The Songbird Thief is a finalist for the 2017 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Young Adult Fiction. The Goldies are presented each year to recognize excellence in lesbian literature.
Please help me find my jaw; I seem to have dropped it.
“…Delightful, stressful, ingenious, and riveting.” Christina’s Bookshelf reviews The Songbird Thief.
Here’s the belated proof that The Songbird Thief did indeed get launched one swell night at The Octopus Literary Salon, with some marvelous readings by Andrew Demcak and Arisa White and some fine guitar tunes by Steve Luntz and my best poet David West as our MC.
The 2016 Rainbow Awards is an annual contest celebrating outstanding work in LGBT fiction and nonfiction. Blogger Elisa Rolle runs the contest, and IMO, the best part of participating is that instead of a standard entry fee, applicants donate to a charity that supports the LGBTQIA community.
I chose St. James Infirmary, which provides healthcare and social services to sex workers in San Francisco. The organization was recently forced to move from their longterm space in the SoMa District as a result of depressingly widespread tech industry gentrification. And I’m pretty sure I came across the great work of founder Margo St. James back when I was a bitty little baby activist in the 90s.
So then the Songbird Thief received an Honorable Mention! From the review on the Rainbow Awards site:
1) Believable and relatable characters in a landscape that skillfully blends San Francisco with a wonderful fantasy world makes for a very entertaining story.
2) I am not really a fan of this type of story but I found this one to be. An enjoyable read. I really loved Lee and the book offered many twists and turns. I hadn’t read the other book in this series but I didn’t need to. This one could have been a stand alone.
I especially appreciate those reviews where the reader doesn’t like urban fantasy, or doesn’t read a lot of YA, or isn’t used to queer girls as protagonists (all things that are true of both my books). It shows the reviewer was still willing to take a chance on unfamiliar territory, and that’s a win for for new authors and for reading in general. Now that most fiction is marketed or digitally shelved according to such finely diced subcategories, a reader might never stumble across a book that isn’t a whole lot like all her other favorite books, not without a little courage and initiative.
And I’ve never gotten an award before. To the champagne!
I’m on the Lit Crawl! At the Litquake! Tomorrow! Saturday 10/15 at 8:30 p.m. at Borderlands Books Cafe. Chaz Brenchley and Becky Chambers are reading too. I’m kind of awed. Come in out of the rain (rain has been promised) and take in the fantastical words.
There’s a release party for The Songbird Thief! Tuesday, November 1, 7 p.m. at The Octopus Literary Salon. Arisa White and Andrew Demcak will also read from their brand new works and Steve Luntz will play music.
We are what we wear. I’m on Annabelle Jay’s blog series “Who Are You Wearing?” today, diving into that question for Lee Crawford, the main character in The Songbird Thief.
Annabelle is the author of The Sun Dragon YA fantasy series. Merlin’s Moon, the newest release, is about half-human, half-dragon Mani. Go enjoy it!
