive conditions — in their imaginations, at least. Dystopian fiction, which has never been more than a minor sub-genre in the past, has become a runaway success in young-adult publishing. And adults are reading teen books like the Hunger Games series in droves. So why aren’t we seeing dystopian…

Books & Comics Charlie Jane Anders Feb 22

What if Dragons were more like Vulcans who breathe fire?

A young adult novel’s hero is allowed to remain gay, after all

Young Adult Fiction’s Hottest New Trend: Mermaids?

Weird Tales Magazine faces a boycott after endorsing a “thoroughly non-racist book”

It’s up to one pregnant teen to stop an alien attack in space

China’s Answer to The Hunger Games: Luoling’s Magic

The Most Interesting Fairy-Tale Adaptation of the Year

Why Hunger Games Is The New Little House on the Prairie

Why Video Games Are the New Pulps

Angry Robot Books Launching a Young Adult Imprint!

A New $5000 Prize for Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy in Canada

The Next Hunger Games? Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking scores a movie deal

Top literary agent says it’s not okay to be gay after the apocalypse

R.I.P. William Sleator, pioneer of young-adult science fiction

Kelly Link blows your mind all over again

Bestselling YA author brings us the world after an alien invasion

The Origins of Post-Apocalyptic Island America

Read the first 6 chapters of Catherine Fisher’s Relic Master

A teenager goes in search of his dead girlfriend’s alternate-universe duplicate

What would it take for grownups to love dystopian fiction as much as teenagers?

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