Welcome to our latest guest post in the YAAM – 2010 edition. As part of our celebration of all things YA, we invited authors from different genres to write about the books and the genres they write.

Today’s guest is Malinda Lo, author of Ash, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella and one of Ana’s top reads of 2009. We invited Malinda to chat about writing her books, publishing it and everything in between.

The Book Smugglers: Hi Malinda, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Malinda: I’m a liberal, lesbian, Asian American, feminist, domestically partnered dog-owner in Northern California. And I write novels! My first, Ash, is a retelling of Cinderella with a lesbian twist. My second, Huntress, is a companion novel to Ash and will be published in April 2011. Both are young adult novels. Before I wrote YA novels, I was an entertainment reporter.

The Book Smugglers: Your book Ash is a retelling of the classic Cinderella story, with a twist – instead of falling for Prince Charming, your heroine falls for another girl. When you wrote Ash, did you have any fears that major publishers would not pick up your book?

Malinda: Absolutely! When I first realized I was writing a lesbian version of the Cinderella story, I actually thought it would be dismissed as a joke. It seemed like a completely bizarre idea to me, and I had to mull it over for a while before I got used to it and decided it was, in fact, a good idea. I was afraid it would be too gay for mainstream publishers, but to my surprise, it was actually rejected once because it wasn’t gay enough. (Essentially, there is no coming-out story, so the fact that Ash falls for a woman isn’t a big deal in the world of the book.)

The Book Smugglers: There is a solid market for same-sex romance novels (that is, F/F or M/M), but you chose to write a young adult novel instead. Why?

Malinda: There are two reasons. First, when I began working on Ash I did not read romance (same-sex or heterosexual) and had no knowledge of that market. Second, I didn’t think about what genre Ash fit into until it was finished and ready to submit to agents. I wrote the novel for myself, aka the Malinda Lo Likes It genre. Of course, book publishers don’t publish books in that genre (though they should!), so I had to figure out where Ash fit among the genres that are published. Young adult seemed most appropriate, although I did initially think it was an adult fantasy novel.

The Book Smugglers: Even in this day and age in the United States, books – especially those of “controversial” natures – are still routinely banned from libraries and schools. As a young adult novel with a F/F romance, have you been on the receiving end of any nastiness from readers, parents, schools, or other sources?

Malinda: I’d say that nastiness is too strong a word for what I’ve encountered. I’ve experienced two instances of parental objection to my book, but they weren’t all that nasty. At an event I did at the Brooklyn Public Library, one teacher told me that her students’ parents objected to my novel and therefore they did not send their students. She brought other students (younger ones!) whose parents had no problem with it. And in Marin County, where I live, parents objected to a story in the Pacific Sun (a local news weekly) about Ash that featured an illustration of two Disney princesses dancing together. These moms wrote in to say they didn’t want to explain two girls dancing together to their children. Many, many people wrote back in response and pointed out that girls dance together all the time, regardless of whether or not they are gay.

Both experiences struck me as surprising because they took place in locations I thought were pretty much liberal and gay-friendly. But in both cases, the homophobia was met with just as much (if not more) support for gay people in response.

The Book Smugglers: Ash is not a Problem Novel of a Coming Out story. In Ash’s world it is perfectly natural to fall in love with someone of the same sex. Was that a conscious decision and if so, why did you take this route?

Malinda: Yes, that was a conscious decision. I just didn’t want to force Ash to deal with homophobia. The idea of it made me cringe as a writer; I had absolutely no desire to go through the experience of writing that. I mean, I’ve done it in real life, and I didn’t want to do it again in fiction!

Also, I wanted Ash to have a fairy tale, just like Cinderella is supposed to have. Part of that fairy tale is about falling in love with someone whom others also desire — Prince Charming, you know, is charming partly because lots of ladies want him. So, Kaisa had to be seen as desirable by more people than only Ash. That meant that homophobia could not be part of the story, and gender could not be a limit to who you fall in love with.

The Book Smugglers: You recently wrote a series of great articles on “Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes in YA Fiction” – what prompted you to write these?

Malinda: Those posts were prompted by a talk I gave at a local SCBWI chapter for a panel on LGBT YA fiction. After the panel, I wanted to share that information with more writers, so I decided to turn the talk into a series of blog posts.

In my previous job, I wrote about the representation of lesbians and bisexual women in the media for AfterEllen.com and other LGBT publications, so I’ve thought a lot about what goes into stereotypes and how to avoid them in producing pop culture. When I began reading more widely in YA fiction, I kept encountering stereotypes that surprised me, and I didn’t see a lot of discussion about them in the YA blogosphere. I actually felt that several of the stereotypes I encountered were accidental — that the authors might not have been aware of what they were doing.

Part of my goal in blogging about the stereotypes was to get the discussion going and to provide an opportunity for those who were unfamiliar with LGBT issues to ask questions in a friendly environment. I think it’s important to be honest and open about these things, and allow people to ask things that might seem “stupid.”

The Book Smugglers: Do you have a list of recommended GLBT reading for our readers?

Malinda: This is not YA, but my favorite novel with lesbian characters is definitely Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet. It’s a historical novel set in Victorian England about an 18-year-old girl who leaves home for the London stage and becomes a male impersonator. It is sexy and fun!

I recently read an ARC of Wildthorn by Jane Eagland, a YA historical novel that comes out this September. It is a lot like a Sarah Waters novel if it had been written as YA, and I really enjoyed it.

In terms of contemporary YA, I love Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen trilogy, which includes a supporting character who is a lesbian. Even though the main character is a straight girl, I thought it was one of the queerer books I’ve read, since the main character is also an athlete and a tomboy.

About the author: Malinda Lo is the author of Ash (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), which is a nominee for the Andre Norton Award, was a finalist for the 2010 William C. Morris Award, and was a Kirkus Best Young Adult Novel of 2009. Formerly, she was an entertainment reporter, and was awarded the 2006 Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Journalism by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities. She has lived in Colorado, Boston, New York, London, Beijing, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but now lives in a small town in Northern California with her partner and their dog.

Thank you, Malinda!

Oh hello there, 4th week of YAAM! You look NICE!

Mockingjay Fever:

It looks like everyone has the Mockingjay fever – the release is so close you can practically taste it! – and a group of intrepid bloggers and authors are putting together QUITE the showdown. Here’s the skinny:

Something is going down. Something big.

How would you like to see Edward duke it out against Hermione? Or Katniss and Katsa? Well, guess what? You can, in the first ever YA Fantasy Showdown. In celebration of Suzanne Collin’s final book in the Hunger Games trilogy, a group of bloggers are pitting some of the best-known characters in YA in the ultimate showdown. And you get to pick the winner.

That’s right. You read the battles, evaluate the characters, and vote for who has the honor of moving on to the next round. It’s a tournament like you’ve never seen before (because there’s more). The authors have been asked to participate and advocate their character in writing their own version of the battle. It’s going to be truly epic. Or at least a good way to pass the time until Mockingjay comes out. It all goes down August 10th.

Exciting, no??? We cannot wait to see the virtual smackdown.

This week on the Book Smugglers

On Monday, Ana reviews the 40th anniversary edition of the first ever LGBT YA novel, I’ll Get There, It Better Be Worth The Trip by John Donovan

On Tuesday, Ana reviews Freak Show by James St. James

On Wednesday, Thea reviews Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder…

On Thursday, we joint review the first YA novel by fantasy writer Stephen Deas, The Thief Taker’s Apprentice…

On Friday, Thea reviews The Agency books by Y.S. Lee as part of a day dedicated to the author’s Notorious Victorians series, in celebration of the release of The Body at the Tower. Lee stops by later during the day with a guest post about the “Edinburgh Seven” – women who, like Florence Nightingale, challenged social expectations to pursue careers in medicine.

Finally, on Saturday, we post an interview with Malinda Lo, author of Ash.

So kids, enjoy your Sunday and we leave you with a message from ALA and Nathan Fillion:

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

Happy Sunday, all! Hope you’ve had a great weekend, etc, etc, etc. Now, down to business…

Giveaway Winners:

First up, is our giveaway of Meljean Brook’s latest Guardians novel, Demon Forged. The lucky winner is:

Also, the winner of an autographed hardcover copy of Fire, Krsitin Cashore’s latest novel is:

Congratulations! You know the drill. Send us an email (contact AT the book smugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address, and we’ll get your prize out to you as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who entered both contests!

Around the Internets:

It’s Steampunk Month at Tor.com! For the month of October, the good folks at Tor.com, including authors like Cherie Priest and Lev Grossman and assorted bloggers will be posting articles of interest, giveaways, new short fiction, interviews, and much more – all centered around the increasingly popular steampunk motif. The month has already started and is going strong! Check out the post about George Mann’s new steampunk novel The Affinity Bridge – and there’s a giveaway too. Cherie Priest also has a great post about her new release, Boneshaker.

We’ll definitely be checking in all month. Keepin’ it brassy.

In other big book news, nominations for the 2009 Cybils are open! The Cybils Awards are Children’s and Young Adult Literary Awards, bestowed by book bloggers. The purpose of the awards is two-fold:

• Reward the children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators – let’s not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and “kid appeal.” What’s that mean? If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussel sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we’re thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We’re yummy and nutritious.
• Foster a sense of community among bloggers who write about children’s and YA literature, highlight our best reviewers (and shamelessly promote their blogs) and provide a forum for the similarly obsessed.

From now until October 15th at 11:59 PM, you can nominate your favorite young adult novels for an award. You can only nominate ONE book per category, so make sure it is a book you are passionate about!

With that said, you can make your nominations with the online form HERE. For more information about the Cybils, make sure to check out the award website HERE.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Ana reviews Malinda Lo’s retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale, Ash.

Tuesday, Thea reviews another highly anticipated read of 2009, the long awaited book 2 in Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series, The Ask and the Answer.

On Wednesday we double up, as Ana reviews Pastworld by Ian Beck, and Thea reviews Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

On Thursday, Thea reviews Ilona Andrews’ first book in a new Urban Fantasy series, On the Edge.

And on Friday, we close out the week with a joint review of Brandon Sanderson’s Well of Ascension (Mistborn book 2).

Phew. It’s another crazy week, and we hope you enjoy!

Until tomorrow…