We debuted the imprint at Necronomicon 2012 in Tampa, Florida. On a panel about what QUILTBAG fiction was, the main direction of the conversation turned to young adult fiction. Along with our other panelists, we discussed the importance of QUILTBAG literature for the youth of our world and how publishers needed to take more chances with main characters that identified as such. Sadly, we know that isn't about to happen any time soon, and so it falls to the smaller publishers to fulfill the need of QUILTBAG youth.
The response at Necronomicon was astounding. In a rather packed panel room, the resounding 'YES!' was stunning to us. We had known there was a need, but we hadn't realized the depth of that need until that panel. As we walked out after the panel, we resolved to do everything we could to produce the quality and varied young adult fiction that this audience was craving. All genres, all flavors of sexual identity and sexual orientation and lifestyle choice (such as monogamy and polyamory). And that's what we've been doing since.
In 2013, we hope to acquire some wonderful works from talent authors to share with both the young audience as well as the older audiences. Right now, we have several anthology calls out (and several more to come out throughout the month of January), as well as a couple of line calls. Some of those upcoming calls are:
* Take a Bite Out of Life is all about vampires geared for young adult readers. QUILTBAG main characters and unique vampires are what we're hoping to see sent our way.
* A Touch of Glim is for awesome steampunk fiction with young adult, QUILTBAG main characters. Give us those gorgeous Victorian settings filled with steam and magic!
* For Long, Long Ago, we're looking to acquire retellings of fairytales, but with QUILTBAG main characters and themes. A genderqueer Rapunzel, or a lesbian slant on The Snow Queen, or a sci-fi twist on Alice's Adventures In Wonderland where Alice works alongside a bisexual Mad Hatter and a trans* Cheshire Cat. The possibilities are endless.
There will be many more calls—both anthology and line—as we move through the year, and we can't wait to work with outstanding authors to bring beautiful QUILTBAG fiction to the young adult audience. It's become an important, driving aspect of Storm Moon Press and its owners, and we hope authors will see and fulfill the growing need within this area of publishing.
S.L. Armstrong is the Managing Editor for Storm Moon Press. She is also the co-author of Making Ends Meet and Other Side of Night: Bastian & Riley. S.L. can be found at www.slarmstrong.net or on Twitter @_slarmstrong.
Giveaway Opportunity!This guest post is part of Storm Moon Press' 3rd Anniversary Blog Tour! Comment on this post or any other post on the blog tour with your e-mail address, and you'll be entered for a chance to win the Grand Prize of receiving 1 FREE e-book each month of 2013 from that month's new releases for a total of 12 free e-books! Runners up will receive a $25 gift certificate to their choice of Amazon or All Romance eBooks. For more details and to find out about our 3rd Anniversary, head over to Storm Moon Press' Official Blog. Thanks for joining us!
Wishing SMP much success with their new YA line.
ReplyDeletestrive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
Thanks! We're hoping it will be a very successful part of our press!
Delete~K. Piet
Congratulations, Storm Moon! I've already seen two generations of young people afraid to come out. Thanks for giving the opportunities to read about characters with whom they can identify. It's a good thing that you do!
ReplyDeletebrendurbanist at gmail dot com
I was raised so sheltered that I didn't even understand that there was a word for my genderqueerness until I was in my final years of college. I'd love to have seen characters like me in fiction, someone I could have identified with on a deeper level. I hope that Budding Moon can enable that for some younger generations as well as inspire adults to enjoy such fiction. And, if they happen to have children, maybe inspire them to expose their kids to the possibilities so they know that, no matter how they end up identifying and expressing themselves, they're beautiful just as they are. ^_^
DeleteIdealistic? Hell yeah, but I think you always hope for the best when you start a new business venture like this. I hope you enjoy the books we end up putting out!
~K. Piet
I have a Non-Published friend who writes beautifully in the YA category and I'm going to pass your link to him. It'd be great for our youth to be able to read stories that are intended for them. For a long time I had the same thought as you guys, there is so much for adults but hardly anything for our youth. I commend you for what you are doing and wish you much success! Thank You!!
ReplyDeleteSandra
taina1959@yahoo.com
Please do! I love that I'm also seeing some established authors release separate editions of their adult titles in YA versions to make them more accessible to a younger audience and hopefully get more QUILTBAG titles into school libraries.
DeleteThanks, Sandra!
DeleteWe're so passionate about getting quality fiction to kids who, like us, might grow up feeling less isolated if they see portrayals of young people like them in the fiction they read. I hope you enjoy our books and that your non-published friend feels welcome to check out our calls! Keep in mind, of course, that we also accept open submissions that aren't associated with our lines or anthologies, provided the manuscript is 20,000 words or longer (or the author is willing to expand it past that 20K mark through editing). ^_^
Thanks for spreading the word and for entering the giveaway!
~K. Piet
@Madison:
DeleteActually, it's funny that you mention that! My co-author, S.L. Armstrong and myself are in the process of reworking our novel, Making Ends Meet, into a Young Adult version. The story surrounds two college kids, one of whom starts out the story at seventeen as a single father... and gay. It's a story that has a lot of young adult themes already, so we're just toning down/removing the explicit content so it will be age appropriate to the YA audience. It's a very exciting venture for us. That the novel is also illustrated just adds another level to the book. :D
Once we have some YA titles published, you'd better bet we're taking it to the library outlets we can. I'd love for Budding Moon books to be on bookshelves where interested kids can find them!
@K-- thanks for the link! That sounds like a great story. Adding it to my TBR pile now. :-)
DeleteYA seems much more fully developed than it was when I was in the target audience...the Budding Moon submission calls sound excellent!
ReplyDeletevitajex(at)aol(dot)com
I always feel somewhat out of the loop when it comes to YA fiction, mostly because as a tween/teen I was such an avaricious reader I dove right into the "adult" novels. But in the last couple years I have been exploring the genre, if that's an appropriate term, more and I'm so excited to see Storm Moon starting up a YA line of your own. Best of luck in the coming year!
ReplyDeleteashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com
I can't wait for the books to come out from Budding Moon Press. Thanks guys for starting this imprint!
ReplyDeletetiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com