DreamHaven

Patricia C. Wrede, the master of fantasy who brought us the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Dealing with Dragons, etc), has a new groundbreaking young adult fantasy. Pat will be reading and signing at DreamHaven Books at 6:30 on October 18, 2023.

The young hero of The Dark Lord’s Daughter, Kayla, is transported to a fantasy world (from the Minnesota State Fair!), by a man who isn’t after all role-playing as a knight. There, she learns that she is really Xavrielina, the daughter and heir of the now-deceased Dark Lord of Zaradwin Castle. Like many fourteen-year-old heroes, Kayla is smart and practical, and not especially thrilled at the idea of becoming a possibly evil Dark Lady (or of being named Xavrielina). She mostly wants to go home.

But, of course, the only way out of most adventures is to get through them. Kayla has a rare advantage over most adolescent heroes—her adoptive mother and obnoxious younger half-brother are both kidnapped with her. Even rarer, Kayla’s mother is also smart and practical; well-prepared and surprisingly supportive. Her brother is a smart-mouth, but can occasionally be useful too.

Helpful quotes (from “The Dark Traditions”) at the beginning of each chapter inform the reader that actual evil is expected from this world’s Dark Lords and Ladies. Happily, the instructions about terrorizing the locals and eliminating the competition are so over-the-top that Kayla cannot possibly take them seriously. The relief of the locals and competition is delightful to watch.

In 1990, when Dealing with Dragons was released, it was unusual for a princess to go around rescuing princes and dragons. Today it is unusual to find a fantasy where family is strong and encouraging without overshadowing the young hero’s story. This is a fun read for young adults of all ages or read-aloud for younger kids.

And we’ve finally gotten confirmation from our fourth guest on August 26th for our “Afternoon with Independent Graphic Novel Creators.” Come visit Diana, along with Daisy Finch McGuire, Blue Delliquanti, and Nathan Lueth. We’re not sure where we’ll fit them all, but there will be an opportunity to meet them, view their work, and possibly watch them draw.

Diana Nock is a cartoonist, writer, illustrator, and incorrigible dilettante best known for her work on Poorcraft and her webcomic The Intrepid Girlbot, the latter of which will be relaunched very soon at intrepidgirlbot.com! For a good time, ask her about her vision of the Apocalypse.

This is the second creator who will be at DreamHaven on Saturday, August 26, for “An Afternoon With Independent Graphic Novel Creators.” We have four guests scheduled to display their work and meet their fans from 2 to 4 PM.

Daisy Finch McGuire is the webcartoonist who self-published the historical fantasy situation comedy comic, Gastrophobia. She also illustrated Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein’s Let’s Print a Comic and worked freelance for Nickelodeon Magazine, SpongeBob Comics, Paradox Space, and various anthologies. Her current project is a queer reimagining of The Marvelous Land of Oz called Yellow Brick Ramble, which is available to read at yellowbrickramble.com

I Want to be a Wall by Honami Shirono

Yuriko Sonoda is an asexual woman, a big fan of the 2-D relationships in Boy’s Love manga. Hanazono is a gay man who has never admitted to his crush on his childhood friend, Sousuke. Both are under pressure to marry. Though they initially turn down the marriage their parents arrange, they become friends and confidants and, eventually, legally man and wife. There are two volumes translated so far, dealing with their relationship and the non-sexual parts of a marriage. But it is becoming clear that both of them have a thing for the oblivious, beautiful Sousuke

The Gay Who Turned Kaiju by Kazuki Minamoto

A gay high school teen named Arashiro finds that his wish to be someone else has manifested in the sudden change of his head into a giant kiaju shape. Arashiro has been bullied, though not necessarily because he is gay, but finds that people are much more comfortable with his new monstrous appearance than they were with him being gay. This single-volume story is a wonderfully quirky metaphor for coming out, accepting oneself, and the power inherent in no longer being able to hide.

Until I Love Myself by Poppy Pesuyama

The non-binary manga artist Poppy Pesuyama hates their female body almost as much as they hate themself. When they are sexually harassed by a famous manga artist, who they need to work for to advance their career, it is devastating. This is an honest, autobiographical story which leaps from past to present. It details the psychological consequences of gender dysphoria and past sexual harassment; along with present attempts to move forward. It is blunt, brave and, since there are very few stories from a non-binary perspective, important. The final volume of this two-volume series arrives in translation in September.

For all of you lovers of Greek mythology, Jordan Holt’s graphic novel Theseus promises a retelling of the story of Theseus’ life, based on the ancient writings of Plutarch. For all of you lovers of humor, fear not. The author states that, “Behind every grand myth is a true story that’s never been told. This is most certainly not it.”

Theseus is a hilariously aggrieved young man, who sets off on an epic quest to find his father who, according to his mother, is the King of Athens. Theseus is at once skeptical about this, and seems to totally expect that pursuing this destiny will be super easy. His adventures don’t entirely disabuse him of this notion, since help and hindrance both arrive steadily from random Greek Gods. There is a lot of eye rolling and sarcastic sighing. Also a lot of accidentally pushing very large muscular opponents off of cliffs.

Each chapter ends with a fake letter column, which absolutely should be read, despite the somewhat eye-straining color choices for some of them. There are jokes which carry over into the story, informative advice which probably should not be followed, and decidedly unhelpful art instruction.

According to the internet, which is remarkably silent about his career, Jordan Holt is an art professor and illustrator who lives in Tennessee. He funded the printing for the first two volumes of Theseus on Kickstarter; the third and final volume is nearly finished. He has four kids, but none who seem to be old enough to provide the inspiration for teenage Theseus. Holt freely admits to ripping off Greek mythology, and claims to have several fake mustaches which will allow him to dodge the cease and desist orders from Plutarch.

One of the hardest things to do, I think, in writing middle grade fantasy, is to give children adventures where they are truly challenged but can still reasonably defeat some great evil. It’s even better if the young adventurers have to conquer something in themselves in order to succeed. In The Counterclockwise Heart both young protagonists must call on every bit of courage they have in order to save their countries. If the threats are maybe not as evil as the kids have been led to believe, then some of their battles must take place within themselves.

Alphonsus is the Prince of a country called Rheinvelt, adopted by the empress and her wife the imperatrix after being found as an infant in the castle walls. He has two huge secrets. One is his self-acknowledged cowardice, and the other is that the mysterious clock he has in his chest instead of a heart has begun running backwards. Esme is a sorceress, trained in exile by the remnants of magicians called Hierophants, and sent to Rheinvelt on a mission to kill the evil witch called the Nachtfrau. Esme is clever and ruthless, and also has a secret. The Nachtfrau is her mother.

The Counterclockwise Heart is a fairly complex story for middle grade, but it is told in straightforward prose that nevertheless does not speak down to children. As a plus, both Esme and Alphonsus have mothers, both of whom are important characters, just as brave and complicated as their children. In fact, everyone in the story has their own set of secrets and misconceptions, including the adults and the country of Rheinvelt itself.

The book won the Minnesota Book Award for Middle Grade Literature this year, a well-deserved honor. It should be read by middle schoolers of all ages. Brian Farrey has written two other Minnesota Book Award winners. One of them, With or Without You, also was a Stonewall honor book.

What? You’ve never heard of the legendary pirate, Amina Al-Sirafi? Whose gold-toothed smile and enormous figure was the last thing seen by who-knows-how-many men? The nakhudha of the infamous ship, the Marawati, which roamed the Indian Ocean, stealing horses from the Emir of Hormuz, and setting fire to the customs house in Basrah, and poisoning an entire feast in Mombasa?

And who, of course, had the audacity to be a woman.

But now Amina Al-Sirafi has retired, or perhaps merely gone into hiding. She has a leaky house to maintain, and both an aging mother and a ten-year-old daughter to care for. She has a bad knee. Her trusted crew are either dead or likewise retired. Her ship is getting by, doing routine trading (smuggling and only a little piracy) and she has not been on it for years. She does not miss her old life. At all. Really.

Which is why she protests when forced to embark on a new and dangerous mission. But not very much. The story, told in her own irreverent and cynical words, unfolds as most adventures do. There are sorcerers, sea monsters, storms, and ancient legends brought to life. There is an alliance with an island of mythical creatures and a treacherous demon possibly-not-ex-husband. But underlying all of it is worry about her daughter and true concern for the lives of her crew, informed by the triumphs and tragedies of their shared past.

Amina Al-Sirafi is one of the best “strong female protagonists” I have read. She is an indomitable fighter, courageous and fearsome. But the way she chooses to fight, and what she chooses to fight for, is all female. She is lusty, foul-mouthed, contrary, stupidly brave, and without a doubt a woman.

I’ve been a fan of Francis Hardinge’s wonderful, morally complex novels for young adults since reading The Lie Tree, which won a Costa Book Award for Children’s Book (best novel by an author residing in the UK or Ireland) in 2015. Her novels have consistently brought a teen protagonist through an adventure which requires obtaining, not increased physical or mental prowess, but the maturity to make a difficult decision.

The young protagonist of Deeplight, Hark, is an orphan who has grown up (at age 15) to be a thief and con man, dealing in magical relics. He starts out as the typical street-kid-with-a-heart, but becomes much more interesting. He is joined eventually by Selphin, a young woman whose mother is a pirate, who also has unexpected steel in her moral fiber. She is, interestingly, “sea-kissed,” which means she has lost her hearing during undersea diving. There is a community of “sea-kissed” and most of Selphin’s conversations in the book take place in sign language.

Hardinge’s books all have unique fantasy worlds with interesting magic operating under unusual conditions. Deeplight is no exception. Its world is called Myriad, a huge chain of islands which had, until fifty years ago, been ruled by vast, Lovecraftian undersea Gods. They have left behind relics with incredible power, an economy which centers on harvesting those relics, and an abandoned priesthood aging on a deserted island.

And Gods also, of course, leave behind secrets for unsuspecting teenage protagonists to discover. The secrets of Myriad are layered and complicated, but well within the understanding of the people like Hark and Selphin, who can grow to treasure them.