Author Spotlight: Julie Anne Peters

Julie Anne Peters is the irreverent, buoyant and always funny author of both children's and young adult books. While her personality is bubbly, she tackles difficult subject matter often dealing with LGBT characters. Her fans are legion, because it's clear that she truly "gets" them.


Here is a rare videotape of an author signing with Julie at our Tattered Cover Colfax store.



Julie's words, from an interview on the blog Finding Wonderland:
"The decision whether to star gay characters in novels has more to do with story and purpose. Cultural readiness plays a role, of course. Since we've broken through the mainstream barrier in YA, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't introduce "out" gay characters in younger lit. Most young gaysters don't acknowledge their difference until they're 10 or thereabouts, so it may not be believable to have a flaming kindergartner. Although, if you ask me, Junie B. Jones..."

"I think because we're gay we have interesting stories to tell. Our slant on life is unique. Relationship issues expand exponentially when you're shifting between sexuality and gender lines. For a writer, it's a burbling cauldron of story possibility."

And from teenreads.com
"People say I tackle controversial issues, but I don’t think I do. I write contemporary, realistic fiction, and these are the issues young people are dealing with today. I still write about love, laughter, joy, friendship, family --- everything that gets us through the tough times. There’s nothing controversial in finding yourself and living your truth."

And some of Julie's books, on our shelves right now:

By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she's determined to get her death right. She starts visiting a website for "completers” through-the-light.com.

While she's on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she's not on the Web, Daelyn's at her private school, where she's known as the freak who doesn't talk.

Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she's waiting to for her parents to pick her up. Even though she's made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won't give up. And it's too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life--isn't it?

National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.

Rage: A Love Story
Johanna is steadfast, patient, reliable; the go-to girl, the one everyone can count on. But always being there for others can’t give Johanna everything she needs—it can’t give her Reeve Hartt.

Reeve is fierce, beautiful, wounded, elusive; a flame that draws Johanna’s fluttering moth. Johanna is determined to get her, against all advice, and to help her, against all reason. But love isn’t always reasonable, right?

In the precarious place where attraction and need collide, a teenager experiences the dark side of a first love, and struggles to find her way into a new light.

Revenge of the Snob Squad
When the relay race teams are chosen in gym class, it's clear that one team doesn't have a chance of winning: Jenny is more interested in eating candy than running around a track; Prairie has a bad leg; Lydia is a complete klutz; and Max is, well, Max. But together, they proudly dub themselves the 'Snob Squad' and vow revenge on their arch enemies, the Neon Nikes, headed by the principal's spoiled daughter, Ashley Krupps.

As the Snob Squad members band together to thwart the Neon Nikes, they realize that their greatest weapon might not be as out of reach as they think.

Luna
Regan's brother Liam can't stand the person he is during the day. Like the moon from whom Liam has chosen his female namesake, his true self, Luna, only reveals herself at night. In the secrecy of his basement bedroom Liam transforms himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be, with help from his sister's clothes and makeup. Now, everything is about to change-Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon. But are Liam's family and friends ready to welcome Luna into their lives? Compelling and provocative, this is an unforgettable novel about a transgender teen's struggle for self-identity and acceptance.

Missed This Lighthouse Writer's Buzz Event?

Don't worry. Tattered Cover was snapping pictures and AuthorsOnTourLive was recording it, so sit back, relax, and listen to the podcast. This one features William Haywood Henderson talking about his book Native, recently re-released.

Pete's "Extreme" Reads

Two books I read this spring could perhaps be placed in the category of 'extreme fiction,' written by authors determined to tell their story their own way no matter how disturbing, unpleasant, or downright disgusting.

I picked up The Killer Inside Me (a pulp novel by Jim Thompson written in 1952) after reading a recent article about it in the NewYork Times. The book, about to be released as a movie, concerns one of the darkest character studies I've ever read. Deputy Lou Ford is seemingly harmless, stoical in manner and even a little boring. The only hint of his inner rage are these creepy cliches he sometimes fosters on the town folk for kicks. But he can't keep it inside forever, and his small west Texas town finally discovers what the 'banality of evil' is all about. Thompson's book was way ahead of its time, but be forewarned...You will be dragged into the depths of a very dark soul, soulless more like it.



The Wetlands by Charlotte Roche was a big seller in Europe a fewyears ago. This novel concerns a young woman's rebellion against a sanitized world. Her character grew up being to told to wash this, wash that, and be clean, clean, clean. So of course as a teenager she starts doing just the opposite. And by opposite I mean just that. If
you are the least bit squeamish about bodily fluids, you will toss this book into the nearest hazmat receptacle before the first chapter is done.

Despite the gross-out content of the novel, I believe the author raises some valid points. On the one hand, it's okay for children to play in the dirt once in a while. If not, their immune systems could be blindsided several years later by something it doesn't understand. On the other hand, I knew a guy who would only stop at McDonald's when traveling because he could count on their restrooms being clean. That's certainly understandable. A friend of mine once theorized that people smoked so much in the past because they didn't bathe as much. The smoke would act as a masking agent from other odors. I don't know what to make of that. I'm a non-smoker who grew up choking on second-hand smoke. I did play in the dirt but nevertheless have allergies that have reduced my sense of smell to about zero. Why am I writing this? Because these are The Wetlands. Some will love it, some will hate it, but if you read this book you will remember it.

--Pete

Author Spotlight: Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin on being a 'gay writer':
"I've always been proud of the fact that I've been openly gay longer than just about anybody writing today [...] but I never intended for that declaration to mean that I wasnarrowing my focus in any way, or joining a niche [...] now publishing has decided there's money in this, or at least a market [...] now a formalized thing has sprung up which I think is extremely detrimental to anybody beginning to write today. [...] It's possible to write a novel now which has gay themes, which has any truth you want to speak, that can be sold to a mainstream publisher and sold in a mainstream bookstore, so the notion of people who've narrowed their focus to only write books for a gay audience for gay people about gay people is stifling to me; in some ways, it's another form of the closet, as far as I'm concerned. I think Jerry Falwell must be very happy with those little cubby-holes at the back of book stores that say 'gay and lesbian' - it's a warning sign, they can keep their kids away from that section. I'd like people to stumble on my works in the literature section of Barnes and Noble and have their lives changed because of it.

It's complicated. I don't want to feel any less queer, but I think for us to march along in a dutiful little herd called 'gay and lesbian literature' and have little seminars that we hold together is pointless at this point, it makes no sense to me at all. [...] I cringe when I get 'gay writer' each time. Why Ithe modifier? I'm a writer. It's like calling Amy Tan a Chinese-American writer every time you mention her name, or Alice Walker a black writer. We're all discussing the human condition. Some of us have revolutionized writing by bringing in subject-matter that nobody's heard about before. But we don't want that to narrow the definition of who we are as an artist. [...] I don't mind being cross-shelved. I'm very proud of being in the gay and lesbian section, but I don't want to be told that I can't sit up in the front of the book store with the
straight, white writers."*

Maupin's piece on "Growing Up Gay in Old Raleigh"

Joe, on Maupin:
You may have heard of Armistead Maupin's series Tales of the City, even if only from the brilliant PBS series starring Laura Linney (in her debut roll) and Olympia Dukakis as Mrs. Madrigal. But if you haven't read them, or haven't read them in a while, it is well worth doing. For me, the Tales of the City books are like comfort food. Sometimes I'll pick one up with the intention of reading just a little bit, and find that an hour as flown by and I've read half the book. And at that point, I may as well just keep reading! Maupin captures not only the spirit of the age in which he was writing (the 70's and early 80's) but also paints the most loving portrait of his city, San Francisco. Start with Tales of the City (originally published in 1978), and then More Tales of the City (1980) and then Further Tales of the City (1982). The books take a dark and serious (well partially so) turn in the fourth book, Babycakes (published in 1984) and Significant Others (1987), to what we all thought was the finale in Sure of You (published in 1989). But in 2007, Maupin returned with the joyously sad Michael Tolliver Lives. These books cover such a wide range of topics: gay life, friendships, families, cancer, AIDS, and Jim Jones. Just writing this makes me want to return to Barbary Lane..."



And a special 'p.s.' from Joe:
"Oh my gosh, I am so excited! Want another reason to revisit the Tales of the City Series? Because it isn't over yet! Coming this November, "Mary Ann in Autumn", which will catch us back up with Mary Ann Singleton, now 57...I can't wait!"

From the Harper Catalog:
Over 20 years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco for the allure of a television career in New York. Now, a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, newly wed and happily ensconced with a much-younger husband.

Grateful for the temporary refuge their garden cottage offers, Mary Ann, now at the unnerving age of 57, licks her wounds and begins to take stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of the Internet and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when—out of the virtual blue—her speckled past comes back to haunt her in an unexpected way.

Caught in her orbit are a cast of intriguing players whose stories play out against her own: her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael’s transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon Wilson and her wife D’orothea; and the legendary Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann’s former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane.

Over three decades in the making, Armistead Maupin’s San Francisco saga rolls into a new age, still sassy, irreverent, and curious, and still exploring the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion and mordant wit.

Another gem from that catalog: The stage musical version of Tales of the City is scheduled to premiere in San Francisco in 2011. The show boasts a very impressive creative team, with music by Jake Shears and Jason Garden of the popular band Scissor Sisters, lyrics and book written by Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), and direction by Jason Moore (Avenue Q).

Maupin's Literary Timeline
Tales of the City Google map
Maupin and Olympia Dukakis discuss 'Tales in the City'

But there's more to Maupin than Tales of the City.
Jackie says:
"I was introduced to Maupin much later with his 2000 release of The Night Listener. This is a beautiful and moving book about loneliness that touched me very, very deeply. It literally took my breath way at times. The psychological depth is profound. I still ache when I think of it. And I'm still angry at Hollywood for creating such a horrible screenplay out of such a wonderful book (though Robin Williams was perfect casting, IMHO)."

The Hardest Book Review I've Ever Written

Every once and awhile a book comes along that seriously rattles my cage and messes with my head. This is one of those books. I was warned that this book was light years away from "Life of Pi". I was told that it was an allegory about the holocaust. I thought I was prepared. I was not.

I had to think about this book for a long time before I was willing to put out a review for it. It helped that I was able to meet Martel and talk with him about the book, but I still needed more time to process the book. I've decided that it really is a brilliant book, unique and powerful. Many will hate it, and I can understand that, but I don't think it's fair. It's good that books can take us by the intellectual shoulders sometimes and shake us and force us to see the world in a different way for at least a brief bit of time. That's what this book does, and does well.

The Library of Congress cataloging includes 1. Authors--Fiction. 2.
Taxidermists--Fiction. 3. Animals--Fiction. That's all true. But the one you have to look out for is the final one mentioned--4. Psychological fiction. That is the danger, the power, and the marvel of this book. The majority of the book--90% roughly--is a slow yet fascinating intellectual puzzle that offers disjointed pieces that your brain slowly moves around, trying to figure out what the final picture will be. You'll notice, off and on, similarities to the work of Beckett and Camus, the author even admits to naming the titled two
characters after those in Dante's Inferno. Hints are given teasingly of inner secrets that are far removed from the intellectual mind game that makes up the bulk of this book, told rather impersonally and at best two dimensionally. I frankly could not put the thing down--I was enjoying the puzzle, the literary and psychological maze that is this book.

And then I reached the final 30ish pages, when just enough of the final pieces were given to me to turn my knuckles white with horror. The black and white pages became red, the quiet tone became an endless shriek not unlike the howler monkey's, passively described earlier in the book but deafening in the brutality of the final scenes. Insanity and brutality replace intellectualism. The picture is never made quite complete, despite it's graphic telling--mysteries still exist. Pieces are literally destroyed in the fire of the final, devastating moments. There are not answers to every question. But, as a epilogue, there are questions, asked in the same, intellectually removed, distant voice that the majority of the story is told in that are far more devastating than even the cataclysmic final scene. As you read them, somewhere in the distance, a howler monkey begins to scream.

I feel like this book was an intellectual and emotional challenge that will echo in me for a very long time. I want to talk about it--I want to prepare people for it so they can get past the shock and appreciate the brilliance. I don't know how to do that, really, more than with these words here, now. I hope they make a difference.

--Jackie

Joe's "Gay Reads" Recommendations, Part Two

Joe says: "Looking for a unique mystery? Try these books, the first two in a series starring an Istanbul drag queen by night and sleuth by day. Fascinating on many different levels, this is dishy fun!"

The Kiss Murder

The Number One Ladies' Detective Agencymeets Pedro Almodovar in this outrageous new series featuring an ultraglamorous sleuth

Bestsellers in Mehmet Murat Somer's home country of Turkey and set to take the world by storm, the arrival of the Hop-Çiki-Yaya mysteries is cause for excitement (and lip gloss!) here in the United States. A male computer technician by day and a transvestite hostess of Istanbul's most notorious nightclub by night, the unnamed heroine of The Kiss Murder is the most charming and hilarious sleuth to debut in recent memory. When Buse, one of the "girls"at her club, fears someone is after private letters from a former lover, she comes to her boss for help. The next day Buse is dead and our girl must find the murderers before they find her. Fortunately, she is well armed with beauty, wit, the wardrobe of Audrey Hepburn, and expert Thai kickboxing skills. With a page-turning plot and an irresistibly charming protagonist, The Kiss Murder is sure to attract mystery lovers and nightlife mavens alike.

The Gigolo Murder

Istanbul's most fabulously flamboyant sleuth is back in her second hilarious adventure

With its exotic Istanbul setting and racy peeks into the city's nightlife, The Kiss Murder left readers eager for more of Mehmet Murat Somer's charmingly original heroine. Software programmer by day and drag-queen club owner by night, our girl is back again, just jilted and feeling so blue she's violet-until she meets the hunky, married lawyer, Haluk Perkedem. When their conversation is interrupted by a phone call delivering news that his brother-in-law has been arrested for the murder of a notorious gigolo, she decides to put her sleuthing instincts and Thai kickboxing skills to work unraveling the crime. Filled with witty banter and ominous intrigue, mystery fans of all persuasions will find The Gigolo Murder this season's hottest read.

Salvation Army
An autobiographical novel by turn naive and cunning, funny and moving, this most recent work by Moroccan expatriate Abdellah Taia is a major addition to the new French literature emerging from the North African Arabic diaspora. "Salvation Army" is a coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Taia's life with complete disclosure--from a childhood bound by family order and latent (homo)sexual tensions in the poor city of Sale, through a sexual awakening in Tangier charged by the young writer's attraction to his eldest brother, to a disappointing arrival in the Western world to study in Geneva in adulthood. In so doing, "Salvation Army" manages to burn through the author's first-person singularity to embody the complex melange of fear and desire projected by Arabs on Western culture. Recently hailed by his native country's press as "the first Moroccan to have the courage to publicly assert his difference," Taia, through his calmly transgressive work, has "outed" himself as "the only gay man" in a country whose theocratic law still declares homosexuality a crime. The persistence of prejudices on all sides of the Mediterranean and Atlantic makes the translation of Taia's work both a literary and political event.

Joe says: "A fascinating and short autobiographical novel about growing up gay in Morocco. Abdellah Taia grew up roughly the same time I did, and he came out of the closet at roughly the same time I did. And I thought I had a rough go of it. In the intervening years, I've been able to talk about it, able to move back to my hometown, to spend time with my family, to speak frankly with them. Taia has been unable to move home, has been unable to speak about it because it is still illegal in Morocco. How brave of him to decide to write about homosexuality in his home country. And how eloquent he writes about it. This story captures so well not only the gay experience, but the Arab experience in the Western world, and served as a good reminder to me of just how far we have gone, and how lucky we are."

He adds, "Another series worth reading, and one that seems a little forgotten, is the "Buddies
Cycle" from Ethan Mordden. Began in the late 1970's, these five books chronicle the lives of a group of friends living in New York. These books were written with a gay audience in mind, and speak most directly to that audience, although the portrait of these guys is much like any family I know, at its essence. Beginning with I've a Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore, continuing with Buddies, Everybody Loves You and Some Men Are Lookers. Years later we got another book to conclude the series. This one came out in 2005 and was entitled How's Your Romance? I would call this series required reading for the younger generation of gay folks out there... as this book chronicles the changing lives of gay men, from pre-Stonewall to the AIDS era and beyond."

The Hottest Title On The Newstand This Weekend: Rolling Stone

The issue of the Rolling Stone that has the inflamatory article doesn't even hit the newstands until this weekend, but the s**t has already hit the fan in Washington.

From MSNBC News on Wed, June23:

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama sacked his loose-lipped Afghanistan commander Wednesday, a seismic shift for the U.S. military order in wartime, and chose the familiar, admired — and tightly disciplined — Gen. David Petraeus to replace him. Petraeus, architect of the Iraq war turnaround, was once again to take hands-on leadership of a troubled war effort. Obama said bluntly that Gen. Stanley McChrystal's scornful remarks about administration officials represent conduct that "undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system."

If not insubordination, the remarks — as well as even sharper commentary about Obama and his White House from several in McChrystal's inner circle — were at the least an extraordinary challenge from a military leader. The capital had not seen a similar public contretemps between a president and a top wartime commander since Harry Truman stripped Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command more than a half-century ago after disagreements over Korean war strategy.



The article that started the controversy. TC is taking special orders on this issue, call or come in to reserve yours.