The July issue of Locus (magazine about SFF publishing) focuses on YA, so if you're writing that, you might want to pick it up. There are a number of interesting pieces in it, but I particularly liked Sharyn November's. She's an editor at Viking Children's Books and Editorial Director for their Firebrand line. She made several good points about what constitutes YA (different age groupings, for instance) and what the trends are. Then near the end of her column, she talked about what's missing and what's overdone. Missing is YA SF that's not dystopia or steampunk; non-white, non-Western voices; female protagonists. Overdone, according to an informal poll she took among booksellers and librarians: faeries, werewolves and other shapeshifters, vampires, dragons, the Greek gods, trilogies, pirates, zombies, teen superheros, teenaged Evil Genius, boarding school, mean girls, underground cities, the Victorians, the Male Chosen One, and retold Fairy tales.
Last edited:
