Vintage

I spent a fair amount of time when I was in my 20s prowling through New York's vintage clothing stores (along with Ellen Kushner, Robin McKinley, and other vintage enthusiasts), looking for black velvet and tea-colored lace, silk slips from the '30s, slinky cocktail dresses from the '40s, butter-soft leather jackets with that great slouched James Dean look... So how could I resist a Young Adult novel called Vintage, particularly one with a haunted-looking Goth boy on the cover? And particularly when it comes from Steve Berman, who is, in my opinion, one of the most talented new writers around today?

Steve has been building a reputation with short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies -- including "The Price of Glamour" in The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm, and "The Wagers of Gold Mountain" in The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (due out in June). Vintage is his first novel, and one I wish had been around when I was a teen. It's a smart, stylish coming-of-age story about a gay teenager, a seductive ghost, and the many ways that the past shadows the present. It's also a love story, but one that's dark and sharp and full of unexpected twists. Much like adolescence itself.

Here's another reason to order a copy of Vintage besides the fact that it's a cracking good tale:  A portion of the royalties from the book will be donated to charities helping gay teens: the GSA Network, which assists Gay-Straight Student Alliances in high schools; and the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicide among gay youth.

You can read an excerpt from Vintage on Steve's website.

And keep an eye out for his unique anthology So Fey: Queer Faery Fiction, forthcoming from Haworth Press later this year -- containing fiction from Christopher Barzak, Richard Bowes, Holly Black, Laurie J. Marks, Sarah Monette, Delia Sherman, and many others.

Speaking of faery fiction, Marvin Kaye's anthology The Fair Folk, which was originally published only in an SF Bookclub edition, is now available in paperback from Ace Books. The volume contains strong stories from Tanith Lee, Patricia McKillip, and others, and a fabulous collaboration (about aging faery godmothers) between Midori Snyder and Jane Yolen. 

The "urban faery" drawing above is by Iain McCaig, best known for his design work on the Star Wars series and other films. You can see more of his drawings here.

Comments

[Steve]

Thank you, Terri. I'm very humbled by all the praise.

[chandracerchionepeltier]

Sounds like a great read - I will definitely pick this up.

[Justine Larbalestier]

I can't wait to read it!