Sybil's Garage magazine has an interview with Lauren McLaughlin, a new young adult writer whose debut novel, Cycler, will be published in September. I've known Lauren for some years now and she inevitably says the smartest stuff about writing in any conversation around the table. — Read the rest
Over the past decade or so, Lauren McLaughin (previously) has written a handful of outstanding YA novels, each dealing with difficult issues of gender, personal autonomy and the casual cruelty of teens, starting with Cycler (and its sequel, Re-Cycler) (a teenaged girl who turned into a boy for four days every month); Scored (a class-conscious surveillance dystopia); The Free (a desperate novel about a teen car-thief in juvie) and now, her best book yet: Send Pics, a gripping thriller about sextortion, high school, revenge and justice.
Here's this year's complete Boing Boing Gift Guide: dozens of great ideas for stocking stuffers, brain-hammers, mind-expanders, terrible toys, badass books and more. Where available, we use Amazon Affiliate links to help keep the world's greatest neurozine online.
Lauren McLaughlin is no stranger to hard-hitting, unflinching young adult novels: her debut, Cycler (and its sequel, Re-Cycler) was about a teenaged girl who turned into a boy for four days every month; Scored was a class-conscious surveillance dystopia; now, in The Free, McLaughlin sheds any fantastic or futuristic elements and mainlines a pure, angry, relentless and stripped-down story about a kid whose desperate circumstances become almost unbearable when he takes a fall for a car-theft and goes to juvenile prison.
Katie sez,
— Read the restDoes perfecting the art of the 5-paragraph analytical essay make you a better creative writer? How important are things like grammar, spelling, and syntax for a fiction stylist? Do test scores or grades in high school English class reflect your chances for creative success later on?
Scored is Lauren McLaughlin's latest YA science fiction novel, a remarkable book about surveillance, class, and culture. It's McLaughlin's third novel, and her best so far (though the previous two were very good).
In Scored, the American middle class is no more, wiped out by economic catastrophe. — Read the rest
Here's part four of our week-long "Best of Boing Boing" holiday gift guide: basically, it's a list of the bestselling items from among the stuff we reviewed this year, reflecting your favorite items from among our picks. Today's list is comics, graphic novels, funnybooks and the like. — Read the rest
Here's part two of my Boing Boing Holiday Gift Guide — wherein I list the bestselling items that have been reviewed here in the past twelve months. Today, it's fiction. Don't miss yesterday's Kids' stuff and stuff about kids post, too! — Read the rest
Well, it's coming up to the holidays and I've started to make my list and fill it in. As a starting point, I went through all the books and DVDs and gadgets I'd reviewed on Boing Boing since last November and looked at what had been the best-sellers among BB's readership, figuring you folks have pretty good taste! — Read the rest
Lauren McLaughlin sez, "Young Adult author Maureen Johnson launches new Obama social networking website. Many YA authors will be blogging there, including Judy Blume, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Holly Black and many more. From the mission statement:"
— Read the restYA for Obama is a community of YA writers and readers and friends who have joined together because of our commitment to Future United States President Barack Obama…This is a social networking site, which means that when you join (it's free!
Screenwriter/producer Lauren McLaughlin's YA novel debut, Cycler is just out, and just in time — this is a book that the kids in your life really need to read, a gender-bending piece of speculative fiction aimed at young people that manages to say novel, useful, and challenging things about gender and sexuality without ever descending into squicky fluid-exchange or soapy romance. — Read the rest
Lauren McLaughlin says,
— Read the restThe New York Times ran a story this week about New York City's plan to permit people to change the gender on their birth certificates even if they haven't had sex reassignment surgery. The move comes after much advocacy by transgender groups who believe that gender has to do with much more than anatomy.
My friend Lauren McLaughlin, an excellent new sf writer, has a story up on today's Salon — "The perfect man" — the story of a woman who found true love by designing an AI, and then turning him loose.
— Read the rest
Martin was a mouth breather.
Sybil's Garage is a new print science fiction magazine — just published issue 2 — which is running some spectacular sf, including my friend Lauren McLaughlin's fantastic "New York City vs the World."
(Thanks, Matthew!)
